The Map had most of the places marked as forbidden. None of them were allowed to go to those places. Under the maps, it was written in clear terms that if one was found in the forbidden zones, they were going to be disqualified immediately.
Lucifer took the warning seriously and made a mental note to not go into those places even though he was really curious what was there. He didn’t want to be disqualified.
“So I’m here in the participant quarters. If I take those stairs, I should be straight at the exit. They made the quarters so close to the exit, probably so no one could go to the forbidden parts and use the excuse that they were lost.”
After memorizing the map, Lucifer left towards the stairs and departed from the building. Along the way, he didn’t see anyone. It was as if all the other participants had disappeared. Moreover, for some reason, there were no guards here. It was as if the administration here didn’t worry about intruders.
As Lucifer stepped out of the building, he gazed back to see how big the building actually was. It didn’t appear to be too big. The building only seemed to have four floors. Moreover, even when it came to the area covered, the building didn’t even cover half the area in comparison to his own Uprising Headquarters.
“Such a massive world, and they made this place so small. I guess they made only what they needed,” Lucifer commented before observing the surroundings.
A lake was surrounding the entire base from all sides. There was only one bridge to cross the lake.
Lucifer could fly like many others here, so he knew he didn’t need to use the bridge, but he also understood that there must be people amongst the participants who couldn’t fly since there were multiple species here.
Instead of flying, Lucifer also took the bridge to cross it.
While crossing the bridge, Lucifer glanced at the crystal clear Lake. The water was so clear that he could even see the stones that were lying on the bottom of the lake. There also appeared to be some strange coins in the lake, each having a different design.
For a moment, Lucifer stood still, observing the coins for some reason. For no apparent reason, he also brought a coin of earth out of his pocket and tossed it inside the lake, making a wish.
He didn’t know why the other coins were there but seeing them; he had a feeling as if it was akin to the wishing fountain back on earth.
After making a wish, he left through the bridge and entered the forest. The trees in the forest were so big that the trees of earth were nowhere close to them in height. Even the tallest tree on earth was only a fraction of the height of trees here. Moreover, the trees didn’t have green leaves. Instead, their leaves were blood red.
Lucifer flew up and took a leaf from the tree to observe it. As soon as he touched the leaf, he noticed that his hands had turned red. The tree was also somewhat wet for some reason.
“The spell of blood… This isn’t just the color of the leaves. They are literally the leaves of blood.”
He landed on the ground with a leaf in his hand. He crushed the leaf, only to notice a few blood droplets fall on the ground.
” No matter which world it is, blood shouldn’t grow on trees. That begs the question. Whose blood is it?” Lucifer observed the trees in confusion.
He tossed the crushed leaf on the ground before he advanced ahead.
In the entire forest, all he saw were those trees. There were no plants or flowers. There was also no sign of life in the form of animals.
This world… It just appeared to be so empty. After traveling for close to an hour, he finally reached the end of the forest.
He appeared in a plain area. There were some strange marks all around that area. In the middle, there appeared to be a stage that was twenty meters wide.
Lucifer stepped on the stage. The stage was really firm, as if it was made to survive even the strongest of attacks.
“I suppose I know what will happen here,” he muttered before getting down the stage.
He started rising in the air to get a better view from the top.
As he gazed at the stage from the top, he noticed a massive star alliance symbol on the center of the state.
From the height, he could also see the forest he had just crossed, and it looked even more majestic from height.
As he was at such height, he could also see far and wide. He noticed many things. There appeared to be a waterfall in the south that was even more majestic than anything he had seen. It was a thousand-meter-high waterfall. In another part, he noticed what appeared like a volcano which was frozen in snow for some reason.
In the North, there appeared to be a massive cliff. At the edge of the cliff, Lucifer could see what appeared like a figure of a person who was wearing the same uniform as him.
He started flying toward the cliff and landed right behind the person who sat unaware about Lucifer’s arrival.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to jump?” Lucifer asked. As soon as the girl heard the voice, she hastily stood up, losing her balance in haste.
Her body tilted back as she tried to balance herself to stop her fall; however, it appeared to be impossible.
Lucifer took the lead and held the hands of the girl, pulling her back. “Why do you want to die?”
“Y-you idiot! I didn’t want to die! I didn’t come here to die! I was just sitting here in peace when you scared me! I almost died because of you!” The girl snapped.
She soon noticed the number on Lucifer’s chest. “Fifty-one? Is that even possible? I thought I was the lowest-ranked person here. Where did you come from?”
Her own badge showed that she was fiftieth in ranking for now.
“It’s like you haven’t been back at the base in a long time. Everyone knows about me now. I just arrived here today, and I’ll be the 51st participant,” Lucifer explained.
“And just because my rank says so, it doesn’t mean I’m weakest. These things are useless. I’ll be changing my ranking soon. So don’t focus on these things. These things can’t predict anything.” He also sat at the edge of the cliff. “By the way, you were right. The view here is really nice.”