The city was called Vox and it was surrounded by quite a few floating islands. However, rather than monsters occupying the islands, they managed to obtain the islands for themselves and arm it with ballistas and soldiers with flying divinities so that they could keep the monster at bay.
Not only that, but the city was also surrounded by large stone walls with metal gates. The gates weren’t closed and anyone could enter at will but there were guards stationed everywhere.
Glancing up at the top of the walls, Shiro could see mounted weapons and tens of guards standing at attention. From what she could tell, each of the guards were performing their duties magnificently as none of them were slacking.
Back on earth, Shiro had seen guards who would only stare off into the distance and daydream but these guards were like hawks. Every subtle movement they saw would be checked to be sure that there was nothing suspicious.
If these guards had the power of some of Earth’s adventurers, they would make first rate watchmen at an important encampment.
Chuckling softly, Shiro walked past the gates without any problems. As this was one of the bigger cities in this section, she wanted to see if she could find any information on the Tower.
The first thing she noticed upon entering the city was a giant wooden billboard with a detailed drawing of the map. Each of the stores and roughly what they sell was marked down by the side making it easy for anyone to find the store that they wanted.
Raising her eyebrow, Shiro was pleasantly surprised by this and couldn’t help but feel grateful to the one who made this.
Similar to modern maps that she has seen in cities on earth, the map here was split into rows and columns. With numbers running up the side and letters along the bottom, it was easy to find where the shop was thanks to the coordinates provided next to the shop name.
Checking the list of things that was noted by the side of the map, Shiro saw that it was split up into several categories such as entertainment, clothes and so on.
Surprisingly, there was even one for information and Shiro could see a building titled the Compendium of Towers.
This building was specifically for those that wanted knowledge on what towers were where along with the nature of their tests.
Tapping her chin, Shiro checked its location and found that it was located in the centre of the city.
With her destination in mind, she made her way to the centre of Vox.
###
“Wait… doesn’t she seem familiar?” A woman tilted her head while glancing towards Shiro since white hair was rather uncommon in this world. A while ago, she remembered receiving a notice on a potential recruit and that was a young girl with white hair.
“Mn, let me check.” Another girl nodded her head and pulled out a notebook of sorts.
Muttering something under her breath, words started to appear on the paper as images of people could be seen about the words.
Flipping through the book, they arrived at the page where it showed the side profile of Shiro walking away from the two corpses that she had buried previously.
“No signs of a divinity and killed two people with ease. Both of them were killed by an arrow to the throat and an arrow through the head. Yeah, that’s the girl.” The other woman nodded her head.
“Oh? Well that’s perfect then. To think that we’ll find two candidates in this city. Should we prioritise her or shall we go for the initial target?”
“Let’s go for the initial target. This one is just a bonus.”
“Ok.”
###
Upon arriving at the Compendium of Towers, Shiro saw that it was a huge domed building with a stained glass roof and pillars with detailed carvings supporting the second floor.
Walking up the marbled steps and towards the large wooden doors, Shiro pushed it open without hesitation.
The inside of the building was very spacious as rows upon rows of bookshelves could be seen everywhere. There were bookshelves on the walls and bookshelves in the middle of the building.
Tables filled with people could be observed to her left as they would flip through the books with great interest.
“Welcome, do you know the rules of this place?” A lady called out with a soft voice.
“No I don’t.” Shiro replied while glancing towards the source of the voice.
Sitting behind the desk was a blond haired lady with a rather beautiful dress. It wasn’t something that nobles would wear but it was much better than what she had seen from the towns.
“There are three key rules here. Number 1, you are not to remove any of the books from the premises of this building. If you do, we will know. Number 2, you can only copy the text if you are given a permit but otherwise, it is against the rules and we will know when you do. Number 3, you are not to vandalise, fight or do anything that may harm the books within the premises. As long as you keep these three in mind, things will be ok. Since you are a new customer, may I know which book you are looking for so that I may direct you to the right place?” She smiled.
“I’m looking for information on the Tower of Nike.” Shiro replied.
“Understood. Please wait a moment while I get you a guide to your book.” The woman smiled.
Waving her hand across the table in front of her, a magic circle of sorts appeared shattered into pieces of light which fuse together to form a butterfly.
“Please follow this butterfly and it will highlight the books that match your needs. Also, try not to disturb the other customers.”
Nodding her head, Shiro started to follow the butterfly.
Following behind the butterfly, she walked past several rows of bookshelves, up two staircases and was eventually led to a balcony three floors above the entrance.
Upon reaching the balcony, the butterfly shattered into light particles and wrapped around several books that could be seen on the bookshelf.
However, her attention was drawn on the three books she could see on the top shelf.
[Tower of Nike]
[History of the Winged Goddess of Victory]
[Combat Study of the Divinity obtained from the Tower of Nike]
Taking all three of the books, Shiro looked around for a seat and found one not too far from where she was. It was located next to a carving of the world with sticks protruding out from the earth to represent the five primordial towers.
Sitting down, Shiro placed the other books on the table next to her and began to read the [Tower of Nike].
The book contained information such as when the tower was discovered, who discovered it and what the first few attempts were like.
As Nike herself was the Goddess of Victory, her trials in the tower consisted of obtaining victory through hardship in order to prove one’s worthiness of her divinity. Not only that, as the sibling of Zelos, Kratos and Bia, her trials also incorporated some aspects of her siblings.
Zelos – Rivalry, Kratos – Strength and Bia – Force.
To obtain Nike’s divinity, one had to pass at least one of her trials.
Trial of Victory, Trial of Flight or Trial of Strength.
There was also the addition of semi trials of her sibling’s. Rivalry, Strength and Force but they were only small benefits.
Rivalry allowed you to muster more power as long as you see the opponent as someone you must overcome.
Strength will boost your physical prowess and Force will give you an ability similar to what Ares’ Trial gives.
The longer you fight and the angrier you become, the more your physical parameters improve. Naturally, this is limited to only 5% stronger than your base but it was still helpful nonetheless.
However, the trouble that one needs to go through to obtain these small benefits were not worth the risk in most people’s opinions as there were better divinities to choose from. Especially since this is usually classified as a low grade second tier divinity.
But since Shiro could only get one divinity, this was the perfect one to choose from before she challenged the towers belonging to the five primordial deities.
