Chapter 90: Chapter 90: Door of Fate
Translator: 549690339
Entering the Fate Space doesn’t involve subjective compulsion.
The council decides who, how many people, and when to enter the Fate Space; all of these are determined through the “Optimal Human Enhancement Plan” developed from centuries of accumulated experience.
For students at the National Royal Academy of Knights, there is a requirement that every two months, a group of students must enter the Fate Space.
Each department in the Academy has its corresponding quota.
When the time comes, they must provide enough Apprentice Knights; otherwise, the department’s funding will be cut, and certain rights might even be taken away.
Of course, randomly assigning students is also not acceptable.
The survival rate of the Apprentice Knights and their performance in the Fate Space are the basic indicators used for evaluation.
Currently, eight teams are gathered in front of the Fate Bell Tower.
The smallest team has two people, and the largest has six people. (The number of people in a team does not affect the difficulty of the fate events. Even if there are 100 people in a team, a World of Fate will be generated to accommodate 100 people. The overall difficulty factor will not change.)
As they’re about to face real terror, even the Apprentice Knights who knew each other amongst those gathered here had no time to greet each other.
“This bell tower… It’s quite strange.”
Even standing outside, Han Dong could hear countless small gear noises.
Watching the bell tower for an extended time led to a dizzy feeling.
At the base of the bell tower.
Vertical cylindrical style bronze doors.
Sssss! (Steam sound)
With the release of a lot of steam, multiple copper pillars rise in a regular pattern, revealing a red metallic passage leading into the bell tower.
A staff member of the bell tower, dressed weirdly, walks out.
He wears a strange Swirl Mask and is dressed in a hard white robe; the collar standing up surpassing his skull.
The robe drapes over his legs, revealing only his feet shod in black crystal boots.
His voice resonated in the minds of each team.
“In your teams, please enter the Fate Bell Tower in turn. We will check your items… After the check is complete, my echo will guide you cordially to different gear rooms, and wait to enter the Fate Space.”
The inside of the bell tower corresponds to a lengthy inspection passage.
Not only are carried items checked, but also the identities verified to ensure they match the student identities reported by the department.
While passing through the red inspection passage, one can clearly hear the sound of multiple rotating gears from within the walls of the bell tower.
The complex machinations inside the bell tower are visible, but their operations are known to only a few.
The bell tower’s purpose isn’t solely clock operation, but more importantly, to safeguard humanity’s beacon of hope – the Door of Fate.
The check is complete.
Cass’s team arrives at a square, transparent, glass room.
Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of overlapping gear structures can be seen all around.
It’s as if every room in the bell tower is under control of these gears.
Han Dong restrains the shock in his heart as much as possible—such mechanical architecture did not exist in his previous world.
Cass explains to Han Dong, “The Fate Bell Tower, is the perfect fruit of Holy
City’s paramount science and technology. It’s the safest architecture in Holy City… Without the guidance of the Clockmaker, we would get lost in the bell tower space, never to find our way out.
When and where each room in the bell tower is determined by different gears, undergoing minute changes every second.
Even after coming here twice, I still find this place incredible.”
“Clockmaker”
Clearly refers to the oddly dressed guide.
Not long after.
The glass room with Cass and the others starts moving with the rotation of the When the room stops completely, a door suddenly opens on one side of the glass room!
Behind the door, there’s a limitless expanse of pitch-black space, where even flames cannot spread out… In the darkness, only the Door of Fate at the center is visible.
To quote the original description from a book:
“It has golden edges, an elliptical structure like the starry night sky, like a Star
Gate where multiple dimensions blend inside.”
“Is this the true Door of Fate?”
As Han Dong gazes at this Star Gate, he strangely feels like his consciousness is being sucked in.
It’s not an illusion; staring at it for a long time truly leads to an out-of-body experience.
(The method for novices to enter the Fate Space is through a certain gigantic magic array which connects the Festival Square and the Door of Fate. This allows for thousands of participants to enter at once, saving a lot of time and making management easier.
After all, common people are not qualified nor have any need to enter the Fate Bell Tower.)
“You are the first team of this month’s journey of fate, good luck to you.”
The Clockmaker makes a polite gesture of invitation.
The four of them, already prepared, did not hesitate at all.
With Cass leading, they step inside the Door of Fate.
The moment they’re drawn into it, the Fate Card marked with a Scepter separates on its own.
The “Option” is activated.
After a brief tremor of consciousness, they arrive in a ‘strange’ place.
To Cass and the others, the style is very strange.
But for Han Dong, this place couldn’t be more familiar.
Wasn’t this a video store from his original world?
The hottest store during the VCD, DVD era… However, due to the rapid advent of the internet age, these CD-selling stores instantly declined.
They rose rapidly and declined rapidly, existing only in the memories of a certain group of people.
Han Dong didn’t expect in the slightest that the location for choosing Fate events in advance would be an ’80s-style video store.
The books, CDs, and game discs displayed on the shelves were all in a state of chaos.
When Han Dong and others tried to examine them up close, the font and covers would become distorted and blurry.
Only the three items on the cash register were clearly visible.
Obviously, these three items represent three different Fate World frameworks.
A book,
A film disc,
A game collector’s edition box.
“As expected… they all use the literary works from my past world as their world frameworks. If I had known in advance, I would’ve spent more time familiarizing myself with these materials.”
The familiar prompt from the Fate Space rings out:
“Please make a choice within fifteen minutes; once the time limit is exceeded, a Fate World will be generated randomly.”
When the prompt ends.
Basic information about the three literary works displayed on the counter pops up, enabling the team to understand the details and make their choice.
Book: [Goosebumps Series – Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb]
Movie: [The Return of the Clown (Surface Chapter)]
Game: [Obscure]
(If there are any PC gamers among the readers, Afei highly recommends this game here… Although it’s a bit old, the plot is absolutely thrilling, containing elements of horror, campus life, mutation, and mystery-solving..)