Sylas had no intention of allowing the old man to dictate how things were going to go. There was a calmness to him right now that came from the assuredness and security in the path he was going down, and he still had too much to do, too much to handle, to even think about saving someone else right now.
He was on a time crunch.
He knew what Megean had likely done; he had personally seen the shift in the atmosphere after their last interaction. After he shut her down, she likely entered the Golden Grove Secret Realm.
That didn’t sound too crazy. After all, that was a place that Lorien had entered and survived.
But there were two types of ways to enter the Golden Grove Secret Realm.
The first path was to wait until the ideal times. There was something in their lore about the moon aligning with the stars.
This time was the safest to enter, and it was the moment the Golden Grove was at its calmest. It would also be on a time limit.
By entering then, the Golden Grove Secret Realm would be relatively safe for most, and though still filled with danger, it was the sort of danger that would help you grow rather than trying to take your life.
It was an excellent form of training that came with many opportunities, and Lorien had benefited a great deal from it—especially as someone that wasn’t from a world this powerful in the first place.
But Megean had entered through a secondary path.
The Golden Grove Secret Realm was technically always open, and entering during what they called “times of non-alignment” was as good as wishing for death.
In the recent history of the Golden Grove, not a single person had managed to enter and survive. They could only watch from the outside, waiting until their flames flickered out.
These so-called flames were known as Soul Kernels, formed whenever someone entered the Secret Realm, and it was the method by which people could tell if the one who entered was still alive or not.
Megean’s was still there, and it would likely be there for a very long while.
The truth was that many managed to survive for quite a while during this period, but even those with the most promising of entries all died the same way…
The moment the Time of Alignment came, their flames would be snuffed out without exception.
The Secret Realm had only just opened not long ago—that was how Lorien was able to enter. It would be months at least before the Time of Alignment came. But even then… there was no telling if Megean would die before then.
And no one dared to send in a rescue team.
Was Sylas tempted?
Not in the slightest.
He knew that the Secret Realm was tied to the secrets of the Golden Grove. But this concept of “Gold Races” was completely foreign to him. Even in the entire directory of Andromeda, there didn’t seem to be anything it spoke of.
Even so, who cared? There were probably countless Races out there with secrets of their own. Even Earth had one that was probably even more substantial.
That blacked-out statue wasn’t one that Sylas had forgotten. He knew that it was only a matter of time before those secrets of Earth came rearing their ugly heads and targeting him and his family in some way.
The worst part was that Megean was in the E-Grade, and building her Foundation at that, in preparation to enter the D-Grade. To ask him to go and save her was asking him to break into E-Grade first so that they would enter the same tier.
Or, even worse, they were asking Sylas to enter as he was and challenge a higher tier all on his own.
It wasn’t like he had thrown Megean in there of his own power. She chose to enter herself.
If Old Brama wanted to make sure that she didn’t make such a mistake, he should have learned to control his temper—he should have learned to think first and only act after he was sure of the situation.
But he hadn’t, and it had led things into a downward spiral.
Sylas had dealt with a great deal of nonsense since the Summoning began. He had been humiliated in all sorts of ways… he knew exactly how to rein in his temper.
Something this old man seemed entirely incapable of doing.
He had no one but himself to blame.
By the time he concluded his thoughts, Sylas had already entered the UniForm again and began to investigate the secrets of Sealing and Decoding.
Decoding was more straightforward in how it related to his eyes.
Decoding Rune Masters specialized in deconstructing Formations, breaking them down into their smallest parts, or finding their flaws.
Why should Sylas use up a great amount of energy to break apart an entire Formation, when he could target a weakness instead and break it down in that way?
If he targeted a weakness, then the entire Formation would crumble, and there wouldn’t be a need for him to use up anywhere near as much energy.
Decoding Runes involved a lot of calculations and deciphering. It was designed to comprehend the largest subsection of Runes possible without actually studying them all individually.
Basically, it was very good at grouping Runes together by their patterns and deciphering what they could do based on that alone.
Sealing Runes were the opposite side of that coin. They too were designed to comprehend the largest subsection of Runes possible without understanding them all individually, but instead for the purpose of either restraining them or taking control of them.
A Decoder should break a Formation; a Sealer could make it his own and wield it against an enemy.
Both had their merits, and just because a Sealer’s end result seemed better didn’t necessarily make it so. There were many applications where you would far rather have a Decoder.
What good was controlling a defensive Formation if you were stuck outside of it? Even if you broke into it first, you’d just be shielding both you and your enemies.
Once again, Sylas lost himself in the world of Runes, feeling a level of satisfaction he didn’t know was possible.