When A Mage Revolts

Benjamin had not the slightest clue as to how to solve the circle of light, but the situation was getting worse faster than he had expected.

The invisible shield had begun crumbling under the effects of the suction force. Like leaves falling and scattering in a violent wind, the water elements that made up the shield were being stripped off bit by bit, and disappeared into the circle of light.

The more frightening thing was that the attraction force was still becoming more powerful.

Benjamin even had a gut feeling that, if it were left to go on like this, the entire space of consciousness would be swallowed up by it!

"Quick... Don't hesitate anymore, quickly do something!" The System's voice kept on reverberating in his ears, and Benjamin was starting to panic.

He thrusted out his right hand forcefully.

The water elements followed the direction his finger was pointing at, and quickly formed an outline, turning into a few new runes in a blink of an eye. These were also the unfamiliar runes Benjamin had seen on the stone slates. He did not know what these runes meant at all, or what effect they would create after being grouped together.

All he knew was that, on the stone slates, these runes, and the two runes that had created the circle of light were strung together.

These two groups of runes should be able to affect one another.

However, he was uncertain. After the previous two runes had just been drawn, such an alarming change had been produced, so what would happen if all of the runes were drawn out? Benjamin did not dare to imagine, and only hoped... That they would bring about some welcome changes.

Ding!

The moment the remaining four runes had been drawn, they were released from Benjamin's control, like the previous two runes. Shakily, they flew up, and right after that, they seemed to also be affected by the suction force, and slowly floated over to the circle of light.

The System got even more anxious seeing this.

"Why... Why are they flying so slow! Can't you make them go faster?"

Benjamin was a bit unsure. At that moment, he could only resist the suction force by leaning down, meanwhile shouting: "I can't control them! They are flying by themselves!"

The System got mad: "Then what if they make this black hole grow bigger?!"

"Then..." Benjamin took a deep breath, shaking his head with a somewhat helpless look on his face, "Then I can only bid you an early farewell now."

"..."

The System fell silent for a second, before bursting out a string of curse words that shall not be mentioned.

At this moment, the four runes had, like feathers in the wind, finally floated over nearby the circle of light. The invisible shield was unable to block them in any practical way at all; steadily, they floated over, and into the circle of light.

Benjamin observed this scene, and could not help but clench his fist and hold his breath.

Time seemed to stop for a second, or it might have been a long time.

Following right after that, the System suddenly stopped cursing.

"It... It seems to be working!"

After a few seconds, the robotic voice sounded out, in disbelief and joy. The tone of the System had never been this agitated before, like a whimpering child.

The circle of light did not disappear, and the huge orange-yellow cookies, over ten of them, stuck to the invisible shield were still being pulled in by the suction force, but... That force seemed to have weakened considerably.

Benjamin could clearly sense that the invisible shield was falling apart much more slowly now.

"...So it works, just like this?" He was somewhat pleasantly surprised, but at the same time doubtful. If the elemental plane really had a hole in it, he was afraid it would not be this easy to solve.

He was still hesitating when, suddenly, the runic star chart above lit up!

Benjamin was somewhat stunned, and immediately lifted his head to look.

The runic star chart, which had always been silent, was now suddenly like a gigantic web of lights that had just been plugged in. The runic shadows inside appeared and disappeared abruptly, as though some sort of force was being transmitted, restless and itching for action.

Right after that, a huge stretch of water elements in the surrounding area seemed to have been called, and immediately ignored the suction force of the circle of light, surging up to the runic start chart and finally, grouping into five strange and different bunches under the star chart.

"This is..."

Benjamin was dumbfounded at the time.

It was a familiar phenomenon, and immediately caused him to think of the special communication method from the elemental planes; he thought of the word that the fourth generation pope had always used to receive: "Hello".

A collective consciousness from the other side was speaking to him now!

"No, not good... Can you do something quickly, the suction force is beginning to be getting stronger!" But at the same time, the horrified yells of the System began to sound out once again.

Benjamin came back to his senses and discovered that, after the weakening of the suction force, there seemed to be a tendency for it to start becoming stronger. For a moment, his heart sank, and the relief he had felt just now was replaced by a growing anxiety again.

It was not over yet!

Under the influence of the suction force, the water elements began to surge once more towards the circle of light, and were swallowed into the small opening without any resistance at all. However, this time, there was an oddity. Benjamin realized that the five bunches of water elements under the runic star chart was unaffected!

He immediately knew the importance of those strange things!

"They... The organisms inside those elemental planes want to tell me something!" Benjamin shouted instantly, "Can you still use your computing ability? Quickly, calculate for me, what the ratios of these five groups of water elements are!"

"At a time like this and you want me to work, are you still human?"

"I have no way to calculate this accurately, what if I make a mistake?" Benjamin advised, "They are suddenly speaking at this time, it must be about the hole in the elemental plane! Trust me, this is to save you!"

Hearing this, the System fell silent.

The processing speed at which it worked this time was at a speed never before seen, and after two seconds, a hysterical voice sounded out once more: "It's 19:20:15:14:5! Stone! Quickly, think about what stone you have that can be stuffed into the hole!"

Stone?

Benjamin was surprised.

The Heart of Souls?

It was very difficult for him to imagine why the living organisms in the elemental plane would suddenly pass on such a word to him, how could they know that he had that item? However, after the System had spoken out the answer, the runic star chart suddenly dimmed down, and the five bunches of water elements, as though they had achieved their purpose in life, began to dissipate, and were then subjected to the strong suction force.

This scene made Benjamin feel even more disbelief.

Those living organisms... They were observing all of this. Although he did not know what sort of "observation" this was, but whatever it was, in the space of consciousness or things happening in the real world, they knew everything.

Like God.

Benjamin felt really strange, but at that moment, he was unable to care so much anymore. He returned back to the real world as fast as he could, grabbed the Heart of Souls, and instantly went back into the space of consciousness. He was not sure whether the Heart of Souls could be brought in, but luckily in the darkness of the space of consciousness, he saw the flashing stone in his own hands.

—After coming back in, the appearance of the Heart of Souls had also undergone some changes. It was no longer a typical grey stone, but was now a transparent piece of crystal, and in the crystal were numerous human-like shadows floating about. It was like a prison cell for souls.

The legendary aura of grief... Benjamin could really feel it.

He could not help but gulp.

"Fast... Faster..."

However, the System was whimpering somewhat despairingly, and from the sound of its voice, was almost out of breath. Its multiple smiley face bodies were stuck on the shield, being sucked in so much that they were as thin as pieces of paper.

"Don't panic, here I come!"

Seeing this, Benjamin lashed out with his hand, without hesitation, and threw the Heart of Souls over!

Whoosh!

Under the effect of the suction force as well as inertia, the Heart of Souls, like an accelerating shooting star, flew towards the circle of light at a speed unseen by the naked eye. In an instant, it collided into the invisible shield and, unexpectedly, made a gash!

And so, all of that happening in just a moment, the Heart of Souls vanished into the circle of light.