Chapter 724: The Arrival [Part 2]
Every student was assigned to a room, each building in the estate like a mansion of its own, equipped with fifty opulent chambers.
While many students were lodged in the estate's innermost buildings, the later arrivals were placed in two central edifices that mirrored one another-one to the right and the other to the left of the estate's core.
Between these twin structures stood an awe-inspiring monument: a colossal slab of metal that stretched skyward, its surface glinting faintly in the sunlight.
The structure resembled the blade of a titanic sword, as though it had been thrust out of the earth by a hand of unimaginable power.
The hilt and crossguard were hidden beneath the ground, their presence hinted at by the subtle contours etched into the surrounding stone.
The air around the monument was heavy with an unspoken reverence, as though it held secrets of an ancient age, a legacy both somber and unyielding. It was a silent sentinel, a reminder of something long past, yet deeply significant to the present.
Students passing by couldn't help but slow their steps, their gazes drawn to the towering relic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, some in awe, others speculative, as if they could unravel the mysteries buried beneath the ground.
Northern found himself staring as well. The visual of the sword was regal before his eyes, reflecting the dawning light of the daystar with a brilliant radiance. There was something magnetic about its presence, an ancient strength that seemed to radiate from the rusted surface.
"You know they say this monument actually qualified to become one of the wonders of the world."
Aster's voice rang in his ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. He turned a little as the chatterbox stood next to him, arms crossed and grinning as he stared at the monument with unbridled enthusiasm.
"Many claim that a giant died standing after winning a pyrrhic victory. His body never fell no matter how much people tried to pull it down. Ages upon ages, the ground level rose until most of his body was buried in it, leaving only the rusted metal."
Northern raised a brow, his expression blank but his disbelief evident.
"Really?"
He proceeded to give Aster a dubious look, tilting his head slightly as if to emphasize his skepticism.
"What? Don't look at me like that. I did not make it up," Aster replied indignantly, crossing his arms defensively.
Northern rolled his eyes away, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he shifted his gaze back to the towering slab of metal.
"Sure, Aster," he drawled, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Aster huffed, his voice rising slightly.
"What's with that tone? I swear I'm not lying. I'm just repeating what I heard! Legends don't need to make sense-they're meant to be mysterious."
"Mysterious, huh? More like someone's overly creative imagination running wild."
Northern shook his head as a quiet chuckle escaped his lips.
"You can doubt the story all you want, but that doesn't mean it's not true. Giants are real, you know?"
Northern gave him another skeptical glance, this time laced with amusement.
"I'll take your word for it, chatterbox."
Aster grumbled under his breath but couldn't suppress a grin.
"You will. Just wait until you see something that'll make you believe. Then you'll owe me an apology."
The spell of the monument broke as the instructors' voices resounded, sharp and commanding, pulling the students back to reality. The crowd began to shift, murmurs turning into obedient movements as they were divided into teams.
Northern and Aster, along with two others, were assigned to the left wing of the monumental sword. Their group quietly moved into the assigned building, the grandeur of its design lost on Northern, who was already growing weary.
Once inside, Northern did what he needed most-he slept.
The instructors had granted them time to rest, an unspoken mercy considering the exhausting journey. For Northern, sleep came quickly, his mind dulled by the weight of his thoughts and the quiet hum of the estate around him. The other ships had yet to arrive, and with them, more students.
Much later, in the depth of the night, the sound of a large bell tore through the air, its guttural toll reverberating like a storm. The gruesome sound rang in the ears of everyone, no matter how deep into the estate or into sleep they were.
Luckily or perhaps unluckily-Northern had been awake. He had just finished washing up, staring at his reflection in the small mirror on the wall, when the bell's toll froze him in place. It wasn't the sound itself that unsettled him--it was the weight of what it heralded.
The sound of the bell was pretty obvious.
Milhwa Festival had officially begun.
Following the sound, several students began to walk out of their assigned buildings to the center of the estate. For Northern and his cohort, they did not have to walk far; a few minutes later, they were already gathered around the monument again.
Now that the darkness was prominent and the night was thick, cold bit at the skin of the students like invisible ferocious monsters with needle-like teeth.
Many were dressed in casual clothing. Northern could see several cardigans, some with hoodies, some without, thick knitted sweatshirts. Many wore thick coats over it all and gloves, desperate to fight the cold with all possible means.
Northern, however, wore just a casual shirt and trousers-although long-sleeved.
Aster observed him for a few moments more; he had been observing him since they stepped out, hesitant to speak. He often forgot himself around Northern sometimes and went on yapping. It was the nature of the person he was-nothing could be done about that. But each time he remembered how oppressive those nights had been, he would reorganize himself again and return to the reclusive young boy that was there to fill the numbers. Finally letting go of his fear, he opened his mouth, clouds of smoke drifting out with his
breath.
"Is it that you do not feel any cold or do not have any cardigan?"
Northern glanced at him, shrugging his shoulders with an indifferent look in his eyes.
"Both."
"I see..."
Aster looked down somberly.
The voice of the instructors once again permeated the crowd of a thousand students with frightening loudness.
There's no way they could have done it naturally-a voice amplification item had to have been used for their voice to be delivered at such high intensity.
...Was Northern's thought of so.
The briefing was simple. Out of a thousand students, only about eight hundred were participating in the festival contest, which meant they had about two hundred teams.
Each team was meant to challenge one rift each; the tier of rift they each would be challenging
was V, this was to make everything equal and fair amongst students.
Teams were expected to be a balanced ratio of soul ranks and talent class. Of course, the instructors could not control that enough; many students would go on to form cohorts with people who were strong or who they liked.
That was why they needed to sign a legal agreement anyway. The rules for the contest were mandatory; not following them was a cost only the students would pay for.
All two hundred teams made their way to the warp portal, and each was sent to different locations where they would be challenging their rifts.
Luckily for Northern, a high-grade warp portal was used to send him and his cohort, so he did not have any alert or suspicion-deriving problems and got to his location in peace.
Several officials had made tent in front of the rifts. Immediately after they arrived, they
signed a couple of papers, after which they ventured into the rifts.
Northern had missed the smell of rifts.