Chapter 469: Map
"What manner of beast is this!?" Dorian’s boisterous voice echoed within the spacious control room of the Ark.
Elion sighed. "I already said it is an ancient transportation vessel that can fly very fast." Dorian did not seem to be listening.
With a series of loud "hooo" and "haaa" sounds, the towering vampire wandered around the immaculate white room, touching everything his eyes fancied.
The curved glass-like panels, the smooth walls, the glowing strips of light along the ceiling, the strange seats, and even the sleek floor.
Everything.
Elion let him be for a few moments. Then Dorian reached the control panel and started twiddling with it.
Elion’s eyebrows twitched. He walked over, grabbed Dorian by the scruff of his neck, and dragged him away. "This is not a toy!"
Dorian was pulled along the floor with his hands outstretched toward the panel, a look of pure wonder on his face.
Bell-like giggles echoed across the room as the girls laughed at the antics of the two men.
This was already the morning of the following day. The red sky had yet to disappear.
Even the moon the previous night had reflected a bloody crimson light, and now the sun continued to hang above the world like a burning omen.
All five ladies had tagged along.
Of course, asking Aria’s father for permission to take her away for a few days had been the greatest challenge. Elion did not want to think about that conversation too deeply.
After dumping the dark-skinned vampire onto one of the free seats, Elion walked back to the interface. He looked over the glowing control formation and thought for a moment.
"Is it possible to show a large map of our surroundings, our current location, and our destination?"
He was not really sure where the Vampire Clan’s territory was supposed to be, since he had never properly looked at a map of their world before.
However, since the Ark had been able to track Mira from his instruction the other day, perhaps it could map out their surroundings as well.
A cool mechanical voice answered almost immediately.
[Affirmative.]
[Performing worldwide terrain scan.]
A massive pulse of energy radiated from the vessel. It spread outward at impossible speed, sweeping across the world in silence and completely unnoticed.
[Calibrating.]
[Drawing complete world map.]
No more than a minute later, a holographic, flat three-dimensional map appeared before him. Every major region was marked and named properly.
Elion blinked. "Wow. That was fast."
Behind him, Dorian walked up with surprising quietness. He seemed to have regained his wits for now.
The two of them studied the large map together.
It hovered before the interface, about the span of Elion’s outstretched arms, glowing with fine detail. Even the ladies, who had been conversing softly among themselves, grew quiet when they saw it.
Dorian’s expression shifted.
"Wow," he muttered. "That is indeed an extremely accurate map of our world." However, a moment later, his eyes narrowed dangerously.
He had noticed something on the map that one would never find on maps distributed among the common populace.
Two locations known only to a select few.
To the east of the Draconic Mountain Range, across an ocean most never dared venture into because of untold dangers, was the Abandoned Continent.
And to the southwest of the Dwarven Kingdom, also across a great sea, was a small island occupied by the secluded merfolk community.
Dorian’s face darkened.
He glanced at Elion’s features, checking to see if the boy had noticed the oddity. Elion had noticed it; however, he did not react strongly because he thought it was normal.
Expensive as small maps were, he had never had the privilege of looking at one properly, and those were usually just citywide maps with basic terrain around the city marked out. One could only imagine what a map of the world would cost.
Only merchants, nobles, military officers, and scholars would ever see the need to invest funds into buying one or more maps. From there, it would simply be a matter of putting different maps together, or even drawing one yourself.
But even those were basic at most. The map Elion and Dorian were looking at now was vastly different.
It was one-to-one in accuracy, and it seemed to have been drawn in real time. There was simply no comparison.
As Elion studied the map, he quickly noticed that the main continent was largely as most people knew it.
The Empire of the Goddess of Light occupied the westernmost region.
Directly south of it was the Dwarven Kingdom, taking up a smaller but heavily fortified portion of land, sharing borders with both the Goddess’s Empire and the Kingdom of Veloria.
Veloria itself sat at the centre, covering a vast portion of the continent from the central lands down toward the south. Directly north of Veloria lay the Beastmen Clans’ territory.
The Beastmen bordered the Great Forest to the east and the Great River to the north, the same river that crossed the Great Forest and ran toward the eastern side of the continent.
Across the Great River to the north stood the massive Elven Kingdom, partially enshrouded by the ancient trees of the Great Forest.
To the east of the Elven Kingdom was the small territory of the Vampire Clan, though the two lands were separated by a massive network of mountains and cliffs.
The Vampire Clan was the northeasternmost community on the main continent. Directly south of them stood the monstrosity known as the Draconic Mountain Range.
The mountain range stretched from the north, where it bordered the Vampire Clan, down to the southernmost part of the continent, where it aligned roughly with Haven’s position on the map.
And south of Haven, slightly toward the east, where a vast ocean separated the Human Kingdom from the Draconic Mountain Range, floated Grimholt.
The great flying academy and the place they had just departed from.
The tiny blinking point that represented the Ark was currently moving swiftly across the great waters toward the north.
If they continued on this path, they would be passing over the skies above Haven. At this speed, it would take less than a day or so before they reached Dreadmoor Hollow, the Vampire Clan’s territory.
"This is one useful map," Elion commented.
However, after he finished studying his first priority on the map, curiosity naturally pulled his attention elsewhere.
His gaze moved toward the two separate entities away from the main continent. Two places he had never heard of before.
"The Abandoned Continent and the Secluded Merfolk Community?" Elion muttered aloud with a thoughtful expression.
Dorian’s eyes narrowed.
"How come I have never heard of these places?" Elion asked, giving Dorian a look.
Dorian could tell the question was directed at him. For a moment, he was silent.
He did not know whether he should give the boy such sensitive information. Places like the Abandoned Continent and the Secluded Merfolk Community were not hidden from public maps for no reason.
But considering all the mysteries surrounding Elion, such as this great ancient Ark that Dorian could not even begin to comprehend, he suspected that even if he did not tell the boy, Elion would find out sooner or later.
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