Prisoner Beneath the Steps

"Dragon-Climbing Path?" The other three exchanged glances.

This was a verdict none of them had anticipated.

Besides the bloodline of the existing Dragonborn, the Holy Wing Islands had another way of ascending into dragons—or rather, it had been the root of the Dragonborn's earliest growth.

That was the Dragon-Climbing Tower in the western outskirts of Hila City.

Its history was even older than the royal capital itself, and rumors claimed that the tower had been built by the Sun God Hera. It permitted only Magic-Users to enter. After undergoing a series of challenges, a Magic-User had a chance to gain the power to transform into a dragon and become a newly born Dragonborn. But failure in those challenges could result in anything from death and severe injury to complete madness. Coupled with the growing number of Magic-Users joining the Mage Tower, the Dragon-Climbing Tower had been almost entirely deserted for the past decade.

Maine nodded slightly. "Though there has never been a precedent of a Dragonborn entering the Dragon-Climbing Tower again, Dragonborn are Magic-Users by nature and will not be rejected by the High Tower. Symbolically, transforming into a dragon means being reborn, representing Taxisis's willingness to sever herself from her past. As for the severity of the punishment, the tower may threaten the lives of ordinary Magic-Users, but it poses far less danger to Eternal Wing, who is already Dragonborn. Even if her spellcasting abilities are sealed, the toughness of her body remains. She may suffer quite a bit, but she will not sustain any excessively fatal injuries. What do you all think?"

"It sounds fine to me." Bolton clapped his hands before the other two could speak. "As expected of Lady Maine, who oversees the archives. To think you came up with such a compromise. Dragon-climbing is both