Curse the Mainframe! 216 Natural Formations

Alec, upon having settled Elysia into the sect, decided to give himself a little space from her.

Surely, if he was unable to see her, the feelings that he'd locked away would die down a little?

After all, they said that time healed all wounds, right?

So, he made the easy decision of going back to the Neil Clan for a short visit.

It had only been about three years since he left together with Elias, but it felt like ages ago. Mainly because he spent five years in that apocalyptic world together with Lukas and friends.

"Ye Sha, what are my siblings doing?" Alec asked.

Ye Sha hummed as he rapidly checked through the various plot routes that the Neils were going through.

"Nothing much, but there's no one near the Neil Clan, if that's why you're asking."

Alec nodded. He'd been planning on asking if they wanted to go back with him, but perhaps it was for the better this way.

He had a bone to pick with his uncle. He was sure that Elias and Tatiana, at least, still had nightmares about the Neil Clan's 'massacre'.

Passing by Mystik Town, which was nearby, he dropped by and said hello to Stanley and Lorraine Woods, who had kindly allowed both he and Elias to stay at their place.

To say that they were surprised by how much he had grown was an understatement, but they took it in stride after asking where his brother was.

Alec smiled. "He's on an adventure right now."

Lorraine smiled kindly, seeing the things that he would rather not explain, and dropped the topic.

Stanley patted him heavily on the back. He didn't say anything, but his emotions could be felt from that heavy pat, and the faraway look in his eyes.

The Woods' insisted that Alec stay for the night before he set off again, delaying his plans a little, but that was fine.

Despite seeming happy, both Lorraine and Stanley still exuded a bit of sadness. Unfortunately, Alec had not been able to find any traces of the two's son, who had presumably been stolen away and sold as a slave.

He'd looked high and low for Mason Woods, and any notice of such a boy of his stature and disposition, but there were only dead ends.

Alec frowned when he thought about their missing son. Could it be that he hadn't been captured as a slave, but instead been quietly killed off?

Alec visited a little smithy in the heart of Mystik Town, one that had been opened not too long ago, and bought a few things before heading back to the Woods' residence.

Before Alec left, he left a pile of useful and valuable things that was a little thank you for all the help that the kindly couple had provided with two boys freshly into the real world.

The next morning, Stanley and Lorraine would find the pile of things and feel both exasperated and touched at the same time about Alec's quiet departure and subsequent thank you.

Moving on, The Great Expanse, the forest that was called fondly by the Neils, was just as he remembered it.

There was something that had been plaguing his mind after he started studying the art of arrays.

When he was young and toddling around, he wondered about how they had been systematically trained to recognise the paths that they were able to take in the forest.

Even Evin only ever smiled enigmatically whenever Alec asked, as if telling him that he should find the answer himself.

He always wondered why no one seemed to know about where the Neil Clan was located, but now, when he walked around the forest, he realized that his initial guesses were wrong.

What he originally thought was a large-scale array that naturally misled those who entered it without any preparations actually wasn't an array at all.

Compared to the familiar arrays, it was more like a naturally formed and carefully maintained formation that had been produced by strategically placing certain trees, rocks and other things in a specific orientation.

Instead of heading straight towards the clan compounds, Alec remained inside The Great Expanse, slowly mapping out the natural formation that obscured the clan.

It was something that he didn't have much experience in, but it held similar enough points with a number of arrays that he was able to deduce what it did and how it did it.

Alec moved along the way, ignoring the curious eyes that locked onto him from the shadows. He knew that they were there, but he didn't let on that he had noticed them.

Without finding the core of the formation, those that didn't have the inside knowledge that had been hammered into the Neils from young would be hopelessly lost, wandering around in circles until they either stumbled upon a way out, or were mauled to death by the monsters and creatures that inhabited the area.

It was the reason why Mystik Town, that was nearby, had no idea that the Neil Clan existed within the forest that they deemed forbidden.

Alec quietly wondered just how many people from Mystik Town had their bones buried here in order for the entire town to warn off whoever dreamed of going into the forest to search for treasure.

Ye Sha whistled. "So, this is where you were born. Well, at least the Mainframe let you be born in a sizable clan."

"Ha. Did it really, though?"

Now that Alec was moving along in The Great Expanse, he felt a rush of suppressed affection for his clan.

Though they were fucked up, they had indeed produced the people that he kept dear to his heart.

It wasn't like he was fond of everyone in the clan, but he wouldn't hesitate to throw himself into battle if it came down to it, defending the clan – though, perhaps, not to his last breath.

By the time he reached the core of the natural formation, having made sure to lose his trackers along the way, Alec moved placed Vi down, who then grew to a reasonable size.

Alec planted a few seals on his familiar to make sure that no one would notice anything amiss with the tree.

Even if they did, they would feel a compulsion for their eyes to slide over Vi without them realizing it.

It was a delicate piece of work that Alec had put a lot of thought and effort into.

The thing with seals was that they mainly had overt uses that were blatant and usually dazzling to the eye, but Alec felt like they were too flashy. Too overt.

It didn't sit right with him, who had been trained since young to maintain stealth and silence.

He didn't know if it was because so many array masters were overlooked by their peers, but the resulting products from most who dabbled in the art of arrays was something that would shock and awe crowds.

It was flashy and wasteful at the best of times, and while useful, was not something that Alec favoured.

Too loud. Too overt. Easy to leave a trace of who was behind it.

Not only that, it would allow whatever enemies they had to nit-pick their seals and arrays, finding faults and loopholes that could lead to death.

If their enemies just put in enough effort, it was easy to kill an unprepared array master.

Thankfully, the style preferred by so many seemed to be changing in the current years. What Alec didn't know was that it was because of his influence.

The quiet beauty of the seal that he'd produced and made readily available to the public showed many array masters that things didn't have to be flashy or loud in order to attract and hold attention.

Alec preferred the unstated, quieter things that would allow him to get away with more things than usually possible.

Vi curled a vine around Alec's finger in question, wondering why it was here. The place felt similar to its master's magical signature, and there were powerful beings here as well.

"You should stay here and learn a bit from The Great Expanse. I don't know if it will help loosen your bottleneck, but it's worth a try. There's a lot of magic in this place," Alec sent over their bond.

Vi's vine tightened a little in understanding, and there was an audible thud as someone made their presence clear. How polite.

Alec turned around, and his smile was a bit more genuine as he felt his uncle's familiar magic signature.

Chapter end

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