The darkness didn't last long.
Above their heads, light panels switched on one by one, emitting a uniform, shadowless, cold light.
The light wasn't harsh, yet it illuminated every last detail of the surroundings.
This was a far vaster space than they had imagined—a large, nearly oval-shaped hall.
The floor and walls were made of the same matte metal, seamlessly fused together with no visible joints.
A barely perceptible low-frequency vibration emanated from beneath their feet, as if the entire ship were a living behemoth, breathing steadily.
The young boys and girls were stunned into silence by the sudden light and the unimaginable scene before them.
"Oh... my God..."
"Is this the kingdom of the gods?"
One timid girl dropped to her knees, clasped her hands, and began to murmur prayers.
Allen ignored the surrounding commotion, his gaze fixed on the transparent metal walls on either side of the hall.
Through the massive one-way transparent portholes, the royal city below had shrunk into a blurry, gray seal, disappearing beneath the churning sea of clouds.
The ship was ascending vertically at an astonishing speed, piercing the cloud layer in an instant and breaking into the deep blue sky.
In the distance, the curve of the horizon was already clearly visible.
'The edge of the atmosphere... but why is the horizon still a straight line?'
Allen silently assessed the altitude, collecting data from this unique perspective.
At some point, a dark figure had appeared at the front of the hall.
The person was cloaked in a wide black robe, like a humanoid black hole devouring all light.
He just stood there silently, yet it felt as if an invisible hand was tightening around everyone's throat.
The boys and girls trembled in fear, instinctively shrinking back and huddling together, not daring to make a sound.
Allen's gaze shifted from the view outside the porthole to the black-robed figure.
The black-robed man lifted his hood slightly, his gaze sweeping over the trembling "mortals" like a razor's edge.
"I am your guide for this journey." The black-robed man finally spoke, his voice like grinding metal, devoid of any human warmth. "Before we arrive at Star Gate Square, you will first need to memorize three rules."
He raised one finger.
"One, all areas marked with red Runes are not to be approached or touched."
He raised a second finger.
"Two, private duels of any kind are forbidden."
He raised a third finger.
"Three, no noise. Do not disturb the peace of this ship with your foolishness."
He lowered his hand. From beneath the shadow of his hood, a cold glint seemed to sweep over everyone.
"Violators will bear the consequences themselves. Until you become apprentices, your lives are no more valuable than the rats in the bilge."
The black-robed man ignored their pale faces. With a flick of his sleeve, he extended his palm.
"The journey will take three days."
His voice echoed through the hall, carrying that same hard, metallic quality.
"Take your keys. For these three days, no one will be serving you. If you're hungry, go to the ration station on the lower level. If you're tired, go back to your dorms. If you don't want to die, don't go wandering the corridors."
After speaking, he turned his palm upward. With no visible incantation, a black iron chest in the corner of the hall suddenly burst open.
Hundreds of silver lights shot toward the crowd like a startled swarm of bees, humming loudly.
"Ah! Don't kill me!"
"Help!"
The girl who had been kneeling and praying moments ago shrieked, crouching down and covering her head.
The rest scattered into chaos. Some tried to hide behind others, while one boy was so terrified he collapsed, a wet patch spreading across his trousers.
Allen stood his ground, not moving.
A silver metal tag engraved with "C-109" hovered before his brow. He calmly plucked it from the air between two fingers.
It was cool to the touch. The intricate patterns on its surface seemed to flow with a faint light, suggesting they were more than just decoration.
Only then did the panicked screams around him begin to subside.
The silver lights had not harmed anyone. Instead, they hovered precisely in front of each person, bobbing up and down as if mocking their cowardice.
The youths, still shaken, reached out with trembling hands to grab their respective keys. The fat boy who had wet his pants fumbled several times before finally gripping his, his face alternating between red and white.
"Fools."
The black-robed man snorted, clearly unimpressed with the quality of this year's newcomers.
He started to turn away, but then seemed to remember something. He glanced back, the shadow of his hood facing the crowd.
"Assemble here tomorrow at sunrise. A mentor will explain the common knowledge of the Wizarding World—if your straw-stuffed heads can hold any more information."
As his words fell, the black-robed man's figure distorted, then vanished on the spot like a puff of dispersing smoke.
The hall was dead silent for three seconds before suppressed gasps erupted.
"He's gone? He really just vanished!"
"That must be Magic... Only the Lord Divine Envoy could do something like that!"
These words drained the color from the faces of all the boys and girls present.
"Just showing off..." the boy named Leo muttered, but his gaze drifted greedily toward a side door.
He came from a merchant family and had a decent eye for value—the flowing red light on the door looked remarkably like the "Warm Jade" his father had paid a fortune for. 'If I could just pry off a piece...'
"Leo, don't! He just said..." His companion tried to pull him back.
"What's there to be afraid of? He's already gone." Leo shrugged off his companion's hand, his greed overpowering his fear as he sauntered over.
Allen's eyelids drooped slightly.
[DSeek: High-Risk Alert! Target's actions have a 99.8% mortality rate!]
His slightly open mouth snapped shut, and he discreetly took half a step back.
The moment Leo's fat fingers touched the Rune, the red light flared violently, engulfing his entire body!
There was no scream, no struggle.
Before everyone's eyes, Leo's body began to change at a bizarre speed.
His skin lost its color, rapidly turning a coarse, grayish-white.
Even the smile on his face froze along with his shock, creating an incredibly grotesque expression.
His clothes, his flesh, his bones—within a single second, everything was completely transformed into lifeless gray stone.
A living statue was born, just like that.
A deathly silence fell over the hall. Fear seized everyone, tightening their throats. A few of the more timid girls had already collapsed to the floor, letting out suppressed whimpers.
[Core logic updated.]
[Survival Rule 1: Absolutely obey all stated rules.]
[Survival Rule 2: Might is right.]
[Host's current status 'Prince', 'wealth', 'political cunning'... value assessment in this environment: zero.]
The cold text from DSeek scrolled across Allen's retina, keeping his mind clear amidst the chaos.
'Reset to zero? Good.'
Allen suppressed the turmoil in his heart. Ignoring the commotion around him, he slipped the metal tag into his pocket.
Rather than standing here marveling at the scene, he was more interested in seeing what the so-called dormitories looked like, and... what other surprises the ship's structure had in store for him.
He turned and walked toward the passage marked for the dormitory area, but the timid girl's shy voice came from behind him.
"Th-that one... excuse me, do you know how to get to Area C?"
Allen paused and glanced back.
The girl was clutching her key tightly, her eyes red-rimmed. She clearly saw him as the only normal-looking person here.
"Look up," Allen said succinctly.
The girl froze for a second, then instinctively looked up. A large, fluorescent sign hung above the corridor: Area C (←), Area D (→).
Leaving her with those two words, Allen walked into the passage without a backward glance.
The girl stared blankly at his back, her face flushing red. It took her a moment before she managed to stammer, "Th-thank you."
The corridor was lined with cold, hard metal walls, with a dim wall lamp only every ten meters. Following the signs, Allen quickly found C-109.
There was no keyhole on the door. He pressed the metal key against the sensor area.
CLICK.
The door slid open.
The space inside was pitifully small. There was only a bed and nowhere else to set foot.
But Allen didn't mind. He closed the door, completely shutting out the noise from outside.
Sitting on the hard bedframe, he took out the metal tag. He tapped it lightly with his fingertip, his eyes narrowing and his lips forming a hard, straight line as he contemplated everything that had just happened.
'What a dangerous and fascinating world.'
'Common knowledge of the Wizarding World, is it? I've been looking forward to this.'
Outside the window, the sea of clouds churned. The massive ship cut through the air, carrying a full load of ambition and fear, sailing toward an unknown shore.