Chapter 166: [Dome of Wind]
Alex and Zara landed cleanly on the broad back of the Hawkilies.
The surface under their feet was firm.
The dense feathers providing them a stable footing rather than what the creature’s size had suggested from below.
Other youths began arriving in a steady stream.
Some climbed the lower rear section.
Others used short mana bursts to jump and then finished by hand.
A few of the more controlled ones copied the CBI man’s clean leap.
Within a short time the upper surface filled with quiet chatter as participants found places to stand and began speaking among themselves in low voices.
The Abyss participants and the various branch households under the Abyss name gathered near Alex without needing to be told.
Other groups did the same across the wide back, forming natural divisions by household and affiliation.
The space settled into a loose but clear pattern of clusters.
Alex’s gaze shifted toward the front.
The blond CBI man now stood at one end of the Hawkilies alongside several other officials.
Their hair and eye colours varied but the weight of their presence was consistent.
None of them looked like ordinary instructors.
’Hmm, looks like they are taking this seriously.’
They were about to leave the capital of Winterfang.
Aboard this single beast were the future geniuses of the kingdom, the youths who would one day lead households, guilds, or military units.
The dangers that can come before they reached their destination for the Proving were too many to count.
Yet the visible presence of CBI officials, and the man who seemed to be captain of the Hawkilies, gave many of the participants a thin layer of relief.
At least the transport itself would not be the first place they died.
With everyone finally aboard, one of the officials stepped forward.
She was a woman with pure white hair and matching white eyes.
She raised one hand and spoke a single skill name under her breath.
"[Dome of Wind]"
A massive surge of mana left her body.
In the next instant a transparent dome of compressed air formed over the entire upper surface of the Hawkilies.
It was not a gentle barrier.
Alex could feel the density of it.
If anyone tried to push through that wall of wind, the currents inside would shred them into unrecognizable pieces.
"W-wow—!"
"T—this is insane!"
Several participants staggered from the sudden pressure wave that accompanied the dome’s formation and their hair and clothing whipped sideways before the air inside stabilized.
Then the beast began to rise.
Alex felt the shift immediately.
Spirals of intense wind gathered around the Hawkilies.
The air itself grew lighter.
In the next second the massive creature shot forward, tearing through the sky at a speed that turned the world outside the dome into a continuous blur.
The sudden acceleration sent many of the youths tumbling across the feathered surface.
"Wait—!"
"What—!"
"Shit—!"
Alex was jolted, but Adaptation had already moulded his balance and core strength enough that the shock never came close to putting him on the ground.
He simply adjusted his stance and remained upright.
A boy from the Bloodworth section came tumbling straight toward him.
Alex’s hand moved before conscious thought finished forming.
He caught the boy by the front of his jacket, stopped the momentum cleanly, and released him once the other was steady on his feet again.
"T-thank you, Third Prince..."
The Bloodworth boy’s voice was awkward, almost embarrassed.
"Your posture and balance are terrible," Alex said without much thought. "You should work on it."
"Y-yes... I will work on it."
The boy hurried back toward his own group.
The moment he rejoined them he was hit by a wave of sharp glares from the other Bloodworth youths.
They clearly thought he had made their entire section look weak by needing help from the Abyss prince.
Alex ignored the reaction and turned his attention to his surroundings again.
Many participants were still on the ground or half kneeling, trying to catch their breath and reorient themselves after the launch.
’So we are finally about to start soon.’
He looked toward the edge of the dome.
There was nothing useful to see.
The world outside was only a blur of motion and colour, the landscape reduced to streaks by the Hawkilies’ speed.
They were moving faster than the jets he remembered from his previous life, even though those machines had been over a hundred times smaller.
He had read about Hawkilies in the palace books and heard his mother mention them in passing.
Seeing one in motion was something else entirely.
The creature could control air currents the same way a high level Wind user could, only on a scale that made human techniques look small.
That was how something with this much mass could still cut through the sky at such speed.
It was truly incredible.
Despite that speed, nearly a full hour passed before anything changed.
A large holographic screen formed in the air above the front section of the Hawkilies.
Light resolved into the image of a woman, and if there was one word that failed to capture her, it was any of the ordinary ones people usually reached for first.
She was breathtaking.
Dark hair the colour of midnight purple with dark blue undertones was gathered into an elegant updo, held by delicate floral ornaments and thin butterfly pins that caught the light.
A few loose strands framed a face that looked almost too refined to be real.
Her eyes glowed a vivid, luminous pink, sharp and knowing at the same time.
The soft curve of her smile carried both warmth and something far more dangerous underneath.
She sat with one hand lightly supporting her cheek, posture relaxed yet perfectly composed, as if the entire sky existed only to frame her.
Devastatingly beautiful was the only phrase that came close.
"Ara ara, so we have so many viewers and participants this year," the woman said.
Her voice was smooth and playful.
"I wonder why that is..."
Those dangerous pink eyes moved across the gathering of youths.
For a brief moment they settled directly on Alex.
He did not think she was looking at him specifically.
He also could not explain why her gaze lingered exactly on his position before it returned to its usual sweep of the crowd.
Zara’s voice came through the bond at once.
’Did she just look at you?’
’I would like to know that myself...’
The woman on the screen rested one finger lightly under her chin and adopted a thoughtful expression.
"Oh, I did not even introduce myself? But do I even need to? I think I did it a few decades ago..."
She let the silence hang for a beat, she was still looking at everyone with that same soft and dangerous smile of hers.
"Well for those of you who do not know me, I am—"
🌿 ─ ❦ ─ 🌿
End of Chapter 166: Dome of Wind
🌿 ── ❦ ── 🌿