Sylas felt that he finally understood.
The reason for starting with one core instead of an amalgamation of cores was that it set the precedent and tone for the rest of the movement.
But without this, there were too many potential cores to choose from. Just the first even grid had over 130 options. This made Sylas unsure of which direction to take things in.
He got lost in trying to find the proper combinations but didn't spend enough time trying to understand the guiding principle that allowed it all to work.
What was it that drove the Runes to fuse into one?
It was like Rune Visualization and Enlightenment all over again, but an application at a much higher level. In the Rune Visualization Secret Realm, he learned about geometry and how to "listen" to Runes and fit them into configurations their Strokes and Foundations most liked to be in.
In the Rune Enlightenment Secret Realm, he built on this, learning how to use the laws of the world around him to form Runes more naturally and fluidly.
Now, Rune Breath was just asking him to apply what he had already learned. Take it a step further, build on those principles, and display the true power of Runes.
Even if these were nonsense Runes, there was a guiding principle that brought it all together.
And if he stopped observing these Runes one by one and took a step back to observe them as a whole instead...
This time, Sylas only observed for a short while before his aura burst. He didn't even use his hands any longer, using his Rune Soul to apply pressure on the Runes before him so that they naturally flowed the way they were meant to.
The 16 Runes flashed and were sucked into a vortex. They didn't even bother to arrange themselves properly, flowing in a three-dimensional spiral pattern until they clamped together.
A blinding light, even fiercer than the last door, echoed out, and by the time Sylas' vision cleared, he was once again on the outside.
This time, he had still cheated a bit. He used the one core Rune to guide everything else. But still, it was much faster than before, where it took him an entire hour for a much simpler puzzle.
He stepped into the fourth door, facing off against the six-by-six grid in front of him. Now, there were no core Runes. He would once again have to find the two-by-two set that would work for the core... but this time it was even more difficult.
That was because encased around the core two-by-two grid was a four-by-four grid, all before the surrounding six-by-six.
He needed to find two working cores this time, increasing the problems several fold.
Sylas could feel his Wisdom really being pushed this time.
He knew that he couldn't have found the perfect method just yet. This Secret Realm was designed for those that had just grasped Rune Breath, but he was an entire two levels beyond that; it didn't make sense that he was struggling so much at door four when there were still five more.
However, giving up wasn't exactly in his vocabulary.
There was definitely something here. There was no doubt in his mind.
What Sylas didn't know was that he was struggling so much only because the Runes of Earth were so warped and twisted. What he was trying to do was the equivalent of getting an elite marathon runner to run in the Olympics with a weighted vest that doubled what he had to carry.
How could you use Rune Breath effectively when all the life of your world's Runes had practically been ruthlessly snuffed out?
The only reason Sylas could even begin to progress so much was because he had Rune Soul. But the more he pushed himself, the more his Wisdom began to tick up. He was so focused that he didn't notice his mind pressing against its barrier and leaping over its limits.
He pushed his Rune Soul to the limits, looking and searching for a breakthrough.
He didn't find it in the fourth door. It took him over an hour, even with his new insights, to make it to the next door.
Yet, the fifth door, as a result, took him no more than three minutes, even with the added complexity of a seven-by-seven grid.
When he faced off against the sixth door, his eyes were blazing as he faced the eight-by-eight grid.
He felt he was close. The Runes were calling out to him, almost begging to spring free of the
But they were stifled and boarded up. They couldn't show their true selves off, suffocated by the cancers growing through them and the damage to their laws.
The numbers of Sylas' unsuppressed Wisdom continued to rise. Although the Wisdom he could access now was only half of that, he didn't have a mind for it, trying to see through more, understand more.
Subconsciously, his Rune Soul and his Sixth Sense began to fuse in ways they weren't meant
The world of his visualization changed, and instead of seeing things in shapes, size, and color, his visualization began to see them as arrays of Runes.
He didn't see the color blue; he saw what Runes caused every other color to be absorbed. He didn't see walls; he saw the very laws and constructs that made them so sturdy. He didn't see people; he was starting to peer beyond, seeing the mesh of Runes that formed their Genes, the underlying specialness of their Blood Essence, and deeper than that...
There was a sudden surge as Sylas crossed the 1000 Wisdom barrier without realizing it in the slightest.
The suppression on his Mental rippled, and he shattered it, still not noticing in the slightest.
But he did suddenly find that his analysis accelerated, and then all of a sudden, he broke free of the sixth door.