Random would be the easiest way to describe the recent issues, dilemmas seemingly came out of the blue! From everything that was expected out of this journey, complex mind powers were not one of them!
Neither of these friends could entirely process this new ability, William had it the roughest. His IQ was in the one-hundred and forty points range, but that felt barely adequate to comprehend this intelligence-based power!
The boy felt sure that if he had been any dumber, this implantation would have fried his brain whole! Anyways, the odds and ends of this case could be pondered later.
Right now, another odd scene entrapped their vision, it didn't give them space to think about anything else! The worst was expected almost subconsciously, but it was hard to decide if this new sight was dangerous.
More specifically, that big crystal suddenly unleashed weird screeching sounds, right before it cracked!
Endless branches with shattered characteristics, spread all across the raw gem, at an uncomfortably fast speed even!
"What the hell's happening now? I hate this mountain!" William shouted, but his tone had been drowned by the opposing screech!
Eventually this loud sound became too much to handle, so the couple of friends had to back away, they had to cover their ears as well!
However, their effort to ignore the sound didn't yield proper results, that wasn't a surprise so to speak. Yet thankfully, they weren't tortured for a long while!
Once this odd gem was shattered enough, it actually split into a few big chunks! Its portions spilled across the ground, and the white-light it radiated seemingly got more violent in exchange!
It could blind a fellow, so William shouted. "Get back! We gotta get the hell out of here!"
In cooperation with his own plan, the boy dashed towards a random direction. Olivia and that little rhino seemingly followed the command, they too made a run for it!
Yet all of them had been partially blinded by the eruptive white-light, so they inevitably fell and tumbled down just after a few steps!
The young man rubbed his eyes to diminish the blur, but that didn't help much.
Worse yet, his shoulder which had been stabbed before, suffered a bruise once he crashed! Unsurprisingly, his hate for these mountains grew stronger than ever.
"Wonder if I can blow this place up somehow," He muttered, and then sought the friendly brunette.
In hindsight the boy couldn't find anyone familiar, as his whole pupils were seemingly coated by some white layer! Thankfully that fact wasn't literal, but the issue was still luminous.
A moment later, he felt a tight grasp around his healthy shoulder, and went through a hint of joy in exchange. Although they were mostly blinded, it felt comforting to have a friend close by!
Perhaps unfortunately, that was when he heard a rough, manly sound. "Haha! Found you two love-birds! But what the hell did you do this time?"
Unmistakably, that familiar tone belonged to Hakoon! Considering everything that went on right now, the reunion itself caused more stress than joy.
Yet before any small talk could have stretched, the whole problem advanced further! After that entire gem was utterly shattered, the light it emitted grew bigger than ever!
One would think that the whole city of Fik saw this eruption, it was simply too great!
Thankfully the general had not been blinded, because he was smart enough to cover his eyes throughout the disaster. So now, he could shout about this scene's details!
"What the... The sky! It has more long lights now!" He first shouted.
Although William wasn't in a favorable position to be curious, he was still agitated by the other's poor explanation. So he had to cooperate, even if it was to the slightest.
"How many lights? There were just three of them before!" The boy shouted.
Throughout the disaster, Hakoon counted loudly a few times. He was wildly confused, but eventually came up with a proper answer.
"It has eight big lines... and uh it's a big triangle now!" The biggest snakezoid shouted.
William wanted to shout about how stupid that answer was, as the math simply did not add up for a second. But as he accidentally faced the sky, his friend's explanation suddenly made sense!
Although he could barely see, the scene which was painted across the night sky, was luminous enough to imprint an image through the boy's eye-lids! It was incredible.
"A pyramid... Why now? Thought that we won already, why's there a pyramid now?" The boy muttered.
The scene baffled them all, and it became more perplexing by the second. The large pyramid across the sky suddenly deformed, and reshaped itself to the desired form!
Its marvelous rays behaved as if they had a mind of their own, which didn't make much sense once one could think about it.
These long lights had been heavily depended on those tiny pyramids before, but now they moved to their own will!
That conclusion was confirmed after about ten minutes, once every group member could properly see once more. They found another tiny pyramid, right where that heavy crystal had shattered!
"Hmm... maybe this thing was trapped in there?" William uttered, right after he grasped the artifact.
That was the first thing he did, the boy didn't even bother to catch up with the general. Even light greetings were evaded, his focus entirely darted towards the pyramid!
"Hmm... wonder what would happen if I take this back to the city?" He muttered.
Such an idea seemed primarily risky, mostly because uncertainty was laid out when one thought about these ancient things. They didn't even know how they worked, and why they were so powerful!
The whole concept was truly a blur, but the system helped figure out at least one conclusion. Her intelligence was undoubtedly higher, so the lady could pattern things together a bit faster!
[I think this third pyramid had been trapped, because it contained a power until a moment ago. Specifically, it protected this intelligence-based ability you have obtained.] She first described.
At first that part didn't make much sense. Yet at least it was certain that this new attribute had been reaped out of that artifact, even though that was accidental.
The triangular gate which led to some other, unknown space helped confirm it. Hints about the matter were more than obvious.
But the system's conclusions weren't so clear, at least until she continued. [Since it had this seemingly important power to guard, it was entrapped in this crystal and barely cooperated with the other pyramids.]
"That's why it was so easy to break the peace here, only two pyramids were wholly active." William followed along.
Thankfully he was intelligent enough to pattern a couple of complex things together... well, at least with the aid of someone much smarter. However, there was more to this story!
The lady in his head deciphered another portion, [In their weird way, these artifacts have fulfilled their duty now. They guarded a power of their own either now or in the past, and fully formed a big pyramid across the sky as well.]
"So... these things are useless now? Ha! The owls are gonna be pissed!" The young snakezoid celebrated.
[They're pretty much needless,] The system agreed.
Yet at that moment, it was proven once more that these ancient artifacts were unpredictable. As the same pyramid which the boy held, rumbled out of his grasp almost instantly, and flew a few meters upwards!
Whilst in mid air, a heavy collision sounded out but its screech was muffled! Along with that weak impact, tiny sparks lighted up as well!
The group could barely figure out what happened, but guessed that William was in trouble again. He had silently looked at that pyramid for over five minutes so far, surely odd!
Obviously, they didn't know that the boy quietly talked to the system until now, they were utterly clueless. Yet their confusion has been put to a halt, and replaced by another perplexing scene they couldn't ponder!
That same tiny and transparent artifact, fell from the sky once more and landed near the youngest one's feet! Boldly enough, he reached out for it and tightened it around his grasp.
"Hmm... this doesn't seem so useless now." He expressed.
What the boy referred to, was how this pyramid seemingly became more complex. Once again it escaped his grasp, but now this thing simply hovered over his palm!
The same artifact's shape changed from time to time, as numerous spikes traveled from one side to the other! A sight of this matter eventually spiked a conclusion.
"Hmm... looks like all three pyramids have become one now. So maybe they did finish their jobs, system." He muttered.
"What are you up to, soldier." Hakoon eventually intervened.
The rest of the group had been scared to approach until now. They had faith in the boy's skills, and felt sure that only he could figure things out. But the silence stretched too long, it had to be broken.
"We won, basically." William answered.
Afterwards he continued, "Bugs and animals won't attack the city anymore, can you feel all the peace above us?"
"Yes, it's dandy and all. But what about this shiny thing, what are you doing to it?" The general asked.
"Not sure, just looking at it I guess. For now, let's send it to a place where it can't do any harm." The youngest snakezoid answered.
Throughout a few slices across the air with the aid of his katana-like sword, the boy opened up a purple-lined gateway. Afterwards he tossed the spotless pyramid in there, and faced his friends after the deed was done.
Calmly enough, William recited. "I'm gonna figure that thing out one day, but now we can't understand shit about it. It'll be safe there, and we'll be safe too."
The boy was happy that the large scene across the sky had not disintegrated, he expected at least one bad result after the artifact was tossed through the portal.
Yet thankfully, they were all safe and could finally mark this whole quest as complete!
Through a thought, the young man closed the purple triangle he had opened up, and felt happy to observe Hakoon's disbelief.
Unsurprisingly the big man expressed, "You learned that new fangled magic already? Haha! I was so smart to recruit you!"
The irritance on the shorter one's face was evident afterwards, but it was drowned by another scene which grasped their attention! Thankfully, bad luck didn't strike them this time.
Instead, they saw how a familiar figure popped out of the ground. Its horn could not be mistaken, but thankfully its intents were soft.
"Awww, looks like she wants to come home with us." Olivia finally broke into the conversation.
At that second she rubbed the creature's back and saw how its platypus-like tail wiggled, and smacked the ground as well!
She was absolutely willing to drag this dark-skinned creature back to the city, but the rest were hesitant, Hakoon was almost hostile even. Yet there was nothing they could do.
The lady's enthusiasm could not be battled, and they eventually agreed to tag the creature along. Their sour mood about this was evident, but they couldn't do much about it.
Now the team could leave this mountain behind them. Things looked good for William especially, as he achieved all of his one-sided goals and gained an additional power as well!
After they reach the city, great rewards likely await them. Yet who knew how long such peace could be enjoyed? After all, William sought a highly treasured item, the golden fangs!
It was difficult enough to battle wild animals. Those fangs and the king who wore them were far more protected. To get them, the boy had to face a lot of intelligent creatures for once!
Only the divine knew how this would play out, but it was sure to be a challenge! The reward was worth it either way, so the risks had to be faced and tamed!