117 World Government Island

.....

By 6:10, Daniel arrived at the airport. He was surprised of the number of people that held up signs of Hayden. Dragging his suitcase, Daniel walked to the path in between the crowd.

Daniel's eyes widened when his name was shouted. "Look! It's Daniel! The 'Fast Carry!'"

Fast Carry was the nickname that Hayden's fandom gave him with his astounding actions per minute as a ranged carry. It was an honor for him. Be that as it may, this was nothing to Hayden's moniker in War of Honor: "King-Conqueror."

This was acquired by him as Hayden's match history literally has no loss. In ranked gameplay. Not a single one. That's a feat that no one has ever achieved, including 'Ares, The God of War.'

Daniel remained calm when he witnessed the sentinels. Alike Hayden, Daniel waved to the people. Some women screeched. "He's handsome as well!"

The crowd caused an uproar. Including some men as Daniel was indeed skilled. In fact, Daniel has 100,000 supporters already on his Streamlink. Of course, this was him riding on Hayden's coattails.

When Daniel got inside the terminal, he heaved a sigh of relief. "Goddamn. This is what Hayden is dealing with every day? That is tough."

Daniel never dreamt of becoming a celebrity. Nor a professional gamer. This was all him riding along Hayden's plan.

He wouldn���t have been doing so if not for the money being good. During the past week, Daniel already got sponsorships that offered thousands of credits. There's also the matter of the ad revenue from Streamlink itself. It was highly profitable and straightforward. He could see why the introverted Hayden chose this as his line of career.

'How hard would it have been though if it wasn't for Hayden?' Daniel thought as he walked to the person in question. 'It would've been hard. This guy is a monster.'

Of course, Daniel was told of how Hayden calculated him being featured in Ares' stream. An unknown person making godlike plays that was a match for the world stage? It was simply a matter of time!

'What thing does this guy cannot do?' Daniel sat beside Hayden.

Hayden talked to him. "You ready for the big day?"

"Under your supervision, I'm more than ready." Daniel scoffed. "As long as you're on my team, there's no doubt that we'll win every match by a landslide."

"Don't be so confident, Daniel." Hayden had a look of disapproval. "Have I taught you nothing to not anticipate the worst?"

"Of course I do." Hayden admitted. "I'm merely not bragging since bragging has nothing to do with my skill. Also, there are plenty of geniuses out there. You ever heard of the 'Rook?' He's a 17-year-old Center that is 210 centimeters tall, yet is still incredibly agile. He's one of the best players in Switzerland, at the level of me."

"Tsk, you're still at the top, you idiot." Dominic verbalized his own frustration. Hayden was too goddamn humble! "In the inner circle of the basketball community, along with ten other sixteen year olds, you are known as the Prodigal Kings. Your moniker among them is the 'Emperor of the Court.' You are all anticipated to have the potential to beat professionals at your age. Meanwhile, you, alone, is the sole person predicted to have actual capability in doing so at your age."

"Huh, interesting." Hayden hasn't focused on his basketball career all that much. "Prodigal King, huh? What a needless title."

When his teammates around him overheard this, they nearly choked on their own saliva. Brother! You're one of the fucking epitome on high school-level basketball. And you criticize it as a 'needless' title? Anybody would kill to be in your shoes!

Alas, they disregarded this remark from Hayden. He was the Prodigal King here, not them. They don't have the right to speak up to someone titled 'Prodigal King.'

For the next hour, all Hayden and Daniel did was talk more of Hayden's own plans. Hayden informed Daniel that after they win the of War of Honor, they'll shift to Steel Storm.

"Steel Storm? An fps? Why are you going to an fps? You're an amazing MOBA player!" Daniel was puzzled of this.

"I treat my career as a challenge. I plan on conquering the world of e-sports." Hayden nonchalantly stated as if this was obvious. "Besides, once we win the World Championship in Pro Assembly, there's nothing else to mine there. If you don't want to shift with me, I will respect your decision."

"Well, can't we at least win two championships?" Daniel questioned. "That would be more convincing to your reason of 'nothing to mine,' right?"

"That may be right. However, I can't afford to dawdle in a single field too long every timetime." Hayden shook his head. "Even I can't balance my relationships with all of you, a career, being a student, and being a basketball player. I'm still human who's subjected to the laws of time."

"You always work like a machine that I forget that sometimes." Daniel said lightheartedly. He chuckled. "I'll shift with you. But we should really still upload War of Honor sometimes."

"Okay, that's reasonable." Hayden instantly understood why Daniel desired to do that. It was to avoid losing followers. Not all gamers liked or played Steel Storm and War of Honor. These two games are vastly different. "Okay, I'll give you that."

"Can't believe you miscalculated that one." Daniel smugly smiled at Hayden.

"Again, I'm still human. To err is human." Hayden didn't take offense from this at all. "I'm not perfect. Not everything will be in my calculations."

"Whoa, if you're going to make mistakes, how about me?" Daniel jokingly formed a terrified expression. "I'm more human than you!"

"Shut up." Hayden sighed. This exchange between the two best friends was heard by Sophia and Dominic. They were shocked of the details of it. They didn't say anything of it. They had no rights to.

8:00 AM. Everybody boarded the plane. This plane wasn't the normal plane. It was a plane used for travels across the globe. It was much faster than a regular plane, with a maximum speed of 2,000 knots, or quadruple that of regular passenger planes.

…..

January 20, Sunday. 1:00 AM. Somewhere in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. About 1,000 miles off the southern coast of Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador. There was an enormous island, spanning at 30,000 square kilometers. It was shaped perfectly in a circle, a true natural wonder.

This was the World Government Island. The nexus of the world where all presidents come for a peaceful meeting. Also known as the World Summit.

The island was divided into circles within circles. Three of them. The one in the middle was that of a citadel. Literally. It was built on a high ground. Had 20-meter something walls that seemed to be made of metal. Within it was a singular futuristic-style palace that towered even over the humongous wall. This was the Presidential Complex. The acclaimed safest place on Earth.

The second circle was termed as the 'Inner Area.' It has lesser buildings than the outer circle, but the buildings are all fancier. This was the area that some of the 'better-skilled' people can access. Including CHORUS, world-renowned artists, engineers, and many more. Naturally, all National Youth Pride participants stay here.

The third circle was termed as the Outer Area. Or more commonly referred to as The Periphery. The Periphery was packed with all kinds of buildings and attraction. This was the extent where most people can visit the island.

The Periphery contained the eight public airports, one in each direction. On the south-east airport, Hayden's plane landed.

World Government Island, unlike the rest of the world, has unmanned robots ubiquitous. This was due to the nature of the World Government Island. Everybody agreed that having robots as workers was safer than having humans.

As such, when Hayden alighted the plane, the first thing that met him was a robot. The robot scanned his Identity Number through a DNA scanner. A rigorous DNA scanning that scanned his retinas, fingerprints, and even a strand of hair. You'd be surprised of how fast the scans were finished.

When Hayden was done with that, the next thing he did was probe his essence energy circulation. Doing that, on the surface, he kept calm. Internally, he was shaken. Absolutely shaken.

The increase was two times! It stacked with the Arcane Gem he had on him. In addition, if he drives the full power of his Breathing Technique, this will have another multiplier of three times.

If he will do everything he can diligently, his circulation will look like this: 54-kilogram increase to his strength. 11.88 kilometers per hour to his speed. And roughly 240 psi to his toughness. This was all if he circulates essence energy at maximum 24 hours per day.

'Holy fuck.' Hayden tranquilly walked to the baggage carousel. 'If I stay here, for… approximately eight days without utilizing his Breathing Technique, I'll be able to reach that halfway mark. But it's not enough to reach Level 3… I'm not going to be able to do this as easily as I thought.'

Hayden had a pensive expression. He was getting eager to circulate with his Breathing Technique. The question is: How will he? He has to compete in the Annual Youth Pride. He can't possibly abandon that, can he?

Hayden threw this in the back of his mind for now. When everyone was ready, they exited the airport. Hayden was amazed of the city with futuristic architecture.

In front of them was an unmanned minibus that has the label of 'Annual Youth Pride Filipino Basketball Team' on it. Dominic walked to it.

When he placed his hand on the glass of the door, it opened up. They all got in, dragging their baggage with them.

Inside, Hayden sat beside the window of the first row. Daniel sat with Hayden. Opposing to them were Dominic and Sophia.

The bus ride was smooth. Hayden admired the futuristic scenery that can be seen only in movies. The individual flaw of it was that it had no humans as the Annual Youth Pride hasn't started yet.

Eventually, they arrived at the hotel for basketball teams in the Inner Area. It was a twin tower with 70 floors. It has a bridge in between. This shape reminded you of an H. Except that its two buildings had a twisting shape.

There were also many edifices of the same architecture around it. Collectively, this was known as the H Complex. These were the hotels that the Annual Youth Pride participants stay in every year.

They all settled in immediately to recuperate from the extreme jet lag that even Daniel and Sophia wasn't exempted from. As for Hayden and Dominic, they were still fine.

They all had individual rooms, with all of it being on the left-side building at the fifteenth floor. Hayden has Room 1503. It was contiguous with Sophia and Daniel's room, at 1502 and 1504 respectively.

Hayden entered his room. He took off his shoes in the genkan (1). Afterwards, he saw that the room was fancy, with all these extravagant amenities.

This included a sofa, a high-spec television, a double bed, and a walk-in closet. In simpler words, it was the usual stuff you'd see in a 5-star hotel. On the bed, Dusk and Dawn were already unpacked.

Hayden didn't stop to admire this at all, striding to the closet. He was not a sucker for excessive decoration. In truth, as long as the room was clean and there was at least a futon, he'll be satisfied.

He changed into a plain white shirt and athletic shorts. Placing Dusk and Dawn at the foot of the bed, he sat down cross-legged on his bed. Straightening his back, Hayden activated his Breathing Technique at halfway to keep the sound at minimum.

Prodding around his body with his Divine Perception, Hayden was surprised. The increase in his rate was at four times now!

'That's absurd.' Hayden furrowed his brows. 'Is this why access to the World Government Island is restricted when it's not the World Summit and Annual Youth Pride?'

If Hayden wasn't sure last time, he was certain now. The World Government has wielders in it! 'The question is, who are the wielders? Or is the World Government a puny front? A puppet government?'

If it was the latter, Hayden had to commend those wielders that united the world. They could've done so much more diabolical things. They could have conquered the world. Instead, they made it peaceful.

'Or maybe they just want to have no threats to them.' Hayden considered this a possibility. 'Who knows?'

Hayden chose to ignore this for the meantime. There was no use dwelling on it. Hayden made sense of the phenomenon he was experiencing at hand.

Looking out the window, Hayden formulated a conjecture. 'It seems that it increases the closer you are to the center���'

The airport was near the coast of the island. And the hotel was approximately two kilometers from the airport. 'This is utterly ridiculous and insane.'

Hayden's thirst for answers was ignited. He was craving to answer why this spectacle occurs exclusively in the World Government Island.

'Regardless, there's no use searching for answers.' Hayden shook his head. 'Those with answers are probably stronger than me. Unless they have a good nature, there's no way in hell they'll give me the answer.'

Hayden sighed out. He was disappointed of his own weakness. 'I should get as close to that Presidential Complex as possible. At least near the walls.'

He didn't plan on going inside the Presidential Complex at all. He can never get through that. That place was the securest in terms of cyber protection. Like hell he can hack his way through!

Additionally, he didn't desire to learn the hard way whether there were wielders in the World Government. Hayden counted in the Cyber Guards in this line of thought, too. After all, they were the ones who maintained the robotic security and helpers of the place. He didn't have a death wish.

Hayden stared at the window that had a view of the Presidential Complex. Hayden was overcame by the desire to 'wander' around.

'Humans are scarce in the island… And there's dense forests surrounding the walls of the complex…' Hayden gulped. 'This is suicidal.'

He had to grasp this opportunity to sneak in. At least gain some information. Otherwise, he wouldn't get an opportunity anymore.

'Good thing we're this early and that I have an Arcane Gem.' Hayden activated Divine Perception. 'Let's do it, shall we?'

As there were no cameras in the hotel room anyways, Hayden opened the window and scanned his environment. There were drone cameras flying all around the entire Inner Area, observing it.

With fast approximation and calculations, Hayden was able to see blind spots all over the place. This was possible as Hayden knew those version of drone surveillance cameras. Well, as a paranoiac, he studied everything about security extensively.

Hayden ordered Dusk and Dawn to stay prior to jumping. As he was plummeting, Hayden thought, 'Seriously? Cameras with blind spots? What are they thinking?'

The security was too light! It was 1:00 AM for fuck's sake! It was during these hours that people may perform illegal activities.

In the midst of that, Hayden was doing another task. That was to gather life force. 100 meters from the ground, Hayden swooped past the drone cameras' blind spot with ease.

At that point, Hayden's left and right hand dimly lit up. His eyes narrowed as time completely stopped. With his right hand, Hayden shot life force into the ground, creating a cushion for his fall. It was not that he cannot survive the height, it was that he cannot risk producing a noise from his fall.

For his left hand, Hayden conjured up a veil around him. He used the same light redirecting technique to sneak in the Concepcion household to avoid security cameras on the ground.

He landed safely. Nothing was triggered at all. Through his Divine Perception, Hayden navigated around. By sneaking around, in the timeframe of a minute, Hayden has entered the forests in between the Presidential Complex and Inner Area.

Hayden cautiously felt around. He was careful as there's always that sliver of chance that people knew of Essence Formations. And Hayden didn't have full knowledge of how Essence Formations worked.

Walking around, Hayden noticed that there were no signs of life at all. There was not a single bug, much less an animal. As for his circulation, it was at quintuple the rate!

Finding a remote spot, which was not hard at all since every spot in the forest can be considered remote, Hayden nodded. 'This will be okay.'

Hayden fathomed that he was being careless and taking a gamble here. However, the rewards were too high that risking his own life was worth it.

He sat cross-legged on the spot. Afterwards, Hayden made a small vacuum around him through the use of life force that would prevent any noise from coming out. On top of this, he made himself unperceivable.

Excluding his life force-induced vacuum sphere, Hayden put everything he had into circulation. Every effect he had stacked on each other. His circulation 8.80 times faster! His strength increases at 0.09325 kilograms per minute. His speed at 0.020625 kmph. And his toughness at approximately 0.416 psi.

If he stays here for three days straight, he'll reach that halfway mark. 'Alas, I cannot do that. I got to get back before… Say, 8:00 AM. Seven hours. Enough time to close the gap by a wide margin.'

Hayden decided that he wouldn't sleep for a long time. He had to take the presented opportunity in front of him. You cannot get this anywhere else.

…..

Somewhere below the Presidential Complex. In a small room with plain white walls. There was woman, sitting cross-legged and floating in the air.

She has a beautiful almond complexion and flowing auburn hair. Her figure was tantalizing. It was perfect, even better than Eun-ha's considered-perfect figure. Her face was youthful to boot.

This was enhanced by her green sundress. At the moment, the woman has her eyes closed. Her long eyelashes flickered.

"There's someone who entered the forest." The woman spoke without moving from her position. "A Level 2 wielder? What is he doing…?"

"Damn, why is someone invading the forest this early?" Keaton sat up and rubbed his eyes. "How hateful. Guess I'll have to check that out."

Standing up, Keaton walked to his door. One step away, a knock was heard from his door. The lovely voice of a woman followed it. "Jin! Na-Jin! Get out, we have someone."

"Jeez, you can sense me going to the door." Jin's figure flickered as the door opened. On the other side of the door was the woman who sat cross-legged earlier. "Poking fun at me first thing in the morning, Nar-Ysa?"

"Don't blame me, hehe." Ysa chuckled. "Blame the Level 2 wielder who wants to invade the woods this early in the morning."

"It's a Level 2. Can't you go check it alone?" Jin rolled his eyes. He stepped out of the room. "There's something about him. I am… Somehow compelled to help him. There's something special about him…."

"You're too good of a person." Jin turned back at Ysa. "Come. We'll see what's so special about this guy you're eyeing."

…..

1 World Lore Time: In the present, Japanese Genkans are present in 90% of households and apartments. If you do not know, genkans are the little area in Japanese houses that you leave shoes in. It's a combination of a porch and a doormat. Meanwhile, in larger houses, genkans aren't present. However, there is a welcoming area that is basically equivalent to genkans. The Western culture of not removing shoes while in the house has been removed by the normalization of genkans. The usage of indoor slippers is now the norms.