Endless Evolution: Last Star

Tron was one of the few high-level Phantoms Adam was familiar with.

One day, Tron saved Adam and his squad from Dead Lands as a Phantom sent to help.

He was at the party, helped Adam with advice when he was trapped in Fall Hill Prison, and had several important conversations with both Adam and Silvana that served to adjust their relationship.

It also shouldn't have been forgotten that Tron had a special Operator, Riska. She was Phantom but turned down that role as she never wanted to be the one. Her path was followed by Narata, the guardian from Fall Hill Prison, who told Adam about her problem.

Tron managed to help her by allowing her to leave her life as the Phantom in the past. She now had her own Phantom as well as Riska, who was always by Tron's side. She was excited to fulfill her duties as it was what she always wanted.

Step. Step. Step.

Silvana quickly ran along the wide road approaching a massive building set amidst dense forest and fields.

Strangely enough, this place was in the Second Ring.

The Second Ring was smaller than the Third Ring, but not by much, and in some ways, the Second Ring was much larger, it was a bit of a complicated situation.

There were many more people in the Third Ring than in the Second Ring, the same was true of the First Ring where there were even fewer people than in the Second Ring.

But, to understand the situation here, numbers were needed.

In total, about 50 million people were living in the Citadel, taking into account the Upper Ring and the Lower Ring, the ratio between them was somewhere around 70/30.

The information could have errors and inaccuracies, because if the government knew about almost every inhabitant in the Upper Ring, from a simple worker to the Phantom, they had no such control over the Lower Ring, but presumably 30% of the population lived there, that is 15 million.

So 35 million people were living in the Upper Ring.

It was worth realizing that this was not the entire human population, as there were still the Bastions, but now it was not about them.

Globally, the Upper Ring was divided into four zones - the slums, the Third Ring, the Second Ring and the First Ring.
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The slums were the poorest zone, but not the majority lived there. Although rather slowly and with difficulty, every year the government managed to reduce the number of people in the slums, as well as its territory with the help of absorption by the Third Ring.

It was still a long time before the slums disappeared completely, but the trend was stable and working.

So... 8 million people were living in the slums.

The largest area in terms of both population and territory was the Third Ring, with 13 million people living there, which was more than a third of all the people in the Upper Ring.

The Second Ring was the second largest area, its area was 80-90% of the Third Ring depending on estimates, however, the population was much smaller. 9 million people were living in the Second Ring, which was one and a half times less than in the Third Ring.

The richest and smallest area was the First Ring, it was much smaller than the Second Ring, the difference was several times. However, 5 million people were living in the First Ring.

True, it was about one and a half times less than in the Second Ring, but considering the difference in territory, it wasn't anything impressive.

This was because another indicator was important: population density.

The First Ring had the highest population density. There were skyscrapers everywhere, hundreds of buildings in each of which thousands of people could live, the layout of the buildings was compact, allowing for the most efficient use of limited territories.

In the Third Ring, there were many people, but also the territory was significantly larger, so people did not experience a shortage of free space and there was always a place to build a private house. Also, people here did not feel that they were living in a wasteland with no one else around.

There were many uninhabitable places in the slums, but given the number of people and the size of the area, as well as the cost of housing, the population density was average.

However, the situation changed completely with the Second Ring. The territory was almost as large as the Third Ring, but there were far fewer people.

This led to the Second Ring being the place where the largest number of different factories, farms, plantations, private homes, parks, industrial areas, and so on were located, all of which needed a lot of space.

Sure, all of this was also in the Third Ring, but on a much smaller scale. The Second Ring had lakes as well as forests, mountains, and many other climatic zones. Many people from the Third Ring who lived on the border would go to work in the Second Ring, to some factory, then return home in the evening.

In addition to the above facilities, the Second Ring was home to warehouses, estates, arsenals, or training areas for anyone who had any influence, from small organizations to the military and the government.

Sure, the Big Three were no exception to that rule.

Because right now, Silvana was approaching one of the many training complexes belonging to the Dark Oder.

The building in front of her was tall, looking like the castle of an exceptionally strict ruler. Smooth walls and right angles, reinforced concrete frames rising upward, that was all that could be said of this building, which gave off a calm, oppressive atmosphere.

There was nothing around this complex but a forest and a few fields, as well as a few kilometers around. The perfect place to immerse oneself in the process.

Step.

Silvana stopped as she hurriedly glanced at her watch.

"Fuck! Why is this place in the middle of nowhere?! I'm already three minutes late!"

Silvana bit her lip before waving her head and heading towards the massive gate - the entrance to the training complex.