CHAPTER 1043: CHAPTER 47: CHALDEAN MARTIAL SPIRIT

Compared to the City of Ur, Chaldea is somewhat different. The City of Ur still has a little microgravity. Chaldea, on the other hand, is simply "negligible."

The Prime Deity Star is at least a large celestial body in the Asteroid Belt. The City of Ur was established based on that star.

Chaldea, however, has nothing.

Generally speaking, Space Cities can also rely on rotation to simulate gravity. However, this method is feasible for ordinary Space Cities, but it is absolutely impossible for Neutral City-States in the Asteroid Belt. Those typical Space Cities are meticulously designed, scientifically and reasonably structured, with stress from rotation evenly distributed across materials as much as possible, and key points having advanced electromagnetic field technology to disperse shear forces. But for Neutral City-States in the Asteroid Belt, they are merely cobbled together from the wreckage of warships. Even if they managed to rotate, they’d just fall apart.

So the entire city simply forgoes gravity.

This has greatly impacted the city’s population structure. The complete absence of gravity has led to the relocation of technology and institutions related to reproduction to the City of Ur. Benchmark Man, compared to Homo sapiens, has indeed undergone genetic modification surgery, but they are still a species more suited to living in a gravity environment. Subsequent genetic adjustments have not deliberately rewritten this aspect. For Cybernetically Enhanced People, living in a zero-gravity environment long-term is not much of a problem.

The City of Ur still has some children. In Chaldea, children are, like the gravity here, "almost negligible."

Instead, there are a large number of people who came to fight for success and recognition.

Everyone in the Neutral City-State who wants to succeed heads to Chaldea.

In the eyes of the Heroes outside the Asteroid Belt, the so-called "success" of the Neutral City-State is hard to understand. The Military Officers of the Protectors find this notion of "success" laughable. The highest-ranking individuals in a Neutral City-State are equivalent to high-level military officers among the Protectors. Such a "Guardian" identity is impossible for the average citizen to achieve, and it’s far better to gamble on the future within the Protector’s armed forces.

But regardless of outside perspectives, Chaldea has indeed flourished because of this.

Inside Chaldea, there is no concept of "up" or "down." In one enclosed space, the door could open in any direction. Your front door might feel like it’s facing "upwards." When you open the door, you’d see your neighbor’s door opposite yours, while the neighbor’s door across the street is slanted.

Anything is possible.

For Chaldea, urban planning is based on "inner and outer" standards.

Chaldea’s outermost layer is a hangar, originally belonging to the War God King Fleet’s carriers and several deep space battleship complexes, including weapon warehouses. As a transportation hub within the Neutral City-State, Chaldea has many ports built.

Outside the hangar is the Martial Arts School area. The most important industrial district is relatively inward. For a place like Chaldea, far from the sun, "industrial waste heat" is also an extremely valuable resource.

Jin identified "potential stronghold choices" for Asgard and Jeanne, located at the junction between the residential area and the Martial Arts School area, near the residential zone.

Chaldea’s Martial Arts School area is renowned throughout the Neutral City-State. It occupies a space forming a hemispherical shape, enveloping both residential and industrial districts. The residential area of Chaldea is constructed from various battleship wreckages forming enclosed spaces, secured layer by layer with chains. Some areas are run by local forces—like the safe house where Jeanne and others were recently located. These areas are further reinforced and isolated with advanced materials produced by Chaldea itself, with various wiring laid out.

This residential area is exceedingly narrow, with roads winding like a labyrinth, and even several dead ends, making it exceptionally difficult to navigate.

Even with a local guide, getting lost is still possible.

Some forces have set up special signal transmitters and location devices throughout the area, which can link with map apps to aid in navigation.

However, using this service inevitably requires connecting to external devices provided by unknown individuals.

In this era, doing so carries a certain risk.

Jin and his crew have been roaming around Chaldea for a long time, and are accustomed to finding their own way—besides, due to Jeanne’s hardcore exclusion methods, most of them now dare not connect to any potentially networked external devices.

However, Jin felt a bit uneasy.

Even after leaving the room filled with fully automated insult kits, Jin’s mind was still preoccupied. He couldn’t help but recall that terrifying room.

If some unsuspecting thief were to stumble in without precaution and directly face that blasphemous language, those horrific names...

It could very well end in tragedy.

Jeanne probably doesn’t care about such things. If it really happens, what she’d likely think is, "Now I can correctly assess the safe house’s security level," and so on.

But others would undoubtedly be apprehensive.

Due to his unease, Jin took two wrong turns.

Jeanne didn’t get annoyed. With the help of Tumor Xiang Shan, she was constructing a mental map. For a solitary Martial Artist, this is instinctual, as thoroughly understanding a map ensures confidence when fleeing.

Mapping dead ends and intersections is also part of completing the map.

After walking for a while, making a turn led the group to light.

Most parts of the residential area were immersed in darkness, with only occasional light emitting from open doors.

Meanwhile, the Martial Arts School area was continually illuminated.

What Jeanne saw was an expansive Martial Arts School area.

Similar to the Martial Arts School area in the City of Ur, Chaldea’s area was formed by "large flat planes" connected with "chains." However, unlike the microgravity in the City of Ur, nearly zero-gravity Chaldea had no clear distinction between up and down, hence the surfaces used for training and competition were not parallel.

The training field of one Martial Arts School might be vertical to another’s practicing area, or even two Martial Arts Schools could be hanging over each other’s heads, with barely six meters between, allowing both to see each other just by looking up.

Anyway, everyone walks on steel plates with electromagnetically-charged soles.

Of course, such a setup can easily lead to conflicts.

Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan opposed "hoarding knowledge," but did not deny the special service industry of "guiding others to acquire knowledge." The act of "guiding others to acquire knowledge" is an important labor, worthy of compensation. For martial masters in the Martial Arts Schools, the act of "instruction" itself is more significant than simply the Martial Arts Algorithm. At such proximity, different sects’ training methods are clearly visible, exposing each other’s details.

Over time, disputes are inevitable.

However, more powerful Martial Arts Schools have solutions. They acquire multiple training grounds in very close spatial proximity and designate the "inner side" for practice while using the outward-facing area for public display.

Most Martial Arts Schools, however, lack these conditions.

Perhaps due to frequent friction here, Chaldea’s unofficial tournaments have become highly developed.

Some believe that Chaldea’s tournaments rival even the officially held Olympic Games—Chaldea’s tournaments even allow unrestricted Inner Strength in their freestyle fight events, lending more weight to the competition.

Jin said to Asgard, "I’ve heard some rumors; you might want to pay attention to the local ’Grassland Heroes’ Arena’..."