Masa Ed paused as his gaze landed on one of the loc-haired boys—the one he considered pathetic; the one Sera had been shielding and defending in a hall on Queen Dawn when he had first met them.

  “Hm…” For a moment, his thoughts became scrambled, until Snow intervened.

  “Master, his name is Rango,” she said softly. “The other one is Dali.”

  “Oh…” Masa Ed blurted, his voice drawn out. His gaze followed the boy, Rango, to another bench where he sat, also watching the initiation ritual just like them.

  “Is he not also doing the initiation ritual?” Masa Ed inquired.

  His words earned him a questioning gaze from Sera. She turned to look at him, her eyebrow subtly raised, surprised by his ignorance.

  Snow replied, “Master, he is a white lantern.”

  “White lantern? What’s that?” He frowned, and yet again his question earned him another questioning gaze from Sera, which he ignored.

  “Master, white lanterns don’t do the initiation ritual. They are born with their seeds, unlike regular practitioners who have to ingest a seed at the start of the ritual,” Snow explained. “All they have to do to make their seed germinate is practise. They are very unique in the spiritual world.”

  “I see…” Masa Ed nodded. He looked beside him at Sera, who was scrutinizing his face, and flashed her a cheeky, playful smile.

  “Master, we also call them loners,” Snow added.

  “Loners, huh?” Masa Ed smiled. “That name really says a lot.”

  He felt a tap on his right shoulder. As he turned, he caught the scent of plum, followed by a whisper so close it grazed his ear.

  “Rayo, they were called torches in the past.”

  Masa Ed beheld Plum’s cute, somewhat chubby face. However, in the next instant, her words provoked a thought.

  Lanterns… torches…

  He paused. His awareness delved deeper, sinking into his subconscious, digging for enlightenment.

  “Master, do you want to have your data taken today or tomorrow?” Snow asked, bringing his awareness back to the present.

  Masa Ed didn’t catch what she said, so he glanced back at her with a questioning gaze. “You said?”

  Snow looked away as she answered, rephrasing, “Master, do you want to complete your registration today or tomorrow?”

  “Registration?”

  “Yes, Master. They just collect and record your physical data. We didn’t have the tools for it on the ship,” Snow explained.

  Masa Ed hesitated, thinking about her proposal, before turning to Plum.

  “Plumpy, have you done yours?” he asked.

  With a nod, Plum replied, “I’ve done mine. I did it when I first came here.”

  “I see.”

  Masa Ed spoke softly, then followed Plum’s gaze to the fruit in his hand. He took some of its seeds and popped them into his mouth.

  “Let’s go,” he instructed, standing up.

  “Okay, Master. Follow me,” Snow said, taking the lead. She headed toward one of the pavilion-like hall exit in the distance—an opening in the low wall that delineated the hall.

  Behind her, Masa Ed and Plum, holding hands, matched her pace. Behind them, Sera followed, her eyes scrutinizing Masa Ed’s imposing physique, her thoughts unreadable on her expressionless face.

  Moments later, they exited the hall and faced a gently flowing river of clear water that shimmered gold, the golden flames of low cressets lining its banks responsible for the glow.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  As they waited for a boat sailing towards them to emerge from the thinning fog up river and stop, Masa Ed glanced at Sera.

  “Stray, why are you following us?” he asked.

  Instead of replying, she turned and examined his face as he looked at her. Meanwhile, the large boat—now fully revealed to be a golden salon vessel identical to the flying boat that had brought them from Queen Dawn to the tower earlier—stopped in front of them. A mechanical ramp unpack from it, connecting with the land, and its double doors opened, permitting entry.

  “Master, let’s enter,” Snow instructed.

  She stepped inside first, followed by the others, with Masa Ed entering last and taking in the beautifully decorated interior.

  Inside the boat, softly lit by ball lanterns suspended beneath the ceiling corners, Masa Ed sat facing Sera on the opposite seat. Plum sat beside him on his right, her shoulder leaning against his, while Snow took the seat on his other side, an inch away.

  As Sera made eye contact with him, Masa Ed flashed her a playful, beaming smile. She responded by looking away, and at this, Masa Ed smiled tenderly.

  Bored, Masa Ed began scanning the interior—from the golden wooden floor to the opaque glass panes of the window walls above Sera’s seat, stretching the length of the cabin—before pausing at the glass center of the ceiling, which shone white as though allowing light from outside.

  He sighed.

  Are we really moving? he wondered. As far as he was aware, he couldn’t sense motion in the slightest. To confirm, he turned to Snow.

  “White Snow, are we moving?”

  “Yes, Master,” she replied, glancing over her shoulder at the opaque glass pane. “We’re already there.”

  As she spoke, the door opposite the one they had entered through opened, revealing a ramp leading straight onto a level golden floor.

  “Master, let’s get down,” Snow said softly.

  She stood and exited the boat, following after Sera, then Masa Ed and Plum behind her.

  Shortly after, they paused on the sparkling golden floor, which connected to a similar walkway stretching between a fifty-meter-tall colonnade and the front of a white building just as tall and long. Then they began moving again, Snow leading the way.

  They passed carved golden double doors set at intervals along the building’s fa?ade until Snow stopped in front of one, causing the others to pause as well. Their surroundings were illuminated by burning cressets beside each column of the colonnade and flanking both sides of every door.

  After a moment, Snow pushed open the nine-meter-tall door, revealing a standard chamber. Its occupants all turned toward them at once, some glancing over their shoulders, craning their necks.

  Masa Ed’s gaze paused on the loc-haired loner, Dali, who looked away before their eyes could meet. Masa Ed smiled faintly before his gaze shifted to Lady Jasmine, seated on a sofa near the chamber’s long wall to his left.

  “Lady Jasmine—Mother Jas,” he called softly, correcting himself mid-call.

  As expected, Lady Jasmine waved at him, having heard him despite the distance.

  “Master, let’s go in,” Snow said, halting his next action.

  He followed her inside, with Sera and Plum on either side of him. The door closed behind them, their feet stepping onto the golden floor of the chamber, evenly illuminated by astral flames from wall torches and a chandelier hanging from the center of the thirty-three-meter-high ceiling.

  As they drew closer to the few occupants, Masa Ed drifted away. He approached a full-length standing mirror near the long wall and stopped in front of it, examining his reflection.

  I really look like one of those kids.

  He frowned at his reflection, which was identical to his teenage appearance, but way more handsome. His eyes lingered on his medium-brown skin.

  Hm… I’m darker than before, just like the original me.

  He compared his present complexion to the lighter one he’d had recently and was surprised to see it darker—yet it matched the shade he’d had before the supernatural incident.

  I hope it’s just my skin color that is regressing and not my entire appearance. There’s no way I want to look like a daddy among those kids. That would be too odd.

  He chuckled at his thoughts, then pulled at his super-smooth cheek, stretching it like premium-grade rubber.

  “Incredible,” he murmured, surprised by how firm and tender his skin felt—like that of a newborn.

  “Is this the effect of that Ether thing?” he muttered.

  In the next instant, he heard Lady Jasmine’s voice—a whisper so close it felt as though she stood right behind him.

  [“Rasa, as Ether courses through your veins and channels, it clears your lins of impurities. You were bound to look younger and age far more slowly once you came into contact with it. Depending on the realm you reach in the future, you may still look as you do now even in old age. Old practitioners who look like teenagers are not rare in our world. Now come—let’s get your data and wrap things up.”]

  Masa Ed committed Lady Jasmine’s explanation to memory, then quickly stepped away from the mirror and hastened toward her. As he passed Dali, he patted the loc-haired loner on the shoulder, unable to see his reaction as he moved on.

  “Mother Jas,” Masa Ed called softly as he dropped onto the sofa beside Sera, leaning back.

  He lightly flicked one of Sera’s red double ponytails. In response, she tapped his left knee lightly with her knuckles. The shock of the touch sent a jolt through his body and straight to his head, making him yelp and drawing the attention of everyone in the room—save for Lady Jasmine and the veiled witch standing behind a blond boy wearing a mechanical headband connected by wires to a box on a table.

  As Masa Ed recovered from his mild paralysis, everyone’s attention was drawn to the only visible chamber door as it opened with a creak.

  Margaret stood in the doorway, her head lowered.

  What’s with this bitch again? Masa Ed frowned. He had already forgotten about the shock Sera had inflicted. The sight of Margaret standing there unnerved him. From experience, whenever she acted like this, she was usually up to something sneaky—and if she was, there was no doubt he would be her target among the thirteen people in the room.

  Margaret stepped inside, her footsteps echoing strangely on the chamber’s golden floor as she approached, her gaze fixed straight ahead.