Public Gate Training Facility 1 was nothing like the gate training facility back in Area 17.
It sat directly adjacent to the main NEA headquarters, a colossal dome of sleek black metal and reinforced glass that looked more like an advanced research laboratory than a training ground.
The entrance was entirely automated with no guards or manually stamped ledgers. Instead, a clean line of biometric archways scanned entrants as they walked through.
Hide passed his newly acquired Independent Operator card over the sensor panel. The archway chimed a crisp, pleasant green, and the heavy glass doors parted seamlessly.
Inside, the scale of Area 5's wealth was immediately apparent.
The interior was vast and aggressively clean. Instead of standard glass zones, the Loop Gates were contained within individual, soundproofed stasis fields—shimmering, semi-transparent energy barriers that neutralized the chaotic mana leaking from the portals.
Elevated walkways crisscrossed above the gates.
