Chapter 58: The Continents

Ascentia was an island with three times the surface area of Earth, split into eight different regions - continents, as the book called them.

"Hina-nee," I said as I read over this part.

"Hm? What is it, Kaze-kun?"

"I know this is a stupid question, but… how many continents does Earth have?"

"Um… isn't it seven? Asia, Africa, Europe, North America, South America, Oceania, and Antarctica… why?"

"Is there an eighth one, by any chance?"

"An eighth… oh, I do remember reading an article a few years ago talking about the discovery of an eighth continent," Hina-nee struck her own palm as an idea flashed across her mind. "It was called Zealandia, if I remember correctly. It's about half the size of Australia, but roughly 94% of it is submerged underwater still. Scientists are still debating whether or not to really classify it as a continent, though…"

"I see," I replied briskly, and smiled.

That was all the confirmation I needed. Even if scientists were still arguing about whether or not it should be classified as a continent, this was enough.

Eight continents here on Ascentia, and eight continents on Earth. Ascentia formed 13.8 billion years ago, and the universe of the old reality plane was the same. Was more evidence necessary? Yes. But was my theory practically solidified? Also yes. However, in the end, it is still a mere theory. In order to turn it into solid facts, more proof would be needed. I decided to continue reading.

The book didn't talk much about the continents themselves, but rather focused on how they formed. That, I didn't really care about - it wasn't all that important to me. However, something did attract my attention - the existence of Astrasil, the world tree at the center of Ascentia.

According to the history book, not much was known about this tree, even though it had been here since the rise of the island. Since this book only provided known facts and statistics, it didn't discuss any theories or conjectures as to what the tree could be. However, I was certain Hina-nee would learn a lot about it in the book she was reading about Ascentia's ancient myths and legends.

Sighing, I put down the history book and grabbed the atlas. Without a doubt, this was going to give me plenty of information. Taking a deep breath, I flipped it open.

And indeed, my guess had been on the mark.

The book talked about all everything - it was even neatly split into nine different categories for me, each one representing a continent, with the final one being for miscellaneous locations such as Astrasil.

"Okay… now we're talking," I smirked and flipped past the table of contents to the first category.

The continent's name was Azrine - the Land of Nature, and for a good reason too. This just so happened to be the continent Hina-nee and I were currently on - I recognized the name since Ming Ye had told me about this when I first entered the game.

Like its name suggested, the landscape of this continent was mostly mountains, forests, plains, and whatnot. Nature and greenery could be found everywhere, and most forms of civilization such as cities and villages were built surrounded by lush forests and sparkling rivers. Because of this, cities did not have to worry about natural resources such as wood, water, wildlife, or fish. Moreover, caves were numerous and common - real caves, not Vaults - so precious ores could be mined as well for economy.

Overall, Azrine was the perfect place to live in, essentially. Population was fairly low, so finding a job wouldn't be a problem. Because of the thriving economy, businesses also wanted to settle here. Taxes weren't a thing in Azrine and the majority of the people were kind and forgiving. Governments listened to their citizens, and politicians weren't corrupt. The continental government, by the name of ACG (Azrine Central Government), were responsible for governing the land.

This place was the perfect place to live, the ultimate haven for anyone and everyone.

The most predominant races in Azrine were humans, demihumans, and elves, in that order. As for languages, there were a variety, but the most-spoken ones were Azrinese and Nihonese.

I remember Ming Ye saying something about a province called Nihon in Azrine… and I also recall thinking it was close to Japan's name from my old reality plane. As for 'Nihonese'… it was probably similar to Japanese, at least somewhat. That would mean Azrinese was the Ascentia version of Chinese? Most likely.

That said, languages weren't really a problem for me, as all players possessed the ability to automatically comprehend any spoken language, as I confirmed with A.R.X.A. a while back.

The atlas then moved on to talking about the specifics of the continent, such as detailed geographical location and such which wasn't really what I was looking for. I decided to just skip ahead and take a look at the other continents.

The next one was called Saharune - the Desert of Gold. It was approximately the same size as Azrine, but that was where the similarities ended. Unlike the Land of Nature, Saharune was a literal desert. One massive, deserted continent of sand.

The living conditions there were far from comfortable, especially when compared to Azrine, but people have made it work. Settlements and even small cities have been constructed. However, that obviously came with great difficulty and hardship. Water was sparse in the desert, and to find an oasis, you had to travel many days with no rest, and on top of that, you needed to have tons of luck.

So why would these people travel all the way to this desert and going as far as to construct towns in it?

The reason for that was simple - treasure. Saharune was known as the Desert of Gold. The reason for this had to do with the continent's history. Apparently, there used to be an ancient kingdom here, ruling every inch of the land. However, one massive sandstorm destroyed the entire empire, forever engulfing it in layers upon layers of sand.

Obviously, this meant all of the wealth the kingdom had held before it had been destroyed was hidden somewhere underneath the sand as well, stored safely just before the empire went to waste. The amount of treasure in Saharune was immeasurable - hence why people were willing to take such risks to travel there.

I most likely would have to go there sometime soon as well, since there was a high chance a tablet was hidden there. I wasn't exactly eager to get mauled by a raging sandstorm, but it is what it is.

The other six continents were as follows:

Avaroth, The Demon's Hand - a continent belonging to solely the demon race. The geographical constitution was similar to Azrine, but with many volcanoes around ready to bring destruction to the land at a moment's notice. Apparently, the land there was black everywhere, which I found kind of interesting. It probably had something to do with the volcanoes erupting in the past and actually forming the ground with their cooled lava, thus creating a coat of blackness all across the land.

Next was Ciberneta, also known as Area-666 - a land filled with technology and futurism. If I had to describe it in one word, that word would be 'cyberpunk'. According to the atlas, there was no 'daytime' there. It was always night, which I found both odd and intriguing. The whole continent consisted of buildings upon buildings, with roads both narrow and wide between them. Who or what constructed all of this was unknown, and the history book didn't mention anything about it either. There was just one important thing to note about this continent though - conflict was everywhere. But one major difference needs to be addressed - there, they didn't fight using swords or bows. They fought using guns and bullets.

Then comes Necromopolis, fearfully revered as the 'Continent of Death'. No life existed within its borders - and since no one who entered has ever came back out alive, it was practically unknown what is laying inside. Ciberneta used its advanced technology to try and scout the place out using drones, but they discovered that within Necromopolis was a deep black mist that prevented the drones from seeing anything. The one clear picture they managed to take… was of an aged human skeleton.

Frostopheria, the Realm of Ice. From what I read, the geography of this place seemed to be similar to Antarctica from Earth. However, it was observed to not drift away from Ascentia even after millenniums. Did the concept of continental drift just not exist in this reality plane? Perhaps. But the most major different between Frostopheria and Antarctica was the fact that permanent civilization existed here. I wasn't talking small settlements like Saharune. I meant real cities, towns, and even castles. As an aside, Frostopheria had the tendency of separating itself from the rest of Ascentia, though the reasons are unknown.

After Frostopheria comes Ascenthurium, Theocracy of Light. This theocracy's goal is to convert all of Ascentia to their religion, and is constantly at war with other continents in order to do so. They worship some kind of holy being they call 'the Creator'. I imagine it was similar to the gods of religions back on Earth, but… was it really necessary to make the whole world follow your way of doing things? I would never understand.

And lastly, the eight and final continent - Yamitochi. Yami meant 'dark' in Japanese, and 'tochi' meant land. 'Dark land', essentially. The name suited this place well - while it wasn't constantly nighttime like Ciberneta, Yamitochi was a continent of assassins and shinobi - ninjas. They had their own creed and set of rules to follow, which was why they so strongly opposed the Theocracy of Light, Ascenthurium.

These eight continents - Azrine (west), Saharune (northwest), Avaroth(north), Ciberneta (northeast), Necromopolis (east), Frostopheria (southeast), Ascenthurium (south), and Yamitochi (southwest) - made up the massive island known as Ascentia.

I closed the book, not bothering to read the ninth and final category of miscellaneous locations. I was tired. More than two hours had passed since we first entered this library, though Hina-nee still seemed engrossed in that same book about Ascentian legends and myths.

I sighed and let her keep reading for however long she wanted.