Chapter 3: Natural Runes (Part 1)

As soon as the two senior archmages rushed out of the passage, they saw Guo Shier driving the Ancient Ink Lotus toward them. Frightened, they let out shrill cries and turned to run. Countless passages appeared and disappeared on the walls of the circular space, and without hesitation, the two rushed into one of them, too afraid to resist.

Watching them disappear into the passage, Guo Shier controlled the Ancient Ink Lotus to stop and said, “They really run fast!”

The old man with the handsome appearance chuckled and said, “They think you’re an expert at altars, so of course they run. Otherwise, would they stay here to die? Ignore them. Let’s head to the center and see if we can extract natural runes.”

He once again guided the Ancient Ink Lotus to the vicinity of the center. This time, the old man was more cautious. He first activated the Ancient Ink Lotus’s protective mechanisms and cast a series of virtual runes at the center. Having lost some memories, he could only test the center’s reaction before making a decision.

This time, the virtual runes didn’t provoke a counterattack from the center but caused it to spin rapidly. A massive suction force suddenly appeared. The old man cursed, and the entire Ancient Ink Lotus was sucked into the center.

In an instant, Guo Shier and the others felt as if they had fallen into a huge pressure vessel. The terrifying pressure made it impossible to breathe; a sense of suffocation and death surged through them. Suddenly, the old man roared, “Damn it, open up!”

With a loud boom, Guo Shier and the others’ souls trembled violently, and their vision suddenly cleared.

Everything around them was blank—no boundaries, nothing above, below, left, right, or in front. Guo Shier said with a wry smile, “What place is this?”

The old man replied, “I don’t know!”

Eagle Demon asked, “Which way should we fly? How can there be nothing at all?”

Guo Shier said, “It seems we’re trapped… Old man, where could those natural runes you mentioned be?” He wasn’t panicked. Having seen many strange things, his resilience had grown strong. Even with nothing around him, he could think calmly.

The old man didn’t say much and drove the Ancient Ink Lotus forward.

A few hours later, the Ancient Ink Lotus stopped in the void. The old man was also at a loss. Everything around them remained empty—no boundaries, nothing to be seen. He couldn’t help but curse, “Damn it, what place is this?”

Guo Shier said, “We’re trapped!”

The old man sighed and said, “Strange… What the hell is this?”

Guo Shier said with a wry smile, “If you don’t know, who else could?”

The handsome old man said, “Hmm, I still have one more trick! Wait!” He slapped the top of the Ancient Ink Lotus sharply and cast several spells. Instantly, a strong wave of soul vibration spread out in a circular pattern in all directions. After sending out two such waves in succession, the handsome old man appeared somewhat weak. He said, “Wait! Don’t rush. If this trick doesn’t work, we’ll really be trapped.” His tone revealed great uncertainty. Guo Shier and the others sat on the Ancient Ink Lotus, waiting quietly. About a day later, a shock wave reflected back. Only then did Guo Shier understand the handsome old man’s method. It was like radar waves—once sent out, if any waves returned, it meant something was blocking the way, thus indicating the direction forward. In this void, one wasn’t afraid of anything, but rather of nothing around at all, for that would be true terror. The handsome old man became excited and said, “Great! That’s the direction!” He drove the Ancient Ink Lotus forward. A huge platform floated in the air. Guo Shier exclaimed, “Wow! Is this man-made or natural? It’s truly magnificent!” The handsome old man remained silent, guiding the Ancient Ink Lotus to the top of the platform to look down. Guo Shier pointed at the natural patterns on the platform and said, “Could these be natural runes?” Then he jumped off the Ancient Ink Lotus, followed by Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan. Driven by the handsome old man, the Ancient Ink Lotus landed on the platform, and only then did Guo Shier notice its uniqueness. The platform was grayish-blue, resembling stone, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be metal, with a faint metallic sheen. From a distance, its surface seemed smooth, but up close, it was uneven. The entire platform covered an area of several kilometers square, looking like a flat slab floating in the air. On the platform was a massive natural rune that covered almost the entire surface. Guo Shier reached out to touch the rune’s surface and wondered, “With such a large rune, how can we harvest it?” The handsome old man smiled and said, “It’s fine if you can’t see or find it. Now that we’ve found it, it’s easy. Hehe, luckily I got quite a few useful materials from the sacrificial treasure fragments; otherwise, it would have been troublesome.” Soon, the handsome old man created a small talisman, what was known as a talisman base. Guo Shier glanced at the talisman in the handsome old man’s hand, then looked down at the platform, and couldn’t help but say, “Handsome Old Man, why do I feel like this platform is also a talisman?” The handsome old man replied, “It’s already a talisman; it’s just very large.”

Guo Shier said, “It’s impossible. Who could forge such a large talisman?”
The old man in elegant robes dismissed it as a fuss. “Why such a big deal? Isn’t your Ancient Ink Lotus formed naturally? The runes on the mutated talisman beasts also grow naturally—what’s so strange about that?” He wasn’t surprised by the natural runes that appeared in this world and didn’t try to figure out why they existed.
With memories from his past life, Guo Shier was astonished by these naturally formed runes, as he couldn’t understand how such strange things could exist in this world.
The old man said, “Alright, you two step back from the platform and wait outside. I’ll retrieve this rune.”
Guo Shier and Yingmo Luo Zhan flew into the air. As they moved farther away, he could see the rune clearly. “Strange,” he said. “I don’t recognize this rune script.” He knew many runes and ancient runes, but he had never seen this one before.
The runes were different from the scripts of his past life, but the principle was similar—each character represented a meaning, much more concise than the scripts of his past life. Most of them were like nouns in his past life, serving explanatory purposes. However, runes also differed greatly from those scripts because, when activated by the soul, they could unleash various abilities.
A skill or ability could be expressed using just a few or a dozen rune phrases—these were essential knowledge for those who practiced magic.
Natural runes, on the other hand, were different from ordinary runes and ancient runes. A natural rune represented an extreme interpretation of a meaning or a clear definition of a certain attribute. Such runes couldn’t be written using the soul; instead, they had to be captured using special talismans and activated through soul projection, possessing astonishing power.
The old man smiled and said, “What good luck! Hehe. I still don’t know what kind of rune script this is. I’ll find out once I retrieve it.” With that, he cast a spell, and the talisman core in his hand flew out, forming a small, unremarkable light dot suspended in the air.
Another spell was cast.
Guo Shier saw the light dot suddenly expand. A glass-like talisman core grew rapidly, soon reaching the size of the platform below, leaving him stunned. When the talisman core swelled to the size of the platform, the old man cast a few more spells before diving straight into it.

Gradually, the entire rune base began to change. In moments, it became almost identical to the platform, down to the smallest details. The handsome old man explained with a smile, “If it weren’t the same, we wouldn’t be able to obtain this rune.”

In Guo Shier’s eyes, the rune base was transparent while the platform was solid—there was a huge difference between them. Yet their shapes were now exactly the same, as if cast from the same mold.

The handsome old man waved his hands, creating countless illusions. Numerous virtual runes fell like a rainstorm and merged into the rune base.

Countless thread-like strands extended from the rune base and penetrated the platform. Soon, the entire platform began to crack, with a series of loud cracking sounds.

Guo Shier watched intently, holding his breath. Eagle Demon asked, “What is the handsome old man doing? Is he trying to destroy this platform?”

Luo Zhan replied, “I don’t know, but… this platform is about to be destroyed.”

A large amount of smoke and dust emerged, along with countless tiny fragments. The handsome old man cast another set of spells, and a fierce wind appeared out of nowhere, blowing away the fragments and dust with a loud gust.

The thread-like strands extending from the rune base fixed the natural runes. Waves of oscillating energy removed any excess material around them, leaving only the runes themselves. This novel method surprised Guo Shier greatly.

After a while, more smoke and dust along with fragments flew out. The remaining natural runes intertwined like vines, forming a three-dimensional rune that was so complex it was dizzying to look at—impossible to create using the soul.

Merge!

The handsome old man cast a few more spells. The huge transparent rune base sank downward, gradually fusing with the natural runes like glue.

Only then did Guo Shier understand. He knew this technique too—it was the so-called fusion and replacement method. He just hadn’t expected the handsome old man to go to such lengths as to create such a large rune base.

As time passed, the rune base gradually merged with the natural runes. Gu Mo Lian rotated slightly and landed beside Guo Shier. The handsome old man smiled and said, “I didn’t dare make any changes to this rune. Hehe, once it’s fully merged, I’ll use a sacrificial artifact to refine it. By then, we’ll know what this rune means.”

Guo Shier called out, then flew back to the top of Gu Mo Lian with Eagle Demon and Luo Zhan. He sat cross-legged and said with a smile, “This has taken a lot of time. Handsome old man, how are we going to get out?”

The handsome old man replied eagerly, “Don’t worry about that. Once we’ve secured this rune, a breakthrough might occur. Just wait—this world is full of wonders.”

Guo Shier had to admit that he too couldn’t fully understand this world. Nodding, he said, “Alright, I just don’t know if there are any other natural runes.”
The handsome old man replied, “Don’t be too greedy. I’m already very satisfied with this natural rune—it’s extremely rare. Finding just one is no easy task… In your Ancient Ink Lotus, only four complete natural runes have formed, along with a dozen or so incomplete ones, which is enough to constitute the world of the Ancient Ink Lotus.”
Guo Shier was amazed. “It’s that powerful?”
The handsome old man said, “Yes. Once you obtain this natural rune character, you can store it in your soul. You can use it by simply projecting this character—no need to write it with your soul. It’s not only convenient but also extremely powerful. The only hope is that this rune character is an explanation of some attribute.”
Guo Shier knew that attribute rune characters were the most fundamental components. For example, a fire character represented fire magic, allowing one to control the power of flames. Combined with other runes, it could create countless variations.
The handsome old man kept staring at the rune foundation. After some time, he smiled and said, “It’s done. I hope it can be preserved intact. Hehe, I used special methods to remove the useless impurities from the natural rune. It should be cleaned quite thoroughly.” With that, he made the Ancient Ink Lotus fly upward.
The rune foundation had completely replaced the original platform, with the natural rune perfectly integrated into it.
The handsome old man boasted proudly, “An old man’s skills are truly excellent! Great! Success or failure depends on this attempt. Haha, it’s amazing that an old man like me could obtain a natural rune!”
Guo Shier and Yingmo Luo listened in stunned silence as the handsome old man praised himself. The three of them still didn’t understand what a natural rune meant and thought it wasn’t that remarkable—just another rune, after all.
The handsome old man stretched out his hand and shouted, “Condense!”