It’s not the creatures I’m worried about, he thought with a sigh. Still, the earlier display of might had impressed him enough to stoke his desire to strengthen his capabilities as an arrayment practitioner. In that respect, he hadn’t been progressing as quickly as he’d have liked, since his teacher hadn’t made contact with him since the old spirit had suffered through a terrible backlash in order to protect him.

“Alright, fine. I’m curious about this tower too, to be honest.”

People were dubios no matter where they went, so who was he to nitpick?

They returned to the ground in short order, and were surprised to find that nobody was opposed to their proposition. Evidently, they had discussed the same thing while the two of them were surveying their surroundings, and nobody was in the mood to chance a meandering journey through the untouched wilderness, not when there were other options.

They hurried north in short order, maintaining a moderate speed as they kept an eye out for any dangers. Now and then they would pass by a bloody snake carcass, which usually displayed wounds that described a death at the hands of the regional disciples. That being said, some of them had been completely brutalized by overwhelming strength, which told that there were some powerful people in the area.

They didn’t encounter any more dangers over the next several hours, only other people. Luckily, everyone they observed seemed similarly intent on keeping to themselves, so they were able to proceed all the way to the massive lake that separated them from the CMA outpost city of Tallgate.

By the time the shoreline was within sight, the sun was due to set shortly. At first, the great body of water was obscured by a lengthy hill that blocked out much of the horizon, so only Nolan and Nyla had been able to see it during their frequent observations of the broader surroundings.

Once they ascended to the top of the hill, they experienced a startling sight that they couldn’t help but enjoy despite the precariousness of their situation. Ahead of them was a vast expanse of deep, dark blue that seemed to swallow up the world, most of its surface catching the sunlight to create a majestic curtain of shimmering gold. Large gull-like birds soared high above the waters in sizeable flocks, the white-sanded coastline dotted with stretches of six-legged alligators. Here and there, dog-sized spiders would tunnel in and out of the sand, which was covered in places with tall stalks of swaying grass.

“Are you sure this is a lake?” asked Esteban. “Look at those waves!”

“Incredible,” sighed Sean, his black hair whipping about. “I’ve seen some of the biggest lakes back home, but I guess Earth’s got nothing on Venara, huh?”

The wind was stronger here than anywhere else, which likely contributed to the three-metre whitecaps that kept battering the shore and brushing against the huge reptiles that warmed their bodies beneath the fading sunlight.

Nolan spotted something off in the distance, a massive dorsal fin that looked like the sail of a private ship at first glance. “Holy shit,” he said, jabbing at Sean’s side with his elbow. “Look at that thing!”

“With all the crazy stuff we’ve seen on land, how many freaky monsters you think are out there?”

The beautiful yet intimidating scenery was lost to Alicia and Aine, who didn’t bother looking out at the open space. Should he say something to them? Before Nolan could decide, a crashing sound drew his attention to a large plume of sand that had just exploded upward less than a kilometre away. A group of people were battling a dozen of the sunbathing reptiles, golden lights flashing as attack arrayments killed one creature after another.

“They’re hunting them?” said Lyra. She glanced at the next nearest group of alligators, which was close to them. “Those people aren’t weak.”

Ian nodded. “We should head east, but keep our distance from the water. I'm not in the mood for strangers.”

That was something that everybody agreed upon, especially in a lawless area such as this. They moved east as inconspicuously as possible, and eventually spotted what appeared to be a small town along the shoreline. The night was a clear one, both moons fully illuminated as they lit the land with a gentle luminescence that painted a contrasting portrait to the golden shimmers of the recent sunset.

Hundreds of people streamed in from all around, all of them heading toward the single gate of the walled town. Outside of the shadowy fortifications sat a tent city where almost everybody that approached the gates wound up wandering into, with new camps popping up by the minute. The sprawl of tents occupied more area than the town itself, an odd sight and definitely a first for Nolan since he arrived in this world.

“That’s not a villa,” muttered Esteban, wide eyes catching the moonlight. “I lived on a villa, and it was a lot smaller than that.”

“Thanks for the input, moneybags.”

Esteban scoffed at Nolan, who laughed and gave him a playful push.

“What now?” asked Sean. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather not sleep near all those people.”

“Yeah right, like we’re passing out near those randoms.” Nolan took the lead and headed for the gate. “We’ll see what the disciples have to say, and then we’ll decide what to do. That giant fin might have been a game changer for me.”

Something they noticed as they fell into step behind countless others was that virtually all of the visitors were at the Integration stage. That was difficult to digest, since there were thousands of people outside of the town, with more showing up every minute.

The group talked amongst themselves as they inched their way forward, though Nolan was lost in his thoughts. As if all these people are out here in bumfuck nowhere. Where’d they all come from? It was important to note that they were deep into the heart of the Northern Wilderness. The only thing he could think of was that the so-called Desolate Spirit Tower was actually as well-known and revered as those disciples had made it seem. There was no way that so many people would gather here if this event was a known scam, especially when the admittance fee was a thousand spirit stones.

Almost two hours later, they reached the front of the line only to hear that there were still three days until the tower would open, and that nobody was to be relocated there until the day before.

In the end, they decided to set up camp on the fringes of the gathering, in a spot that afforded them as much privacy as they could hope for. There were all sorts of people in the area, from nobly disposed individuals in fine silks and embroidered robes, to rough brigands and roguish types. The latter sort made the most noise, drinking and laughing and yelling about with no regards for those around them.

Ian brought out a large cask of ale for him and his sister to share, as they sprawled out upon a thick blanket.

“Get over here, Sean,” said Lyra. “I know you want to join.”

“Now’s probably not the time.”

“Come now,” said Ian. “We’ve got three days to kill, and plenty of ale to go around. There’s always that fountain water if you want to sober up.”

“Fine, but only because the settling is too surreal.” Full moons, crashing waves, clear skies, and the outing-like atmosphere certainly made for a relaxing backdrop.

“Why act like you weren’t going to from the beginning?” said Esteban, who was wriggling his feet into the sand along the edge of the blanket.

While the others were busy filling their cups, Nolan approached Nyla and nodded towards the central area of the tent city.

“I saw some people selling stuff over there. Wanna go take a look?”

“Hmm, only if you buy me something.”

He grabbed her hand and tugged her along. “Let’s go shut down some stalls.”

They told the others that they’d return in a bit, and went off to wander around. Nolan was interested to see how the people in this area differed from those in the easterly kingdoms, which were all strikingly similar to one another.

Small paths had been trodden into the wild grasses that poked up out of the sand, frequented by plenty of people. They found their way to the central area without any problems, where around thirty stalls had been set up by others that had come to test their luck at entering the tower. They browsed around for a while, perusing various wares as if they had travelled to the villa specifically for that purpose.

It was around when Nolan noticed a rack with a few masks on display that he remembered the date-like day that he’d spent with Nyla in Greenwall. They had just tried on a few masks when Dartan, the son of the city lord, had harassed them to the extent that Nolan hunted him down and killed him in public in the days that followed.

As his mood began to plummet, Nyla grabbed his hand and pulled him to another stall, smiling as she did so.

“’Scuse me, lass,” said a tall man in dark furs, squeezing by as if standing shoulder to shoulder with those around him. In actuality, he’d reached out to grope Nyla’s backside in passing.

Rather than lash out at the man, Nolan reached out and grabbed a golden chalice from the stall that they had just arrived at. “Not gonna lie, it’d be cool to have a set of gold cups. What do you think?”

She shrugged in a way that told him that she was focusing on something else, even as the brutish man from before was lifted off of his feet and hurled out of the tent city in a perfect arc. Surprisingly, nobody seemed to care enough to do more than laugh, or whistle.

“Sure, let’s get them all.”

What a world he lived in, Nolan thought. He’d kept track of the man’s aura, which flickered upon landing some two hundred metres away. A fall like that wouldn’t kill somebody at the first level of Integration, but it definitely had broken some bones.

They made the quick transaction and left the central area with hurried steps. While the man Nyla had just removed wasn’t too strong, he surely had companions. He wouldn’t have made it through the dangerous countryside if this weren’t the case, though Nyla had ejected him so discreetly that not many people would have noticed that she had been the source of the sudden expulsion of spiritual energy.

“Hey, I’m not saying buddy didn’t deserve it,” Nolan sighed as they wound their way back to the others. “I’m just more of a ‘remember your face and get you later’ kind of guy.”

“That was foolish of me, but I won’t apologize. You’re the only man that can touch me.”

Blushing, he scratched his head with a lax expression. “You know what they say, sometimes you’ve gotta face the storm.”

More than ever, he wished that they had some privacy.

“That was quick,” Sean remarked. “You need to learn how to treat a girl.”

A tent toppled over in a nearby camp, where two drunkards were in the midst of pummelling one another with enough force to irritate those around them. An old man eventually knocked them unconscious to a chorus of cheers before he returned to his tea.

“Yeah, because this setting screams romance.”

Esteban sat atop the cask, filling cups up for the others whenever they asked.

Nolan walked over and placed a set of golden cups on the ground. “From now on, we’re drinking in style.”

Their golden cups gleamed in the moonlight as they clinked them together, though the mood wasn’t very festive. As Nolan began to put back his drinks, he began to relax a bit, and to ruminate over all that he’d been through since his arrival at the Three-River Valley.

No wonder there were so many alcoholics back home, he mused later that night, as stared up at the stars from atop his favourite bundle of blankets. He’d had to sober up with some Divine Spirit Fountain water once he finally began to feel a buzz, since he’d instantly lost himself to endless thoughts of guilt and shame over the deaths of the girls that they’d travelled with for many days. The Millennial Ring helped to calm him down, but he was wary of its soothing energy. He’d barely shed a tear before he suddenly felt normal and at ease, which made him think about how much its influence was altering his outlook on life. He always felt that he was in control, which made him overly confident. At the end of the day, he was still just a teenager, and knew that the Nolan ten years from now would probably view the world through a different lens.