Chapter Forty-Nine: The Scenery Is Beautiful, and Luck Is on My Side

"Why do you seem afraid of that little girl? I thought she was quite a cute child..."

As she ran, Shiat recalled the red-eyed girl who looked just like her—charming and adorable, yet exuding a mischievous and cunning aura.

"She is the legendary Empyrean—no, Pandemonian—person. Devoid of emotion, devoid of teammates, and devoid of money. Mainly, I'm not entirely sure of her strength, so it's not very convenient to bring her along."

Pixel head, snowman avatar, whipping round dance stick, starlight ship-slashing blade; the Battle Mage class is an entity that simultaneously pushes the upper and lower limits to extremes.

Besides, Bwaya had skipped classes from Sharan, making it obvious that she was a restless soul...

Mentioning this name made him want to vent. As one of the ultimate life forms, "Bwaya" was the yearning and pursuit of all Pandemonians, but her parents must have had nerves of steel to name her directly after it.

He finally understood why, when "Spirit Master" Kaelty sent this creature down to the lower realm, Bwaya hadn't told Kaelty her real name.

"Bwaya" was both an aspiration and a nightmare.

Suddenly, his footsteps halted. He cast a suspicious glance at Shiat and Mael, and factoring in Bwaya from earlier, if he were to fit all of them with snowman avatars and pixel heads, wouldn't that simply make them the Three Snowman Idiots?

As for Yuna, her pixel head always evoked some unpleasant associations, so he decided to skip it.

Oran, the Sky Tower, had multiple entrances and contained magical barriers within; its internal space was far more vast than it appeared from the outside.

There were two ways to climb it: one was through the internal floating stairs, and the other was via the external spiral path.

It wasn't that no one had tried to reach the Celestial Realm through the outside spiral path, but the problem was that a significant portion of the Sky Tower was submerged in the Sea of Clouds. Moreover, the Sea of Clouds possessed a unique magnetic field where the closer one got, the more severe the loss of magical power became—something even Awakened ones could not avoid.

At the same time, the very bottom of the Sky Tower was free of monsters. Only at about a third of the height would one encounter patrolling Draconian soldiers.

Of course, there were exceptions. Before the Sky Tower was sealed off, quite a few adventurers used the lower base as a temporary camp, pitching tents and setting up bases, only to be ambushed in the middle of the night by Draconians and small pterosaurs that somehow descended from above, resulting in heavy casualties.

Choosing an entrance at random, they began their ascent. He and Shiat were fine, with no stamina issues to speak of. Mael and Miga took turns carrying each other—one would hold the other for a while, then switch to being carried—a cycle that strongly resembled a perpetual motion machine straight to the Celestial Realm.

Yuna, however, couldn't keep up. After climbing barely a hundred meters, she was panting heavily, her face flushed and sweat beading on her forehead.

"Do you want me to carry you?"

Nen Lin patted his back, putting on the act of a helpful, good team leader.

"Not interested."

She rolled her eyes, stripped off the metal guards from her forearms and calves, cast [Courage Blessing] on herself, and casually slapped on a [Divine Teachings] to boost her movement speed, scampering off at lightning speed.

"You must be tired. Let me carry you."

"Shameless. Save your stamina."

Finally, as the wind in the spiral path grew increasingly fierce and cold, the four of them broke through a window, shattering a magic circle to force their way into the interior of the Sky Tower.

The scene that greeted their eyes was one of utter devastation and wreckage, catching all of them somewhat off guard.

The ground was littered with the corpses of Draconians and small pterosaurs, their limbs scattered about in a gruesome and horrific state.

"Someone has been here, but the blood has already congealed and evaporated. It seems they left some time ago. It could be adventurers from before, or perhaps the Iron Wolf Knights."

After formally stepping into the Sky Tower, it meant that danger would shadow them every single second. Every nerve had to be kept taut, and they had to be wary of anything suspicious.

Yuna renewed her buffs one by one; the corpses on the ground told her this was no time for joking around.

Yet, her mind stubbornly replayed the scene from her job interview that day—the massive misunderstanding caused by the word "Nailang."

Thinking of this, she glared fiercely at Nen Lin once again.

"It's fascinating. The sea is below us, and the sea is above us as well," Shiat sighed, standing by the window.

"Find the stairs. There are floating stairs inside the Sky Tower."

Stepping over the blood left behind by the Draconians, the four searched the area and found two sets of stairs.

"The two staircases are about thirty meters apart. Which one should we take?"

Yuna stared at the square, floating steps, finding them quite incredible. Floating stairs with no visible supports, yet completely capable of holding the weight of two people without sinking.

"The one on the right has some bloodstains, meaning someone has been up there before, so it might be safer. But we are here to train ourselves, so... the left one."

"Oh right, don't go poking the floating stairs with your hands. There are slight zero-gravity fragments within them. Once damaged and the magic dissipates, you'll fall right through."

Shiat wanted to take the lead, but Mael preempted her, smiling as she raised the shield in her hand, entering a defensive posture while cloaking herself in a layer of rose armor.

Wherever she walked, fresh green grass and blooming flowers sprouted beneath her feet, beautiful and fragrant.

Shiat followed closely behind, trailed by Yuna, who was fortified with Sanctuary protection.

"Hey, keep moving. What are you lingering over a corpse for?"

"Coming right now."

Severing a Draconian's head, he ignored the gore to pry out two Draconian eyes, stowing them away into his backpack with satisfaction.

These gemstone-like eyes, roughly the size of a human palm, were a very precious alchemical material, and their price had skyrocketed, especially after the Sky Tower was sealed.

As he hurried up the floating stairs, Nen Lin suddenly let out an inexplicable sigh. "The scenery is really nice..."

"Yeah, the ocean, the mountains, West Coast all in full view. If the weather is clear, you can even catch a glimpse of the entire Pharow Bay."

Shiat couldn't help but look out as well. If not for the monsters inside the Sky Tower, this place could easily be developed into a prime tourist attraction.

"Look at that splash of blue, round and full."

"Are you talking about that ocean? Calm and peaceful, with merchant ships passing through—what's 'round and full' about it?"

Yuna frowned, then suddenly looked up sharply. Could he possibly be referring to the Sea of Clouds?

The magic circle supporting the boundless Sea of Clouds wasn't necessarily completely flat; places where the energy was slightly weaker might bulge upward, which was normal.

"That touch of pure white is something one never tires of seeing..."

"What are you grumbling and sighing about? If you want to look so badly, go back down and stare at it till you're satisfied."

"Really?" Nen Lin asked, acting as if in disbelief, brimming with intense delight.

"Fake. Hurry up and move, don't waste time."

Shiat sighed helplessly. Although clean clouds were rare, there was no need to be this excited.

"Pink, it's the signature color of young maidens..."

Another nonsensical sigh. Mael froze, instantly taking two quick steps up to a higher tier, covering her skirt with both hands as her face flushed crimson.

Realization...

Covering the skirt...

Silence...

A chilling murderous intent...

A tyrannical aura surged upward. The Hidden Dragon Greatsword instantly transformed into a light-attribute longsword, and Yuna gripped the cross on her back, her teeth biting into her lower lip.

"Hurry up and come up."

Shiat's expression was stern, and her tone carried a bone-chilling coldness.

"Uh, I was just digging out the Draconian eyes. You guys were the ones who took the initiative to walk ahead..."

"Get up here. Now."

"I didn't mean to..."

"Get up here, immediately!"

"Don't hit the face, okay?"

"Fine!"

......

"This floor seems to have been cleared out as well. We need to keep going up."

Rubbing his bruised arm and waist, every word he spoke made him gasp in pain.

"Wait, why is there a totem here? And it's of rare grade..."

The four of them gathered around the totem, clicking their tongues in wonder. Centered around the totem was a massive blue aura, and within the aura were even some lingering buff effects.

In an instant, Nen Lin recalled what Grandis had said about a squad of priests also arriving at the Sky Tower.

He roughly guessed that some Blue Exorcist had stuck the totem into the ground, pummeled the local Draconians with a flurry of punches, and then... forgot to pick up the totem.