Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 663 - 57: Another Kind of Power

As a teacher, Lindong is very satisfied with Ethan's growth.

After months of cultivation, Ethan has finally grown—his magic power can even produce delicious fruits.

Candy is also a type of fruit.

"I see, you modified everyone's injury states."

The Other Shore, deep in thought, bit into his own paw in front of everyone and savored the taste of rainbow candy, which greatly shocked Rowena.

"What other changes did you feel?"

Contented and full, Lindong asked with satisfaction; she was very pleased with the new rules Ethan had formulated.

"It's like I have thousands of eyes."

Ethan found this feeling hard to describe; the roots of the Divine Tree were ubiquitous, and as long as he wished, he could summon any event happening in every corner of the world into his mind. During their conversation, Charlotte and others climbed onto the back of the King of Black Dragons, and the group headed to the trial ground mentioned by Scarlet.

But in reality, it's just a tomb of successive black dragons. To guard against tomb robbers, various dangerous mechanisms were set in the tomb. There were no treasures deep within, just piles of dragon bones, and the runes on the walls were their commemorative words. Even if Charlotte and her companions could pass through the numerous traps inside the tomb, there would be no substantive gain.

Unless...

He placed a great secret treasure for the white dragon hatchling deep in the tomb.

99 magical candies, coupled with the ultimate dragon skill "Meteor Shower."

As his thoughts shifted, a parchment scroll fell onto the altar at the deepest part of the tomb. To match the scroll's age, he let the parchment gently yellow and added a few creases.

Similarly, this caused Ethan almost no substantive consumption, almost convincing him that the opening of permissions was likely related to Lindong, yet apart from "Future Lindong," no one could give him an accurate answer on this issue.

However, this trip proved quite fruitful; it allowed him to learn the identities of the guild managers and the true identity of "Future Lindong."

His gaze caught Lindong curling comfortably on his shoulder, eyes squinting. It seemed the idea implant mentioned in the Crimson Adventure Book went very successfully. Lindong had completely adapted to this world, even becoming a member of the "indigenous" people, although some puzzles remained unaddressed in the adventure book.

For instance, what happened after the guild was established that prompted "Future Lindong" to abandon the identity of a goddess and integrate into the plane where the empire resided as an orphan of the Northern Clan. Perhaps he could find answers to these questions from other guild managers.

Thinking of the magical candies and parchment scrolls that magically appeared in the tomb, Ethan suddenly saw the trajectory of destiny.

Because this time, destiny was in his hands, generated by his thoughts.

The anomalies in the investigator's manual ultimately stayed at 64.3%. It was already late today; after enduring various hardships, the residents of the Royal Capital could finally have a good night's sleep.

Ethan felt a sense of fatigue, and not far away was the village for the woodland worship ceremony. Mechanical monsters caused some degree of destruction, but there were still some habitable houses to be found. Upon deciding to camp, the Other Shore led the joyous Miss Keroy into the deeper forest to find materials for this rare camping.

Returning to the room, the cat was already sound asleep. Ethan gently placed her on the bed and covered her with a quilt. The stuffed cat curled into a white lump, emitting even breathing sounds.

Old An and Argos were waiting for him outside the house.

Ethan closed the room door; the village bonfire was lit, burning with pale blue flame.

Little Octopus clung to the ground next to a crack.

"I encountered Sincaro before,"

Ethan initiated the conversation.

"Oh, I remember him, a piece of crap,"

Argos immediately voiced a similar opinion to that of other Old Gods, and Anapolis also deeply agreed.

"In his memory treasury, I discovered a person,"

After perusing the Crimson Adventure Book, Ethan developed new thoughts about "Ancestors." Undoubtedly, Sincaro was an Old God with a heavy heart, possessing severe yandere traits. Before being formatted, all of his actions were aimed at resurrection, or in other words, reshaping the Ancestor according to his liking, and claiming it as his own...

This is fundamentally unlike a thought an Old God would have; unless this code was added to his divine persona by a designer at the time of his creation.

Ethan felt that's what Old Gods are.

They are embodiments of rules, and stand in stark opposition to the chaos and disorder of the subconscious. If the project team wished for this consciousness space to stabilize, they'd need to harness the power of Old Gods to architect the rules, and their existence was all generated according to worldviews and power systems.

Ethan mentioned the Ancestor to the two, particularly curious about Argos' response.

The latter did not participate in the war between humans and Old Gods; he left the plane earlier, and his curiosity clearly surpassed that of other Old Gods.

"That's why I left there,"

Argos' reply came through the crack, "Not just because I got tired of those boring stage plays, but also because I discovered something—perhaps we are all in some kind of box, where there are still other spaces beyond the stage."

Theoretically, they come from different planes, descending here upon hearing the Ancestor's call.

But to Argos, these memories seemed rather elusive, and he didn't understand the world he originally came from.

It proved that his judgment was correct; he did arrive outside the box, though the scenery didn't match what he imagined. He saw more boxes, each person living methodically within those boxes.

Maybe they are no exceptions either.

"Ancient people,"

Argos said, "He and Scarlet and others come from the same place, but there seem to be some subtle differences."

"Differences?"

"Their thoughts are different, and the powers they possess are different as well. Scarlet and that person wearing the golden mask can't even be compared to our ancestors."

"So, you left there to search for the ancestors?"

Anapolis casually asked. In fact, He didn't have much contact with Argos, and His few memories of Argos were of the latter suddenly showing up one day, excitedly wanting to study His little pet in the fish tank.

He naturally refused without hesitation.

If you want to keep a pet, go cultivate one yourself.

This Little Octopus was selected from countless marine creatures, and it is truly one in ten thousand. Anapolis was not fond of sharing His accomplishments with anyone.

"The ancestors have long passed away, and you should be well aware of that."

"Though the ancients could acquire powers not inferior to ours, their lifespans were limited... Especially since he always interfered with the rules of the plane, and I wanted to go to another place—the ancient people's homeland."

The voice from the rift became somewhat agitated, "Aren't you ever curious where the ancients came from?"

This was also the reason He initially responded to Scarlet.

He originally wanted to inquire about the ancients' homeland from Scarlet, but unexpectedly, He was deceived by her, sealed in the Mirror World for a thousand years. Yet, throughout these thousand years, He hadn't been completely unproductive. He could constantly hear the conversations between Scarlet and the King of Gold, silently memorizing the content of their discussions.

"Scarlet mentioned a theory regarding returning to the ancients' homeland. On this matter, she had significant disagreements with that ancient person wearing the golden mask."

Argos said, "She believed that only by being killed by a certain person could they return home."

But the King of Gold seemed very resistant to returning to the homeland, and every discussion on this topic ended in discord.

The King of Gold always verbally expressed disbelief in the fate proposed by Scarlet, but in Argos' eyes as an observer, it seemed more like a rebellion against fate.

From His observations, humans always liked to struggle against fate, and the ancients were no exception.

And shortly before Scarlet's death, she mentioned fate once again.

"She believed that you are the one who could send them back home..."

At this point, Argos hesitated again, because in reality, it was He who killed Scarlet, and Ethan only happened to be there at that time. Moreover, even Scarlet herself couldn't confirm the truth of the prophecy.

Argos was skeptical about it, at least He didn't plan to personally attempt this approach.

He was indeed intrigued by the ancients' homeland, but He required more stable means.

"If you ever find a way to go back, you must let me know."

He added, "Of course, it needs to be stable and reasonable."

...

Late at night, in the sanctuary, Area A.

The numbers on the screen finally settled at 64.3%, and the upward process lasted for a long time, so long that many people's voices became hoarse from shouting. Even when the numbers stopped jumping, they were still reluctant to leave, many cried tears of joy, and Zhuang Xiao was also affected by the emotions in the hall.

This was a great moment, possibly the most important one for them and even for this ruined world.

She touched the back of her neck with her fingertips, feeling an icy, metallic sensation.

She saw the shouting people in the hall, and also noticed the slot-like objects on the back of everyone's necks, appearing quite eerie on human bodies.

Zhuang Xiao stood up and followed Merlin out of the hall.

"You mentioned 'adaptability', it should be caused by the slot on the back of the neck, right?"

She asked directly.

"Brain-machine interface, that's its name."

Merlin paused for a moment and said, "You're not wrong. From a technical standpoint, as long as we insert a chip into your brain-machine interface, you can acquire another person's memories, and even fully become someone else, even if... that person never truly existed."

Zhuang Xiao blurted out, "And the disoriented state is similar to withdrawal symptoms."

Upon hearing this, Merlin smiled warmly, "It seems you've recovered well."

"I need further explanation."

"Hmm?"

"Why are the people in the hall like that?"

Zhuang Xiao was very concerned about this emotion beyond reason. Emotionally, she empathized, but she couldn't find any reason. The withdrawal symptoms made her feel uncomfortable, and she was still immersed in the identities of Scarlet and the deceiver, knowing very little about Zhuang Xiao the person, or even the rank of Colonel.

"Because this is an experiment."

Merlin did not answer directly. He just rolled up his sleeve, revealing the watch on his wrist:

"Region: Oasis"

"Environment: Death Star (Destroyed, Abnormality Coefficient: 0%)"

"City of Science"

"Colonel Zhuang Xiao, we have already traveled far on the road of science... But now, we need another kind of power."