The nightmare Afternoon Town.
When Ebner saw all the lights of the Floating City flare to life, he was startled, nearly stowing away the Gear Book at once.
—He worried that the sudden change in the Floating City might draw the dangerous beings of Afternoon Town, and then implicate him.
But soon, Ebner sharply noticed that nothing in the town stirred. It was as if those monsters hidden in the darkness hadn't sensed the dazzling light of the Floating City at all.
"The ritual protecting the Floating City… I already judged from the Gear Book's projections that it was an enlarged version of the secret technique Evans' Hidden Barrier…
"This barrier must borrow the dense 'dark' divine power the Goddess left behind in the town, sinking the Floating City into a deeper nightmare than this Afternoon Town itself. That's why the monsters can't perceive it.
"My nightmare is deeper than yours. So, compared to you, I am hidden. Unless you descend into a deeper nightmare too, you can't affect me… If I compare this with the Misty Town of the Nation of Night and the church in that Kabas Town in East Chester, the principle is probably the same.
"And the reason I can see it, perceive its changes, is because the black gem the Goddess gave me at my chest generates a barrier on the same principle as the Floating City's. Which means I share the same nightmare layer as it.
"So then, the outer barrier of the Floating City is meaningless to me… since we're on the same level, with the same 'hidden' depth."
A brief moment of thought cleared the puzzle for Ebner, and his expression eased.
Meanwhile, he reached the junction where the middle stairways of Afternoon Town met the Floating City's platform.
Having come this far, Ebner didn't hesitate. He stepped across the visible barrier.
As expected, it didn't hinder him at all. Yet, as he passed through, he felt something mark him, and his intuition warned he was being monitored.
He wasn't concerned. If the Floating City lacked even this much vigilance, it would have been destroyed long ago regardless of barriers.
Still, he decided to cloak himself with a combination of Psychological Invisibility and Hiding in Shadows. As an outsider, he stood out too much. If the residents misunderstood, trouble would follow.
He came in peace, but that didn't mean he'd just sit and be beaten. Besides, before meeting the rulers face to face, he wanted to observe and collect information.
Because of the sudden activation of all high-energy projects, the citizens of Morning Star City shifted—from stunned silence, to panic, to fear, to excitement, even frenzy.
The panicked and fearful remembered the "Fall of Morning Star," fearing another catastrophe or an enemy invasion.
The excited and fervent remembered their revered Mechanical Emperor, and his prophecy: "When He returns, the Morning Star will shine, and calamity will be driven away…"
Countless people streamed from the mid and lower levels within the mountain, climbing through passages to the surface, gathering beneath the central tower at the statue of the Mechanical Emperor to pray.
Ebner followed the crowd, wide-eyed.
Ninety-nine percent of them had undergone full mechanical transformation. Only a few "younger" people born in recent decades had merely partial augmentations.
Because materials were scarce, much of the metal came from scavenged parts of Afternoon Town, so the designs of their prostheses were wildly varied—patchwork and mismatched, like some underground street in a cyberpunk world.
But this tradition of complete modification—even replacing the brain with simulated mechanical substrates—actually gave Ebner convenience.
For after becoming a demigod, his "Information Extraction" (the ascended form of "Breath Extraction") normally only read shallow local "records."
Now, though, these mechanical brains themselves were storage banks. Ready-made databases he could "extract" at will.
Their nature was no different from residual "information" in the environment. All were within the scope of the Seer's power.
"202 years ago… the Fall of Morning Star. Hm, that year… According to the Gear Book's data, the Floating City existed 203 years before falling… The numbers so close together—does that signify something?
"The five Alchemists fought the four Pontiffs… Hah, that Goron was a powerful 'Trinity Cathedral,' calling himself a Pontiff is one thing… but the other three? Barely Sequence 5, yet daring to claim the title? Was the 'True Creator' so cheapened? That's outright blasphemy.
"Well, they must have heard the True Creator's murmurs and converted. Maybe each heard something different, built their own doctrines. That explains why such a small Floating City had four separate True Creator churches… probably even denouncing one another as heretics.
"The Mechanical Emperor, Lucien Evans… Ha, in a past life I really milked the Arcane for all it was worth! Good thing I didn't call the Floating City 'Aringen'…
"Unfortunate though—at the end of that life, nearing my natural limit, I encountered an energy core explosion during augmentation… For over two centuries since, no such accident in countless mechanical surgeries. No wonder people still suspect it was the True Creator cult's assassination… though my friends and students clarified in the investigation reopened a century later.
"And the prophecy… The Morning Star will shine, calamity will be driven away…
"That must have been me foretelling my own return, right?
"As for the shining Morning Star… Did my arrival trigger some preset mechanism?
"Not quite. The changes began after I unsealed the Gear Book…
"So then, what exactly is this Floating City? What state are these people in? Little 'Sun' clearly told me that the true Morning Star City had crashed in reality outside Afternoon Town."
Reading, muttering, analyzing, Ebner's gaze finally fixed on the statue of the Mechanical Emperor before the tower.
Klein had once toured Master Klaus's imitation of the Floating City, describing its key facilities in detail. But he never mentioned such a statue…
That proved it was built only after the Floating City sank into the nightmare town. The being that left dream-guidance for Klaus in the divine war ruins had not known of it.
That alone wasn't enough to catch Ebner's interest. What truly intrigued him was the sense of familiarity it gave—akin to what he had felt before the "Wanderer" Alvin Abraham, the God of Luck, or the Sealed Artifact 1-025.
Studying the over-three-meter statue clad in red armor gleaming with metallic light, helmet fully enclosing the head, Ebner thought:
"This isn't really a statue. It's a full-body prosthetic suit, built with care and elegant design!
"And that yellow gem atop the helmet… If I'm not mistaken, it's a mystical item made by fusing Beyonder characteristics with other materials. The Mechanical Emperor's legacy?
"This statue—no, this armor itself is a powerful mystical weapon!
"No wonder those watching me didn't mind me approaching it. To them, this would be the safest place.
"But… is it really so safe?"
A grin tugged at Ebner's lips. He used a necromantic technique from the Book of the Dead—the same spell for controlling bone dragons—to make the three-meter armor kneel, extend its hand, and lift him up.
Thanks to his brief experience of controlling Alvin Abraham's body, Ebner was already skilled. And since this was his own legacy, aligned in spirit, no synchronization was needed. It wasn't as smooth as an imperfect clone, but simple motions worked.
At the same time, Ebner shed his concealment, raising high the Gear Book.
The gathered citizens of Morning Star City, shocked at first, soon followed one unknown leader in bowing. Voices rose in waves, repeating the prophecy:
"The Morning Star will shine, calamity will be driven away…
"Emperor, is it You returned?"
With their varied vocalizers—electronic tones, vibrations, mechanical noises—the chorus was a chaotic din.
At that moment, the three Supreme Councilors in the seventh-floor office could no longer sit still. In an instant, each descended from above, arriving before the statue.
They had planned to wait and see what this intruder intended, to probe his strength. But now, seeing him in the posture of a preacher, they could not delay.
With a hum, the black-armored man activated a jammer, disrupting the other citizens' speakers and receivers, letting only his electronic voice be heard:
"Who are you, sir? What do you intend?"
"I am a messenger of God…"
Ebner regarded the three clearly extraordinary rulers, smiling as he replied.
(End of Chapter)