The aircraft skimmed over the Starward Riseway and the Central Basin.
It did not land directly in the Academy Metropolis district.
Instead, it flew toward the outer edges of the city.
“The airports in Lahai-Roi are all built in the peripheral zones of the metropolis to minimize interference with the internal environment.”
Rover explained softly from beside him.
As the distance shrank, the details of the Academy Metropolis grew clearer and clearer.
What first entered Noah’s sight was not the buildings themselves.
It was a colossal, translucent, hemispherical sky canopy that enveloped the entire circular metropolis, radiating a steady green glow.
Like an enormous inverted bowl, it sealed the Startorch Academy and the surrounding urban districts within a flawless, airtight embrace.
Energy flowed slowly across its surface like ripples on water, isolating the interior from the exterior and forming a magnificent, reassuring boundary.
“That’s… a protective shield?”
Noah asked in surprise.
He had never seen an energy barrier of this scale in the game.
At least, not before the 3.0 storyline he had yet to experience.
“Yes.
It’s the Anti-Void Sky Veil.”
Rover’s voice carried the focused tone of someone evaluating a major engineering achievement.
“Developed and constructed by Startorch Academy through reverse-engineering of the Exostrider unit’s outer layer, it is currently the largest permanent Void Matter Barrier in existence.”
“It is the core foundation that allows Lahai-Roi especially the Academy Metropolis to continue existing in the present environment.”
“Present environment?”
Noah caught the key phrase.
Rover’s gaze swept across the seemingly calm fields and distant mountains beyond the sky veil.
“Void Matter Magnetic Storms are not limited to the superstorms on the surface ice plains.”
Her tone grew slightly more serious.
“In this underground world, they also exist only in even more bizarre and unpredictable forms.
If surface magnetic storms are hurricanes spanning hundreds of kilometers, then here they can manifest as sudden tornadoes or sandstorms that erupt without warning at any location.
They erode matter, disrupt frequencies, and can even devour a person’s very existence.”
She pointed at the so-called Anti-Void Sky Veil.
“Its presence proves that the threat has drawn near and become normalized.
In the present era… no, even earlier, the frequency and range of small-scale underground magnetic storms began to increase abnormally.
There have even been large-scale outbreaks that swept across the entire domain.”
“This sky veil, together with the smaller similar devices installed at every camp and hub, are the walls the Spacetrek Collective had no choice but to erect to protect the people here.”
Her voice lowered, yet remained perfectly clear.
“If one day the outside world completely falls and is swallowed by the void, then within this sky veil will lie Lahai-Roi’s final sanctuary of hope.”
Listening to Rover’s chilling description, Noah felt more and more that life for the people of Lahai-Roi was far from easy.
It was strange constantly risking their lives, yet even the seemingly ideal utopian living conditions were this harsh.
Why had the Lahai-Roi people back then chosen independence?
Wouldn’t it have been simpler to accept Black Shores aid and joint governance by the various nations?
Before Noah could ponder further, the complete view of the Academy Metropolis finally unfolded before his eyes.
The circular metropolis was meticulously planned.
Wide, straight streets radiated outward from the Startorch Academy complex at the very center.
The most striking feature was a massive, precisely structured ring-shaped device spanning the sky above the metropolis.
It gleamed with cold metallic light, its surface traced with flowing blue energy patterns, resembling both a silent guardian ring and some technological totem beyond imagination.
Beneath and around the ring, clusters of buildings of varying heights and diverse designs stretched continuously.
Between them lay large expanses of lush lawns and strangely colored vegetation.
Warm orange and bright yellow crystalline plants emitted a soft glow, while trees with purple-veined leaves were scattered throughout, lending the metallic city a vibrant, fantastical vitality.
The transportation network inside the metropolis was equally busy.
Multi-level highways carried endless streams of traffic uniform public vehicles alongside personalized scientific expedition motorcycles.
The railway network penetrated deep into the urban area.
Once the Startorch trains entered the dense building zones, they ascended onto elevated bridges, then gracefully flipped downward to become suspended trains gliding silently along tracks beneath the bridges a unique aerial spectacle within the metropolis.
A broad, straight main boulevard extended inward from the city’s edge, as if inviting visitors into this miraculous underground city.
There was no natural sun or moon, yet the light from the simulated sky canopy was soft and bright, illuminating every inch of land and every building, making the subterranean metropolis resemble a magnificent kingdom from legend.
“Everyone, welcome to the Lahai-Roi Academy Metropolis.”
The pilot in the front row spoke with familiar ease, as though this was not his first time completing such a high-difficulty, dangerous flight.
The aircraft began its descent, sliding along the designated air track beside the ravine before landing smoothly on a massive airport platform outside the city.
The cabin door opened.
A gust of air unlike the biting cold of the ice plains rushed inside cold yet clean, laced with a faint ozone scent and a fresh, complex aroma unique to this sealed metropolis.
Noah followed Rover and the other exchange students down the gangway.
The airport platform was bustling.
Aircraft and transport craft of every model took off and landed continuously.
People in all manner of uniforms hurried about.
Enormous holographic signboards floated in the air, displaying directions in the Solaris Common Language.
Not far away, the entrance to the dedicated train passage leading into the Academy Metropolis glowed softly with the sign “Lahai-Roi International Airport – Startorch Academy.”
“Everyone, stay close to the group.
Don’t fall behind.”
Director Chen, the team leader from the Black Shores side, was a spirited middle-aged man.
He adjusted his glasses and instructed the more than twenty exchange students behind him.
His gaze paused for an almost imperceptible moment as it passed over Rover and Noah.
They merged into the flow of people, passed through security, and boarded the dedicated train bound for the Startorch Academy campus.
After departure, the train first traveled through a tunnel carved into the rock wall, then emerged.
When the view opened up again, the train was running along an elevated line above a central flat-topped mountain.
The carriage was spacious and bright.
Through the clear windows, the urban wonders outside flashed by rapidly.
From here one could clearly see the full circular metropolis opposite, as well as a separate cluster of deep-blue buildings on the distant highlands.
Noah and Rover took adjacent seats.
“Look over there.”
Rover gestured toward the blue building district.
“That’s the outer complex of the Spacetrek Collective Research Institute, located on the Toothrow Stone Ravine Highlands.
If you want to reach the core research area on the sky canopy, you have to go to the Starward Riseway and take the dedicated line train.”
Noah noticed that the research institute’s architecture was more austere and rational, dominated by deep blue and light gray clearly distinct from the silver-white tone of the Startorch Academy district.
“It’s… very different from the outside world.”
Noah gazed out the window and murmured.
The sentiment felt pale, yet it was the most fitting description he could manage.
This was not merely a difference in geography or architecture, but a fundamental divergence in civilization form and way of existence.
Rover also looked outside, her gaze filled with scrutiny and curiosity, as though she too was truly seeing this place with her own eyes for the first time.
“Compared with the Black Shores, the buildings there are taller and denser.
There are clearly separated residential and office districts it’s both people’s home and a fortress against the Lament.
But here…”
She turned her head slightly toward Noah.
Under the carriage lighting, her golden eyes looked especially deep.
“It feels more like a self-sufficient, exquisite ecological sphere or a vast, complex closed-loop precision instrument.
Everything has been planned in advance to maintain survival and academic research under extreme conditions.”
There was no praise or criticism in her voice, only calm observation and objective evaluation.
“Which one do you prefer?”
Noah couldn’t help asking.
He was genuinely curious which survival philosophy this leader who had guarded Solaris across countless years leaned toward more.
Rover smiled.
The smile carried the profound bearing of a Black Shores leader, yet also a trace of student-like candor and ease.
“It’s not about preferring one over the other.
The Black Shores bears its mission guarding through confrontation, rebuilding upon ruins.
Its order carries scars and weight.
Here, another path was chosen.”
Her gaze returned to the magnificent city outside the window.
“Stripping away, purifying, turning inward attempting to preserve and nurture the spark in independence.
Both approaches exist to confront this world’s scars; they simply chose different methods of response.”
She paused, then added softly, “However, the road to an ideal realm sometimes requires difficult even seemingly cold-blooded choices.”
Her tone seemed to carry deeper meaning, yet Noah could clearly sense her instinctive focus on science and knowledge.
While they conversed, the train soon arrived at the Startorch Academy station.
The platform was designed with an extremely futuristic aesthetic pure white base, streamlined forms, soft light diffusing from every direction.
Everywhere were young, vibrant faces wearing neat, exquisite academy uniforms.
Male students wore white stand-collar fitted jackets and trousers, looking clean and sharp.
Female students wore white suit jackets paired with short pleated skirts and knee-high socks beautiful, yet retaining academic solemnity.
Their collars bore bow ties or neckties displaying their respective department emblems.
Occasionally, figures in deep-blue uniforms of different styles hurried past.
They moved with steadier steps and calmer demeanors; compared to the students, they looked more like researchers.
Overall, everything matched exactly what Noah remembered of the NPCs in the game.
Noah quietly glanced at Rover walking ahead.
She was slightly tilting her head upward, her side profile serene, ponytail swaying gently as she examined some glowing structure on the station hall’s dome.
He could hardly suppress the mental image of her wearing that white suit skirt and knee-high socks.
The thought made his heartbeat quicken by half a beat.
Yeah… that would definitely look amazing.
A beauty that blended cool elegance with youthful student freshness, yet possessed a unique charm because of the grace accumulated within her.
…
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