Thanks to the overwhelming amount of readers who responded. It seemed I misjudged, or maybe projected myself or something. Anyway, here is the chapter, it took a while to write despite this week being not too bad, comparatively speaking. Enjoy!

Oh, right. Everyone who responded in chapter 62 gets a reputation point from me. Congratulations on your internet points!

With a lazy flick of the wrist, Abkariya sent a bolt of power into the door. The force field rippled when the bolt made contact, and then melted away.

Solera looked hesitantly at Abkariya before leaving. He couldn’t shake the feeling that the strange man would try something, but he just lay in his hammock, his eyes closed. Solera found himself in the long hallway of classrooms. Except for the occasional person rushing past the end of the corridor, he was alone.

It was time.

Solera walked to the end of the hallway, where it merged into a larger, winding passageway. His brows knitted together as he tried to locate himself, but his mind drew a blank and so he walked around the Academy to locate an avenue of escape.

It seemed no matter where he went, he would be walking through another hallway of classrooms or the like, or he would find a locked door barring him from entry. Department of Pyrotechnics, Department of Refinery, Department of Circuitry, Department of Aerodynamics… Solera started to grow angry as he wandered through the school. How could it be that there was no exit to this place! Had he been going the wrong way or something?

Right as he was about to find his way back, a gentle wind from a distant tunnel drifted past him. His hopes renewed, he followed the wind to the outside.

He was in one of the many caves leading out into thin air, almost identical to the one the Gray elder had entered when she brought him and the Gray child here.

Solera searched for a staircase or a ladder, but there was no way down, only a vertical drop to the bottom of the cliff. But there was a set of wings hanging off a rack in the corner. After some thought, he looked out at the city again.

From his position, he could see the entirety of the Tornado Sect’s capital, all its rock buildings and aqueducts and gardens. He could see blobs of people flowing up and down steps which went all the way up the mountain, and roads which wound their way around the mountainside.

The mountain making up the capital was massive, so large that it had its own mountains within mountains; the Academy, for example, was like a block overlooking the valley below it. The mountain upon which the palace and the tornado itself rested was the highest of all, a jagged spire shooting up into the sky.

Yet despite the city’s gargantuan size, it seemed to only have one exit: that gateway he vaguely remembered, near the twisted metal hemisphere which the Grays called the Dome. It was at the very bottom of the city, a pylon built into a gap between the cliffs upon which the entire city rested.

It was so far away. But that gateway was the only place from which he could escape. He had to go there.

He had worn wings only once before, a long, long time ago. He took a few minutes to put them on and give them a few test flaps, to make sure he still remembered. These wings were far more streamlined than the set he had taken off the Airborne at Fortress Hickory and far more intricate at the same time. His third eye could see a network of channels and other strange things within, but he didn’t bother to look.

Solera’s channels and Lake were still too weak to allow him to go very far with these wings, but that was fine; he only needed enough power to make his way down this small cliff. With the small amount of people flying through the city at any given moment, he doubted he could escape detection if he used the wings for an extended period of time.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

A sudden gust of wind forced him onto his bottom. He looked up, and saw a golden-robed man in majestic silver wings descended into the cave from the air above. His striking blue eyes glared at Solera with something akin to pure disgust.

“Insulator robes? Nice, very nice.” He walked up to Solera and seized him by the arm. “But do you think that makes you an elder? Too rich and powerful for rules?”

Solera opened his mouth, but he didn’t know what to say. He had been found out!

“Take those wings you stole off your back, you’re coming with me.” The man wrenched Solera away from the cliff edge, pulling him away from the cliff edge.

Out of the corner of his eye, Solera saw another figure drop out of the air, landing behind the man with a violent blast of wind. The old woman Gray!

“Forgive him, Elder.” She spoke bluntly, with a tone which brooked no compromise. “He is new to the capital and does not know his limits.”

The golden man turned and stared at her. Seconds passed, but the two didn’t move. Neither was willing to back down, and Solera began to feel uneasy. If they were going to fight, what could he possibly do?

Without warning, he was pushed forward, and would have tripped if not for his quick reflexes.

“Make sure your… relative, knows his place. You may openly flout the law in the outer cities, but the Thundergod’s will is divine here in the capital. Do not forget that, elder Galina.”

The man walked past them and flew out of the cave without bothering to look back. Solera paid no attention though, because his concentration was focused entirely on the old woman Gray. If she was going to kill him, there was probably nothing he could do. His power crystal… it wasn’t enough.

The Gray laughed, moving towards Solera. “Precocious child. It’s still too early for you to fly here. That disgusting man and his friends will not let you until we make you an elder.”

Solera nodded dumbly. Was he really ignoring the fact that he had just been caught red-handed trying to escape? Or had she misinterpreted his actions somehow?

She took his arm and flew into the air using both her wings and a cushion of wind she conjured below Solera’s feet, to another one of the caves. The girl Gray was seated there, reading a book. She looked at them and laughed, a bubbly laugh. Solera felt very uncomfortable hearing it.

They landed, allowing the girl to hook her arm around the old woman before they flew up again, this time towards the dust storm.

“How were your classes, love?” The old woman looked down at him with a gentle smile.

Impossible. It was like these Grays couldn’t even conceive of the possibility that he wasn’t one of them, that he could have been trying to escape. How far could he stretch their trust before they finally became suspicious?

Solera just shrugged his shoulders. After some thought, he spoke. “I want to sleep.”

He wanted to be alone for a while, let him sort his thoughts out.

“I’m sorry, love. But you have to take care of your vessel. You have to eat.”

Well, that was fine. But before Solera could respond, they entered the wind vortex, rocking slightly before the old woman stabilized. The wind was so, so fast, yet they were cutting straight through it with almost no resistance. What sort of technique did this require? If it wasn’t for the fact that he was flying through it right now, he wouldn’t have thought it was even possible! Hell, even if he was on the ground, he might have been blown away, or even cut away by the flying dust. That was how fast the wind was blowing.

The palace came into view again. He could see the second tornado atop it, surrounding the area of the Tornado Tower. Two great storms, sandwiching this tower of rock. It was probably impossible to escape from this place, Solera grudgingly conceded. He would have to do it in the Academy, or something similar.

They touched down at a small cave near the top of the palace, a mere fifty meters below the inner tornado. Solera followed the two Grays deeper inside, to a room with a large, round table. Around twenty gray-robed men and women were seated already, murmuring among themselves.

“Ah, everyone has arrived.” The Patriarch, who was on the other end of the table, laughed and sat down. “Have a look at our newest vessel.”

All eyes turned towards Solera. His hairs instantly stood on end. These people… there was something about the way they carried themselves, something about their expressions. Something was telling him that everyone here was a Gray!

The way they sat, the way they moved, the way they smiled… they were not the same, but they were similar. Solera’s heart began to palpitate. He was in a lion’s den, being sized up by every beast present.

A middle aged man nodded sympathetically at him. “Do not worry, love. We are all one.”

The Patriarch gave Solera a soothing smile. “The vessel is a young noble from Eden, with a cultivation class of 98 and an age of thirteen.”

“An anomaly. What was the vessel’s cultivation method?” The speaker was an old, sandy-haired woman.

The Patriarch shook his head. “We were unable to extract any information, love. It will be your duty to investigate the vessel further.”

Solera’s heart sunk deeper. He was going to be investigated? He had to leave before then!

“Who seized this vessel?” A man, still youthful in appearance, asked.

“Rasmurnov.”

Murmurs of shock rose up around the table, causing Solera to frown. He remembered Rasmurnov had lived in the capital for some time. But he hadn’t thought the Grays would have paid too much attention to the man.

“That creep is here in the city? He must be removed!” The middle-aged Gray from before clenched his fists, his lips trembling. “Will he never leave us alone?”

Solera narrowed his eyes. What was the man talking about? He couldn’t remember anything about this Gray!

“Don’t be afraid, love.” The Patriarch had an unnerving smile on his face. “He will become one of us, when it is time for the next update.”

Galina nodded. “Yes. We negotiated with the High Council today. Rasmurnov will be appointed a deputy of the Chief Elder of the City Guard in a week for his service in the battle for Fortress Hickory. The fundamentalists would not allow us to send him out again, but that is fine. He will stay in this city to hunt down Madame Snakehead and interrogate the wolf summoner we captured.”

“But… his cultivation is too low, and his soul too pure.” The man protested.

“His skills are useful. And Abkariya has further refined the pill formula. The purity threshold has been increased to the seventh degree, and now it only takes a week to take effect.”

“He took my partner away! He can’t become one of us because I want to kill him!”

The Patriarch raised up a hand in a placating gesture. “It’s not possible, love. This is the only way, and it is a good way. What will Rasmurnov do when he sees this vessel here?” He pointed at Solera again.

Solera fidgeted with his fingers. They were talking about possessing Rasmurnov. He had said over and over again he wanted Rasmurnov to die. In fact, he had believed killing the man was the one reason he had left to live. Rasmurnov had killed Lem, had killed the old man, had turned the prisoners against each other…

Yet his enmity towards the man had vanished without his even knowing it. Why? Why? He replayed his memories again. He would kill Rasmurnov. He had promised it with all his heart. Where had his hatred gone?

He grabbed onto a finger and squeezed hard. The pressure helped to calm his mind somewhat. The man would be possessed, his soul extinguished by an unstoppable monster. Unless Rasmurnov also awakened the third eye to combat the invading spirit, there was not much he could do. So he would die. Yes, he would die, and that was good.

Yet when he thought of a Gray spirit descending into Rasmurnov’s body, he didn’t like it at all.

“Enough. The decision is final.” The Patriarch sent a bolt of power shooting into the wall, and a door formed from rock slid open. Several servants filed in, each carrying several platters of what Solera presumed to be food. The dishes were covered by metal domes, but the fragrant aroma of meat wafted into his nose.

He had to stop thinking about Rasmurnov. This food, instead. When was the last time he had eaten?

He… he couldn’t remember! It had been before Rasmurnov had… before he had been fed that pill. The man at the Dome had said that was around nine months ago!

How could it be? Surely he must have eaten in that time span. But he couldn’t remember at all!

The servants left the room, and the door slid back in to become a seamless part of the wall. The Grays took off the Domes and began serving themselves.

“The bandit attacks down south are increasing. A merchant from Sunda was able to fight off three attacks before making it here to sell this meat.” The Patriarch spoke as he cut some meat off a giant leg of what appeared to be ham, Solera wasn’t sure.

“Snakeheads.” A Gray from elsewhere in the table snarled as he crunched away on some plant.

The old woman Gray ladled some soup into Solera’s bowl before speaking up. “The High Council has dispatched Elder Valerie to escort the merchants. But when we capture Madame Snakehead, all this will cease.”

Solera glanced at the bowl, then cut some steak off a nearby hunk and sampled a bite. His expression instantly shot up.

This food was heavily saturated with power! He could feel it from the tingling sensation in his mouth, a feeling much more intense than the bath he had taken! It was incredible!

Solera had eaten well almost his entire life, but this was on another level entirely. He tried to quantify it… four, five hundred Iotas, in this one bite he took?

It was difficult. The power in the food was totally different from the power in his channels. His third eye could only barely make out their presence, so the only thing he had to go on was his feeling.

He cut up another slice of meat, making it disappear within the span of a quarter minute. This food was a treasure, and he needed to eat as much of it as he could before he made his getaway.

These Grays, they had tried to possess his body. This was their just desserts!

This bread, this loaf of bread! It was ten times less dense in terms of power than the meat was, but that was fine because it was just bread! And the rice, it didn’t taste nearly as good as the ones from the Grove, but it was great as well!

Solera didn’t bother to sample the ham, directly cutting off a quarter pound of it and stuffing it into his mouth.

“Try the soup, love. It’s specially for you.” The old woman Gray smiled at him as she ate.

Well, she asked for it.

Solera washed the ham down with the soup, and then his eyes bugged. No way! It had at least five times as much power as the ham did! How was that possible? He eagerly grabbed a spoon to investigate further.

There was some meat at the bottom which he was able to dig out. He raised the spoon up to his eyes curiously. The broth trickled out of the spoon and back into the bowl, leaving behind a broken human nose.

Solera’s hand began to tremble. He could see, out of the corner of his eye, the old woman staring expectantly at him.

He put the spoon back into the soup, stirring it as his stomach wildly churned. What the fuck was this monstrosity before him?

“Come on, love.” The old woman shook her head disapprovingly. “Your vessel is gifted, and must be taken care of. Out of everyone in this room, only you and your partner will be an immortal, and you can do it only by eating the best food we prepare.”

The eyes… the eyes of every monster in the room were on him. Watching him. Testing him. There was no choice.

Be decisive! He had to be decisive!

Solera lifted his spoon back up, depositing the thing into his mouth. He fixed his eyes on the leg of ham as he chewed. It was crunchy, oh Gardener, why was it crunchy?

The lettuce, he had to look at the lettuce. But it wasn’t the same. He wanted to throw up. He couldn’t do this. But he had to do this. Why did he have to do this? It wasn’t fair!

He could smell the soup now. It smelled sickly, like a mix of earwax and a pungent oil. He couldn’t smell it anymore, not if he wanted to be decisive. They were looking away now, most of them. The old woman, this sick bitch, she was still watching.

Solera swallowed early. The swallow was too loud, a squelching sound as the thing was launched into his throat. But he couldn’t taste it anymore, that was what mattered. The rice, he had to wash it down with rice, definitely not with the soup.

“The wolf summoner, he was from Opportunity Kingdom. One of Reginald’s lackeys.” The Patriarch began speaking again to another Gray. Solera focused on it, straining to make the man’s voice the only thing in his mind.

“But that is all we got from him. Rasmurnov may get some more, and we are still hunting the rest of the summoners.”

The other Gray, she was yet another old woman, with blonde hair. “It doesn’t matter much. The monsters are just the Gardener’s last ditch effort to get us to withdraw. We’ll have their entire country burned to ash within two years.”

Solera focused on the ham again. They were burning his homeland to the ground, and he was helpless. There was nothing he could do to stop anything, was there?

“Drink more, it’s good for you!” The girl Gray chirped as she dipped her spoon into Solera’s bowl and shoveled some meat out. “We don’t get this a lot, you’re so lucky!”

She forced the spoon into his mouth. Solera quickly followed it up with another spoonful of rice, swallowing it all as quickly as humanly possible. For he was only a human, a human among monsters. Helpless, powerless. Nothing had changed, really.

It seemed like forever, and yet he could remember nothing of what happened until the ordeal was over because he had nearly blocked off everything. The Patriarch was wiping the oil off his mouth with his sleeve. He looked tired now, with large bags under his eyes.

“I have one last announcement to make tonight.” He said to the entire room, which instantly fell silent.

“The Halo cult is sending a team here in three weeks to secure our summoning dust. One immortal, two class 900s, four class 700s, and 8 class 500s. If they find out about us again, we will have no choice but to kill them and sacrifice ourselves to the cult so the Pantheon is not endangered. So until they are gone, we must be on our guards.”