They recruited only a few talents this time so the time of commenting ended quickly.
With that done, the wizards removed their camouflage and showed up. Their time was valuable. Most of them went away on their own instead of staying.
The gray-haired shortie Ness was the only one that descended from the sky and landed in front of the talents.
The sudden appearance of a wizard startled everyone. They all stared and wondered why a wizard had come. Was he hiding nearby to observe their reactions?
Ness confirmed their idea.
“We concealed ourselves to watch your temperaments, and we have already recorded your performances into your profiles. I believe you all know how you acted,” said Ness as he looked at the talents who were surprised by his appearance.
Ness recalled Angor’s words. The old man realized Angor already knew something like this would happen.
“I’m your guide this time. Follow behind,” said Ness. The old man revealed a strange smile to them as he continued, “But before that, let me give you a piece of advice. Follow me closely. Any stray lambs will find themselves buried under the dirt very soon. The Parmigi Highlands has no shortage of rotten bones.”
They did not understand the warning. None of the talents knew this place. Would someone actually wander off instead of following him?
However, when they saw Ness walking toward the bottomless abyss, they realized something terrible.
The great cliff reached beyond the horizons toward two directions, which cut off their path forward. They approached it and looked down, only to see endless darkness down there.
The abyss sat there like a giant mouth, waiting to devour those who dared to go in. The terrifying sight caused everyone to shiver.
Ness, who had been walking in the front, revealed another eerie smile at them as he said, “Our goal is just ahead. Follow me, no stragglin’.”
Next, under everyone’s shocked gaze, Ness leaped into the great chasm without looking back.
The remaining people exchanged puzzled looks and did not know how to react.
“Cowards. That scared you? Then stay here and die,” said Hookdick. He stepped up first, sneered at the other people, and followed Ness.
As his figure disappeared, Nausica let out a smoke ring. She then shook off some tobacco from her pipe and smiled at Angor as she said, “I’m going first.”
Then she threw herself into the abyss as well.
Angor looked at Sailum beside him. He thought this 13-year-old boy would be afraid. However, there was no such emotion in Sailum’s eyes. Sailum was simply holding onto his book pouch carefully.
“Let’s go. The wizard asked us to follow closely, and we should listen to him,” said Angor. He patted Sailum’s shoulder and jumped off.
With several people taking lead already, the other talents all clenched their teeth and jumped despite their fear.
Angor felt sharp wind hurting his face as he free-fell. There were only stone walls on the sides and endless blackness ahead. He sensed a looming death.
He kept falling down for about two minutes when he suddenly saw something shining down below.
As the light appeared, Angor could sense himself going down slower, as if a convection current from beneath was pushing him upward. The “current” slowly grew stronger, allowing all the talents to descend gently like feathers.
When Angor landed inside the light, he realized he was looking at the surface of a giant mirror which was giving out all the light.
Or rather, the world inside the mirror was releasing the light.
Ness stood on the mirror while he supported his hunched body with a walking cane he took out from somewhere.
Finally, the last talent slowly fell onto the mirror.
Angor stroke the surface of the mirror curiously. It felt smooth and cold, like ice or… glass? They could clearly see through the mirror and witness another world behind it.
A lively world with mountains, rivers, clouds, sunlight, tall buildings, and steel cableways connecting in between.
What was that place? Another plane? Or was it just another area hidden down below? Every talent was wondering. They all looked at Ness, expecting an answer.
Ness cleared his throat. “Now this, is Brute Cavern…”
He tapped the mirror with his cane, causing a ripple to slowly spread from the connecting point. The walls around them suddenly released intense light.
They saw countless caves, passages, and fantastic-looking, cabled structures on the walls as well as a lot of people working on them. They went in and out of the caves while collecting strange plants on the walls. Some of them were looking at the talents curiously.
“This place is close to Darkivil Empire. There were several hundreds of cities and towns centered around Brute Cavern. The people on the walls are the residents,” explained Ness. He paused a bit before adding, “Oh right, the Darkivil Empire is also called the Earthen Core. Humans live here, but most of them have been doing so underground and don’t need to go to the surface much. This is one of the many specificities of Darkivil Empire. You will learn about this place later.”
Next, Ness pointed at the world beneath the mirror.
“The headquarter of Brute Cavern lies below the mirror. Most of you lot will be living there,” said Ness. He tossed ten round-shaped bone cards into the air which then circled around and flew toward their respective owner.
“The bone card is your access token to go below. If you lose it, you’ll never enter the mirror world again. The card carries your identification and comment, so you should always keep it with you while staying at Brute Cavern. Remember. Once you’re in there, take the card to Tree Spirit Yule as soon as possible to register your information.”
Ness did not explain what kind of information exactly. The old man knocked at the mirror three times. A white, misty human figure emerged from it.
“Who dares interrupt my sleep?” The mist formed up into the shape of a woman but the details on her were still not clear. She added, “Don’t you see I’m having my beauty sleep? Explain yourselves or I’ll eat you all alive!”
The mist woman screamed at the top of her lungs until Ness let out an embarrassing “ahem!”, which finally caught her attention.
“Ho, it’s you, shortie. Didn’t you go out to find talents for us this time?” said the mist woman. She then turned and “looked at” the talents, “Only ten people? Oh right, Sunders was the one that went recruiting. Ten… not bad.”
She paused her words and moved around her “head”, seemingly observing something.
“He only found ten, and all weirdos too… The blond boy doesn’t look bad, as for the others… ouch.”
Angor was the only one with blond hair here. What the mist woman meant was obvious enough.
Being praised for his good look, Angor should have felt content. However, he was unsure whether he should feel that way when all the “weirdos” were directing all kinds of angry gazes at him.
Ness realized the mist woman was about to keep up her sarcasm, so he quickly interrupted her.
“Lady Mirror, they need to attend their specialized tests soon, so I’ll take them away. Would you please open up the passage for them?”
Entering the mirror world did not require the presence of Lady Mirror. However, these talents who had not yet have their bone card registered must go through such a process. Otherwise, Ness would not have summoned Lady Mirror like this. She was only interested in pretty faces.
Lady Mirror “spat” something out and released several lumps of white mist from her fingers, which then flew into the bone cards held by the talents.
“Okay now, I’ll go back to sleep. You miserable ogres, stay away from me,” said Lady Mirror.
Then she considered something and spoke again, “Hey you, blond boy, you’re still okay. We don’t get many good faces around these parts. Find a time and come have some tea with me.”
With that, Lady Mirror became a mist cloud again and disappeared into the mirror.