As they crossed Earthstorm Bridge, it gave Ian a most peculiar sensation of "weightlessness."
If they had been Earthlings living in the interstellar age, they surely would have understood it easily, right? It was like the slight floating sensation caused by an elevator plunging rapidly or an airplane landing, only fifty times stronger than that subtle feeling.
"This isn't wind! Or rather, there is wind, but that isn't the true essence—it's only the surface..."
Ian immediately sensed that something was wrong. "This... gravity has been reduced?!"
The discovery sent a shiver down the youth's spine.
Earthstorm Bridge was not long. Ian had Hua An and Frost Butterfly go ahead while he approached the bridge's edge and looked down upon the seemingly endless Abyss of the Bat Great Rift.
He could not see anything. Precognitive Vision likewise showed only darkness. The solid cliff faces on either side were smooth and gentle, with safety nets and railings in place—clearly safeguards set up by the surrounding towns to prevent pedestrians and children from falling in.
The bottom of the rift was simply too far away. The Bat Great Rift was several thousand, perhaps even ten thousand meters deep. It was said to be the "embryo of a new sea" formed by tectonic movement, its origin being the tendency of the plates beneath the Bison Mountains to split from the Setar Plate.
Even after activating the Silver Chip, he could only vaguely make out an almost imperceptible dark-red layer at the very bottom... but it was not clear. Ian could not determine whether it was merely an illusion.
But whatever the truth was, he had to overturn his previous notion that the bottom of the Bat Great Rift housed "some geothermal power station." That thing was clearly not nearly impressive enough. What lay underground