Ch 55 - The Phantom Mages (Part 1)

Sigurd finally stood upright and the first thing he did was start walking toward the dark side of the chamber. The enormous doll fortress hovering above his head followed him.

Seeing the head mage heading somewhere, we candidates followed suit. We were a bit uneasy but nevertheless, the head mage did say they were going to hold the ascension ceremony here.

Sigurd abruptly came to a stop in his tracks and turned around.

In a commanding voice, he said, "Stay right there."

Every candidate stopped moving and stood still all at once. We didn't want to give him yet another reason to be unhappy. We all obeyed and stopped right then and there.

The silence was deafening.

Sigurd then turned around and recommenced his march into the dark chamber.

He got off the platform and continued walking with a specific location in mind. He also took away the lone source of light that lit this chamber which was his floating doll fortress.

Now the candidates and I were standing cluelessly in a pitch dark chamber.

But after waiting for a short while, our vision adjusted to the darkness.

We finally got to see the chamber or I should say feel how big the chamber is.

Actually, the chamber was incredibly large- about three times bigger than the size of the amphitheater above us. I could say so because the chamber's wall was embedded with mana crystals. Calculating the average size of the mana crystal and how small it looked from this distance, I could get a rough idea of how big the size of this chamber was.

Right now the mana crystals on the wall looked tiny, almost like little dots and we were surrounded from all sides. The view almost resembled the view of the starry night sky on a moonless night.

Sadly those little mana crystals on the wall were not bright enough to illuminate the entire chamber.

We, candidates, waited in the dark as we had nothing to do but stand and watch Sigurd wander aimlessly about the chamber as if looking for something. It's been like 10 minutes and nothing noticeable has happened. The head mage walks one side, then he stands there pondering for a while before changing direction and moving on.

Almost anyone could deduce that the old fart had lost his way. The old fart is pretending he knows what he is doing but I think it's otherwise.

Despite his new god-like appearance, mentally he was still an old feeble man whose memory has long been dimmed out. I guess even the best of the best mage can't prevail over the ticking of time. Some of the candidates started finding it amusing.

However, many other candidates standing here didn't find Sigurd's antics amusing like us, they instead looked at him with serious attention.

As we were watching this gag for another minute or so-

Suddenly, a tiny orb of light appeared out of the corner of my eye and went straight toward where the head mage was. The light orb was about the size of an apple and was quite bright. It flew straight toward the head mage and stopped right in front of him in the distance. The light orb seemed to be alive as it hovered in front of the head mage.

Sigurd noticed the light orb and let out a small sigh.

He gave a slight nod, and the light orb then moved away from Sigurd. This time it moved slowly as if trying to guide him somewhere.

After walking for about a minute, the head mage finally reached its destination.

The light orb led the head mage before a small cylindrical rock that almost looked like a fence post. It was placed in a relatively empty space and stood out like a sore thumb. It was as tall as my height and at the top of the fence was a spherical rock placed there.

Sigurd walked towards the pillar and stood before it.

"I appreciate your assistance," said Sigurd as he stared at the small cylindrical rock.

The next instant the floating light orb disappeared.

Are we not alone?

Is someone here in this dark chamber even before us?

I tried looking around but couldn't see anything.

I then focused my attention on the head mage once again.

Sigurd reached out and grabbed the spherical ball with his one hand.

Suddenly the glow coming out of the fortress brightened and a shimmering burst of mana came streaming down toward Sigurd. The flow of mana was similar to a flowing stream of water but in mid-air. Meanwhile, Sigurd's body was like a giant pothole that was absorbing the flowing mana like anything.

The candidates were finally getting to see the head mage in action once again. Although the actions of the head mage were rather normal, rather it was flashy. The head mage just stood calmly as he placed his hand on the spherical ball of that cylindrical rock.

The next instant a strong surge of wind started blowing our way. This wave of air came from where the head mage was currently standing.

The surge of wind was quite strong as it almost felt like there was a mini storm just appeared where the head mage stood. The wind was so strong that we might blow away had we not braced ourselves. Dust and dirt flew in our direction but we still managed to hang there as every candidate looked at Sigurd attentively.

Sigurd was still just placing his hand on the spherical object placed on the cylinder.

It seemed like Sigurd was trying to channel the mana in that ball, perhaps?

There was intense pressure as Sigurd was intensely held on to the spherical ball on the little cylindrical rock. This lasted for another minute before a snapping sound echoed in the chamber.

The spherical rock orb split from the cylindrical rock.

The gust of finds finally calmed down and Sigurd was now holding the spherical orb ball in his hand.

"That's it?" muttered some candidate.

The next instant, there was a bright flash of light and our eyes got blinded. This light suddenly came from all directions as if the room just had a big explosion minus the sound of an explosion.

"What is going on…"

"Aah!"

"My eyes!"

Sound except for the screaming candidates in panic.

I raised my guard as this event suddenly caught me off guard.

I couldn't see a thing but I knew for a fact that my limbs and face were still intact. This confirms that at least I was alive without any injury. I covered my eyes and still kept my guard up.

The candidates were screaming at the top of their lungs. Were they injured?

"Settle down children, you don't need to panic." the voice of the head mage echoed.

Finally, the candidates started to tone down a bit.

After a bit of waiting finally our vision started to return once again.

"What the fu-" I muttered as I stopped breathing for a second.

Lo behold, the darkness in the chamber was no more. The chamber was bright as a place being lit under a mid-noon sun. As a matter of fact, my guess was right that this chamber was enormous, almost thrice the size of that of the amphitheater above.

There were weird runes drawn all over the walls of the cavern chamber. It was like some madman made those scribbles when they were imprisoned here. Some of the runes were also inscribed over the big mana crystal as well.

Although the most baffling thing in this chamber was the 9 giant enormous pillars that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. These 9 pillars were made of pure condensed mana crystal which supported the roof of the cavern from caving in. Also, these 9 pillars were made of glowing mana crystal which actually manage to light up the entirety of the chamber.

I could tell each of those pillars was about as wide as the size of a small house. And its height reached all the way to the top, I think it even goes beyond for all we know. This pillar of condensed mana was a work of art.

Condensed mana crystals are usually used as a source of energy. So usually mages don't tend to reshape these mana crystals. Also, it's a tedious task to create sculptures from mana crystals so mana crystals are better used in potions or creating disposable spells attacks. Sometimes they are even used to power magic devices that run on mana similar to that of fuel.

This mana crystal was quite big, even the word big was an understatement, not to mention there were 9 such pillars placed here. Only some old skillful mages must have crafted these pillars and placed them here before the foundation of this city even began.

Do the other major cities conducting the ascension trials also have such things?

What is the use of these 9 mana crystals?

Many more such questions came to my mind.

"Wait", one of the candidates muttered, "Who are those guys there?"

I turned my head in that direction.

"Huh?"

One thing was clear: we were not alone here.