Chapter 997: The World of Layer 2 (1/2)

”So, that's how it is.” Krune nodded in understanding as he closed a book, letting out a sigh soon after. ”To think this was actually a pretty dangerous place that's survived over a thin sheet of ice all along.”

It had been three months since he began to live in the attic of the old age home. He had been pretty careful all this time, managing to finish making a complete recovery in the meantime. He also read through the books continuously, making use of his Neon Radiance to light up the attic while he read.

There were numerous books to be read in the library. As such, he had obtained a sizeable amount of information from that. After all, it seemed that all the books the old people had collected during their lives had been stored here. So, he obtained a sizeable amount of information regarding Layer 1.

All the information he had read through over the past three months could be summarized into the following excerpts.

The city he was in was called Demon Wall 22. It was one of the 24 cities where humanity lived and survived. In fact, all 24 cities survived on a belt called the Abyssal Trench. It was a trench with seemingly infinite depth.

In this place, flying was prohibited, even if it were done using wings. The width of the Abyssal Trench was 600 kilometers, the exact dimension occupied by the cities. For some reason, it seemed the cities were an exception.

After all, all 24 cities floated at the top of the Abyssal Trench, a place where flying was impossible. Krune recalled how his Cloud Whale was instantly pulled towards the battlefield the moment he flew above it.

He also remembered the endless dark abyss below the battlefield. The abyss was the reason the demons were unable to surround the cities and bombard them to death, despite their near-infinite numbers.

Thus, the only way to enter a city was a lone path spanning a width of 100 meters. It spanned from the ground beyond the Abyssal Trench, entered a battlefield, then spanned another kilometer in length before reaching the city. That was the only way to enter the city.

The same applied to all 24 cities. This was also the only path the demons could take to reach the cities. And that was why the battlefield, oval in shape, spanning a length of 20 kilometers and a width of 15 kilometers, was where the humans and demons clashed constantly.

Based on the books, it was unknown how the demons were created. But, based on historical records, they were endless in number. There was never a time when the number of demons on the battlefield was smaller than the number of humans. They constantly streamed towards the cities endlessly like an unending river.

It seemed like the goal of the demons was to reach the interior land within the ring formed by the Abyssal Trench. It was a circular piece of land spanning a radius of 3000 kilometers. It was surrounded by the Abyssal Trench like a ring.

Surprisingly, this piece of land was actually an ocean, a gravity-defying ocean where the water formed a pillar, reaching the sky. After seeing the picture of the species local to the water pillar, Krune realized that they were the very same octopuses he met in Layer 3.

Plus, it seemed that they had formed a certain deal with humans. They were the actual goal of the demons. It was unknown as to what the goal was. Humans were just the shield, the guards of the octopuses.

They also maintained trade relations, supplying the cities with food and water while the humans traded them with Demon Cores that they harvested from the demons. And it seemed that these Demon Cores played the primary aspect of Layer 2.

The way the power structure of Layer 2 was established was through the weight class. Whether it was a human or a demon, both were humanoid creatures possessing similar-sized physiques. Fortunately, this factor seemed constant to Layer 2. There weren't any giant organisms that existed anywhere in Layer 2.

Even the octopuses had a humanoid form that they used when transacting with humans. And their physiques were the same size as well. So, their weight class played much importance.

When he first read it, Krune had been incredibly excited, knowing the actual prospect of the Sub-Realm and what they had been emphasizing from the start.

Body cultivation!

Everything was about improving the physique. That was the theme of the Sub-Realm. Krune realized that every layer was setting up one aspect of body cultivation, creating the basic layout to establish it whole.

As it was an entirely new field, it had to be introduced one after another through numerous layers of restrictions placed on the cultivators that had been brought into the Sub-Realm. Krune realized that the God(s) that had created the Sub-Realm had been pretty ambitious.