Chapter 114: Camel Skyscrapers
The great serpent bearing the world advances across the sea of clouds
The camel supporting tall buildings strolls among the mountains
……
After Xilutiya entered the interior of this platform, her eyes gradually adjusted, then she saw everything around her clearly.
The ground was covered with a dark red woven carpet, the surrounding walls and floors were crafted from black stone slabs, with whale oil candlesticks burning ceaselessly on both sides of the passage, emitting a faint incense scent.
At the side of this passage’s door, a middle-aged man in a black trench coat approached; he looked to be in his forties, with a faint castle nature aura emanating from him.
“You’re the student from Jiaoshi City, right.”
He opened the thick-shelled book in his hand, its paper pages flipped automatically without wind, rustling open and finally stopping on one page; on the yellowed paper page appeared the name ‘Xilutiya’ along with a line drawing of her appearance, and beside the column recording this maiden’s information were two symbols: ‘golden sunflower’ and ‘purple night flower’.
“Oh, it seems you’ve already caught the attention of some people.” Noticing these two symbols, the man stroked his beard, then looked up and saw the badge by Xilutiya’s collar; his expression changed slightly.
“Forest Badge, so that means you’re an outstanding student who completed three objectives.” He nodded slightly.
“Very good. Later in the Camel Building, you can live in an upper-floor room, and there will be dedicated maids to clean your room for you. As for the dining room, someone will take you there.” With that, he raised his hand toward the book page; invisible threads gathered, forming a black key in his palm—the entire process was effortless.
“This is the key to your room. Go to the third floor, find an unlocked room to stay in, insert the key into the lock, wait a moment, and it will be usable.”
【Room Key】（Castle）: A key with special effects that can match certain door locks.
“Go through the hall to the stairs at the back, and you can head upstairs.”
“Rest for now today; someone will come later to tell you about the situation inside the Camel Building.”
“Okay.” Taking the black key, Xilutiya held it in her palm and walked curiously into the passage beside him.
Advancing more than ten meters along the carpeted path, she pushed open the door; facing her was a spacious hall larger than a soccer field, where students of various races dressed in different clothes gathered in twos and threes—some sat at tables nearby chatting, others hurried through the hall toward other places.
In the center of the hall stood a glowing white jade tree, its branches and leaves emitting fluorescence that illuminated the entire hall; besides that, there were many candlesticks around the hall’s perimeter, also lit with large candle lamps, their warm yellow glow dotting every corner of the hall.
In this relatively noisy and bustling environment, Xilutiya didn’t attract much attention when she first entered; only when she passed by did people curiously glance at her silver hair and look a few more times.
As Xilutiya passed by a student with a leopard head, her nose caught a faint soil and grassy scent—this was her first time seeing such a beastkin subhuman.
Further ahead, there were quite a few students with similar clothing styles to hers, probably from the southern continent’s various countries.
“Where has the Camel Building reached now?” a student inquired of his companion.
“How would I know? The windows are basically all sealed; only the people on the upper floors can see outside.” This student, dressed in a bright yellow noble formal dress, shrugged.
“But I estimate we’ve reached the Anti Kingdom by now; further south is the continent’s edge, with only some small countries there—we’ll pass through quickly.”
“Going around like this, it should be heading to the ‘Merchant Capital Union’ at Meteor Lake, and after that to the woodland.”
“Probably takes about a month more.”
“So long; I’ve been in this Camel Building for almost half a year already—it was still summer when I came in, and most of the clothes I brought were summer ones.” A girl complained.
“This Camel Building circles the southern continent’s various countries in just ten months—that’s already very fast.” The others shook their heads.
“There are about fifty-something countries, right? This batch of new students has around eight thousand people.”
Carrying her heavy suitcase, Xilutiya slowly passed through the hall, ears perking up curiously to listen to everyone’s discussions.
Thanks to her special talent in this life, she could easily sort out various conversations from the noisy environment and understand them simultaneously; just traversing this short distance through the hall let her learn quite a few interesting things.
As Xilutiya walked slowly forward, a few people chased each other playfully in the hall; a girl in a dark red long skirt was walking while turning back to laugh and play with her companion behind her, not seeing Xilutiya and bumping right into her.
Facing this situation, the maiden slightly adjusted her posture, letting the suitcase take the impact while she stayed a bit back.
“Sorry.” She quickly apologized to Xilutiya, then prepared to pull her companion away.
Xilutiya, this silver-haired girl in a black skirt, didn’t mind and was about to continue forward, but the boy who was her companion walked over; his gaze had originally been on the dark red-skirted girl running ahead, merely glancing at Xilutiya.
Wait, after shifting his gaze away, he immediately turned back, noticing the silver badge pinned to Xilutiya’s chest.
Seeing this badge, his expression changed slightly, and he immediately stepped forward.
“Sorry, senior female student, my companion just bumped into you—please don’t take it to heart.”
“It’s fine; you can go.” The maiden’s soft voice surprised him somewhat, but he quickly reacted.
“Senior female student, you just arrived, right? Your luggage is so heavy—let me help carry it.” With that, he prepared to step forward and take it.
“It’s very heavy.” The maiden slightly moved the suitcase away, not wanting to trouble outsiders.
“No problem; it’s what I should do.” He called out to the few who had run off, beckoning them back.
“What is it, Toya?” His companions walked over somewhat reluctantly.
“What do you mean ‘what is it’? Don’t you know you almost bumped into the senior female student just now?” The tall boy who had been smiling amiably at Xilutiya moments ago suddenly changed expression and spoke sternly.
“What senior female student? I don’t even recog…” As he spoke, one companion looked at the maiden and noticed the badge by her collar.
“I don’t even recognize her—that’s simply the gravest sin! Hello, senior female student; we’re terribly sorry just now.” He immediately straightened up and bowed deeply, and the remaining two girls were equally stunned.
At this point, the two girls also noticed the difference upon their companion’s reminder; their faces paled in shock, and they nervously apologized to Xilutiya before carefully lowering their heads and standing properly, as if awaiting reprimand.
This sudden change surprised Xilutiya quite a bit; she guessed that the identity represented by the badge was no small thing.
Afterward, at their enthusiastic suggestion, two of them helped Xilutiya carry the suitcase toward the stairs opposite the hall.
Climbing the stairs upward, they introduced the living environment here to Xilutiya.
“Student dormitories are distributed from the 3rd to 12th floors top to bottom; we’re now in the hall on the 5th floor. The 7th floor below has plenty of dining rooms for meals, and further down are places for activities and training.”
“Floors 20 and below are where the servants live; there are also livestock raised inside, indoor fields for planting, and such.”
“What about the living conditions?” Xilutiya inquired curiously.
“Usually four people per room, with similar bunk bedding to ship cabins.”
“The bedrooms aren’t very big, so everyone likes to come out for activities; floors 5, 6, 8, and 9 all have very spacious halls.”
As they introduced, they unknowingly reached the stair entrance on the third floor, where the two tall armored golems guarding it raised their weapons, blocking them.
“Those without badges are prohibited from going upstairs.” A cold voice issued from beneath the golem’s armor visor.
