“Rewards… Are you talking about the Martial Style Medals?” Alnea said, only for Cecilia to glare at him.
“…Don’t remind me of them.”
“Why? Did you not also earn a Martial Style Medal?”
“…I did.”
“Then what are you so glum about? Do you not want to see what the Martial Styles from the Age of Gods are like?”
“…But I have only one medal!”
“…You can get more next time.”
“This is so not fair.”
“It’s just a Low Grade Medal. You can have mine if you want.”
“Who wants your medal?”
“Then what do you want?”
“…Idiot,” Cecilia said with a scoff, and turned towards the stairs, while Yuri kept giggling at their argument. Girls…
“Wait for me!” Alnea said, and followed behind the girls. Thankfully, the girls were walking slowly, giving him enough time to catch up. He did not wish to keep looking at the dumb cat sticking close to Cecilia’s leg though. So, he tore his eyes away from the cat, and looked around himself. Four giant pair of doors, a vast landing, and a giant staircase that went from the top floor of the building all the way to the two floors below the main lobby of the Blood Hall.
He had not paid too much attention to the staircase when he was climbing them, but as he made his way down the stairs, he could not help but notice how large the stairs were. Even with him walking next to the girls, there was still room for around ten more people walk by their side. Whether so many people dared to walk so close to each other was another matter. At least he had yet to see even half of those number of people sticking so close to each other.
Still, large and empty as the stairs were, when taken together with the Blood Hall as a whole, including the large doors on each of the floors, they created a strange sense of harmony. It was as if they were all a part of the same puzzle. Whether it was the stairs, or the doors, missing any of them would have made the Blood Hall look incomplete…
Lost in his thoughts, and observing his surroundings, Alnea did not notice when they reached the ground floor of the Blood Hall, or even when Cecilia opened the door separating the staircase from the main lobby of the Blood Hall. It was only when he stepped back into the hustle bustle of the Blood Hall that he came back to himself. He still did not stop observing his surroundings though.
After more than an hour and a half, the footfall in the Blood Hall was much greater than before. Even the counters which were supposed to be used only once by the Wanderers, like the one selling language spars, and the counter for registration of Blood Cards had a few Wanderers lining up for their turns. And though there were no guards following the new Wanderers, they had their fellow clansmen guiding them through the process.
On the other end of the counter, Martha had resumed her duties at some point when they were taking the Trials. And from her grumpy face, and unfriendly attitude, he understood that she was rude not just to him, but to everyone… except Yuri and Cecilia. Why the exception though? What was so special about them? Age? He was also of the same age. And his Spirit Power similar to Cecilia’s. Was it—
“What are you spacing out for?” Yuri said, breaking Alnea out from his thoughts. Taking a deep breath, he turned back towards Yuri, and resumed his Serenity.
“Nothing. Let’s go get our rewards.”
Yuri looked at him suspiciously, before glancing at where he had been looking before. In the next moment, a smile surfaced on her face. But she did not say anything. Instead, she turned back towards Cecilia, and said, “Let us first return to Warrior Hall’s reception. Other than collecting our rewards, I also have a few questions to ask from Wanderer Tia.”
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“…I was thinking of the same thing,” Cecilia said, leading the way through the sea of Wanderers around them. A sparse sea, of course. Even within the Blood Hall, where Wanderers had dropped most of their guards, they still did not like being too close to each other, leaving enough space for Alnea and the girls to navigate their way through the crowd. Coupled with how close the staircase was to the counters, it took them only a few moments to reach the Warrior Hall’s reception, and line up in the queue that was at least twice as long as it had been a couple of hours ago.
“You are back,” Wanderer Tia said, when she saw them walk up to her, still smiling at them as enthusiastically as she had been smiling a couple of hours ago. “Did you complete the Initial Stage Trials? Let me guess. Are you here for the Martial Style Medals?”
“…That, and we thought that we might ask you a few things that we did not understand,” Yuri said, returning Tia’s smile with her own. “The Trials said that we can exchange our Martial Style Medals with Low Grade Martial Styles, or resources of equal value. What exactly are these resources, and where can we exchange for them and the Martial Styles?”
“The Martial Styles can be exchanged at the Martial Style Library, while the resources can be exchanged at the Medal Redemption counter,” Tia said, pointing to the two counters. “As for what the resources are… It would be better if you see them for yourselves.”
“Can we exchange for these resources and Martial Styles with our Blood Coins?”
“Except for a few Martial Styles, you can exchange for most of the Martial Styles with Blood Coins. As for the resources… They can be a little expensive, but as long as you have enough Blood Coins, you can exchange for any resource within the city.”
“…Is there anything special about those few Martial Styles? Why can they not be exchanged with Blood Coins?”
“…The Martial Styles of the Lost City are indeed a little special,” Tia said, taking on a solemn face. “No one knows how long the city has existed for. The number of Wanderers that have been in the city is simply uncountable. And though most of the Wanderers return back to their clans after some time, some decide to stay here for their life. Living in the city is not easy though.
“Only those who contribute to the city are allowed to live in it. And some Wanderers, especially the Mystic and Grand Wanderers, disdain from doing menial tasks for the city. So, rather than becoming workers of the city, they dedicated their Martial Styles to the city. Even if there is only one such Wanderer every hundred years, over time, that would still be enough for the city to accumulated tens of thousands of Martial Styles. These are the Martia Styles you can exchange with Blood Coins.
“However, other than the Martial Styles contributed by the Wanderers, the city also has a few Martial Styles of its own. No one knows who created these Martial Styles. We just know that the city accepts only the Medals you earn in the Warrior Hall in exchange for these Martial Styles. And since these Medals can only be obtained through Trials, some speculate that these Martial Styles hide the key to the legacy of the city. No one has ever been able to uncover this legacy though, so these speculations remain as just rumours.”
“…Is it just the Martial Styles, or is the same with the Arcanas and Glyphs?”
“I knew that you were smart,” Tia said, with her smile returning back to her face. “It is as you think. Since the city can have a few special Martial Styles, it can also have a few special Arcanas and Glyphs. I would not recommend wasting your precious tokens on them though. Like I said, the resources that the city has are quite expensive. But at the same time, they are also quite useful. And precious.
“There are some resources that can be found only in the Lost City. And then there are resources which can change your lives. Resources, which can cause wars between some declining Orthodoxies. Of course, these resources are not what you can buy with just Blood Coins. After all, some of these resources cost upwards of millions of Blood Coins. However, all of these resources come under the purview of the city… I hope you can understand what I am trying to say.”
After she had explained everything in so much detail, only the dumb cat could fail to understand what Tia was saying. It just stuck to Cecilia, and kept glancing around, as if looking for its next prey. Fortunately, it did not spring into action. Yet. It was time that they went looking for its food. For the moment though, they still had other things to do.
“…Thank you for your guidance, Wanderer Tia,” Alnea said. “We know how to choose.”
Between resources and some special Martial Styles… the answer was obvious. After all, of the three of them, one was an heiress of the Serpia clan, one was an heiress of the Faed clan, and one was the disciple of the Grand Lady of Thorns. What kind of resources could they ever lack for?
“I am relieved then,” Tia said, misunderstanding his words. He did not correct her though, and allowed her to continue. “Now, which of you is going to redeem your Martial Style Medals first?”
“Let me do it,” Cecilia said, hurriedly handing over her Blood Card to Tia. “…I do not wish to be humiliated.”