"By the way, were those five doors in the Wandering Sea open before? And now they're saying they've been closed."
Having stayed in the Wandering Sea this whole time, Shen Fei had learned a fair amount about it. Although he did not know many specifics, he did know about the five doors within the Wandering Sea and how it recruited talent.
The Wandering Sea was the most mysterious of the Mages Association's three major factions. Unlike the Clock Tower and the Atlas Institute, which had more or less abundant information circulating outside, even including rumors about what lay under their command—such as the Atlas Institute's contract scrolls and seven weapons of mass destruction.
As for the Wandering Sea, other than the fact that it looked down on modern magecraft, focused on researching magecraft from the Age of Gods, and conducted bodily modification, few knew what it had actually achieved. Even Lord El-Melloi II only knew about some of the Magicians within it and was unclear on their concrete accomplishments. It was only after Lord El-Melloi II encountered them later that he learned the Wandering Sea was creating gods.
Deep within the Wandering Sea were five doors: the Door of Preservation, the Door of Regeneration, the Door of Advancement, the Door of Conservation, and the Door of Subordination. They respectively corresponded to the Wandering Sea's five major departments, much like the Clock Tower's Twelve Lords and the Atlas Institute's Six Sources.
Shen Fei had understood those five doors to lead to the Wandering Sea's five great workshops. He had previously believed the doors were completely shut. After all, Shion had used the Atlas Institute's eighth contract scroll to borrow this place for a year, so they should all have left. Yet now he was being told that the five doors had