His thoughts were interrupted when the discipline master summoned an 8 foot tall floating crystal out of thin air. Cloud gently pushed the crystal using his index finger. The floating crystal slid to the middle of the stage while emitting a gentle intermittent buzz and a soft white throbbing glow. The juniors watched in entrancement, captivated by the flickering crystal. As the sound became louder, the piece of rock shone brighter and brighter until it exploded into a million shards of snow; revealing a floating maiden with waist length hair blinded by a silk cloth.
The prefects marched and kneeled in front of her as if waiting for her command. The trainers stood up in attention as if facing a commander. With a wave of her pale white hands, they all vanished without a trace. The maiden twirled in mid air, her white wintry hair danced like gentle breeze. Spell formations formed above each table, summoning a mass of slot machines, all dropping at the exact time with a thud onto the tables.
The maiden gave a small gentle smile, melting the icy room of snow. The mysterious girl burst into a pile of snow leaving an icy breeze.
"This is like free air-con!" Cori mused. Pujja, "What are these slot machines?" Cori had no idea what they were for, "The aptitude test?" Musical sounds randomly filled the concert hall as some slimes pressed the lever to satisfy their curiosity. Whenever a slime hit a jackpot, the slime was phantomed away, disappearing into nothingness.
Cori being cautious used [Observation]. System, "Teleportation device. It gauges the aptitude of the user and teleport them to one of the 6 Halls. Hall of Alkydrich, Hall of Paulva, Hall of Kirin, Hall of Raijin, Hall of Silvanus or Hall of Ogmios." Cori asked hoping for a thorough answer, "Pujja, do you know anything about Hall of Alkydrich, Hall of Paulva, Hall of Kirin, Hall of Raijin, Hall of Silvanus or Hall of Ogmios?"
"Huh?" Pujja replied after pulling the lever and hitting jackpot. Before she could answer, she disappeared into a wisp of green smoke. Cori responded, "Oh." Feeling slightly disappointed. He overcame his emotions and redirected his focus onto the slot machine- there were nine drawings on the machine, made up of the six halls' coat of arms. Alkydrich had a rainbow hydra with 12 wings. Paulva used a dark emerald winged lion for its coat of arm. Kirin's coat of arms featured the white mystical beast resting in the mountain. Raijin's showed 8 connected taiko drums resting on a thundercloud. While Silvanus' coat of arms showed a forest of abundance and Ogmios' coat of arms showed a thumbs up and a heart symbol. Cori had no information on how best to proceed, so he just pulled the lever with his paw hoping for the best.
The familiar electronic tone played as the slots rolled. Three unfamiliar symbols showed on the slot machine. Cori closed his eyes, waiting to be spirited away but nothing happened. He pressed the slot machine again, but there was no reaction. The greyed out symbol stared back at him. Hoping for the best, Cori used his skill [Observation] on the slot machine again, but this time focusing on the coat of arms. System, "Hall of 777." Failing to get any substantial information, Cori looked around the hall and yelled, "Hello! Is anyone here?" But only Cori's voice echoed back in the empty space.
With everyone and their slot machine gone but his, he wandered through the hall and onto the stage hoping to scavage for clues. As he approached the pile of snow, he noticed a faint throbbing light buried under it. He reached into the cold and found a warm heart made of ice. He found it strange that the ice did not melt. "Maybe, maybe it needs to be resurrected." Cori guessed. He reached into his bag and took out a small tube of green potion and poured onto the beating heart.
A brilliant light emitted from the heart and levitated in the air. The light blinded the entire hall until the snow maiden was whole again. "What year is this?" the snow maiden asked. "Erm..." Cori still did not have a full grasp of the time in this world. "Third Eon, Master." If Cori did not have a fine sense of hearing, the barely audible sound would not be heard. Cori instinctively reacted recalling how the prefects and trainers respond to her appearance, "Third Eon, Master." The snow maiden chuckled, "I'm not your master. I see I had not slept for 5 minutes and you had woken me up. Tell me, why are you still here?"
Cori replied whilst wondering if Alice managed to 'escape' the boundaries of the system, "I think I am supposed to be in Hall 777."
"Hall 777!?" the maiden floated back with her hand hiding a gasp. The blinded maiden paced in circles in mid air. "This concert hall used to be Hall 777." she replied and continued, "But how could this be?" Cori was puzzled, "What does the number 777 mean?"
The snow maiden looked at Cori through her blind, inspecting him closely. With a sigh, she started to explain. "Eons ago, not so long ago, after mother tree was defeated. Seven Arkons rose to rule the world. They established the 7 houses, Alkydrich, Paulva, Kirin, Raijin, Silvanus, Ogmios, and 777. The 7th house adopted the number system to reflect the unity of the seven houses and also due to the power embedded in the seventh in this world. Together they established numerous monster training schools to avoid another unnecessary bloodshed. Not long after the establishment, the seventh Arkon disappeared leaving the 7th kingdom empty without any successors. Out of respect, the other Arkons and their descendants had been managing its land and citizens. Without the power of the seventh Arkon, Hall 777 in every academy could not be activated. And thus this became a concert hall, a reminiscence of the good times the 7 Arkons shared."
Cori listened intently and felt he was needlessly embroiled in yet another troublesome task. His immediate concern was where could he sleep tonight.
"Tonight, you have to rest with me and the trainers at the Queen's hall." the maiden fluttered down to carry Cori in her arms. "You're in luck tonight." she whispered with a gentle smile that could melt even the coldest snow. Cori was glad that he stayed silent.