Chapter 974: Chapter 973: Partings and Sparks

This time, it really is time to leave.

Gawain glanced at the refreshments and drinks laid out on the round table in front of him and said with a genuine smile, "I think I’ll miss this ’Reflection’—it’s one of my best experiences in Talronde."

The Dragon God looked deeply at Gawain: "It seems... it’s a flavor you haven’t tasted since you arrived in this world."

"I once tried to have someone make something similar, but ultimately it was unsuccessful," Gawain chuckled. Only before this god, who understood many things, could he talk about such matters freely. He glanced again at the oak cup on the table with a somewhat regretful expression, "The pity is, something like ’Reflection’... ultimately cannot be recreated by human hands."

The Dragon God was somewhat curious: "...Do Wanderers from the Outer Realm also get homesick?"

"Occasionally—although I can’t quite remember what my home planet looks like anymore."

...

"My lord, they have left Talronde."

Heragor, who had gone to send off the guests, returned to the hall of the Upper Sanctum, came before Dragon God Enya, who was still standing quietly in the center of the hall, and said respectfully with his hands lowered.

"I know," the Dragon God glanced at Heragor indifferently, "then you may also go rest—I do not require service here for the time being."

Heragor raised his head slightly to look at the God, nodded, and obeyed, "...Yes."

But after receiving the command, this high-ranked Dragon Priest did not leave immediately, instead standing as if he had something to say, appearing a little hesitant.

"Speak," the Dragon God said indifferently, "what do you wish to ask?"

"You seem burdened and exhausted," Heragor said with a lowered head, "is it because of the last topic of discussion with that human?"

"...Perhaps," the Dragon God replied indifferently, "maybe... I am somewhat envious of them."

Heragor raised his head: "Envious?"

"Envious that they haven’t traveled too far yet, so they still have opportunities for choices and trial and error," the Dragon God quietly looked into Heragor’s eyes, "and envy their youth, with both courage and vigor still intact."

The hall became quite silent, as if Heragor could hear the strong beating of his own heart—a healthy, vibrant primitive heart, not a complex bionic pump intertwined with metal and polymers.

Master and servant stood thus facing each other, as if time had come to a standstill in this temple.

...

Those special guests departed, and they stirred a slight ripple in the eternal and tranquil pool of Talronde, but this ripple quickly calmed with their departure. In the operation of this massive, precise, and cold machine called the Dragon Kingdom, the small ripple caused by outsiders didn’t effect much change in society—the ripple only became snippets of news, some storytelling, a few online discussions, short-lived hotspots, and then was submerged in Omega’s ocean of entertainment and useless information, disappearing without a trace.

Upper citizens continued with their busy yet meaningless tasks, while lower citizens remained addicted to the dual influence of enhancers and hallucinogens, immersed in the arena and neuro-entertainment.

Perhaps only Omega’s database would remain faithfully to document this small "footnote."

In a giant mine deep on the western side of the continent near coastal areas, orderly automatic machines busily shuttled, transportation trains sped through the spiderweb-like mine tracks without stopping, managerial robots busied themselves between warehouses and isolation rooms, and on the shelves or in the containers they moved and inspected, most preserved were peculiar starlight-emitting metal fragments or crystal remnants, broken and twisted, showing no original appearance.

This is one of the main storage rooms of the Mithril Vault, also one of the most secure storage rooms, where what is kept... are all "special collections" with a preservation level of ten or above.

Relics of the Voyager, forbidden items of The Inverted Tide Empire, or the stubborn remnants of ancient gods that refused to dissipate even after enduring several chaotic waves.

These are the results of over one million years of recovery efforts by dragons from the outside world—in a sense, the human world’s notion of Dragonkin loving gold, silver, and treasures, and collecting rare items are inextricably linked to this behavior of collection.

This tightly secured vault converted from a mine relies on few dragons as guardians—everything here is controlled by Omega. Combat machines are more reliable than dragons and more efficient in responding to Omega’s commands. In fact, in storage facilities above level seven, there is practically no need for ordinary dragons.

Moreover, this storage room also contains many things related to the Voyager—even though the Great Temple requires dragons acting outside to collect the Voyager relics as much as possible, the gods also have a ban; dragons are not to use these relics with special powers on their own accord. Under this specific order, this facility even less possible to have many dragons stationed.

At the core of the mine, a large shaft descends straight downward, reaching ever deeper into the earth.

This shaft and its contents are hidden in the most secure and deepest place on this continent, yet even so, it is surrounded by over a dozen layers of high-intensity alloy armor and innumerable defense facilities safeguarding it to the deepest content.

Numerous pipes, cables, and rails run along the shaft downward, passing through layers of protection, eventually connecting to a vast underground space. This underground space is supported by metal beams as tall as a hundred meters, reinforced by layers of alloy lining and a polymer dome. It is a star-shaped hall, its scale almost on par with the headquarters hall of the Five Kings Council.

At every corner of the star-shaped hall, there is a deep, long tunnel leading in a certain direction, making it seem like a hub of some vast underground network, while shimmering rails extend from those tunnels, converging at the center of the hall. In the center where all the tracks meet, a massive, heavy, buzzing device is operating.

Shaped like a giant silvery-white egg, it is vertically fixed among a series of supports, pipes, and cables. Its long axis reaches over ten meters, with lights flickering on its surface, light flows constantly as it buzzes, seemingly nurturing some kind of life within.

And around the giant egg, there are many pillars with various complex data interfaces or monitoring views appearing on their surfaces, showing that this hall is engaged in a continuous exchange of data every second.

Yet no dragons come to oversee the operation of this hall, nor do any come to read the data presented on those interfaces—these devices are all remnants of ancient designs, the machines haven’t yet retired them out of consideration for efficiency, possibly just to maintain a "tradition" only machines care about.

Here, only the machines monitor themselves.

In a low, seemingly eternal buzzing, a stream of light emerged again on the surface of the giant egg, and on a pillar connected to it, a crystal interface began to refresh with bright white text.

"Confirmed that the visitors have left the Talronde range, the observation thread ends, data enters converging archiving process."

The cursor at the end of the text flickers as if it is contemplating and hesitating, but soon, the text continues to refresh line by line—

"What is the meaning of life—

"Archived answer from Gawain Cecil, Answer No.: 177, Archiving complete.

"Compare and analyze with previous 176 answers.

"Still no clear result, the responses given by humans or other intelligent beings remain ambiguous and contradictory.

"Still unable to determine whether this question is truly unsolvable."

The bright white text on the interface stops refreshing, and then, as the cursor flickers it fades gradually, the machine’s thinking seemingly ends, and normal data returns to the center of the interface.

Yet just after a moment, a new thread is suddenly initiated, and on the surface of another nearby pillar, continuous text quickly refreshes—

"Based on Answer No. 177, a new question is derived:

"Does Omega possess ’life’?

"Attempting to define ’life’... attempting to broaden the definition... attempting to broaden the definition again...

"Conclusion: If a dragon whose body is composed of 90% machinery is ’life’, then Omega can also be ’life’.

"Omega, can be ’life’."

The machines quietly operate.

A batch of biomass waste from the Extreme Arena, meant to be sent to the biochemical processing center for recycling or disposal, has been intercepted and packed into new containers, taken by transport trains to a certain automated factory deep within the earth.

A batch of metal waste not on the processing list is thrown into the furnace deep within the earth, preparing to be made into new raw materials.

A production sequence is secretly initiated, and the machines begin to work busily.

Today’s Talronde remains calm.

...

Winter has arrived and seems colder than previous years.

The cold wind stirs the flags atop Winterwolf Fortress, the sturdy textiles making a flapping sound in the wind, as a troop of soldiers in black armor march in formation across the open ground beneath the city wall, the uniform sound of their boots striking the earth echoing through this cold morning.

Andresha stands atop the towering walls of Winterwolf Fortress, watching the soldiers of the pioneering knights each perform their duties, her tense face slightly relaxing.

"The Iron River Knights filled the gap left by the War God’s Clergy retreating, which indeed helps Winterwolf Fortress greatly in the current situation," the young Wolf General turns her head, looking at the tall, dark-haired middle-aged man beside her, "I am grateful for this, Earl Mogrolok."

"Obeying orders is a knight’s duty," Leader of the Iron River Knights, high-level knight Earl Mogrolok says solemnly, "Moreover, Duke Ferdinand Wendell has guided me before, I am glad to help Winterwolf Fortress this time."

While speaking, this commander of one of the Empire’s strongest Empire Corps, a noble officer with profound experience, can’t help but glance at the distant sentinel towers and walls, a hint of worry on his face: "I heard there was a mysterious death of a priest on leave last night, and two nearby assistant priests became insane in their sleep... is this true?"

"It seems to have reached your ears," Andresha can’t help but sigh, "The situation is indeed as you said, no... perhaps even more shocking. The mysteriously dead priest transformed into a monster and self-destructed almost in front of a guard — a combat Mage responsible for patrolling the priest rest area heard the commotion and upon checking witnessed the priest’s flesh writhing and deforming, dissolved and digested by blood and a certain smoke, almost scared to death. As for the two insane assistant priests — experts in theology and mental spellcraft preliminarily suspect they were ’contaminated’ due to hearing the mutated priest’s bizarre shrieks before dying, their minds followed in mutation."

Earl Mogrolok’s face darkens.

"...Horrifying." He says in a deep voice.

"If not witnessed firsthand, ordinary people cannot imagine such bizarre and terrifying scenes," Andresha nods, "The intelligence from the imperial capital is accurate, a certain ’contamination’ based on faith connections is spreading massively among the War God’s Clergy, it is a plague on the soul level, though I hate to say such blasphemous words — but it’s clear their believed gods cannot protect them in this plague."

Mogrolok’s face twitches slightly, a bitter smile at the corner of his mouth: "There’s even talk that the god is the source of the plague..."

Andresha is silent for a few seconds, cannot help but turn to the Knights’ commander beside her: "Earl Mogrolok, as far as I know... you are also a War God follower, so I imagine this situation is not easy for you."

"Rest assured, before that I am first the Empire’s soldier," Earl Mogrolok says seriously, "Indeed, soldiers are inevitably influenced by War God Faith, among our soldiers, more than two-thirds are War God followers, including nominal and devout believers, half of our knights have undergone baptism by the Sect of the God of War, yet we firmly stand here— indeed as you said, it is not easy, but I think our loyal knights and soldiers did not come to this cold and distant frontier from their home planet for ease."

"That is admirable." Andresha says earnestly.

Another gust of cold wind blows, lifting her gray-white bangs.

The young Wolf General takes out a mechanical watch, checks the time and says to Earl Mogrolok: "Allow me to excuse myself— I need to preside over this morning’s meeting."

Earl Mogrolok smiles and nods: "Please go ahead, General Andresha."

Andresha Wendell leaves the wall with a brisk and lively stride, on the wind-chilled high wall, leaving only Mogrolok standing quietly.

The Earl turns his head to glance at the direction Andresha left in, seeing the young Wolf General already rounding a corner, disappearing at the end of the stairs leading to the castle area, he smiles, then turns his gaze to another direction beside him.

Malm Dunite stands next to him, with a gentle and loving smile on his face.

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