Extra And MC-Chapter 27 - 25 - The Tower

Flynn and Aiden stared and gawked at the humongous towering structure before them. As they did, Leopold got out of the driver's seat and called to his sons.

"Flynn. Aiden. Let's go"

He then watched as his sons still kept looking at the headquarters of The Tower with awe, completely taken in by its massive size and scale.

'Ah... I guess they've never actually seen it up close' Leopold thought to himself.

'Well, they're not the only ones to have reacted this way after seeing it up-close for the first time. I'll let them gawk for a few more seconds…'

After realizing that his sons were still staring in awe after about ten seconds, Leopold went over and placed his palms on each of their heads while urging them on.

"That's enough staring from you two. Now let's move"

Both teenagers seemed to have being brought out of their amazement and immediately realized that they must've looked like country bumpkins to the staff members walking around despite living in this world for a relatively long time.

Unknown to both them, people were taken in more by their looks than the expressions they had on their faces.

"Sorry about that dad" Aiden said with a bit of embarrassment in response to their father's words while Flynn just nodded in response.

Their awe wasn't unfounded though because although they had an idea about just how massively tall and wide The Tower was, both from their memories of reading the novel and the occasional view of it from afar when they drove through the city streets of New Eden, it did little to no justice in how it looked like in actuality.

"It's alright. Let's get this over with though. We still have one more stop later today" Leopold replied.

"Yeah" Flynn replied with another nod as they all made their way into The Tower through the wide and opaque automatic glass doors.

Why were Flynn and Aiden at The Tower you ask?

Well, originally, Leopold had planned to just request for the {Moonveil Art} and have it sent to Flynn via Butler Frank but Flynn had suddenly asked Leopold that he was curious about how The Tower looked like this morning.

He had also told him that in contrast to Aiden's {Berserker Art} which required the use of a Greatsword or any other heavy weapon, the {Moonveil Art} required the use of light weapons like a Katana.

Their family members and their ancestors also used their family's weapon art so all of the weapons in their vault consisted of heavy weapons such as greatswords, maces, hammers and so many others with literally no light weapon.

Leopold upon also realizing this and going through his schedule for the day, noticed that he had little to no work so he decided to just bring his youngest son along. He also ensured to inform the required personnel's and have them know of his son's visit.

Aiden however just decided to tag along. He was also quite curious.

As both brothers stepped into the headquarter of The Tower along with their dad, they were greeted by a sleek and modern interior design in the form of a reception hall that exuded a balance between functional aesthetics and professionalism.

The receptionists who were smartly dressed in white shirts and black pants or skirts upon seeing Leopold walking in greeted him with a welcoming and charming smile.

"Good morning Duke Leopold!" they all greeted with friendly smiles.

"Splendid morning we're having don't you think sir?" one of the female receptionists added.

"Good morning. Yes it is" Leopold responded in kind.

The females among them seemed to be puffing their chests out for some reason as they greeted Leopold but upon seeing the two young teenagers trailing behind him, they went into a trance-like state for a few seconds but almost immediately snapped back into their professional state.

Aiden and Flynn who were completely oblivious to the distractions and head turning they were causing, continued surveying the internals of The Tower with a sense of wonder in their eyes.

Eventually, they moved to the elevators while following Leopold as he gave them a brief overview of how the upper floors were.

Apparently, the upper floors were composed of perfectly-sized private offices and open-plan areas, with certain floors reserved for other purposes. The higher your rank, the higher the floors you'll be assigned to and the bigger your office would be.

The open-plan areas featured high-tech holographic screens with modular desks while the private offices had a personal workstation equipped with advanced holographic computer systems and keyboards, ergonomic chairs, desks and a docking station for communication devices.

The Tower's headquarters had 100 floors.

D-rankers and C-rankers were assigned mostly to the research, logistics, analysts, crime scene investigation and forensics department and occupied floors 2 to 49.

B-rankers and above could decide where they wanted to be assigned to and quite a lot of them usually chose to be on-field with the rest of them sticking to other important positions that helped this giant monolith function effectively.

(A/N: *On-Field; Kinda like the way police officers, detectives, SWAT Teams work)

They usually occupied the remaining floors except the 95th floors and above which was solely reserved for the executives.

Executive positions were dependent on how well you performed and your work efficiency. Core ranks were not usually required here and an individual was purely selected on how much they contributed to The Tower's ecosystem.

Upon reaching the 50th floor, Leopold stepped out of the elevators with his sons and they were greeted by the central command center.

This expansive room they were in had no sectioned private offices but instead was filled with a vast array high-resolution display screens, each showcasing real-time data feeds from surveillance cameras, drones and satellites. The screens were seamlessly integrated into the walls, providing a panoramic view of the city's activities.

In the center of the room, a circular control panel was operated on by highly trained staff members who were coordinating operations and monitoring the screen with laser-focused intensity.

"Wow…" Flynn muttered to himself.

Aiden just stared on without saying anything but both brothers were now able to fully appreciate just how much work went into running The Tower.

There might be a few scumbags here and there, especially in the executive departments but both of them acknowledged the efforts the Tower was putting in to maintain peace and order in the city of New Eden and all of Arcadia itself, considering the numerous branches they had.

"Amazing right?" Sebastian who seemed to have popped out of nowhere said as he watched the two teenagers stare in awe.

"Hey Baz" Leopold said, giving his greetings to his long-time friend and partner.

"Leo my man!" Sebastian replied with his booming voice while slapping Leopold's back.

Leopold who was seemingly used to his friend's habit just sighed and let him be.

"Uncle Baz!" Flynn and Aiden exclaimed in unison at the sudden appearance of their father's close friend.

"Hey boys. The command center's amazing right?" Sebastian asked once again to which both boys nodded.

He then followed up with a question while stroking his chin.

"Gotta ask though, what exactly are you guys doing here? The Tower doesn't just allow sudden visits you know?"

"Well, we wanted to get an idea about how The Tower functioned so I asked for my Dad to bring us over, but that's not the only reason" Flynn replied.

"Yeah. Anyway, we need to head to the 85th floor now. I'll fill you in on the details as we go Baz" Leopold said.

"No problem then" Sebastian responded while following Leopold who was now heading back towards the elevator.

Aiden and Flynn followed closely behind and they all got into the elevator. Leopold set the floor number to 85 and began to fill Sebastian in on the actual reason his sons were here at The Tower.

"So you're telling me that he wants the {Moonveil Art}?" Sebastian asked Leopold with a bit of apprehension as they all stepped out of the elevator to the 85th floor.

"Yeah" Leopold replied casually.

'Um, I'm right here you know… Why am I being talked about in the third person?' Flynn inwardly complained.

Leopold had filled Sebastian in on why they were actually here at The Tower and his reaction had been as Flynn and Aiden had expected.

Aiden who had noticed the subtle changes in Flynn's seemingly normal expression stifled a small laughter but his eyes had betrayed him and Flynn just squinted at him.

'And this ladies and gentlemen, is one of the reasons why it's annoying to have someone who can accurately guess your internal thoughts… haaaa…' Flynn inwardly said and sighed to himself.

"Are you sure about this decision Flynn?" Sebastian asked Flynn carefully, a bit of uneasiness in his voice.

The careful look on Sebastian's face really didn't suit someone with a boisterous personality like his and Flynn found it slightly amusing but he answered confidently as if to put his worries to rest.

"Yes. I'm sticking with my decision"

"You do know it's the hardest weapon art to master?" Sebastian asked once again.

"I know, but it'll be fine. I think I can master it in due time" Flynn confidently responded again.

"Don't stress yourself Uncle Baz. He's never going to change his mind" Aiden finally spoke up after successfully stifling his laughter.

"Haaa… You boys are a real headache to deal with" Sebastian replied, seemingly giving up on trying to persuade Flynn.

"Tell me about it" Leopold added, his calm voice laced with a bit of resignation.

As soon as Leopold completed that statement, they finally reached the middle of the corridor of the 85th floor.

Due to their conversation, Flynn and Aiden had been unable to ask why the 85th floor had a single narrow corridor without any other thing in sight asides the concrete walls on both sides which had the logo of The Tower on it.

As both of them were about to ask, someone suddenly materialized out of thin air like dust particles and approached all four of them with light casual steps and an amiable smile on his lips.

He was an old man who seemed to be in his seventies judging by the small wrinkles present on his face and he was wearing a black suit that perfectly suited him.

He had grey hair and a perfectly maintained beard and moustache, along with merlot red eyes that carried years of wisdom hidden deep within them. Even though he looked old, he looked very fit for someone his age.

Aiden and Flynn were startled by this sudden appearance but Leopold and Sebastian just looked like they had expected this.

His name, although currently unknown to Flynn and Aiden, was Julius Hargreaves.