Azimuth: The Elden Throne (New Version)

Chapter 335 The Crucible!

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/Chatter!/

"Hm… There's quite the crowd." Dale whispered to Roger as they approached their destination

'Hum... It's a bit hard, but if I focus, I think I can hear them...' He thought as he squinted his eyes

After a few moments, Dale closed his eyes in deep thought.

'... Surprisingly, what I heard the most was Spanish, followed by Portuguese of course.'

'I can somewhat understand Spanish thanks to my classes in school, but it's too cluttered for me to make sense of anything. Portuguese looks similar but I can't make sense of it all.'

'There are English speakers here and there as well, but they aren't speaking about anything interesting.'

'They're mostly waiting for their turn or complaining about the time...'

In front of them beyond the crowd was a tall, tower-like temple a few stories tall, standing atop a wide stone pyramid decorated with all kinds of stone carvings from statues to small depictions of creatures and people.

Next to it, a crowd of about 100 people stood, waiting in a disorganized way as they surrounded a pair of iron doors that led into the pyramid.

"This is the entrance to the Crucible... It's quite full today, usually there aren't so many lying around."

"Is this abnormal?"

"Not quite, over the years its expected for the number of qualified people to increase... They must be waiting for their turn to enter just like us…"

"Or for an opportunity."

"Opportunity?"

"There are cases where the conditions align to permit the passage of an individual or a group even when outside of Schedule... Some of them may be waiting for one such chance to reenter the Crucible."

"In truth, nothing is impeding the crowd from entering apart from the self-imposed laws of this place, but the reason they don't force themselves in is… Well, obvious."

"Let's not waste any more time, it's almost 11:13, that's our scheduled time, we shouldn't waste any more time," Roger said after he checked the time with his wristwatch

"That's quite specific, why does it have to be so precise?"

"To enforce control and order, as I said before, it doesn't matter how many enter as long as they do according to their own rules."

"This often causes conflicts since not everyone is keen on waiting, but that is not our issue to solve."

/Step step…/

Silently, they both approached the Crowd.

"..."

Even from afar, Dale could feel that these people weren't ordinary. But now that he was up close, he could better quantify their abilities.

If he were to say, most of them weren't exactly impressive, they seemed weaker than he was when he first logged into Azimuth.

But it would be foolish to stop at that, it is true Dale's body has always been exceptionally sturdy, as even now, he's stronger than many at Resko...

Yet that doesn't mean he can defeat them, these people could be very much like them.

It is about how well they utilize their resources, but if Dale was to estimate their Level, he would say they would be around Level 40.

Solely based on the intensity of their Prime Origin.

Even if they hadn't awakened it, under the eye of a trained individual, it was still possible to feel their inner fire.

Albeit that alone wasn't enough to quantify one's ability...

"These people…"

"From their looks, they're likely Disciples maybe some Adapters."

"None of them seem to belong to a Generation, however." Roger said as he looked around

"I recognize some of them but not all."

"You do?"

"I've lived quite a long time boy… But it's nothing special, there's no one here I know in person, nonetheless, identifying the forces they belong to is not hard."

"How can you say only some of them are Adapters?"

"Hm… Adapter is a term given to people that have 'adapted' to these changing tides."

"Babies born with unusual features, not deformities but abilities beyond the scope of modern science and medicine to be understood..."

"Children who manifest strange abilities, from unnoticeable to catastrophic..."

"People like you who figure out something on their own and begin going after it, researching and developing their knowledge until something blooms…"

"... So what do I call them?"

"It depends on what they do and their culture. Some define themselves as Martial Artists if they belong to a school of such arts, others as Priests if they practice a doctrine, some as scientists that research these classified phenomena."

"Calling them disciples should work most of the time regardless, as it's almost certain they possess a teacher or master, ordinary people can't grow to such a degree without a certain level of guidance."

"But don't go using that everywhere, culture changes off-broad and it's quite strict in Asia… They've always been excessive with their linguistic norms for one."

"You may end up offending them for such a meaningless reason, and that's never good, especially for someone who doesn't wish to waste their time."

"Uhum…"

/Bzzzz…/

Once they stopped near the pyramid, a small floating ball slowly floated next to them, buzzing at a low frequency as it remained still next to them.

It was completely smooth like a mirror, reflecting his appearance in a distorted way.

Dale felt strange as he looked at the unusual automaton, but Roger felt at ease in its presence.

He reached from his chest pockets, taking out a card he then proceeded to show to the ball.

/Light…/

/Beep!/

The machine scanned the card with a bluish light, and once it was done, it beeped positively as a small metallic arm slowly unfolded from the lower portion of its body, piercing the card before retracting.

/Bzzz…/

It then turned to Dale, but he was slightly confused about what to do.

"Kid, the card I gave you a month ago, you still have it, right? I told you to bring it with you."

"That much I figured out… But I don't quite understand what's so special about the card…" Dale said as he took his card from his right pant pocket

"It's just identification, another 'useless' checkpoint they put in to delay things even further."

"We already have our reservation and they have our appearances, so I thought this to be a waste of time... Nonetheless, when in Rome, do as Romans do."

/Light…/

/Beep!/

As he said that, the robot beeped and pierced his card as well.

Once it was done, it floated away as per usual, approaching another group silently.

"This card… Did you plan for this from the very beginning?" Dale asked as he looked at his black card

"Saying I 'planned' for this is a bit harsh, I just gave you an invitation. You're just using it now."

"It's like gifting someone the keys to a car, would it be a conspiracy to think they would drive it?"

"We can talk more on the way, let's move."

With a few questions trapped within his lips, Dale followed Roger through the crowd and into the entrance of the temple as he held them in.

There, beyond the crowd, a tall and wide iron double door stood, protected by two tall guards on both sides.

/THUD!/

As they approached, the guards moved their weapons, blocking the doors with their hulking bodies.

Tall warriors over three meters tall each, clad in strange metallic armor unlike that of a knight as it felt more like some sort of tribal clothing, one used for ritualistic events.

It was heavily decorated with feathers and wooden byproducts, albeit they were all metallic, shaped to resemble their real-life counterparts for some reason, likely aesthetics.

One warrior held a curved blade and a shield while the other had a tall lance full of feathers and fur adorning it, together with a long bow larger than Dale on its back.

"..."

'These aren't people… They feel more like golems.'

'Robots? Or…'

Regardless of what they were, Dale could feel intense signatures coming from within their bodies, causing his eyes to frown a little.

Those two were strong, maybe as strong as the Dragons he faced back at Babylon... Although it was hard to say how powerful they truly were.

Its energy source could be many times stronger then what it's body could utilize, but assuming such things was a fool's endeavor.

/Raise…/

Roger said nothing as he approached the door, only raising his card to the tall metallic guard, so Dale did the same.

/THUD!/

Once the proof of entrance was shown, they moved their weapons, stepping aside and causing the ground to tremble slightly.

/Crunk…/

The doors began to move, but Dale saw nothing on the other side, just pure black, so thick he couldn't see anything past the frame of the door.

"Follow me, never stop walking forward."

"That's ominous..."

"It's nothing special, it's just to avoid the embarrassment of you getting lost and having to be rescued." Roger said as he stepped into the darkness

"Why is it so dark though?" Dale asked as he stepped over the door

/Silence.../

With that, pure darkness enveloped him, and even the world became silent.

/Baddum.../

So much so he began to hear his heartbeat...

Still, for some reason, Dale could still easily hear Roger, but he could not feel his presence.

"Heh, it's nothing worth talking about it." Roger replied with a chuckle

"It's for ambiance… They went bald a few times figuring out how to set this up but they eventually did, a bunch of idiots with nothing to do."

/Step…/

As Roger said that, Dale stepped out of the darkness, standing face to face with a glass mirror, giving him a light startle as he saw his reflection stare back at him.

He looked around but saw nothing, not even Roger so he tried touching the mirror…

But…

"HAHAHAHA! Really Kid? That's just glass!" Roger said as he laughed out loud as he walked out of the darkness

"..."

"Haha…"

/Crum…/

/Tremble…/

As Roger laughed, the entire room began to tremble, and Dale felt immediately felt it move…

Downwards.

"We're almost there, excited?"

"... I just want to find my answers and move on."

"Cold and direct… But efficient, well, try to enjoy it while you can, it's not that bad of a place."

/Caddum… Caddum…/

As the elevator went down, Dale heard the sound of grinding gears and engines echoing in the background as he tried to calculate how far they had descended.

"How deep is this? I feel as if we already moved 100 meters... And this doesn't sound nor feel safe, I feel as if I'm in a mineshaft elevator..."

"Relax, nothing will happen… Just sit down and wait, we'll get there soon enough." Roger replied as he pointed at a seat on the side

He laid his head on the wall and closed his eyes, causing Dale to frown as he crossed his arms.

"..."

/Caddum.../

/Caddum.../

/LIGHT!/

"Urg..."

Suddenly, intense golden light blinded him, and as he grew used to the light, Roger said:

"Ahh... Here we are..."

"?..."

As his vision returned to him, a massive Golden City manifested in front of his eyes, thousands of meters wide standing at the bottom of a massive cavern.

"Welcome, to El Dorado, the city of Gold."

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Notes