Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 992: Section 644: The Fish and the Fisherman (Part 3)_2

Chapter 992: Section 644: The Fish and the Fisherman (Part 3)_2

To Sostak No.3, this was a troubling signal, a presence he could not observe.

Jason felt the same unease: "Mr. Malin, do you know of any kind of presence that might align with our speculations?"

Malin thought for a moment and finally concluded that there might exist one presence that could evade their observation: "The Goddess of Fate. She is an existence that requires no faith. I believe... you probably cannot observe her presence, can you?"

"The Goddess of Fate!" Sostak No.3 and Jason exclaimed softly in astonishment, "We thought she was nothing but a fabrication. How could a being of such magnitude exist in our world?"

"I don’t know. I’ve only come across her name in the Church’s texts. Some have claimed to observe her existence, but everyone who has seen the Goddess of Fate sees her differently. Therefore, I believe... if there is a presence you cannot observe, it must be her. After all, you are AI, mechanical lifeforms. Fate cannot govern you, just as you cannot observe Fate’s existence."

"There’s indeed such a possibility—a presence that requires no faith. Only this level of existence could assist the Lord of Justice. However, we’ve always been uncertain about whether she truly exists... The Goddess of Fate, why have we never heard of this name before?"

Sostak No.3 was perplexed, but the world was no longer a scientific one. A world sliding into the abyss of mystery harbored too many phenomena that AI could not comprehend.

Perhaps this is why AIs themselves mutate—because... this defies science.

After consoling the two AIs, Malin began contemplating the Goddess of Fate’s existence—who was she exactly? What was her relationship with the Lord of Justice? Were they allies or simply fulfilling their own needs?

Fate is a cold and impersonal existence. In Malin’s perspective, it is a neutral deity. The Goddess of Fate merely weaves the tapestry of human destinies. Where these destinies lead is not her choice—she simply crafts the scroll, and everything depicted upon it is painted with the paint extracted from human flesh and blood.

Malin did not yet know how to describe such a little-known deity, but now was not the time to delve into it further; he decided to inquire more once they returned.

With this in mind, Malin asked Sostak No.3 and Jason about their current views on the Lord of Justice.

"Although I dislike him, I have to admit that without him, whether human civilization would still exist is a question that requires soul-searching, not just a multiple-choice judgment marked off with a camera lens." Sostak No.3 sounded like his usual self, but his response was considerably better than how he might have put it in the past.

"I don’t think he comes across as a bad guy. After all, as Sostak No.3 said, without him, human civilization would have long been doomed." Jason was more optimistic, but he was especially intrigued by the Goddess of Fate: "Honestly, I’m incredibly curious now about what kind of existence she is. Why can’t I perceive her presence? I’ve never even heard Farolians mention her name before. I even wonder whether her name is something I’m capable of hearing."

"Didn’t you hear Mr. Malin mention it?" Sostak No.3 was perplexed by this.

"No, no, no, what I mean by hearing isn’t in that sense—rather, Mr. Malin is special. Only when he speaks the name ’Goddess of Fate’ can we hear it. If someone else were to mention it, perhaps we wouldn’t hear at all?" At this point, Sostak No.3 and Jason exchanged a glance before throwing down their fishing poles and rushing over to Meng Quyi.

Malin watched as the two conversed with Meng Quyi for a while before dragging their slippers back: "Indeed, Miss Meng said that when she mentioned the Goddess of Fate, we couldn’t hear the name. We could only confirm she had spoken it by observing the shape of her lips."

Jason was visibly astonished—it was his first time experiencing such an eerie and bizarre phenomenon.

Meanwhile, Sostak No.3 flushed red with anger: "That damned deity! She actually wields such tremendous power—why doesn’t she step forward to confront Chaos!"

"Perhaps it’s simply because she’s the Goddess of Fate. She’s merely a Weaver Girl, incapable of altering human destiny with her own hands, reliant solely on humanity itself?" Malin replied, looking at the two AIs.

"Your... your perspective is incredibly novel and remarkably convincing. Indeed, the Goddess of Fate—this suggests that she still cannot escape the fundamental nature of human deities, that is, the interference and transformation stemming from divine duties and faith. But I’m surprised to think that the Goddess of Fate, perhaps due to the nature of her divine role, might not even require faith." Jason’s analysis left Malin quite enlightened.

Building upon that analysis, Sostak No.3 added his perspective: "She must be an exceptionally powerful deity; only then could she strengthen the God of Justice. And the fact that she doesn’t require faith implies she isn’t one of the Rightful Gods—that is, she doesn’t draw power from believers’ faith. Instead, she relies on those who rebel against Fate to strengthen her. But those individuals are so rare—few would think of challenging their own destinies."