The 8th floor was nothing like the scary looking first floor.
It looked exactly like the outside world.
Green grass covered the ground as far as the eye could see.
Bright green plants and small bushes swayed gently in the wind.
The sky above was clear and blue with soft white clouds.
Butterflies and tiny insects flew around happily.
Birds chirped from sowhere far away. It felt peaceful and fresh, like a beautiful sunny day in a big adow.
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
Two soft sounds rang out as Julius and Rosalina appeared in the middle of the large open field.
They looked around calmly. No big surprise showed on their faces. But both of them had deep frowns.
Rosalina turned to Julius. Her brows pulled together tightly.
"What are you going to do now?" she asked.
Julius stayed quiet for a mont.
He knew the future knowledge he had from the book was now very different from what was really happening.
He would have to change his plans.
Rosalina looked around the empty field.
There was no one else in sight. Not even the other students. They must have already gone up to the 9th floor.
She turned back to him and asked, "Do you know why everything changed so much? Did you hear anything about this ’Invincible Path’ in your previous life?"
Julius still didn’t answer right away.
He kept looking at the green field, but his mind was racing. Sothing felt very wrong.
Then suddenly, his eyes widened a little as a new thought hit him.
He paused and said slowly, "Co to think of it... in the original story, neither I nor Rose ever entered this tower."
"We weren’t even at the academy when it appeared. There was no talk about students dying inside... and there was definitely no ’Invincible Path’ ntioned anywhere."
He looked at Rosalina with serious eyes.
"The only big difference this ti... is that you and I are participating."
Julius rubbed the back of his neck and let out a small laugh that didn’t sound very happy.
"So... could it be that all these changes are happening because of us?"
Rosalina’s eyes grew wide. She stared at him for a few seconds, then blinked.
"Because of us?" she repeated softly. "You an... our presence here is changing the future?"
Julius shrugged with a half-smile. "I don’t know yet. But it feels like it. Everything started going off track only after we ca in."
He looked up at the clear blue sky and took a deep breath of the fresh air.
"So what now?" Rosalina asked. She looked a bit worried.
Julius turned towards her. His eyes beca sharp as he looked at her properly.
"It seems neither my information nor Nickel’s is wrong..." he said.
"What do you an?" Rosalina looked even more confused and worried.
Julius gave a small chuckle and sat down on the soft green grass. Rosalina followed and sat beside him, waiting for him to speak.
"You see," Julius began, "the future knowledge both I and Nickel have is very similar."
"For example, Crypian would conquer this tower and obtain the reward or inheritance or whatever it is..."
He paused for a second, then continued.
"But neither I nor Nickel knew exactly what he had obtained."
Julius looked straight into Rosalina’s eyes.
"So what I’m saying is... whatever Crypian got as the inheritance... I think it definitely has sothing to do with us."
Rosalina’s eyes widened. She stared at him without blinking.
"With us?" she asked softly. "How?"
Julius leaned back on his hands and looked at the blue sky again.
"Well, I can’t explain it either as of now, at least. Only after reaching the 11th floor can we know what’s causing all these changes," he sighed to himself, looking a bit stressed.
Noticing his stress, Rosalina dragged herself closer to him on the soft grass.
Julius saw her from the corner of his eye.
When he saw her coming, he thought she was going to offer her lap and stroke his hair.
So he leaned his body forward to rest his head on her lap.
But before he could rest his head, Rosalina quickly rested her head on his lap instead.
"Huh?" Julius just stared at her with a dumbfounded look. He thought he would be the one getting comforted.
"What?" she spoke. Her eyes were directly in line with his eyes.
Julius couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
Even now, the tip of her nose twitched like she was holding back her pride.
Her cheeks were softly pouted.
Her neck looked very beautiful with those wide veins that ran along it, and the collar bones connecting her neck made it even more difficult to resist looking at her.
"Hey?" As Julius kept staring at her face, Rosalina felt shy and broke his concentration.
"Ah..." Julius’s daze broke. "Yeah?"
Rosalina wrapped her hands around his neck like chains. "What should we do now?" she asked.
"Hmm..." Julius humd thoughtfully.
"The first floor was individual while the rest weren’t. But the 8th floor is paired based."
"So we would need to clear this floor..."
They stayed like that for a mont.
Rosalina’s head rested comfortably on his lap while her arms stayed wrapped around his neck.
Julius gently brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
"Even though this place looks peaceful," he said with a small smile, "we still have to treat it like a challenge."
Rosalina heard the words and nodded softly. She lifted her head from his lap and looked into the distance.
"So what’s this floor about?" she asked.
"Nothing," Julius said as he looked into the distance too.
This was the location where they would get their quest. He thought back to the 8th floor in the book, it was about completing a quest like a ga and each pair gets a different quest.
For example, Crypian and Alia had ford a pair and they both got the quest to save the King of a certain country...though it was in the book, he didn’t know what they got as a quest this ti.....
"Haa...." he heaved a breath and spoke the next words.... "it’s probably about saving a country...."
Rosalina turned her head back to him quickly, her eyes wide with surprise. "Defend a country?"
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