With Mina perched on his shoulders, her small hands loosely tangled in his still-damp hair, Sage stepped through the towering metallic gates and crossed into the heart of the Adventurer Guild.
The moment his foot touched the interior marble, both he and Mina froze.
"…Wow," Mina breathed.
"…What…" Sage murmured under his breath.
They stood at the entrance like two statues, eyes wide and mouths slightly open, their gazes fixed ahead as if reality itself had briefly shifted out of alignment.
The Guild Hall was no longer just a hall. It had morphed into a cathedral, no, more than that, it was an institution made manifest.
The space had expanded so dramatically that Sage had to tilt his head back to take in its full height. The ceiling arched far above them, adorned with elegant curves and mana-etched seams that glowed faintly like pale constellations embedded in polished stone.
