Chapter 90

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 90

Chapter Title: Oracle's Stele (3)

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As I stopped walking, a crunch echoed from beneath my feet.

I had found the location Anonymous (1) mentioned.

To be precise, I had reached its vicinity.

Still, it felt safer to send something ahead first rather than approaching directly myself.

I hastily created a clone nearby. It was a rough makeshift form, but it was enough to share vision and scout the surroundings.

Of course, if it truly was the Oracle's Stele, I would go there myself in the end.

This clone was purely for reconnaissance. I embedded a crystal fixed with Aru's Primordial Mana in its bosom and sent it up.

In the photo, the surrounding snow had been completely dug out, but due to the passage of time, it had refilled in the interim.

However, comparing it to the nearby terrain, that spot alone was noticeably lower.

For now, there was no choice but to have the clone dig out the snow.

I never realized how inconvenient it could be to cast magic through a clone.

As the clone shoveled away the snow, the top of the stele soon revealed itself. It cleared the rest as well.

The fully exposed stele.

Its base was still buried in ice, but otherwise, it matched exactly what I had seen.

Anonymous (1) must have discovered ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it by excavating down to the ice beneath the snow.

Was it originally completely encased in ice?

Even so, for it to remain perfectly preserved over an indeterminable span of time was astonishing.

The human Transcendents had protected their stele with a barrier, but this one had no such measure.

It stood boldly in the heart of the snow mountains...

The stele itself exuded an extraordinary aura.

I manipulated the clone to retrieve the crystal from its bosom. It was Aru's Primordial Mana crystal.

As I brought it close to the stele, text emerged on its surface.

- An attribute is one of the fundamental entities forming the primal order of all things, and its basic manipulation lies not in harmony, but in dominance.

'Is this about attributes?'

I quickly scanned the lower section.

- This concerns the order before creation.

- The primordial glyph, formed by layers upon layers of interlocking engravings into a complete structure.

- Among them, the cold.

It seemed to mean that attributes possessed primordial glyphs.

Primordial glyph...

It must refer to what I call patterns.

Suddenly, my mind flashed to the intricate glyph carved into the surface of the massive tree behind the Hero's Tomb.

I paused my thoughts for a moment and had the clone return the orb to its bosom.

Below that, it delved into detailed explanations of the glyph.

I roughly covered it with my eyes again and had the clone pace around the area for a good while.

After lingering persistently with no reactions from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the surroundings, I began ascending myself.

As I climbed, I pondered.

'Should I take the stele with me?'

That would be best.

Now that I had confirmed it was indeed the Oracle's Stele, its inscriptions surely held profound meaning, and properly analyzing them would require considerable time.

I stepped onto the snowy plain and headed straight there.

With a light magical push, I swept away the snow I had covered it with, fully exposing the stele.

And the moment I placed my hand on it.

A flash—my vision turned pure white.

It lasted but an instant. Like blinking once.

When my sight returned to normal, the stele where I had touched was gone.

The vanished stele had transferred to... my consciousness.

The Hero's Tomb.

'So touching it pulls it into my consciousness?'

I drew in the cold air and sorted my thoughts.

I knew that even when entering my consciousness, my body remained in reality, but this stele had fully shifted into my consciousness.

Feeling dazed, I suddenly froze at a realization that hit me late.

The Oracle's Stele from the human Transcendent group.

I hadn't touched that one.

Marron had layered it with a protective barrier and handled it preciously, warning me not to touch it.

I had only revealed the text with Primordial Mana.

'If I had touched it then...'

It would have led to an overwhelming complication.

A wave of relief washed over my chest.

There was no longer any reason to linger here.

I had intended to relocate the stele, but merely touching it had swiftly brought it into my consciousness. Mission accomplished, in a sense.

I hurriedly descended the mountain.

Then, finding a suitable spot, I settled and entered my consciousness.

The Hero's Tomb, shrouded in thick fog.

Originally, there had been two steles placed there.

One was the ancient hero's epitaph, the other a prophecy for the successor.

Now a third stele had been added beside them. The very one I had touched in the snow mountains.

Its base had clearly been buried in ice, yet now no such trace remained. As if only the stele had been neatly pulled into my consciousness.

I examined the inscriptions I hadn't fully checked before.

The stele's lower section detailed the primordial glyph of cold.

Suddenly, I recalled hoping this new stele might fill the gap after the creation system.

A slight disappointment crept in that the entire stele focused solely on the cold glyph.

But my thinking soon shifted.

The stele stated that this primordial glyph concerned the order before creation.

Perhaps the 'primordial glyphs' themselves were the path leading to creation.

'Does handling all attributes as I do now prevent fully grasping their principles?'

I was still at the relay of principles in the creation system, so I didn't know what further enlightenment lay beyond.

The first Oracle's Stele I found had said one could reach the origin only upon fully comprehending the principles.

Primordial Mana was close to attributeless. Primordial glyphs dealt with attributes regardless. Understanding the order of attributes would surely yield insights into Primordial Mana as well.

Once I knew the primordials of all attributes.

Containing knowledge of every attribute's primordial in a single stele would have been impossible.

'Of all things, the first one I found deals with cold... What a coincidence.'

Cold was the attribute I handled best and felt instinctively familiar with.

It almost felt fated that the first stele I encountered concerned the cold glyph.

'If the snow mountains hold the cold stele, do I need to visit a volcanic region for fire?'

I set aside the idle thought and refocused on the stele.

The stele explained the primordial cold glyph.

I decided to convert my mana pattern according to its structure.

Following the stele's instructions, I transformed the mana pattern.

It was just a handful of mana in my palm, but reshaping the pattern proved far more difficult than anticipated. I tried repeatedly to form the precise glyph model.

Having forged countless patterns before, I adapted quickly.

Over time, the glyph's perfect form began to take shape.

And finally, I completed the primordial cold pattern.

The moment the mana took on that pattern, the air around my floating palm suddenly grew heavy.

As if weighed down.

It was merely a sensory impression, but I simultaneously realized the mana now held vastly more.

"Oh..."

An exclamation escaped me involuntarily.

The instant I imbued the mana with the attribute to freeze it.

What should have produced a mere handful of frost instead formed a massive chunk.

A reaction at least ten times stronger than before.

The ice block was larger than my palm.

Containing that much power.

With this level of force, was there even a need to weave it into a spell formula?

It was already a complete, overwhelming power in itself.

I pondered this because of the clones.

I had repeatedly failed to wield magic through clones. To manifest spells via a clone required sending complex spell formulas, calculations, and activation will through the link connecting us.

Thus, I concluded clones made from Aru's Primordial Mana couldn't use magic.

But if no spell formula was needed, that process became obsolete.

Engraving the primordial pattern turned mana itself into power.

Though limited to cold, for now...

Until I reached the origin and wielded true Primordial Mana, this would be immensely helpful.

I felt it was time to inform Anonymous (1) that I had confirmed it.

Before exiting my consciousness, I took one last look around.

My gaze turned to the towering ancient tree.

With Aru's Primordial Mana illuminating the surroundings, the intricate glyph etched into its grain was visible.

The tree was so massive I couldn't take in the glyph at a glance. And it was interwoven with dizzying complexity.

Tracing it visually without familiarity felt like getting lost in a labyrinth.

'I'll examine it properly later.'

I exited my consciousness.