Safe City Ch.110.3

Chapter 110.3: Magic Kingdom

As she memorized the information, she suddenly tightened her grip on the book in her hands.

“Found it!!”

“There’s one that records information about Floating Devices!”

The Blue Sea guard had been getting quite carried away with his storytelling. Hearing this, he reluctantly stopped.

“Then you should read the book first. I’ll continue telling you after you’ve finished.”

He still had plenty left to tell her.

Although the greatness of their God was certainly worth talking about, Floating Devices were also related to a divine oracle from their God, so the divine oracle was more important.

He could write down everything he wanted to say and serialize it online as a novel for everyone to read.

Lilith had no idea what the guard was thinking, but she was quite grateful to him.

The people of the Blue Sea really were warmhearted, every one of them. This only strengthened Lilith’s determination to bring her people into the Blue Sea.

And whether Lilith herself would be valued would depend on whether she could figure out how to deal with this Floating Device.

Lilith turned the pages one by one and began studying them carefully.

For now, she wasn’t expecting to immediately understand all the knowledge contained within. Her first priority was to figure out the structures of the various Floating Devices, then personally examine the Blue Sea’s Floating Devices to determine whether she was capable of modifying them.

Magical books were different from ordinary books. They were considerably more difficult to study, and learning from them required simultaneously channeling magic power to unlock the next stage of the knowledge.

And so, Lilith read for three days and three nights.

On one hand, she wanted to achieve results as quickly as possible so that her people could have a better life in the Blue Sea.

On the other hand, she had simply become engrossed in her studies.

At one point, Blue Sea residents came in to persuade her to rest, but she refused to stop.

“It’s fine. When I get sleepy, I can cast a simple Awakening Spell on myself. It won’t affect my health.”

Lilith was even somewhat overwhelmed by the kindness shown to her.

Ever since she had begun studying in seclusion, the Blue Sea had delivered three meals a day to her.

They even included vegetable juice.

If she didn’t finish her studies faster, she felt she would be letting those precious vegetable juices go to waste.

The Blue Sea guard who had come to persuade her to rest: “……”

These academic types really are more intense than the last.

He had heard that the staff at the Research Institute practically drank coffee mixed with Starfruit Juice like it was water.

On the fourth day, Lilith finally emerged from her studies, brimming with confidence.

She still couldn’t repair many types of Floating Devices, but at least by this point, she had memorized all the magical runes engraved on the various Floating Devices. She could now clearly identify which type of Floating Device the Blue Sea was using.

“I’m ready.”

Lilith took a deep breath and made herself look as confident as possible.

She had every reason to be confident. After all, judging from what she had seen so far, no one in the Blue Sea understood magic.

Lilith said, “Take me to see your Floating City. I need to determine what type of Floating Device it belongs to.”

The books recorded the structures and sizes of various Floating Cities in the magical world.

The smallest Floating City was about the size of a small room.

The largest Floating City was 119 dm, or 3,000 square kilometers.

The Blue Sea people said that Floating City had been created by the Great Creator God of the Blue Sea.

Based on the number of Blue Sea residents she had seen, Lilith estimated that this Safe City wouldn’t be small.

It should be at least 1,000 square kilometers.

Although Lilith couldn’t wield much magic power, modifying a Floating Device didn’t require much magic power. She was still quite confident that she could do it.

“Then let’s go. I’ll take you outside.”

The Blue Sea guard was delighted as well.

“I’ll find someone who can fly to take you up there for a look.”

Lilith couldn’t help marveling at how strange this faction was once again.

They didn’t have magic, yet they could still fly.

She followed the group of Blue Sea guards outside.

It was an extremely luxurious large ship. After Cheng Qisheng issued the divine oracle declaring Lilith important, they had been sent aboard this ship and hadn’t left it until the battle was over.

They climbed flight after flight of stairs, and suddenly, the view before them opened up.

The first thing Lilith saw wasn’t the fresh air.

It was the enormous city floating in the sky in the distance, covering most of the sea around them.

It wasn’t 3,000 square kilometers.

It was a colossal Safe City spanning nearly 100,000 square kilometers, quietly suspended high above them, appearing before Lilith’s eyes.

The gigantic city hovered roughly a thousand meters above the ground. A long skybridge descended from it, and from where Lilith stood, she could see people moving around on the outer sections. Countless hot-air balloons floated nearby, while numerous airplanes and drones flew back and forth, carrying Blue Sea residents up and down.

It was simply too enormous, as though it had forcibly cleaved the sky in two.

It was many times larger than anything described in the books—and far more breathtaking.

“G-God…”

The God was looking down upon her too.

—Lilith’s Faith Chain appeared, glowing brightly.

…

“I already told you, I don’t have any ulterior motives. Lilith is part of a World Quest, and our City Lord bought a [Resident Broadcast] and announced the news. I happened to know Lilith, and I wanted to earn some merit, so I planned to get on good terms with her first. But then she decided to go fight pirates, and she took me with her everywhere she went. I couldn’t get away even if I wanted to.

“So I had no choice but to follow her. Then you guys showed up, and I got captured by you. I really am not a spy.”

Mo Yuxuan—the middle-aged woman whom Lilith had identified as a suspected spy for following her around—had likewise been detained for three days.

Yet she continued to stick to her story.

“Come on, we’re all residents of Safe Cities. Surely you can believe me, right? Or you can ask our City Lord. I’m from Pras Safe City. Ask our City Lord for some nuclear crystals. I’m a relative of the City Lord, and he’ll definitely be willing to pay crystals to ransom me back.”

The Blue Sea person sitting across from her remained expressionless, merely tapping the table lightly.

“Stop skirting around the issue. We already talked about this. We’re asking what your supernatural ability is.”

Mo Yuxuan held firm.

“It’s just that I’m strong. I’m a Tier-2 ability user, a physical-evolution type.”

“A Tier-2 ability user, and you dared to complete a World Quest by yourself?”

“I wanted to take a gamble and earn some merit.”

Mo Yuxuan’s words were half true and half false.

She really had wanted to earn merit. While staying by Lilith’s side, she had noticed Lilith’s wariness and had more or less guessed that Lilith thought she was one of Kansidang’s people. So her original plan had been to reveal her identity on the spot after confronting Kansidang.

But she wasn’t a physical-evolution type, nor was she a Tier-2 ability user.

She was a Tier-3 lightning-type ability user.

Among ability users, the lightning element had the strongest combat power of all the elemental types. And she was already a Tier-3 ability user, on the verge of breaking through to the Tier 4.

No matter which Safe City it was, any of them would want someone with combat power like hers.

Although Mo Yuxuan looked like a middle-aged woman, she was actually already 120 years old. When it came to being a “Safe City resident,” she could be considered highly experienced, having lived in numerous Safe Cities.

For a Safe City, choosing its residents was important.

But for an experienced resident like Mo Yuxuan, choosing a Safe City was equally important.

First of all, she would never choose a Safe City that didn’t treat its residents like human beings. It wasn’t a matter of morality. Rather, Safe Cities like that were prone to riots, and the people at the top would also develop a habit of treating human lives as worthless.

Even if you managed to become part of the upper echelon’s guard force, you would still be treated like a dog that could be sacrificed at any moment.

Secondly, she couldn’t choose a Safe City with an inadequate system of rules and regulations. Such a Safe City might be fine for a while, but given enough time, all kinds of flaws would inevitably emerge, and the city could easily descend into chaos from within.

When danger came, no one would be willing to take responsibility. In the end, everyone would go down together.

Finally, she couldn’t choose a Safe City that liked to gamble.

Everyone knew how gambling worked.

You could win ten thousand times without a problem, but lose just once, and the whole thing could come crashing down.

To Mo Yuxuan, the Blue Sea people came from a Safe City that loved to gamble.

Her assessment was much the same as Kansidang’s when she had first encountered the Blue Sea people. She had assumed that this Safe City had sent all of its residents to hunt down and surround Kansidang.

Yes, they had won their gamble this time.

They had obtained a huge amount of floating farmland, as well as all of Kansidang’s wealth.

But what if they lost the next gamble?

Although Mo Yuxuan had lived for 120 years, she wasn’t ready to die yet.

She was an ability user who had broken the lifespan lock, and she wanted to live for a long, long time. She didn’t want to be recruited by this Safe City simply because she was a Tier-3 lightning-type ability user.

Once they tried to recruit her, she would have no choice but to agree.

After all, Mo Yuxuan had encountered situations like this before. Once, after she refused to accept a Safe City’s offer of recruitment no matter what, the other side had immediately turned hostile, thinking, If I can’t have her, no other Safe City can either, and launched an attack on her.

Lightning-type ability users might be powerful, but they weren’t made of steel.

Being surrounded and attacked by other ability users alone was more than enough to give her a hard time, let alone dealing with muskets, cannons, and the like.

Fortunately, she had been fast enough to escape. Otherwise, she would have lost her life there.

Mo Yuxuan actually didn’t mind staying in a Safe City for a while and finding an opportunity to slip away later. But she had been through too much. She knew all too well that a Safe City could be perfectly fine one second and then be wiped off the map the next for all sorts of reasons, taking all its residents with it.

She didn’t want to become one of those who died with it. So unless absolutely necessary, she preferred to play it safe.

Pras Safe City was the stable, reliable Safe City Mo Yuxuan had carefully chosen.

It was a Tier-4 Safe City. Most of its residents had a place to sleep, and the City Lord recognized the residents’ contributions and wouldn’t casually drive them out. Those who rendered meritorious service received rewards, and of the supplies brought back from outside, they only had to hand over seventy percent, while keeping the remaining thirty percent for themselves.

For a Tier-3 ability user like Mo Yuxuan, she only needed to hand over fifty percent of her supplies. She could even have a proper meat meal every now and then. It was about as safe and stable as things could get.

But now, it seemed that stability was no longer an option.

She said nothing, and Blue Sea wasn’t in any hurry either. They merely sent someone to question her from time to time, making it clear that if Mo Yuxuan didn’t explain the entire situation, Blue Sea wouldn’t let her leave.

She had already told them they could contact her City Lord and ask for crystals in exchange for her release, yet they simply refused to budge.

What kind of Safe City do these people come from? Why are they so stubborn? They won’t even take free crystals.

Mo Yuxuan couldn’t hold out any longer.

“All right, I’ll tell you the truth. I’m a Tier-3 lightning-type ability user, so I’m worth a lot of nuclear crystals. If you want, you can contact my City Lord and ask for a ransom.”

After saying this, she quietly waited for the other party’s eyes to light up, expecting them to notify the people outside and come recruit her.

If they offered her a position, she would immediately agree.

At least it wouldn’t involve taking any risks.

The Safe City probably wasn’t poor, either. After all, the two people interrogating her were even wearing uniforms.

The two uniformed Blue Sea police officers sitting across from her merely nodded and recorded the information in their notebooks.

Then they looked up.

“Then show us some lightning so we can see whether you’re telling the truth.”

Mo Yuxuan: “…”

This was the first time she had ever seen someone react so calmly after hearing that she was a Tier-3 ability user.

Even Tier-4 or 5 Safe Cities had very few Tier-3 ability users, let alone one with the formidable offensive power of a lightning-type ability user.

But since she had already revealed it, Mo Yuxuan had no intention of hiding anything anymore.

She opened her hand, and sure enough, thin silver-white arcs of electricity danced between her fingers.

The two Blue Sea police officers looked at them.

“Tier 3? It’s that small?”

Mo Yuxuan said, “This room is too small. I don’t dare use my full strength. It would be too dangerous and I could easily injure someone by mistake. If you trust me, take me outside to an open area. I can even keep the handcuffs on.”

She was telling the truth.

If she really injured these two by accident, it would no longer be a question of whether they wanted to recruit her. She could very well be shot on the spot.

Mo Yuxuan had seen how ruthless these people were when dealing with pirates. She didn’t think she could take on hundreds of thousands, let alone millions, of them.

Fortunately, the other side wasn’t overly wary of her either. They went outside to ask for permission, then returned and nodded.

“All right. Come outside.”

Mo Yuxuan secretly decided that when she demonstrated her abilities later, she would only use part of her strength.

The most common attack used by lightning-type ability users was simply calling down bolts of lightning.

It had the clearest targeting and was the most convenient method. It required less power than creating a lightning net, while having a wider attack range than a lightning-armor attack.

Under normal circumstances, Mo Yuxuan could summon around 150 lightning pillars simultaneously.

In other words, if she wanted to, she could take out 150 people in one go. If they were standing close enough together, she might even be able to double that number.

In a little while, she planned to summon only thirty lightning pillars.

Hopefully, that would make them think she wasn’t particularly powerful and reduce the likelihood that they would try to recruit her.

With that thought in mind, Mo Yuxuan was led outside.

Someone who had lived for 120 years had plenty of experience. Before she even stepped through the doorway, she narrowed her eyes to avoid being dazzled by the sunlight.

But even with her eyes narrowed, she could tell that no sunlight was shining down on her.

Is it raining today?

I didn’t hear any rain, though.

Mo Yuxuan opened her eyes. Amid the vast expanse of shadow, she raised her head and saw the enormous Safe City that covered the entire horizon, blocking out every last ray of sunlight.

Naturally, she also saw the same scene Lilith had witnessed: ships covering the entire stretch of sea, planes and drones filling the sky above, and countless humans with wings flying through the air.

Whether they were walking on the ground or flying through the sky, every single one of them had healthy, rosy complexions and sturdy builds. There wasn’t the slightest sign of frailty among them.

Mo Yuxuan: “…”

She swallowed.

“Could you tell me what tier your Safe City is?”

This wasn’t classified information, so the Blue Sea police officer beside her answered naturally.

“Tier 4.”

Tier 4?!

This is a Tier-4 Safe City?

Mo Yuxuan could hardly believe her eyes.

These people are residents of a Tier-4 Safe City?

And where did all these people come from?!

She realized that she had been mistaken.

This Safe City’s attack on Kansidang hadn’t been a gamble at all. They had far more people than she had imagined.

In that case… should I summon sixty lightning pillars later?

Mo Yuxuan couldn’t help looking around again.

“Um, can I ask you something? Your Safe City… how much of the supplies residents bring back from outside do they have to hand over?”

The Blue Sea police officer gave her a puzzled look.

“Residents going outside on their own? Aren’t they escorted by the military?”

Mo Yuxuan: “…You have an army too?”

“I mean residents going out on their own, like on Green Billow Star, where residents sail out by themselves.”

Just by looking at the condition of these residents, she had already guessed that Blue Sea didn’t take a very large share.

Otherwise, there was no way they could have raised such robust, healthy residents.

But Mo Yuxuan had still guessed wrong.

The Blue Sea police officer looked at her in confusion.

“Why would residents have to hand over the supplies they obtain on their own? Aren’t those their personal possessions?”

Mo Yuxuan fell silent.

Then the slightly hunched back she had deliberately maintained straightened instantly.

“All right, all right, let me show you my lightning pillars. Look at that empty stretch of sea over there…”

“There are people there.”

“Then over there…”

“There are people there too…”

Ten minutes later, at the Blue Sea police officers’ direction, the Blue Sea ships crowding the surrounding waters quickly shifted aside, clearing out a section of open sea.

Mo Yuxuan took a deep breath and stared fixedly at the empty waters before her. The veins on her forehead bulged, making it obvious that she was putting all her strength into the attack.

—BOOM!!

—BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!

Amid the deafening thunder, 161 enormous lightning pillars, each thirty meters high, came crashing down upon the stretch of sea she was staring at.

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