Jaden stared into her eyes and turned towards the tower with banners.

"They are," he answered and began walking towards the gates of the House of Shadow. The girl followed behind with her soft and quick steps.

Just as he stepped inside, he suddenly felt countless gazes upon himself, but much to his surprise, there was no one near him.

'Blasted hell... can this get more creepy?' He thought and stepped forward while looking around. The dark walls were empty and had nothing other than lanterns and mana cores that brightened the hall. Two wooden doors were situated at the left and right corners of the hall. Against the centre of the wall was a desk and chair—Likely the reception table.

An old man of nearly at the brink of death's age, sat in the chair. His white hair and beard were styled in a dishevelled manner that made him look like a madman rather than a receptionist, and just like Jaden, he also wore an attire that had nothing but black and gold. The only difference was that his badge had an open book instead of the golden strips.

'Is he even alive?' Jaden thought that because the receptionist was not moving, and he could not feel his presence even after using the passive ability of the Mark of Nature.

He stepped towards the old man and opened his lips to call out to him, but before he could do so, a barrage of barks exploded in the empty hall of the tower.

"BRE! BRE! BRE!"

"BRU! BRU! BRU!"

The old man, who had his head on the desk till now, slowly lifted his head and looked before himself with his eyes gleaming coldly behind the white spectacles. He looked at the pups with an annoyed expression.

The old man's lips parted, "Silence."

Just as those words left his lips, a shiver ran down Jaden's spine as he unknowingly took a few steps back. The pups also turned silent, their body shivering as they tried to dig themselves deeper into Jaden's embrace.

'W-What?!' Jaden's expression turned grave as he looked at the old man with a frightened expression.

The old man stood up from his chair and studied Jaden before his cold voice rasped, "Your name?"

Jaden's lips parted by themselves as he answered quickly, "Jaden Cross."

The old man creased his old beard with a thoughtful look as he mumbled Jaden's name, "Jaden Cross... Jaden Cross Ah!" He looked at Jaden with narrowed eyes and asked, "Aren't you one of those who fell into the dreamgate at the start of last year?"

Jaden nodded.

"You managed to survive, huh. Only to die soon after," the old man muttered as he took out a key from the drawer of the desk and threw it to him.

Jaden caught the key and looked at it with a confused expression.

Noticing his confusion, the old man gave him an irritated look and asked, "What are you standing there for? Go to your dorm and get ready for the first assembly."

'So this is the key to my dorm.' Jaden thought as he looked at the key. He tightened his grip around the key and looked at the old man.

Seeing him still standing there, the old man heaved a heavy sigh and questioned softly, "What do you want?"

Jaden showed him the key and answered, "I don't know where my dorm is."

The old man shifted his gaze between the key and Jaden before looking at him like he was looking at someone stupid.

A vein throbbed at Jaden's forehead as he muttered, "I lost my memories when I entered the dream realm."

The old man's eyes shone in understanding as he stood up and spoke, "Follow me."

He stepped towards the right wooden door and gestured for Jaden to follow. Jaden nodded and stepped forward to follow behind, but just as he did so, a voice resounded within the hall.

"W-Wait!" The girl from before shouted as she looked at the duo and questioned in a flabbergasted voice, "Why are you two ignoring me?"

Jaden looked at her while scratching the back of his head as he asked, "How long have you been here, Miss Rabbit?"

The girl looked at him with wide eyes and her mouth agape as she mumbled, "I've been here from the start."

Just as she finished, the old man added while pointing at his table, "I did not see you because of the table..."

She shifted her gaze between the table and the old man before darkly muttering under her breath, "I am not that short, or am I? No, no, I can't be that short."

Jaden looked at the girl who was having a crisis about her height with pity. He turned his head and looked at the old man as if he were looking at trash.

The old man snorted at him. He walked towards his desk and asked, "What is your name?"

She stopped her thoughts for now and answered meekly, "Zaria Benedictus."

"Zaria, huh... that lass who is top in theoretical studies?" The old man questioned.

Zaria's face turned red as she nodded rapidly and answered in a slightly flustered voice, "Y-Yes."

Jaden looked at her with a surprised expression, 'She's top of the class…? That still doesn't explain her acting like that...' he thought as he remembered the wild smile she had on her face before.

"Take this," the old man said as he threw Zaria her key, which she tried to catch but failed. However, Jaden moved and caught it.

He gave the key to her with a slight smile, which she took with an embarrassed expression.

"Thank you," She said softly, to which Jaden only gave her a slight nod.

The old man eyed both of them before saying flatly, "This is the hall, not your bed chambers; follow me."

"Y-yes." Both replied with slightly flustered looks upon his words and began to follow him as the old man opened the right wooden door and began to climb the stairs behind it.

______

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Goals

• 100 power stones = extra 1 chapter.

• 100 golden tickets = extra 1 chapter.

• 100 collections = an extra 1 chapter.

• Golden Castle = extra 5 chapters.

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