The Yggdrasil civilization has already done some investigation into the Umbra world. This is where the information he was given before the expedition came from.
But that information is outdated. Even if it isn't, there might be danger around, which is why scouting is needed and also why it is dangerous to scout.
But he is confident of keeping his life, so he took the mission. His armor created a force field around him that prevented the cold winds from reaching him.
His tactical goggles helped him to see in the dark. He doesn't need it, but it will be very important for other soldiers in this perpetually cold, dark world.
The reward for this mission is based on how much ground he covers and what he discovers. So his speed force ability will be able to earn him a lot of merit points.
He said confidently, "I bet I can cycle the world many times in a day."
Unfortunately, he didn't go all out with his speed because he didn't want to draw too much attention to himself. An outstanding soldier will be noticed by both the enemy and the army command.
This can be a good thing or a bad thing. During the last expedition, it was mostly a bad thing. The army command noticed him, so they gave him a squad and used him as bait to kill an enemy demigod who had also noticed him.
He doesn't want a repeat of that, so he didn't go past the speed of sound with his speed. The speed needed to overcome the sound barrier was lower than 320 meters per second in this world. That meant that he used less than one-sixth of his speed in the mission.
He also doesn't want to stray too far from the army, so he only scouted the nearby surroundings. Sometimes, the area he scouted had already been traversed by others, so he didn't earn as many merit points as he is capable of earning.
This difference was further elevated by the presence of a speedster in the army. The speedster had let loose and was making sonic booms everywhere.
The lady was surely earning a lot of merit points, but Kelvin wasn't jealous of her. He only shook his head in pity for her.
If there is one thing he is jealous of, it is her ignorance and disregard for her safety. He wasn't that suicidal, so he didn't make sonic booms as he ran, which would literally announce his presence and call the attention of others to himself.
He put the matter of the suicidal speedster out of his mind and focused on his job.
As a scout, he doesn't need his eyes to do his job. All he needs to be a good scout is to walk around with the mark of the Yggdrasil army on his body.
It is the mark of the army on his body that will do most of the work for me. It will scan everything in his surroundings and send back the information to command, where it is used to update their maps.
But his eyes are important because he needs them to see where he is going, and because the range of perception of his eyes is longer than that of the mark, he can spot danger ahead of him and can avoid it before it is too late.
The Umbra world is a giant planet, several times bigger than that of Earth. The planet is a rock planet, but the outer layer of the ground, or the mantle, is a hard, bone-like material filled with holes.
The ground beneath his feet is full of holes. It is like Emmentaler, a type of Swiss cheese full of holes. But unlike cheese, the material that makes up the ground is sturdy and rock-like. It is why he can walk on the ground without it caving in due to his weight.
The Umbra world has plants, but these plants are not trees. It is definitely not the green trees that he is used to and are everywhere in the Lignum world.
There is very little light available for photosynthesis on Umbra. Daylight is like moonlight, so green plants don't exist here. Every plant that exists in this world is red because of the high content of iron in them.
The most popular plants are similar to moss, fungi, and ferns. The largest type of plant is a vine-like tree that is red and extends far into the air on a single stalk.
Unlike a thick tree, the vines on this world are too thin and weak to support their height. Yet they can rise to great heights without any physical support and increased gravity because of their ability to support themselves with a magnetic field.
This world is dark and far away from the weak star, yet it is not frozen. It is all because of its active magnetic field.
The magnetic field of this world and its gravity are higher than those of Earth-11. While the gravity is just a little bit higher, the magnetic field is many types stronger than that of Earth.
The magnetic field also flips quickly. It is not as stable as that of Earth. This is all because of the special core of the planet.
The magnetic field serves as an insulator that retains heat and drives the winds of the planet.
Normal winds need a difference in temperature to move air from one place to another. Usually, wind moves from regions of hot air to colder regions. But on Umbra world, it is the active magnetic field that drives the movement of wind.
The winds here are called air streams. The creatures that ate holes into the ground produced a lot of sand and feces containing iron. These filings move across the planet together with the magnetic field. This then causes the air to move and drives the wind.
So the wind is full of metal filings that will sand down anything soft. This, the cold and thin oxygen concentration in the air, is why the soldiers are advised to always wear their armor.