In the end, Paul discovers that the "Hypnerotomachia" contains a number of hidden and enciphered texts, with the solution to each one revealing a clue towards the next one. However, after solving a chain of several of these, he finds a text that says that there will be no more clues and he must solve the rest of the book on his own. He realizes that the entire book contains a message encoded by following a "rule of four", in which the message starts with one letter, then moves to a letter four rows down, then ten columns right, then two rows up, then six columns left, and repeating. The placement of this hidden text throughout the entire book explains the "Hypnerotomachia"'s strange syntax, use of multiple languages, and neologisms. Through days of tough work, Paul and Tom managed to unravel a series of riddles, which they solved soon later. The application of the "rule of four" method enabled them to slowly piece together portions of a dark Renaissance secret that has avoided human knowledge for centuries.