CHAPTER 426: CHAPTER 426. ALERT IN TIME

The moment Kailen and company went through the teleportation gate, they appeared in an extremely different region from where they used to be.

However they were still in the sea realm.

Before them, was a vast region stretching for as far as the eyes could see.

There were various pyramid looking buildings before them that stretched for as far as the eyes could see.

From a single glance, one could realize that the whole place was completely deserted and that this place was very old.

"Ancient ruins?" Ethan couldn’t help but mutter.

"What’s that?" Charles asked with curiosity.

"Ancient ruins are usually leftovers of lost civilisations that existed a long time ago in the universe. They usually contain leftover artifacts, manuals and sometimes cultivation secrets from that ancient civilization. In fact, sometimes, they even contain inheritances from powerhouses from that civilisation," Esimo continued.

"But these inheritances cannot be easily obtained. One usually have to go through various inheritance trials to obtain them."

"Does that mean that we stand a chance of obtaining top tier cultivation techniques if we manage to come across these inheritance trials and pass them?" Arrie asked.

This time Kailen replied, "Yes, that’s definitely the case. According to the scouting my shadow creature did, this place is not completely deserted. There are hideous creatures roaming this place. So we have to move with certainty."

Micheal seemed to be on deep thought for a moment until he replied, "The best thing to do now is to visit the place where the enlightenment Fragments Kailen spoke about are and try to increase our strength as much as possible before we try to explore this place."

Everyone nodded at Michael’s words.

In fact this was what they were all thinking.

"Exactly, my shadow creature could not explore the whole place, but the location of the enlightenment fragments will not be a problem. As a matter of fact, one of my shadow creatures is scouting there at the moment. Everyone hold my hand."

Everyone did as Kailen had said.

"Umbral replacement," Kailen muttered underneath his breath.

After this, they felt something cloud their vision until they appeared in an extremely different region.

Everyone took a glance at their surroundings.

There were a lot of runes on the floor of where they stood.

The runes were glowing with golden light, which flickered as if it was glowing brightly in one moment and glowing faintly in the next moment.

This was all they could perceive in this place. There was nothing in sight, just that they were standing on a large expanse with runes glowing.

"What sort of runes are these? They are too complicated to grasp. It requires an extremely deep level of understanding of runes and experience in runesmithery to grasp. I don’t think even a rank 3 runesmith, who has been a runesmith for an extremely long period of time, have studied rune alphabets for long and have deeper level of familiarity with the intricacies of runesmithery can make sense of these runes!"

The moment Anaya spoke, everyone could not help but gasp.

What sort of runes were these that even a rank 3 runesmith, a runesmith whose runes could affect a supreme stage galactic level lifeform, could not understand?

However Kailen suddenly moved forward.

He squatted, hands tracing on the runes as he muttered deeply to himself, "The focus is not the level of power these runes have, but the level of understanding of runes a runesmith has in order to understand the pattern and flow of rune alphabets in them.

As if the pieces of a puzzle had come together in his mind, he started writing certain runes on the floor as he muttered, "These runes are incomplete, a part of a whole. And someone has to complete the runes for the door to open."

Under their gazes, Kailen skillfully moved from one perimeter of where they stood with preternatural swiftness and skill, golden runes shimmering softly to life wherever his hands passed.

As they observed Kailen work, Arnold could not help but notice something.

"The runes are not glowing softly anymore. They are starting to grow brighter, and they don’t flicker anymore."

"Is he completing the runes? Runes that even rank 3 runesmiths may struggle to understand? It’s no coincidence that his understanding of runesmithery is very high, but this is extremely terrifying!"

Anaya was the runesmith amongst them, so she understood the gravity of what Kailen was doing.

For someone his age to have this level of rune skill proficiency in runesmithery at his age, should not be possible.

From her reaction, everyone understood the monstrosity of what Kailen was doing.

"Arrie be honest with me, is Kailen really 17 years old?"

Arrie was not even the one to answer Anaya. This time it was Micheal.

"Apart from little Felicia, Kailen is the youngest person in our circle."

He sighed.

"Let me give you all a piece of advice. This guy is simply an anomaly, so don’t judge anything he does by even the standard of geniuses, he’s a monster. See it like that, and although his actions will shock you, the impact won’t be too much okay."

Everyone nodded absentmindedly, as the whole place started to rumble.

"Its opening," Kailen yawned lightly as he alerted them.

Everyone immediately floated as they stared expectantly at what lay beneath this place.

The Enlightenment Fragments Kailen was talking about.

The opening was revealed to be an entire sky.

That’s right, an entire sky.

A sky in the sea realm.

"Ladies first? Or should I take the lead?" Kailen stared at the ladies with some sort of innocent smile.

"Yeah I don’t think ladies first applies in this kind of—"

Before Everlong could finish talking, Arrie jumped into the opening.

"That’s my girl."

After this, Kailen jumped in, after which everyone else followed.

Kailen and Arrie stood side by side observing the place with curiosity and carefulness on their faces.

They realised the sky they saw earlier was just some sort of illusion because, they were currently in a very large library that stretched for as long as the eyes could see.

Kailen was about to use his shadow sense, elemental mirroring and perception to scan the place for any signs of danger.

"Don’t worry, this place is not dangerous. But the fragments, it seems the powerhouses that left them here do not intend to make it easy for anyone who comes across them."

The voice of the time Dilation Artifact rang in Kailen’s mind.

"What do you mean, golden finger?"

"Unlike the enlightenment left behind on the Sword Conclave Mountain in the Astral Empire Academy, this place is extremely different. You only get one chance to choose a fragment, and if you pick a manual which is not suitable for you, you will be trapped in an illusion for the rest of your life."

"There’s really no free meal huh," Kailen couldn’t help but mutter.

"Exactly. The powerhouses who left the fragments behind added these conditions behind to hint that if someone is meant to get something meant for them from here, they will get it from here and if they are not meant to, they won’t."

"So they intend to say if you are fated to get a fragment suited for you, you will leave here alive, if you are not suited for a fragment meant for you, you will die?"

Were all powerhouses such lunatics?

"Can you do something about this, golden finger?"

The time dilation artifact was silent for a moment and then she replied.

"Hmph! Tsk! Cheap kid, always seeking the easy way out. Anyway, since I’m in a good mood. I will help you and your friends out on this one."

"Thank you."

Kailen expressed his appreciation, ignoring her tsundere-like antics.

It may seem like a long time from when Kailen started communicating with the Time Dilation Artifact after landing here with Arrie but not even a moment had passed.

"Incredible."

"All of these are enlightenment fragments?"

"Wow. Looks like we really hit the jackpot this time."

"Let’s not waste any time here and start looking through the fragments."

Kailen heard his friends were enthusiastic to touch the fragment.

Arrie noticed his expression and asked, "Babe are you okay?"

"Don’t touch anything for now babe."

He turned to the others and quickly spoke to them.

"Guys don’t touch anything for now."

Fortunately, he alerted them in time.