The group continued deeper into the ancient forest, leaving the barrier behind them as the enormous structure remained visible in the distance whenever the trees opened enough to reveal it.
Nobody had forgotten what they had seen.
Even Arthur kept glancing toward it between the massive trunks, trying to get a better look at the strange silhouette rising above the forest. From this distance, the broken structure was difficult to understand. Parts of it were hidden behind the canopy, while other sections rose high enough above the trees to catch the strange blue light drifting through the air.
It was enormous.
And the more Arthur looked at it, the more convinced he became that it wasn’t simply another ancient ruin.
Sun eventually broke the silence.
"So... are we all just going to ignore that giant thing?"
Arthur looked at him. "I wasn’t ignoring it."
"You’ve been staring at it every thirty seconds."
Arthur glanced back toward the distant structure. "I’m trying to figure out what it is."
Athena nodded. "That is what concerns me. From what we could see, its shape was remarkably similar to the Mirrors we’ve already encountered."
Mithra looked toward the distant silhouette. "Do you think it’s another Mirror?"
"It could be," Athena said. "But we don’t have enough information to confirm that yet."
Sun scratched his head. "If it really is one, that would mean there’s another Mirror hidden all the way up here."
Arthur smiled. "That’s what I’m thinking."
Luna had been unusually quiet since they entered the forest. She finally looked toward the structure as well, her expression thoughtful.
"The stories never mentioned anything like that."
Arthur looked at her. "Nothing?"
Luna shook her head. "My grandfather talked about the northern region, but most of what he knew came from stories passed down through generations. He mentioned ancient ruins, strange lights, and places that didn’t seem to follow the same rules as the rest of the Everglades, but I don’t remember anyone ever mentioning a structure that large."
Arthur’s curiosity deepened.
"So even the people who knew about this place didn’t know about that?"
"Not that I remember."
Athena looked toward the distant structure again. "That may simply mean nobody from your village ever reached this far."
Luna nodded slowly. "That’s possible."
Sun looked between them. "Which means we’re probably the first people from the village to actually walk around here."
Luna gave a small smile. "Probably."
Arthur looked ahead again.
"Then I guess we’ll be the ones to find out what it is."
Sun sighed. "I knew you were going to say that."
Arthur laughed. "What else would I say?"
"Something sensible."
"I am being sensible."
Athena glanced at him. "Your definition of sensible remains questionable."
Arthur smiled. "I’ll take that as a compliment. But maybe we can check out the compass to see."
"Oh right." Luna’s eyes widened before she took out the compass from her belongings and opened it. The needle immediately began trembling.
Everyone gathered around to see.
The needle spun once, slowed, and then settled firmly in the direction of the enormous structure rising beyond the trees.
Arthur stared at it.
Athena’s expression sharpened.
"It’s pointing directly toward it."
Mithra looked toward the distant structure. "Then there’s a pretty good chance that’s where the next Mirror is."
Sun folded his arms. "Assuming it actually is a Mirror."
Arthur looked down at the compass, then back toward the distant silhouette.
"There’s only one way to find out."
He started walking again.
Sun followed with a sigh. "Of course."
The group continued toward the structure, now with a clear destination in front of them. The enormous broken shape occasionally vanished behind the trees, but the compass continued pointing steadily toward it, as though whatever waited there had been calling them deeper into the forest from the moment they crossed the barrier.
For a while, nobody said anything.
Then Sun looked toward Arthur.
"You know... I’m still thinking about Rokkaku." He shook his head. "I knew he was strong. I didn’t realize he was that strong."
"Neither did I," Vedas said.
Arthur pointed out that they’d had the advantage at the beginning, catching Rokkaku during the Mirror Trial, attacking together, damaging him, even pushing him back. But that hadn’t been the full Rokkaku. "We were fighting someone who was already injured."
"And he was spending mana maintaining his formations and healing himself," Athena said.
"Once he stopped holding back," Arthur continued, "we couldn’t even move."
The group fell quiet as the memory settled over them again. None of them needed to say what they were thinking, because they’d all felt the same thing during that fight. No matter how well they coordinated, there had been a point where the difference in strength became too large for teamwork alone to overcome.
Sun finally broke the silence.
"We really couldn’t beat him."
Arthur looked ahead for a moment before answering.
"Not yet."
There was no despair in his voice. If anything, the defeat had made his determination stronger. They had seen what someone at Rokkaku’s level could do, and now they knew exactly how far they still had to go.
They couldn’t change what had happened, but they could make sure the next time they encountered someone like him, the result wasn’t decided before they even had a chance to fight.
Arthur remembered something. "The Agents surprised me."
"Because they came back?" Mithra asked.
"Yeah."
They discussed how unexpected it had been. The Agents had already left, free to keep chasing their own objectives, and instead they’d returned the moment they sensed the danger, interrupting Rokkaku’s final attack and saving everyone.
"I honestly thought they’d just leave us there," Sun said.
"So did I," Athena admitted.
"Yet they returned," Vedas said.
Arthur thought about Red, Blue, and Green, the way they’d attacked immediately, coordinated without wasting a word, fought Rokkaku while Arthur’s group handled the Spider General.
"They weren’t much stronger than him," he said.
"No," Athena agreed.
"They just knew how to fight him."
Arthur remained quiet for a moment, remembering the instant Red, Blue, and Green had returned. They hadn’t hesitated or wasted time asking what had happened. The moment they sensed Rokkaku’s attack, they’d moved.
"That’s what surprised me most," Arthur said. "They didn’t come back because they thought they could beat him. They came back because we were in danger."
Mithra looked thoughtful. "Which means they were willing to interrupt their own pursuit."
"Yeah."
Sun rubbed the back of his neck. "I still don’t completely understand those three."
"Neither do I," Arthur admitted.
Athena looked toward the forest ahead. "Whatever their reasons were, their actions were clear. They gave us an opportunity to survive."
Vedas nodded. "And we should remember that."
Arthur agreed. "We will."
He didn’t know when they would see the Agents again, or whether their paths would even cross after leaving the mountain, but one thing had changed. Arthur no longer thought of Red, Blue, and Green simply as competitors searching for the Mirrors.
They had saved his group.
That mattered.
Luna had been quiet through all of it. Eventually she asked, "Is it right for us to continue without them?" She glanced back toward the barrier. "They saved us. Shouldn’t we wait for them?"
"It’s not like we can wait for them when the cavern collapsed," Sun said.
Luna lowered her gaze.
"They chased Rokkaku. We don’t even know where they went."
"And the other Mirrors might be in danger if we wait around," Athena added. "If Rokkaku was searching for the Water Mirror, there’s a possibility his organization is searching for the others too."
Arthur’s expression sobered. That connected directly to the larger picture. They weren’t just exploring anymore. There was a race.
Arthur crossed his arms as he thought about the fight. "Then we need to get stronger. We really need to push ourselves to Silver Rank. We can’t keep relying on tricks, favorable circumstances, or someone stronger showing up at the right moment to save us. We won’t always get that lucky."
He looked around at the others.
"We can’t stay Bronze Rank forever, not if we’re going to keep exploring places like this."
Nobody joked about it this time.
They all understood what he meant. The Everglades were already showing them enemies and mysteries far beyond what they’d expected, and the deeper they went, the more dangerous things were likely to become.
Vedas tightened his grip around his spear. "Agreed."
Mithra smiled. "We’ll reach it."
Sun raised Long onto his shoulder. "Definitely."
Athena nodded, while Kong gave a determined grunt and Athy chirped overhead. Melo’s tails swayed behind her, and Eden lifted herself slightly higher in the air.
Arthur smiled.
"Then let’s do it."
Arthur checked their current levels, and they were making better progress than he’d expected. "Eden, you’re getting close to 30."
She perked up immediately. "Really?"
"Yeah." Then he added, "Unfortunately, you won’t be able to break past 30 until you evolve."
She froze, her smile disappearing, cheeks puffing as she crossed her arms. "...That’s unfair."
"I didn’t make the rules," Arthur laughed.
"Still unfair," she muttered, turning away. Then she looked at Vedas. "Then Vedas will pass me."
He paused, then gently rubbed her head. "It appears so."
"Don’t look so happy about it."
He chuckled, and the others laughed along with him.
Arthur went through the rest of the group. "Vedas is Level 23. Seven more levels."
Vedas looked at his spear. "Then I will reach them."
"Melo is Level 25," Mithra said, and the little fox lifted her tails proudly.
"She’s already ahead of Vedas," Sun pointed out.
Vedas looked over. Melo’s tails swayed smugly. "...For now," he said.
She looked even more pleased with herself.
"Kong is Level 24," Sun continued, and Kong beat his chest. "He thinks he’s going to pass me next." Kong pointed at him. "Don’t point at me." Kong kept pointing. "You’re definitely doing that on purpose."
Arthur laughed.
"Athy is Level 19," Athena said, and Athy chirped.
Arthur looked up at her. "You’ve got a little more work to do," and she immediately started flying faster.
"I think she took that personally," Sun said.
"She probably did," Athena agreed.
Arthur looked around at all of them. The numbers made the gap obvious, some close, some not, Eden hitting a hard ceiling, Athy with the furthest to go. But nobody was being left behind.
"We’ll get everyone there," he said, then glanced at Eden. "Even if you have to wait at 30. We’ll deal with your evolution when we find the right path."
Her expression brightened slightly.
The group transitioned back into exploration after that. The forest grew stranger the deeper they went, beautiful at first, massive trees, thick roots, vines, flowers none of them recognized, ancient stone fragments buried beneath the vegetation. Arthur stopped occasionally to examine things, and Athena took notes constantly.
"This place doesn’t look like the other regions," Luna said, looking around.
"No," Arthur agreed. "It feels older."
"Much older," Athena said.
Then he noticed something, a piece of stone beside the path, and knelt to brush the dirt away. There was a symbol carved into it.
Athena came over immediately. "That’s not natural."
"You recognize it?"
She shook her head. "No."
That made him smile. "Interesting."
They continued, the scattered stones growing more frequent, until the group realized they were walking through what had once been some kind of constructed area, broken walls, collapsed pillars, fragments of roads, something resembling an old foundation.
"There was a settlement here," Arthur said, looking around.
"My grandfather mentioned ruins," Luna said, surprised.
"These aren’t just ruins."
Athena studied the remains. "This place was enormous."
His curiosity kept climbing as they went deeper, and then he noticed something lying ahead that he first assumed was a collapsed pillar, but something about the shape felt wrong. He slowed. "Wait."
Everyone stopped. He walked toward it. A statue, broken, half buried in dirt and vegetation, vaguely humanoid in shape. He crouched and cleared away more dirt, and a face came into view.
Human.
"...That’s a person."
Athena crouched beside it, examining it closely. "A statue of one, at least."
He looked around, and found another. Then another. Then another. The group spread out and started finding them everywhere, some human, some animal, some strange creatures Arthur didn’t recognize at all.
Then he saw one shaped like a flower and stared. "...What?"
Mithra approached. "What is it?"
He pointed. "That."
An enormous stone flower, not a decorative carving but a complete statue, petals, stem, leaves, even the smallest details preserved perfectly in stone.
More of them turned up around it, humans, flowers, animals, unknown lifeforms, some standing, some kneeling, some holding strange objects, others broken as though they’d been deliberately destroyed.
His curiosity spiked. "Why would someone make statues of flowers?"
Athena knelt beside one, examining it carefully. "I don’t know."
Something about the place suddenly felt different. This wasn’t just an abandoned settlement. Someone had once cared enough to record all of this, and he couldn’t work out why, or why everything, humans, animals, plants, creatures nobody had ever seen.
He reached toward one of the flower statues.
"Arthur, wait—" Athena started.
His fingers touched the stone.
Evolution Path Vision activated, and his eyes widened. But there was no Beast, no evolution tree, no options waiting for him. Instead:
[Unknown Ancient Lifeform]
[Evolutionary Records: Corrupted]
He froze.
"Arthur?" Athena asked.
He didn’t answer, eyes still fixed on the statue. For the first time, his ability had given him information about something that shouldn’t be alive at all.
He slowly pulled his hand back, his expression sliding from curiosity into genuine confusion.
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