113 The Teacher and the Student 11 (2/2)

Because of advancements in technology, the trip would be like the time it would take for about a short plane ride - only two and a half hours. After the invention of warp tunnels, space travel had taken on a whole new meaning, and advancements in it were made in leaps and bounds, humanity journeying to far off stars and planets.

When the group landed, they could immediately see the misty green forests and mountains of Leiden in the distance, truly deserving of looking like a cultivation world where immortals meditated at.

The group dropped off the children in the sector of the world that they would be training in, while the rest of the teachers would have their accommodations paid for and could go travel wherever they pleased for the rest of the week.

Hai Lan planned to go to one of Leiden's beautiful beaches along with a group of other teachers. Though she had invited both Alexei and Yin Mei, the former was planning on staying at the hotel the school had booked near the space station, and Yin Mei had her own plans.

She was disappointed but still excited for her own vacation plans and so the three quickly split up.

Yin Mei wasn't exactly here on vacation, though she certainly planned on enjoying herself.

She looked at the looming forest and mountain ranges beyond the gated wall where the students were currently embarking on their survival journey, battling ferocious alien beasts and carnivorous plants.

She went to what she could only describe as a ticket booth, where a security officer was in a room inside the wall, a window between him and the outside world. ”I'd like to purchase an adult training pass.” Yin Mei said, knocking on the window lightly.

The security guard yawned lightly, tapping something into the computer. ”That's 850 credits miss. Ah... but with the Black Cross Academy discount, you'll only need to pay 650 credits.” Yin Mei reached her hand through the slot in the window, and the guard scanned her wrist where the small diamond was. There was a beep that indicated the successful transaction.

He waved her off, the gate opening to let her in. Beyond the gate was an enclosed space, with another gate that opened as the first one closed. An extra security measure, to make sure nothing that they didn't want to would get out.

When Yin Mei entered the forest, the first thing she noticed was the darkness. The leaves were a deep green, almost blue color, and the shadows made the bark of the trees a near black. In addition, there was a light fog that slightly impeded ones vision.

It was a witch's forest.

That was what Yin Mei thought.

She wasted no time in entering the shadow world, and when she reemerged, the scenery had vastly changed. The ground was smooth black rock, and before her was a deep scar in the earth, a ravine that was all darkness.

She had no hesitation in jumping in. She felt like she was going down the rabbit hole, though it wasn't a rabbit hole that she was going down.

For what could have been several hours, or only several minutes, she was free falling in complete darkness. But after a while, she could see a small light, getting brighter. The shadows turned murky and thick, slowing her descent.

Soon the brightness was overwhelming, momentarily blinding her. When she blinked it away, she was no longer falling through darkness, but had reemerged into a whole new world.

The world under Leiden.

The shadows wrapped themselves around her, completely stopping her fall now, allowing her to hang in the air and admire the scene before her. There were pockets, holes of light that shone through the earth to illuminate the scene.

There was a forest, a volcano dripping with lava, a small mountain range, and the ruins of an ancient city.

It was literally a world within a world.

In some weird way.

The shadows stretched down, down, down, before letting her go gently to the floor.

This region was one that was undiscovered by the governments of their world, through a magical barrier that messed with their technology.

That barrier was a remnant of the ancient technology of the indigenous Leiden people, who were already extinct (or perhaps they had flown off the planet and gone to explore the rest of the vast expanses of space, but the point is, there were no more of them left on Leiden).

And now all Yin Mei would need to do was wait for Qin Shuang, Song Hua, and that Alice girl to arrive here.

Of course, with Qin Shuang main character halo, there was no way that he would not discover this place. And, this was where the sacred beast egg that he needed to find was.

Yin Mei glanced toward the small mountains, with their gray jagged peaks. They were high enough to almost touch the ceiling that was lined with a bright glowing moss, and wreathed in mist, almost as if they were shy, hiding themselves from the view of others.

She checked the time. It would take a few days before Qin Shuang and Song Hua (plus an Alice) would get here. She might as well go exploring.

She felt that she would feel too guilty if she stole treasures from Qin Shuang out of all people though, so this really would just be exploring. Not treasure stealing.

She nodded firmly. After all, she wasn't the type of person to bully little kids, okay?