Inside a building, the least that can be said about it is that it is spacious, as a full football stadium can be placed inside, in addition to stands for the audience, and there is still some space.
Despite all this imaginary space, the building could not be considered empty, as there were pieces of furniture in every corner, and this added to the building a high-ranking aura.
Right in the middle of the building, a middle-aged man with black hair and also black eyes sat on a wooden stool and looked at the glowing crystal on the glass table in front of him.
"the next!"
The middle-aged man shouted as the last student left, apparently as a precaution to ensure that no one else was in the building.
Flame slammed the door hard at the last moment and I felt like we were breaking into a private building for a moment.
"We have arrived!"
Flame shouted loudly and continued to run toward the middle-aged man, the two of them had strange expressions.
Flame placed his hand on the crystal without even asking the man in charge, which made me think he was very rude and childish, but I didn't care much as the bright white light that came out of the crystal interrupted my thoughts.
"You qualify!"
The middle-aged man spoke with a little astonishment as he didn't seem to expect anything from us.
The man said a few words to Flame in a low voice.
Flame's expression never changed even after he learned that he was qualified, this news that was enough to change the life of an ordinary person forever seemed to be just an axiom of news to Flame, much to my astonishment.
As if he was sure and confident of himself!
I moved slowly and hesitantly when Flame retreated and I felt a little panicked and terrified, what if I wasn't qualified? Will I betray my father's trust in me? Will I fail to implement my father's will? How am I going to even search for my father?!
My hand trembled obviously when I approached the crystal and dozens of thoughts passed through my mind, although obtaining power is not my dream, it is one of the main pillars of its achievement.
After all, the most precious treasures and information always reside behind the backs of powerful and formidable guards who cannot be defeated by anything other than pure force.
Luckily for me, none of my fears came to be true as the crystal shone with a bright white light that lit up the entire room, I'm not an expert in such things but I think it was a success.
"You qualify!"
The tester looked at me in disbelief.
"I tested 200 today and less than half passed. Congratulations!"
The tester grabbed a strange card of some type, and he immediately grabbed my hand and forced me to hold it, and the same for Flame. I felt the overwhelming power of the tester, leaving me speechless. What is happening?
After a moment, the tester let go of my hand and left me alone, stupidly looking at the card.
"Welcome to the upper class! Envoy: Ventor Cazador."
I looked at the card that had my name engraved on it as well as a random picture, written at the top
The tester handed a book to me and Flame before the white crystal on the table disappeared, followed by himself a moment later.
"What is this?"
Confused, I grabbed the book and examined some of its contents.
"It's how to use the Ether, one of the best in the empire."
Flame smiled as he looked at the contents of the book before stopping after a few seconds.
"Well, examining a book in such an environment is not very convenient! We should go to the dorm!"
"Good..."
I looked at the white book in my hand, I was still in a state of complete astonishment, I am qualified to use Ether! This is one of the best news I've heard in the past decade!
I looked at Flame who was completely the opposite of me, this person's expression never changed even when the results came out as if he knew the result from before.
"Flame"
I called out to Flame before he opened the exit door and he immediately looked at me.
"Tell me, did you test yourself before?"
The astonishment completely disappeared from my face and was replaced by complete seriousness, I couldn't believe that the important e=Ether was just someone else's side matter.
Flame seemed to understand the reason for my question as he started to laugh softly for a while.
"No, according to my memory."
Flame barely held back his smile, and gave me the answer I hadn't expected.
"Then why? Why didn't you show any expression?"
Flame's eyes glowed with a strange red light that made me sense danger.
"Ventor, I felt very happy but I didn't feel the need to show it… You will realize this in the future."
Well, I must admit that I felt a little immature when I heard Flame's answer, although he is childish and a bit reckless, he is a very mature person inside and I didn't realize this until after a long time...
Is it confidence or indifference? When thinking about it, I felt that the first answer was the most likely...
..
Despite the huge number of giant and unique buildings in the institute, in addition to the huge squares and gardens, students need to walk for a maximum of ten minutes to reach any place inside the institute.
This was achieved through three main lanes running in a straight line, in addition to guiding boards at each corner to greatly reduce the chance of any new student getting lost.
All these things raised the total cost of the institute a lot, but it increased the comfort of the students many times over.
There were some additional buildings that Flame hadn't told me about so we stopped a bit on the way to discuss things.
"This is the market. You will definitely not find treasures here, but it will save you the trouble of going out of the institute to buy basics such as food and clothes."
I looked at the long corridor filled with groceries and clothes at market prices, and I couldn't help but feel a sense of pride, I don't know the exact reason for this feeling, but it most likely comes from my admission to this wonderful institute.
"Tell me, how did you know all this stuff? I mean…we got to the institute together!"
I asked the question that came to my mind some time ago and I felt that it was somewhat inappropriate. I met this person less than an hour ago and we really became like friends!
"Well about that I've been to this place with my family many times already"
My eyes widened in realization, and I couldn't help but think about it.
My full name is Venture Cazador, nice to meet you!
I extended my hand towards Flame without the slightest hesitation, I felt that we might get along well in the future.
"Flame Inferno! It's really an honor!"
A wide smile appeared on Flame's face and he immediately shook my hand, he might be my first real friend... was he?
Because of devoting most of my childhood and life in previous years to reading old historical exploration books, especially my miserable attempts to solve the symbols in the mysterious cave, I did not have any time to look for or meet any new friends.
Well I didn't even try so I can't blame anyone for that and even if I wanted to I couldn't care less anyway, my to-do list is so full right now that I don't have time for almost anything.
The first thing I have to do is gather a fair amount of strength, at least at a level where I can blow up a concrete wall with one attack, this could take several months or even a year depending on my talent and that's okay.
I must then find a good source to collect a large amount of money. I cannot visit such mysterious places as the Temple of the King of Healers without any necessary equipment. Although I do not have any clue as to where this temple is yet, I am sure of finding it if I invest all of my time and fortune in it.
"This is the residence for first-year students. This place is equipped with electricity, water, sanitation services, and all needs, whether basic or advanced."
Flame suddenly interrupted my line of thought and pointed to a huge building with three floors. From the outside, it seems that this place can accommodate a maximum of 50 students, but if Flame's words are correct and the size of each room is very large, this building may only accommodate 35-40 people.
We slowly advanced towards the entrance of the building and were stopped at the entrance as expected. The person who stopped us was a middle-aged man with black hair and brown eyes. I could not tell if he was an Ether user or not because I had not become an Ether user yet.
The guard extended his hand at a high speed and immediately blocked our way while looking at us strangely and did not say a single word. All I could think of when seeing this was the ID card that I got from the tester a while ago.
As expected, the guard's hand immediately retracted when he saw the card on which the institute's emblem was engraved with a certain magical substance and let me in. It didn't take long for Flame to enter as well.
"These are the keys to rooms 39 and 40."
I randomly took the key for room 40 from the hand of the guard and headed towards the students' dormitory immediately, although I did not do any physical activities today other than the run earlier, I felt very tired, and I might find some benefit from some sleep, but I still have some work to do.
I headed towards the third and last floor, where there were 14 doors. it seems that Flame was right, as the size of distance between each door and door was very wide. It was not very imaginative, but it can at least be called a medium-sized house...
"I'll see you tomorrow! Be sure to get up before eight!"
Flame hit my back lightly and entered room 39 with a wide smile on his face, and I did the same after a few seconds.
Although my suspicion of Flame did not stop, it decreased a lot. Perhaps I do not have much experience communicating with people, and I may be in the middle of a big scam, but I did not care. The feeling of having a friend is very wonderful and I am not ready to give him up, and being alone in such a situation is Probably not a good idea.
As soon as I entered the apartment, I saw some things that I did not expect. I was not wrong about the size of the apartment, which was close to the size of a regular house, but some other things surprised me a little bit, but not to a great extent. Although I did not open my mouth in surprise, my thoughts stopped for a few seconds.
My feet moved at high speed involuntarily and began to explore the apartment non-stop, a spacious bathroom with various facilities, and a spacious kitchen where I could prepare any kind of food with the equipment in it. There was a spacious refrigerator at the end of the kitchen, and it seemed that it could accommodate anything I put in it.
"I have to buy some ingredients soon…"
I looked at the tractors and the empty refrigerator and felt a bit helpless. I don't know what I expected exactly, but it is clear that the institute will not do the groceries for me.
There was a good bedroom that could be compared to my father's bedroom, it wasn't too crazy but living in this apartment could be described as luxury.
My feet stopped immediately as soon as I saw the wide bed in the bedroom, and that was probably from the severity of my fatigue, although it was still four o'clock in the afternoon or so, the psychological fatigue from all the things I faced this morning made me feel very tired, but I curbed it.
I still have dozens of important things to do before tomorrow morning and I don't have time to take a nap for sure, maybe in three or four hours but not now...
The first thing I did was put my father's black bag on top of the soft bed and began to open it little by little. I remember seeing some equipment and dozens of pictures from before, but the bus didn't give me any time to wait.
I took out the letter that I had already checked dozens of times and memorized every word and letter of it as if it were my name and read it again. Then I checked the logo on the back for the last time before I put the letter in a safe place near the bed.
There are two items in the bag and several pictures that I thought I might be able to find out some more information from. I first grabbed a necklace so black that I thought of the darkness of the night when I first saw it and felt a very strange aura coming from it.
"This..."
I looked at the silver emblem in the middle of the necklace and suddenly a huge memory flooded my mind, I'm sure I've seen this inscription before! I don't remember exactly where, but it felt very familiar.
"The cave may be..."
I wasn't very sure at first, but the doubt in my heart has completely disappeared now. The mysterious cave has a hand in my father's disappearance, or at least has some information about his whereabouts. The similarity of the logo in the message to the logo in the mysterious cave may be just a coincidence, but I don't think that these two are similar. The two logos are also coincidental.
After a few seconds, I felt a sense of inspiration, this silver emblem looked just like the strange silver engraving in the cave. The only engraving I've been able to make some progress on after 3 full years.
"But what exactly is the function of this necklace? Is it a key or something that might help me understand the meaning?"
I examined the necklace from all sides and tried to activate it several times in all the ways I know, but I did not succeed, I even cut myself to drip my blood on it!
I decided, after half an hour of pointless attempts, to leave the necklace for the close future, specifically when I inhale a lot of Ether, and I may succeed that time.
There was still a black shield with some golden inscriptions in the bag, and I felt a strange violet light coming out of it.
The shield was incomplete and I found only a part of the head, hands, and chest. As for the other parts, I do not know where they went. I did not find any emblem on the shield and all I saw was the dark black color and golden inscriptions.
I felt something strange coming out of the shield, and one look was enough to tell me that it was not normal. Although this shield was the first treasure I had seen in my life, I felt something instinctively telling me that it is not normal.
I hung the shield on a sling that I found in the room and went back to check the four pictures. I hope they carry some information that can help me solve the difficult symbols of the mysterious cave.
The first picture was of my father and mother on their wedding night, I could barely contain my sadness at the last moment and put the picture aside.
the next picture was of my father and some people I didn't recognize, the thing they all have in common is that they are all wearing high-level equipment, and my father was wearing The full version of the black shield that is in front of me, it seemed that my father was a bit young and not as I remembered him. Maybe this picture was taken before my father and mother got married.
I analyzed the pictures of all the people who stood next to my father, some of them were very old and others were in their twenties, the person who caught my attention was the one who stood in the middle like a leader, he grew a short black beard with bright blue eyes.
I put the second picture aside and looked at the third and fourth. These pictures were taken in different locations of a gigantic stone temple in the middle of a forest, and the other picture was in an underground location. The sun's rays shone from above and descended to the bottom where there was a giant hall with chairs and benches. golden spear in the middle.
"Is this the king of healers Temple?"
I looked closely at the two pictures and noticed a specific logo in the fourth picture in the middle of the giant golden table. The logo that I saw in the message is on the golden table and they were completely identical. A white and golden spear was planted in the ground and the only part that appeared from it was its head.
I didn't get enough clues but I still think this is the temple of the King of Healers or at least a path to it, once I learn how to use Ether and get a decent amount of power I will go to the mysterious cave again, I think the black necklace is some sort of a key and I hope this is true.
Of course, I don't plan on going to the Healer King's Temple before my strength reaches a certain level so that I don't end up disappearing just like my father, I still want to get out of there alive.