“My internal archaeological index tells this is a surviving image from history, marking a critical turning point in the passage of eras.
“The Eternal Empire once poured all its might into erecting the Tower of Origin at the very center of the world, intending to dominate all the Supre Benevolences, reign over the world forever, and control everything.
“But the Celestial Pillar hadn’t even been completed before it collapsed, causing the old order to utterly collapse. The Origin split in two, indirectly leading to the formation of the Federation and the Empire over ninety years later.
“Stars fell from the heavens, and fire surged from the earth. Blood rained from the sky for three years. Plague ran rampant, disasters ravaged for twenty-one years, until the Eternal Dynasty completely ended, yet its aftershocks never truly dissipated. Even to this day, natural calamities continue to plague the land.”
This was the last wail before the Empire’s destruction, taking with it two-thirds of all life on the surface.
After the Primordial Era and the Age of Chaos, it had seed that the once endless, infinite, and eternal Radiant Era had drawn its curtain. But at that ti, the prologue of the Cataclysm Era had not yet begun.
The lawless Age of Chaos had endured for ninety-three years until the Twelve Supre Benevolences reclaid their positions, the Origin was restored, and two sages, the first Celestial Overseer and the Terrestrial Guardian, once again erected the foundation of order.
Yet the sky and earth did not return to tranquility. Instead, between the Federation and the Empire, long and unseen friction and stalemate took hold.
The world seed frozen: it did not collapse outright, but from the bitter chill of hatred and enmity, turmoil raged without end, and war flared and faded like a shifting fla.
Over four hundred years later, a sudden, unforeseen disaster struck once more. The calamity swept across the land, leaving only a single survivor, who beca a Chosen One by a twist of fate ten years later. The sa Chosen One finally stepped into this place.
Thus, ti and history were woven together through countless struggles, suffering, turmoil, and death. Amid the myriad of threads, one single strand, the thread of fate, continued on with Ji Jue.
Through the long expanse of ti, he finally witnessed the silhouette the sage had left behind on the other side. It was a complex tapestry, with ti as the dium and the events of the human world as threads, dyed and woven by the Supre Benevolences.
They were scattered across different intervals, distant from each other yet subtly connected. To the sage and to the world, this had beco a magnificent pattern, but Ji Jue himself was rely one pixel among countless colors.
In a sudden daze, Ji Jue gazed at the scene outside the window and at the lingering spectral shadow of the sage, and once again felt the insignificance of his own existence, as if he were a single grain of sand in the vast ocean.
“When the Tower of Origin collapsed, did anything else happen?” Ji Jue asked.
“You’d better ask what didn’t happen. Everything that should have happened did, and everything that shouldn’t have happened, happened too. The fall of the Eternal Empire was too sudden. Most surviving records contradict each other or point in completely opposite directions. But one thing is certain... rcury wasn’t even here at the ti.”
The devil’s work ball reminded him, “As the Empire’s greatest internal threat, the mber of Onyx, rcury, had already beco a sage, and her involvent with the organization had made her just as much of a threat as their leader, Titan.
“At that ti, all the Onyx mbers had mobilized to target the Tower of Origin. Afterwards, countless pieces of evidence pointed to them. They may as well have been the true culprits behind the tower’s collapse. rcury undoubtedly played a key role. It’s even possible that the overturning of the Tower of Origin was her doing.”
Ji Jue turned in shock, gazing at the apparition.
The phantom remained unchanged. But from her gaze, it looked as if she was the true culprit staring at the sins and bitter fruits she had personally sown.
For a fleeting mont, the phantom seed to look back, across the expanse of ti, and fix its eyes on the young man who, many years later, would trespass into its long-abandoned workshop.
But after the mont of shock passed, when Ji Jue focused and looked carefully, he realized the phantom had vanished without a word. It was gone, never to be seen again. A shiver ran down his spine. His whole body went cold. Was this workshop really haunted?
An Ran didn’t react at all, still squatting on the ground, poking curiously at the discarded, broken instrunts. Noticing Ji Jue’s gaze, he looked up in confusion.
“Ti to go, kid.” The devil sounded resigned. Its blue glow contracted. “I’ve checked eight or nine tis. There’s nothing hostile here, not a single trace of any matrix. Alright, I misread this one. We ca all the way here for nothing.”
“Go?” Ji Jue hesitated. After all, leaving empty-handed feels the sa as not coming at all, and after being scared half to death, he at least wanted to get sothing to make it worthwhile.
But as he looked around, he realized it wasn’t that the ball was useless; there was genuinely nothing left here.
When a workshop moved, the important things were never left behind. Anything nonessential left unattended for centuries was completely ruined. All that remained was a fixed furnace, immovable, and honestly worse than if it were rebuilt from scratch. It was entirely useless in its current, long-extinguished state. Without any corresponding spirit circuits or equipnt, trying to salvage it would be a dream.
Wait... the furnace?
Ji Jue froze. His attention focused onto the rusted, battered furnace. His eyes glead with excitent, and he couldn’t look away. How could he have forgotten such a massive treasure?!
He swallowed hard, then dashed to the window to look down. In just a few minutes, the guardians and Hocoming Knights below were locked in fierce battle, the fight at its peak.
He spun back around. “Mr. Ball, can this furnace still be started?”
The devil’s work ball pulsed with light, spawning countless question marks. “No, bro, this thing’s been out cold for... how many years? It’s completely worthless now. If you try to start it recklessly, it’ll blow for sure. You just have to ss with a sage-level setup, huh?”
“Yes!” Ji Jue nodded firmly. “Anyway, don’t ask, don’t question it. Just tell if it works or not!”
The ball paused. It really wanted to refuse such a reckless command, but the low-level instructions and permissions left behind by Professor Ye forced it to comply. “If you’re going to court death, I can’t stop you, but I won’t guarantee the outco. As long as it doesn’t blow up, I’m fine.”
Ji Jue grinned, cracking his knuckles as he stared at the dormant furnace before him, eyes shining.
I’m still young, and we’re already all the way here now... I at least have to touch the furnace, right?
Blow up? Ji Jue would be worried if it didn’t! Even after over four hundred years, even with decades of neglect, if it could start, that ant there was still a chance to awaken it with ability!
To gain such a huge amount of EXP, if I survive, it’ll all be worth it!
“Start!”
Ji Jue didn’t hold back, pouring all his spirit matter into the ball. In his hands, it surged, and its near-infinite internal recursive structures expanded explosively. In a flash, the complex circuits had been laid across the walls, floor, and ceiling!
Runic clusters, like a field of stars, unfurled around the emblem of Supre Benevolence, fading into the void, only to reconnect everything once more. Layer by layer, they interfaced with the furnace’s external ports, forcibly assimilating it into their own system.
Low-level commands were overwritten, specifications converted, main circuits adjusted... The dizzying operations that would normally take hours were completed in an instant.
The mobile workshop deploynt was complete. A violent grinding noise erupted from outside the temporary workshop erected by the ball.
The rift realm workshop’s own search and detection protocols activated, locking onto this anomaly in an instant. The struggle between the workshop and the divine creation had begun once again!
“Stealth protocol terminated. Offensive and defensive mode engaged. Parasitic integration initiated.” The devil’s work ball’s voice lost all emotion and inflection, barely able to maintain its simulated personality. “Ti-sand reserves consumption initiated, estimated duration: 1 minute 14 seconds.”
“Thanks, Mr. Ball! I’ll make up for this with so spirit matter later!”
Without another thought for courtesy, Ji Jue pressed his hands onto the furnace and issued the command. “Awaken!”
The first command felt like speaking into the void, as he received no response. The second command stirred a faint, dim glow within the silence. By the third command, that fragile, flickering resonance, like a candle in the wind, exploded into a colossal echo that swallowed Ji Jue’s soul and consciousness!
It was as if opening the lid of a long-dry well, restarting the machinery, but what gushed out was a torrent far greater than a waterfall in flood.
Spirit matter drained at a breakneck pace, yet the flow couldn’t be stopped. His hands felt glued to the black void of the furnace, impossible to pull away. On his watch, the energy reserves plumted, completely drained in a re snap of the fingers.
The furnace, as if still unsatisfied, didn’t open further, but after just a shallow taste, it voluntarily stopped.
Ji Jue collapsed to the floor, pale and soaked in cold sweat, and dizzy from the overload. Quick as ever, An Ran drew the ergency injection gun from his backpack, aiming for the base of Ji Jue’s neck, ensuring he wouldn’t collapse from the severe depletion of spirit matter.
He had never before used his ability to awaken such a massive creation. It wasn’t the sheer size, nor the complexity of the structure; it was the accumulation of the past and the traces left by the forr sage, which were far too imnse. Even simply granting it awareness left Ji Jue utterly drained.
Now, the furnace trembled slightly with its rust flaking off, and from the open core flickered a sliver of light, like a phantom of a soul. It was thinking, recalling, and comprehending. Within the consciousness, an aged voice echoed with tallic resonance, weary and regretful.
“Has it really been over four hundred years? Thank you for your assistance, stranger. How may I serve you? Alas, I am of little use now.”
Ji Jue sat upright, composed, and said earnestly, “I am a humble novice seeking guidance. Please, enlighten .”
The furnace fell silent, as if contemplating. “I understand... if it is rely this...”
Ji Jue had no ti to respond. The lingering flas within the furnace suddenly erupted, and a vast, surging flood of light swept across him.
Then, it latched onto Horsey.
“Beep? Beep?”
The scooter-dog squatting nearby, sneakily watching the drama unfold, could not react in ti. Just like that, it was yanked straight inside!
The furnace sealed shut, and flas roared, leaving only the scooter’s final terrified screams echoing through the air.
“Beeeeeeeeeeeep!!!”
User Comments
0 comments from readers