"Woah!" Everyone exclaimed when they saw the Hub island for the first time. Ning knew the general structure of the island, but he too was unaware of exactly how it looked.
It was amazing.
Even a kilometer away from the shore, he could see the tall pagoda-like buildings deep in the city. The outer houses weren't fancy, but there were many, giving the allusion that there were a lot of people living on this island.
A minute later, the boat docked on the shore and everyone got off. There were other boats there too from the other various islands in the scattered isles.
From what Ning could read regarding the map of Kumia, there were about 500 islands with a diameter of over a kilometer. He didn't know how many of them were inhabited, all those that were would be coming to this competition for sure.
Suddenly, a ship came down from the sky.
"Woah, that's a flying ship artifact. Those sects must be very rich," a disciple said.
The sect leaders looked at the emblem at the front of the ship and said, "Ah, it's the participating group from the Cloud Heaven island."
"They are quite rich due to their Cloud Stone mines that can be used as ingredients for a lot of different artifacts."
The disciples nodded when they heard the sect leader say that. Ning looked at the floating ship and was surprised as well.
'I wonder if they are faster than planes,' he wondered.
"Oh right. Flying is prohibited in the city. You will be in trouble if you do that. You might even get disqualified from the competition, and in a worst-case scenario, disqualify the entire island," Yelca said.
Everyone nodded in understanding.
"Alright. Let's go register our island and participants. Then we can freely roam the city as we want," Gion said and took the disciples to the registering area.
There was a queue of people registering from the other islands, so they had to wait for their turn. Ning looked at the sun and realized that it was only midday, so they had time to spare.
Finally, it was their turn to register, and they did. The elders registered as guests and the disciples registered as participants.
Ning was a participant as well.
Everyone was given a talisman that held their Name, face, status, and Qi aura. Ning wondered where he would have to use this, but he didn't have to worry, as the usage for the talisman came pretty soon.
Just a little away was a moderately tall wall that was hidden behind the buildings. Only one game was available on the southern side, so they had to pass through here.
Anyone without such a talisman would be rejected entry from the city. The Deepskull island folks had them, so they were freely allowed to enter the city.
Only after entering the city did he realize just how massive it was.
The city was actually around a small concave land where the middle of the city was in lesser height than the rest of the city.
"Woah," they all said. It was the first time for the disciples to see such an island, so they were truly surprised.
The concave city had tall buildings all around it. There were 4 major roads that connected to the center of the island that was surrounded by an even taller wall than the outside.
"You see that enclosure? That is where the secret realm lies; the place where the tournament will be held," an elder said.
"A secret… realm? What's that?" someone asked.
"Basically, there inside lies a small pocket dimension that had a small space in it. You can freely enter and exit from it, however, it can be manipulated from the outside, and so that is where you lots will be participating in a few days," the elder said.
"Alright, you guys will understand it later on. Let's go find our hotel now. According to the register guy, it should be… right over there," Yelca said and started moving.
The group walked to the hotel.
The hotel was a massive pagoda-style building with nearly 3 dozen floors. The hotel was sanctioned off for the different participants of the upcoming competition.
The group walked up to their floor and stayed there.
"The tournament starts 3 days later, so try not to do anything stupid and get yourself disqualified. You can go out and visit the city, or stay inside the hotel until the tournament starts. It's your choice. Just make sure to return back to the hotel every night."
"Also, try not to start a rivalry with another island. We don't want enemies before the competition even starts," Gion said.
Everyone nodded and went to their own rooms. The floor had plenty of rooms for them, so Ning chose a random one and entered.
The room was not very large, but it was enough for Ning to just spend a few days in. He slumped down on the bed with the soft mattress and closed his eyes.
He was a little tired from the journey, so he decided to lay off on visiting the city for the day. He would do that the next two days.
However, he wouldn't just sleep around. He got up from the bed and sat in a lotus position and started meditating.
Vortex of Qi slowly gathered around him and entered his body. 'Woah,' he thought when he realized that the quality of Qi in this city was much higher than either the Deepskull city or the Starsight city.
'Is it because of the shape of the city? Since it's concave, more Qi can gather in it. Or is it because I am closer to the main Northern continent, so the Qi is much better?' he wondered.
He didn't have an answer right now, and would only have one once he went to the mainland. He ignored all thought and cultivated throughout the rest of the day, and night, only waking up in the morning the next day.
He finally stopped and got up.. He would now go visit the city.