With the previous events on the back on his mind, Jack started walking towards the city gates.
On his way there, he could observe the big buildings of the city. But what stood out the most was a tall white tower that seemed like it could pierce the sky. He had never seen something like that in any city of his previous world.
Soon enough he got to the city gates and two long queues were in front of him. One of them seemed to be for vehicles since the queue only had carriages and some merchant caravans that Jack guessed came to the city to do business, white the other one seemed to be for people who came on foot.
Although the queue moved a bit slow, Jack wasn't on any hurry, so he just went to the queue's back and patiently waited for his turn.
While he waited for his turn he didn't see Luna's carriage, so he guessed they went past the entrance control faster with some kind of permit.
After a bit more than an hour his turn came and he saw and old man sitting in front of him in what seemed like a small table full of papers with two guards behind him. Jack found kind of funny this picture.
"Name?" A question came from the sitting man's mouth. He didn't even glance up from his papers while asking.
"Jack." Jack answered calmly.
"Full name." The old man said with a kind of tired tone. It seemed like it was not the first time he had to tell the people to say their full name.
"Apologies, Jack Immortal." Jack apologized to the old man. He understood how exhausting doing a job like this during all day could be.
When he heard his full name the old man looked up from his papers for a couple of seconds and made a strange face while looking at him. The two guards behind the old man also changed their faces expression for a second before going back to their usual.
Jack didn't think too much into it. It was normal that his surname sounded weird to them, after all, not many people would have the word "Immortal" as their surname. Back on Earth he never met someone with his same surname, it was truly a peculiar surname.
"Reason for your visit?" The old man went back to his papers immediately after getting over the weird situation.
"I just came to visit the city." Jack answered calmly once again.
"Really? I thought you were gonna say you came for the entrance exam of the Glowing Star Academy. Seeing you came alone during this period and how old you look I was quite certain of it. Many youths have been coming this week for that same reason. Are you sure you only came to visit?" The old man looked at Jack with a questioning look and the guards seemed to be observing Jack more carefully.
"My initial plan was really just to visit the city and see some places. I really didn't know that the academy was on the period of admitting new students. But now that I know that, I will definitely check how the Glowing Star Academy looks like, and if it is as good as its reputation says, maybe I will consider taking the entrance exam." Jack wasn't bothered at all by their suspicion.
The old man observed Jack's expression before looking back at his papers and talking once again. "Two silver coins to enter."
Jack opened the pouch Eloi gave him and took out one gold coin.
The old man made a tired face and looked at Jack once again. "I said two silver coins, don't give me gold coins. I don't have change for that."
"I'm sorry, but I only have gold coins." Jack apologized once again with an awkward smile.
Hearing Jack's answer, the old man was feeling confused about how this young man could say that he only had gold coins while wearing those weird cheap-looking clothes. If only he knew how much those clothes were worth back on Earth...
"Why are there so many weirdos coming this year for the entrance exam of the academy? It was not like this the previous times. Of course there were some of them, but this year it seems like all the weirdos agreed on coming this same year." The old man got lost in his own thoughts. During this past week, many peculiar youths were coming for the academy's entrance exam, and he was thinking about taking some vacations once the academy recruitment period passed.
"Ok young man, take your permit and enter. I will allow you to enter this time for free but next time I won't, so I advise you to go the bank and change some of your gold coins to silver coins or even to copper coins. Not all shops would be able to accept your gold coins, so that would be the best thing to do so you don't have any problems during your stay on the city." The old man seemed already tired of dealing with him, so he just allowed Jack to enter without paying any fee.
"Thank you for the advice, and sorry once again for giving you so many problems." Jack thanked the old man and looked at the guards who didn't seem to mind Jack entering without paying any fee.
"It's ok, it's been like this all week. Take care young man." The old man gave Jack a small smile and handed him the permit before the guards made way for Jack to pass.
Just when Jack went past the gates the next person in line came in front of the table the old man was sitting at.
"Not another weirdo please." The old man was praying to who knows which god to have only ordinary people for the rest of the week.
Just after going through the gates, Jack finally got to take a good look at the city.
The city seemed to be divided on different zones, and the deeper you went into the city, the taller the buildings were. The city reminded Jack of the New York from Earth, but it was quite different. Despite many of the buildings being tall, they didn't look modern at all. They looked ancient, but with some modifications to be adapted to the new ages. And just by looking at them you could know this city had some long and interesting story.
A big market could be found once you got deeper into the city, and many bustling shops and restaurants were near that same market. Jack was sure after watching all the people coming and going, and people who bought and people who sold, that Luminens was a good city to be a merchant. After asking some people around, Jack came to know that the market was called "The Moonlight Market" and that this was the commercial district were many people from across the empire came to try and buy things that couldn't be found in other places.
In the deepest part of the city, the big white tower pointed to the sky. Jack decided to ask one person about the magnificent tower and the person who was asked gladly explained to him all about it.
"The Sun Tower" was more than just a tall tower. It was the symbol of the city, it was the pride of the citizens of Luminens. No one knew when or who built it. Many said that the gods built it during the Age of Gods, and that when the Age of Gods passed, humans took the territory and built the city of Luminens around it. There were also many who said that the first human emperor in history, Loki the Wise, built it as an offering to the gods, so they would always bless humans lands.
There were many other theories, each one more bizarre than the previous one, but those two were the most believed. Despite people having different opinions regarding the creation of the Sun Tower, there was one thing everyone agreed on.
Legend said that may the day arrive when the Sun Tower falls. And it will be on that fateful day when the city of Luminens, and with it the whole Silver Star Empire, should fall.
That was also one of the reasons why all the citizens of Luminens cared so much about The Sun Tower. The Sun Tower just standing unaffected meant peace. And any weird phenomenon that affected it would be enough reason for the emperor himself to come.
The person that told Jack all the story also said that inside the tower many secrets were hidden, but he didn't know anything about them since not everyone is allowed to enter the Sun Tower.
"Thank you so much for explaining everything to me. Back from where I come there are no sights like this." Jack thanked the young man who explained everything to him.
"There's no need to thank me. The Sun Tower is the pride of all us citizens of Luminens. Some young men and women who come from other big cities also don't know the story." The young man answered with a big smile across his face.
"It's indeed an incredible story. Before leaving, would it be possible to know where can I find a bank and how do I get to the Glowing Star Academy?" Seeing that the young man was being very kind to him, Jack asked politely.
"Oh, you want to take the entrance exam? Good luck with that young boy. I also tried to enter some years ago but seems like my talent was not good enough. I hope you have better luck than me. As per your questions, you can find the nearest bank just after exiting the commercial district and before entering the residential district on the east side of the city. And to get to the Glowing Star Academy you just need to go in the Sun Tower direction. The Sun Tower is on the back of the academy, and it is the academy itself the one that regulates who can enter and who can not." The young man explained to Jack with a smile once again.
"Thank you so much for being so patient with me. Take this as a token of appreciation and have a nice day." Jack opened the pouch and put a coin on the young man's hand before turning around and going on his way to the bank.
The young man looked at Jack's disappearing back for some seconds before slowly looking at his hand. And what greeted his eyes made him open his mouth wide.
"A gold coin just for some general knowledge?" The young man quickly looked again in the direction Jack had just left, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"What an interesting young man. With such a strange look, saying he comes from a small place but giving a gold coin just for that. I also felt some fluctuations coming from him... I really hope he manages to enter the academy." The young man smiled and turned around to continue running his errands.