Abyssal Awakening

Even though Alice was eager, she couldn\'t change the fact that they still had to wait.

In the end, they decided to understand the layout of the city first.

Egil decided to be their guide for the time being even though the appointment didn\'t include him.

The first thing Alice and Selen did was to acquire a map of the city due to its sheer size. According to Egil, as shown by the map, the city first began as just a single layer around the centre. But as Queen Verona gained power, the capital began to expand. There was once a point where despite being a new nation after defecting from Extalia, the Queendom of Verona couldn\'t be targeted easily.

The war on the border was a more recent thing that\'s been occurring after Extalia revealed ambitions to reclaim the land lost in the coup.

From the first layer around the centre, the city was split into five sections. Residential, Market, Factories, Research and Barracks.

Currently, they are at the intersection between residential and market, as these were built into the canyon itself.

"Aren\'t they afraid it\'ll melt?" Alice asked curiously. With the city being created inside the ice, she couldn\'t help but wonder if they\'d be bothered by the fact that the ice could be melting.

"A lot of people who come here for the first time wonder about the same thing. But these canyons don\'t melt. In fact, people will sooner die than see them melt since they are held in a kind of stasis thanks to Lord Frida\'s power." Egil chuckled.

Though if it wasn\'t for Lord Frida, none of them would dare to live in such a dangerous spot after all.

"What happens if she was too… Ya know, stop focusing on it?" Alice whispered over. She didn\'t want to be seen as disrespectful asking about something so ominous. But in the event that Frida does forget or was to fall unexpectedly, what happens then?

Glancing around for a moment, Egil leaned in.

"The public can\'t exactly imagine a Lord passing especially when the title can be passed on. But this case is rather special and even if Lord Frida were to disappear, the ice would remain. It\'s not something that can be melted naturally."

Hearing this, Alice nodded her head. While it\'s good news that the ice can\'t be melted naturally, it meant that people can directly sabotage it. Her flames for example, it burns away Abyss Energy.

Alice could imagine what kind of chaos she could cause if she was to unleash it here.

Just thinking about it made her shiver as doing so would make her the enemy of Verona and that was not something she wanted. Especially when there are three Lords in the capital with the Queen even looking to become a God.

\'Yeah I should probably avoid using my second Sigil if I can.\'

Just as she thought of this, she got curious about something else.

"How come it\'s… not cold then? With all this ice I thought this place will be colder than what it is." Alice blinked.

"That\'s due to Lord Sigurd. His powers of the forge is what gives the capital its warmth. The closer you get to the factory section, the hotter it\'ll get. Compared to here, the ice there is to cool down the section instead of decoration purposes."

Asking some more questions, Alice got a general understanding of the city.

Out of all the sections, the factory was in most risk of \'melting.\' Not because of the enemy or natural causes but rather due to Lord Sigurd\'s hobby of making numbered equipment.

Each time he makes something of that calibre, the heat created by his smithing would cause the surroundings to melt.

One look at the canyons told you everything you needed to know. After all, it was caused by him.

During the early days of the capital, Sigurd crafted a piece of equipment dedicated to the Queen.

The effects of doing so melted the lands around them, forming a spider web of canyons and cracks.

This was during the time where Frida had just become a Lord so she wasn\'t able to mitigate the damage. However, in a strange turn of events, the civilians loved it so much they decided to make it a part of their capital.

With her history lesson of the capital concluded, the three of them began to explore the city. Alice got to see the homes hidden within the canyons, the crystalline walls that protect them and the transport around the city.

Ice slides and metal carts.

One would think that safety was going to be a concern but as Alice rode in one of them, she was somewhat disappointed by how stable it was. It wasn\'t an exhilarating rollercoaster but more of a gentle cruise.

However, if she was to consider the fact that civilians will be riding this, it made sense. It would be more concerning to see civilians being flung from one canyon to the other via slide after all.

After visiting the Residential and market sections, the next place they went to was the factory section. Compared to the other sections, it was indeed different as the harsh metal structures collided with the gentle icy paradise. A contrast of metal and nature.

The factories were placed in/above the canyons while the buildings on the bottom would send the supplies on carts and have them sliding down their own supply slides towards the marketplace.

Once she finished exploring the factories, Alice looked at the map and decided the next stop should be the research section.

"Actually… Can we save it till last?" Egil requested.

Tilting her head, Alice thought about it for a moment before remembering and nodding her head.

\'He probably has to prepare himself a little before going there.\'

With that being the case, they took a little detour and found the slide to visit the barracks.

The instant they arrived at the barracks, Alice was assaulted by a sense of coldness.

"What the hell?! I thought they were keeping the place warm so what\'s this???" Alice questioned while hugging her arms.

"Training." Egil chuckled. It was all he needed to say.

In order to prepare the soldiers for some of the harsh environments of the north, this kind of training was mandatory. They had to learn how to keep themselves warm and ready to fight at all times in this kind of scenario.

"A bit simple but it does have its uses." Selen spoke up as Alice jumped up in shock.

"Holy sh*t when have you been here???"

". . . Bit rude. I\'ve been here the entire time." Selen\'s eye twitched in annoyance.

"I\'ve just been practicing my new skill and see if I can blend in with your peripheral vision. As long as I keep out of direct sight, it should allow you to pretend I was never here. Though the target kind of needs to be a little preoccupied with something else first." She shrugged.

She tried this earlier with someone else and they immediately asked why she was standing so close behind them.

A small embarrassment but it allowed her to make some more notes on this skill of hers.

The more practise she gets, the easier it is to know the limits of her skill and when she could take advantage of it.

"You can do that?" Alice blinked her eyes.

"It takes a bit of practise but I have the theory in mind already. All it takes is to put it into action. At least now, even if I can\'t make then space out, I can still camouflage myself. I could probably use this for stealth as well if I do it right." Selen mused.

So long as she keeps herself to the peripherals, no one would be able to notice her even if she was to walk in the middle of a hallway.

Of course, there were other factors that go into survailence but this was a good start.

"I see…" Seeing Selen\'s rapid improvement and development of her skill, Alice couldn\'t help but feel eager to perfect Void Steps herself.

While she may be ahead in brute strength, there were plenty of aspects that Alice found herself lacking. She didn\'t want to fall behind after all, not when she has the goal of rebuilding Ayr and taking out the Zenia family.

Once they were done with exploring the barracks and seeing the warriors train and spar, they made their way to the final slide that led to the research section.

The research section looked average with no large buildings, no contrasting elements or even temperatures that was different to the other sections. All it had were plain buildings scattered everywhere.

Walking through the streets with familiarity, Alice and Selen followed behind in silence as they noticed a sombre expression on Egil\'s face.

Upon entering the building, Egil began to talk to the receptionist as Alice and Selen stood back a little.

"You know what happened right?" Selen asked.

"Mnm. Do you?"

"Yea, he told me." Selen sighed.

Opening her mouth, Selen wanted to question the motives of the Zenia family. Why they were willing to go this far just so they could\'ve gotten their hands on the Inverted World. But asking Alice wouldn\'t give her the answer.

She knew the greed of the Zenias, their desire for power and lust for control. The scholars that found ectasy in playing the role of God, dictating life and death.

Following behind Egil, they took an elevator deep underground as white walls and glass windows could be seen.

Seeing this environment, Alice instinctively shivered as her finger traced her neck. It was similar, very similar yet at the same time different.

Standing in front of a window, Egil placed his hand against it and looked at the woman inside with sadness.

There she was, lying in bed as bestial limbs and mutations protruded from her body. Tubes and life support connected to her arms. With each passing second, the infection seemed to grow and expand.

Biting his lip, Egil opened his mouth as his voice carried a tremble.

"I\'m back… mum."