Getting into the shrine the old man pointed out requires tapping in with the Sheikah Slate on a pedestal. This activates a Travel Gate and opens the door to the elevator leading into the shrine. Link is greeted by a voice (titles only, no voiceover; not the woman who’s been speaking to him), “To you who sets foot in this shrine… I am Oman Au. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial.” The name of the trial is the Magnesis Trial, and the shrine is named for the monk who oversees it. There’s another Sheikah Slate pedestal/stalactite combination near the entrance to the shrine, and this distills the Magnesis Rune, which will let Link use magnetism to move metal objects [1].
The rest of the shrine is a basic tutorial on what Link can do with Magnesis: lift a metal plate to reveal a hidden passageway, push a metal block out of a wall to open a way through, position a metal plate as a bridge, and open a metal gate. There’s a single enemy in this shrine, a robot that’s not very tough. At the end of the trial, Link meets the monk, who’s sitting in some kind of forcefield cage, which Link shatters by touching. “You have proven to possess the resolve of a true hero,” the monk says. “I am Oman Au, the creator of this trial. I am a humble monk, blessed with the sight of the Goddess Hylia and dedicated to helping those who seek to defeat Ganon. With your arrival, my duty is fulfilled. In the name of Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you… Please accept this Spirit Orb.” An blue orb with the Hylian Crest pops out of the monk’s chest and into Link’s, and the monk offers a final blessing before becoming one with the Force or whatever. (It even looked like a mummified Yoda.)
The trial complete, Link pops back out onto the Great Plateau to be greeted by the old man paragliding in. He congratulates Link on getting the Spirit Orb, and is a little evasive and philosophical about how he knows that. He tells Link more about the history of the Sheikah, the ancient tribe that protected Hyrule and built the tower, shrines, and, of course, the Sheikah Slate. Except… in every other game, if the Sheikah showed up at all, they were dying out. I’m pretty sure the most living Sheikah we’ve ever seen in a single game is two, and that’s letting Ocarina of Time count a Hylian disguised as a Sheikah [2]. Whatever. It’s been a while, they always manage to come back and flourish, and this latest time they left their stuff all over the place. Back to the game, the old man says there’s a bunch of shrines like the one Link just cleared – including three more on the Great Plateau – and he wants all four Spirit Orbs in exchange for the paraglider.
The old man’s not totally unhelpful, though. He offers to teach Link a method for spotting shrines. Okay, the first bit of advice is to find a high vantage point to look around for and gosh there’s a giant tower that sprouted not too long ago that should give a good view of everything around it. But the rest of it is helpful, at least the first time playing the game. The Sheikah Slate can be used to quick travel to the top of any activated tower or the entrance of any visited shrine (including the Shrine of Resurrection, where Link woke up at the start of the game) [3].
So Link zips over to the top of the tower and the old man’s already there. (“Leave an old man his secrets,” he says when asked how he got there so fast.) He tells Link about one other feature of the Sheikah Slate: the scope. This lets him look at identifying features and mark their location on his map. The three shrines are easy enough to spot (if you’re not unfortunate enough to look too far afield and mark one not on the Plateau): one in some ruins, one on a cliff, and one way up in the mountains.
Next: I must be looking for something, something sacred I lost / But the river is wide and it’s too hard to cross…
[1] Getting the Magnesis Rune also adds the amiibo Rune, which lets him use amiibo to get stuff. I didn’t mess with this for a while yet, though…
[2] Hyrule Warriors at least implies the existence of other Sheikah when Impa says she’s never heard of this “Sheik” person despite being the leader of the Sheikah; one would think being the last Sheikah would make her even more suspicious.
[3] This is the earliest quick travel I can remember in any Zelda game. Given how huge the world is, it’s going to be used a lot. And it means climbing towers is a one-time prospect, so that’s nice. And it can be used while falling to what would be a fatal landing, so that’s nice, too.
