Simon’s court turned out to be a fairly average hotel building with a flashy exterior and a sophisticated interior. Everything was mapped out in red and gold giving the entrance lobby a royal field.

The most surprising fact of the whole situation was the glowing tree right in the middle of the entrance lobby.

The huge tree had impressive foliage that mapped about 24 meters total in both directions and provided a high four-floor ceiling on top of it. The upper half of the high-end hotel was empty of any obstruction and allowed sunlight to pass through undetected.

The whole situation was only possible because of the magic amplifiers surrounding the whole lobby space. Maria had felt them as soon as she had entered the lobby.

“Welcome to Simon’s court. How many nights are you staying here for?” the receptionist asked with a cheery smile. It looked like the same business smile many of the court officials gave Maria when they thought she was not looking.

The hotel lady was just humoring them.

“A ticket to the underground, please. The billing will be handled by Lady Mei and her people” Nao passed a small card toward the receptionist and watched as those swift hands took the card from her.

“Of course. Kindly take the elevator behind the reception desk straight toward your destination. We are happy to have you here” the receptionist did not even falter in her words or tone.

Maria quickly stepped out of the line and followed behind Nao. The next person in line gave her a glare for her lateness but Maria chose to ignore it for her sanity.

“What do you think about this place so far?” Nao asked as soon they both entered the lift. The lack of eyes on them helped Maria relax and face her friend.

“To be honest, the tree in the central lobby took be back but it also seemed familiar. Was it an imitation of the world tree?” Maria asked as she thought back to the display.

She felt as if the tree and its positioning were deliberate to convey a message but she could not place where she had heard about such an arrangement.

“It’s not an imitation in the traditional sense, just a way to represent the idea. It’s supposed to look like one of the nodes that hold this continent up on it but no one knows how close that imitation is. However, it surely is impressive” it was impressive.

For all of the magical and scientific advancements in this world, it lacked a lot of impressive decorative feats. The world felt lacking potential in their technical applications.

[The world’s development is limited due to a lack of information. The more the user uncovered, the more advancement they would see this world make]

The system piped inside Maria’s mind and reminded her that this world was novel originally. As such, the amount of information it had retained about places unknown was not a lot.

It also seemed to serve cold water over Maria’s nerves and she felt a shiver go down her spine.

Should she even do all this? Also, wasn’t the adventurer’s guilt someplace the original oracle never went? It had always been the MC who had traveled around with his party and reached these places.

Maria also vaguely remembered that the story had contained the adventurer’s guild. There was supposed to be someone important here who led the main party ahead.

“Maria, you need to get out before the lift goes back up” The oracle snapped out of her head as Nao’s hand reached for her shoulder. It helped solidify the current situation inside the oracle’s mind and finally grounded her enough.

This all was no longer a novel but her life now. Maria should start paying attention if she wanted to survive till the end.

“Sorry. I was just a little lost in thoughts. So, where are we going next?” Maria asked as she exited into the empty hallway. The life disappeared from behind her as soon as she landed out of the life.

Nao seemed to be observing their surroundings with a frown on her face. Whatever she was seeing, she seemed to not be liking and neither did Maria. There was a lack of life and care in that passage that worried them both.

“This way. The last time I was here, the way out was through a tunnel of light but I can’t see on now. Thankfully, the receptionist gave us a voucher to follow” the receptionist has given them something like that? Maria had not paid attention to that exchange.

The voucher turned out to be a small floating piece of paper that let Nao’s hand and the pair followed behind it.

There was no light in the tunnel as they walked. The only piece of light in the whole place was the small paper charm leading them through the path.

“Don’t take your eyes off of the charm or take a step off of the path. Hold my hand if you need to but do not get lost in here” Maria gulped her saliva at the warning but found it to be too late to follow.

She tried to walk after Nao and the light but her steps felt heavier than they had been. Every step felt like it required effort and left Maria wanting not to move.

There was something on her legs, clutching onto them and pulling Maria down to the ground. It felt like the space around her was quicksand and was intended to swallow her whole.

“MARIA!” Nao’s panicked shout came from afar and Maria felt panic grab at her throat.

It was not good, this sinking feeling around her. The ground was catching up too fast with her and something seemed to be reaching out for Maria.

Maria tried to reach back for the hand in front of her but found herself unable to move at all. Whatever had a hold on her, it had a hold on her hand as well.

“It won’t be fun if your partner joined us down there as well. Let’s send her to another place, shall we?” Maria heard the voice in her ear and the words sounded familiar to her somehow.

She was so sure she knew who the person behind her was but her brain was just not connecting the dots inside it.

Until it did and it was all thanks to the system.

[The gatekeeper for the adventurer’s guild – Su Suna. User is advised to be careful with her and her brand of magic to distort space]

The warning came too late for Maria to be of any help. Her surroundings sank around her and her and the earth swallowed her whole.