Groob answered Lilly's question with a teasing smile:
"Sure. We are going to a truly hellish place."
The pair of siblings simultaneously rolled their eyes as Groob chuckled to himself.
"Ok ok, don't judge me.
We are going to the Hex Trailblazers Training Center."
Lilly hoped for some more information, but judging from Groob's expression it seemed to be common knowledge who the Hex Trailblazers were. Therefore, the young woman tried another angle.
"Hmm… I think Nua told us about this before, but I'm not sure."
"Yeah, she might have talked about it in passing. However, it must have been many years since Nua went there."
"Unfortunately, our parents could also never take us there before they…"
Noticing the genuinely downcast look on Iain's face after he made this remark, Lilly wanted to give her brother a thumbs up. Apparently, the young man also did his best to fit into his new role.
Iain however almost slipped up as he received a notification about acquiring the acting skill. Only remembering his real parents helped him to put on a convincing display.
Groob's eyes showed some pity as he observed the young adults before him.
"Yes, you really didn't have it easy.
This damned, unforgiving Malo Disease. You weren't even given a chance to build up basic resistances. This time at the training center we have to concentrate on your heat and cold resistance."
Groob's words led Lilly to focus on the bit of sweat already forming on her forehead. Since Planet Hex was baked by six stars all the time, high temperatures were common.
Since Lilly and Iain didn't have any comparison though, they didn't realize that the city still wasn't as hot as it should be after receiving the care of six stars.
Lilly covertly observed the crowd around them and noticed no obvious sweat on any of them. The young woman felt a bit embarrassed, hoping that they would reach the training center soon.
As if to fulfill her wish, Groob signaled the siblings to follow him as he approached a glass wall in the middle of the station.
While looking around in confusion, Iain noticed that a good chunk of the crowd went the same way. Many people surrounded one of the three glass domes in the station, waiting for something to happen.
The young smith couldn't gather much information other than what was written on a few monitors circling the dome. The top line on those monitors read 'Hex Trailblazers Training Center: 1'.
Iain didn't get a chance to ask more questions when a loud noise suddenly drew his attention. With the sound of a heavy object dragging on the ground the floor inside the dome suddenly slid down before slowly opening towards the side.
The two unexperienced earthlings were shocked as a massive vehicle suddenly came into view. As soon as the floor had vanished, roaring winds tried to shake the glass dome.
Only now did it dawn on Lilly and Iain, that this city wasn't built on the ground. Unfortunately, almost no light left the newly formed hole, preventing the siblings from seeing what hid beneath the city. They could only make out the contours of a big, flying block of metal.
As the transray slowly rose up into the glass dome, it soon became apparent that form had won over function during the design process. The transray was a massive, cylindrical block of metal.
Only some golden lines decorated its apparent doors. It lacked any obvious decorations other than the symbol representing the Church of Light.
Nonetheless Lilly and Iain were left in awe as the heavy looking transray effortlessly arrived inside the glass dome. Next some metal plates separated from its hull.
In an orderly fashion they floated down and covered up the existing hole as they seemingly fit between the transray and the glass dome. A few of those also positioned themselves in a 45-degree angle, leading up to higher placed doors on the transray.
After the vehicle stopped moving, the glass dome surrounding it was pulled upwards by an invisible mechanism. Only after the ray's doors opened and a green light shone down from the roof, did the crowd start moving forward.
While Groob led the siblings towards one of the slanted ramps, he had a smug smile on his face when he observed their expressions.
"Hehe. Exited for your first ride?"
Iain and Lilly nodded absentmindedly, as they were still slightly shocked. However, the young smith couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"How do those things even fly? They look so heavy!"
The adventurer's smug smile turned slightly embarrassed.
"Mhm. I'm no runesmith, but from what I know their bottoms are basically massive turbines aided by wind magic."
"That's impressive. Do you think I can learn how to build something like this?"
"Without a teacher it won't be easy. On planet Hex we only have one runesmith. They don't grow on trees after all."
"Then I have to learn from him!"
Hearing those words from Iain, Groob's mood dropped slightly.
"Boy, you should forget about it. Aben Olltram is an important member of the Luminous Army. He won't meet with people like us."
Even the sometimes-dense Iain could fell the resentment contained in those words. Not knowing what to say, he coughed awkwardly before focusing his gaze on the transray's door.
Therefore, the trio boarded the public transport in silence. Before they could grab a seat, Groob told a mechanical voice that he would pay for Iain and Lilly for two months. Afterwards a floating drone scanned their ID's before they randomly sat down.
Since the transray didn't have any windows or any special decoration, all seats were more or less the same. Lilly however noticed that none of the adventures or workers, who carried something big, had entered the upper floor with them.
Soon a rumble ran through the transray before it sank below the city and followed its predetermined path.
Still interested in all the novel things they saw today, the siblings curiously turned their heads around. However, the transray really didn't offer them much to study. They could only observe the humans around them.
Many of them had small machines in their ears or strangely watched the air before them.
Lilly soon grew disinterested in the crowd, so she tried to initiate a conversation with their trainer:
"Groob. How long are we travelling?"
The adventurer had naturally calmed down by now, so he answered in a neutral tone:
"About 14 minutes probably. The transrays on Hex are rather slow compared to others."
"So, there are transrays on other planets?"
"Of course. Many planets have transray networks. Other than here on Hex, they are used to travel between cities most of the time."
Lilly and Iain had already read in their books that this planet only had a single city, which somehow repositioned itself on the planet every few hundred years. Iain suddenly though of something as he analyzed the transray.
"Could it be that the transrays here are used to move the city?"
Raising an eyebrow, Groob shot Iain a surprised look.
"Not bad kid. Not many people know this, as not everyone stays on this planet for so long. But yes, the transrays here can lift up the city. I have experienced it myself once. It's really shocking when the whole city suddenly flies."
Lilly also came to a realization now. She hadn't made the conclusion earlier, but now it made sense that the transrays traveled below the city. As the trio had a delightful conversation about transrays they slowly arrived at their destination.
Alighting from their ride, Lilly Iain and Groob found themselves in a much bigger station. Luckily not enough people traveled through here right now, so the crowd didn't appear as dense.
While they made their way towards the exit, Groob explained that this was one of the main stations. Since the Hex Trailblazers brought a lot of materials from outside the city, they even had transrays solely dedicated to transporting cargo here.
On top of that the shops near the trailblazers' HQ also traded with those materials, slowly building a trading hub in this district.
Lilly and Iain soon got to see with their own eyes what a trading center can look like. Compared to the shops lining Escari Street, where their house was located, this place was thousands of times busier.
Exiting the station, they found themselves on a round plaza surrounded by medium-height buildings. They only appeared slightly smaller however, because of the strange towers rising up on a place to their right.
Varying sounds reached their ears form the screens adorning the metallic walls around them. The shops facing the plaza used them to advertise all kinds of products to their future costumers.
Impressive artifacts were sold for hundreds of thousands of Luminous Credits, or LC. The newest technology as well as simple household appliances were praised as things no one could live without.
Lilly and Iain's senses were quickly overstimulated by the aggressive advertising. Luckily Groob soon led them from the plaza as they approached the strange towers which could be observed form the streets.
Lilly and Iain couldn't wrap their heads around why those buildings had normal lower floors, but their upper floors were only supported by pillars instead of walls. Hopefully their question would soon be answered as they walked towards one such tower apparently named Hex Trailblazers Training Center.