Although there were only eight storeys, the tower was easily over a hundred and fifty metres tall. With large, slanted eaves, the great construct was mainly built out of dark grey brick, though each level was lined with a thick belt of silver plating. Oddly enough, the metal did not reflect any of the afternoon sunlight, and the tower itself was shrouded in a bleak, gloomy aura. The area around it seemed to darken, as if its walls were swallowing up all of the sun’s rays.

  Unlike in the Northern Plains region, the grasses in this area were knee-high and streaked with vertical yellow lines. They had passed dozens of towns and villages along the way, all of them well-kempt and pleasing to the eyes. The whitewashed buildings were topped with orange shingles of hardened clay, with every building in sight giving off the appearance of a recently built construct. It was faint, but Nolan could sense spiritual energy within all of the fortifications that shielded these settlements, which told him that some sort of arrayment had been cast on them. It was the same for the tower, but on a much larger scale.

  What’s up with the change in style? All of the architecture that he’d seen on the island was reminiscent of a Mediterranean town by the seaside, with whitewashed walls and rooves of clay tile. This tower, however, had a far-eastern feel.

  “It’s so big…” marvelled Esteban, who was running along the left side of the group. “I wonder how many soccer fields you could fit inside it?”

  “At least one on the first level,” said Sean, who was equally impressed. “Maybe most of one on the second. Everybody in Elmer could probably live inside that thing.”

  “I can’t wait to go in!”

  “Looks like you’re gonna have to,” said Nolan.

  They had lagged behind most of the motley horde well on into the afternoon, and were currently running along the fringes of a far corner at the back of the moving mass. Loosely dispersed in small, single-digit groups, thousands of people stood between them and the looming tower. Those at the front were just beginning to slow down, as instructed by the disciples that presided over the procession.

  When did they get here? Looking closely, there were now over a thousand disciples at the head of the group, standing idly in the vast courtyard that had been constructed out front of the tower's entrance. They weren’t there a moment ago. Evidently, they had masked their auras with some unknown method. Unlike the disciples that had appeared thus far, the ones gathered in the distance wore robes of superior quality. Each of the teal teardrops that patterned their garments was outlined with silver threading, and they were about half the size of those showcased by the other style.

  These guys are no joke. Most of the new arrivals were in the middle levels of the Integration stage, and several dozen were in the late levels. Any one of the thousand youths could have been an elder in the Bloodhand Sect, or a high-ranking core disciple.

  "Impressive," muttered Ian. "My clan would have a hard time against that force, even with Elder Sanae."

  "Most clans would," agreed his sister. "It's strange, though. I've never heard of this sect before. They seem stronger than the Bloodhand Sect, don't they?"

  "You know of the Bloodhand Sect?" asked Avril, who cocked a thin eyebrow. "Are you guys from outside of the Northern Wilderness?"

  "We're not all from the same place," said Nolan, "but none of us are from here. I'm surprised you've heard of them, though. Basically nobody has mentioned them to us since we showed up here."

  Alicia and Aine, who stayed on the peripherals of most conversations, were busy gawking at the tower. While it seemed like they weren’t taking any note of the discussion, occasionally they’d cast curious glances at whoever happened to be speaking at the time.

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  "Of course I've heard of them, they're one of the three evil sects of the continent. Everybody's keeping an eye on them these days."

  "Is that so..." said Nyla.

  Nolan wondered what she was thinking. The way that her voice trailed off told him that she was skeptical about Avril's statement, though he couldn't think of a reason why.

  "What are the three evil sects?" asked Esteban, who rushed over to Avril's side as soon as his curiosity had been peaked. "There's more than just the Bloodhand Sect?" He had experienced for himself just how fearsome the members of that sect could be, back in Malben County when they had fought a pitched battle against the forces of Count Algrave, a subordinate of Red Mountain King. At the time, the disciples that showed up to aid their enemies had been vile and ruthless, confirming all of the stories that Nolan had told the group about his experiences in the easterly kingdoms.

  "Yes," said Avril. "The Bloodhand Sect is by far the worst of the bunch, but there's another one in the Thebes Empire, and one in the Western Isles. I don't feel like explaining that to you, though."

  "What about non-evil sects?" asked Nolan. "You know how many of those there are?"

  She considered him for a moment, her eyes playful. "A lot of them. The only ones that matter are the top ten, though, with the exception of a few. The Falling Rain Sect is actually one of the top ones."

  "Hey, I thought you didn't feel like explaining anything!"

  "I said to you. Now quiet, I'm talking to Nolan."

   "Wow, what a bitch."

  Avril made to give Esteban a smack on the head, but her hand was deflected by a tiny barrier arrayment. Her eyebrows jumped in surprise, since the arrayment had been created in a single second, which was unheard of even for the most talented practitioners.

  Nyla gave the other girl a disapproving look, and then ushered Esteban to the side of the group.

  "You need to teach that kid manners."

  "I'd rather teach him to stick up for himself," said Nolan. "You were being a bitch, anyway." He turned to the boy and gave him a thumbs-up. "Good job, Esteban. That's the way."

  Sean shook his head, but kept quiet. Esteban had killed countless creatures and been in many life-or-death scenarios, not to mention that he’d even crippled another boy his age. Holding him to the standards of a little kid on Earth was unreasonable at this point.

  "If that's what you think." Irritated as she seemed, Avril continued with her earlier explanation. "Anyhow, this sect should be at about tenth or so, in terms of overall power on the continent. It would be stronger if the previous sect master hadn't died about a decade ago, but what can you do?" Reading Nolan's expression, she said, "He was killed by the spirit of the lake that I told you about."

  "Really? Was it around the time that your--"

  A man appeared above the crowd and held a hand up for silence, which was heeded by everyone present. His head was bare save for a few wisps of white hair, his narrow, wrinkled face covered in a long, puffy beard that had been braided at the bottom, where it hung just above his navel. He leaned on a gnarled cane of unpolished wood, its base level with the soles of his sandals. His posture was that of someone standing atop a smooth, even floor, not floating in the air.

  "Look at him," Avril giggled, coming to a stop alongside the others. "He's so mad, it's great."

  Nolan gave her an odd look. "Do you know him?"

  "Everybody knows him. He's one of the top figures of the sect, Great Elder Tegan."

  "Do you not like him or something?"

  "It's not like that, only...how many times do you get to see a great elder blow their top?" Her hair wasn't quite short enough to stop it from falling all over her face, as she wore it loosely. Now that they had stopped, she brushed a sprawl of loose strands to the side and then kept on laughing to herself.

  Seeing the questioning looks that Ian and Sean sent him, he shrugged. Avril was definitely a weirdo. Maybe he shouldn't have invited her to tag along.

  “Good evening," began the man, whose lips were curled at the corners with displeasure. "I am Tegan, the First Elder of the Falling Rain Sect, and I will be overseeing today's event. Some of you look confused as to why we've brought along so many disciples this time around, but that is because this year's tower climb is quite special.

  "Eleven hundred disciples of our inner court will be joining you, along with some of our most talented prodigies." Elder Tegan waved his arm towards the gathered disciples, who stood at attention in a large, rectangular formation. "They will be testing their luck alongside you. They’re normally not allowed to go any higher than the tower’s third floor, so this is also a good opportunity for them as well.”

  Somebody asked whether or not that would lessen the amount of energy within the tower, since the price to enter had been quite high.

  “In recent decades, the tower has been expelling more and more energy, which means that it can hold a larger capacity of people at one time. At the rate it's going, we’ll be reducing the time in between public openings in the near future."