**[Scene: Gate Entrance]**

  A queue of carriages stretched before the city gates, each awaiting inspection. Guards meticulously examined goods, rejecting suspicious items while waving others through. Beside the main gate stood a secondary entrancefirmly shut until our arrival.

  The moment the guards recognized Count Pera's crest, the gates swung open without question. Their brows furrowed as they noted the absence of his usual retinue, but no one dared voice their confusion. We passed through unchallenged.

  [Count Pera] *"Remember our arrangement. From today, you serve as my advisor while I take the ruler's role. All important matters fall to you."*

  The city exploded into viewa living tapestry of merchants hawking wares, children darting through alleys, and craftsmen shouting over the din. Houses of every size jostled for space along the avenue leading to the Count's estate.

  **[Scene: Pera Estate]**

  A smaller, ornate gate marked the entrance to the inner grounds. Dismounting, we proceeded on foot through manicured gardens that framed the estate's crown jewelfive majestic towers. The central spire dominated the skyline, flanked by four identical structures at each cardinal point.

  **[Narration]**

  The complex defied mortal architecture. Seven-story towers of alabaster white gleamed under the setting sun, their surfaces inlaid with gold that caught the light like captured stars.

  - **Central Tower:** A spiral staircase wound around its exterior like a serpent, leading to a crystal dome that refracted rainbows across the courtyard.

  - **Four Guardians:** Each satellite tower bore a massive emblem

  - **North (Clover):** Emerald leaves pulsed with an inner light, vines creeping across marble.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  - **East (Diamond):** Geometric windows split sunlight into spectral blades.

  - **South (Spade):** Obsidian darker than midnight, etched with silver warnings.

  - **West (Heart):** Stained glass throbbed crimson, petals falling from living roses entwined in its frame.

  Bridges of spun moonlight connected the towers, while below, cherry blossoms snowed onto ponds where crystal fountains played silent melodies.

  **[Dialogue: Tower Introduction]**

  [Count Pera] *"Do you see those five towers?"*

  [Kael] *"Yes, Your Grace!"*

  [Count Pera] *"Seven floors each. The upper levels house only those with authority. I reside atop the central spire. As my advisor, you'll occupy the sixth floorwhere you'll find something far more valuable than gold."*

  [Kael] *"A treasure vault?"*

  The Count's smile vanished.

  [Count Pera] *"Why would you assume that?"*

  [Kael] *"Because you're handing me its keys."* I extended my palm. *"This isn't a request."*

  A beat of silence. Then laughter.

  [Count Pera] *"Sharp as ever. Very well."* He produced an iron key colder than winter. *"222nd brick east of my bed, counting upward. The chamber only appears when this touches stone."*

  **[Scene: The Forbidden Library]**

  The sixth-floor library wasn't a roomit was a universe.

  Mahogany shelves stretched into impossible distances, their gilded edges glowing faintly. Books whispered in tongues dead for millennia, their covers bound in dragonhide and starmetal. Above, an enchanted dome pulsed with constellations that shifted in real time.

  [Giorno] *"New here, lad?"*

  A dwarf peered over stacked tomes, spectacles glinting. His beard housed more ink stains than hair.

  [Kael] *"Kael Aldenis. And you?"*

  [Giorno] *"Giorno Pepper. Keeper since the old Count's days. Before you ask no, I don't smith. Dwarves who prefer books to anvils are rarer than honest nobles."*

  He gestured at the labyrinth.

  [Giorno] *"Three sections: Normal , Advanced , and Epic"*

  [Kael] *"Normal (over a million volumes of drivel), Advanced (5,267 worthwhile tomes),and Epic 131 ancient texts, including the one you've hidden beneath the third shelf."*

  The dwarf's cup shattered.

  [Giorno] *"How in Chrono's name...?"*

  **[Narration: Knowledge Absorption]**

  I let my fingers dance across the Epic Section. Pages flipped themselves as my mindhoned through lifetimes of mental disciplineabsorbed entire volumes in heartbeats.

  *Back on Earth, I'd mastered both conscious and unconscious thought. Here, with Chrono's gift, I could allocate mental capacity like shifting gears, 10% for casual observation, 90% for tearing through millennia of secrets.*

  By moonrise, I'd consumed every advanced text. By dawn, the ancient ones too.

  **[Revelation]**

  Rayford City was built atop a corpsethe corpse of the Countagon Empire.

  Their fabled *Soul Resonance* technique had birthed warriors who moved like thought itselfbodies perfectly synchronized with souls. Until betrayal scattered the art to rival nations, and the empire drowned in blood.

  Now, as the Julian B. Pentagon Empire rose from the ashes, only one question remained:

  *Who had really stolen the technique?*

  And more importantly

  *Where were they now?*