Chapter 100 The Converging Paths

Alten looked over Lyrian shoulder at the map, "What the hell! The glowing part of the map... that's the main room of the cavern!" He said, quickly walking up next to the map to catch a better glimpse as Leon also walked closer."These rocks, when they pulsate, so does that colored part of the map. Does that mean..." Lyrain suddenly looked up to the mesmerizing view around and above him, "We are here?" He said his tone in awe.

A smile formed on his face, "Great, we got here way faster than expected. That goblin saved us multiple days. Hahaha!" He laughed, genuinely happy getting there so quick.

Alten was also excited, "Woohooo! This is awesome!" He celebrated.

Leon also took a deep look around, "Huh... how lucky."

"Hey look, what the hell?" Alten suddenly said, looking down at his clothes, "They're dry." He stretched out his shirt.

The other two also did the same, "It looks like this water doesn't soak into your clothes?" Lyrian confusedly said.

Alten rejoiced, "It just keeps getting better and better! What a great place."

They walked up from the beach and arrived on dry grassland, which was still colorful due to the multicolored crystals and rocks laying around, and the colorful plants as well.

Looking at the place from this angle, they realized the ginormous tree in the middle. It was of colossal size, reaching the roof of the cavern as it glew a brilliant golden color. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NøvᴇlFirᴇ(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

They were currently on the east side of the cavern. When looking ahead they could see a straight path above the pools of light-blue water that lead directly to the tree in the middle.

There were noticeably only 8 of these paths that connected the side of the cavern to where the tree was. Everything else was beaches and ponds of colorful personalities.

Each of the paths came to the tree in an exact direction, north, northeast, east, southeast, south, southwest, west, and northwest. From a bird's eye view, it formed a type of star.

'Clear paths that lead to the three huh... I wonder what caused this type of exact formation.' Lyrain thought as he looked at the other paths. Just then, something far in the distance at the end of a separate path caught his attention.

He could barely recognize what he was seeing, but something that he knew for sure was that it was moving. There were multiple figures of something moving in the distance, seemingly coming closer to the three on their path.

"Guys, let's head towards the tree. Clearly, the purpose of these paths is to lead to it, so I assume that's indicating us to go there." He said, as the others agreed and followed him.

As he walked, the figures in the distance began revealing themselves as other examinees. 5 in total. He looked at another path as well and there were some there too.

His eyes darted from path to path, as on each one he saw a different group of kids, "You guys seeing this..." He asked calmly.

Leon nodded, having already noticed it before Lyrian. Alten on the other hand had no clue what he was talking about, "What?" He then took a closer look around, sobering himself from the daze of beauty that came from the cave.

"What the hell!?" He exclaimed in shock, now realizing that there were other examinees here.

Lyrian's face looked determined, "We might have to prepare for a fight soon. Be ready." He said as the other two straightened their backs and fixed their tones, becoming ready for an incoming attack or dangerous situation.

Finally, they made it onto the platform of ground that the ginormous tree was standing on. Just by standing next to it, Lyrian felt smaller than a fly. Its circumference alone was enormous, seemingly over 400 feet.

The round piece of land it was on that all the paths led to was even larger, allowing for over 50 feet of walking space on all sides of the tree. One side, however, had 80 feet of space apart from the bottom of the tree. This site wasn't connected to any path, but on it was something that looked like a shrine.

Lyrian's group was pretty close to it so they arrived to that side first, as the other groups began slowly pouring in. Seeing Lyrian's group, the second group to arrive was almost star-struck.

The one who lead the group wore a white robe with red lining. He had dark red hair that flowed down to his shoulders, a diadem resting atop his forehead, and a pair of brilliant emerald eyes.

Seeing Lyrian and the others, an expression of confusion, shock, and even a little bit of anger and frustration washed across his face. Two others behind him also looked to wear their own respective robes.

However, Lyrian identified them all from their weapons. The main one seemingly wielded a normal sword, seeing the sheath holstered on his waist. The second one behind who had short black hair wielded a long white-silver rod that he placed on his traps and hung his hands over nonchalantly. Finally, the third one wielded a large metal staff with a blue crystal adorned at the top of it.

They all look dignified, their clothes barely even stained, and their faces unremarkably flawless. Clearly, they weren't just very high-status nobles, maybe even royals, but they were also very strong.

They made their way beside Lyrian's group and stood there silently. Still, Lyirna and the others could simply feel some sort of competitive, angry aura flowing from them.

Multiple other groups arrived shortly, all of them seeming formidable. Clearly, on the sight of them, no one expected them to be there before them, or even at all. Or at least, it felt like that from the gazes.

In the end, even Arthur's group arrived, which was a pleasant surprise. They had a short but good reaction, saying hello. As they exchanged what happened between themselves, it marked the end of the pour of examinee groups that came from the paths.

In the end, there was a total of 35 kids gathered there.