"You mean the Chronovryn," Max said casually.
Her eyes widened in shock.
"How do you know about that? That information isn't available to the public. Even most senior students think it's just a legend."
Max shrugged.
"The temporal guardian that protects the tower's mechanisms isn't exactly a well-kept secret if you know where to look."
"But you're a first-year like me."
She furrowed her brow in suspicion.
"And forgive me for saying so, but you don't exactly give the impression of someone who would be privy to such things."
"And you? How exactly does a first-year Saintess candidate know so much about a forbidden tower's guardian spirit? Last time I checked, our first class starts tomorrow."
Audrey's cheeks flushed slightly.
"I... I have access to certain texts beforehand through my position. The Church maintains extensive records on magical anomalies, especially those related to time."
"Ah, of course. So it's perfectly reasonable for you to have this knowledge, but suspicious when I do? You're just a candidate you know~"
"That's not what I—"
She took a deep breath.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that we're both here now, in a place we shouldn't be."
Max thought back to the Chronovryn in the novel.
Chronovryn only appears when the tower's mechanisms are threatened or during certain celestial alignments.
At least, that was how it had worked in the novel. Cyrus and his tour group had only encountered the creature after a rare celestial event had triggered its awakening. If they were lucky, the creature would remain dormant during their brief stay.
But let's be honest, we all know how this is going to play out. At the very least, there shouldn't be a strange alignment on this day. It would take many months until that celestial event is supposed to happen.
"Oh? See that over there Audrey."
Deeper in the hall, Max's eyes were drawn to the grand staircase that spiraled upward at the far end.
"Someone must have left it open. Maybe a researcher or maintenance worker who left in a hurry for the welcoming ceremony."
Audrey stared at him in disbelief.
"You can't possibly be suggesting we go deeper into the tower."
"Why not?"
Max shrugged, already moving toward the staircase.
"We're already here. Might as well see what all the fuss is about."
He began ascending the spiral staircase without waiting for her response.
Audrey remained frozen with a conflicted face.
Before she could reach a decision, Max had already disappeared from her field of view. Only the sound of his footsteps continued to echo, slowly fading too.
Her sense of duty demanded her to stop this trespasser from venturing further into the forbidden tower. Yet the same duty compelled her to prevent him from potentially damaging anything of value
—which meant following him.
"This is madness."
After muttering her grievance, she let loose a huge sigh.
She looked deeply towards the grand staircase and looked to her behind for a short instance.
Then, she made herself more upright.
By her actions, it was obvious what decision was made.
She hurried after him, her white religious robes rustling as she climbed the steps.
"Wait! You can't just wander around unsupervised in here!"
She reasoned to herself: As long as we don't disturb anything important, we should be safe from the tower's defences.And it's my duty to ensure he doesn't cause any harm, intentionally or otherwise.
Max glanced back.
Watching her about to catch up to his side, Max lips curled to a smug smile.
"I knew you'd come. Too curious to resist, right?"
"I'm only... following... to make sure you don't damage anything."
Despite her panting words, she soon showed reluctant fascination in her amber-gold eyes.
The staircase wrapped around the tower's interior, offering glimpses of the extensive magical apparatus that filled the structure's core.
Many times her hands hovered just above the walls, as if wanting to touch and study the intricate clockwork mechanisms embedded across the walls. Max couldn't help but tease her and laugh, leaving a red-faced Audrey to stubbornly keep her arms crossed to stop herself from Max's urging to take the next step.
Still, it didn't stop her from looking around.
They saw massive gears of brass, silver, and some strange blue-white metal interlocked in dizzyingly complex patterns. Crystal conduits channeled magic energy between different sections, pulsing with blue-white light in rhythm with the perpetual ticking.
As they continued to banter and explore their ascent, Max's mind did not stop thinking about trying to figure out how to solve the System's Task. The welcoming ceremony would be well underway by now. His chance of making a memorable entrance was slipping away with each passing minute.
Unless...
A crazy idea began to form in his mind. The Chronokos's Tower was one of the tallest structures of the Academy.
If he could somehow appear at its peak, visible to the entire assembly below during the ceremony...
Eventually, they had ascended several flights when they reached a small landing. Display cases lined the walls, containing ancient charts and instruments related to astronomical measurements.
"Fascinating," Audrey murmured.
Max, meanwhile, had wandered to another area of the landing. His attention was caught by a small table tucked in an alcove, covered with what appeared to be research equipment: measuring devices, notebooks, and a few specialized tools.
"Looks like someone's been working in here recently. These notes are fresh."
Audrey joined him, her curiosity temporarily overriding her caution. She examined the papers scattered across the surface with growing surprise.
Max picked up one of the notebooks a realization dawning on him.
"They left in a hurry. Probably for the welcoming ceremony."
He glanced around the chamber with an I told you so expression.
"That would explain why the door was open when we arrived. Someone departed in a hurry, forgetting to seal the entrance properly."
Audrey agreed with a frown.
"That seems plausible. How could they make such a mistake for such an important ground? But it doesn't change our situation. We shouldn't be here."
"And yet, that's our reality."
Audrey hesitated, taking Max by the arm.
"We should go back. We've already trespassed far enough."
"Come on, Audrey."
Max coaxed, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Come on, drop the act. When will you ever get another chance to see inside the most mysterious structure in the Academy? Most of the seniors will graduate without ever seeing what's behind these doors. It's obvious you want in just as much as I do. Am I right?"
She bit her lip, clearly not able to refute if she was forced to answer.
She couldn't immediately retort like she always did.
But her gaze remained confrontational and strong.
"Besides, we'll be more careful than whoever left this mess behind. No touching anything important, just looking. Think of it as a field trip."
"A field trip?!"
"…Uh yeah, for educational research and learning stuff."
"…"
Against her better judgment, Audrey found herself nodding.
She had probably realized in the back of her mind that there was no stopping Max.
"Fine. But we stay together, and the moment we find a way out, we take it. "
"Sure."
***
"Max! Stop that this instant!"
Audrey's voice echoed through the tower as she pulled Max's hand away from yet another device he was about to fiddle with. Her patience was dropping to rock-bottom after spending the past hour preventing him from touching practically everything they came across.
"I'm not going to break anything."
Max withdrew his hand from another fancy-looking tool with obvious reluctance.
"I'm just trying to understand how it works."
"Y-you you promised we would only look…"
Her exasperation was clear in her amber-gold eyes.
"Yet you've tried to touch almost every device we've encountered!"
Max shrugged, already moving toward the next interesting mechanism.
Despite his casual demeanor, he'd been carefully sorting out everything they found, comparing it to the pieces he recalled from the novel. The tower was far more complex than the story had described, filled with instruments and devices that he could only guess their uses for.
They had spent considerable time exploring several levels of the tower, moving upward through the spiral staircase.
Now they stood before a heavy wooden door, the first real barrier they'd encountered since beginning their ascent. Magic inscriptions glowed with a reddish light along its ancient frame, clearly marking it as off-limits.
"This is as far as we go."
Audrey declared firmly, crossing her arms.
"Those are high tier inscriptions. The Mother Goddess herself would not condone trespassing beyond such clear boundaries."
Unlike the floors below, this entrance was clearly meant to keep even those with permission out. If one looked very closely, a circular indentation marked the middle of the door.
It was the spot required for the key to be inserted.
"Shessh you just never give up."
Max kneeled to examine the base of the door.
"We've come this far. Come on, don't you want to know what they're keeping behind here?"
"No. My duty is to safeguard sacred places from desecration, not indulge in forbidden curiosity."
That again? Yeah, yeah, I'm only half-listening at this point.
While Max ignored her persistent persuasion, he continued to run his fingers along the doorframe, searching for the thing that should help them pass. In the novel, Cyrus and his group had reached the upper chambers after their accompanying professor was forced to unlock this door.
It's got to be somewhere here.
His fingers detected a slight irregularity in one of the carved grooves—a small notch that felt different from the surrounding wood.
"Found something."
A click responded to his touch, and a small compartment in the doorframe swung open. Inside, faintly gleamed an unassuming gem about the size of a coin.
"Don't you dare touch that!"
She quickly tried to grab his wrist.
"That could be a trap, or worse."
"Nahh it's the key."
To prove it, he plucked the gem from its hiding place with his free hand before Audrey would throw more of a fuss.
"Trust me."
Audrey quirked an eyebrow, her gaze switching between doubt and confusion.
Max flaunted the tiny gem between two fingers, flashing it for a good view for Audrey to see. With a slight tilt of his wrist, he pushed it into the hole.