Ryn stood near the edge of the garden, eyes open, posture still.

Jay lingered a short distance away, leaning against the low railing that bordered the field. His posture was casual, but his attention wasn't.

Ever since the chests had opened, Ryn had been more on edge.

"So," Jay said after a moment, breaking the silence. "What's the plan here?"

He turned toward Jay.

"I'm going to test it," Ryn said.

Jay straightened slightly. "Your new Technique?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

Ryn stepped closer, stopping an arm's length away. Up close, Jay could see the faint tension in his posture.

"This technique revolves around marks," Ryn continued. "And distance."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Distance from what?"

Ryn didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he reached out and placed his hand against Jay's shoulder.

"You'll see," he said at last, a slight grin tugging at his lips.

[MP: 163 / 173]

He stepped back, eyes narrowing–not at Jay, but at the tugging feeling. Ryn could feel the mark narrowing as he stepped further and further away from Jay.

At around a hundred meters, something shifted. The sensation snapped, and the feeling of the mark vanished altogether.

That confirmed his first assumption.

Marks disappeared once he moved roughly a hundred meters away from them.

He tried activating the Technique to traverse to Jay, yet nothing happened.

Ryn exhaled once, tilting his head.

"Maybe one mark isn't enough," he said.

Jay blinked. "Enough for what?"

Ryn didn't answer. Instead, he crouched and picked up a fist-sized rock from the edge of the training grounds and placed a mark on it.

[MP: 153 / 173]

Then, with precise aim, he threw it into the nearby pond. With a small splash, water had engulfed it whole…yet, Ryn still felt the tug coming from it.

That confirmed his second assumption.

Marks can be placed on anything, and not just 'enemies', which was the limitation of the original [Path] Technique.

Ryn shifted his focus, now on the rock's mark.

[Star's Path]

The world pulled.

One moment, Ryn stood on dry stone, and the next, cold slammed into him from every direction.

A concussive splash tore through the pond as his body displaced the space the rock had occupied. Water burst up and away in every direction, a violent spray that drenched the nearby stones and sent ripples racing across the surface.

Ryn emerged knee-deep, soaked instantly, cold biting through his clothes as the pond settled around him.

Jay stumbled back a step, arms raised.

"…What happened?"

Ryn replied, wiping the water out of his eyes.

"The technique blinks me to said mark. I put one on the stone and…you can probably figure out the rest."

The water hadn't fully settled yet when Ryn felt it.

A faint pull.

Not from the rock, but from Jay.

The sensation was different from before. Urgency, like the path itself was waiting for completion.

He activated Star's Path again.

Jay was mid-step, still staring at the disturbed pond, when a presence snapped into existence directly behind him.

"—!"

Jay jumped, nearly stumbling forward as a rush of displaced air brushed past his back.

Ryn stood there, perfectly still, close enough that Jay could feel his breath.

"…DON'T DO THAT," Jay snapped, spinning around. "What is wrong with you?"

Ryn blinked once. "You were supposed to stay still."

"That is not the takeaway here."

Ryn ignored him, attention already turned inward.

The Path had closed.

He finally understood what the Technique meant.

Once initiated, Star's Path didn't allow indecision. It wasn't a single blink—it was a sequence, and once the first step was taken, the Technique expected the route to be completed within a fixed interval.

So extensive planning was required.

Ryn exhaled slowly.

Jay narrowed his eyes. "You're smiling."

"I'm relieved," Ryn corrected. "The possibilities of this Technique are endless."

Ryn continued the momentum, facing toward Jay with an inexplicable smile.

"One more test."

Jay sighed. "Has anybody ever pointed out you smile like that every time you're up to no good?"

"My fiancée."

Jay paused. "…That explains a lot."

"She must be one unlucky person to be engaged to you."

"You'll meet her soon."

He turned, scanning the training grounds, then moved with deliberate intent.

First, he walked to one of the wooden posts lining the field and pressed his palm against it.

Next, he crossed the grounds to a flat stone embedded near the edge of the field—one he'd used as footing earlier. He brushed his fingers across its surface.

Finally, he returned to Jay.

Jay's eyes narrowed. "Absolutely not."

Ryn stepped closer anyway and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Three marks.

[MP: 123/173]

The sensation in his awareness changed again. This time, the Path wasn't a single route…it was a network.

Faint lines connecting each anchor, overlapping and intersecting in ways that felt instinctively navigable.

Ryn closed his eyes and focused on the flat stone.

[Star's Path]

The world blinked.

Ryn reappeared beside the stone without sound, air snapping softly as space corrected around him.

Ryn didn't wait.

The tug pulled again, sharper now, demanding continuation.

He shifted his focus toward the first mark.

Another blink.

Ryn appeared beside the wooden post, boots scraping lightly against stone as he steadied himself.

The Path surged one last time.

Ryn turned his attention to the final mark.

Jay.

Space folded.

Ryn stepped out directly in front of him, close enough that Jay nearly collided with his chest.

Jay recoiled. "STOP DOING THAT."

Ryn raised a hand calmly. "Phew, confirmed."

He exhaled slowly, the invisible tension finally dissipating as the Path closed.

"Sequence doesn't matter," he said. "Recency doesn't matter."

He gestured faintly toward the training grounds.

"Once the marks exist, I can traverse them in any order. The Path doesn't care where I start."

Jay folded his arms, eyes flicking between the three locations Ryn had vanished to in rapid succession.

"…That's insane," he said.

Jay let out a slow breath.

"…I'm starting to see why that swordsman screwed this up."

Ryn's lips twitched faintly.

"So am I."

The words had barely left Ryn's mouth when the air changed.

It wasn't abrupt enough to startle, but it was unmistakable—a subtle pressure rolling across the estate, deep and low, like a distant echo passing through stone.

Ryn felt it first through his feet.

The ground shifted, more like a deliberate adjustment rather than some sort of catastrophe.

Jay stiffened. "…Did you feel that?"

Ryn straightened, eyes already lifting toward the horizon.

"Yes."

Ryn was already running.

They reached the edge of the Isle just as the clouds below were torn apart, peeling back in long, rushing sheets. Sunlight poured through the opening, and the world beneath them came into view.

Lumen.

The City of Light was just a speck, but its lights were unmistakable.

The sight alone was enough to steal the breath from Jay's lungs.

"…That's Lumen," he whispered.

Ryn didn't answer.

His eyes were locked on something else.

Below the city, rising steadily from the forest Isles, stone shifted and ancient mechanisms awakened. A familiar circular platform ascended through the thinning mist, runes along its surface flaring faintly as it aligned with the Isle's path.

The platform that had brought them here.

Jay's voice tightened. "That's… that's our way down."

Ryn nodded slowly.

"We don't get another chance," Jay said quietly.

Ryn exhaled, eyes never leaving the rising platform.

"…No," he agreed. "We don't."

The Isle kept moving.

And for the first time since arriving, Ryn understood something with absolute clarity.

The window to exit.

If they missed it, they'd be stranded on the Isles for another hundred years, and that was definitely something Ryn couldn't afford.

"Shit," Ryn said sharply. "Jay—go. Gather everything."

Jay didn't ask questions. He was already moving.

Below them, the platform continued to rise.

And it wasn't slowing down.

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