Chapter 136 - 136. Tower
The eyes of the other three students widened.
Nigel was the first to recover and spoke with an excited voice.
"Why didn't you tell anyone? You are the first cultivator of the darkness element that has appeared in decades! One day, your fame might match Daniel's one, why would you do these missions instead of finding a Master that finances you?"
Noah shook his head and replied.
"I have my personal reasons to keep this characteristic a secret, I'd prefer that you don't divulge this information."
Errol and Nigel nodded almost immediately at his words.
"Don't worry, we will gladly keep this between ourselves!"
"Yes, we are a team now! We have to respect each other wishes."
The students in the carriage were all from poor backgrounds.
When they understood that they could become the first followers of the next Daniel, they didn't hesitate to reassure Noah with their cooperation.
June was still staring at him with wide eyes.
She came back to reality and released a soft sigh.
"It seems that even my element is inferior to yours."
Noah snorted lightly.
"It's not like it would have made any difference if I were of another element."
June's battle intent was kindled again and she pointed at Noah while raising her voice.
"Hmph! You will see! After this mission is over, I will upgrade all my techniques and teach you who is the strongest!"
Noah didn't reply and took out the second Kesier rune, he didn't want to spend the two weeks of travel socializing.
June saw his behavior and did the same while Errol and Nigel looked at each other in confusion.
Noah had become used to June's character.
He had begun to loosen up a bit when he spoke with her even if their interactions mostly consisted of him teasing her because of his victories.
The trip went on quietly.
The four students would mostly cultivate inside the carriage and take small breaks only to relieve themselves.
Nigel would claim their attention from time to time to explain some simple battle formations that they had to set up in specific situations.
As the day passed, the environment changed drastically.
From the green plains and the mountains filled with woods, the scenery transformed into one of desolation and death.
When the last tree disappeared from their sight and only the yellow sand occupied their field of view, they understood that they had entered the Nerere continent.
There was sand in every direction and no trace of life at all.
The temperature was quite high during the day but not extremely so.
'It doesn't seem that the desertification is caused by the heat, maybe this is another peculiar area like Arolyac forest.'
Noah noted in his mind as the landscape moved.
In the end, the two weeks passed and they reached their destination.
The carriage stopped and the coachman gestured to the students to jump down on the ground.
"I can't proceed from here on, just climb that dune and you'll be greeted by the soldiers of the Royal dynasty."
They had stopped in the middle of the desert, in front of a big dune made of sand.
The students nodded and moved toward the direction pointed by the hooded man.
Everything looked normal but then they began to notice the presence of inscriptions in the sandy ground.
Their numbers increased until the shape of a formation unfolded in front of their eyes.
As they crossed its borders, they felt like they had trespassed some kind of invisible barrier and the scenery changed immediately.
Tens of tents were placed on the terrain creating an orderly encampment.
Soldiers in golden armors ran in every direction doing different errands and an enormous pit was present in the ground in the distance.
A soldier noticed the presence of the four students and neared them with a friendly expression.
"You must be the students from the academy. Please follow me to the tent of the captain, we will inform you of all the details that we discovered in the exploration of the inheritance."
It didn't take much for the group to reach the bigger tent in the encampment.
As they entered it, the guard loudly announced them to a middle-aged man sitting behind a large desk.
"Captain, the students sent by His Majesty Thaddeus have arrived."
The man nodded and gestured to the soldier to leave the tent while he stood up to inspect them.
The captain had a medium stature and a seemingly strong body.
His skin was dark but his hair was completely white and long, giving to his appearance an exotic aura.
He nodded after he had stared at the four for a while.
"I'm Preston Bowend, I'm the captain of the troop stationed here. We have been investigating the inheritance ground for more than six months already so I believe that you would want to know what we have discovered so far. Come with me, it will be easier to explain if you see it."
Preston went out of the tent with the students on his tail and moved toward the big pit.
As they neared it, the shape of a tower began to appear in the middle of the sandy scenery.
When they reached the edges of the pit, the eyes of the students were wide due to the astonishment that they felt.
'How much did they invested to build something like this?'
That was Noah's first thought when he saw the structure.
The hole was forty meters large and a big tower stood planted inside.
It was a circular tower with each floor separated by large and inscribed marble bricks but the number of stories that the structure had was uncertain since it was impossible to know how much of its body was still inside the ground.
There were soldiers carefully excavating inside the hole, trying to uncover more of the tower.
Preston spoke with a calm voice.
"We know for sure that the tower has been built directly underground but we managed to expose only five floors. Since there is more of the building underground, we are sure that there are at least six layers in the inheritance. We have already cleared the first two so you will start with the third one. Oh, you might want to know that every floor contains a different separate dimension so the environment changes every time."