Chapter 137 - 137. Inside
Nigel asked a question to the captain.
"Captain, what do you mean by that?"
Preston moved some hair away from his forehead before answering.
"On the first layer, the dimension was an icy field populated by rank 3 Snow bears. On the second one, we were in an underground area against Steeled centipedes. From that, we can imagine that all the other layers will contain a different environment. One thing you might want to know is that they are real magical beasts and not some creations of the inheritance ground."
'They actually created real environments and filled them with the magical beasts corresponding to each location. I don't even want to think at the amount of preparation required to set up something like that.'
Noah thought, marveled by the Royal inheritance.
Nigel spoke again.
"So, we just need to clear the floor to pass it?"
Preston nodded.
"That's the method that we used and it worked just fine."
"Number of specimens?"
"One hundred on the first layer and two hundred in the second one. However, their rank was about the same."
"Do we have a time limit for each floor?"
Preston pointed at the inscribed bricks.
"We deciphered those inscriptions. The time limit was of one week on the first floor and two on the second one. It will be three weeks in the third one and so on, at least for the floors that we can see."
Nigel turned toward Preston.
"Anything else worth mentioning?"
Preston thought for a little before nodding.
"Yes! The passage for the next layer will appear only after you cleared the dimension while the one to the previous floor will be always open. You won't have to worry about not having the chance of retreating. I believe that this is everything we know about the inheritance ground, tell me if you need anything."
Nigel spoke almost immediately.
"We need four separate tents to rest for the night, provisions for the mission, and empty storage devices for the rewards. Any chance to borrow some of the armors of the soldiers?"
Preston shook his head.
"They are inscribed per order of the Elbas dynasty, the inheritance ground would straight up refuse them."
Nigel nodded.
"Then, that will be it. If you manage to have everything done today, we will enter directly tomorrow morning."
Preston called one of the soldiers and ordered to gather the requested items.
Four tents were prepared and the students rested peacefully inside them.
Noah did his usual training but with less intensity, he could not afford to be tired when he entered the tower.
The day passed uneventfully and the four students gathered in front of the pit at dawn.
A soldier had given to each of them enough provision for a one-year journey and a black space-ring.
Noah was amazed when he inspected the width of the ring.
'There are more than one hundred cubic meters of space! And they gave four of them to us! I miscalculated their wealth, maybe I should have really bargained for a higher share of the inheritance.'
"Everyone ready?"
Preston arrived behind them.
"Yes, you can lead the way, Captain."
Nigel answered and Preston made a gesture to the soldiers down in the pit.
They placed a stair made of wood on the sandy walls and the group of four youths descended in the excavation site.
A soldier brought them toward an area in front of the tower where more stairs stood on the sides of the building and he pointed at them.
"You need to climb at the top of the tower where four runes are inscribed on the floor. Just stand on one each and you will enter the first layer."
They hurriedly climbed them till they arrived at the top of the structure where they saw the designed runes.
Nigel raised a hand to claim their attention.
"As we enter, we will run straight for the passage that leads to the lower layer. We will stop once we reach the passage for the third one to reorganize."
Everyone nodded and stepped on one of the runes.
The pressure of the teleportation pressed on their sea of consciousness and, when they reopened their eyes, they were in a field covered in snow.
According to the information given by Preston, they ran toward a certain area.
'This is not as big as Eccentric Thunder inheritance ground but it sure is more realistic.'
Noah noted in his mind.
The other separate dimension that he saw was barren and was quite different from the outside world.
However, the Royal inheritance seemed to simply be a part of the world, there was no influence from inscriptions or runes in the environment.
'Don't tell me that they actually moved a part of the outside world in this dimension. Well, I don't really know which process is harder.'
The sky was clear but, in the distance, he could undoubtedly see the borders of the landscape.
There was a faint circular wall surrounding an area of five square kilometers, delimiting the icy field.
'That should be the wall of the tower seen from its insides.'
The students ran for about an hour into the desolate field until they reached a glowing staircase that led underground.
They hastily went down and in ten minutes they arrived in a completely different area.
It was clearly underground and dark but what stunned the students the most was that they had descended the stairs only to come out from the terrain of the new area.
'Amazing, I didn't even feel when there was the variation from descending to climbing.'
They stood still only for a moment before resuming their march.
The second layer seemed vaster than the previous one but since they were underground, they could not see where the wall of the tower was.
In about two hours, they reached the passage for the third layer.
That time it was a big blue inscribed door that had again the four runes that they saw on the top of the tower on its surface.
Nigel spoke turning toward his three companions.
"Let's rest for a bit before we enter the next floor, we might meet some trouble as soon as we cross the door."
Everyone agreed and meditated to return at peak condition.
Ten minutes later, they were all standing in front of the runes.
"Ready?"
Nigel looked at the others.
"Go!"
All four of them touched the runes at the same time.
There was no problem with the teleportation, the inheritance ground didn't link them to the Elbas family.
When they opened their eyes, they were in a green plain full of rivers and more than three hundred pairs of eyes with vertical pupils were fixed in their direction.