Once he was ready, Shade continued onward, entering the passage connected to the Dragon Nest.
The passage was enormous, clearly not built for creatures of human size. Like the spacious cavern before it, its walls and floor still bore faint traces of polishing, while the murals had become almost completely illegible.
He could clearly feel that the passage was sloping upward. At the same time, signs of branching caves gradually appeared along both sides. Unfortunately, those caves had either completely collapsed or been visibly smashed apart by immense force. The only cave that could still be explored was the one at the very end.
"Dragon Nest Architecture was a course I remember being offered as an elective. Maybe I can find a few books when I get back. I might even be able to guess why this nest was abandoned."
After fifteen minutes of rapid travel, Shade, who felt as though he had climbed a mountain, finally reached the end of the passage. A massive stone five or six meters tall blocked the exit, but the important thing was not the stone itself. It was the dim silver light flickering across it.
A complete Ritual Matrix written in Draconic Runes had been carved into the enormous black rock. Relying on his own linguistic proficiency, Shade understood its meaning: "Only dragons may pass through here."
This was not a barrier specifically meant to stop those traveling from inside to outside. The stone itself possessed this ability from every direction. "Witch Echo—Fiona" contained an introduction to this sort of seal. The racial memories Fiona had inherited described it as a method powerful dragons used to seal their nests. Although the stone's surface area was limited, as long as the rune matrix on it remained intact, the entire Dragon Nest could neither be