Mastery

Alex quickly retreated from the edge back into the main cavern as fast as he could. The panic within him made him recover faster from the effects of the thought-stilling winds

With the shock and adrenaline wearing off, Alex stood resting in the cavern looking towards the previous tunnel. 

While still reeling from the influence of the chasm's aura. Which, unlike the Abyss of the previous trial that reeked of despair, this one felt like a beast that wanted nothing more than to devour all things in existence.

"What a sinister trial. Making you dumb before sending you towards your death through any random passageway." 

Alex's countenance was grim as he noticed what was at stake in this trial and the severity of the test's difficulty.

Thinking through all he could do, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do at the moment to counteract the effects of the thought-stilling wind.

That was all except to continue memorising the glyphs as quickly as he could. He had to brave this challenge all by himself.

However, the next moment when he was about to begin investigating the outcome of each glyph, they swapped out for new ones which led him back to memorising the sixteen glyphs again before he could proceed forward. 

On investigating the tunnels he found that all the pathways had at most two intersections and there was always a likelihood that the tunnel would be a dead end or a pitfall. 

Steadily the number of pitfalls increased. And after memorising the glyphs twice, and researching their outcomes Alex was finally able to reach the next chamber.

Quickly mobilizing his memorising skills, he regrouped the thirty-two glyphs in this new cavern into those which he thought would lead him into the next chamber, or those that would lead him into a dead end.

Whether leading into a smaller chamber or a pitfall. He categorised the glyphs thoroughly based on their likely outcomes. Working hard he researched the outcomes thoroughly to gain a clearer picture of what the glyphs represented.

Although he misinterpreted the outcomes for a lot of them, he gained a more thorough understanding of them and with that, he was able to finally decrypt the meaning of about 10 % of the glyphs.

Using this system of decoding he was able to make gradual progress in his mastery of stage two glyphs. And soon began moving at lightning speeds compared to previously. 

Soon he was at the final chamber on the second floor. 

The chamber this time closely resembled the central halls of a Buddhist monastery having corridors that extended in every direction some even heading down into the earth.

Taking a close look Alex counted 360 passageways in total, a desperation-inducing number. 

However, Alex wasted no time and quickly began analyzing the glyphs as he climbed upwards aiming for the topmost passageways.

Paying rapt attention to the glyphs he failed to recognize his progress was astonishingly steady, leaving little to be desired.

 Working as though he was a computer program he was getting closer and closer to decrypting the stage 2 glyphs. 

However, just as he was about done with analyzing the final glyphs at the highest point of the chamber, the thought-stilling wind returned. 

Stunning him on the spot and making him lose his grip on the chamber walls he fell roughly which knocked him unconscious making him have to lie down at the bottom of the cavern for hours.

Meanwhile, the darkness grew closer by the moment, like a worm drilling closer and closer from underneath undetected by its unconscious prey ahead. Just a hair's breadth away from engulfing the entire first floor, and reaching the second floor where Alex lay unconscious

'Uggh' 

Alex woke up muddle-headed his entire body aching terribly as though he had just escaped from a serious beating. It was clearly an attempt at his life. Luckily, his life was too tough to be taken so easily 

With barely any knowledge in his mind, his thoughts once again stilled. Alex did not know what to do next. 

However, as though it was a muscle memory that kicked in at the moment, he entered the tunnel. He began by inspecting the surroundings and he immediately noticed the glyphs on the tile and began memorising the pattern. 

He ventured directly into the passageway while trying to understand the meaning of the glyphs he memorised. And the more he did this, he found his mind recovering speedily from the effects of the thought-stilling wind.

Now he was on the verge of mastering the decryption of the grade-two glyphs 

Without hesitating Alex began to memorise as many of the glyphs as he could at once. He noticed that his memories and thoughts had been recovering at a much faster pace regaining his lost trains of thoughts.

"Indeed, although these glyphs have the look of a long-lost form of writing, they have a strong impression on the soul. Which must be why the soul can easily remember them and memorise them." 

Alex quickly recovered and began his investigation of the tunnel outcomes filling in the correct interpretations for the various glyphs. 

And right when he was halfway done with the 360 passageways,

Within his mind, all the various grade two glyphs he had memorised gathered together and formed an intricate glyph that seeped into his mind. 

Entering into his frozen sea of consciousness, it began radiating with a soothing light, merging into the air within the tundra. Stirring the winds within the space and gathering the thoughts that wandered within it. 

A short while later, the glyph had merged into Alex's sea of consciousness and vanished without a trace, the only evidence of its presence within the sea being the thoughts that had grown more corporeal. 

"What was that just now?" 

Alex was puzzled about the strange feeling he had a moment ago.

Unable to trace the reason why he suddenly felt so good all of a sudden, he knew something had changed within him. But he could not find out what exactly had changed within him 

Avoiding wasting any more time on the second floor, Alex resumed his research into the glyphs and walked to the next tunnel among the remaining three hundred and sixty. Only to be shocked by what he saw, rubbing his eyes as though he were seeing things. 

The glyph that ought to have looked extremely unfamiliar to him, had transformed into a simple sentence in his eyes not needing for him to crack or decrypt the meanings it told him what was down this pathway.