The more we observe a thing, the more profound it becomes. The crux is that the profundity we gave the object didn’t exist until we observed it.

~Syn, Goddess of Observance and Truth

The arched ceiling was layered with vines or branches, and they were woven so tightly together that not even a drop of rain could get through. Everything inside the Shrine looked as if it was organically grown. Still… the chairs, tables, and various other furniture were definitely not natural.

On the big round table in front of the three adventurers were hundreds, if not thousands, of wooden objects. They were of varying shapes and sizes, but Crow felt they were reminiscent of a childhood toy he had where he had to find the right hole to put the odd-shaped wooden blocks.

Obviously, this puzzle was on a grander scale, and the stakes were higher. And Crow suspected this was probably one of the easiest Shrines they’d come across, but what bothered him was that he didn’t see anyone else here.

“Is it odd that this place is empty?” Munro asked, voicing Crow’s concerns.

Hooligan shook her head and wanted to say something but wasn’t sure how to explain. She kept glancing around and observing her peripheral vision.

“We aren’t alone,” she finally stated, rubbing her watery eyes. “This is a parallel space, a copy. Have you noticed your artifacts are emitting light and heat? It’s all linked, and I’m guessing the doorway is part of a more extensive formation. This entire realm is layered in formations, and our artifacts are the only reason we can see and interact with it.”

“Not that I doubt you, but how do you know all that?” Crow asked. Out of the three, he figured he had the greatest achievements in understanding space. Even the little bit he could comprehend was minuscule, and he only understood that much because of his knowledge of time. It was odd hearing Hooligan speaking of space as nonchalantly as she did.

“My artifact’s ability. The vision allows me to partially see the other pockets from the corner of my eye. I don’t even have a theory as to why, but I know that the pocket of space we are in is not the actual Shrine. If my understanding is correct, the moment we solve this thing, this space will dissolve. My father has extensive knowledge of formations, and even I’m overwhelmed by this realm’s complex design.”

“Is this challenge random, or are the others participants doing the same thing?”

“The challenge isn’t random, but the layouts are. So… no, we can’t cheat.”

Munro chuckled when he saw Crow’s face go blank. It was enjoyable seeing this ass get outsmarted. He promised he wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize the team, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t laugh at Crow’s embarrassment.

Crow didn’t seem to mind being called out and grabbed an object off the table before slotting it into the appropriate spot on the wall. Before the other two noticed what happened, he’d already grabbed four more and slotted them.

“What the fuck, man?” Hooligan spat out, feeling there was something wrong with her brain.

“These kinds of puzzles are a joke for me. While I’m locating the last objects, tell me how you can see the formations or what you see.”

“I think it’s Nature’s Beauty because I didn’t see the runic patterns before.”

“So Space and some type of Plant Mana hybrid? That seems odd. Wonder why they did that?”

“What are you talking about?” Munro asked. “Doesn’t her sight render plants invisible?”

“It’s Wood Mana,” Hooligan stated. “I can semi see through it, but it has a distinct feel… why are you staring at me like that?”

Crow blinked and turned back to the table, but his mind was going so fast that he didn’t notice their weird looks. He’d always focused on using Origin or Source energy when creating his formations. He never thought about combining Mana, and while it might seem obvious, it took an epiphany to understand it. This entire trial used various sources of mana to maintain optimal power efficiency.

The power of a functional ecology, the balance it provides, and the conversion of mana were essentially a passive infinite energy source, provided the balance was kept. These passive energy sources were enough, provided the trial was inactive.

However, they were here, which is why the formation used his subconscious to talk to explain things. The ‘keys’ were arguably the genius of this place, which is what the artifacts were, formation keys. Only they were so much more than that. Since they were Soul-Linked, and each individual bound them with blood, they willingly allowed themselves to be cursed. It was similar to his Soul Burn in that it fed off his mana. The ring on his finger grew warm every time he activated a part of this massive formation because it was siphoning his mana to power that function.

The reason the artifact grew warm when he tried to use his other powers wasn’t that they were sealed, but rather the cursed artifact was siphoning off that mana. Prohibiting him from using powers it did not allow.

It also made sense that it warned them about forming teams to complete the Shrines because even now, the ring was warm, which meant his mana was helping keep this spatial pocket open. If their mana ran out, they’d fail and most likely have to start all over.

Since Hooligan could see the other pocket dimensions, Plant Mana was definitely used. She wasn’t wrong about sensing Wood Mana either, but that didn’t fit the scenario. Her ability primarily targeted Plant Mana and, to a much lesser extent, Wood. The barriers were powered by all sorts of mana which was why it was distorted, and she couldn’t see them directly.

“What are you doing?” Munro finally asked because Crow had remained still for a long time.

“Using my brain, you should try it sometime.”

“Listen, ass. You’ve been standing there for thirty minutes staring into nothing. My question was reasonable. Fuck, why do I want to punch you in the god damned face every time I talk to you?”

“He isn’t wrong,” Hooligan said. “Did you figure something out?”

“I’m not sure he’d understand it, but…” Crow didn’t feel anything he learned was a massive secret. With enough thought, time, and insight, most people will realize that the objects bound to them were technically cursed.

“You are certain?” Hooligan asked, and Munro looked at the wooden cuff on his arm with disgust.

“About as sure as I can be, but I’m sure what I understand is only a fraction of what this place can do or offer. It is a little daunting thinking that this is the kind of power that the upper realms can wield.”

“Forget about that. Let’s finish this and move on to the next one. Has either of you realized we could be here for years? If we solve one Shrine a month, that’s over two years to leave this place.” Munro seemed to come to an epiphany of his own.”

“Which brings me to another point. Time moves much faster here,” Crow said and grabbed the remaining objects and slid them into their corresponding holes. Once he finished, the spatial pocket collapsed, and the three of them were standing inside an empty shrine. A stone archway stood at the back of the room like a discarded doorway. It looked so plain that Crow had to look twice to realize it was there and anything but ordinary.

Through the archway, they could see the back of the shrine until Crow approached it. Each stone that made up the gate shimmered, and energy rippled out from them until the entire space was filled. After the ripples stopped and the surface energy field became placid, he could see Sanctuary on the other side.

“Fuck, what kind of luck is that? You actually have one of the gates on the innermost ring?” Hooligan asked.

“If you knew what I went through to get this, you wouldn’t call it luck.”

“Do we go back or carry on?”

“Carry on,” Munro said. “There is no point in going back. We stocked up in the cafeteria. We can travel for months without needing to return.”

Crow shrugged at Hooligan. “Sure, we go south first, and we’ll make a loop around Raven’s Beak. Every five Shrines, we’ll go back to Sanctuary for a week to sleep, eat, and train our artifact skills. Before you throw a fit, we can’t rush through it, or we’ll die. I don’t believe they’ll all be this easy. And… we are staying here for the night, it’s already late. We’ll head out first thing in the morning.”

“Fine.”

They chose a spot near the portal in the back of the Shrine and set up their bedding. Crow asked Lily to keep an eye out and went to sleep. The other two looked at him as if he was insane. They didn’t believe he was really going to sleep. Hooligan and Munro chose to cultivate and analyze their skill.

In the following days, it became a routine. One of them would sleep, while the other two stayed up to cultivate and keep watch.