Pov: Vik
The steady thrum of the Great White's marine turbines hummed like a low, soothing cello through the steel deck plates. Outside the primary bridge's panoramic viewport, the pitch-black abyssal waters had gradually given way to rich, sun-dappled turquoise currents.
We had officially arrived at the eastern maritime border of the Western Continent.
I sat in the plush leather captain's chair, leaning back with a steaming mug of black coffee in hand. Pushpa was curled into a tidy ball of soft black fur on my lap, her rhythmic breathing matching the gentle rise and fall of the coastal swells above.
On the holographic display floating before me, the spatial gate feed to Anonymous Hall showed that the "cardiovascular conditioning" session had finally wrapped up.
Lu Xiaoran and Roman were sprawled out flat on their backs in the grass of the Great Fire Forest, drenched in sweat and nursing bruised egos. Chintu, currently back to his full forty-meter emerald glory, was happily curled up right next to them like a gigantic scaly mountain, fast asleep and letting out little puffs of sulfur smoke through his nostrils.
I warmly remarked, "Look at that camaraderie," as I took a sip of coffee, and then added that nature is truly healing.
The system states that the disciples didn't 'bond'; instead, they ran an ultra-marathon at three times the speed of sound in order to avoid turning into dinosaur food. Thirty minutes ago, Lu Xiaoran actually tried to bribe Chintu with roasted legs of a spiritual beast.
"And did it work?"
The system states, "Chintu ate the meat and then chased him for an additional four miles."
"I'm glad you've been a good boy; that's positive reinforcement," I said as I closed the forest feed.
As Lina and Noah went into the bridge, a gentle pneumatic hiss could be heard from the doorway.
Lina was using a white cloth to wipe the grease off her fingers, while at her hip she carried a kinetic pulse pistol which had been recently modified. Behind her, Noah moved with slow and silent steps, his bright crimson hair bound back with a simple black ribbon and his red eyes clear, steady and sharp.
The Chaos Titan method had resulted in four days of continuous meditation and physical training, after which his aura was no longer blazing like that of an inexperienced master; instead it was tightly coiled in his bones, dense, heavy, and entirely undetectable to ordinary spiritual scans.
"Lina said, 'Master,' as she moved up to the tactical holoscreen and retrieved the coastal grid. 'We have now reached the Eastern Maritime Gate of the Western Continent—more precisely, the territorial waters of Port Ironclad. West Oak City, though, is situated almost four thousand kilometers inland, lying in the Central Plains.'"
"Four thousand kilometres..." I said softly, tapping my chin. "There'll be plenty of scenery to see en route. Lina, turn on the optical cloaking and book us a quiet berth where we can dock."
The problem is that, Master," Lina responded, frowning as she called up the external sensory feeds "take a look at the harbour's security grid."
The hologram enlarged to show the huge breakwaters of Port Ironclad, which were reinforced with steel.
Unlike the rather lawless coastlines or the fragmented boundaries between sects on the Northern Continent, the Western Continent was clearly at a completely different level of civilisation and governance. Massive astral-steel lighthouses swept across the water high-density anti-magic mana searchlights. Floating patrol gunships, driven by 6-circle propulsion engines, hovered above the waves, and an extensive, multi-layered defensive system completely sealed in the shoreline.
All individual merchant ships, passenger liners, and spirit barges which tried to approach the coast had to pass through enormous maritime inspection gates.
Noah said in a quiet voice that the unified maritime coalition of the Western Continent doesn't play around; his eyes narrowing as he studied the security choke points. The military and administrative forces there are much more organized and advanced than anything to be found in the North. All travellers who enter through the eastern ports have to go through a Soul-Scan Array in order to have their identity, lineage, and spatial rings verified. If the array detects unregistered foreign high-tier power signatures—or if they realize that Luther is missing—the whole eastern fleet will lock down the coast.
"At that point we couldn't dock at the main harbour," Lina said, crossing her arms. "Shall we dive, go around the harbour altogether, and find an unguarded rocky cliff a few hundred kilometres north to land ourselves there by smuggling?"
When it came to smuggling ourselves, I raised an eyebrow and showed my annoyance while at the same time adjusting my spotless white robes. What did I ever tell you regarding the attitude of scholars? Criminals creep across borders in the middle of the night, but respectable academics simply walk straight through the front gate with their heads held high.
Noah blinked and looked puzzled. "Master, if we go through the main gate the Soul-Scan Array will pick up my foundation since it has been destroyed and then reformed, never mind your own unreadable realm."
As to scanning our true cultivation, who suggested that? I smirked, then placed my coffee mug down and lightly tapped Pushpa's nose.
Retrieve the academic archives of the Central Plains Scholastic Guild from the system.
System: "Contacting the universal registry... Done! Host, are you exactly the same as what I think you're going to do?"
Of course, I laughed and got out of the captain's chair. Why on earth hide in a cave when the Western Continent holds bureaucracy in respect? Lina, bring the sub up to five nautical miles away, disconnect the tactical war-cloaking, and fly the standard non-combat maritime flag.
I went into my spatial storage, retrieved a pair of spectacles with gold rims, put them on the bridge of my nose, and picked up a heavy researcher's ledger bound in leather.
I told Noah to go and put on the uniform of a senior research assistant, smiling widely and kindly. "This isn't a rogue warship populated with dangerous cultivators; we are a distinguished foreign marine-biology research group who have come here on an official academic mission to study coastal plants."
Pushpa gave a gentle, approving mew and settled itself comfortably on my shoulder like a soft academic stole.
"Now," I pushed my spectacles up a bit, "let's go and see how the Western Border Patrol deals with a polite scholar who has a most official piece of paper."
I said that and put Great white into complete stealth mode before teleporting it back to the Great Fire Forest since we don't need it at the moment. Then I got ready because, with my plan, all we had to do was go and exit the port; I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
That's the way I thought it was, but when we got near the port guards I noticed one of them pulling out a high-tech device and aiming it at a group of people, arresting them for having forged papers and identities.
On seeing this, I at once returned to the port side far end since I didn't want to exit at that moment, although now I think I'll need a new approach.
At the same time the system kept coming up with suggestions: "The host need not worry since the identity that the system will produce is the best one; those guards won't be able to recognise you as a fake, so please go and leave this port."
He continuously offered me advice saying that there was nothing wrong with those identities, when all of a sudden I had a new idea and told the system about it.
The system says that hosting this idea is absolutely nonsense, because if you go ahead with it you're going to blow up your image.
Vik said, "Please, the system, this is a new idea and it will be a success, I only need to do a bit of acting."
By saying this I told my disciples to carry out their duties in accordance with my plan; at first they were hesitant and confused, but later on they changed their appearance and followed me back to the exit of the port where the security team are checking everyone who is leaving the port.
This time we move towards the exit while I am wearing blue pants, a blue jacket, a white shirt and a cap which is red and white. With Pushpa on my shoulder, my disciples have also changed their clothing and now look more like teenagers going off on an adventure.
The person who is affected the most is Pushpa since at the moment Pushpa has a different colour. Yes, my plan was to paint Pushpa yellow with stripes on her tail so that she would look like a particular yellow Pokemon.
I soon got to the checkpoint at which the guards carry out the inspection, and after having gone through a number of search procedures in which our cultivation was searched, we proceeded to a desk where some guards, who only gave a quick glance at me, asked,
"Where is your ID?"
I just handed him my ID; upon looking at it he seemed a bit confused and then asked, "Can you tell me your name and the reason for your visit to the Western continent and are you all a group?"
When he asked me, I replied, "My name is Ash Ketchup, and I'm a Pokemon trainer. My aim is to become a Pokemon master and in order to achieve this I had to fight and win against the gym leaders, and after I had finished the tournament on the Northern continent I came here to take part in the Western continent tournament."
I expressed all this with a great deal of emotion in my eyes, after which I referred to my disciple as my friend. Finally, I called Pushpa my Pokémon, and when the guard looked at me, he appeared stunned as though he had heard an absurd thing.
"Host, I've already said that this is the dumbest story I've ever heard, and if this thing does work I'll officially change my designation and become a chatbot."
I disregarded the system's statement and instead focused on watching the guard's reaction; after a few seconds of surprise he remarked, "I hardly ever come across young people with such spirit; when I was young I too wanted to become a Pokémon master. I hope that you all get to your destination and do become Pokémon masters."
While saying this he opened up the exit and that is when all of us left the port, though I was still thinking of a new name for my system.
Once Vik and his disciples had left the port, another guard turned to the first guard who had allowed their entry and said, "Hey, Daniel, that group seemed suspicious—what reason did they give for coming here?"
The guard or Daniel said, "Those boys are only young teenagers who want to become Pokémon masters, just as I did when I was young."
The guard scowled and replied, "I can see that. I used to want to be a Pokemon master too, but isn't that just a cartoon? We're adults now and Pokemon doesn't exist in our world.'
On hearing this, Daniel at last came to understand his mistakes, but Vik and his group had already disappeared.