Chương 22: Secret Floor and the First Imperial School

[LONG CHAPTER]

The danger sense is an extra sense practitioners gain after awakening. It remains dormant for the most part, only emerging when the subject is in considerable or mortal danger.

Kaerndal

On the first floor of the tower was a reception that Hade estimated covered the whole floor. This was unless of course there was some kind of Space magic being utilized.

That said, despite its massive size, the whole place was so loosely populated that Hade wondered if they were understaffed.

"Do you have any belongings?" Lora questioned.

"No," Hade replied.

"Are you sure?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"No weapons or artifacts you might've been given at home? It will become a big problem if any are found on your person later."

"I don't have any," Hade reaffirmed.

Lora had to massage her brow. Just what was it about the brat that made her want to lose her temper so often?

"Let's just go," she sighed heavily. The sooner she got this over with the better.

"Now, whatever happens on the floor we are going to, remember to keep your calm. The floor is enhanced with Mind magic which will basically cripple your sense of sight and auditory perception. Bear in mind that this is only for privacy reasons. Your senses will be restored once we arrive at the First."

"The First?"

"The First School," Lora clarified.

"The schools are called the Five Imperial Schools for a reason. You are a first-year student of the First School."

Hade had so many questions. For one, what were the criteria for entering each school, and two, could one ever change schools?

Unfortunately, Lora barely gave him any time for that. She led him into an elevator that supposedly took them to what he presumed was the secret floor with the Mind magic.

During their ascent, Hade noticed that Lora seemed to be debating something in her head.

After a moment's contemplation, he chose to let her be. He had no desire whatsoever to know about whatever demons rampaged in her head.

After seemingly amassing enough courage, Lora finally addressed her issue:

"Let me hold your hand!" she exclaimed, her cheeks immediately tinting red.

Hade stared at her incredulously.

"What?"

"Your senses will be shut down, hold my hand and brace yourself!" Lora shouted.

Soon after, an awkward silence hung in the air.

Hade could not help but be slightly amused. He was not worried about losing his senses in the slightest. Nevertheless...

"OK," He agreed as he took her hand in his.

Lora grimaced. This was the most contact she had had with another male besides her husband and although the feeling was not... bad, she could not help but feel uncomfortable.

Coincidentally, this was also the first time Hade had ever held hands with a girl. Well, not sure if girl was the right term for Lora but whatever.

Besides, he did not feel obligated to mention the fact.

Hand in hand, the two stepped out of the elevator and onto the secret floor where Hade was stunned speechless by what he saw.

Although the floor was supposedly enhanced with Mind magic that would impede his senses, he could see and hear just fine.

Perhaps the him of three weeks ago would've succumbed to the spell, but not his current self.

In fact, all crowd-control-type spells were now less than efficient when used on him and it was all thanks to a new Order Manifestation spell he possessed.

As long as this particular spell was active, Hade was positive that if a spell did manage to break through, then it had to be ridiculously strong. Like Sage class level.

Even Isabella could now control his mind for only about a minute at most before he locked her out. Compared to his mother's Mind magic, the one utilized on this floor could only be best described as mediocre.

However, to trick Lora, Hade still put on a facade that he truly could not see or hear anything which, given what he was seeing, was not as easy as he hoped it would be.

Spread all across the floor, Hade counted exactly six teleportation stations, all fully operational save for the one at the far end.

'What the hell are teleportation stations doing in the tower?!' Hade exclaimed in his mind. And more importantly, where did they lead to?

That was when he finally realized, the Schools were not actually located in the tower, no, the tower was just the medium to get there!

Looking at the handsome teenager walking beside her and holding her hand, Lora was impressed. For someone who had both his sense of sight and auditory perception impaired, Hade was astonishingly calm.

'The kid must have some really strong mental fortitude,' she thought to herself.

Although she did not like him much, managing to maintain a stern facial expression during such a nauseating and disorienting experience was a feat that even she had to give credit to.

Hade followed Lora as she led him to the closest teleportation station where the number '1' was printed in bold font on a placard beside it.

The captainess then flashed a badge in front of the placard before imbuing her energy into it.

All of a sudden, the number 1 magically morphed into a symbol Hade had never seen before. Immediately after, the doors of the station hummed softly before granting them entrance into a very familiar white-colored cubicle.

Meanwhile, in the far-off distance, a handsome young man with snow-white waist-length hair and stark blue eyes had an amused look on his face as he watched the show.

He could tell that the redhead was faking it. How Captain Lora could possibly miss the fact was shocking to him.

However, what piqued his interest the most was how the redhead could negate the Mind magic like that. After all, the spell being utilized on this floor was his own, and never, not even once had it failed him.

...Up until now, of course.

The white-haired young man tried to peer into Hade's mind to figure out just what was empowering him. But,

*Bam!*

For the second time that day, his magic was found wanting. Within Hade's mind, he met a blockade that would just not let him pass!

'Seriously, what is this? A joke?' Clay was flabbergasted.

While he obviously could not show it, Hade had long noticed the peeping tom shamelessly spying on him and Lora from 100 meters away.

Why couldn't some people just learn to mind their own damn business?

After making sure that Lora was not looking, Hade flipped the pervert off, and just in time, too, just before the cubicle's doors clicked shut.

For a moment, Clay was speechless. He had never been treated this way before by, well, anyone!

"Hahaha!" He suddenly burst out laughing. It seemed there was a first time for everything, after all. And also, that boy, didn't he look like someone he knew?

'Well, whatever,' Clay shrugged. He looked at the placard beside the station into which the two had disappeared.

"The First School, huh," he chuckled.

"It seems you and I will meet again way sooner than expected, little boy."

...

In an unknown location where the heat was brutal and the land was hard and barren, a small space crack suddenly opened in the sky.

Slowly but surely, the crack began to enlarge until it was the size of a small three-by-two-meter room.

All of a sudden, two people emerged from the crack, before plummeting down towards the earth that lay more than a hundred meters below!

Just when it seemed like they were about to crash to their deaths...

*Thud!*

Both individuals landed deftly on their feet! A near inconceivable feat in the eyes of normal people!

But neither of the two was normal...

The beautiful blonde woman was a powerful early Sage class practitioner, she could just as easily do this in her sleep.

Her redhead young companion was merely Mortal class but he possessed strength nearly thrice that of a normal adult male.

Yes, the duo was Hade and Lora.

The teleportation device had teleported them from the black tower to... this place, wherever it was.

As soon as they landed, Lora glared at Hade, a sharp pang of disappointment in her gut. Even she hadn't expected him to land squarely on his feet.

Like a disgruntled toddler, she folded her hands under her breasts and harrumphed.

While the public did not know it, the Five Imperial Schools were more separated than it seemed on the surface. Each School had its traditions and customs that were not necessarily followed by the others.

An example of such customs was the First School's tradition to welcome first-year students by teleporting them to 100 meters above the ground.

Not only was this done to put the students in their rightful place and show professors what they would be working with, it was also very hilarious.

Lora usually attended the First School's opening ceremony for the last reason.

Watching rich pompous brats crash into the ground and hopefully, lose a few teeth in the process... she could enjoy that with a nice cup of tea and cookies any day!

Speaking of, Lora was also present at the induction ceremony for this year's first-year students held about three weeks ago. If she remembered correctly, only five students among the twenty-something had managed to land squarely on their feet.

Lora could accurately remember most of them. They were not characters one could easily forget, after all.

'It was four boys and one girl, I think.'

One of the boys had especially stood out, a tall muscular guy with a buzz cut.

Which reminded Lora, wasn't the First School a little too cramped with first-year talents this year?

Looking at the handsome teenager calmly dusting off his clothes beside her, Lora instinctively knew that he was another monster the First School had just been gifted with.

"We're here," she said.

Hade glanced dubiously at the barren wasteland that continued for miles and miles before him.

Here where? The scene of his murder?

Was Dedric's hypothesis right after all? Were the Five Imperial Schools just a scam to abduct kids and use them for child labor and as test subjects in magic science experiments?

Hade was already thinking of an escape plan when Lora clicked her tongue.

"Wrong direction, you idiot," she spat.

Hade turned his head and there it was in the far-off distance, a massive multistorey building with a large circular banner on it.

On the banner was a symbol strikingly similar to the one that had flashed, albeit momentarily, on the placard beside the station he and Lora had entered on the secret floor.

Hade could also make out a few other buildings behind it, but they were all too far off to accurately distinguish.

Now that he thought about it, he did remember making out some form of hexagon shape when he was falling from the sky but had brushed it off as an optical illusion.

'I guess it really wasn't.'

Looking at the awestruck teen standing beside her, Lora flashed him a real smile for the very first time.

"Welcome to the First Imperial School, kid."