Ocean Master

Chapter 320 - The Clown City.

Once Sebastian decided that his priority was to go round and scout the whole city, his first course of action was easily finalized in his head. Sebastian decided to get a map of the clown city first.

His priority was to know the city first before he could improvise on how to go forward with his other plans and to know the city, he needed a map.

As for how to get a map, all he needed to do was to ask around. 

Though Sebastian didn't know the overall layout of this city yet, from how few clownfishes he saw here, he was able to easily guess that this part of the city was the outskirts that were reserved for visitors like himself.

Though this part of the city was probably reserved for visiting predators like himself, it still had the basic developments of a city, including what Sebastian could only describe as a monster bar.

This bar was unlike anything that Sebastian had seen in his life before. With a gigantic size that made it seem like the legendary magic bean, this was a bar that was filled with the most carefree of visiting predators.

For the first time since transmigrating into this world, Sebastian heard music.

"…the way you rollin rollin".

"…kickin, freakin me out".

"…the way you pushing pushing".

"…prudding, moving me out".

"…oh ya ya ya".

After a long time of living a life of cannibalism, though Sebastian already saw a lot of signs that pointed towards it from observing the city, entering inside was a different case, and finally hearing music sang a different tune to him.

Sebastian felt a strange sense of tranquility engulfing his heart as the rhythmic music kept on blasting from the speakers, giving him exciting vibes.

Unconsciously, his enormous shark body started shaking and moving to the vibes as he swam closer to the counter that was in the middle of the bar.

This bar was a fairly mundane one. With what seemed like a wine cabinet hanging behind the bar counter, and a huge hall for predators to hang out, fooling around, it presented the most basic winding up environment to predators.

By the time Sebastian swam up to the bar counter, all his worries already faded away with the music and his brain felt fresh like a baby's.

"Pretty shark, how can I help you?"

Sebastian turned his head to see who just called him pretty. This was a giant female sea horse with an apron adorning her huge giant body, and at this moment this sea horse revealed a spooky smile at him.

"Umm, ah, I need to get a map".

"A map? Ok, I got you, 2 clown credits for a map".

"…"

Sebastian was shocked, he had already gotten used to the carefree life of this world and he once again forgot that he needed money to get a map.

"Uhh, sorry, I have no money".

"Easy peasy, welcome to the exclusive Anemone domain money lenders club. We lend money to you, you pay us with interest when you're ready, easy business, both of us are satisfied, finished".

"…"

"What is the interest rate?" Sebastian cautiously asked.

The Sea horse's smile became wider and slightly nefarious. "You'll have to pay 10% of the full money as interest for every day that passes, easy business".

"…"

"Holy shit! You're not serious right now, right?" Sebastian was spooked by the outrageous interest rate as he could not help but ask.

Getting a positive answer, he calmly picked his huge butt and swam away. Unfortunately for him, after asking around extensively, to his dismay, Sebastian discovered that this money lending club was the only one around.

Left with no choice, Sebastian returned to borrow 10 clown credits from which he used 2 credits to get the much-coveted map.

While he left with the map, the other predators who saw him borrowing money looked on at him like he was a hero, the protagonist of a movie, or who else would so nonchalantly borrow money with such an interest rate?

Sebastian knew he was scammed, he felt like crying but at least he got what he wanted. With the map, he finally got the most basic understanding of this city.

To Sebastian's shock though, after referencing the map, he discovered that the model used in planning this city was familiar to him.

"Holy Shit! The concentric zone model?!"

Sebastian was shocked. Just one glance at the city layout revealed to him that its planning made use of the concentric zone model.

Sebastian's main hobby was anatomy in his previous world, but at times he got tired of doing it all the time. During these rare moments, he got to wind down by randomly surfing the internet for stuff and facts.

That was when he knew of the concentric zone model. If his memory was not bad, this was one of the earliest theoretical models to explain urban social structures and it was created by one sociologist called Ernest something.

Just this discovery alone left Sebastian more shocked. His system from the beginning drew a clear line to him that this was not earth, so how on earth did discoveries from earth filter into this world?

Was all this because of his transmigration?

A lot of thoughts went through his mind as he tried to rationalize this, but in the end, after trying fruitlessly, he went back to studying the city layout.

Just like with the concentric zone model of planning, the clown city was divided into the commuter zone, the residential zone, the working-class zone, the zone of transition, the factory zone, the central business district, and one additional zone referred to as the zone of glory.

The outermost zone of the city was the commuter zone which includes the suburbs and outskirts. People who live here were furthest from the central business district and therefore had to commute great distances to work.

The bar where Sebastian bought the map was in the commuter zone.

The residential zone was where most of the sea anemones hibernated, serving as homes to the numerous clown fishes who lived in them.

The residential zone was one of the biggest in the city, and it was also the lowest level that normal visitors like Sebastian were restricted to visiting.

To get access to the more inner zones, Sebastian had some special requirements to fulfill which could either take a lot of time or effort to fulfill.

The working-class zone presented the real city. Filled with the more gigantic sea anemones, this was the first entrance to the more developed parts of the city where work takes place and development originates from. 

The zone of transition is the area between the factory zone and the working-class zone. If the working-class zone was where most industrial services in the city take place, the factory zone was where core research takes place.

The factory zone is where most of the magic in this high-grade rural settlement takes place. The zone of transition was in between and served as an expanse of land which defended this core region.

An army of clownfish is always stationed at the zone of transition, and no visitor could enter this core region of the anemone domain.

If the factory zone was where the magic takes place, the central business district was where the magic was utilized.

As the most developed region of the whole city, this was the heart of the anemone domain. The most gigantic sea anemones resided here, and the most important clownfish dignitaries got to work here.

This was the district of the higher-ups. It was like the Whitehouse of the anemone domain, and it was tightly protected from any form of harm.

The zone of glory was the most important zone of the anemone domain.

Rumors call it the zone where the clown god once passed through, and rumors also said that the very first sea anemone that decided to settle in this region and was literally the founder of this thriving city resided here.

No other information about the zone of glory was revealed. Every other thing about it was shrouded by a thick layer of fog, making it seem more mysterious.

After going through the full map, Sebastian's curiosity about this special monster city peaked, he was now hyped more than ever to explore the city.

He thought he was getting silver when he decided to visit a monster city, what he didn't expect was to receive gold. This monster city was developed and well-planned in a way that defied common sense.

Sebastian was sure that this was a feat unachievable to normal predators, there was a mystery behind it and he felt hyped to crack it.

Who did this? Who is the clown god? Is the clown god the Clown king?

The questions that he had were numerous, but above all, Sebastian was hyped that he finally got what he needed to explore the city in its full glory.