As the door swung open, Raven stepped out into the corridor, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
He was out of his room, which wasn't supposed to happen. Unfortunately, no one was here to see him step out of his room.
As soon as Raven stepped out of the room, he noticed that there was no path ahead. It was as if he was standing atop a mountain. A single step forward and he was going to fall straight to the bottom.
He looked down. Everything was so dark that it was impossible to even see the bottom.
Raven took a deep breath, as he tapped the ground beneath him twice before stepping forward into the empty space.
As if listening to his instructions, the empty space transformed into a staircase, materialising step by step as he descended.
With each step, he got further away from his room. However, his destination wasn't the ground floor. Instead, the stairs connected him to another room.
The room he selected was very far from his room, yet he had made up his mind. It was impossible to read his thoughts or intentions. He stopped only after reaching his destination when he stood before a crimson door.
With the back of his fingers, he lightly knocked on the door and waited for the door to be opened. Unfortunately, there was no response from the other side.
He knocked again, but the outcome remained the same. In total, he knocked exactly six times, the reasoning behind that exact number unclear.
After the sixth time, he stopped knocking. He lightly touched the door with his fingers. A clicking sound resounded as the door unlocked on its own.
He pulled out his favourite pen from his pocket as he stepped inside the room, the door closing behind him on its own.
....
A young man in his early twenties was asleep. However, something stirred him from his deep slumber.
His eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the dimly lit surroundings. Confusion washed over him as he realized that something was amiss.
With a hazy mind, he attempted to move his arms, only to discover that they were tightly bound behind his back. Panic coursed through his veins, jolting him into being fully awake.
Frantically scanning the room, his eyes darted from one corner to another, eventually resting on a young boy, who was sitting on a nearby chair.
The young boy was comfortably sitting, resting one leg above the other as if he was the true emperor of this place. The man was spinning a beautiful silver pen around his fingers without even having to look.
The dark haired man also noticed his own sword, resting against the table behind the boy. He remembered sleeping with the sword next to him, yet now it was far away and his hands were tied.
"Who are you? How did you enter my room?!" The man exclaimed, his voice loud.
Unfortunately, the room was soundproof. And with the mirrors being controlled by Raven, nothing suspicious was ever noticed by anyone.
Even if one was to look through the mirror, they could only find the man sleeping in peace.
Struggling against his restraints, Cain's mind raced to understand just what had happened. In this place, it was impossible for anyone to enter another person's room without their permission.
There were only two people who could do something like this. One was the true owner of this Palace, Merlin. And the second was Circe who was authorised by Merlin.
"Is this some abrupt test? Are you Lady Circe?"
After receiving only silence in response, Caen started making his own guesses. Unfortunately, without confirmation, it was all just a guess.
"I'm right. You're Lady Circe. Only she's fond of disguising herself as old and young." The man justified his own assumption in his mind.
Raven stood up, bringing out the form of the world tree from his pocket. Turning his back on the man, he walked toward the table and placed it on a book before taking it to the bed where Cain was still tied.
He placed the Book and paper before the dark haired man, who was still looking at Raven with confusion, wondering why the second in command was doing this.
He had always heard that Circe was quite playful, but this was something that even he hadn't expected. Unfortunately, he couldn't do much about it. He could only play along.
Looking at the form, he thought that there was some problem with the original form he had filled previously. He thought it's why Circe was here to get him to fill it again while keeping herself entertained.
"I will fill it again!" He exclaimed, not even daring to go against the second in command. He was a wise man who had already guessed everything that he needed to do. Unfortunately, he didn't realise that all his thoughts were based on a wrong assumption.
Raven released only one hand of the man, from which he could write.
The man picked up the pen and prepared to fill the form. However, before he could fill his name, Raven stopped him. He moved his finger down, pointing at the specific sections of the form only.
Still confused, Cain didn't think much. He started filling the form. In his goals, he wrote that he wanted to become the strongest which was the goal of most that came here.
In his abilities, he wrote that he could learn a skill faster, especially if it was a sword skill. In his experience, he wrote that he had been learning sword skills for three years.
In his final number, he included the one year of experience that he had received ever since he stepped in this place last year.
As he was filling out the form after one year, there were a lot of changes in his previous answers and the current one. Other than his goal and generic ability, not a single answer was the exact same as the last.
He answered the question about who he loved the most, mentioning his mother. As for the one he hated the most, he mentioned a few names.