In the hot spring, the abnormal phenomenon was still continuing, and it was gradually growing more and more intense.
Even in the sky hundreds or even thousands of meters above, the clouds faintly showed a spiral shape.
The clouds were so high that, objectively speaking, it was impossible for them to be affected by turbulent airflow; their change resembled more a naturally occurring heavenly anomaly.
Rather than saying Gauss was actively influencing the environment, it was better to say that this heaven and earth were spontaneously responding to Gauss.
"My god!"
"Hurry, look up at the sky!"
"Vortex clouds!"
"That’s the Eye of the Gods!"
Many people in the city raised their heads and looked toward the sky.
The spiraling vortex of clouds was clearly not a common sight; it could even be counted as a wondrous omen, a marvel of heavenly descent.
The commoners who saw this scene swallowed hard, dumbfounded.
Today the sky was bright and clear, the azure dome like a gemstone freshly washed clean.
The vortex sea of clouds spanning the sky seemed as if a god in the heavens was slowly opening its eye, scrutinizing the living beings below.
A shaft of pure white afternoon sunlight fell straight down from the eye of the cloud.
Some superstitious believers even knelt right there on the street, praying to the deity they worshiped.
...
Atop a pristine white tower, in a room that was almost the highest point in the entire city.
Two men also walked slowly to the enormous window.
This gigantic window offered an excellent view; with a glance, one could take in more than half the city.
Yet at this moment, the master of the room had no mind for the city at his feet; like the commoners below, he was staring blankly upward at the sky.
Following the center point of that vortex sea of clouds, that "Eye of the Gods," downward.
His gaze locked onto a certain building: Green Hot Spring Manor.
"Pleos, today should be the day Gauss went to the Hot Spring Manor, right?"
Beside the man in a white uniform, Pleos answered softly.
"Lord Nock, yes."
"Just this morning I had someone deliver the items Lord Gauss needed."
"Judging by the time, he should have been inside the manor for a while now."
"How many times have I said this, just call me Nock." The man shook his head with a helpless smile.
Then his gaze focused on that distant manor, as if his line of sight could lock directly onto Gauss, who was using the hot spring.
Of course, that was impossible. Though his eyesight far surpassed that of hawks and falcons, there was an invisible Protective barrier outside the manor that shut out observation from the outside.
"So, this heavenly anomaly should be related to Gauss?"
"Most likely, yes."
Pleos replied.
"What an unbelievable man."
Nock shook his head.
Although he already held Gauss in very high regard—after all, the young man had reached Level 5 at such a young age, possessed the strength to heavily injure an Extraordinary Professional, had mastered a Red Dragon Beast, and now was on the verge of breaking through to the master stage... With such halos gathered upon a youth barely in his twenties, no degree of regard could be considered excessive.
But only now did he realize that his evaluation and understanding of Gauss had still been too low.
"Lord Gauss truly is a peerless genius beloved by heaven and earth."
Compared to Nock, Pleos—who had had more close contact with Gauss—appeared relatively calm; or perhaps his evaluation of Gauss had long since been raised to an extremely high level.
A young man who could, at the elite tier, face an Extraordinary head-on was destined never to be an ordinary figure; or rather, for him to grow to this point was no longer something that personal effort or the support of a faction alone could achieve. It was a miracle born from the convergence of "heaven," "earth," and "man," with no single element dispensable.
Only such a person was qualified to possess the ability to reshape the world.
His gaze quietly shifted to the ruling official beside him, Nock.
Just like his friend Nock—though born humble, merely an illegitimate child unpresentable in public—he had ultimately seated himself in the high position of Flute Castle’s ruling official, holding the authority over an entire city.
To achieve such a feat of a carp transforming into a dragon, besides Viscount Mason seeing something of himself in this youth, Nock’s own talent and the renown he gained while roaming abroad were inextricable factors.
"Send people to give more protection to Gauss’s teammates. During the days they’re in the city, nothing must happen to them."
Nock knew that he had already given Gauss quite a lot of "sponsorship" through Pleos; everything in excess backfires. Now the only thing he needed to do was to cut off, within the bounds of Flute Castle, any hands that might reach toward this small team. In the future, Gauss would naturally remember this favor.
"Understood, Lord Nock, I’ll see to it at once."
Back at Green Hot Spring Manor.
Gauss’s body had already undergone a world-shaking transformation.
A ray of sunlight shone onto the hot spring and onto him.
Mist wrapped around him, so that through the fog and sunlight one could only barely make out a blurred human figure.
"Buzz, buzz, buzz!"
The gradually thickening air rippled outward in circles.
The maids who had originally been waiting by the edge of the pool had long since been forced to move farther away, standing at the edge of the courtyard.
Some maids whose physical constitution was not very good were already being helped out of the courtyard by their companions.
Staying by Gauss’s side was simply too stressful. Even though that oppressive aura was not aimed directly at any one of them, but diffused outward evenly and unconsciously, it still made them feel an immense pressure.
It was as if they were lingering beside a dignified Giant Dragon.
That was a difference in level of life itself; their instinct for survival subconsciously urged them to get away from this dangerous target.
Fainting, accelerated heartbeat, unease, nervousness...
Many such physiological reactions were entirely normal.
"Huff, huff—"
The little maid who had been staring fixedly at Gauss from the start was taking deep gulps of air.