Chapter 411: Touring the Triton’s Ark I
There were many cities on the Floating Island fortress, with different names, and one of them was called the ’Academy City’.
"Ohh? So, it’s not just a normal Academy but a Military Academy to groom potential soldiers, huh?"
Arthur looked around and saw that there were some teenagers wearing uniforms among the people walking in the streets upon closer observation, he noticed that those wearing normal clothes seemed to accord them with ’excess’ respect.
"Like a Commoner in the presence of a Noble..."
It was very easy for him to surmise that the Academy students had some sort of special status.
Since he didn’t want to encounter any troubles, he silently diverted into another street to avoid the academy students who were walking in his direction.
’This particular lot seems to be the arrogant type.’
One look at the way they spoke and how they carried themselves was enough for Arthur to discern this so he just decided to avoid them as a whole.
He then searched his subspace for the money he got when he was still in Duskhand and used it to buy a few things from roadside stalls.
’Looks like the currency is the same as that of the Githal Region. Perhaps, because the Ark docks near there now...’
With that thought, he decided to ask around for a place where he could gain more information with ease; a library or a bookstore.
As it turned out, there was one of such a few blocks away so he teleported over there and entered the bookstore, picking out a few books from the history section and walking over to the reading area to go through them.
He passed by a few Academy students who were going through a few school textbooks on his way to the nearest free seat.
"Now, let’s begin."
With the aid of Time Acceleration, Arthur read through multiple history books and within half an hour, he had gotten a good idea of how things worked in Triton.
As he discovered earlier, there were the Military and Civilian Segments. Both Segments had multiple cities worth of land within them, but the Military Segment was all considered just one Mega City—except the academy city where the Holy Magic and Divinity Wielders were being trained.
’A Mega City bigger than some countries...’
Anyway, the Civilian Segment was split into multiple Numbered Cities averaging at about 1500-2000 sq. km in area, and each of them followed the same template.
Split into three parts, 45% of each city’s area was for the Residential District, the other 45% was the Commercial District and the remaining 10% was a small-scale Military District.
He also discovered that the city he had randomly landed in was pretty close to the Academy city, hence the reason why there were a lot of its students roaming around in the area.
As Arthur exited the bookstore, he strolled down the sidewalk, contemplating where to grab a bite to eat.
Suddenly, he noticed a trio of girls approaching him. They walked with an air of confidence, their eyes gleaming with curiosity as they caught sight of him.
"Hey there."
One of them greeted him, her voice carrying a hint of excitement.
"You’re new around here, right?"
Arthur raised a brow, wondering exactly why she was so sure of herself.
’She couldn’t possibly know every face in the city, right?’
Such a thought crossed his mind but he did not vocalize it, instead, he nodded and offered a friendly smile.
"Yeah, just arrived. Trying to get the lay of the land."
Technically he wasn’t lying; he had indeed just arrived in the city they were in—the 22nd—and he indeed wanted to get the lay of the land. It just wasn’t for whatever reason they were thinking.
He saw as the girls exchanged excited glances before one of them chimed in with an offer.
"Well, lucky for you, we know this place like the back of our hands. We’d be happy to show you around."
Arthur graciously accepted their offer and gave them a charming smile that caused a collective flutter in their hearts.
"That would be fantastic. Thank you."
The girls then introduced themselves, their names tumbling out in a rush of enthusiasm before Arthur had his chance for an introduction.
After this brief exchange, the group of four began navigating the city streets, hopping into vehicles to cover more ground efficiently.
Along the way, Arthur shared a false titbit about himself, mentioning his aspirations to study at the Military Academy and revealing his ability to use Divinity to them.
"That’s impressive."
"We are good with Holy Magic and all, but we do not possess the ability to use Divinity."
Two of the girls remarked with eyes filled with admiration, while the third excitedly suggested to take him to the Academy City.
"The Academy City is something else. You’ll love it there."
With their guidance, Arthur was able to bypass the city’s barrier without setting off any alarms. Since the Academy City was technically within the Military Segment, Arthur had also gained entry into the Military Segment in this manner.
They explored the non-restricted areas of the academy city, enjoying a leisurely lunch before continuing their tour.
Suddenly, the shrill sound of an alarm pierced the air, causing the girls’ expressions to darken with resignation.
"Oh no, it’s time for our military drills."
One of them groaned with clear displeasure in her tone, and Arthur chuckled with a bit of sympathy in his tone.
"No worries, I can find my way from here. Don’t want to get you all in trouble."
The girls nodded appreciatively before bidding him farewell and hurrying off to their drills. As they departed, Arthur’s smile disappeared from his face and he turned towards the direction he sensed the most Divine Factors.
He walked into a public restroom and summoned the invisible scout, using its power to cloak himself and layer it with his already impressive concealment abilities.
With this, he ventured deeper into the Military Segment of the Triton’s Ark.
There was a stark contrast in the atmosphere between the Civilian and Military Segments, and Arthur also noted that the average strength of the soldiers was far higher than it was in Duskhand.
There were Master and Grandmaster Realms almost everywhere, and he spotted some Epics on the street as well.
Arthur jumped from one rooftop to another, taking care not to move so fast that he broke the sound barrier as he went deeper into the Military Segment.
Going deeper, the number of Divine Factor Wielders increased exponentially and though he expected it, most of them were fakes just like in Duskhand.
’I guess Duskhand was the factory that churned out this lot.
There and wherever Ger’s apprentice is. After this, I’d see if I’d be free enough to ’interrogate’ the man for the location.’
While putting that at the back of his mind, he studied the strengths of the combatants here, whilst using his spatial law energy to map the areas he came across.
Whenever he sensed a Sovereign coming close, he diverted to another direction just in case his Invisible Scout + Concealment combo was still not enough to fool them.
Just after diverting for the fifth time, he came across a lone soldier who was entering a pretty big duplex house with a car parked outside.
He scanned the house and only detected presences on the ground floor, while the soldier went up to the second floor.
The man then removed his uniform and tossed it onto his chair before jumping onto his bed and drifting into sleep very quickly.
Arthur studied the movements of the presences on the ground floor, and after a couple of minutes, they exited the building, leaving only the soldier present.
"Guess I’ve found my target."
He jumped down from the roof and entered through the window, placing a time stasis on the man who was sleeping before picking up his uniform and putting it on.
"His name is...Colonel Shepley."
Arthur studied the man closely for a few minutes, before using magic to transform his own facial features to match the man’s.
Since height wasn’t an issue, Arthur was good to go.
He left the house and began wandering the city openly, continuing his mapping efforts. Thanks to the Colonel’s ID card, Arthur could access some underground facilities, and he went down to check them out as well.
’So, their WMDs are underground...
Besides that, he discovered the area where the Floating Island Fortress’s core was. He had expected it to be something classified enough that a Colonel should not have access to but this Colonel Shepley seemed to be a special case.
"What are the odds?"
Arthur asked himself that as he reached the area with the Triton’s Ark’s subterranean core. It was equipped with an enormous Crystal of Divinity that had energy comparable to that of several transcendents.
’With that much energy flowing through the Island, I’d assume it’d be sturdier than a normal Island.’
The young progenitor thought this to himself as he looked at the core outfitted with intricate electrical circuits that distributed the divinity throughout the entire island.
From what he could glean in the short time he spent there, the core he had seen was the Main Core which was connected to other smaller cores all across the Island, all holding enormous divinity crystals.
After seeing enough, Arthur returned to the surface and then made his next and final destination, the Military Headquarters located right in the middle of the Military Segment.
