It was night.
Nova stood in front of a gate in the middle of nowhere.
On the other side of the gate were several buildings, some as big as villas, others as small as Nova’s old apartment. The peculiar thing was that they were all connected in one way or another, with the building in the middle serving as the focal point.
He lifted his gaze slightly upward, and in the reflection of his eyes, one could see a dull orange color that, in the surrounding darkness, might as well have been a bright star.
It gave the night in this particular place a bit of warmth.
“Building residences around the only Orange portal on Earth…” Nova muttered to himself in surprise. “Isn’t this a bit too much?”
Erevan had only told him to follow the orange light to find him, but Nova never would’ve guessed this was what those words truly meant.
////
Erevan sat bare-chested on the floor. His body seemed to be on fire, as small beads of sweat only had time to form before evaporating into the air.
At that moment…
Click.
The door to the training room opened, prompting him to open his eyes. Dark-red flames seemed to come alive within them, only to vanish like a fleeting dream.
Standing in the doorway was Hannah, his intelligence officer. She wore a pure white dress, her white hair neatly tied into a ponytail with not a single strand out of place.
“What is it?” he asked, not pleased that his training had been interrupted.
She bowed and said calmly, “The person you were waiting for is in front of our gate.”
Erevan’s brow rose but quickly relaxed. He smiled, threw on a T-shirt, and said as he passed by her, “Go and inform Jack.”
Hannah bowed again, watching him leave before quietly stepping out herself.
////
Outside, Nova stepped forward and, just as he was about to knock on the gate, it silently opened.
This didn’t shock him at all.
He’d already half expected for the place to be covered in arrays and for the people inside to already know of his arrival.
After all, this was Erevan’s group. If they were so easy to sneak up to then, they would’ve long since been wiped out after taking the only Orange portal on Earth as their private property.
He calmly stepped inside and followed the path that led him to the main building.
There, in front of the building’s door, stood Erevan, a relaxed smile on his face.
“You’ve surprised me, Nova. While I wanted you to come soon, I didn’t expect you to come this soon,” Erevan said with a smile as he looked at him.
He had told Nova to come as soon as possible, but he knew very well that the guy had been inside a portal for the past nine years. He had only expected him to show up a month or two later.
But contrary to Erevan’s expectations, Nova had shown up only eight days after their talk which greatly surprised him.
It meant Nova had chosen to take only eight days of rest right after coming out.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
That was what Erevan thought.
There was no telling what his expression would be if he knew Nova had actually taken just one day off to talk to Cassidy after returning, and had spent the past eight days training.
Nova came to a halt a few steps away from him and said with a shrug, “How could I not when it concerns my safety? You said I might even die inside. Now I can’t help but want to know as much as possible before entering.”
“That’s true.” Erevan scratched his head in embarrassment. He gestured toward the door and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s go in and sit down. There’s a lot to go through.”
Nova nodded and followed behind Erevan.
The two soon sat on a sofa across from each other in a simple room. Despite the buildings being so large and spacious, the interior, at least of the main building, was ordinary, furnished only with the essentials.
A brief silence settled between them before Nova broke it, a strange look on his face.
“Do you need me to ask, or…?”
Erevan chuckled and waved a hand. “No, no. I’m just waiting for Jack to arrive before I start the explanation.”
Hearing that, Nova nodded, slouching into the sofa as he tilted his head upward to stare at the white ceiling. Only he knew what he was thinking.
Erevan shot him a glance, then closed his eyes.
They didn’t wait long before the door opened once again.
“Why are you two so silent?” Jack exclaimed as he stepped inside.
Nova tilted his head toward him and asked, “Why are you so damn loud?”
“Eh? You haven’t grown up at all since I last saw you, still as crude as ever,” Jack said in fake surprise as he sat down on another sofa.
He knew that, for his childhood friend, not much time had passed compared to the outside, but that didn’t stop him from poking fun at Nova.
“And you’ve only gotten older. I don’t know if that’s something to boast about,” Nova said with a shrug, making Jack’s lips twitch.
Erevan couldn’t help but sigh. Even after all this time, these two are bickering like kids.
“Calm down, you two. We have important matters to discuss, and, to be honest, you might as well save all your talk for when we’re inside the portal. There will be plenty of time then,” he said evenly.
“What do you mean?” Nova asked, his ears perking up.
Jack also fell silent, waiting for Erevan to continue.
Erevan gathered his thoughts and said, “Before talking about the Orange portal, you need to understand what happens with the others. When you enter a White, Green, Blue, or Purple portal, the moment you step inside, the entry point on the outside takes a dozen or so seconds to close and disappear.”
“If you complete the mission, an exit point will form inside the portal that randomly sends you outside. The distance depends on the portal’s color, the higher the color, the farther the distance. This is something that’s been gradually discovered over the past few years on Earth.”
Erevan’s eyes landed on Nova, unsure whether he already knew this or not.
Jack and Nova both nodded.
Seeing that, he nodded back and continued, “Then, do you know what happens to the portal if someone fails it?”
Nova remained silent. He had never thought to question it before.
On the other hand, Jack thought for a moment and asked, “Is it lost forever?”
“No.” Erevan shook his head. “It goes through the same process as when someone completes it. That is, it opens a portal in a random location. But instead of closing after ten minutes, it stays open until it’s either cleared or failed again. In the latter case, the process repeats itself. This ensures that rare portals aren’t wasted when, at the start of a civilization’s advancement, people walk inside them.”
“I understand,” Nova said. “Then, what’s different about the Orange portal?”
Erevan smiled. “A civilization undergoing the trial is only granted one Lesser Orange portal, and it won’t close or change position until it’s cleared.”
Jack frowned. “Lesser Orange? What does that mean?”
The term was new even to him, as no other portal was categorized this way. Although he’d spent a lot of time training with Erevan and the others, they had never talked about portals. He was here to, in fact, train.
“The Orange portal that opens during a civilization’s trial isn’t a true Orange portal. It’s a weaker version,” Erevan said calmly.
Nova muttered, “Is this why the color is so dull?”
Thinking back to every other portal he had seen, their colors had been vibrant, giving off so much light that one could easily mistake them for fireworks. Compared to them, the Orange portal here seemed spent, as if its light had been stripped away, leaving only the faint ember of what it once was.
“Indeed,” Erevan nodded and continued. “A true Orange portal has the same vibrant color as the others. But finding a true Orange portal isn’t always a good thing. The one for the trial being a Lesser one is, in fact, a boon to the civilization.”
He smiled. “You see, this Lesser Orange portal gives the same rewards as a true Orange portal, and if that were the only reason, I wouldn’t be so happy about it.”
Jack looked at Erevan and asked, “Just tell us, what’s the reason why you’re staring at it day and night?”
Nova’s expression shifted slightly as he looked at him.
Cough cough.
Erevan choked on his breath at Jack’s words, forcing himself to take a deep breath to calm down.
“I wouldn’t care about those rewards. What I care about is the fact that this Lesser Orange portal’s rewards can be manipulated.”
“Manipulated?” Both Jack and Nova echoed. One’s face was filled with surprise, while the other wore a frown.
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