Chapter 259: Elemental Planes and the Inner World |
Albert personally led the four of them from the stairwell to the elevator and pressed the button for the appropriate floor.
As though noticing the confusion in Li Ye and the others’ eyes, he slowly explained,
“The person you’re meeting this time is a Cardinal.”
“A Cardinal?” A trace of surprise flashed across Li Ye’s eyes.
Back on Blue Star, he had only possessed a rough understanding of the Church’s hierarchy.
Cardinals were also known as Red-robed Cardinals. Above them stood only the Pope himself, making them figures second only to one person and above tens of thousands.
“We’re actually going to meet someone at this level?” he thought in surprise.
The elevator arrived at the designated floor. Albert led the four through the corridor and stopped before a conference room.
Li Ye turned his head and looked around.
Albert casually opened the door.
“Go on in. I’ll wait outside.”
Li Ye and the others walked inside.
The moment he stepped into the conference room, Li Ye saw a figure.
It was an old man seated at the far end of the long table.
What shocked Li Ye and his companions was that the elderly man appeared to be a partially mechanized cyborg.
His left eye was a mechanical prosthetic eye. Beneath his robes was a heavily modified mechanical body. Every breath he took was accompanied by faint hissing sounds.
Judging from the deep wrinkles etched across the man’s face, he seemed unimaginably old.
Coming back to their senses, the four greeted the old man before taking their seats.
“I am Cardinal Victor,” the old man said softly. “It’s a pleasure to meet all of you, Lords of the Tomorrow Alliance.”
Immediately afterward, Victor looked toward Li Ye.
“It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen a Lord as young and outstanding as you. One could even say your future is limitless…”
Li Ye’s heart suddenly trembled.
After thinking about it carefully, he instantly understood everything.
Given the Apocalypse Sect’s intelligence capabilities, they naturally knew exactly what the Tomorrow had been doing over these past several months.
From a struggling Level 1 Mobile City barely surviving at death’s door—
To the now moderately established Level 4 City Alliance.
“Without even realizing it, the Tomorrow Alliance has actually entered the sights of a world-class organization,” he silently thought.
After some simple conversation, Li Ye learned that each of the three major human organizations had dispatched one representative to oversee Homeland Island.
Because this aerial Mobile Island possessed Level 5 specifications, the personnel sent here were naturally of extremely high status.
The Apocalypse Sect had dispatched Cardinal Victor.
The Titan Throne had sent one member of the Imperial Beast Council.
The Iron Oath Brotherhood had dispatched a Crimson Elder.
“Though I’m only acting as temporary overseer,” Victor said calmly.
“Once things stabilize here, a Cardinal named Anthony will take over my position.”
“That old fellow is tired of working and wants to retire. But the rest of us can’t bear to let him go, so naturally we need to find some important work for him to do.”
“Besides, I’m personally more suited for planning wars and similar matters.”
What surprised Li Ye even more was that Heath was actually one of Victor’s trusted right-hand men.
“May I ask what Archbishop Heath is currently doing?” he could not help asking.
Victor casually lit a cigarette.
“Heath finished his assignment in Cold Pole Continent. Following his request, we transferred him to another continent where he’s now responsible for clearing out monster civilizations in low-level regions.”
Then the Cardinal clasped his hands together and looked directly at Li Ye.
“Young man, the human side still requires your city alliance to continue contributing.”
“What?”
At first, Li Ye failed to react.
But after a brief moment of thought, he roughly understood.
That meant there were truly very few Level 4 and above Mobile Cities remaining throughout the wastelands. As for city alliances, they were even rarer.
Even the three world-class organizations probably did not possess many high-level Mobile Cities available for deployment.
Li Ye silently pondered.
There was probably only one Level 7 Mobile City.
Perhaps one or two Level 6 Mobile Cities.
Maybe three or four Level 5 Mobile Cities.
There should be somewhat more Level 4 and Level 3 Mobile Cities, but likely only numbering in the dozens.
As for Level 2 and Level 1 Mobile Cities, those would naturally be numerous.
The reason he judged it this way was because Mobile City advancement became increasingly difficult layer after layer.
Advancing from Level 1 to Level 2 was already quite difficult. Beyond that, it became exponentially more troublesome.
And because of this, the three major human organizations placed extraordinary importance on Mobile Cities Level 3 and above within the wastelands.
“So you wish to continue recruiting the Tomorrow Alliance for missions, Lord Victor?” Zhou Xing asked.
Victor nodded.
“That’s correct,” he replied. “Now then, let us discuss the topics your Alliance Leader is interested in. Such as the Inner World and Elemental Civilizations.”
The Cardinal then formally opened the discussion.
Elemental Planes.
These were unique existences independent from Azure Blue Star itself. They could essentially be regarded as unique “small worlds,” worlds belonging exclusively to high-level Elemental Civilizations.
Elemental Planes often possessed unique ecological landscapes and countless mutated creatures.
The Earth Elemental Civilization’s Elemental Plane was called the Abyss of Bedrock.
This was an immensely complex world-scale underground cavern system.
The Abyss of Bedrock contained countless caverns of all sizes, underground rivers, subterranean lakes, countless passageways, and tunnels.
Within some supermassive underground caverns, there even existed underground mountain ranges, underground plains, and underground oceans.
No one knew how many layers it possessed.
No one knew how deep it truly extended.
The moment everyone heard this, their interest was immediately piqued.
Exploring such an Elemental Plane sounded incredibly fascinating.
Li Ye also slowly nodded.
The intelligence reports had mentioned that the Abyss of Bedrock possessed enormous mineral veins. Those were exceptionally valuable resources.
Victor clearly noticed the thoughts forming in Li Ye’s mind and added another sentence.
The Abyss of Bedrock was a Level 4 Elemental Plane. The resources and mutated creatures within were all Level 4.
The Earth Elemental Civilization itself was likewise a Level 4 Monster Civilization.
As usual, Li Ye asked the question he cared about most.
“Does the Earth Elemental Civilization possess Mobile Cities, Lord Victor?”
Seeing Victor shake his head, Li Ye’s expression immediately became solemn.
No Mobile Cities meant this Level 4 Monster Civilization was likely even more troublesome.
“All Elemental Civilizations lack Mobile Cities and vehicles entirely,” Victor slowly answered.
“Since they occupy world-scale Elemental Planes, does that make the Earth Elemental Civilization a Super Monster Civilization?” Yang Zheng curiously asked.
Hearing this question, Victor paused slightly before chuckling.
“That’s actually a good question. Although the Earth Elemental Civilization is powerful, it still doesn’t qualify as a Super Monster Civilization…”
Then his expression became serious.
“However, don’t underestimate them because of that.”
Afterward, he moved on to the next topic.
The Inner World.
What many people did not know was that Azure Blue Star possessed a so-called “surface and reverse side.”
The Surface World was the world before their eyes.
Meanwhile, the Inner World was a completely twisted and collapsed realm where all rules had utterly ceased to exist.
The two represented the surface and reverse side of Azure Blue Star itself.
Its light and darkness.
Victor provided the simplest explanation possible.
The Inner World’s overall size was roughly equivalent to Azure Blue Star itself.
However, its structure was completely different.
And it displayed unprecedented levels of distortion and collapse.
Not only that—
The Inner World also contained countless terrifying monsters.
Simply hearing the descriptions made everyone’s scalps go numb.
Li Ye then raised a question.
“So how exactly do we enter the Inner World?”
Victor chuckled softly.
Taking a drag from his cigarette, he slowly explained.
The Inner World had only appeared after Azure Blue Star underwent the Great Cataclysm.
The three major human organizations only gradually discovered its existence over a hundred years ago.
Driven by immense curiosity, the three organizations jointly launched an exploration plan into the Inner World.
Through certain methods, they located a passage connecting the Surface World and the Inner World, dispatched a group of high-level Mobile Cities, and thereby obtained some information regarding the Inner World.
Unfortunately, things did not remain favorable for long.
Only one week later, the passage completely closed.
The high-level Mobile Cities sent inside completely lost contact.
For over a hundred years afterward, the three major human organizations failed to discover any new passages.
“Fortunately, we’ve now found a new method,” Victor calmly said. “Exploration of the Inner World can finally resume.”
With the explanation complete, the old man straightforwardly revealed his intentions.
The Tomorrow Alliance could either travel to the Abyss of Bedrock to develop itself—
Or accept the human side’s recruitment and participate in exploring the Inner World.
“A Level 4 City Alliance can already explore the Inner World?” Fang Yong asked in surprise.
“Level 4 is merely the minimum requirement,” Victor corrected him. “The Inner World likewise contains abundant resources, and its monsters also have drops. It’s simply extremely dangerous.”
Li Ye immediately began carefully considering the options.
Between the two choices, the Inner World was undoubtedly far more dangerous.
Therefore, he decided to first head toward the Abyss of Bedrock.
“Then how exactly do we reach the Abyss of Bedrock, Lord Victor?” he asked.
From Victor’s explanation, Li Ye unexpectedly learned another piece of information.
Homeland Island possessed a Level 5 Plane Teleportation Device capable of transporting the Tomorrow Alliance into the Abyss of Bedrock.
At present, the three major human organizations had already dispatched their own forces into the Abyss of Bedrock.
Even scattered independent Level 4 Mobile Cities throughout the wastelands had also entered the Abyss of Bedrock.
Li Ye nodded.
Plans truly could never keep pace with changing circumstances.
The original plan to head toward Fertile Earth Continent and develop low-level regions would temporarily be postponed.
First, they would head into the Abyss of Bedrock to mine resources and kill Level 4 monsters for drops.
After Li Ye expressed the Tomorrow Alliance’s willingness to enter the Abyss of Bedrock, Victor instructed someone to call Albert inside from outside the room, placing him in charge of leading the Tomorrow Alliance to the location of the teleportation device.
“So which cities and forces do you plan to send this time, Alliance Leader?”
Walking through the hallway, Yang Zheng asked while walking beside him.
Before Li Ye could answer, Albert immediately made a decisive sweeping gesture.
“All of them can go together!”
Under Albert’s guidance, everyone boarded helicopters back toward the harbor, completed land-based modifications on all six Mobile Cities, and then majestically advanced toward the direction he indicated.
Along the way, Li Ye unexpectedly witnessed a peculiar scene.
A campaign team was enthusiastically carrying out a lively street campaign event by the roadside.
Several parade buses painted with the candidate’s portrait slowly traveled nearby. Loudspeakers atop the buses repeatedly broadcast the candidate’s campaign slogans, occasionally mixed with passionate electronic music and accordion melodies.
Displayed upon the giant side screens of the buses was a close-up of the candidate smiling warmly.
Li Ye immediately looked utterly confused and turned toward Albert standing beside him.
“Bishop Albert, may I ask what exactly they’re campaigning for?”
Albert simply spread his hands.
“Since we intend to carry out nation-level construction upon Homeland Island, then naturally they’re campaigning for the presidency,” he answered. “After all, Homeland Island currently houses over five million survivors.”
“Shouldn’t the President simply be selected directly by the three major human organizations?” Li Ye asked in confusion.
Albert patiently explained.
The three major human organizations were only responsible for maintaining and protecting Homeland Island’s operations.
What the upper leadership wished to see was a self-governing nation emerging upon Homeland Island itself.
“This is also an experiment by humanity,” Albert answered. “If the presidency proves ineffective, then the system will simply be abolished and management returned to direct oversight by the three organizations.”
The journey was far shorter than Li Ye had expected.
Not long afterward, they arrived at their destination.
It was a flat plain.
Standing upon it was a Level 5 Elemental Plane Teleportation Device.
Contrary to Li Ye’s expectations of some ultra-high-tech machine, the Level 5 Elemental Plane Teleportation Device resembled a gigantic gate frame forged from obsidian and alloy.
Its surface was covered with rough chiseled runes while still emitting the cold precision of advanced machinery in its finer details.
The main structure consisted of four prism-shaped pillars.
Each pillar was embedded with pulsating crystal arrays. Deep brown energy slowly flowed through conduits within the crystals, occasionally erupting into scorching sparks.
Suspended between the pillars were seven enormous irregular polyhedral boulders.
These massive rocks were not stationary, but slowly rotated within an anti-gravity field.
Though they occasionally collided, they strangely emitted no sound whatsoever, producing only rings of pale-yellow shockwaves that spread through the air.
“The form of a Level 5 Elemental Plane Teleportation Device is not fixed,” Albert explained. “It automatically changes shape depending on the Elemental Plane it’s targeting. Since the last person wanted to enter the Abyss of Bedrock, the teleportation device transformed into this form.”
The staff members responsible for maintaining and supervising the teleportation device immediately came forward to meet Li Ye.
“May I ask which Elemental Plane you wish to travel to?” one staff member politely asked.
“Please send us to the Abyss of Bedrock,” Li Ye answered.
At the same time, a strange glimmer flashed through his eyes.
Judging from the staff member’s words, this world clearly contained more than one Elemental Plane—
And more than one Elemental Civilization dwelling within them.
The staff member nodded.
“Perfect timing. There’s currently another Mobile City also heading toward the Abyss of Bedrock. You may travel together.”
Following the direction indicated by the staff member’s hand, Li Ye saw a Level 1 Mobile City belonging to the Titan Throne.
Although it was only a Level 1 Mobile City, judging from its configuration, it appeared to possess Level 4 equipment.
The staff member then handed Li Ye a miniature device.
“What is this?” Li Ye asked.
“A Recall Device,” the staff member answered. “The teleportation device will send you to a random location within the Abyss of Bedrock. However, by activating the Recall Device, you can remotely connect to the teleportation device and return here.”