Holy City and Utopia

The city was a perfect circle, composed of nine concentric rings. The outermost ring had a diameter of sixty-five kilometers, while the innermost measured five kilometers across. The outer wall stood a hundred meters tall and emitted a faint glow; even at its base, there were no shadows.

The walls of the inner rings grew shorter one after another, dividing the city into separate circles connected by dozens of gates.

Yet aside from the two central rings, which held numerous buildings, the rest of the city stood completely empty. Other than rivers, bridges, gates, and stairways, there were no structures.

The city's greatest feature was its brilliance—its overwhelming, almost oppressive wealth.

The entire city had been built from golden stone, fine in texture and indistinguishable from gold in both appearance and feel. Even merchants accustomed to seeing gold would likely struggle to tell the difference at a glance.

But if someone struck it with a blade, they would discover that the walls were as hard as magical weapons and even possessed the ability to repair themselves.

At the city's center stood a circular spire known as the "Dawnlight Spire." Three thousand meters tall, it pierced the clouds like a golden steel needle. Day or night, the spire cast three colored beams of differing widths down onto the ground and walls below, rotating clockwise like the hands of a clock.

If people stood in the central plaza or looked down upon the city from the spire or the walls, they could easily tell the current time.

Moreover, the Dawnlight Spire spread sunlight and Moonlight evenly across every corner of the city.

Such as the first ray of sunlight at dawn.

This enormous city was "utterly ordinary"—merely a little larger, a little taller, a little brighter, and a little wealthier...

Anse had