An attendant came by, greeted everyone with a bow, and asked the group to follow them.
They were led through the self-opening doors onto a wide platform.
Soon a familiar low-sounding hum began coming out from under their feet. The steel they were standing on started going up in a steady fashion.
No one was unused to such an event; after all, there was an elevator in their own academy; this was nothing surprising.
After a short while, the platform stopped on a certain level.
On the sign above the door, the number 12 was written in bold black.
The attendant continued leading the group through the slightly curved white hallways, and soon everyone reached a 'residential area.'.
It was another hallway, but this one had many doors spaced evenly along the side.
Each student was given a corresponding key along with some pamphlets showing you the map of the place.
With this, they were left alone after the smiling attendant wished them a happy stay.
"It almost feels like we are staying at some fancy hotel." He almost thought the same.
Their professor didn't pretend anymore; he swiftly said his goodbyes to the students and locked himself in the room.
At this time the students remembered they were angry at each other and quickly followed Richard's example.
Myra also wanted to disappear into her room, but before that, she asked everyone to meet up in 2 hours in the archives.
In a flash, there was no one else from their group left near Cyril; even Rose abandoned him.
"Thank you for your help. I appreciate that." The prince still didn't go away.
Clayton had more to say. "Tomorrow, at the lecture, I don't wish to be disturbed by those two. I can only ask, please bear with me a bit longer." He bowed at 45 degrees.
It was an easy request to do; he didn't mind him standing nearby and saw no reason to refuse to do a favor for the prince. "Do what you want.".
Hearing his cold tone but affirmative words, Clayton straightened his back and smiled, "I'll remember this. Have a good night!"
He waved and went to his assigned room; surprisingly, he didn't get a royal suite away from his classmates.
Finally, Cyril too went in to check out their temporary accommodations.
It was a spacious apartment with everything one would need in daily life. Of course, everything was luxurious, pristine, and advanced.
For an example The toilet had a confusing number of buttons on it, even higher than what Cyril was accustomed to.
The one thing he really didn't like about the place was the prevalence of the color white. It almost reminded him of a room from some mental institution.
Luckily, however, Cyril's room happened to be the one on the outer side of the Tower. Through the windows there was a panoramic view of the city: an ocean of grey stretching out for as far as the eyes can see.
He sat on the bed while looking at this somewhat beautiful view, thinking about what to do next.
"So far my impressions of the place are rather good." Rhamn stood in front of the windows.
It does look expensive and magic is everywhere here. It feels like by just breathing I can recover mana.
The Tower is the closest place to magic itself. Just by being in here physically, he began feeling better and stronger.
I don't feel tired at all; no use sitting here. Cyril decided to go to the archives ahead of time. Perhaps he can find some interesting spell books lying around. The Tower definitely had an even better collection than the academy's.
According to the map, he had to take the elevator to floor 17.
There was also a canteen on his floor. He visited it to have a quick meal without wasting too much time.
The food there was surprisingly good, better than in the restaurant his group frequented.
Walking through these white, clean environments was a bit weird; there was complete silence around. It felt alien.
The realization that some time soon demons will erupt from underneath did not help ease the tension.
It's a good thing the map was readable enough; with no hassle, he rode the elevator and found the precise place he needed.
Inside it looked just like a library, only more mind-numbingly white as usual.
There were also numerous stands in the room; there was a kind of projection on it. Similar to the ones with which the professors used to show something. Only you could interact with these ones yourself. It was an index of available books.
Finding it unusual and convenient, Cyril took his time browsing through.
'Ancient tomes of 154,' 'Magic Creatures: the end of humanity?'. 'Affects of Mana on the Body,' 'How to Live During Times of Terror in Peace'—all' sorts of books went past his eyes; even some weird ones were mixed in.
It can be seen that in these archives they didn't keep anything too important. But something interesting can still be found.
"Let's grab something about Magic Creatures. I am so curious about them, but the academy scarcely even mentions them." Cyril also wanted to pick books like that, only partially for her reason, though.
Information about different races might be written down under the magic creatures. This was their treatment.
Cyril wanted to find out if there was a race sharing his qualities. It didn't cost him anything, and there was still time until their meeting. Since Myra wasn't worrying about demons for now, Cyril decided not to as well.
It can only be said that his mental fortitude increased significantly over the past month and a half.
After he chose which books to take, Cyril pressed the big highlighted word 'Take Out,' and books from different shelves started to fly towards the stand's position.
Then Cyril found an empty table and got comfortable.
Eventually he was joined in the archives by his other classmates. No one wanted to waste their time in the Tower sitting in a room. Perhaps only Edmund, since he was nowhere to be found.
For usual reasons, no one came by to greet him or sat at the same table.
Aside from Rose, who didn't speak much. She was focused on her own research, and Cyril didn't disturb her.
Overall he was satisfied with this situation and managed to browse through many books in peace and quiet.
Only with Rhamn's occasional comment, but he was used to that.
'Beware of Thyme's Parasites; once these tiny worms are inside of your body, they appear to your mind as wise old men or beautiful women to gain your trust and slowly absorb your mana and life.'? This was the description of an interesting creature he found in one of the books.
Cyril slowly turned his head to look at Rhamn sitting by his side.
In response, she only blinked her eyes with a confused expression.
"That's so rude! Don't call me a worm." After a brief delay, Rhamn puffed up her cheeks and turned away from him, feigning grievance.
Sorry about that. He didn't actually believe she was a parasite, of course. She was too different from how the books described the creature.
They didn't enhance your physique, nor were they capable of producing insects after drinking certain potions.
During this time he didn't manage to find anything that fit his description, but he still saw some fascinating creatures.
Birds that control fire, tigers with unmatched strength, wolves capable of speech, and rabbits with power over ice—there was no end to what kind of creature one could find.
Despite their sheer variance, Cyril never met one in real life; more than that, it was hard to hear something about a magic creature.
Still, the Empire was a place with a monumental amount of mana; it must be a source of attraction for them.
This was the way he spent these two hours. He didn't even notice when Edmund came over and sat at the same table.
Rhamn was interested in this as well. She kept exclaiming how cute those animals were. There was a glint in her eyes that made Cyril worry.
It continued until Myra finally came over as well; who knew what she had been doing this whole time?
She sat at the same table, looked at everyone studying, and coughed a few times to draw attention.
With everyone's eyes now on her, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth. "Tomorrow will be an important day for us. This will be an opportunity to get stronger; perhaps we will have a debate 'battle' with 'someone'. Yes, I guess it will be during the lecture."
She sounded somewhat awkward, like she was making a speech before a competition. But everyone here understood what she was implying.
At least Cyril did. She is saying the demons will attack tomorrow during a lecture? She even knows precisely when."Of course she does."
Myra was apprehensive of anyone listening in and tried to behave as normally as possible, which stood out to Cyril like a sore thumb.
She sat straight with both of her arms resting on the desk.
Perhaps outsiders will not see anything wrong with her 'model student' look.
Soon everyone started to go back to their rooms after saying goodbye to each other. The tension was once again rising within the group.
Even Edmund's face was darker than usual, but at the same time, some determination shone through them.
Having already memorized the way back, Cyril was in the room lying on the bed in no time.
Thinking that tomorrow he needed to be in a good state, Cyril tried to fall asleep earlier.
But he was more nervous than he realized. He just couldn't fall asleep.
How could he when tomorrow might be the most dangerous day of his life so far?
Rhamn was lying on the other side of the bed, at a certain distance as per Cyril's request.
She couldn't bear to see this and proposed an idea.
"How about I help you fall asleep?" She looked at him with a smile.
"Don't worry, using my powers, I'll just try to make your body enter a state of sleep. What do you say?" There was something soothing in her voice.
It was an unusual proposal to be sure, but Cyril wasn't disturbed in any way. As long as it got the job done, he didn't mind how it sounded or looked.
Sure... Good night, Rhamn So he readily agreed.
Rhamn slowly and carefully put her palm on Cyril's cheek; she lovingly held him like that until his eyes closed.
"Good night, Cyril." They grew ever closer.