"Why have they suddenly disappeared?" some in the crowd cried out. The water mirror had turned blank. They could no longer see Amarok nor the others.

The Aetherial Midrel too was clueless; everyone turned to the Arcana elder. But his expression said he too didn't understand what was happening. This was the very first time something like that had happened.

He could still feel his rune active, meaning they were still alive, but where they had gone to now, he had no idea.

The arcana elder had a bad feeling. He excused himself to Midrel and left in a hurry.

"Did they die?" someone timidly asked what everyone wanted to know. "All of them at once? Looks like the special test is on a completely different level," Kleid said. He was delighted; if Amarok was dead, then good. The peasant had dared to go against him; the universe had delivered the judgment before he could. At the same time, he felt a little empty; he wanted to kill Amarok himself. Sight it was not possible now.

"Don't ask me," Mist halted Joan before he could open his mouth. She was slightly worried but believed he wouldn't die like this. Joan could only hope as he stared at the water mirror. He had no whatsoever relationship with Amarok, but he was Mist's friend, and that was enough.

...

The duo landed hard on a flat surface. Amarok gritted his teeth, taking his head down; he could see the magnificent face of Lyra. She had started regaining some colors.

"Will you mind getting off me, please?" she said slightly embarrassed, tilting her head to the side.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Amarok quickly jumped up. He grimaced from the sudden movement.

"There are better places for that," a familiar voice broke the awkwardness. "You," Lyra stood up.

"Yes, me. You're the last to arrive, but I understand you were slightly occupied," Jorah added with a smirk.

Amarok felt the urge to punch his face but decided to ignore him. He glanced upward; a huge hole could be seen above. They had fallen into some sort of building.

Casting his gaze over, he could see two more people. "What took you so much time?" Kinty asked perplexed. He was currently seated on the ground, cleaning his sword. Despite his nonchalant behavior, Amarok could see the blood at the corner of his mouth and on his dress.

The other was a girl. She stood on her side, observing the hall with curiosity. She just glanced at Amarok and Lyra for a few seconds before ignoring them. She wore a combat robe which had some serious scratches. Her hair slightly disheveled.

Yet the most frightening was Jorah. His upper body was now bare, and a huge wound trailed down from the left to the right on his chest. He looked nonchalant, as if he didn't care. Amarok's body trembled; in comparison, his wounds seemed laughable.

"We are all here; I think we can try once more," Jorah said, staring at them. Amarok and Lyra were clueless. "It will be useless even if we were ten of us," the lady said.

"The runes here date from the era of the Lurkthralids, the era of Elara Wizeldof Grimgar. The Guardian puzzle was certainly created by someone of that time," she explained.

Amarok's curiosity was piqued. Who were the Lurkthralids? No matter the answer, he knew it was certainly not simple. Anything related to the era of Elara was considered a great treasure today. If that was really the case, it would be better to return to inform Alden Academy.

"Are you not all curious? This is an unexplored relic. Do you have any idea of all the unique runes we could find here? We could become rich overnight," Jorah said with gleaming eyes. What was an unexplored relic? A place that usually didn't belong to their era, having tons of treasure and unique runes that had never been seen yet. Usually, at their level, they couldn't even dream of getting close to one. One needed to be at the fourth rank rune warrior Smith or Rune Sorcerer Smith to be able to explore this place. But Jorah saw it the other way; even if they could not obtain everything, what they could get could be invaluable.

"Have you forgotten how we earn new runes?" Jorah continued.

"Don't take us for morons. We aren't all stupid," Kinty suddenly spoke. Amarok raised an eyebrow; were they targeting him?

"I am not risking my life for your greed," the girl called Silvia spoke, stepping back.

"I don't think it's a good idea. We are not strong enough," Lyra shook her head. She wasn't afraid, far from that; she was literally burning with excitement. But the risk was simply too high; it was suicidal. What's more, she was not at her peak.

Amarok too was tempted. An unexplored relic. He knew from what Neo had taught him; there were three ways to acquire new runes. One was designing it yourself, but it was the hardest and often required decades of practice, and the results were unpredictable. The other was to learn existing ones from academies or influential noble families. Finally, the last and favored way for everyone was exploring relics. It was considered the most dangerous way, but also the one that ensured a semblance of equality for those who could not join powerful noble families or attain great schools.

He was itching to find out what was ahead of them, but he remained conscious. Lyra was right; they could not survive in that place at their current level.

"We will leave now," Amarok said. They still had to catch five Luminous Silk, and they currently had none. He knew their time here was not eternal; the Rune Morphic Bubbles would not last forever. The rune circle in his palm was almost completely wiped; he wasn't certain, but guessed it marked the end of the test.

"I guess next time," Kinty said with slight reluctance. He really wanted to go in; that could be the chance. He knew that bastard would not even hesitate a second and would jump on the opportunity. But he had to remain cool-headed; if he died, all he had done until now would be in vain. He tightened his fist; there was no way it would end like that. That bastard would have to pay, and for that, he needed to stay alive. Kinty said to himself.

"You're all a bunch of fearful and loyal dogs. This is the opportunity. My opportunity. I am not going to be like him. I am not going to let this pass," Jorah's face darkened as he spoke.

"Where do you all think you're going?" Jorah's harsh voice sliced through them. They halted their steps.