BXBX NOVEL Chapter 106: Gathering
Chapter 106: Gathering
An island, shrouded by the fog of the morning, appeared like a ghostly mirage on the horizon.
The calm waves gently lapped at the shore, creating an eerie yet peaceful atmosphere.
At the same moment, a fleet of ships cut through the waves and headed straight to the island, their white sails billowing in the air.
At the head of the ship, a man dressed like a pirate, with a cutlass dangling from his hip and a black eye patch over his right eye, looked over to the island.
"Stop right here!" Amor shouted to his crew and then headed to the starboard railing to get a better look at the surrounding ships.
He saw other ships stopping as well. They took small boats instead, with a group of ten men in each boat.
"Captain Amor, is this really the place?" A crewmate of his walked over to him and asked while looking at the island with a deep look.
This was a legendary location, after all.
"Use your Kiryoku and search for your feelings." Amor said. "You can feel it... can't you?" His crewmate closed his eyes, inhaled with only his nose, and then slowly opened his eyes. "I can feel it... This is definitely the place for the Gathering. It is my first time participating in it, but I can now see why this event is legendary."
"Yeah, Gathering..." Amor paused for a moment to take a deep breath. "It is finally starting again..."
...
Dawnwatch, Crimson Hound.
In the office, Digby looked at the letter on the desk and clearly looked troubled.
He touched his forehead and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, deep in thought. The window was barely open, letting in a slight breeze that carried the scent of fresh grass. The winter winds were long gone, and so were the fallen leaves that once covered the ground. It was also time for an event that always took the world of mercenaries by storm. It was one of the most anticipated events of the year.
"Troublesome..." Digby put his back against his chair's backrest and squeezed the armrest. "What to do..."
While deep in thought, the door opened, and Valora came in dressed in her armor maiden attire.
The chestplate outlined her feminine physique, molded perfectly to fit her. It was lightweight yet sturdy, and it was polished into a mirror-like shine. Its edges were crimson in color, like their guild's color, and there was an emblem of a crimson-furred dog.
Alongside that, she wore a crimson-colored skirt that matched the same colors perfectly. Her hair was tied back in a braid, and she was humming a pleasant melody.
"You're in a good mood." Digby said and asked. "What's going on?"
"Good weather; you should go out sometime." Valora said with a smile. "I came here to talk about that summer training camp; is it still happening?"
"It is, but I don't have time to worry about that for now." Digby showed her the letter and gave it to her. "Trouble has arrived."
Valora opened the letter and read through it quickly, her smile fading as she reached the last sentence.
"That's..."
"We knew the Gathering was going to happen soon, and I was fine with it as our guild was going to participate, but they also wanted him to be there... This is unprecedented."
"Not really." Digby shook his head. "It's happened before in the past. Whenever a new S- ranker came to be, they were also invited to the Gathering."
"This is not an invite." Valora said. "This is order."
"That's right." Digby said with a sigh. "Other S-rankers joined powerful guilds that allowed them the freedom of just refusing the invitation, but we don't have that luxury."
"What do they want with Adam?" Valora asked. "Seven Ancient Guilds are in charge of the Gathering. Are they planning to get Adam to join them? That shouldn't be allowed."
"Uh, I don't know." Digby scratched his head. "This letter does not say who was the one who gave the order. However, it has an emblem of Imperium City, so it must be someone from there."
"What should we do?" Valora asked. "Beyonder and those below aren't allowed to join the Gathering. Should we use the rule to reject the order?"
"We aren't in a position to make enemies out of any of them." Digby said and frowned. "I'll talk to my father. There's no other way."
"Has Adam returned from his short vacation?" Valora asked.
"Yes, I sensed his return three days ago." Digby said. "However, he has been mostly keeping to himself since he got back."
"What is he doing?"
"Learning new skills, or so I assume," he said. "I can sense his concentration."
"Mm, should we mention to him about the Gathering?"
"Not yet I'll talk to my father first. He should know who gave this order."
-
The light of the sun filtered through the small gaps between curtains and stretched across the room in a warm embrace.
The sunlight soon reached the bed, where Adam was deep in concentration.
Adam extended his hand forth, and it was like he grasped at invisible threads.
"Pull..." he softly whispered.
The small ball on top of the desk slowly started to levitate and slowly headed in his direction.
It soon landed on top of Adam's outstretched hand.
He then grabbed it tight and pointed the ball towards the desk.
His eyelids twitched slightly and then he closed his eyes and focused his mana on his
fingertips, and that way, into the ball.
"Push..."
[Progress: 99%...]
Ding, ding!
[Progress: 100%]
The ball flew off his hand and slowly flew the distance of five meters before dropping onto the
desk.
It bounced a couple of times before rolling off the edge onto the floor.
Adam opened his eyes with sweat filling his forehead and an exhausted smile on his face.
It took him three days to learn both skills.
It was quite fast pace.
"Finally..." Adam laid down on the bed with his back drenched in sweat.
He closed his eyes, planning to take a quick nap as he didn't really sleep last night as he wanted to learn the skills before Kang and others finished up with the house. However, at that moment, he heard a ding in his ear as he received a message to his virtual
pod.
He lazily checked it out, and it came from Kang-his message said that the house was done.
"That's quick..."
Adam opened his interface and pressed the log-out button.
From his toes to the knee, his avatar started slowly vanishing into floating pixels that
disappeared into the digital void.
Within seconds, his flesh, bones, blood, and everything else turned a light blue and some into white pixels. They eventually fell to the floor, went straight through, and vanished from
sight.
...
Adam's eyes fluttered open as he saw the glass lid stretched over his vision.
With a lazy wave of his hand, he tapped on the button that opened the lid. The glass lid slid
open with a soft hiss.
He slowly climbed out of the virtual pod, and not even a second later, the door opened and
Kang came in.
"Good morning."
"Morning." Adam nodded. "So it is done?"
"One thing remains." Kang turned his gaze to the virtual pod. "You want to change its
location to the secret hideout?"
"Yeah, that would be preferable." Adam said with a nod.
Snap.
Kang snapped his fingers, and a couple of his workers entered the room. They started carrying
the virtual pod and went to the ordinary-looking wardrobe.
Kang pressed a hidden lever, and that opened the back wall of the wardrobe, showing an
elevator inside the wardrobe.
It looked like something from a spy movie.
They entered the hidden elevator with the virtual pod and pressed a button that took them
straight down.
"You have one year to pay for the whole thing, you know what happens if you don't, right?" Kang said to make sure.
"I know, it won't be a problem." Adam said and shook his hand. "Thanks for the hard work."
"No problem, do you need me to go through with every function with you?"
"No... I know everything." Adam said.
"Nn." Kang nodded, curious about how, but didn't push it further.
After the two workers returned to the room, Kang bade farewell to Adam, and then they left
the house with the other dozen workers.
They took away the green tent that had been covering the house for the past three days and
then left with several trucks.
And just like that, the house looked completely the same before they even came.
However, Adam knew just how different it actually was.