Chapter 107

: Fallen into Trap?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
He had this question on his mind not because he had obsessive compulsive disorder and had the urge to observe every small detail. But…..he truly felt that the distances between the three runes were off.
When he was preparing to agglomerate the third rune, he made the System measure the equilateral triangle sides, to ascertain the spot where he would place the water ball. Thus, Benjamin could remember the distances clearly.
Shortly, the System replied with an answer.

Yes…..it really is different. The distance between the runes now compared to when you conjured the waterball has shortened by half a meter.

……It really changed.
Benjamin drew a deep breath and entered a state of deep thinking.
Benjamin was of the view that the space of consciousness had regularly behaviours. If nothing had happened, then there would be no change between the runes either. With the distance between the runes shortened by half a meter, this was definitely not by accident and had to have an cause to it.
He knew, every rune was bound by a tight affinity to each other, thus, the position of the runes were important—– at the wrong positions, he would have been able to create new runes.
Thus, he did not take this situation lightly.
What could this mean?
After some thought, he decided to put aside the research on the Pillar of Steam, and wanted to find out why the reason for the change in position of the magic runes.
He tried to detect the relation between the three runes, but he could not feel anything particular. Thus, he went into meditation and gathered water elemental energy, and applied it onto the runes.
This was the only thing he could do now to try to create a change in the magical runes.
With this, every water elemental energy was divided evenly into three parts and was absorbed by the runes. These three blue runes that bore great resemblance to each other started to strengthen at the same speed.
After his first attempt at meditating, Benjamin stopped as he was not used to it. Thus, after continuously meditating for a few hours, only then he stopped and halted the motion of the water elemental energy.
He observed the three runes, then asked,
How about now? Did the distance between them change?

The System replied,
Yes, when you were meditating, the distance between them shortened even more. Compared to just now, they are two centimeters closer now.

Benjamin nodded as the System spoke.
It appeared to be the case.
He instantly came up with a conclusion : Following the strengthening of the runes, the distance between them would decrease; in simple words, this equilateral triangle would shrink as Benjamin’s strength grow.
Why was this so?
Benjamin thought of the tight affinity between the three runes. Maybe, when the runes strengthened, their relation would strengthen as well, thus, their distance would decrease.
But…..
If they got closer, they would reach an endpoint eventually.
On
Divine Arts 101
, it was written that the strengthening of a runes had no limit. This meant that if Benjamin continued his meditation, their distance would become zero one day —–they would merge.
What would happen after that?
Unless….. They would merge into one, and achieve the meaning of
Three-in-One
?
Benjamin could only imagine.
If he could reach that state, how would the space of consciousness turn out to be? And the magic he unleashed, would there be any change?
At the moment, he felt the urge to continue his meditation. He really wanted to know, once those three runes came into contact, what would happen?
But, he knew, this would take a long time before he could finally see this happening.
The runes converging to the center of the triangle was a slow process. He meditated for a few hours just now, and it was a few hours in reality, not a few hours in the space of consciousness; it only made the distance between the runes grow shorter by two centimeters. That half a meter was probably a result of him meditating for the past month.
Benjamin looked at the three runes again.
Twenty plus meters, how long would he need to meditate for?
Alright…..more grinding required.
He realised he should take it slow as it was not safe out there. He was on the wanted list by the Church. Why not just remain home and stay low, meditate more and cause less trouble?
He could feel the danger he was in. His beggar impersonation was seen through; if he were to go take a walk in the streets now, by chance, they would catch him red-handed, with a bolt of holy light, he would be cleansed.
It seemed like the only option would be to stay home and meditate.
He continued toying with the Pillar of Steam, and practiced his aviation control. Then, he fully focused on meditation, and started his magic training to continue strengthening the three runes relentlessly.
He was immersed in magic, and time flew by quickly. Other than going to eat at the living hall, all his time was spent on meditating. He did not step outside the house at all, Grant asked him to tag along for a new war simulation game, but he declined Grant with the excuse of what happened to him last time.
He was not that well known in the nobles’ circle; if this continued, people would probably forget that he even existed. The military training was cancelled under Claude’s order; the Church was busy searching for him; and Michelle’s whereabouts were unknown after she embarked on the journey for the treasury; and no one came to bother him at all.
Nothing happened; he just remained in his own room, meditating, severing his connections to the outside world for now.
About the deal he made with Chief Silverfox…..
Benjamin wanted to take a look at the dungeon site as well, to see if there was any news about that ‘bamboo shoot’. But he had no choice, the Church was after him, and their security tightened day by day. A few days ago, some Holy Knights even came to their house to do a search.
Out of due respect to the Lithur family, their search was not too strict. If not, they probably would have found all the items that Benjamin had hoarded. Benjamin quickly found a new hiding spot for those items due to the searches by the Church.
Under these circumstances, how could he even dare to try to go to the dungeon site?
The secret passage in the hotel was most likely discovered by the people from the Church. That abandoned dungeon site would probably have been locked down by increased security. Benjamin was confident in Chief Silverfox’s plans; he could probably leave a message under the rock as he had promised, but Benjamin had no confidence in himself!
What if the Church left their men at the site? Going to the dungeon would be of no difference from walking directly into their trap.
He could only pray that the Church would stop their operation earlier so that no one had discovered Chief Silverfox’s message, and that ‘bamboo shoot’ had not moved around at this time.
Luckily, the Church and their search did not last long.
Ten days later, on an afternoon, when Jeremy was tidying up his room, he told Benjamin that the Church had found the person that they were looking for.

Master, that person had been arrested by the Church.
He cleaned the cabinets while uttering,
Those holy knights on the streets are all gone, the city gates have been opened, and the bakery next door has stopped increasing their bread prices.