The bloody gate

'The Bloody Gate... You understand me now.'

'How? How do you know about this? Who are you?'

'You asked me how? It all started 3 days ago, a vision came to me alerting me that a group would visit me soon, each of them would take an item that fits perfectly. Once I find this group, I have to give the crystal ball to the oldest of them.'

After hearing the word three days, Maximus burst out laughing.

'Hahahaha.'

Maximus, who was a great magician, returner from another world, and a regressor, saw many oddities but did not think that he would be so surprised.

He quickly repositioned and asked the shopkeeper about the crystal ball.

'What's so special about it? And what benefit will we get from taking it?'

The shopkeeper did not know much about the ball except that it is sealed with a strong seal, the information may seem useless, but who will tire himself to seal something useless? Maximus realized that it had a secret that he had to discover hoping that it would benefit him in achieving his goals.

.........

He checked the ball for a while and then thanked the shopkeeper and went outside, called out to the others and left the store quietly. Everyone wondered about the topic of the conversation but did not dare to ask because they knew that if it mattered, he would tell them eventually.

Evening fell and everyone returned to Maximus' house after completing the work. The house was quite big and had extra rooms, the boys took one room and the girls took another. All of them began to think about what to do in the future. How will they increase their strength? In addition, what will they do to improve achievements?

-------------------------

The rest of the day passed quickly and nothing interesting happened.

Night fell and the sky was clear, a deep-dark blue dome adorned with thousands of twinkling stars that slowly moved over the hours in one direction. The city was very quiet; you rarely hear sounds except for some crows or birds every now and then.

On the roof of the house sat, a young man dressed in black alone, harmonizing with the darkness. Dante was thinking about the burden on his shoulders as the oldest one in the team. He had to take care of them as his brothers and family.

'What is our elder doing here?'

Suddenly Maximus moved nearby, Dante felt chills and then calmly responded.

'This is scary, sir, please do not appear again like this.'

Maximus laughed at him and then sat down beside him and in a sarcastic tone, he answered as well.

'You're right, these are things that don't fit people of my age, but look who's sitting on my roof.'

'You came just in time, sir... I had a few questions to ask, please.'

Maximus smiled and then stared at the twinkling stars that filled the night sky.

'Go ahead. Ask as much as you want and I'll try to answer.'

'How did you know about us in the first place? All of us live far apart on the continent and we are not even famous but you know a lot, a lot strangely. How else did you find us?'

Maximus sighed and smiled lightly, expecting to hear such a question but earlier than he expected.

'As I expected from you. You are sagacious, boy. I'm sure if I tell you it's a prophecy you'll see it as a clear lie, I trust you won't tell others about the small we are going to have now.'

'Thank you for your trust sir, no reason for me to tell them as long as you have told me not to.'

'I traveled back in time, Dante, nineteen years from the future. My original self at this time was thirty-eight years old. When I came back, my younger self disappeared and was replaced by me.'

Dante expected a strange answer but got something weirder, going back to the past is a fictional idea he did not expect to see or hear here.

'That explains a lot but it's not enough to explain how you knew about us or how you found us.'

'We were comrades who went through a lot of hardships, moments of life and death. Even defeating an enemy we thought it would be impossible!’

Dante leaned forward with overwhelming interest and curiosity, wanting to learn more about what had happened.

'Exciting story, can you tell me how we met?'

'You ask about this? You will see it with your own eyes soon. We called it the Bloody Gate or the Crimson Portal, have you ever wondered about the existence of another world? If you have frustration, you'll see it in a month at best.'

Many thoughts overlapped Dante's mind: another world, a return in time, a bloody gate... He also wondered what happened in the future.

'I see that your mind is a little confused by the many facts but please help me train others if I ever needed your help. My goal is to make all of you ready to enter the other world. We must make the most of the time we have.'

'I'll help you with all my strength; it's going to be okay this time.'

Here Dante stood up, straightened his stance and then put his fist on his chest. Finally, his doubts have disappeared and he has peace of mind knowing these things, Dante is hesitant about people who hide a lot whose intentions are often unclear. Having heard the answer, he now understood why he did not want to share this with others. Someone may slip their tongue and reveal this secret or lose their enthusiasm after hearing something shocking like this. Now. The future heroes returned to their rooms and slept in peace and quiet.

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A new day dawned and with the exception of Maximus and Dante, Orion was the first one to wake up.

Enthusiasm was overflowing within him. He went downstairs and found the old magician and the pessimistic young man sitting at the table eating breakfast and chatting, he too sat down and ate quickly and then began to ask about the plans of the day with bright eyes.

He told him that he would take everyone to buy suitable clothes for the training that will begin this evening. Orion rushed to the top floor and woke everyone up. It is going to be an exciting day for everyone.

.........

It approached eight o'clock in the morning and everyone finished preparing before the departure time. Passing through the market, they entered a luxurious tailoring shop. Inside there were rows of clothes hanged on the walls and clothes holders, it was everyone's first experience to see a shop like this. Maximus approached the owner of the store and asked him to look at clothes that would suit everyone according to their combat specialty.

Adventurers’ costumes for Dante and Orion, oriental outfits with stealth magic by Eric, oriental outfits with magic protection for Aliana and Mira, martial arts outfit for Tai Min and Yoon-Hwa.

All of them were impressed with their new clothes. With just some small adjustments, they fit great.

Maximus continued to enter several stores and his future students followed him without much talk. Once all the concerns were over, everyone went home.

'Hurry up and put on the adventurers' clothes that the teacher bought you yesterday and then gather at his office.'

Dante urged them to hurry up; time was gold and they should not waste like this without purpose. After they had finished getting dressed and preparing themselves, they proceeded successively to Maximus' office and formed a ring.

Maximus applied an instantaneous teleportation formation that he had prepared in advance and activated it. After a moment, the scenery had changed completely, a spacious foyer the likes of which the children had never seen before, with decorated walls, illuminated by a glass chandelier that mediated the circular ceiling supported by five marble buttresses, each in a distinctive color with connotations.

'Sir, why are the colors of the marble buttresses different? Is there a particular reason or is it just an ornament.'

Someone paid attention to the different colors of the supports in this large hall. Presumably, there must be a logical reason for this.

'The five pillars indicate the paths that a person can take in his life, while colors indicate each path. Red for fighting, blue for research and learning, green for production, yellow for trade and commerce and orange for exploration and adventure.'

'Wow!! I didn't know of anything like that.'

Mira's eyes widened and flashed like a glass ball under sunlight. She was a gluttonous girl for learning and took opportunities to ask questions to satisfy her curiosity.

.........

Many people walk around the place. This is the famous Mydrias Academy, specifically the lobby. Maximus advanced towards the front office and the others followed him.

'I want to use a private training room for a month. I want to reserve two noble-grade rooms, one in the male section and one in the female section.'

The Heavenly Wizard took a silver card out of his pocket and showed it to the employee; it is only owned by magicians or knights with five or six rings/stars and a guarantee of your identity. Without questions or delay, the employee took out two keys, a purple card topped with gold decorations, and the number eight was written on it.

After a few turns and guard offices separating sections of the buildings, they arrived at a portico containing 12 numbered magic gates.

The gates are built with gray volcanic stones; each piece was carefully carved and polished to form a sturdy arch that does not require the use of concrete to ensure its stability.

Immediately, everyone headed towards the gate bearing the number eight. The magician slided the card in front of a different stone than the rest on the right side of the gate. The gate activated and the entrance opened, and then they entered one by one. A spacious room with a length of approximately fifty meters, a width of thirty meters and a height of approximately twelve meters. A room with walls of insulation stone, a stone of a special kind capable of withstanding attacks up to the fourth rank for knights and magicians and sixth for martial artists. In addition to several magical white stones that served as a source of light for this large room.

Next to the entrance was a steel safe protected by a defensive spell, which contained weapons of all shapes and types to suit the needs of whoever rented the room.

Maximus stood opposite his students to explain the situation.

'The training will last for a month, the training sessions do not end until it is announced. Be patient, this is a price to protect the future.'

'Understood sir.'

They spoke with one voice and with fiery determination in their eyes.

'The first week will be training to learn how to control mana or internal energy or whatever it is called, the second week will be intensive physical training, the third week will be training in your combat specialty to be determined later, for the remaining ten days it will be training in real combat. This scheme is just a preliminary idea, training may change as you grow and progress.'

A lot of painstaking work awaits them, but sooner or later, the results will appear.

Maximus smiled like a doll haunted by an evil spirit, that provoked some fear and a bit of discomfort.

'Training won't be difficult; it's going to be hell.'

After hearing this, the smile disappeared from their faces but the determination did not completely fade. They prepared themselves psychologically to start this training and then silence came. They waited for Maximus to talk about the next step...