56 Arriving at the Fortress

Although there's still more than half of the Iron Bulls that could possibly devastate a city if they're allowed to charge in, chaos and disorder had started reigning in their heads as they began retreating.

They're unlike the Rift Monsters who had just emerged from Rifts after all.

Those Iron Bulls were only early-stage Ordinary Rank Rift Monsters. In fact, they're the source of premium meats that even normal citizens like Aldrin's family could buy if they wanted to splurge a bit with their salaries.

According to Janet when Aldrin and the amazed Energy Refiners wondered about the bulls' somewhat cowardly behavior despite clearly maintaining their numerical advantage, those Iron Bulls were actually being herded at the plains located at the direction they appeared from.

It was being managed by Entraia that had its branch at the Lonewind City and the other neighboring Secondary City.

Because they're not real livestock like cows, more often than not, they would be fed up and rampaged away to look for greener pastures.

Greener pastures might be an understatement, they just wanted to stomp on people and ruin structures like how they were meant to be as if it was ingrained in their unintellectual minds.

Unfortunately, even if they didn't encounter this line of convoy bringing the new Energy Refiners to the training camp, the bulls were still bound to be herded back by the employees of Entraia sooner or later.

"What do you think? If you're in their shoes, will you be able to calmly face those Iron Bulls?"

Once they left that area while still being escorted by the remaining Metadomes of the four other organizations, the same questions were being asked at the five transport vehicles carrying Aldrin and the other Energy Refiners.

And all of them answered as expected, they're not confident to do the same. One needed the experience or perhaps nerves of steel to not panic against it.

However, a few seconds later, determination shined in their eyes as most of them became pumped up for the Training Camp where they're supposed to learn how to be a proper Energy Refiner.

A few minutes later, the five Metadomes of the City Hall Guards also returned after wrapping up that place.

Just like that, hours continued to pass on their journey. Although they encountered attacks from various Rift Monsters running around the uninhabited surface of the planet, the battalion of Metadomes would always solve that problem for them while the Energy Refiners would receive small lessons from the Instructors inside the transport vehicles.

Eventually, the tall overbearing walls of the Plainsteed Fortress appeared before their eyes.

Like everyone, Aldrin was somewhat amazed at the structure before them.

The tall walls had an imposing look because of their metallic black color. From afar, it would appear as if it was an impregnable fortress of days old. Impeccable and impossible to topple.

Mounted on top of the wall were numerous defensive installments that could decimate those who would try to siege it.

From the sky above, transport aircrafts escorted by winged-model Metadomes of different corporations come and go as they rush towards different directions, sending goods produced or gathered from the fortress.

Furthermore, Metadome patrols also littered the place, picking off any stray Rift Monsters that would appear.

In Aldrin's guess, if an Instance-type Dimensional Rift suddenly appeared nearby or even inside the fortress, dealing with it would be easier than how it was in the city.

"Whoa. This is on a bigger scale than our Lonewind City."

"Isn't that obvious? It's a military fortress. Even if the surface area was smaller, the strength of this fortress is several times higher than the Energy Refiners and soldiers of the city."

"Really? Haven't you seen Commander Yun and the Windblades? There are also those officials from every organization yesterday."

"I know. But compared to the number of Energy Refiners here, don't you think they'll be outnumbered?"

"Heh. Do you really think quantity is better than quality? In this fortress, the Fort Commander is only a middle Stage 3 Energy Refiner. The Refiner's Association had the Branch Head who could stand toe-to-toe against those at a Core City. You're all still frogs at the bottom of the well. If this is enough to amaze you, broaden your horizons and aim to get out of a Secondary City's circle of influence." Janet, like always, shut down the noisy Energy Refiners.

Although the way she's doing that could be said as annoying, Aldrin was accumulating more information from her words.

'How strong is a Stage 3 Energy Refiner? Can they kill the Ant or Spider Champion?' He wondered.

A few minutes later, after a few checks from the soldiers and Energy Refiners guarding the walls of the fortress, the transport vehicles entered through a small entrance from the thick walls that were seemingly non-existent unless someone opened it from inside.

As they passed through the dark corridor that was only illuminated by flashes of light, the atmosphere inside the transport vehicle had once again turned serious. However, it was a different kind of seriousness as excitement also proliferated among them.

Their journey from the Lonewind City to the Plainsteed Fortress took them almost six hours but that's only because they intentionally slowed down to be given the most basic lesson about the world outside the walls of the city, the world of Energy Refiners.

By the time their transport vehicles emerged from the dark corridor, Aldrin suddenly felt his phone vibrating.

Pulling it out of the pocket, familiar system messages appeared on the screen.

[A Dimensional Rift has been detected nearby the Host's location]

[Scanning…]

[The Dimension at the other side of the Rift is at moderate danger level for the Host]

[Identifying the Dimension…]

[Drawyz Domain #5]

[Feature requirement met!]

[Dimension List has been unlocked for Idle Adventure mode]

[Host can now choose which Dimension to send Dimensional Clones]

[Calibrating parameters for the new Dimension… 0%]

[20%]

[80%]

[100%]

[Calibration completed]

[Drawyz Plains #5 can now be selected when starting a new run]

[Note: Drawyz Plains #5 is currently connected to Host's Dimensional Plane, conquest is impossible through Idle Adventure mode. Host has to dive inside and capture the Fragment Core to conquer it.]