Chapter 14: Fortress

Looking around, Vincent saw that most of the soldiers and guards who were patrolling around this and the nearby sectors were Demi-Humans and only some of them were purely human, and although they belonged to different races, there wasn't a single hint of racism present as they interacted with each other like friends and brothers.

"After decades of communication, promotion of healthy relations, interaction, and interracial marriages, Beast-kin, Elf's, and other races weren't uncommon on Earth. That's why although cases of racial discrimination exist, they were rather uncommon and mostly tied with the terrorist organization, Sunsuhan. It's conspired of humans, who believe that humans are greater than demi-humans and that humans should be the Masters of all other races, be it demi-humans or subspecies." Vincent thought as he walked out of the internal section of the fortress established in the southern region of Silver Moon Island.

The internal section of the fortress contains various sectors, where an adventure could trade or use teleporters, but the external section can be seen as a general residential area. One could see various buildings, each of similar shape and designs yet different sizes, and as Vincent was stepping towards the external section, he came across a series of automatic platform gates set across a line stretching from one end to another, stopping unauthorized entry.

A hologram popped out of the panel attached to the platform gate once Vincent stood before it. Not at all surprised, Vincent calmly waited for it to finish what it has started to say,

‹Please swipe your adventure license on the scanner attached to the automatic platform gate. That way, our system will verify that you're residing in one of the fortresses established In Silver Moon Island. This status must be refreshed every three months. If in case you're out in the wilderness for more than that amount of time, then a rescue party will be dispatched in search of you, to confirm whether you're alive or dead›

Following the instructions provided by the automatic system, Vincent placed his card on the scanner and then a new automated dialogue played out of the hologram floating above the panel.

‹Authorization Confirmed! Detected that the user is a new adventure and a map of the Silver Moon Island doesn't exist in your adventure license. Would you like to obtain one?›

Commonly, maps of wilderness are outlined, created through intense information, and sold by adventurers. Adventure association has purchased shares of such maps, and newly registered adventures possessed the one-time privilege to freely obtain a map of any Wilderness, completed or otherwise in the beta process, as long as it's a part of Earth. Basically, Vincent didn't need to pay a single cent for this map. Knowing that he merrily agreed.

"If it's free of cost then yes," Vincent replied.

‹The map of Silver Moon Island has been installed in your adventure license›

Vincent grabbed his license from the scanner before walking through the open gates and as he was heading inside, his eyes turned down to notice the difference in the license.

[Map – Project a hologram, which displays a map of Silver Moon Island as well as your location, and the fortresses established in this place]

As the name suggested, a hologram showing the map of the island projected out of Vincent's adventure license upon command. A white arrow-shaped icon represented him, while green flags represented the fortresses. The rest was covered in red representing the danger posed by the wilderness. The map allowed Vincent to see a better picture of the island as well as the fortresses established in different regions of the island.

"This will help me tremendously out in the wilderness, and now I also understand that I don't necessarily need to return to this place once I am done with my tasks. If I am too far away from this fortress, then choosing a fortress near my then location will suffice to return to the Cloud Tower City." Vincent chuckled slightly seeing six fortresses established in different regions of the island.

As Vincent walked past the residential areas, huge walls of irons, enclosing the entire fortress, created for the sole purpose of defending against beasts' stampede could be seen. Various types of weapons were placed on top of the walls as soldiers stood near the weapons or strolled near the base.

Not many adventures were stepping out of the fortress since it was the middle of the night as it is the time of the day when the powerful beasts are the most active.

Although dangerous for others, this situation didn't pose much danger to Vincent as he could use magic resonating eyes to scout for upcoming danger.

His only problem left was the limited amount of time. In only a day, not only does he need to get a magical herb or similar treasure radiating with life force but he must also make it back in time and give it to Leila. While it may not be too hard to locate the herb for Leila and the poisonous grasses for his mission, trying to take the aforementioned one would be the hardest part.

He could search for a magical herb with life force out in the wild, but there was always a very high chance that a beast or a whole lot of them, would be guarding it. Beasts were attracted to treasures with life force, after all.

With all things set in place, Vincent sprinted out of the southern entrance of the fortress before heading a little bit deeper into the wilderness dotted with trees, and he then performed hand signs at an adequate speed, circulating the magic power stored in his heart through the veins, and created several pairs of magic resonating eyes which wandered off to different directions in search of treasures and to alert Vincent of danger.