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Gaegukja Yeol exhaled and extended her legs out in front of her, resting her feet on the marble countertop. In her hand, there was a long, white pipe with a red and pink crystal placed in the crystalline chamber. Today was a day meant for relaxation. After finishing the itinerary for Tafel and Vur to visit all the fun places in the tower that’d increase their strength, she could finally take a break. Although things were more hectic now that some of the regulations in the tower had been stripped away, Bunno stepped up and shouldered some of her clan responsibilities upon seeing how overworked she’d been recently. Now, she was taking some time off to personally run the counter of the lava bathhouse she owned on the twenty-third floor.
A chiming sound rang out as the door to the building opened. Gaegukja Yeol slid her feet off the table and righted her posture, placing her pipe down in a compartment underneath the countertop. She smiled at the red-and-black snail standing in a humanoid position, and it walked in before closing the door behind itself. “Welcome,” Gaegukja Yeol said. “Have you been here before?”
The snail nodded and exhaled. “Thank goodness,” it said. “I didn’t think the baths would be open today with all the commotion and all.”
Commotion? Gaegukja Yeol’s brow furrowed. Although today was meant for relaxation, she wasn’t lazy enough to remain willfully ignorant of a dire situation. “We’re open every day,” she said. “What’s this commotion you’re talking about?”
“I’m not sure how to describe it,” the snail said and placed a bag of geums on the counter. “A dragon migration? Dragons are appearing everywhere in the tower. It’s like all the slumbering dragons were woken up at the same time, and they’re all heading towards the ninety-first floor.”
Gaegukja Yeol frowned as she handed over a pass to the snail. With it, he could access a locker inside the changing room. Of course, most people preferred to store their items inside their root bracelets, but some people—or snails—preferred storing their root bracelets as well. The fire spirit race member watched as the snail plodded along into the changing room. Then, Gaegukja Yeol turned her attention onto her root bracelet. From the amount of notifications she had obtained while her bracelet was set to silent, it was clear something major was occurring in the tower. Bunno hadn’t messaged her though, so it was likely the situation didn’t involve the Extreme Heat Clan.
Gaegukja Yeol took a seat and once again propped her legs up with the counter. She took out her pipe and placed the stem into her mouth before leaning back. Her eyes shifted back and forth as she read the notifications on her root bracelet, and a sigh, accompanied by a cloud of smoke, escaped from her lips. Not only were dragons appearing out of nowhere, but phoenixes were making their presences known as well. Thanks to the emergences of the top-tier magical beasts, other animals and creatures were panicking and messing things up around the tower.
A bird cry drew Gaegukja Yeol’s attention, and it was followed by a scream that was cut short. For some reason, the sounds sounded like they came from one of the calderas of her lava baths. She stood up and stowed her pipe before patting herself, making sure her pieces of white, crystalline armor were in their proper positions before floating ahead, flames jetting out of her back to propel her forward. She passed through the changing rooms and entered the bathing region consisting of numerous volcano calderas, each with bubbling lava pooling inside of them. Overhead, there was a phoenix hovering in the sky, flapping its wings to remain in place. The red bird turned its head to the side and spat out a red-and-black snail shell that shattered upon hitting the ground.
Had a phoenix remained dormant inside of a caldera? Gaegukja Yeol’s expression darkened. How long was the phoenix in there for? She was lucky there weren’t any other customers to witness the poor snail’s gruesome death; otherwise, her lava bathhouse would definitely get a bad review. Of course, that didn’t mean she was going to let the phoenix go scot-free. She whipped out a recording device and pointed it at the phoenix. The red bird glanced at her and snorted before flapping its wings hard; it rushed through the air, disappearing from Gaegukja Yeol’s view in an instant.
Gaegukja Yeol put the recording device away. She’d show it to Deowi; with his innate talent, he shouldn’t have much trouble defeating a phoenix. As for teaching it a lesson herself, well, she wasn’t a moron. Besides, if Deowi couldn’t defeat the phoenix, she could always ask Vur or Tafel for a favor. Speaking of which, they were dragons and phoenixes too. Maybe they’d know why all the dragons and phoenixes in the tower were making such large movements.
The flames around Gaegukja Yeol’s body died down to low embers as she floated over to the empty snail shell and stowed it into her root bracelet. She headed back inside the building and sat down, taking out her pipe. Since she had already inhaled a few bits of numbing crystal to relax, it wouldn’t make sense for her to go back to the clan and work while she wasn’t in an alert state of mind. She was only taking one day off; things wouldn’t change drastically in that time.
***
“I don’t feel very comfortable,” Sir Selddup said.
“Do you want a blanket?” Ashley asked.
The white dog shook its fluffy head. “Remind me again why we’re venturing in the uncharted lands beyond the tower?”
Ashley glanced down at the dog walking alongside her feet. “We’re looking for the insect-type Oebu Sin.”
“Right,” Sir Selddup said and stepped over a crack with black liquids seeping out of it. “And you took me with you because…?”
“I’m walking you,” Ashley said. “Like a good owner.”