"We'll arrive at Stone Island in at most half an hour," Anna whispered softly on the single-masted sailboat.
That Deserted Island, although their father often took them there as children, he never gave it a proper name, only referring to it by descriptors like the island full of stones, Black Stone Island, and the like.
She looked around. All she could see were the azure waves, as if their little boat was the only one sailing on the vast expanse of the sea.
"What are we supposed to do when we get to Stone Island?" Ante muttered.
Following his gaze, a black silhouette was faintly emerging in the distance.
That was the barren Stone Island they frequently visited as children.
Anna fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked,
"Did Wizard Leonard give any instructions?"
"Instructions... He just told me to carry out everything according to the original plan, whether he shows up or not,"
Ante thoughtfully responded, his tone gradually deepening as if he realized something.
Around fifteen minutes later, the sailboat approached the black Stone Island.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~
As they neared the island, the sound of the surging tide became clear, and the blue waves rolled toward the black reef, before shattering into transparent, frothy bubbles.
They anchored on the left side of Stone Island, at a pebbly shore.
Stone Island could hardly be called an island; it was more like a massive, black, somewhat reddish stone that had risen above the water's surface.
It had no golden beaches or green vegetation.
However, Stone Island did have a distinct feature—its surface was covered with pits and holes of various sizes, reminiscent of war-torn battlefields from a former world.
Some pits were small, no thicker than a thumb and shallow, but the large ones were generally at least the size of a basketball court, with depths of tens of meters, and could even be considered sky pits.
"Be careful, there are reefs to the left," Anna cautioned Old Jack carefully, comparing the landscape to her memory.
Approaching such a rocky beach was no simple matter.
Before getting close to the visible reefs, the seemingly harmless waves concealed countless unseen dangers...
After a while, they reached their chosen anchorage.
Thump.
Old Jack heaved the heavy anchor overboard, and the sailboat creaked to a halt.
"We're here."
He exhaled a turbid breath softly,
"Mmhmm."
The three exchanged glances, paused for a moment, and then stepped onto Stone Island, making their way to a small circular pit near the center.
This circular pit appeared to be an ordinary, roughly two-meter-deep depression.
But in reality, this pit wasn't like the others on the island with perpendicular sides; it was somewhat curved, and at its bottom was a natural tunnel.
At the end of the tunnel was the expansive bottom of a huge cavern, shaped like a bottleneck.
There, lay the location of the Transmission Array.
In fact, the entire island had many similar tunnels leading to that cavern in the middle of the island.
Had it not been for the fact that not all the pits connected to that cavern, the pits scattered across Stone Island would have resembled the extended, slender tentacles of some gigantic, odd, spherical creature.
'Carry on with the original plan…'
Standing at the bottom of the familiar cavern, observing the dim surroundings, Anna felt a slight sinking in her heart.
The wizard called Leonard had yet to appear.
Those little tails following behind them hadn't shown up either.
As they passed through the narrow tunnel, Anna, Ante, and Old Jack all subtly watched their rear, trying to spot any potential traces of Wizard Leonard or tails that might have followed from Pahama Island.
But in the end, they found nothing.
Being a First Rank Wizard was a watershed, a cruel divide that separated the ordinary from the supernatural.
In such a situation, they, the common folk, were like leaves whipped up in a violent wind, with no power over their own fates.
"Anna..." Ante gazed at her, speaking softly and hesitantly.
He looked up.
Above, in the dark dome ceiling, like an inverted funnel, there was a hole as round as the full moon, from which bright light streamed down like water, bringing the only illumination to the bottom of the cavern.
And where that light fell on the cave floor at the bottom, at first glance, seemed nothing out of the ordinary—just the regular ground.
But Ante knew that was precisely where the Transmission Array was concealed.
"Let's go," Anna said quietly, her face set with determination.
Regardless, at this moment, they could only choose to follow the orders of Colin, at least someone on their side, and continue with the plan.
Approaching the patch of light, Anna took out the broken Lightning Pendant from her bosom; its golden chain extended, creating a faint sound as it rubbed together.
Then, Anna's movements suddenly halted. She did not continue but simply stood there, quietly caressing the broken, more L-shaped Lightning Pendant in her hand.
"Sis..." Ante began uncertainly, only to be stopped by Old Jack next to him.
Without much thought, he complied and closed his mouth, standing quietly, waiting for instructions from his sister Anna in front of him.
The three of them fell into a standstill.
They neither advanced nor retreated, simply standing in place, silent and wordless.
No one knew how long had passed; young Ante had already lost count of how many times he hesitated to speak up.