The five made their merry way towards the center of the town, where the embassy of the Twelve Bloodlines, the twelve most powerful families in their tower usually held their sorting ceremony. Well, they call it ceremony but it's nothing more than amassing even more military power through the veil of looking for more people to join the higher floor expeditions.
They took in the sights, but there really wasn't anything special. Even down the shops and cars going down the street, it all looked almost one to one with the outside world, suspiciously so.
"I wonder if they made this floor look like the real world to make it easier for outsiders to easily transition to life inside the tower..." Enkidu said out loud, to no one in particular.
That... I wouldn't be so sure. You haven't seen even one percent of what the tower has to offer. For that matter, we have not seen any other species besides you humans. Back in my time, there were many more! Some probably went extinct, but it's too clean. It's hard for me to believe that there aren't any other people of different species. The first couple of floors acted like a hub of sorts... It's strange...
The monologue was highly fascinating to Enkidu, bringing him closer to the path he was always meant to take as he keeps climbing the tower. There wasn't any time for conversation as the five reached the town plaza, where hundreds of people aggregated. They all were looking at the building sitting right in front of them, fenced over by a thick layer of prana acting as a barrier.
The embassy looked like it was out of old fantasy books. There wasn't much of fantasy aspect to it, but it looked more like a castle meant for elves to inhabit. It was pristinely white however it didn't reflect much light from the sun above, likely through the means of prana manipulation.
The building was colossal, the tip of the spiral piercing through the clouds. It all looked strange from the outside. There wasn't any possible way that the way the embassy was constructed, that they could make good use of the space inside.
There was the middle section, starting wide at the base and thinning out as the construction spiraled upwards, piercing the clouds. Two other smaller similar structures sat on the right and the left. It looked all flimsy and insanely well crafted.
With his prana sense, Enkidu could sense that a large amount of prana gathered right above the embassy as it formed a sort of hologram through the manipulation of prana and the refraction of light. It looked like they were watching inside the embassy through a colossal tv screen.
"My name is Kiana Claristel, the fourth daughter and the one slated to be the next Matriarch of the Claristel family. I thank everyone for your attendance!" She said as she bowed deeply in a gesture of respect, her left hand touching her right shoulder as she bowed. "This year's event is sponsored by our family and so we look forward to seeing how powerful each and every single one of you are and we are looking forward to the next generation of ascenders that will climb the tower alongside me!"
The hologram disappeared and everyone clapped their hands, as if it was some sort of spectacle. It was a spectacle by design... but they appeared far too trusting of some pretty face.
She had long silver hair flowing down her back, as smooth as a river and icy-blue eyes that seemed to show an unshakable conviction and unwavering honesty...
That's a load of bullshit.
What do you mean?
You think a group calling themselves the Twelve Bloodlines are really looking to foster the new generation of ascenders? Maybe some of them do. Humans are not born evil. However, the old guard is incredibly prone to hungering for power and maintaining that power for as much as their meager little lives last. I should know that...
Enkidu chose not to delve further into that last part of his words.
"That girl sure was pretty." Luna said. "Yeah, but she is full of shit." Luca added.
Even the damn kids saw through her! Or maybe it's because they were kids that they could see through her like that?
"Let's head in." Enkidu said as he gave the two head pats.
Reina sat behind them, holding her wrist with her other hand, looking at the three. She couldn't help but let a smile through her tough facade.
❖═══════⛰ Heir of the Heights ⛰═══════❖
The gates opened and from them burst a wave of prana so powerful it could have vaporized just about every single person waiting outside. That very same woman announcing the sorting event stepped outside, bowed and gestured for everyone else to head inside.
As the five passed through those doors that seemed to be made for giants rather than humans, it was as if the inside of the embassy was another world entirely. From the outside, the space inside looked no different than some hotel reception with many flights of stairs going in different directions, however as they kept walking, it looked like a huge training center.
There was not one hint of a room where the examiners would theoretically rest.
That's a pretty powerful space manipulation technique. Even I can't see through it clearly.
Soon after all of the six hundred and seventy newbies were sorted into groups. It seemed like they intentionally kept the squads that climbed together in the same groups and not long after, it was Enkidu and Reinhardt's turn.
The examiner was an average looking woman compared to the next to be Matriarch. She was a brunette, wearing her hair up in a bob. She wore clothing similar to the compression clothes athletes used in the outside world, countless dots lining the nearly skin tight suit.
Her brown eyes scanned everyone starting with the kids. Now and again her eyes suddenly glowed with a silver light before disappearing just as sudden as it appeared.
"Rank C, #346, #347." She spoke in a monotone, robotic voice.
Then Reinhardt's turn came. What seemed to be an early assessment lasted quite a bit longer than the kids' did, but still there wasn't a single change in her expression.
"Rank A, #5."
Reinhardt stepped aside, joining the two and talking about something from a distance so far away that it wasn't audible.
Then came Reina's turn. The examination took a while longer still, likely a sign of the power each one of them held.
"Rank A, #2."
Reina's eyes widened but put it aside and moved out of the way, sitting close to Enkidu.
Listen very closely. You have two choices you can make here. This doll doesn't seem powerful enough to properly measure your... our power. You can just carefully maintain a lower... You've already made your decision, haven't you.
Way before the warning to pretend that he was weaker than what he actually was, Enkidu let loose a large amount of his power, exciting the abundance of high quality prana particles around, placing an immense, mountain-like pressure over every single person still inside the main arena.
The brunette's legs began to waver and tremble as the pressure kept increasing.
Shortly after, Enkidu retracted his power. He turned to the left to move towards Reina and the others when he discovered a large grin on her face.
"You seem... satisfied." Enkidu said with a big smirk as the two made their way to where the others sat.
"Ascender Enkidu. You may not join your party." The brunette said, her tone almost malicious.
Enkidu gave Reina a long, concerned look, passing that same concern filled look to the three that were waiting further ahead. Enkidu gave her a nod and followed the examiner.
The two stepped on a circular shaped platform. At the very end of that platform was placed what looked... like a screen. She placed her hand on it and the platform whirred to life.
Biometrics...?
Enkidu thought to himself.
❖═══════⛰ Heir of the Heights ⛰═══════❖
The world around him drained into nothingness, the very particles of prana rearranging one by one until a portrait made of an unfathomable amount of prana particles rearranged into a small room with two flights of stairs leading up to a platform sitting very close to the ceiling.
That platform was shaped into a half moon and there were twelve chairs made in the same stylistic design as the embassy itself. On each chair sat one person and behind each and every single one of them sat another person.
"You're in deep shit motherfuck--" The ear scretching voice of the one sitting in the second chair from left to right abruptly stopped.
The person sitting in the middle chair, the very same Kiana Claristel extended her hands toward the person in the second chair, a stream of prana sloughing off her arm like the steam of liquid nitrogen.
"Shut your fucking mouth! Every single time we hold one of these you always have to start some god damn ruckus." Kiana said, rage and disgust properly expressed on the look on her face.
The person sitting behind her looked to be her younger sister. If not that a clone couldn't be that far off as they looked almost identical.
"Sorry." The black haired person sitting in the second chair said, wearing the demeanor of a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Kiana audibly cleared her throat before addressing Enkidu.
"Do you know why you're here?" She said as she brought her hands together in a gesture similar to praying.
"Should I?" Enkidu addressed her casually.
"I suppose not. I'll be blunt then. There is a relic that has been retrieved a few decades ago from floor sixty-seven. It looks like a monolith and it's function is to record every single person to enter the tower."
She got to the subject of the matter very quickly...
Enkidu thought.
"You see, Reina, Reinhardt, Luca and Luna and even those that died at the very beginning of your journey had their names inscribed on it. It's something that it does automatically. The issue at hand is that you name is not there..." Kiana said, her glance growing more vicious and ice-cold by the minute.
This time you need to listen to me. You need to tell them that you have the Emissary's authority.
"I have the emissary's authority." Enkidu said innocently.
It brought quite the violent reaction as the auras of all twelve grew wilder at the same time, inflicting a pressure upon Enkidu that wouldn't make a comparison to the gravitational pressure of a black hole that far off from the truth.
Enkidu's breath grew short and unstable, his knees slowly but surely giving up under the immense pressure put on him.
"You think we were born yesterday, you dumb motherfucker? There are many other interpretations for this situation and I am sure as hell that any one of them seems more feasible than you being a fucking emissary."
Kiana did not intervene that time, as if to show her support to the black haired man. His brown eyes were wild but within them there was a single minded obsession, yes, single minded was a word that fit that man well.
Kiana gestured to the man to stop.
"Can you prove that you are an emissary?" Kiana pressed on with surgical precision.
"How can I do that?" Enkidu said.
The look on Kiana's face grew puzzled.
Good decision. It'd be too strange for someone claiming to have the Emissary's authority at your power level, to know what exactly makes one an emissary... It didn't use to be like that at the start... but towards my death, emissaries became very secretive people.
"I would like you to face one of our captains in a battle to the death." Kiana said as if it was nothing.
The man sitting next to her, a large, brolic man with a deep complexion and ginger hair rose up from his seat. His voice didn't betray his size. It was deep and somehow soothing.
"I'll have you fight my right hand man, Cindral. My name is Julius Solfane, the heir to the Solfane family. Nice to meet you." The large man said.
His words seemed... genuine. As if they weren't just a formality.
"Kireya." Kiana said as her glanced moved towards the brunette examiner. "Go back to the main arena and declare a Class 5 restriction on the entrance."
The examiner bowed and headed back to the platform , disappearing in a mist of white aura, the color of ice.
"Show us that you are an emissary and we'll not only let you go but sponsor you if you are to join any one of our families." Julius said.
Every single one of them did a double take upon hearing his words, but chose to stay silent at the time.