“163!”. Replies Levon.

Zephyr. “Hmmm… Mine is 162! King Axel just stated that depending on our numbers we’ll be taken to a specific place. But people are coming in millions here… I thought I subscribed pretty late to have a low number.”

Levon. “…Then these numbers aren’t for each individual, they signify something else…When I look at the gate, the moment people pass by a brief lightning comes out of it.”

Zephyr. “Yeah, I noticed. But just what on earth is that orange matter from which the gate is built by?”

Levon gives it a harder look and thinks to himself.

‘…I’ve seen it before, in King Axel’s twin tower! It must be one of those precious stones he told me about. Though It looks like gold but it’s not as clean and shiny…’

“…I don’t know either.” He ended up saying.

After a couple of silent minutes, Zephyr says. “…We’re getting close.

Maybe we won’t see each other for quite some time after going in. Just make sure not to quit before we do!”. He then gives Levon a dead serious stare!

“Then make sure not to lose before that.” Unbothered by Zephyr’s look, he replies.

This answer makes Zephyr genuinely laugh. And that was it!

For the next 5minutes of this extremely long passage, both of them remained silent and extremely serious. Each step looked more confident than its previous. Though, they have different drives and motives, they’re now sharing the same goal!

3 steps before going through the gate, the two exchange their last stares…

Abruptly, Zephyr finds himself in front of a mysterious magical door emitting some sort of energy he had never seen before!

He quickly looks around. “What the….”. His eyes got wide open!

Only now he’s realizing how big and large the tower is from inside! Just like Axel said, the moment he stepped inside the gate he was teleported to a certain floor.

“This place is immense I never seen something like it… So this must be, Floor number 162?” He asks himself.

Not only that it’s so large that it’s containing this unbelievable amount of people so comfortably. But the structure of the floor, the walls, the sculptures, the architecture and the signs. It is something beyond his imagination. Even the extrovert Zephyr had no words to describe it.

Levon on the other side, was just as mesmerized by the scene. The Shiny precious stones are decorating the walls, giving the sun light different colors. It adds a magical atmosphere to the place. The unbelievably beautiful status of creatures and humans he does not know…

It wasn’t just these two for sure, you could hear wows and woahs all over the tower! Everyone is extremely shocked and sucked into this visual paradise.

But none compares, to the joy Valvesteen is currently experiencing, and the look in his face! That could only be the case for the artist of all artists!

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In all his life, he has never shed a tear. This moment is the first!

Though he has the tongue of the elderly, and much better understanding of history than any of the new generations. He could not understand the tears coming out of his eyes! But he didn’t bother understanding, what’s in front of him now is truly “Utopic”!!

Valvesteen had a tough time fixing his eyes on one thing, he kept turning around and around trying to enjoy every single piece of art.

“Hm! Is that…Valvesteen Grey!?” Asked a man standing across.

“Oh! You mean the president of the Art institution himself is here?!” answered another.

“Yes, I believe he is! That white outfit and blonde hair can only be his…”

The chatter continued, and he slowly became the center of attention! This is a testimony as to how Valvesteen is regarded.

“…Hahahahahahah! He is so infatuated with the beauty of this place that he does not realize we’re talking about him. Isn’t he so charming!?” Says a pretty woman from behind, who clearly looks infatuated with him!

“How could he not be after all! …It seems to me that all Artists of Kush were gathered in this particular floor… I’ve seen many of your faces before!”

“I was going to point that out. You’re Danielo Berniari from Larsa!”

“Indeed I am! And you’re Leyla Kamar from Nippur. Well known for your new wave make up style!” Replies Danielo. A white skinny young lad with a stylish brown hair and a paintbrush on top of his ear!

“…And that young woman over there is Nina Neophene”. Pointing at the one who previously complimented Grey.

Continuing to recognize one another. The star of the show finally wakes up from his day dreaming as the chatter got louder with more people engaging. He quickly spots a lot of faces that he knows already. Danielo being one of them.

“Danielo!” He calls him.

“Mr Valvesteen!!” The latter bows down to Grey!

Leyla. “…It has been quite some time my master!”

Valvesteen turns towards her. “Leyla… Marco, Amare and the rest! This looks like a grand meeting of the association!”

Everybody near and around Grey bowed down to him! As a reply, he did a 360 bow back. Just like an actor would do after the end of a theatre play in ancient times.

“Hahahaha! Yes it does…Though only the young ones are here now. The moment I entered the gate I found myself standing next to you all.” Replies Amare, a black gentleman with a very weird ambient fashion style.

Valvesteen. “Hmmm… According to what King Axel said, we were going to be distributed depending on the numbers we were given. Mine is 157!”

“…The same here!”

“Same!”

“157 here too!”

And many others confirmed the same thing.

“..So this means that, our numbers represented the floor we’ll be transported to!”. He concludes!

Zephyr came up to that conclusion in the same way! Being another modern icon, it was easy for him to know that those who shared the same floor had the same number through a simple little chat with his fangirls and fanboys.

It was Levon who didn’t come up to that yet. But his mind wasn’t really focusing on such thing. He was more focused on this weird little empty door he was teleported in front of.

“…It exactly fits me, as if it’s designed specifically based on my metrics. Also made from the same matter the outside gates are!”

This little gate had one cable connecting it’s pinnacle to the ground. But no energy or power was yet transmitted.

‘…Could it be another gate towards some other location?! Most likely…

There are so many, one next to another, different sizes… In about the same number of humans in here! That is almost hard to believe…

How come he built this, and from where he got all the necessary resources?’ As he was thinking, an idea splashed In his brain!

‘Wait! Maybe this building wasn’t built recently… but was here all along!? Just like the game itself… That is a possibility I cannot dismiss!

Ugh Shit! This place is so noisy that it’s breaking my ear…Good thing I brought my earphone device.’ Levon puts them on and replaces the noise with his relaxing instrumental music. Then resumes his thinking. ‘...I don’t think Zephyr is anywhere near! Searching for him will also be futile. I guess just like he said, we probably won’t meet for some time.

If anything, that’s a plus. I don’t like operating in a place where someone else thinks like me.’

Levon looks around again and notices another thing. ‘…More people are being transported here, it’s getting a little bit crowded even for a floor this unbelievably large.

I think we’ll only start when all participants are present

*Sigh*

With a frustrated expression upon his face, he says “…As if I didn’t wait enough!”