There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 119

Chapter 119: Chapter 115. The Tower of Ophiuchus

"You look so energetic...Sir," Lex couldn’t help but remark in the morning, as they went to the rooftop after checking out.

Bassena, with bright amber eyes and an easy smile on his face, replied nonchalantly. "How should I look, then? Listless?"

The fact that you replied to me with that bright expression is weird enough, Sir--Lex muttered inwardly. But he could already guess the cause of this spike in energy, so he said nothing as they proceed to the helicopter.

He wondered if Bassena and Zein knew about the furor they created from yesterday’s short sailing alone. The entertainment news was filled with the snippet of their ’yacht date’ as the media called it. The images of their interaction on the boat had been circulating so much overnight that the whole federation might see it already.

There were a lot of pictures, but most of them portrayed the same thing; the Serpent Lord and his guide leaning against the railing, practically glued to each other with how the esper had his hand all the time on the other’s waist. The guide’s face was still hidden behind the mask, but people could see the palpable affection on the esper’s face.

It was true that Esper usually had a certain affection for their dedicated guide, because a cleansing process could often become intimate. But with the previous rumors flying around--which were only a few days ago--this ’yacht date’ coverage was like a blatant confirmation that there was something more than just an esper-guide relationship between them.

Whatever it was, since Bassena himself didn’t mind it, Trinity did nothing to quell the stories circulating around. Actually, Lex was more intrigued as to why Zein accepted all the rumors nonchalantly. He couldn’t tell whether it was because the guide generally didn’t care about things happening in media, or...the speculation was all true.

Well, the good thing was that people getting more convinced that Zein wouldn’t leave Trinity anytime soon--or perhaps never, even. There seemed to be a talk about how Celestia crashed the show Bassena was in because Zein was there, but seeing how the two only looked even closer after, people secretly also talked about how silly Celestia’s attempt was.

So all in all, it was good for Trinity.

The biggest gain from this trip probably was the two sitting in the backseat of the helicopter. The guide, who never seemed to get a day off, finally looked like he got a proper rest; the blue eyes were sharp and clear again, and the brow furrowed less than usual. Rather than looking stoic and stony, he looked more relaxed and easy.

Although it couldn’t beat how refreshed and energetic Bassena looked. The Serpent Lord was practically brimming, and when Lex measured the esper secretly, his corrosion level was so low he might as well get a total cleansing. No wonder the man was full of positive energy; he was in his peak condition, physically and mentally.

Well, spending the weekend with someone they courted tended to have that effect anyway. Lex felt like boasting about speedrunning the trial in a month wasn’t just empty words for this version of Bassena Vaski, who was now busy describing their destination to the guide.

"So I can’t go inside the tower?" Zein asked after Bassena explained to him the procedure.

"There’s a lot of reporters and scouts waiting for potential espers there--or well, just espers in general. There’s also the crew of artifact-hunting guilds, the family or guild members of the first-time taker, and just regular civilian visitors that want to see the tower," Bassena explained. "It’ll be too crowded if people other than the trial takers are allowed to go inside."

"Hmm...that makes sense," Zein nodded. "Well, at least I can look at it from the outside."

"We’re not allowed to fly too close to the tower, but we can get as close as possible and look at the structure from above, how about that?"

Zein glanced at Jock, the pilot for today, who held up his thumb in the air. "I won’t say no to that," he shrugged, but the blue eyes were shining eagerly. "Tell me what’s it like inside."

So Bassena started to describe the inside of the tower, with Lex and even Jock chiming in from time to time, adding their own experience of ongoing trials in another tower to the mix.

From their explanation, the tower’s base was a hall with platforms that acted as teleportation devices, where the espers would be transported to the trial floors. There were five platforms of such, each manned by the tower’s staff--or administrator, as the others called it.

These administrators, who took care of guiding the espers on their business in the tower, were artificial intelligence spawned by the Celestial Being themselves to man their towers. They acted based on a set principle created by the patron deities, and had full authority to dispatch any intruder and troublemaker.

"Where will you go if there are only five platforms?" Zein tilted his head.

"There’s a separate entrance for that--only the admin could open the path,"

"Ho...they treat you like a VIP, huh?"

Bassena laughed, but it was Lex that explained further. "Well, the Saint-class is treated like an apostle, after all." _{freeweɓnovel.cøm}

"Oh?"

"It depends on the patron deity of the tower, but some did demand their saint-class to do some mission for them, including sending more espers to their tower," Bassena looked up to the helicopter roof in contemplation. "Also, sometimes they give special tasks even to those who are not a saint-class, like Han Joon. He has to go back and forth to the tower every year, but in exchange, he was given the Night Walker stigma."

"What about you?" Zein turned to look at Bassena. The man didn’t look like he was busy doing God’s demand.

"Me? Hmm..." the esper gave a wry smile and replied mysteriously. "I’m doing it, I guess? Well, in progress, at least..."

Zein tilted his head in confusion, before the blue eyes widened slightly. "Don’t tell me..."

"Yeah," Bassena looked out to avert his eyes from the surprised look on Zein’s face.

Nothing was a coincidence, or born without a reason. It wasn’t a benevolence, or something born out of the kindness of their heart. Radia did it for business purposes, but Bassena had his own agenda too in pioneering this reclamation project.

Hearing the quiet acknowledgment, Bassena turned his head toward the guide, who was staring forward expressionlessly. As I thought, perhaps I should tell him this one instead last night...

Bassena took a deep breath and looked at the guide with a complicated heart. Doesn’t matter the reasons, huh? Now, why couldn’t he see that about himself, then? Bassena sighed at the guide’s lack of self-appreciation.

The space was filled with nature until they pass through the public encampment, where tents and vans were lined up and created some kind of settlement. While it was forbidden to create a permanent residential building in the safe zone, some people stayed there to wait for the one doing trials, so many camped not far from the tower itself. Of course, should they pollute the space, the tower’s admin would kick them out of the zone.

Zein stared at the tall structure at the center of the zone. Shrouded by a concealment formation, any towers and temples couldn’t be seen from outside the safe-zone, no matter how tall the structure was. But now that they were almost at the border of the flight zone, he could see the tower clearly.

The Tower of Ophiuchus was the center of the safe zone in area-13 where Althrea was. All three of Trinity’s ’founders’ went through their trial in this tower. It was a tall, sleek black structure with walls seemingly made of giant scales that reflected the sunlight beautifully, making the surface gleam in iridescent light.

Jock brought the helicopters to circle the border of the flight zone once, so Zein could see all sides of the tower. They flew down after that, about half a kilometer from the entrance area, on a landing pad within a meadow. A car with Mortix’s logo was already on standby there, and the driver dutifully handed the key to the guard.

Unlike guide’s measurement that was held once a month, espers could undergo a trial anytime they wanted, so towers were always full of people every day. Zein could see more people the closer they were to the tower, including espers bartering their artifacts and guilds’ staff scouting those that just finish their trial.

And of course, the press.

Today was the day Bassena Vaski would undergo his first recurring trial, after all. The government agents in charge of monitoring high-ranking espers were already on standby, as well as the representative of the sentinel association. When the Mortix car drove to the designated parking lot, even those who were there for their own trial stopped to stare.

When the Serpent Lord came out of the car, all the cameras were immediately on him. And when his guide followed after, they were even in more frenzy. Based on the images circulating last night, they already expected that the guide would also accompany Bassena Vaski to his first re-trial, and they were ready to capture every second of the two’s parting moment.

Only, they got something bigger than that.

As Bassena and Zein walked through the raining camera flashes and journalists asked for a short interview, the government agents and association representative came forward to greet them--greeting Bassena, to be more precise.

But before they could approach the Serpent Lord, exclamation sounds came out from those standing near the entrance. As they took a look in the direction of the tower, even Bassena stiffened suddenly, pulling Zein closer to him.

Walking in the haughty stance typical of those in charge, three administrators walked out of the tower toward them. One of them was the admin in charge of guiding Bassena to the peak trial, but the esper had an inkling that the other two didn’t come for him.

As the three expressionless beings stopped in front of Bassena and Zein, people seemed to hold their breath from how quiet it was. Because of that, even when the admin in the center talked softly, everyone in the area could hear it.

With iridescent eyes staring straight at the guide, the administrator spoke.

"Mister Luzein, the Lord is sending his invitation."