Masa Ed stood on the landing platform where the flying boat that had brought them from the tower the night before had landed. Sera stood on his left, her crimson hair tied into ponytails with face-framing tendrils. Complementing the black sock boots on her feet, she wore a black shirt paired with a red, knee-length empire skirt. Plum stood close on his right. As usual, her plum-colored hair was tied into high twin-tails with blunt bangs and face-framing tendrils. She carried a white teddy-bear backpack on her back, matching the white baggy sweater she wore, which barely concealed her figure. The sweater was paired with a deep purple A-line skirt decorated with white floral prints.

  A couple of meters away, Snow stood beside a flying boat, her gaze fixed on the glass window of its saloon, which reflected the orange clouds of twilight.

  Masa Ed, clasping Plum’s hand, directed his gaze toward the sea, its shore only a few meters away from the platform. He was watching a figure walking upon the water, moving in the direction of the distant tower.

  As the figure disappeared beyond the horizon and out of his sight, Masa Ed withdrew his focus.

  That too must be spiritual power, he concluded.

  He then turned his attention to Snow, seeking her attention.

  “Hey!” he called out. As Snow turned to look at him, he continued, “What’s with the person walking on water?”

  “Master, he must be someone in the mid realms,” she replied. “At that elevation, walking on water is quite easy. What is needed is good energy control and manipulation.”

  “I understand.” Masa Ed nodded, even though he didn’t truly understand the latter part of her explanation. Just as he chuckled and was about to ponder it further, Sugar approached from behind, reaching them and drawing his attention along with the others’.

  “Master, we can leave,” she suggested.

  Masa Ed nodded after briefly glancing at the wooden box in her hand. Everyone then boarded the flying boat Snow had been standing in front of, with Masa Ed seated between Sugar and Plum, while Snow and Sera sat opposite him.

  As their journey began, the flying boat lifted off, ascending about a kilometer above the ground before flying toward the tower across the sea. Inside the vessel, Masa Ed folded his arms and focused on the scenery outside, looking through the transparent saloon window at the flying vessels of all kinds. They were far more numerous than what he had seen the day before, with a large fraction of them heading toward the tower from every visible direction.

  Today must be a busy day, he concluded.

  He withdrew his gaze from outside and turned his attention inward, toward the quiet interior of the boat. As he unfolded his arms and took Plum’s hand—clasping hers with his—he settled his gaze on Sera’s face, admiring her elegant yet delicate features. She imperceptibly glared at him in response, prompting him to flash her a smile and a wink. He then briefly glanced at the bar to the left of the two opposite baguette they were sitting on, after which he faced forward and spaced out until the boat door automatically opened, permitting them to exit.

  “Master, we have arrived,” Sugar announced.

  After he nodded in response, they disembarked, stepping onto the platform where the flying boat had landed, taking a brief break.

  Dressed in black pants and a matching black shirt—untucked and half-buttoned—Masa Ed scanned the bustling surroundings, which were unlike the quiet atmosphere of the previous day. A couple of meters to their left, a group led by a yellow-haired boy disembarked from a flying boat identical to theirs. On the other side of the hedge in front of them, marking the boundary of the platform, another group sat within a pavilion, engaged in enthusiastic discussion.

  “Master, can we go?” Sugar asked as she turned to him.

  He nodded in response.

  With Sugar leading the way and Snow taking the rear, they joined the sparse but steady crowd on the thirty-six-meter-wide golden walkway to their left. As they walked along it, Masa Ed looked left and right at the hedged walkways branching off from the golden path, as well as the trees and pavilions beyond the golden walkway. Eventually, they reached the wide, open entrance of the tower.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Master, this is the southern entrance. It’s the closest to our island,” Sugar projected her voice toward Masa Ed as they reached the end of the walkway, which seamlessly adjoined the wide, open entrance of the golden tower, standing about twelve meters tall.

  Without halting her steps, Sugar led them inside. As Masa Ed entered the tower, he raised his head—previously lowered while scrutinizing the golden floor—at an angle, then paused at the sight before him.

  A night sky.

  The sudden halt nearly caused Sera, who was right behind him, to collide with his back. She stopped just a hair’s breadth away.

  “Watch your back, idiot,” Sera snapped, then she walked around him and continued toward Sugar, who had stopped a couple of meters ahead, leaving Masa Ed behind with Plum and Snow.

  Unbothered by her reaction and the glances and whispers from passersby, Masa Ed took his time scanning the starry night sky that had seemingly replaced the ceiling of the tower’s first floor. It appeared both distant and low. Alongside vibrant, colorful stars and galaxies, it featured four large moons whose orbits formed a star-like pattern—one very far away, two close together, and the last slightly farther than the pair.

  This inner heaven thing is an ingenuity of the highest order, he thought. I wonder who invented it.

  He then turned his attention back to the space they entered as a whole—a ring-shaped space roughly six hundred meters wide that followed the curve of the tower wall to his left. The wall was made of seamless, transparent glass, allowing a clear view of the outside of the tower. It resembled a fifty-meter-tall round wall displaying a pre-recorded, supreme-quality video of the exterior in real time, situated under the night sky, marking the space boundary.

  Focusing, he set his sights on one of the golden pillars standing to his right—forty meters tall and twenty-four meters wide. It was part of a colonnade that divided the space into two halves, circling the interior like the engaged golden columns attached to the seamless glass wall on his left.

  Moments later, he turned his attention to Sugar and nodded. In response, she resumed walking, leading the group along the golden path illuminated by cresset flames lining the base of the seamless glass wall.

  ["Master, this is the first floor. We call it the lobby; its where we access the other floors."] She sent Masa Ed a voice transmission, then she stopped in front of the second engaged column.

  Standing before the twenty-four-meter-wide golden engaged column, Sugar placed her hand on a hidden push-and-glide door on its left side. The door receded a few inches backward and buoyed upward, revealing an entrance. She then led everyone inside.

  The interior was a quarter-circle-shaped elevator with glossy white walls that softened and reflected the illumination from its matching white ceiling. As Sugar approached the control switch—a slender cylindrical object levitating just above the white floor, identical to those found in White Star Mansion elevators—she paused as a voice reached them.

  “Please wait,” a man called out.

  The man rushed toward the elevator, followed some distance behind by two well-dressed ladies who maintained a casual walking pace. Sugar glanced at the man.

  “Lady Sugar, please forgive me. They are with me,” the man pleaded, bowing subtly with an awkward smile.

  A few seconds later, the two well-dressed ladies entered the elevator, expressionless and casual. They moved toward the L-shaped banquette closest to the entrance, positioned in front of two others that aligned with the elevator’s corner. Sugar then tapped the top of the control switch, causing the buoyed door to glide back down and seamlessly merge with the wall, sealing the entrance as though it had never existed.

  As the man approached the middle banquette, Sugar walked toward the last one, where Masa Ed and the others were seated. She passed Snow and Sera on Masa Ed’s left, then Masa Ed and Plum, and gracefully sat down beside Plum, placing the box in her hand on her lap.

  Moments later, Masa Ed who look confused, scanned the quarter-circle elevator, which appeared completely motionless.

  How are they certain we are moving? he wondered.

  He felt a touch on his knee and turned to Plum.

  She leaned closer and whispered into his ear, “We are moving. The light did not change.”

  “Oh!” Masa Ed exclaimed softly, understanding her words. He leaned in and whispered back, “Do you know where we are going?”

  Before Plum could answer, the man seated in front of them broke the silence.

  “Lady Sugar, I heard one of our babies’ flames reached thirty-four meters?” he said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

  His words drew Snow’s attention, her brows subtly knitting, while Sugar raised her head and glanced at Masa Ed with a faint smile.

  Masa Ed looked back at her.

  Why is she looking at me? And what’s with the flame thing? he wondered.

  The man continued, “We were also informed that twenty of them surpassed the thirty-meter mark, and that’s from less than half of them. I assume their numbers have increased. That information was from five hours ago.”

  At his words, Snow and Sugar exchanged glances across Masa Ed, Sera, and Plum, then nodded to each other.

  A moment later, Masa Ed received simultaneous voice transmissions from Snow and Sugar, sounding like whispers close to his ears.

  [“Master, he is talking about the Fire Baptism ceremony.”]

  [“Master, the height of the flame that baptizes an initiate has always been seen as an approximate measure of the recruit’s potential.”]

  [“And the highest ever recorded is that of Mistress—thirty-five point seven meters.”]

  Masa Ed smiled and nodded, signaling that he understood.

  Can potential really be measured? he wondered.

  In the next second, the elevator’s light blinked. In response, Sugar stood up and walked toward the control switch.