Still Learning To Live As A Cultivator

Chapter Seventy - We find a way through the array by accident

They chose to return to the surface, suffering rumbling stomachs after so long in the depths of the ruins.  This meal was another barbecue, this time of bird meat.  The intention was there to boil the bones and remnant meat for a breakfast soup, only it happened that the fowl were more feathers than flesh and the bones were delicate and hollow, not wise for stewing in water overlong.  So Leon picked wild vegetables and found roots.  It was not as tasty, but it was enough to soak their dry rations in and fill their stomachs.

They took shelter for the night in the shallower slope of the tunnel, staying out of the wind and any potential rain that might fall, before breaking their fast and continuing on with their trials.

As was the case yesterday, the tunnel seemed to continue on endlessly into the dim darkness beyond the light of their mage globes and the steps shallow beneath their feet, but never stopping in descent. They inched their way forward, Roman scanning over the walls for each and any clue on how to escape the array holding their progress at bay. It was monotonous, tedious and they had lapsed into silence sometime ago, having nothing more to say.

Leon couldn't help but try to muffle an overwhelming yawn, but it still escaped from his lips, his eyes fluttering shut as it did so. Caelus side glanced at him briefly with an inward sneer.

"Anything, Roman?" Pike asked, pausing as he did so. The gangly youth, who just sighed and shook his head, thinking of how to respond.

"The walls look... are all natural," he mentioned. "Just carved out of the rock underground. I can't find any hidden switches, no places to push, or exits that allude the eye. Nothing."

They couldn't help but scratch their heads in frustration. Whoever created the array did so cleverly, for there was no obvious exit to breach. To pace slowly from the marker they placed until finding that same marker appear before them once more thanks to the array's loop had taken them about a shichen, thanks in part to Roman's meticulous examinations. And yet, they might as well consider themselves right back at the beginning.

"Wait, where's Leon?" Velana asked suddenly. They all glanced around.

Caelus frowned. "He was just here a moment ago," he informed them, not adding that he was yawning with no discretion, like a broad mouthed fish.

"Velana," Pike turned to her and she nodded, understanding what he wanted without need for instruction and she and the tri-coloured fox rushed back up the tunnel steps quickly.

"Leon's not the sort to rush off on his own," Troy voiced an opinion, which Pike agreed with and Roman couldn't help but add conjecture.

"You don't think... he managed to slip through the array?"

Caelus sneered once more, this time visibly. "How is that possible? I was right next to him. I would have noticed if he did something to break through the array!"

Velana returned as swiftly as she had left. "He is not on the surface," she advised them, shortly. Volune had not found his scent either or at least, nothing fresher than what was left mingling amongst the rest of the team's during the last time they ventured above ground.

"Probably wandered ahead," Caelus believed. The youth had his eyes shut a bit when he was yawning after all. Probably hadn't noticed them stop.

Pike thought about this for a moment, the frown still marring his forehead, but in the end he nodded. Leon was sensible, he would double back when he realised that they hadn't kept up with him. "Velana, would you mind?"

The woman nodded again, agreeing to wait at the point where the steps became steep, where the reach of the array did not seem to extend. If Leon reversed his steps, he would likely end up back at this point. Once the others had breached the array, they would come back for them.