Kyle arrived in a location where everything was in ruins. The houses, shops, and stalls that once stood around the tower were destroyed, creating a scene of utter devastation.
The debris and remnants of the collapsed structures were scattered throughout the area. However, amidst the destruction, the tower that reached the sky stood tall.
"It seems the towers of opportunity are made of very strong materials."
The nearest place to him was the remains of the west continent, so he entered the place and found the tower that stood proudly in the center of the whole continent.
Kyle glanced around his surroundings because, on his way, he had come across numerous individuals with black petals engraved on their foreheads.
Of course, he finished them all, which is why it took him so much time to reach this place. But he wondered where Diora, Hay, and all the other divine-rank individuals who followed the duo were. After all, he hadn't encountered a single divine-rank individual even though he had traveled through the east continent and now the west continent.
Kyle approached the tower and gazed down. The layer of earth around the tower was completely dark, as if it had lost its luster due to the tower's presence. He spread out his scent perception skill to check if any living beings were around. Instantly, he sensed a lot of scents opposite the tower.
He blinked because some of the scents were familiar. He followed the scents and saw a lot of tents set a short distance away from the tower.
Kyle looked at the tents. There were some guards in silver armor stationed around them. As he narrowed his eyes, he noticed that not a single guard had the dark petal engraved on their foreheads.
"Some of them are humans... are they from the planet's side?"
His ears twitched when he heard a familiar annoyed and frustrated shout mixed with a lot of other voices from one of the tents.
"I told you it won't work this way! I've already checked this symbol!"
"But we have to check this symbol on all the towers, maybe it'll work?"
"No means no! We've wasted too many resources on this one."
Kyle smiled and landed in front of the tents. Instantly, all the guards gathered around him and raised their weapons toward him with a wary expression. They were on the verge of attacking him, but he raised his hand and pointed to his forehead.
"I'm from the new continent. Look, there's no petal engraved on my forehead."
The guards glanced at each other. One of them quickly fetched a crystal and asked Kyle to place his hand on it or they would attack. Kyle nodded and placed his hand on the crystal, but nothing happened.
The guards lowered their weapons, and one of them, who had pointy ears, approached him with a solemn expression.
"Who are you, human? This place is restricted. You shouldn't have come here."
Kyle handed the crystal back to him. He could have used instant teleportation to enter the tents, but he didn't want anyone to freak out due to his sudden appearance.
"I'm here to help. Now that you've checked, am I allowed to enter the tents?"
The guard with pointy ears furrowed his brows.
"You're not allowed. It's restricted. But if you want to meet someone, I can take you to that person. Just tell me who?"
Kyle nodded and looked at a specific tent.
"I want to see the old man who's shouting right now."
The guard blinked, surprised to see a guest, especially in such a situation. He had only seen Alec, Carcel, and a few other youths who would visit this place every few days to check on the progress or offer help.
"Oh, you mean the array master? Come with me, I'll take you to the tent. But if he doesn't want to meet you, you'll have to leave."
Kyle's lips curled into a smile as he followed the guard. The pair stopped in front of the tent, and at that exact moment, a furious shout reverberated from within as if the voice owner was fed up with everything.
The guard hesitated for a moment, but he allowed Kyle to enter the tent before asking him to wait until the conversation inside finished.
Kyle looked around at the many old figures, and his eyes stopped on the familiar faces of George and Han.
George was sitting on the only chair inside the tent with his eyes tightly shut. On the other hand, Han had a frustrated expression as he argued with the other array masters around him, particularly with an old elven woman who had a deadly serious expression on her face.
Kyle's eyes traveled towards the table placed between the array masters, and he read the symbols drawn on the papers scattered on the table. The guard beside him was surprised when he suddenly started moving toward the table.
Instantly, the man with pointy ears reached out to stop him, but Kyle was just too fast. Before the other could react properly, Kyle had already gone to stand in the middle of the many arguing old individuals. The guard's panicked eyes traveled around, unsure of what he should do because if Kyle disturbed the array masters, he knew he would be in trouble.
Han slammed his hand on the table, startling everyone around him.
"I said it wouldn't work! Why do you all want to waste so many resources? Just last week, we did a trial, and these symbols failed!"
Kyle gazed at the frustrated old man standing just mere inches away from him and rubbed his chin. He looked at the symbols with narrow eyes.
"Ah... I also think these symbols won't work."
Han nodded with a solemn expression.
"I said right-!"
But the old man paused because the voice came from beside him, and strangely, the tone sounded quite familiar. Slowly, he turned his head to look at the owner of the voice, and his eyes widened when he saw the familiar face. His words got stuck in his throat as he watched Kyle, who casually picked up a paper and examined the symbols before drawing a symbol mid-air. After only a few seconds, Kyle's voice echoed through the silent tent.
"I haven't seen these symbols before, but they're similar to the ones used to break restrictions placed on an enclosed place. So, if we mix a few destructive symbols with these, maybe we will get the results we want."
He held out the paper towards Han, who had his eyes glued to him. The tent was eerily silent, with everyone's eyes fixed on Kyle. Not many people inside knew him, except Han and another old array master from the Central Continent who had seen him after he left the secret realm.
George sensed the atmosphere and frowned. He peeked out from one of his eyes and was also taken aback to see Kyle standing in front of Han. He stood up and approached the grey-
haired man.
"Kyle!"
The guard who brought Kyle jolted, scared that he would suffer now. But to his surprise, Han's eyes turned moist as he raised his hand to slap Kyle's arm with a faint smile.
"You sneezy prick, when the hell did you wake up?"
Kyle hissed because the strength behind the slap wasn't something to scoff at. He grabbed Han's hand before the latter could slap him again.
"I just woke up recently, but master, why are you beating me? You know my body is still weak, and your slaps can cause harm to me."
Han rolled his eyes and slapped him with his other hand even harder.
"You rascal! Do you have any idea how worried I was?"
The people around them were stunned, especially the guard who was ready for a big punishment. Kyle laughed and rubbed the old man's back to calm him down. George also arrived beside them and his eyes were filled with relief.
"Kid, it's good to see you again."
