Primordial Awakening: I Breathe Skill Points!-Chapter 31: The Northern Bastion. (3)

Chapter 31: The Northern Bastion. (3)
Farmland!
Kilometers and kilometers of carefully cultivated fields stretching to the horizon in every direction.
Massive irrigation systems visible as geometric patterns in the landscape. Automated farming equipment moving in coordinated patterns that suggested centralized control. Greenhouses the size of city blocks gleaming under the sun. Grain silos that looked like small skyscrapers clustered at distribution points.
All of it protected by the walls he could still see in the distance—those twenty-meter barriers marking the boundary between this productive paradise and the Wildlands beyond.
’They’re not just surviving. They’re thriving.’
’This is what losing seventy percent of your landmass forces you to do—maximize every meter of controlled territory.’
The train accelerated further, the landscape outside becoming a green-and-brown blur as they reached speeds that would have terrified him if the ride wasn’t so smooth. No vibration, no noise beyond a faint hum from the mana propulsion systems. Just pure, efficient transit.
The synthesized voice returned: "Current speed: 1,200 kilometers per hour. Expected arrival in Avalon City F-District: fourteen minutes."
Supersonic!
The train was moving faster than sound, and the only indication was the blur outside the window and the gentle pressure of acceleration.
’And this is just public transportation. Not even military or emergency services.’
’What the fuck can the high-tier awakened do if this is standard civilian tech?’
The thought was simultaneously inspiring and terrifying.
Zeph closed his eyes and let his enhanced hearing filter out the ambient noise, focusing on his own breathing. In, hold, out. Each breath generating PP through the Primordial Architect’s silent function. Power accumulating even while he rested.
’40,000 PP currently. I need to decide what to upgrade next. Temporal Fracture is maxed for my current ability to handle. Adaptive Resilience is A-rank. Force is still only F-rank...’
’But first, I need sleep. Real sleep in an actual bed, not combat naps in ruins where one wrong sound means you’re dead.’
The minutes passed in comfortable silence. Other passengers talked quietly, children pointed excitedly at landmarks visible through the windows, an elderly woman dozed in her seat.
Civilization.
Zeph had forgotten what it felt like to be surrounded by people who weren’t actively trying to kill him or steal his supplies. The ambient background radiation of human society just... existing, without constant threat.
It was deeply strange.
"Now approaching Avalon City limits," the synthesized voice announced. "F-District arrival in three minutes. Please prepare for departure and ensure you have all belongings."
Through the window, structures began to appear. Not the farmland anymore, but the outer edges of actual urban development. Low-rise buildings at first, residential blocks that probably housed agricultural workers. Then taller structures as they penetrated deeper into the city proper.
The train began to slow—not suddenly, but with smooth deceleration that brought their supersonic velocity down to a gentle glide as they entered the city’s transit network.
And then the terminal appeared.
-----
Avalon City F-District Station was functional but unremarkable compared to the gate hub. Smaller platforms, less elaborate architecture, clearly designed for locals rather than first-time visitors. But it was still clean, still organized, still operating with the efficiency that seemed to define this entire civilization.
The train stopped. Doors opened. Passengers filed out.
Zeph grabbed his pack and joined the flow, his long legs carrying him down the platform toward the station exit. Signs directed toward different district sections, residential zones marked alphabetically and numerically.
He followed the route to his designated area, passing through the terminal’s main hall—more modest than the gate hub but still impressive by ruins standards—and emerged onto the street.
Then he stopped for the third time that day, just staring.
Avalon City sprawled before him.
Not with the gleaming opulence of the inner districts he could see rising in the distance, but with the practical functionality of a city built to house millions of working citizens.
Buildings rose in orderly blocks, most of them five to ten stories tall, constructed from that same reinforced material that seemed standard throughout the sanctuary. Streets paved with the glowing stone, marked with clear lane divisions and traffic patterns.
But it was the technology that made him stare.
Streetlights that adjusted their brightness based on ambient sunlight, powered by mana crystals housed in protective casings. Traffic signals using holographic projections instead of physical lights, their colors visible from any angle.
Public information displays showing news, weather, dungeon activity s, emergency alerts—all updating in real-time with information he could barely process.
Vehicles moved through the streets, but not the cars he remembered from his previous life. These were sleeker, hovering slightly above the pavement on the same mana propulsion technology the trains used. No exhaust, no engine noise, just the soft hum of magical engineering doing its work.
And the people.
Thousands of them, moving through the city with purpose. Workers in coveralls heading to manufacturing districts. Families with shopping bags returning from markets. Awakened in combat gear, probably heading to or from guild headquarters. Baseline humans and System users coexisting without apparent conflict.
It wasn’t science fiction. It wasn’t some impossible utopia.
It was just... humanity, adapting. Taking the System’s magic and combining it with pre-Descent engineering knowledge to create something new. Something that worked.
Zeph stood on the terminal steps, his hood shadowing his face, and felt the weight of three years of isolation pressing down on him like physical force.
’This is what I’ve been missing.’
’This is the life I lost when I transmigrated over to this world.’
’Was it worth it?’
He didn’t have an answer to that question.
But standing here now, watching a city function with the casual efficiency of a healthy organism, he thought maybe—just maybe—he could figure out how to exist as something other than a survival mechanism wrapped in human skin.
A hover-taxi pulled up to the terminal’s pickup zone, its driver leaning out the window: "Need a ride, kid?"
Zeph walked over, pulling his new citizen ID from his pocket. "F-District, Unit 847."
The driver glanced at the card, then up at Zeph’s towering height, then back at the card. "Seattle survivor, huh? Rough couple years, I bet."
"Something like that."
"Well, you’re safe now. Hop in."
Zeph climbed into the back seat—or tried to. His 6’9" frame made the process awkward, his knees jamming against the seat in front until he figured out how to angle himself. The driver watched with poorly concealed amusement.
"First time in a hover-cab?"
"First time in any vehicle in three years."
"Fair enough. Sit back and relax—F-District residential is about ten minutes from here."
The vehicle pulled away from the terminal, joining the flow of traffic with smooth efficiency. Zeph watched the city pass through the window, cataloging everything his enhanced senses could detect.
Restaurants advertising daily specials. Weapon shops with security formations visible around their entrances. A training dojo with students visible through windows, practicing forms under an instructor’s supervision.
A park where children played on equipment that looked designed for awakened kids—reinforced structures, probably formation-protected to prevent accidental destruction.
Layer upon layer of civilization, built on the foundation of the System’s power and humanity’s refusal to simply give up and die.
The taxi turned into a residential district—buildings that were clearly apartment blocks, uniform in design but maintained well. Clean streets, functional lighting, no visible damage or decay.
"Unit 847 is in Block F-12," the driver said, navigating through the orderly grid. "That’s one of the newer construction zones—they built it out about five years ago when the last refugee wave hit. Not fancy, but it’s solid housing."
They pulled up in front of a ten-story building that looked exactly like the fifty others visible from this position. Concrete and steel, reinforced with visible formation arrays, with exterior walkways providing access to individual units.
"That’ll be fifteen credits," the driver said.
Zeph pulled out the credit chip Marcus had given him, holding it to the payment scanner. The transaction completed with a soft chime.
"Welcome to Avalon City, kid. Try not to get into too much trouble."
"No promises."
The driver laughed and pulled away, leaving Zeph standing on the sidewalk with his hands in his cargo pants pockets, staring up at the building that was apparently his new home.
Unit 847 was on the eighth floor. He could see the number from here, marking a door on the exterior walkway.
His apartment!
His address!
The first place he’d lived that wasn’t rubble, ruins, or makeshift shelter since waking up in this world three years ago!
Zeph adjusted his hood, shifted his pack, and started walking toward the building entrance.
His legs felt heavy. Not from physical exhaustion—his VIT 161 kept him functional despite days without real rest—but from the sheer psychological weight of everything he’d seen today.
The walls. The gate district. The farmland. The city.
Civilization, operating at a scale that made his three years of lone survival seem like a child playing at being tough.
He climbed the stairs to the eighth floor—elevators were visible but he instinctively avoided enclosed spaces—and found his unit at the end of the walkway.
The door was plain metal, marked with a simple "847" in printed numbers. A scanner next to the handle blinked green when he held his citizen ID against it.
[Ding! Access Granted - Welcome Home, Citizen Mercer]
The lock disengaged with a soft click.
Zeph pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The apartment was small. One room serving as bedroom and living space, a tiny kitchenette along one wall, a bathroom door visible in the corner. Maybe 300 square feet total.
But it was clean. The walls were intact. The window had actual glass. The bed was real, with sheets and a pillow. The kitchenette had a small cooling unit, a heating element, running water from a tap that worked when he tested it.
Functional. Basic. Safe.
Zeph closed the door behind him, locked it, and just stood there for a moment in his first private space since his previous life.
Three years.
Three years of sleeping in ruins, one eye always open for threats. Three years of calculating whether the noise outside was rain or approaching enemies. Three years of never, ever truly resting.
And now he had a door that locked. Walls that would hold. A bed that wasn’t rubble with a tarp thrown over it.
He dropped his pack on the floor, pulled off his hoodie, and collapsed onto the bed fully clothed.
The mattress was too short for his height—his feet hung off the end by several inches—but it was soft, and it didn’t have broken springs trying to stab him, and it wasn’t freezing cold or soaking wet or infested with anything.
It was perfect!
’Time to sleep,’ Zeph thought, his exhaustion finally catching up to him now that his survival instincts had confirmed he was in a genuinely safe location.
’Real sleep. Not combat naps. Just... actual rest.’
His eyes closed.
For the first time in three years, Zeph fell asleep without keeping one hand on a weapon.