The train was soon chugging across the open grasslands just east of Dragonshome. The girls and staff all watched out the windows in wonder as the ever changing scenery rolled past.
Ben kept busy for the first section of the ride by designing a large metal storage cabinet with a thick rubber cushioned interior. Inside the cabinet he stocked it with explosive shells and canister shells in tightly held rubber cushioned partitions.
The rubber lined individual slots held the shells in place and prevented them from bouncing around and banging against each other. The last thing he wanted was to have all of these shells detonate inside this armored car.
The cannon engineers looked over the cannon and Ben had them fire off a couple rounds to see how it operated. The cannon worked great and has great lines of sight with from the turret on the roof, but the sound from the blast was deafening even when the people in the car covered their ears. You could actually feel the sound wave smack against you when the gun was fired.
After two rounds it was enough for everyone. Ben made use of the system store to purchase ten sets of high quality shooting ear protection muffs to leave in the armored car. If they ever had to seriously shoot the ten pounder the people inside the armored car would need the ear protection or they would lose their hearing from the cannon roars.
Ben walked through the cars to the front locomotive after firing the cannon to check on how everything was operating. The two level five engineers were like old veterans who had ran locomotives over thousands of miles of tracks.
They professionally operated the train and the many gauges before them while watching the tracks ahead. Glancing at the different gauges Ben found they were currently traveling at 80 mph!
His engineers informed him if they really pushed the locomotive they would reach speeds near one hundred mph on flat ground. They explained it was possible but not recommended. Pushing the locomotive like this would put a lot of stress on it and make it prone to breaking down.
They soon passed through a tunnel cutting through the eastern mountains on the border of Avalon and Aregard when they came out the other end they were now officially in the Aregard Kingdom and just south of Aregard mines.
Ben had thought this would be a good place to build a train station. Before moving ahead and building it he wanted to run it by the Aregard King. With a train station there they would not have to transport their mined ores as far if they wanted to ship them by train.
The locomotives rapid speed flew across the Aregard Kingdom and arrived at the Goldcrest Station in three hours. The entire trip from Dragonshome to Goldcrest took them four hours and forty minutes to travel.
It was an incredible feat! A trip which took four day by cart in great weather conditions could now be done in just over four hours.
Ben took the girls and staff into Goldcrest for lunch and they found out that Ben was as popular here as he was in Dragonshome. The Goldcrest subjects were pointing him out to one another and greeting him as they crossed the city.
If he currently wasn't surrounded by his people they would have even attempted to stop him to talk. They all went into a nice looking restaurant for lunch and the meal was passable. Once you have eaten at a place with an experienced chef who prepares spirit foods you become a little jaded toward these pretenders.
From the restaurant Ben led his people to the royal palace to drag the king off of his throne to experience the train. He had the palace servants ready his armored carriage he had gifted the Aregard king and told him he would meet him at the train station.
By the time they got back and prepared the train to leave the Aregard king, queen, and royal cultivator came along with a squad of thirty palace guards.
The palace guard sat in the passenger cars while Ben brought the King Tobias Sletten, his wife Chantrea Sletten, and the royal cultivator Brom Duven into the posh armored car.
Ben introduced everyone and they were soon chugging south across the Aregard Kingdom. The new passengers were amazed at the speeds they were traveling as the small outlying towns and villages which once seemed so far apart flew by them before they realized it.
The king was given a tour of the trains cars and shown the locomotive compartment. Two hours of viewing out the window at the vast forest they were cutting through offered some spectacular sights.
When they had come out of the forest they were then officially in the Trareniel Region. Ben had the train use a junction track to turn around and head back toward Goldcrest. Ben would love to take the king with him for the entire journey but he could not leave his kingdom for such a long period of time.
They rolled into Goldcrest near sunset and the king and his party excitedly returned to the castle after a thrilling half day adventure. Ben's party went to his business district where he assigned rooms in his hotel for everyone.
When they all had their room keys Ben allowed his staff to freely visit any of his businesses in his district here. He told them to meet in the hotel lobby at sunrise the next morning and took the girls over to the Theater to watch a play called "The Second Shepherds' Play".
Once the play let out they walked over to the Cabaret and ate a late dinner while a woman wearing a sexy red dress sung with a sultry voice to melo jazz music.
Silvana, Mythia, and Natalia's heads were spinning from the experiences of the day. They were exposed to so many new things. It was if they had a lifetime of adventure thrown at them in a single day.
Without even over drinking they were drunk from the days events. Instead of heading directly back to the hotel he decided to take them over to the tower. They took the elevator to the top and looked out over Goldcrest that was glowing from the candles and fires burning within the many homes below them.
Unfortunately they could not see out across the wilderness landscape but the glowing city below them surrounded by darkness was still a magical sight to behold.
Back at the hotel they walked Mythia to her room for the night. With the level of her cultivation now Ben did not have to worry for her safety while staying in her own private suite. There wasn't anyone in the entire city who was her match besides him and the royal cultivator.
With Silvana and Natalia cradling each of his arms they stopped before reaching Natalia private suite.
The two of them looked at one another before Silvana spoke up, "Ben can we go in to the suite the two of of want to discuss something with you."
"Sure, I'm not really tired let head inside our suite and talk." Ben said.
The three of them enter the private suite together and locked the door behind them.