According to the map's markings, the closest of the two remaining Elemental Stones was the Wind Stone, located on the northern high platform.
Byrne retraced his steps. After exiting the grotto, he followed the guidance of the map in his mind and set off toward the northern heights. The green light from the Water Stone had already vanished, and the cooldown was counting down once more. For the remainder of the journey, he had to be even more cautious.
The path from the grotto to the high platform was more rugged than expected. Aided by his Mind's Eye, Byrne could clearly capture the contours of his surroundings. The ground was no longer composed of flat stone slabs or soft soil; instead, it was a mess of intersecting rubble and steep slopes. Every step had to be firm and steady, as a single slip could result in a dangerous fall.
After walking for over half an hour, the slope ahead suddenly leveled out, and his "vision" opened up slightly. Byrne stopped, concentrating his senses on the surroundings. Aside from his own breathing and heartbeat, there was only the sound of airflow whistling through the cracks in the stone walls. The sound rose and fell with an eerie rhythm, sounding somewhat like human whispers.
Byrne looked up. A stone platform, nearly twenty stories high, stood abruptly on a steep slope—the very location marked on his map. The platform was built from blocks of blue-black rock, with the gaps between layers filled with grey-white moss. Due to years of erosion by air currents, the walls were covered in pits and gouges of varying depths, looking as if they had been clawed by countless talons. The top was not a flat surface but rose slightly in a curved arc.
Byrne walked to the base and circled the platform, but found no entrance.
No way. Does it want me to climb up?
Byrne stared up at the high platform, his brow furrowed. The walls were steep, and aside from the scattered gouges and moss-covered cracks, he saw no obvious handholds. Climbing to such a height would be no different from a suicide mission if he accidentally fell.
While he had the "Time Regress" ability, it was currently Monday. A reset would take him back to the previous week. Since the Rule Refreshes were randomly generated, by the time he reached Monday again, the blood-red rules might be entirely different from his current run. This meant that everything he had experienced today would be rendered void.
Byrne circled the platform twice more, his fingertips repeatedly rubbing the gouges in the wall, trying to find a hidden mechanism. However, the edges of these gouges were rough and the marks chaotic—clearly the result of natural erosion rather than man-made carving. The rocks at the base were firmly connected to the ground, with no sign of loosening or the possibility of a secret door.
With his Mind's Eye fully active, Byrne focused his consciousness to the highest degree, meticulously searching every inch of the walls. The patterns of the moss, the seams of the stone layers, and the silhouette of the curved top were all clearly projected into his mind.
Suddenly, he noticed that on the western wall, several gouges were distributed in a remarkably regular pattern. Unlike the chaos elsewhere, they formed a faint upward trajectory, like a primitive set of steps. Byrne leaned in for a closer look. These regular gouges were about half an inch deep—just enough to accommodate half a palm—and spaced about a meter apart, matching the stride of a climb.
Heh. Hidden quite well.
If not for the careful observation afforded by his Mind's Eye, he likely would have overlooked it. Byrne felt a slight relief and hooked his fingers into the nearest gouge. He tested it briefly; the texture was hard and stable, seemingly enough to support his weight. Although it didn't change the fact that he had to climb, discovering these handholds made the task significantly less difficult.
The wall was nearly vertical. Every meter he moved upward required him to precisely locate the next gouge while maintaining his balance. Earlier, while obtaining the Earth Stone, he had suffered a minor ankle injury; fortunately, the injury had mostly healed during the walk here.
When he reached a height of about five stories, the air currents suddenly grew turbulent. Wind howled down from the gaps at the top, carrying fine dust that stung his face. Byrne instinctively turned his head to avoid it, but his center of gravity shifted, causing his body to sway. His right hand nearly slipped from the gouge.
His heart raced. He quickly jammed his left leg into a stone crack above and gripped another gouge tightly with his left hand. Only after his body stabilized did he slowly exhale a breath of turbid air.
Through his Mind's Eye, Byrne noticed a faint pattern of airflow swirling around the top of the platform. These patterns flowed like living things, faintly echoing the attributes of the Wind Stone. It seemed that the closer he got to the stone, the more the environment was influenced by it, and the difficulty of the climb increased accordingly.
As he continued upward, the wind became increasingly violent, almost threatening to peel him off the wall. He had to slow down, pausing for a moment with every move to wait for the gusts to subside. The gouges grew shallower, and some areas were covered in thick, wet moss that could cause a slip at any moment.
At ten stories high, a gouge suddenly crumbled. Byrne's right foot instantly stepped into empty air. He was left hanging on the wall by only his left hand, his body swinging violently in the void. He gritted his teeth, used the momentum of his swing to kick his right leg hard against the wall, and managed to catch his toe in a narrow crack.
Byrne took a moment to recover, then slowly hooked his right hand into a deeper gouge above him, finally stabilizing his position. After adjusting his breathing, he set off again. This time, he stopped trying to ascend quickly. Instead, he moved in rhythm with the wind—clinging to the wall when the gusts were violent and climbing when they calmed. His Mind's Eye worked at full capacity, pre-judging the stability of every gouge and avoiding areas with thick moss or loose stone.
After an unknown amount of time, the stone surface beneath him finally leveled out. Taking advantage of a lull in the wind, Byrne lunged upward and landed steadily on the top of the platform.
The moment he landed, he was enveloped by a violent surge of air. The curved design of the platform concentrated the wind, and the howling currents acted like countless invisible palms, pushing him toward the edge. He quickly crouched down, his hands death-gripped onto the rough stone patterns to steady himself.
Using his Mind's Eye, he saw the full view of the platform's top. The curved surface was covered in spiral-shaped grooves, and the air flowed rapidly along them, forming a vortex about two meters in diameter at the center. Nearby rubble and dust were sucked in, creating a piercing whistle. The Wind Stone was hidden within that vortex.
Fortunately, the vortex looked more frightening than it actually was; the wind speed wasn't overwhelming. As long as he kept his center of gravity low and moved slowly, he could get close.
However, Byrne hadn't expected that the closer he got to the vortex, the more the wind speed would climb. The air currents, which had been relatively mild, were now as sharp as blades. He had to stop, bracing his knee against a rock half-embedded in the surface, using its resistance to hold his ground.
At this moment, the diamond-shaped Wind Stone was suspended right in the center of the cyclone, its surface entwined with fine threads of airflow, perfectly integrated with the surrounding vortex.