An ambitious scholar steals a small, ancient stele covered in strange writing, certain it points to a buried fortune. Years of study leave one last puzzle he cannot solve. So he begins a bold experiment: raise a child on a remote island, cut off from ordinary life, and surround him with a carefully built "perfect" world of ideas. In that harsh, controlled schooling, the boy learns languages and science, but almost nothing of kindness. When the boy reaches adulthood, the plan unravels. Thrown into a society he was taught to dismiss, he meets wealth, religion, romance, and betrayal for the first time. Servants and strangers argue over what he is, who owns him, and what he knows. Pursuit tightens as secrets surface and loyalties shift.With the stele's message still locked away, his greatest test is not the code on the stone, but the maze of human motives waiting beyond the shore.