’This is incredible.’
Feeling the wind in his face as the coach tore through the air, Hex enjoyed the experience.
’This is different from flying,’ Hex mused. He excelled in Flex Step and Blink Step, two Techniques made to move through air as though moving onto land. But this felt nicer.
’It could be because I don’t have to do anything aside from sitting and enjoying the ride.’
Having a seat at the front helped him to have an unobstructed view of the land below over which they passed or the branches above.
"How far above the ground are we?" Hex asked Jonathan. The Enlightened Knight had been abnormally silent and even seed like he was brooding over sothing.
Jonathan threw him an irritated glance. He didn’t seem to enjoy Hex’s company. Not as much he had seed to do during the first days of their eting.
"We are seven hundred ters above the ground," Jonathan said, albeit with clear reluctance. "The distance between the branches and the ground is on average around eight hundred ters. In the core region the average is around eleven hundred ters."
"And how do you know when the core region is actually reached?" Hex asked. He wondered if there were so visual markers he could use to determine the borders between the regions.
"You know you have reached it when you can see that," Jonathan said, pointing toward the front.
In the distant horizon he saw a mountain. He had seen its shape ever since he descended from the branches onto the ground.
He had not given it much thought. Mountains were normal, weren’t they? Only, the way Jonathan stared at it, showing a mixture of different emotions in his eyes, made Hex aware that the mountain wasn’t as normal as he assud it to be.
’What’s so interesting about it?’ He scrunched his eyes, peering at it.
’Wait!’
It dawned upon him. Every bit of land around Wrixia was newly ford. The chances of mountains appearing were slim to none. After all, from what was told, the land broke off after so ti, drifting toward the old continent.
’If it isn’t a mountain then...it could be but one thing.’ Realization dawned upon him.
"The trunk?"
That was the only answer he could co up with and based on the smug look on Jonathan’s face, he seed to have guessed it correctly.
’It really is,’ Hex thought in awe. Words couldn’t begin to describe the sight before his eyes.
From their spot the trunk appeared to be as wide as a mountain. It went up as far as he could see, disappearing amid leaves and whatnot.
’That should be the place where the highest strata of the society of Wrixia lives. It’s as big as Notresol, if not bigger.’
Notresol was the largest city he had seen as far as size went. And this place, a city of sorts, seed to rival it in size. It didn’t have any walls, so he wasn’t sure if he could call it a city.
But even from this far – Hex estimated they were about fifteen thousand ters from it – he could sense its liveliness.
Dots were moving into and out of the place. Mainly toward them. He guessed them to be people entering and exiting the place.
"This is all land ford in the past two to three thousand years," Jonathan said. His fascination with the place triumphed over his irritation with Hex. "The Dryads and Druids with Earth specialization believe it will take another three to five thousand years before this place will break off."
’It makes sense to have people monitoring such stuff. It affects Wrixians a lot. I can’t imagine how many people are living and earning a living on these lands.’ Hex mused as he listened to Jonathan go into depth about the studies done and notable figures and units in this field.
"His Eminence Tectonir has researched how the layers of Earth move, the formation and retention of new lands, and the saturation factor," Jonathan said with a glint in his eyes. It seed this person, Tectonir, was soone he admired a lot.
"Eminence? Like...Elize?" Hex caught on to the title Jonathan used in front of the person’s na.
"Yes. Soone who is above the Elders. And no, he is stronger. He is a Sage, after all."
’He seems to be a fan.’ Hex didn’t go into the details about the underlying comparisons and relations.
"It was He who proposed to stop spending our resources on walls and other forms of permanent structures," Jonathan continued. Hex hadn’t asked but didn’t stop him either. People lost in their own worlds often revealed the most.
"Old drawings show us cities built through the Ages, each of a different style and with other resources. But all of them flow away with the land. Cities like the capitals on the continent are believed to be built here. Or their foundations were laid in Wrixia. But as they drifted away, they lost their roots and developed on their own."
Listening to Jonathan, Hex imagined how those people might have felt when they split off from the tree. Or how they built entire new dynasties and stories, so even reaching a height that rivaled Wrixia in certain aspects.
"...His Eminence advised us to invest all those resources in studies and innovation that would help the people living in Wrixia," Jonathan continued.
Hex noticed the city inching closer. As the distance decreased, Jonathan started to lose altitude. He probably wanted to show the land and so of the things from as close he could.
"Do you see the haphazard growing grass? This is how vegetation appears in new ground. So of these little bushes are perhaps older than you and . They took root hundreds, maybe even thousands of years ago."
Hex watched where Jonathan pointed. The grass indeed looked more uneven and disharmonious. The colors were all of different shades.
From up close he sensed a dense presence of nature energy. He senses a little difference in the way it felt.
"That’s the primal, unrefined nature elent you sense," Jonathan said. "Harvesting these patches of grass is forbidden. They are needed to pollinate and grow more vegetation. If you are caught harvesting, dealing, or hoarding it, you are punished to death."
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