Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

"You are leaving?"

The store was collapsing, everything inside it dissolving into nothingness. Shard knew that this deity was about to slumber, but such a rapid farewell caught him off guard.

"Where are you headed?"

He stood in place, asking. The only part of the floor below him remained as it was. There were no grand phenomena accompanying the dissolution; everything was just leaving. It was a simple termination.

"To the Land of Void Slumber."

The God spoke.

It was a metaphorical way of speaking, and Shard didn't delve too deeply:

"How should I search for your final creation? Is there any clue?"

Everything around him faded like a color photograph losing its hues, returning to shades of black and gray. But Shard, an outlander who did not belong to this point in time, was unaffected, shielded by the power of time.

"There is no need to search intentionally; you will certainly encounter the gift box I've left behind."

The God said.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

He smiled at Shard, and as his colors faded rapidly along with the store's, his figure became translucent, moving towards its end together with the toy store.

He looked at his own hands and shook his head with resignation:
Experience more on empire

"All things must face ultimate death; that is reality, and there's no need for sorrow."

"Will we ever meet again?"

Shard asked. The Creator of Innocence had helped him a lot, and if possible, he hoped to meet this deity again at some point in his own existence.

"Of course, child from the future, when a major event occurs in the future, all the slumbering deities of bygone days will awaken. Don't ask me what it is, I cannot say."

The God said, though it seemed like his voice came from afar, signifying his imminent departure.

This information aligned with Miss Annette's understanding of the "Whispering Verses," and at the current point in time, "Whispering Verses" hadn't yet appeared.

"So, will we meet again in the Sixth Era or even a more distant era?"

"No more distant, our reunion is set in the Sixth Era."

The figure grew fainter.

Shard blinked:

"Why? Is the great event you mentioned destined to happen in the Sixth Era?"

The God winked at him, expressing a smile, and gave an astonishing answer:

"Because there will be no Seventh Era or any era beyond."

The transparent figure's color turned into black and gray sparkles, dispersing into the surroundings. The toy store was collapsing, everything approaching its end. And as the scene of the toy store faded, an endless star ocean dotted with stars was revealed behind it.

"Future child, this world is more complicated than you think, and the truth will bring you sadness. If you do not wish to live this life in the ignorance of a mortal, then I can offer you a suggestion, as my final gift to you."

"Please do tell."

The ethereal figure snapped its fingers, and the blurred store remained only as a basic framework. Shard and the God stood upon that void that seemed like a star ocean.

The phantoms of thirteen cards appeared before them, rotating around their central axis, allowing Shard to clearly see both their fronts and backs.

These were the thirteen cards of the Genesis Series Roder Card, or rather, the Impermanence Cards.

"Impermanence, it is a treasure left behind by the Ancient Gods before their fall. They can bring you luck, and at the same time..."

The God, along with the mortal shell, was moving away, with only Shard left to witness this moment.

"These cards also have a deeper meaning. Go collect them, child, you must collect them. When the final moment comes, even if you face the worst situation, these cards will guide you to the last redemption. They are... the last resort."

All that was left in the toy store was the area below Shard's feet and the area below the Saint's feet, surrounded by darkness and specks of light. Shard looked into the depths of that darkness, and in that moment of dizziness, he seemed to see something terrifying, yet also seemed to see nothing.

"Thank you."

He bowed slightly to the departing deity to express his sincerest gratitude. The latter shook his head, opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

His figure faded, he waved, he was gone.

At the same time, the bell sounded. The bell echoed in his ears and then, as if breaking through the bounds of time and space, it announced to all continuous time and space the departure of another ancient deity.

He was really gone.

The bell's echo allowed Shard to feel as if ripples were spreading into the void, and a series of fragmented sounds reached his ears. As he tried to make sense of these noises, his head almost burst in a moment, as sentences overlapping each echoed, and he could barely catch and remember one phrase:

"The maker of toys always aspires to create innocence."

The power of this phrase almost caused Shard to faint. Yet, within it, he found an inexplicable sense of familiarity:

"This is... this feeling... what is this?"

Though he barely remembered, the voice kept echoing in his ear. Through the repetition, both he and she arrived at an answer:

"Sublimation Incantation!"

"Sublimation Incantation."

The sentence that appeared with the fall of the Old God felt eerily similar to the power once used by Dr. Schneider. Although Shard had only captured one sentence, it was clear that the ones he hadn't remembered were of a similar nature.

At this thought, the deeper contemplation of the Circle Sorcerer System and the Space-Time of the Sixth Era made him shudder uncontrollably:

"Circle Sorcerers use special items which are Relics, and their method of Sublimation is through the lost words of the gods. What on earth is going on in this world?"

The bell continued to echo, each powerful vibration causing Shard's scalp to tingle. He suddenly looked up into the darkness ahead, where a transparent giant tree had appeared at some point.

The tree seemed to connect heaven and earth, as if it were supporting them. With its extensive roots and lush canopy, the transparent bark's patterns were like the story of an entire civilization.

From the equally transparent canopy, two green leaves spiraled down toward Shard below.

Shard reached out to catch them, and then a thick white fog suddenly emerged in this void, a massive force pulling him backward to the temporal point of the Sixth Era.

He staggered out of the door leading to the basement, almost falling to the ground.

He looked at the two leaves in his hand, perplexed, and then at the spot on the floor where Mia Cat was surreptitiously trying to paw open a paper bag. Sadly, Shard had only been gone for three seconds, hardly enough time for the cat to pull out the disgusting contents.

"Meow~"

As soon as Shard appeared, it raced towards the staircase as if fleeing for its life, evidently worried about Shard's reprimand.

A whisper arose by the ear:

"Outlander, you have returned to the present."

"Message from the Ancient God, 'Father of the Infinite Tree':"

"Infinite time blesses you."

"Oh, tonight's events were even more thrilling than this morning's~"

Staring blankly out the window at the first floor at the gas lamp light, he recalled the vast amount of information obtained from this "journey" one by one in his head. The shock had not yet subsided, and the fact that the Benevolent God had departed also filled him with a tinge of sadness.

"So what about the Spirit Rune and Arcane Technique?"

It took him quite a while to remember this, and then he looked at the two leaves in his hand:

"It couldn't be this, could it? The Father of the Infinite Tree's method of giving rewards is leaves... It seems that only this makes sense."

"Meow~"

Mia was lying on the stairs, poking her little head out and looking down, wondering why Shard wasn't chasing after her.

The Witch's secrets, the task of collecting cards, the lost words of God and the Sublimation Incantation, the gifts left for Shard.

In just ten short minutes, the complex and diverse information he had gained was equivalent to the total of Shard's two weeks in this world.

After returning from the first floor to the second, he washed up a bit, took the two green leaves to the study on the second floor, stood by the window looking at the moonlight, and spent a long time thinking before finally sorting out his thoughts.

The Witch's secrets and the secrets of the Sublimation Incantation were beyond the reach of him, a First Ring Sorcerer. Witches of the Fifth Era bore curses to obtain power, while Circle Sorcerers of the Sixth Era sublimated themselves with the divine remnants left after the gods' slumber, almost directly related to the world's inherent secrets.

All he could do at present was to record these events and then wait for the next opportunity to garner more clues. After all, he was but a First Ring Sorcerer.

The secrets of the Sublimation Incantation had been thoroughly revealed by now. The sensation of power decay when Dr. Schneider used the Sublimation Incantation resembled the decay felt from a Saint on the verge of demise, thus providing an explanation. This matter undoubtedly pointed towards the truth of this world and the fundamental reason why the Circle Sorcerer mystical system emerged.

Combined with the god's statement that "there would not be a Seventh Era," this led Shard to a very unsettling conjecture.

Stepping through the Time Corridor in times past, that was currently the best way for Shard to unravel the secrets; the Outlander believed he could piece together the truth, step by step.

As for the search for all thirteen Genesis Series Roder Cards, in fact, since Miss Annette mentioned "Impermanence," Shard vaguely had such an idea. If the gods said he needed to collect them, which would be his ultimate salvation, then of course, Shard was willing to turn this thought into action.

But obtaining all thirteen cards of the Genesis Series was not just a matter of money, but of luck too. It would be an arduous task, extremely arduous.

"As for the gift He left me... Ha, what God left me was a gift box, this is really too simple."

Shard gently patted the soft little head of the cat, Mia perched on the windowsill, looking up and making a contented sound.

He sighed deeply as if expelling all his troubles:

"Although some clues that appeared only once are hard to find, at least I still remember them. The Witch Council indeed holds tremendous secrets—do you remember? The first time I met Miss Galina, she mentioned the era when the 'God's Gift Box' appeared (Note)."

"The autumn of the Fifth Era, 1068."

She whispered in his ear, the timing matched perfectly.

The study was bright, and outside was the night; the effect made the window almost resemble a reflective glass panel. If not for the fact that no one was reflected in the window behind him, Shard would have truly believed that a woman was leaning over to whisper in his ear.

He reached into his pocket; the Time Key representing the autumn of 1068 had turned to dust.

The last creation of the Ancient God, the "Creator of Innocence," was the Sage-Level Relic "God's Gift Box." He was right; Shard was destined to encounter this item.

And more curiously, the specific location of that Sage-Level Relic was also known to him.

"Miss Beyas was looking for the Silver-Eyed One, hidden with that relic in the underground ruins..."

He gazed at the moonlight outside the window with a hint of melancholy:

"I originally wanted to avoid acting with Miss Beyas, considering I am only at the First Ring and should not involve myself in such dangerous matters. But it seems now that, at least this time, I have no choice but to join her."

"No, you have the right to give up that gift."

She whispered softly in his ear, the gentle voice giving Shard the sensation of a warm breath caressing his ear.

"Impossible, the box might very likely contain Divinity. Compared to facing an Evil God to snatch power, facing the Silver-Eyed One is as simple as dealing with an ant. If I shrink back even from this, what hopes do I have for the Path of the Twelve Divinities? Besides..."

The glass of the window reflected Shard's expression. On the first night after Queen Diana's assassination attempt, Tobesk City was peaceful and serene beneath the moon, and Shard's mood gradually calmed. He spoke to his reflection in the glass:

"This is my gift, mine. I must have it."