The Harvester

Rakna and Hans came out of the portal and the former promptly opened his map to check where he was. There was no doubt Elora had connected him to the correct Pavilion, he didn’t distrust it, but now he needed to think about where his destination was.

 

“The only thing I learned from Fang was the name of a region in Atlantis,” he said out loud so that Hans could hear him. “My wolves spied around until they eavesdropped on it being mentioned at the coordinates I gave Elora.”

 

“So, you do not have a specific location,” the author summarized.

 

“Not exactly. I know the region is called the Humpback Sector,” Rakna said as he zoomed out the map. One nifty thing about his wolves is that they could fill up the map for him. Therefore, he had them explore everything within a ten-mile radius from their initial discovery.

 

“Hm,” Hans hummed and the large empty portal room reverberated it back. “With only that much lead… we will have to search and question people. That would bring too much attention to us.”

 

“Who said anything about questioning?” Rakna retorted and the author raised an eyebrow. “I have long ascended my memory reading skill since the time with Fang. Now, I’m confident I can compile years of memories and assimilate them.”

 

“…so, you will kill? As I remember, that skill of yours can only be cast on the dead.”

 

“What did you expect? I’m not a saint, and where we’re going… is a ‘bad neighborhood’,” he jested and started walking toward the room’s exit. At the same time, he commanded Allegro to turn into battle mode. His outfit became tougher-looking, still outlining the features of his body, and then the hood covered his head on its own.

 

Rakna swiped his hand over his face and Scherzo emerged. The mask’s eerie material promptly lit up with two purple ellipses and they thinned down as he glanced at Hans. “Come on,” he said and opened the door.

 

Hans grunted and followed after him. When they were out of the Pavilion, both of them inevitably looked up. They were currently at the bottom of Atlantis’ waters, within one of the Deep Maritime Lights. 

 

The underwater city had a ceiling of thick reinforced glass to hold off the water and the lighting was being taken care of by countless floating orbs similar to jellyfish. They produced a surprisingly powerful glow that was capable of bringing a similar feeling to daylight.

 

Other than that, this maritime city was a paradigm of its name with large corals everywhere and a mostly blue-stone architecture.

 

“I have not been to Lower Atlantis in two decades I believe,” Hans commented as they both walked in their intended direction. “It has not changed. It looks scenic but feels claustrophobic.”

 

Rakna snorted. “I think it feels peaceful,” he said as he placed his hand on a nearby wall and closed his eyes. “The sound of the deep currents spreading throughout is relaxing.”

 

“Is that so? Perhaps your senses allow you to appreciate this place on a bigger scale then.”

 

“Maybe. Anyhow, let’s speed up,” the shapeshifter replied and star energy flickered at his feet. He shot up into the air with Star Flash and Hans followed with a huff, a line of scripture blinking at his feet as well.

 

As they flew past residential areas with their respective stealth skills activated just in case, they had a perfect view of the Deep Marine City for miles. The buildings appeared to never be built too high and mostly all of the available space was occupied by farming fields.

 

‘Interesting… so the agriculture is done down here in Atlantis,’ Rakna thought.

 

“{Indeed,}” Fray spoke up. “{Atlantis also happens to be the Plateau with the most export of food across the System. The sea floors here are incredibly fertile, not to mention that the water is pure and full of life energy. Those jellyfish you see up there are called Sun Veils and give off the same radiations as the sun. This is the perfect place to grow crops.}”

 

“{Can I ask what you mean by export exactly?}” Nyx’s voice suddenly sounded and both Fray and Rakna were startled. The latter even almost missed his next Star Flash.

 

‘You scared me,’ the therian mentally responded. ‘So, you still can use telepathy from there…’

 

“{Yes, I forgot to mention it,}” she replied as coolly as ever.

 

Fray audibly cleared his throat. “{Right. I was surprised as well. But anyhow, you asked for details about the exporting business in the System?}”

 

“{Yes. I got curious. Plateaus are essentially like countries, right?}”

 

“{Correct. That is a good way to put it. They form markets, agreements, and sometimes treaties and alliances. There have been past cases of wars breaking out between Plateaus. The gist of it is that resources in the System have long been implemented into an economy. Much like how Black Steel exports a lot of technology but imports a lot of food and metal, other Plateaus have similar trades in place.}”

 

“{Then, it’s as I thought. The System doesn’t provide anything, right? And the Pavilion was created with nothing but resources given by Locals and Hosts.}”

 

“{Exactly. The Pavilion is at the center of trade as it is responsible for ferrying cargos in between Plateaus. But they are also the biggest buyers. The Pavilion’s shop is filled up by both their own production teams and importation. The System was never responsible for its inhabitants’ survival other than giving them the tools and challenges to get stronger. I’ve heard that during the first few hundred years of the System’s history, there were a lot of conflicts over fundamental resources.}”

 

“{I see…}” Nyx hummed as her curiosity was satisfied.

 

Rakna was content just listening to their conversation and assimilating the information. After they were finished, he scoffed, ‘I suppose Kratos has a part in that market for illegal stuff?’

 

“{…as far as I know, yes,}” Fray responded. “{Mind you, I did not know much about Plateau Zero or the organization that governs it during my life. But I have come across those suspicious market channels more than once. Smuggling, human trafficking, prostitution, assassination, drugs… these markets could be found here and there, but never through the Pavilion. It would not surprise me if more than half of it came from Kratos.}”

 

The therian mused and slowed down his momentum. “Let’s land here,” he voiced out to Hans and they both descended into the midst of a forest of corals where there was no one to see them.

 

“So? What is your plan now?” Hans promptly raised the question.

 

Looking in the distance at the beginnings of some drastically darker and more rundown buildings and streets, Rakna mused and crouched. He grabbed a fistful of the soil and watched it fall through his grip. “Seems good enough. [Call of Hounds,]” he intoned and the ground shook as the sign of several wolves being summoned under his feet. “Go,” he whispered and the shaking stopped.

 

“They’ll be my ears,” Rakna said and turned to Hans. “Aside from that… well, can your magic help us find our target? I have a spell that could help, but I feel like you might have better results.”

 

The spectacled author pushed his glasses in thought. “I have my ways… but as you know, if there truly are Nirvana Skill users concealing themselves from the System, my spell will not be able to give you a specific location.”

 

“Of course. I expected that already.”

 

“However, you are correct in thinking I would offer better results,” he followed up and summoned his Jade Brush. “It is simple, really. If we cannot get to the end, we brave the journey,” he declared and cast one of his Painting Magic spells to conjure a floating canvas.

 

He promptly began painting what seemed to be their exact surroundings. The colors were flowing into the blank canvas on their own, sometimes without even needing the brush to touch the spots themselves. As such, the painting was quickly finished but Hans didn’t stop there.

 

“[Union Magic – Revelation of Epic – Journey of Epoch,]” he chanted and the painting suddenly twisted into a spiral of paint before reforming into a map. There were two crosses on it. One was white and drawn geometrically straight while the other was red and rough.

 

“Red marks the spot,” Hans said indifferently as he rolled the canvas into a scroll.

 

Rakna smiled faintly as his Eye of Symphony already created a waypoint for the red cross depicted on that map. “I knew it was a good idea to bring you along,” he said and blurred away in a burst of frost energy, his companion trailing right behind.