Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 931: Section 612: Spring Arrives (Part 3)

Chapter 931: Section 612: Spring Arrives (Part 3)

One has the right to chase after desires, just as dreams deserve to be cradled in one’s arms.

Turning to the first page of the mentor’s diary, Anna saw this line.

Different from the very last diary she found, the mentor of this period seemed to have boundless energy and optimism.

With every page turned, the mentor’s joy and anticipation were visible to the naked eye, his first batch of apprentices were growing, and he was like a farmer, awaiting the harvest, unaware of what he would face, and even less aware that his very first experiment nearly plunged him into an irreversible disaster.

The Goddess of Fate truly is a cruel deity.

Anna perused the diary until the final few pages, where she saw streaks of blood, read the words written in red, saw the mentor’s despair, and came across that sentence.

Flesh is weak, and I am powerless, unable to even defeat a wolf. When my apprentices fell, I could not even save their souls... What can I do to save this world?

When can this world be redeemed, do I have an answer?

Next to the final period, there were traces of a mixture of blood and tears faintly present. Anna took a deep breath, then handed the diary to Lena, standing in this tiny room, the deepest part of the refuge, and also the first home of the mentor from those years.

Overhead this refuge, there were some grand towns, but the people of the Eastern Kingdom ultimately forgot all this, forgot that this was once one of their true homelands.

"The last thing mentioned in the diary is a place to the north of Copenhagen called Gribskov; our mentor thought the people of the Eastern Kingdom were too weak, and he wanted to go north, to see for himself the so-called ’steel-nerved’ men of the North," Anna said to Lena, who had opened the diary.

"Then he might as well have come to our Eternal Night Island to meet our elves," Lena remarked, while she noticed the little wraith named Faye asleep on the bed, hugging a scruffy doll: "This doll, it seems like the mentor made it."

"Yes, you can tell by the threading, poor child," Anna looked at the little wraith.

This was the mentor’s first encounter with a Spiritual Body. He said, this child had been sacrificed by her villagers... it sounds ludicrous. Before the Great Destruction Era, ancient humanity had established a ring of stars, they freed themselves from gravity’s fetters, lived in the cosmos beyond the atmosphere, and spaceships shuttled back and forth between lunar colonies and asteroid mining belts.

But in the eighth millennium after the Great Destruction, ignorance and darkness descended once again on this land. The mentor had known Faye when she was very small, a child with certain divine talents. However, talents are not always a ladder to ascent; sometimes they can also become the food for Evil Gods... The Evil God demanded a living sacrifice to save the town, and singled out Faye for it; to save the child, the mentor paid his last bag of gold coins, only to be deceived by the high priest of that Evil God.

He watched the child being sacrificed to the Evil God, yet he was not crushed; instead, he did everything he could to avenge Faye, until he encountered the then King of the Eastern Kingdom. After the King had the Legendary hunters kill the priest and the weak Evil God, he met with the mentor, questioning him that without the strength to save a child, how could he save the world.

The mentor replied, knowledge is also power; with his knowledge, he could teach children who would grow up to be strong enough to save the world.

Thus, the academy was actually also established by that King. In those days, the Eastern Kingdom was once the kingdom with the most high-end combat power, until that rebellion.

Faye’s wraith should have been purified, but she still recognized her mentor, and at his plea, Faye’s wraith was spared. In the time that followed, she became a being like a local bound spirit; she could only live within this area.

"Let’s go," Anna finally chose to leave: "To Copenhagen."

Departing from the refuge, as the massive iron door closed behind them, the old zombie Kunta turned his head to look at them.

"Let’s go; this refuge will soon cease to operate due to the lack of energy... My mission too is nearing its end, but I’ve been waiting here for you, waiting for you to come and execute me."

"...Kunta, do you know that our teacher has a child... perhaps the only one?" Anna said to him.

She saw a glimmer in the eyes of the zombie, saw his twisted smile, but quickly, the glimmer vanished, the smile faded, and he looked at Anna with confusion: "The teacher said he would not have offspring, because if he or his children were captured by the Evil God of Chaos, he might choose suicide, but that child... that child might become a locus for the world he resides in, and Chaos would take the opportunity to invade."

"It’s a boy, born of a giantess; he... is innately strong, possesses immense Spell Talent, and is also a Psychic," Lena added: "Do you have any intelligence about such a child, for instance, whether our teacher has ever mentioned all this in front of you."

"No, our teacher... at least during his time here, never spoke of it. Many of the female apprentices harbored love for him, but he never responded to anyone. Several girls fell into ruin because of their twisted love, so why bring up this child? What are you planning?"

The wraith Kunta’s gaze grew cold, and before he could turn to anger, Anna resolved his confusion: "His name is Malin, a child more powerful than we sisters, a legendary Mage and Psychic. We will inform him of your existence; if he is willing to bid you farewell, I think you would be satisfied."

The zombie hesitated for a moment, seemingly confirming the expressions of the two, and finally, he cracked a smile and nodded.

"You are not lying; good, I will wait for this child, wait for him to bid farewell to me. Tell him my identity, tell him not to hesitate, and of course, if he doesn’t come, I won’t blame you. After all, the teacher said not to force others to do things they dislike."

"I will convey the knowledge of your existence. Now, we must leave," Anna said.

This time, the zombie sat on the ground, nodding slightly, "No problem, go ahead. As I just said, if your discovery can save this world, then go."

.........

Upon exiting this abandoned town, Lena turned back to glance at the half-collapsed building, lamenting the temporal shifts in this world: "Anna, can this world truly be saved?"

"It definitely can. Even if the teacher can’t do it, we must do everything in our power to try. Remember, Lena, the memories left by the ancients from the Great Destruction Era we encountered on our travels; even in such horror, they did not give up. What right do we have to abandon hope?"

Anna finished speaking, extending her arms to embrace her sister. Lena’s face was filled with sorrow as she embraced Anna: "The more places we go to, the more I fear. Anna, we’ve seen so much destruction, so much helplessness. For eight millennia, we elves were nothing more than walking toys in the ancient people’s eyes. But now, we have human identities, sharing this world heading towards its doom with the descendants of the ancients. We stand in the same trench, but... as everything slides into the abyss, can we truly be redeemed? Can we really save this planet beneath our feet from the hands of Chaos, save the children, save all living beings struggling to survive in this world? Will we be heroes? Will we be the ones to carry the flame of civilization? Will we... prevail?"

"We will, Lena," Anna said as she stroked the top of her sister’s head, with tears on her face: "Trust me. Remember what the teacher wrote in his diary? The ultimate mechanism beneath Carterburg. If it really comes to that, if we truly fail, even if we have to transform ourselves, completely strip away our desires, refashion ourselves with husks of machinery and soulless electronic organs, reprogram our will with data and logic, dedicate ourselves to the destruction of Chaos and the salvation of this diverse universe, even in death we shall be warriors. Believe me, Lena, we, our generation, and our descendants... will all embrace this cause. Even if it means imprisoning ourselves in metal-crafted shells, even if it means being like another world’s Malin, we will never submit. Look at me, Lena, don’t submit. Fear is the poison of the soul. Summon your courage, drive away the fear in your heart. My Lena, brave Lena, you will always stand before me."

Lena finally smiled happily, her forehead no longer bearing horns, and Anna’s sister reached out to embrace her.

"You’re right; we must not give in. Even our teacher, a frail person from the Outer Domain, who could only arm himself with knowledge, never feared. How can we be frightened? How can we submit? Lena, my sister, thank you."

"You’re welcome, my sister. We are free beings, born so that our descendants might have a chance not to face the threat of Chaos again. This is the sole mission of all residents on this planet beneath our feet. So, Lena, let’s go," Anna encouraged Lena, as a teleportation gate opened behind her: "Let’s go to Copenhagen, following in the footsteps of our teacher... Anna, let’s discover all there is to know, let’s see if our Malin... truly is born for this destiny."

Seeing the smile on Anna’s face, Lena smiled too: "You really aren’t a good mother, deciding to marry Faye to Malin just for a sliver of possibility."

"My daughter loves him dearly; I’m just facilitating their happiness. I’m fulfilling my daughter’s wishes. So, Lena, let’s go," Anna took Lena’s hand.

"Yes... let’s go and uncover the truth that the teacher spoke of, and see how far our Malin can go."

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