Chapter 1314: The Calculations of the Mechanical Emperor

"My name is Lazar. I live in Unit 2, Building 13, District 4 of Cloudtop...

"The name ’Lazar’ was personally given to me by the great ’Mechanical Emperor,’ His Majesty Ivans, when I was still an infant. It is said that this name once belonged to the Emperor’s close friend, and it carries His expectations for me—that I might also become a great alchemist... but unfortunately, I have disappointed the Emperor.

—The reason I was able to receive such an honor is because my parents sacrificed themselves during an exploration mission to cover the retreat of their companions.

"Heh, the same familiar opening again... If anyone in the future happens to obtain my diary, please don’t find me too verbose. After all, for an old ’man’ over 250 years old, even the soul is close to decay. If I don’t regularly write these things down, it’s easy to forget who I am."

Inside a house filled with a mechanical aesthetic in a corner of the Cloudtop district of the floating city, Lazar—whose leg components had still not been replaced and who was making do with four wheels—rotated his lubricated wrist and wrote with a pen inserted into a socket:

"It has been more than five months since the last ’Morning Star Illumination,’ but that young man who stood atop the Emperor’s statue, holding the ’Mechanical Codex,’ still left a deep impression on me.

"Even though the High Council later said nothing to the public and seemed to have blocked the information, I, old Orni, Talima... all of us who once followed the Emperor know that the appearance of that young man is a sign of the Emperor’s return!

"When He returns, the Morning Star will surely shine, and calamity will retreat...

"When He returns, He will surely lead the Morning Star out of the domain of darkness and into a world of light...

"I am now absolutely certain that this ’prophecy’ is real!

"Because since that day, Morning Star City has never lacked energy again. The plants used to produce lubricants and paper have also become abundant, allowing me to change my diary-writing frequency from once a week to every day...

"And more importantly, the arrival of that young man has brought hope to everyone in the city!

"Although the High Council has not disclosed more information, the news of the Emperor’s imminent return has still spread throughout the city, while Lords Annik, Eleanor, and Ormos have only remained silent...

"In times like this, what is ’silence’ if not ’tacit approval’?

"Moreover, I have discovered something interesting: from the ascent of ’Morning Star City’ to its fall, a total of 203 years passed...

"And since the fall of Morning Star, it has been nearly 202 years and 12 months!

"Although there is no basis, I suspect that 203 is a number with mysterious significance. Perhaps the Emperor will lead us to the world of light on the day marking 203 years after the fall of Morning Star.

"A world of light... even seeing it just once before dying would be worth it!

"Those youngsters born in the ’Fallen Calendar’ may not understand the obsession of us old people who once followed the Emperor... after all, Morning Star City is already quite bright in this dark world.

"But the Emperor personally told us...

"Though the Morning Star is good, compared to the true sun, it is but a grain of light."

At this point, Lazar adjusted the "jet nozzle" from his mouth and blew dry the ink on the paper. Just as he was about to check for typos, he was stunned to discover that the lights of "Morning Star City" had once again all been lit!

"Morning Star Illumination... could it be that the Emperor has returned today? But according to my calculations, there should still be several days—perhaps even more than ten days—before reaching the 203rd year..."

Although puzzled, Lazar still put on a coat made of "Kars grass" and a top hat woven from "Blood Thorn" at the fastest speed, then rushed out toward the central tower. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Along the way, he saw old Orni, saw Talima, saw more and more people gathering into groups, all heading to the Emperor’s statue before the central tower, praying in unison.

...

Welcomed into the tower by the three High Council members of "Morning Star City," Ebner looked down through the window at the scene of the citizens spontaneously praying to the "Mechanical Emperor." He then glanced at the metal statue and the "Soul Stone" embedded in its head, and couldn’t help recalling a passage from Roselle’s diary:

"...I obtained the potion formula for Sequence 2 of the ’Mystery Pryer’ pathway, the ’Knowledge Magister.’

"Although I don’t need to worry about the main ingredients—the Church will handle that... this ritual is even more evil than I imagined!

"It actually requires me to use alchemy to perform soul-level modifications on at least five thousand people, allowing them to be closely connected to my soul.

"And the more people there are, the stronger the soul power, the better the effect...

"Heh, as a ’Mystery Pryer,’ I can roughly guess what this ritual is for!

"As far as I know, a ’Knowledge Magister’ can alter physical laws to a certain extent. After consuming the potion, there is a high probability of suffering backlash on the level of ’rules.’

"And unlike the demigods of the ’Reader’ pathway, ’Mystery Pryers’ do not possess ’absolute rationality,’ nor can they engage in ’multithreaded’ thinking. Therefore, such impacts can easily cause one to become lost in the rules or directly lose control.

"Thus, the essence of this ritual is actually to borrow the ’computational power’ of other people’s souls..."

Recalling this, Ebner revealed a look of realization and pondered inwardly:

So the contingency left behind by ’me’ as the ’Mechanical Emperor’ was to ensure that when I ’revive’ him, I would receive the support of the souls of these ’believers’ he modified, allowing him to overwhelm the current me and take the dominant position.

In simple terms, he stored part of his own power in the ’cloud’ in advance, to retrieve it during the struggle with me and suppress me to become the primary consciousness.

And the secret technique I created by combining authorities like ’miracle’ and ’creation’ to bring the floating city into reality indeed requires the cooperation of the ’Mechanical Emperor’ to succeed...

So he is certain that I will perform the technique here to ’revive’ him, falling into his—no, my—trap?

That’s far too wishful thinking... and the method isn’t particularly brilliant either... perhaps ’I’ am also gambling?

Hmm, being trapped in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, it really isn’t easy for the Mechanical Emperor to lay out plans...

So even if he has other contingencies besides this ’cloud’ technique, they must also be within the Forsaken Land of the Gods, on the side of the ’True Creator’...

In that case, if I don’t ’revive’ him now and instead act after returning to the Northern Continent, there shouldn’t be any problem.

As for the cooperation of the ’Mechanical Emperor’... heh, I am a ’Miracle Invoker.’ With most of your memories, wouldn’t it be better to just pull out your projection?

As his thoughts raced, Ebner glanced at Eleanor, Annik, and the others standing respectfully before him. Then he reached forward and grabbed, and a stylish belt appeared in his hand.

Immediately after, Ebner fastened the belt around his waist and took out a card inscribed with the word "Machinery," inserting it into the slot.

"Transform!"

In the next moment, under the shocked and excited gazes of Eleanor, Annik, and Ormos, the "Mechanical Emperor" Ivans—who had been absent from "Morning Star City" for 203 years—returned once again to the floating city he had built with his own hands.

(End of Chapter)