Chapter 350: The Tower's Test
Stepping into the tower.
The interior was dim, barely any light visible.
Cynthia took out the lantern prepared in advance, holding Will's hand (paw) and advancing slowly.
Many places on this first floor were already submerged by lake water; the path to walk was only that one, so they wouldn't get lost.
Drip...
Drip...
The sound of water dripping rang in their ears.
It wasn't raining outside, don't know where the water droplets came from or where they were dripping to.
This sound echoed in the empty tower, seemingly lowering the temperature inside the tower by a few degrees.
Will felt Cynthia tightening her grip on his hand, couldn't help smiling:
"Scared?"
"Am not."
"I will protect you."
"Mm!"
Cynthia smiled and nodded, fear in her heart fading a bit.
"The space inside this tower isn't small, and the environment is nice too; logically should have become a nest for Ghost-type Pokémon, but I didn't sense any Aura of living creatures."
Will spoke to Cynthia.
Intending to distract her with words so she wouldn't feel so scared.
Who knew.
What he said made Cynthia's imagination run wild instead, becoming more fearful:
"? In this castle... there are strange things?"
"Hmm... if you want to put it that way."
Will frowned, really couldn't find a point to refute.
He estimated that if no Pokémon lived in this tower, there should be some special things or aura.
But.
Will is a Pokémon now.
If such things really existed, it makes no sense that other wild Pokémon could sense it, but he with Aura Power couldn't.
This Dragonspiral Tower indeed has oddities.
The two continued upward.
Soon arrived at the second floor.
Starting from the second floor, there was no lake water.
This floor was filled with a large number of dilapidated and collapsed stone pillars and blocks; don't know what these stones were used for in the past.
Broken stones stood in great numbers, forming walls.
Stone pillars crisscrossed, forming paths.
This second floor looked somewhat like a maze.
Cynthia was attracted by these stones, so she stayed to study them for a while.
Will saw her serious look.
Estimated this research wouldn't stop for a while, so he wandered around along the paths.
Five minutes passed.
"Riolu!"
Cynthia's panicked shout suddenly rang out.
She was concentrating on studying the "sketches" left on a certain stone, turned her head and Riolu was suddenly gone.
How could she not feel scared?
"Cynthia, I'm here; don't be afraid, I'm coming to find you now."
Will looked up, jumped onto the stone wall in two or three leaps.
Then hopped towards the direction of Cynthia's Aura.
In less than ten seconds.
He reappeared by Cynthia's side.
"Scared me to death."
Cynthia stood on the spot, panic still lingering in her eyes.
"Sorry, I just felt too bored. What did you find out?"
Will walked up.
He looked at those scribbles on the stone block in front of Cynthia.
Learning human writing these days made his scalp numb.
Let alone reading these more complex ancient texts.
He couldn't read them at all.
As if back in student days, getting sleepy upon seeing these.
Effect stronger than Hypnosis or Sleep Powder on him.
Instead, Cynthia.
When Will was learning human writing, Cynthia was also working hard to learn ancient texts of the Unova region to facilitate future research on Unova's mythology and history.
That vigor.
Made Will seem to see teenage Lorelei training hard to challenge the League back then.
"Mm, this used to be an altar, used to sacrifice to the divine dragon who helped the first King of the Kingdom of the Vale unify the western continent back then."
"Divine dragon?"
Will raised his eyebrows, having a guess in his heart.
He walked closer to look.
No drawings on the stone block.
Just pure text.
Will rolled his eyes, curled his lips, and continued asking:
"What else?"
"Mm, and also about this Dragonspiral Tower; the three floors behind seem to be the real 'maze zone'."
"It's okay, can't trap us."
"No, those three floors of mazes are a kind of test."
Cynthia shook her head.
She got up, pulled Will forward, and soon found the stairs leading to the third floor.
Soon they arrived at the third floor.
Walking out of the stairs.
They appeared on a high platform.
The structure of the third floor was very eerie.
In front of the high platform were narrow and steep paths, and on both sides of the paths...
No road.
Both sides were a pitch-black abyss.
Walking on the path, a slight carelessness might lead to falling into the abyss.
As for whether falling to the bottom of the third floor, or simply falling directly to the bottom of the tower, that's hard to say.
Anyway, it would be a result of being crushed to pieces.
"What test?"
Will glanced casually at the pitch-black abyss, not taking it to heart.
Things built thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.
Could only scare people from thousands or tens of thousands of years ago.
For Will and Cynthia, this abyss was not an issue at all.
Not to mention Will had never demonstrated the flight ability of his Sea Crown, just say Cynthia had a flying Garchomp hanging on her waist.
He cared more about the test Cynthia mentioned just now.
"It is said that only the chosen ones can reach the grey ruins at the very top of Dragonspiral Tower, while those not chosen will be sent out by these mazes back to the starting place."
Cynthia looked at the steep road ahead and the darkness on both sides, swallowing uncontrollably.
Although she knew she had Garchomp and wouldn't fall to death.
But she still felt fear, worried about accidents.
Just like some people know safety measures are done well, but still get terrified when riding roller coasters or drop towers, always imagining themselves flying out.
The road was very narrow.
Almost only enough for two people to pass side by side.
And for safety's sake, walking in the middle of the road alone was definitely safer.
Will sensed Cynthia's fear, so he spoke:
"Want to go back?"
"No! I won't turn back because of fear. Once there is a first time, there will be countless times; turning back this time means I will turn back countless times in the future. That way, impossible to explore the true legends."
Cynthia took a deep breath, shaking her head firmly.
Will looked at the girl's appearance and smiled.
He took two steps forward.
Stepped onto that terrifying abyss maze first.
"Riolu?"
"Follow behind me; don't look at your feet, look at me."
Will turned back and smiled at her, pulling Cynthia to move forward steadily.
"...Mm."
Cynthia looked at the back of Will's head.
Attention was quickly attracted by Will's two big moving ears, smiling uncontrollably.
Legs that were trembling a bit returned to normal, steps becoming stable.
Even.
She had the mind to turn her head to look around, observing the scene inside this tower.
As long as her hand was held by Riolu, Cynthia could face anything.
"Ti-ne."
"Hm?"
Cynthia was stunned suddenly, turned to look around, and said,
"Riolu, did you hear any sound?"
"Hm? What sound?"
Will moved his ears, didn't hear any sound.
He put all his attention on the road under his feet just now, really didn't pay much attention to other sounds inside the tower.
Couldn't even detect the sound of wind blowing past his ears.
"Nothing, maybe I heard wrong."
Confusion appeared in Cynthia's eyes, then she shook her head.
Just now Riolu said there were no Pokémon inside here.
Then she must have hallucinated?
The two continued forward.
Unknowingly they walked at least five kilometers and climbed two hundred stairs.
"Riolu, I can't hold on; legs are so sore."
Cynthia's hands were sweating a lot, just absorbed by the fur on Will's hands.
Five kilometers road was small.
Those two hundred stairs were really killing.
Even Will felt his breathing hotter.
"Then rest here; I'll rub them for you."
Will pulled Cynthia to sit on the ground.
He reached out his hands and massaged Cynthia's calves with his fleshy paws.
The temperature in Icirrus City was originally much lower than other cities.
Moreover, it hadn't entered summer yet.
So Cynthia wore quite a lot.
Just pants, she wore two pairs.
Outside was a pair of long wide-leg pants, inside was a pair of thin leggings.
Will rolled up the two pairs of pants, blue faint light glowing on his massaging paws.
"Riolu, what are you using Aura Power for?"
Cynthia certainly recognized this power.
Not to mention she is now Will's trainer, often seeing Will use Aura Power in battle.
Even before, Grandmother Carolina's Lucario let her see his Aura Power often.
"Aura Power can be used to heal external injuries, accelerate wound healing, and should also help your muscle recovery. Didn't your family's Lucario tell you?"
Will looked up at her strangely.
Grandmother Carolina's Lucario should be at Champion level now.
He didn't believe Aura Power wasn't developed to this extent.
Healing isn't a very difficult technique to master in the application of Aura Power, can only be considered average level.
Judging from the many application methods Will currently mastered.
The most difficult techniques of Aura should be Sealing and Awe (Intimidation/Stun).
The latter was an ability Will developed unintentionally, like dojutsu (eye technique), even the Lucario in his previous life couldn't do it.
"Hmm, seemed to have... but at that time Gible and I were very sleepy, didn't pay attention to what Lucario was saying, hehe."
Cynthia scratched the back of her head embarrassedly, then looked down at the blue light in Will's palm,
"So amazing, calves feel warm, very comfortable; Riolu is really great."
Inside the huge dark tower.
The faint blue light emanating from Will's hands shone on the two little ones.
Don't know if it was an illusion.
They felt the distance between each other seemed closer.
Not physical distance.
But distance of hearts.
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