Chapter 147: This Is a Playground (Golden Ticket & Power Stone Bonus)

The two kept traveling until the sun started to set.

To any ordinary person watching from below, they would have looked like nothing more than a black dot shooting through the sky at an unbelievable speed, repeatedly rising and falling while leaving behind loud bangs and newly formed craters.

Years later, the locals would probably still tell stories about the strange object that had passed through their land, with those stories explaining the ponds and craters it had left behind.

During the journey, Arthas asked the boy a few more questions, but once he saw that Magna was keeping his mouth shut and no longer falling for the trick, he seemed to grow bored or something. He also stopped speaking, spending the rest of the journey in complete silence.

Though Magna wasn’t traveling using his own legs or body, he still felt incredible aches throughout his body from tensing himself during every landing and takeoff, along with the air pressure and the cold air that had become unbearable.

He even wanted to ask a few times if they could take a break, but he decided not to, quite sure the man would reject the request anyway.

While the last rays of sunlight started to disappear and the blue light of the moon began to show itself, they finally landed on the ground for one last time.

Magna shielded his face with his arms against the stones that shot out like shrapnel, a few of them even cutting him and drawing some of his blood.

This time, they didn’t stay in the crater. Arthas jumped once more, though not as forcefully as before, and landed gently on the ground a short distance away.

"We have arrived."

His voice didn’t contain even the slightest hint of tiredness while he dropped Magna onto the ground.

Finally feeling solid ground beneath his feet, Magna wobbled for a moment but still managed to balance himself without falling.

His face also looked quite strange, completely red from the bite of the cold, his hair sticking straight up.

He first rubbed his face a little, trying to warm it up and regain some feeling, while looking around to see where they had arrived.

They definitely weren’t at the place where the Tower was located, but it looked like they were in the middle of a settlement, with a few wooden huts surrounding the area.

Noticing light coming from the windows of the huts, he realized it was obvious that people were living there.

While he was curious about what kind of people lived there, the doors of all the huts opened one after another and people who had heard the loud bang started coming out.

There were at least 10 people, all male.

9 of them looked like children, with the youngest appearing to be about Magna’s age, while only one looked quite old, around his 60s or perhaps even older.

Everyone was also wearing the same clothes, all-black cloth that looked like some kind of training uniform, including the old man.

The younger ones stood slightly behind, only bowing their heads slightly to greet Arthas, while the old man, with strands of white in his long beard and hair, stepped forward.

"Arthas." The man surprisingly said the name so casually, as if he were equal to or even higher in position than him.

Arthas greeted the man with a slight respectful bow of his head.

Magna was quite surprised to see that, making him look at the old man in a new light as he tried to understand who he was.

"I brought the last one. You can start the trial with the next light of the sun," Arthas said to the man, giving Magna one last look.

Then, without another word, he jumped again, though not forcefully enough to break the ground and the surrounding area. It was still enough for him to quickly disappear into the night.

The old man kept his eyes on the disappearing figure for a few more seconds before turning his attention to the newly arrived boy.

He spent another few seconds to look him over before finally speaking while stroking his beard.

"It’s my first time seeing Arthas personally bringing a child to me."

He was kind of speaking like a child trafficker, which made Magna want to laugh for a second, though he forced it down when he remembered the situation he was in.

He also noticed that even the other 9 children were looking at him with slight confusion and shock, apparently because none of them had ever been given the privilege of being carried on the powerful Shadow’s shoulder.

Just by looking at Magna’s face, it was enough to tell that he had come from quite a faraway place, carried all the way like that.

Magna also inspected the people in front of him, trying to understand where he had actually been brought, before opening his mouth.

"Hello. Where is this place?"

He was as straightforward as always with his questions.

He could more or less guess where he actually was.

Looking at the children, they all had quite good physiques, meaning they were probably all Shadows or Shadow candidates.

The old man, interestingly enough, looked extremely thin. Even his cheekbones were quite prominent, and his eye sockets were deep, making him look like he was on the verge of dying from starvation.

However, the feeling he gave Magna definitely wasn’t that of an old man on the verge of death.

Magna even instinctively felt that he should stay at least a few steps away from the man, like he needed that much distance to escape from the sense of danger the man was giving off.

"You are in my playground," the man answered, approaching a few steps closer, leaning down and looking directly into Magna’s golden eyes.

Just as Magna was about to step back to put some distance between them, the man grabbed him by his clothes, still looking into his eyes.

"So you have the eyes. It’s been a while since someone came with this trait."

While the man was speaking, Magna felt like he was about to lose consciousness from the heavy smell coming from his mouth.

It wasn’t exactly bad breath, but more like some kind of extremely strong chemical smell. He couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.

"Also, a physical trait for durability?"

The man spoke again, his eyes starting to move over Magna’s body.

"Not only durability, but strength as well."

His eyes narrowed while he added, "Good flexibility and reflexes."

He didn’t stop there, continuing to expose everything about Magna’s body.

"Exceptionally strong legs, heightened senses, a calm mind..."

While he continued calling out the mutations one by one that Magna had gone through until now, his voice started to change too.

At last, he said the final thing with clear surprise in his voice.

"At least 5 bloodline traits in the body of a few years. How old are you, actually?"

Magna, still holding his breath so he wouldn’t have to take in that chemical smell, suddenly felt tense.

’He can see that?’

It was the first time someone had actually been able to guess that his real age was much younger than what he looked like.