Free Web NovelChapter 254: Chapter 254 - Twelve
"Interesting description." Lily had to admit. "I like it. Much more honest than the actual name. Curlflower."
"Yeah..." Lucy was still out of it a bit. She hated how she felt. Normally she was carefree and open. She dared challenge Lumi a few days ago in front of everyone. So why was she like this now?
"Are you alright?" Lily finally asked the question. "I couldn’t help but notice you had some trouble earlier."
"You noticed?" Lucy looked over, turning a bit higher pitched. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to make a scene."
"Hey, don’t worry about that." Lily replied, calmly. "Say, just a bit ago I was acting all stiff with Lumi. If he calls on me now, I might instinctively call him sir, despite being told not to."
He raised his glass, gesturing to Lucy. Lucy was frozen for a bit before raising hers. Lily smiled. "To friendship?"
Lucy nodded. "To friendship."
Cling~
With that settled, the room fell into a much more natural chat as all began to familiarize themselves with each other closer.
The time began to pass. As they waited, they noticed that one of the junior disciples passed the doorway twice, slowing each time to look at the group, then moving on clearly pretending they hadn’t been looking.
The second time, however, Lena waved at him with a large smile. He disappeared immediately.
Soon enough, the elder arrived. Despite the title of elder, visually, he was not an old man, but looked to be about in his forties. Of course, he was almost certainly older, given that power slows down aging. He was dressed in black robes with golden edges, with a power physical build.
He introduced himself. "Welcome, respected visitors. You may address me as Elder Shen. It is my understanding that you would like to establish a guild?"
Lumi stood up, and took a step forward. He motioned for everyone else to rise as well, and they did so. "That is correct, Elder Shen. My name is Lumi, and these are my companions." He pointed to each individually, "Lena, Eden Driver, Sol, Lily Windmere, Lucy."
The man took a good look at them all. He first paused on Eden. "Driver..." He shifted his gaze, particularly pausing at Sol, interested. He then looked back to Lumi. "Sol is... an Imperial Phoenix?"
Eden shifted just a minute amount, uncomfortable. Lumi did not hesitate however. "That is correct."
Elder Shen rubbed his chin in thought, then nodded to himself. "I see I am dealing with visitors of great lineage, then. However, I must apologize, regarding this matter, I cannot make special accommodations. Like everyone else, you must pass a test to establish your guild. How many of your party will participate?"
"That is, of course, acceptable." Lumi replied with a nod. "We did not come expecting special privilege. We would all like to participate."
"Though it may be rude to say," Elder Shen began to reply. "I will tell you plainly. Six participants places the test at medium difficulty. From what I can see of you, you are unlikely to pass. You are welcome to return anytime when your group is stronger. Please do remember that the difficulty does scale by participants. The more there are, the more difficult the test. Yet, the more there are, the less each will have to perform for success."
"We understand the rules, Elder." Lumi replied with a small nod. "However, we would still like to try. There is one correction I must make, however?"
"Do tell." Shen nodded, interested. frёewebnoѵēl.com
Lumi began to explain. "You should understand what Eden is."
Elder Shen looked as if he wanted to interrupt, seen by him beginning to raise a hand, but Lumi quickly continued before he could do so. "Him and his Phoenix are one!"
"..."
A silence rang out.
Elder Shen looked, for the first time, uncomfortable. "I can’t make special accommodations..."
Lumi shook his head. "Please, consider this, respected Elder. What is a Phoenix Master without his Phoenix?"
Elder Shen was silent for a bit. That gave time for Lumi to continue his argument. "Just as you wouldn’t count a summoners summons as separate participants, how can a Phoenix Master’s Phoenix be counted separately?"
Elder Shen, still, didn’t respond. The group sat in silence for a moment, before he finally sighed. "You make a compelling argument. Five it is, then. However, my recommendation still remains. As you know, if the test is failed, you shall only be returned 95% of your deposit fee. I have no wish to see you lose money without need."
Lumi gave him a bright smile. "We thank you greatly for your consideration, Elder Shen. However, we are confident in our chances. Please, let us proceed."
"As you wish." Elder Shen nodded, accepting it without further argument. He had already said anything that needed to be said. Thus, he proceeded. "Follow me."
He led them through the back of the hall, through a corridor, out into a rear courtyard, and through a gate beyond it that opened onto a plain. The plain was large and flat, with grassy fields wide enough that the edges were distant in all directions.
The sky above was open, an endless expanse of blue sky.
"Woah..." Lena couldn’t help but comment. Some sort of magic had clearly occurred here. She had seen the Golden Hall from the outside. There was no space to have somewhere like this. Either they had just teleported, or there was a compressed space here!
Elder Shen had the slightest of smiles at her reaction. Having outsiders marvel at their sect was a source of great pride and joy to him. Especially when it was from someone important enough to travel with the Phoenix Master of an Imperial Phoenix.
"The test is straightforward," the elder said, turning to face them. "You will face phantoms built in the image of the four auspicious beasts, calibrated to your group. Defeat all four and registration proceeds."
He stepped to the side. "If there are any questions, ask them now. If not, please inform me when you are ready, and I shall begin the test."
Lumi looked out at the plain.
Before he could even begin to view the plains, a panel filled his vision.
[Quest Received: Guild Establishment Test]
[Objective: Defeat the Phantoms of the Four Auspicious Beasts!]
[Recommended Level: 60-70]
He calmly accepted. Lumi and Lena got a notification showing that the party had accepted a quest. With that done, Lumi gazed back at the plains.
Beautiful. That was the first thing that went through his mind. He then refocused, putting a hand up to catch the attention of the others. "Familiarize yourselves with the space."
He began north, then began rotating clockwise, getting a good look at east, then south, and finally west.
"It’s just plains?" Lily couldn’t help but ask.
Before Lumi could even respond, Lucy replied first. "Lily, it’s always good to make sure of your surroundings. Though it was just plains, did you know that before you verified for yourself?"
Lily lightly opened his mouth in realization. She was right. He had assumed the rest of the terrain without having seen for himself. He mentally chastised himself for his error.
As for Lumi, he was mentally reviewing. He knew about the four auspicious beasts already. Not merely in passing or as a theory, but what they truly were. If real ones were here, they could never pass, as they easily reach the demigod realm. As mere phantoms, while manageable, they were not to be underestimated, either.
There one was thing he didn’t do. He didn’t tell the others about what the auspicious beasts traits were.
He could have, of course, preemptively informed them all on how to fight them. There was one giant issue with that.
You were supposed to fight them blind.
There was literally no way to be prepared to fight an auspicious beast. There was no manual for it, nor any way to gain combat experience against them. The only reasonable way was if you previously fought their phantoms from the Golden Hall itself.
How could he ever explain to the Golden Hall why all of them knew the weaknesses and habits of the auspicious beasts? There was really one other way to explain it. If they had learned from an evil organization that did not respect the auspicious beasts and hunted them.
Thus, he did not preemptively inform the others.
Lumi turned to the group. "Is everyone ready?"
He got confirmation all around, except for Lena, who was staring at the plain with total focus.
"Lena." Lumi urged. "Are you ready?"
"If you think about it," Lena began to explain. "If you think about it. Why are the beasts here?"
Lumi was unsure what she meant. "What do you mean?"
Lena turned to him directly, taking a step. "If you think about it."
"...yes?" Lumi was unsure.
Lena repeated herself. "If you think about it. Why are they here? The four cardinal beasts?"
"...?" Lumi was entirely unsure what she meant. "Lena, I-" He suddenly caught something.
The four cardinal beasts? North, east, south, west? How did she know that? There was no reason for her to have information about the auspicious beasts.
"How... did you know that?" Lumi asked her with knotted brows. frёewebnoѵēl.com
"You mean you don’t know?" Lena turned her head. "Hm. How do I put this..." She gave a forced grin. "I knew about this since I was twelve."
"Twelve!" Lumi made an extremely important connection from her words.
