106 Did You Pass?

They actually were not kept in suspense for very long. Around early morning on the next day, Greyson was thrown out of the seventh level. Most of the waiting figures were keeping their attention locked onto the altar waiting for their companions or masters to leave the altar and also be a witness to the individual's achievements. Seeing a body being thrown out of the seventh level, many stood up in shock and tried to get a good look at the person. Rosalie reacted almost immediately and flew up with the wind element boosting her into the air. Greyson had only just balanced himself in the air after being so violently thrown out. His companions warned him earlier that the exit would be rough, but he was still caught by surprise. Deep contemplation spread across his face as he thought back to his last encounter in the seventh level. However, his concentration broke when a body slammed into his chest and hugged him. Tensing up at first at such intimate contact, Greyson knit his brows before recognizing the familiar scent and seeing a familiar head of platinum silver hair. His face softened as a smile graced his lips. The two of them slowly lowered onto the ground, but Rosalie refused to let go of Greyson and kept him locked in a tight hug.

"Sister, you would think I have been gone for years after fighting in a war, hasn't it only been around a day?" A slight teasing intent could be heard clearly in his voice before a groan sounded off. Greyson's face twisted into a grimace as he was unprepared for the sneak attack of his sister. Ticked off by Greyson's laid-back response, Rosalie gave him a hard kick to the shin.

"Hahaha, you asked for that one Grey. Rosie, here, was about to crazy with worry and that's the first thing you say to her?" Ferno broke out in hearty laughter as the rest of the group also smiled and chuckled along with him. Rosalie did not respond, but she did finally release Greyson from her grip. At this point, the 14-year-old Greyson was still slightly shorter than her, so she could easily reach over to ruffle his hair.

"You! You really know how to make someone's heart live in a state of anxiety. Couldn't you just be like everyone else and come out in a couple hours?"

"You are acting as if I wanted to suffer for so long..." Greyson wryly smiled.

"But, hey! The seventh level! Don't think we did not notice where you shot out from. So, you passed the sixth level?"

"Yeah!" Smiling proudly, Greyson could not suppress the happy feeling of surpassing so many others. He even...

"The seventh level, then? You did take longer than most people... Did you pass it, too?" Aeos asked this time and the last part of his question was barely a whisper to keep the crowd around from hearing his words. Greyson's expression showed slight disappointment as he sighed slightly.

"No, I was shot out from the seventh level right away just like everyone else. I think it just took me longer to beat the third level than most people. My opponent was not easy..."

Not showing any cracks in his expression, the rest of the group easily believed him. After all, it had been thousands upon thousands of years since the altars had been set up and there has yet to be one person who passed the seventh level. Everyone except Rosalie, who had an inkling of suspicion, but she knew better than to interrogate her brother right now.

"Let's head out then. We should go to the nearest town and just rest at an inn for the night. We are all probably exhausted." Sloan spoke up this time. Now that Greyson was out and their worries gone, everyone did start to feel the weariness hit them. Nodding in agreement, they all headed out together while Rosalie gave one last look at the venomous glare that had been following them. Snorting, she could only admit that this girl, Lariah, did not know when to give up. Greyson noticed his sister's attitude and looked over as well. Only at this moment did he notice Lariah. Other than some slight surprise, he did not really feel anything towards her. Tugging at his sister's sleeve, he shook his head. Minor characters like her were honestly not worth the time.

"Wait! WAIT! Rosie, my love, you aren't going to greet me before going?" A young voice shouted out. Greyson frowned knowing instantly the owner of the voice. Rosalie also looked over, however, her expression only showed confusion. Her expression was no longer the warm one she used when facing Greyson, but instead the normal icy one she presented to outsiders. The young Michail popped out from the crowd and ran up to Rosalie with an expression of adoration. However, the minute Michail appeared, Rosalie's confusion only seemed to grow.

"I'm sorry, but do we know each other?"

Just one line. However, the devastation at such an answer was clear as day on Michail's face. As if his entire world just crumbled, the young boy was left gaping speechless. He wanted to cry out indignantly, "we have definitely met multiple times, how could you feign not knowing me? A genius such as yourself definitely doesn't have such a bad memory, right?"

The corner of his lips twitched as Greyson tried his best to hold in his laughter. The rest of the group also showed strange expressions while obviously giving their best efforts to hold in their laughter as well. They knew that, actually, Rosalie's memory was really THAT bad. But this was obviously on purpose. Anyone that she did not deem relevant or important were forgotten almost instantly. Her personality was too cold and indifferent to bother with remembering ever little character she has met before. In her opinion, any person she meets at social events are all blurry-faced passing strangers and the prince in front of her was exactly one such person that she only met at big gatherings. What Greyson was not aware of, is that even this group of dragons had to keep interacting with Rosalie for a good 3 years before she remembered all their names and faces. They were amazed when Greyson was able to get so close to her in such a short period. This was their family bond.

Greyson realized this trait of his sister's while they were together on the Snow Dragon tribe's mountain. Tons of other dragons and her suitors would come to her, but the amount she actually remembered were a mere handful. At this point, Greyson was pretty sure he knew more names than his sister did and he had only lived there a couple of months. Rosalie was clearly aware of her flaw as well and normally she would act much more subtle with others so they would not notice. However, after hearing the flirtatious tone of Michail, she did not feel one ounce of sympathy. Taking advantage of the time that he was frozen in shock, Rosalie walked right passed Michail. It took a moment for the group to recover their wits and follow her as well. Feeling some pity, the males all gave Michail a conciliatory pat on the shoulder.

"Young Master?" Finally, the timid servant who was running after Michail spoke out.

"Haha, well, even if she doesn't know me now that doesn't mean she won't know me in the future. There is still tons of time!" Shaken from his stupor, Michail did not let the embarrassment weigh him down. All couples were strangers in the beginning but eventually grow closer. He believed that with time and effort, he would be able to move her.

The servant just sighed and gave up trying to convince his Young Master otherwise. It was a hopeless endeavor.

"Alright, Young Master, eventually you will woo Lady Rosalie. For right now, thought, you must go back to the tribe. Master is waiting."

"Ugh, I don't want to go back. Just seeing the old geezer's face is enough to deter me from practice." Although Michail complained in disgust, he still grudgingly followed the servant as they both transformed into their original forms and flew back.

...

"Daddy, why did you take so long~! Snow was so bored just waiting." The cute leopard complained.

"Sorry, there were some things that held me up." Smiling while stroking her soft fur, Greyson did not feel that bad since he really only left her for a day. She was just young and impatient so it felt like ages to her. He had Al and Snow both hide away while he was inside. Snow hid inside Al's shell, while Al shrunk down to a normal rock size and hid in plain sight among the other rocks in the mountains. Before the group left, he made sure to pick the both of them up and then leave. The closest town was not too far away and they would quickly arrive.

The group quickly made it to the biggest inn and each person bought a room for the night to relax. Seeing the neat bed, Greyson gave a wide smile before jumping straight onto the mattress. It was surprisingly soft and bouncy. He was surprised since most places are too poor to worry about the condition of their beds. Without saying anything to the others, Greyson passed out the minute his held hit his pillow. The rest of the group was no different, as all of them decided to sleep in bed this night.

There was silence throughout the building tonight, eerie silence. Maybe others would not notice it since everyone should be sleeping, this was normal. However, Greyson could feel that something was wrong. He knew what small town inns were like even until dawn of the next day normally. During his travels, he had stayed in tens of different inns and became used to sleeping with the white noise of men laughing and drinking merrily. It was complete silence that actually unsettled him and made him wake up from his sleep. It was at this moment, that he heard his door almost silently swing open. Alert by now, Greyson kept his eyes closed and feigned peaceful breathing to keep up a pretense of sleep. He waited and listened, and although he could not hear clear footsteps as the person was obviously professional, he could feel a sense of something moving closer to himself. When he felt the body appear next to his, Greyson suddenly sunk into his bed and disappeared. The person reacted almost immediately and fled through the window. Not expecting the person to flee at the first sign of his plan going awry, Greyson was not prepared to stop him.

Narrowing his eyes, Greyson did not think anymore of the man and instead went to his friends' rooms to make sure they were not in trouble either. He made sure to make loud movements to also try to warn the group ahead of time. They were all wise and experienced enough to stay at least semi-vigilant. Eventually, all of them came out of their rooms before Greyson even fully made it over.

"Greyson, is there a reason you are stomping around like some crazy person at such an ungodly hour?" Cerul yawned.

"Were there any intruders in your rooms?"

"Intruders? No. Why? What happened?" Rosalie snapped awake after hearing his question.

"Someone decided to sneak into my room tonight. I feel like they did something to the rest of the people in the tavern as well, otherwise it would not be this quiet." Greyson responded calmly.

"Did you catch the person?"

"No, they ran the minute they realized I was not asleep."

"Hm... they were definitely cautious."

"The guests and tavern owners are all asleep. It seems someone drugged them." At some point, Hayze had already gone to check on them and confirm the situation.

"Well, this is not the right time to try to stress ourselves out thinking. Everyone, go back to your rooms and just meditate tonight instead of sleeping again just to keep our guard up." Aeos took the lead and made the decision for everyone.

Greyson nodded in agreement. Even he was itching to get back into bed and rest his mind. There was a lot he had to think about after what happened on the seventh level. Thinking up to this point, Greyson was suddenly struck by the idea that this night visit could have been because of the seventh level. Although he gave a plausible excuse to his group of friends and allowed everyone around to hear him say it, that does not mean that everyone would believe it. Maybe there were people who believed he passed the seventh level and wanted to know more information. Tons of magic beasts all dreamed of passing the altars, the interest in the seventh level would be extremely high. He could feign getting kicked out, but he could not change the fact that he did indeed take longer than most. Starting to feel a headache, Greyson decided to stop thinking about it for now and discuss things with Rosalie tomorrow. He needed to tell her about what happened.