Sorath finally arrived at the center of the underground temple maze, where a similar formation with one from the surface was located.
He didn't waste time to get out of that place. So, he immediately activated the magic circle and teleported outside.
After safely arriving at the surface, the eight pillars where he had teleported for the first time, Sorath hurriedly looked for the orb he had buried nearby, behind the boulder east of the formation.
However, he was surprised when he found the vampire Divergent, Fred, sleeping atop the ground where his orb was buried.
Bewildered and speechless, Sorath sighed and woke Fred up with a kick.
"What are you doing here?"
Fred rubbed his eyes, squinting them at the person standing before him.
"Oh..." He recognized Sorath immediately. "You're finally here."
He stretched his body like a feline.
"I was protecting what's yours."
Sorath raised an eyebrow, thinking about what Fred meant by that. After a while, he guessed Fred was talking about the orb.
But how did Fred know an orb was buried right beneath him? No, in the first place, how did he know it belonged to Sorath?! Moreover, why would he protect it?
Feigning ignorance, Sorath tried to see if his guess was correct. Simultaneously, he would demand an explanation of why Fred did that.
"What do you mean?"
"The orb under me," said Fred, pointing at the ground. Before Sorath could say anything, he explained further.
Yesterday, when Fred was walking on the forest outskirts, looking for the entrance to the temple, he noticed the pillar formation from afar.
Curious, he approached that peculiar place, finding Sorath emerging from behind the boulder just to walk from pillar to pillar with a hand under his chin for ten minutes before touching the stone structures and disappearing.
Knowing Sorath's disappearance was due to a teleportation circle drawn on the formation surface, Fred tried to do the same, but to no avail. He couldn't figure out how to activate it.
In the end, he gave up and looked at what was behind the boulder instead. Noticing the difference on the ground, as if something was recently buried there, Fred dug it up and found an orb.
Guessing it belonged to Sorath, he decided to stay and protect it for him. However, who would have thought it would take Sorath more than mere hours to return? While most candidates had entered the temple, Fred was idling with nothing to entertain him.
"Why are you even doing that?" Sorath facepalmed.
"I see you have a talent to change the very structure of the Tower in the future. That... intrigued me," Fred smirked. "I want to be the first to witness the birth of the revolutioner."
Hearing that, Sorath glanced at Fred with a hidden glint.
"You helped me because of that?"
Fred nodded. "Yes."
Sorath held the urge to show him his reaction. His face was composed even when he said:
"What a nonsense," he shook his head and crouched down, his attention elsewhere. "But if that's true. Then I'll make you my right-hand man. What do you think?"
While he was saying a persuasive word on the outside, his thought said otherwise. 'So I can figure out who you really are.'
For a while, Fred was silent, his mouth gaped. Soon after, every hair on his skin stood up. When he was about to shiver, he regained his senses and gulped.
"Let's see about that..."
Fred stared at Sorath's right hand, noticing the intricate tattoo that seemed to exude an ancient aura.
"Talking about right hand... What happened to yours?"
Sorath took a quick glance at his right hand.
"Oh, this? It's nothing," he dismissed the question and said something with a shameless smile. "More importantly, give me your jacket."
"Huh?" Fred.
...
Sorath and Fred walked together with the same destination in mind to reach the Velniz Temple's highest floor. But before that, they were exploring the Tower's third floor to gather resources like water from the river and food from the forest, which mostly were fruits.
After gathering the necessary supplies, they set off to their destination.
On the way, they talked about anything to fill the boredom they felt during the travel. Eventually, Fred revealed that he was coming from another tower called Aethal Tower.
They exchanged information about both towers, Aethal and Gaia.
Through his conversation with Fred, Sorath gained additional information about the Aethal Tower's homeworld. It was a world you could call a fantasy realm. Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, Vampires, and many fantasy races lived there.
According to Fred, it had been five years since the Aethal merged with the capital tower, Tetra. Moreover, his tower community had established a name within that period.
The information, however, was of no use to Sorath since he already knew about the Aethal Tower and their politics through the novel and past life.
If anything, he wanted to know the situation of their homeworld. Alas, Fred refused to tell him even though Sorath offered an equal exchange between his homeworld and Fred's.
***
At the same time, on the Velniz Temple's fifth floor...
Julian was confused when he saw hundreds of candidates gathered in the final room with a large statue of a druid at the center of the room.
Noticing his expression, Michael patted Julian's shoulder and asked him if anything was wrong.
"Ah, no," Julian shook his head. "It's nothing. I am just surprised there are so many people here..."
He wasn't sure whether to feel delighted or not.
Originally, only a few were able to pass the second trial due to the guardian protecting this final room, sending half of the candidates back to Havenlock. In other words, more or less 200 people were failing their Awakening Phase.
'Because of that, even after being given a second chance, I can only manage to reach the eighth floor and get a Mystical-rank Trace due to luck.'
Julian observed the candidates in the room, who were waiting for night to fall before completing their second trial.
'However, with this many survivors and my Trace that allows me to rewind time every time I died, completing all the trials and strengthening our Tower's power can be accomplished now!'
But he still felt curious about why did this happen. So he used the time to ask people if they were encountering a stone golem guarding this place. When they said 'no,' his curiosity increased further.
'Whatever...'
He clenched his fist tightly until it turned pale.
'I will not waste the third chance he has given me.'