Transcendent Gene
Chapter 144: Atmos Clan [2]

Chapter 144: Atmos Clan [2]

The two longest distances humans ever had a need to journey were the trips between Strata and the trips between planets.

However, those two were also the shortest trips a human could experience.

It was already known that humans born with spatial abilities were exceedingly rare, but that only meant humanity put more focus into trying to touch upon the concepts of space through technology.

Even researching such technologies drained an egregious amount of money, so they hadn’t been developed much at all.

The infrastructure barely existed to create machines capable of controlling space in any capacity, even if it was just a matter of twisting or folding it slightly.

However, nobody else created Strata. Humanity developed the sub-dimensions on its three main worlds on its own, and in the same process, they created ways to move between them.

The so-called Warp Gates went down in history as one of humanity’s most expensive and laborious creations. Even in the future Gio knew, the technology was never developed on a smaller scale to allow transportation between countries or cities.

However, the Warp Gates never fell. In the end when there were no humans left to use them, the Warp Gates still connected every Strata of every world until they were destroyed all at once.

They were miraculous pieces of technology, which was also why they were extremely controlled. An ordinary person didn’t even have the qualifications to step foot near a Warp Gate to think about moving between Strata.

The Atmos Clan, despite its somewhat fallen status, was different. Gio was confident that he’d be able to use the gate again through that status alone. Hell, even with lesser positions, ordinary members of the clan’s army could use the gates if they bore the clan’s insignia.

A fleet the size of the one they were currently traveling with wouldn’t be stopped by anyone.

Warp gates were huge. Their original point was to transport armies into different Strata so they could fight against beasts and monsters that invaded. As such, each gate was the size of a mountain and capable of moving thousands of people at once.

The facility in every Stratum looked the same. There was a city in Haven that wasn’t really a city. It was surrounded by massive black walls that created a dome that hid its internal structure from any prying eyes.

In all four cardinal directions, there were huge and ornately engraved gates made of the same onyx-like material that were guarded by tens of armed soldiers.

When they saw the Atmos Clan’s fleet approaching, they signaled to their comrades and activated the mechanism to open the way. The double doors moved on a hydraulic system, leaving a chasm in their wake that was more than large enough to accommodate the massive warship at the fleet’s head.

The fleet moved into the "city," but there were no buildings blocking their path. Amidst the same dark aesthetic with hardly any lighting, soldiers with glowing light sticks led them through the open space and towards the only structure of note in the area.

It was the only reason why the space had to be so big.

It was as tall as a skyscraper and as wide as a city block. In terms of tangible substance, the machine was shaped like a large door with a hollow inside. That hollow inside was filled with what looked like a flowing aurora of purples, blues, and whites.

There was a whole necessary process that went into preparing the gate so it could reach such a state. Even from here, there were several measures that needed to be taken, requiring the fleet to wait for almost ten minutes.

But none of that needed to be described. When the gate was finally prepared properly, the fleet moved again, pushing into the aurora in its center.

There wasn’t really a way to describe the travel experience.

It didn’t feel any different from ordinary movement. Gio and Ricky were sitting in the same area they’d been guided to, watching a movie casually without even realizing they’d entered the gate.

And five minutes later, the ship rumbled just slightly as if someone had hit the brakes.

’We’re here.’

Gio stood up and paused the movie. Ricky looked at him questioningly, but he only shook his head.

"Come with me. You’ll be more pissed if you miss this."

Ricky rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but if it isn’t something good, I’m not letting it go."

He spoke big but got up without much of a fuss and followed Gio out of the room.

The same woman who’d led them there was waiting outside. She stopped them before they could wander without a change in her face.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I want to see the view," Gio responded.

She nodded and led them there. By the time they reached one of the ship’s few artificial windows, the process of leaving the gate was already taken care of.

A massive set of double doors identical to the ones they entered through opened to an entirely new world.

And when the fleet flew into that world, it was revealed to them clearly.

Arcadia.

A land owned not by beasts and monsters, but by humans.

"Oh, wow..."

Ricky didn’t have anything to say. He stared into the world with wide eyes.

He had never seen a city so big.

The tens of skyscrapers in Gastle’s inner city made it look big, but in comparison, it really was nothing.

The sky was filled with buildings. There were hundreds of them that reached those heights, and beyond them, there was not a slum, but the sight of a city where the lowest possible standard was higher than the average life of a Scavenger.

Here, cars weren’t vehicles that only belonged to the best. They were ordinary vehicles that anyone could buy for transport. Here, food and water were so plentiful that the average weight of citizens across the world would be considered overweight in the Wasteland.

Here, beasts couldn’t roam the land freely. They could only exist within Wild Zones that humanity designated. Here, monsters had no ground. If they wanted to interfere with Arcadia, they had to open portals and charge in.

In the Wasteland, every single day made it more obvious that humanity was in a state of duress. In Arcadia, the distress of those in lower Strata was a passing dream that could be ignored just by swiping off a post.

It was hard to see the Strata as different worlds because, at the end of the day, all of them used to be the same Earth.

But each one was truly its own world. Arcadia specifically was a paradise.

Elysium was too difficult to reach for those not born into it, so almost all of humanity’s budding talents were sent to Arcadia. Asphodel was good too, but Asphodel had very specific focuses while Arcadia gave opportunities for any kind of innovator to expand.

’He’ll have to get used to this.’ Gio thought.

Ricky probably still assumed that when they left the bounds of the city, they’d encounter a wilderness that existed until the next big city appeared.

But that was never the case.

For the first time in his life, Ricky would see the true capabilities of human infrastructure.

This was the face of humanity that Gio was going to use to turn it into something spectacular.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.