A/N: What these next few chapters are for is to introduce Blake in the present, and connect this story to the main plot of Tower of God. This may contain spoilers for those who are not up to date with the Webtoon.
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Small compact lighthouses shine the hidden passages connecting the floors, the sight of the abnormally gigantic rose vines crawling down the ground and disappearing into the surface of the shallow water which filled the relatively narrow area. Most dominant of all were the five open entrances the flowers sprawled upon, which were currently giving a certain group of Rankers, especially an infamous Top 500 High Ranker a frustrating headache.
Pew! Pew! Pew!
Sounds of the portable game console littered around the place, blue light radiating to touch the smooth white skin of a youthful girl sitting comfortably on a huge chunk of rock. Playing the same game next to her was a boy in a salmon pink long-sleeved button-down shirt completed with a black tie designed with an exclusive blue pattern, his most prominent physical feature, his icy hair and deep sea eyes. Others included a short man with a dark complexion and silver hair, and a big guy with even darker skin and whiter hair, eyes a deep color of red, and three long scars crossing his whole face from his left forehead to the bottom of his right cheek, a four-winged symbol attached to the black vest he wears over his blue undershirt.
"Argh, damn it! Why is getting on the Floor of Tests so complicated?! Two ways, then three ways, and now five way split... This really is a troublesome road. I should have at least brought another Light Bearer or something," the aforementioned High Ranker sighed.
"We already have too many to take the Black March quietly, and you're thinking of calling for even more..." Evan Edrok, the Silver Dwarf Guide half-lectured the Jahad's Princess. "Lady Yuri, are you planning to start a war with Evankhell or something?"
His attempt of knocking some sense into his partner backfired, though, as the large fellow behind him became fired up.
"Ah! Hyungnim! I love war!" He expressed, both fists clenched in excitement. "Weren't we on our way to have a round of war with Evankhell? That's what I thought!"
The other Jahad's Princess on the team thought his reaction was so pure, it was cute.
"A round of war? Go check Evankhell's ranking and try saying that again, idiot. This is precisely why Princess Sunflora generously accepted to accompany us on her downtime—to enforce the law, not break them. And stop looking down at me from there when you're talking. I'm gonna whack you," Evan tried his hand on being reasonable again.
"Yuri!" A short lass in a plain red tracksuit and pink curly pigtails dashed to the group while waving. Her partner, a tall male with long white horns and a fake carnivorous mouth carried a spear behind her. The wings on his badge were eight.
"Oh, good job!" Putting a hand to pat the speaker's head smilingly, Ha Yuri Jahad then asked, "How is it? Which way do you think is the fastest?"
"Like Evan said, the third route seems to be the fastest. But the third route seems to have a throng of egg-bearing Steel Eels! Looks like a breeding ground," she enthusiastically answered.
This made the Guide return to his earlier struggle of explaining his reasons to the most stubborn princess in the Tower. What a hard head, he thought.
"That's why I'm saying we should take the fifth route instead of the third. The rest are all blocked!"
"Steel Eels?" Yuri innocently questioned. Her red eyes, neck and hair tie, as well as the three eyes pinned on her neck accessory, the symbol of the King of the Tower and her representation as one of his chosen daughters, matched the petals of the plants around her. "What's the problem? Handling a few of those isn't really an issue."
