Chapter 12: The Time of Departure, Part 2, Firefly and Frost (8500)
People often say that a weapon is a warrior's best companion. This saying holds true, for to a warrior, a good weapon that can bring out their optimal strength is truly no less than a like-minded, kindred companion.
Thus, based on this principle, from ancient times to the present, there have always been those dedicated to creating weapons with self-will and weapon spirits, skipping the 'running-in' stage entirely to reach the highest realm of spiritual communion.
However, this does not mean that a weapon truly being in sync with its wielder can be considered the 'best companion,' allowing the holder to unleash their full potential—because, when a weapon also possesses will, it is no longer just the warrior choosing the weapon, but also the weapon choosing its master.
Only a very few individuals can make a self-aware weapon submit willingly, allowing themselves to be used.
—Of course, this also does not mean that those few individuals absolutely must use weapons.
Year 850 of the Falling Stars Era, January 1st, 12:17 AM, Northern Lands, Moldavia, Cemetery Church Basement.
The frequently cleaned church had not a speck of dust, and glowstone lamps, incongruous with the current Mana Era, shone with a pale golden light, traversing the metallic-smelling basement. Firefly and Frost arrived before an underground door. The silver-haired girl and the black-haired boy did not hesitate; they reached out their hands in unison.
Then, they opened this door.
In an instant, the sounds of metal-clad horses and soldiers came forth. They could hear the slight trembling of sword blades, the striking of shields. The sibling pair sensed dozens of completely different weapon resonances, causing a heavy aura of slaughter to spread.
For Transcendent Beings of lower ranks, such an array might indeed shock them, immersing them in an abnormal mental state to increase the success rate of the subsequent contract action. But Firefly and Frost were not of low rank; they were now at the Ultimate-rank. Secondly, they were not human at all, but like the weapons buried in this basement, they were 'Divine Mechanisms.'
So the two were completely unaffected and strode boldly into the basement.
"Oh? Why is it you two?"
Noticing that the newcomers were not humans but their own kind, a long spear stuck in the ground emitted a puzzled mental fluctuation: "Is it time for maintenance again? Actually, it's not necessary. The nurturing array the last family head updated is already excellent. I feel stronger than ever now, I could almost eat someone, RUA!"
"Indeed." Beside it, a shield that seemed to have been striking itself moments ago, producing a startling clang, also sent out a mental fluctuation: "I even feel my spirit has improved considerably, my thoughts are much clearer. I'm practically quick-witted."
Immediately after, dozens of Divine Mechanisms throughout the basement emitted mental fluctuations almost simultaneously. The noisy communication would be enough to drive a Psionic user to lose control. Seeing this, Firefly and Frost had no choice but to exchange glances, shake their heads helplessly, and then clap their hands together. The crisp applause instantly suppressed all the noise.
"Alright, alright, esteemed seniors. We're not here for maintenance this time... Honestly, you're all so spirited, what is there to maintain?"
This was said by Firefly, and Frost followed up. He spread his hands, beginning to release his own power, connecting with all the Divine Mechanisms present: "In short, there's a major announcement today, and from now on, you won't have to stay in this basement anymore."
As he spoke, powerful energy spread. As Frost's released energy overwhelmed all the Divine Mechanisms present, streaks of continuous, intense light flashed—then, accompanied by surging waves of mana, various 'humans' of different appearances appeared in the basement.
There were seemingly venerable old men, youths and maidens like Firefly and Frost, and normal men and women. The dozens of Divine Mechanisms transformed into human forms, catching these Divine Mechanisms themselves by surprise as they abruptly revealed their physical shapes.
"...Wait, Frost, and Firefly."
Staring somewhat surprised at his own hands that had turned human, the young man transformed from the long spear did not seem excited by this. He frowned: "What do you mean by this? I can feel that our contract with the Radcliffe Family has been severed... no, it's been intercepted."
"Come to think of it, no new Divine Mechanisms have come in for the past few years—does the family head have no descendants? Or has he given up on Divine Mechanisms?"
The calm woman transformed from the original giant shield clenched her own hands and shook her head, causing her cyan hair to sway: "No, your contracts are still intact. He shouldn't have given up on Divine Mechanisms... So, has he given up on us?"
This speculation wasn't entirely unreasonable. Immediately, several Divine Mechanisms in human form guessed that perhaps the new family head found maintaining the Divine Mechanisms and supporting them, these 'failures,' too troublesome, so he simply suppressed their contracts, letting them find their own way out, or leaving them to fend for themselves.
"Sigh, that's not it at all."
Hearing these bizarre guesses, Firefly's cute little face scrunched up. She looked pained and said helplessly: "The main thing is, this was the order the Master left us back then."
"'When the production of Divine Mechanisms stabilizes and everyone gradually accepts Divine Mechanisms as a new form of life, it will also be time to grant freedom to the Divine Mechanisms left behind by the successive ancestors of the Radcliffe Family.' Those were the Master's exact words. We are merely carrying out this directive in his absence."
"Yeah." Frost nodded beside her. He stepped forward to help a few Divine Mechanisms that hadn't used human forms for perhaps a hundred years and had forgotten how to walk, picking themselves up off the floor. The boy shrugged: "A few days ago, the Divine Mechanism production line was finally completed. Although the output isn't very high, given this rate of diffusion, widespread adoption is only a matter of time. It might even spread beyond Mycroft Civilization and throughout the Multiverse Star River."
"From now on, Mycroft People are probably about to enter an era of universal Divine Mechanisms—the Master calls it a universal AI assistant, and I think that's quite fitting."
Firefly and Frost thought their explanation was simple and easy to understand, but they didn't realize that for these old antiques stored in the basement for years, many things they considered common knowledge simply didn't exist in the minds of these antiques.
"Divine Mechanism production line?" The long spear youth looked completely bewildered.
"We've become widespread?" The shield woman fell into thought.
"Spread beyond Mycroft Civilization?" The longsword man scratched his head.
"Multiverse Star River, there are other civilizations?" The twin blade duo asked in unison: "Wait, what are you all talking about?"
"And more importantly than this."
Coming back to his senses, the long spear Divine Mechanism, who had the best mental state, gradually showed an angry expression on his face: "What exactly does this generation's family head mean by what he said? 'Granting freedom to the Divine Mechanisms left behind by the successive ancestors of the Radcliffe Family'—what is he talking about?"
"Aren't we already free?!"
"Yes." The shield Divine Mechanism also responded seriously: "A weapon that is not used should be sealed away. Our freedom lies in our voluntary choice to wait. Even if the person suited to contract with us has long passed, we will still fulfill our promise—being buried in the earth is our freedom. Teaching the next generation of Divine Mechanisms common sense and knowledge while waiting for death is the responsibility of us 'failures' who were not chosen."
"Speaking of which, doesn't this generation's family head have any descendants? Why haven't any new Divine Mechanisms been sent in?"
"...That is indeed the Master's failure to consider your feelings. Let me apologize first... Yes, saying 'grant you freedom' is an insult to your loyalty to the Radcliffe Family."
Hearing the successive doubts and counter-questions from the Divine Mechanisms of past generations in the basement, Firefly frowned and twirled her long hair. She rolled her eyes, seemingly searching her memory bank for knowledge to handle the current situation: "But seriously, seniors, technological progress is too fast now. If you don't go out for an overhaul and evolution soon, you'll really be completely eliminated by the times!"
When Firefly said this, she deliberately released her Ultimate-rank aura. The powerful energy pressure swirled in the small basement, immediately silencing all the Divine Mechanisms present: "The Master also considered this, which is why he wanted you to come into contact with the outside world as soon as possible, so that you, who are meritorious veterans, won't be eliminated by the times."
"...And the current family head?"
After a moment of silence, the long spear Divine Mechanism, seemingly reluctantly accepting Firefly's words, looked troubled: "After all, we are all Divine Mechanisms of the Radcliffe Family. Such an order really should be personally given by the family head himself."
"The current family head..."
Firefly and Frost sighed in unison, then said together: "The current family head is currently in seclusion training somewhere. Even we can't see him."
"Compared to these things, you should hurry up and come out with us to the production line for a refit—nowadays, the Radcliffe Family's industries are too vast, and the family head doesn't manage things. We have our own tasks too... If we weren't truly too busy, we wouldn't have thought to disturb you seniors."
Saying this, under Firefly and Frost's urgent urging, the many Divine Mechanisms left the basement they had inhabited for decades or centuries, confused and bewildered, and came to the outside world—and what appeared before their eyes was not the ancient, cold, fortress-like Moldavia main city in their memory banks.
What appeared before these Divine Mechanisms was a giant Mana-era city filled with skyscrapers, bright as daylight even in the dead of night, brimming with vitality and noise.
Hundreds of meters tall super-giant statues stood among the city. Mana vehicles were everywhere, running back and forth along the main roads. The pedestrians on the streets were not only humans, elves, and dwarves, but also many other ethnic minorities similar to fishmen, and even strange individuals from other worlds and civilizations. One could even see an individual from the Lund civilization—that is, a large iron ball floating in the air, with many human children riding on it, flying around in the sky, laughing joyfully.
If it weren't for Firefly and Frost repeatedly emphasizing that this was indeed Moldavia, the Divine Mechanisms would have thought they had arrived in another world.
"Sigh, that violates the 'Moldavia Airspace Flight Law'... Forget it, I'll send a warning later."
Unlike Firefly, who nodded in satisfaction at the harmonious coexistence of multi-civilization individuals, Frost, seeing this scene, had his professional habits surge up. He only wanted to issue a ticket, but the timing was wrong, so he had to hold back: "Do you see, esteemed seniors? The world now is no longer the world it used to be, and our duties as Divine Mechanisms are no longer what they used to be."
Actually, he didn't need to say much. All the Divine Mechanisms present were basically in a state of shock.
"What's going on?" The previous generation's Divine Mechanism, probably the youngest cheap Divine Mechanism besides Firefly and Frost, who had been sent in only a few decades ago, rubbed his eyes, seriously suspecting he was seeing an illusion: "Wasn't the Radcliffe Family just an ordinary Northern noble family? When did... it become so powerful?!"
He even saw airships equipped with large screens floating in the sky, and on those airship screens, besides advertisements, they would also play the image of a black-haired, red-eyed man—anyone would know that was the image of the current head of the Radcliffe Family, Joshua Van Radcliffe.
...The great Marshal of the United Government, Legendary expert Joshua Van Radcliffe, one of the founders of the Magic Net, the founder of the Multiverse Star River Civilization Invitational Tournament... In just this short time, he could hear countless pieces of information about this generation's family head.
"Understand now? This isn't the past anymore. There's no room for dawdling."
Shock? Shock is right! Firefly was very satisfied with the Divine Mechanisms' shock. Otherwise, getting these iron-headed fellows (literally) to obediently follow their requirements for an upgrade would have been a troublesome task: "In short, it's not about making you leave the Radcliffe Family—there are still many job vacancies within the family's industries. We also need some trustworthy people to help manage things. If you're willing, you can continue to serve the family."
"Even if you don't want to do odd jobs, we Divine Mechanisms now have dedicated cultivation methods to become stronger on our own—believe me, this is a brand new era far more magnificent than you can imagine. The possibilities within you are far greater than you think."
—This was indeed the truth.
Time flew rapidly, and change came swiftly. Under the movement of the turning hands of the clock, the first Multiverse Star River Civilization Invitational Tournament had concluded a few months prior. Through this event, exchanges and relationships between multi-civilizations became increasingly close and stable. The rapidly spreading Restorative Pillar system also gradually penetrated every detail of the Star River as it spread among the many civilizations.
Although the truly top-tier experts, who formed the foundation of civilizations, did not participate, that grand invitational tournament, affecting billions upon billions of civilizations, indeed made many civilizations recognize each other's strength and heritage. Those battles, from low to high ranks, were like successive expositions of varying depths. Both participants and spectators could benefit. Those who performed exceptionally well, and the civilizations behind them, could gain astonishing opportunities and resources, rising to prominence in a single step.
For example, the champion of the individual Gold-rank group came from an individual of a not-very-famous civilization. It was a Psionic entity civilization naturally possessing high-level psychic abilities. Their individuals had no physical bodies, composed of pure Psionic energy and some mana elements. Gold-rank was simply the power they naturally possessed upon reaching adulthood. Their spiritual power, far surpassing ordinary races, and the advantage of having no physical body to avoid a large number of attacks, were very advantageous at the Gold Realm, which had not yet honed all aspects to the limit.
After this civilization, calling itself 'Amund,' won the individual Gold-rank championship, countless civilizations extended olive branches, willing to invest resources to assist its growth—naturally, with conditions. But there are few unconditional investments in this world. The Amund civilization readily agreed to the Mycroft Civilization's requests, and the two sides began comprehensive cooperation in the spiritual field.
The champion of the individual Ultimate-rank group was an acquaintance—Joshua's disciple, the Dragon Girl Lisa from the Chronos World. Honestly, after Lisa advanced to the Ultimate-rank, developed her Ancient Dragon bloodline, and cultivated the inheritance of the strongest being of the era, the power she could unleash would shock all opponents who misjudged her abilities due to her size. When the Dragon Girl's single strike, a 'World-Shattering Rising Dragon Fist' comparable to a Legendary, sent a mountain along with her opponent, a 'Divine Domain Earth Elemental,' flying into the sky, basically all the spectators in the venue doubted their eyes.
The champion of the individual Legendary-rank group came from the 'Star River Maintenance Group,' rumored to be a Calamity civilization. This strange civilization, which claimed to pacify war with war and respond to destruction with destruction, had challenged Joshua during the last exposition but was defeated. And because Joshua's peace declaration was very much to their taste, they gradually revealed their mysterious true face to the outside world—a purely mechanical civilization.
Mechanical constructs created as a 'Peacekeeping Group' judged that their mother civilization itself was the biggest target for peacekeeping, so they unhesitatingly 'peacekept' it. However, over a long period, the mechanical aggregate, originally controlled by core directives, gradually began to produce 'free individuals' capable of independent thought. Although these free individuals still obeyed the core directive to bring peace to the world, they were not incapable of independent thought. The champion of this individual group was the most powerful free individual of the Star River Maintenance Group. Its original form was an iron-gray Void continent, carrying seventy-eight types of world-destroying annihilation weapons and various defensive plugins to counter different attacks. This method of equipping the entire civilization's arsenal on oneself could, in a sense, be called 'going all out.'
However, the individual group championship didn't hold much significance. If Joshua didn't participate, many powerful civilization individuals were not prepared to fight, and their participation would seem somewhat like bullying the weak... After all, Legendary Limit and Legendary High-rank were both Legendary. If they really fought, the gap between them might be greater than the gap between a mortal and a Legendary High-rank.
The individual group competition mostly reflected the individual potential and inherited heritage of a civilization. The team group competition was more chaotic, leaning towards various forms of cooperation.
The champion of the team Gold-rank group came from the Mycroft Civilization, the Elite Squad. Its members were five people: Priest, Constantine, Clark, Seth, and Wayne. Among them, Priest could have advanced to Ultimate-rank but postponed his advancement slightly for this competition. In reality, the key point of the team competition wasn't strength in one aspect, but division of labor and cooperation, being able to handle all kinds of enemies. The reason the Amund civilization could win the individual championship earlier was partly due to luck, not encountering individuals naturally countering psychic abilities, or those with such abilities being eliminated by others.
But the team competition was different. Stability was paramount. Advantages could be countered by the opponent, disadvantages could be exploited. One had to cover all aspects to ensure suppressing the opponent with hard power—and the Elite Squad achieved this almost perfectly. They successfully defeated all opponents, winning the championship with an overwhelming, stable advantage like a mountain pressing down, though without any earth-shattering performance.
"After all, during our exploration of other worlds, we endured many challenges, such as Evil Gods, ruins in distorted space-time domains, lairs of alien civilizations, primitive worlds full of lightning elements... We often fought against wild Ultimate-rank and Overlord-rank magical beasts, survived several Legendary-rank duels. This brought us solid combat experience and tempered our will—Man can conquer nature. We firmly believe this."
When interviewed by the official tournament host and journalist Firefly, team leader Priest had deep eyes. His tone was world-weary, as if countless emotions were about to burst forth: "Every time we go to explore another world, we must ensure we make no mistakes. Otherwise, it's very likely that due to a 'jinx,' we'll suffer greatly in some aspect, and dying wouldn't be surprising... You ask what a 'jinx' is? Nothing, just the whetstone that sharpens our progress."
Beside him, the knight Clark, who had been silenced for the entire competition process, wanted to protest but was suppressed without result. The others nodded in agreement.
The champion of the team Ultimate-rank group came from a multi-civilization mixed race team. Its members were Xiao Guang from the Bloodmoon Abyss, Elma from the Amos Royal Court, the Flame Demon Syndicate from the Furnace Abyss, Chu Hao from the Carlis World, and Alva from the Mycroft Civilization.
From the start, few believed this team, whose members came from various civilizations and didn't know how to cooperate, could win the championship. But the subsequent competition performance shocked everyone—that seemingly pet-like glowing orb could instantly expand into a giant light ball like a small star. That Amos person, who looked like a transparent humanoid, could summon a surprisingly large Void Warship at any time. That Flame Demon, who looked like a Dragonman, could transform into a giant slime overflowing with infinite lightning. That seemingly ordinary iron ball, very much like a Lund person, Chu Hao, could transform into a hundreds-of-meters-tall metal Titan humanoid. And Alva, who looked like a human... was just a human.
Sometimes, when you think he will transform and surprise you, he doesn't. That is also a kind of surprise.
In short, after surprising everyone throughout the entire tournament, they won the championship.
This was a very peculiar combination. When interviewed by the official journalist Frost, team leader Xiao Guang expressed his feelings with emotion: "Dingling, dingling dingling, dingdingdingdingling. Ding, dingling!"
"I see." Frost, as the journalist, suddenly understood: "You mean this is not your complete state. If there hadn't been an accident, you and another unparticipated teammate could have cooperated better, and she would also transform, right?"
"Dingling, ling dingling, lingling!"
"Indeed, that's true. You still have several members who participated in the individual competition... Being the first place yet so humble is truly admirable!"
"Ding~" (A slightly proud, self-deprecating sound)
This peculiar interview process spread like wildfire on the forums.
[Whether you understood or not, I understood anyway]
[Dingling, dingling dingling, dingdingling!]
[Hey, you should at least announce the names of your other team members too—if you can get first place without being in your complete state, what is your complete state like?]
[Transformation Special Forces... This name is so strange. Who came up with it?]
When Black, who had overslept and missed the competition due to staying up all night fighting in the Grand Arena and challenging AI, heard this interview, he shed tears of regret.
As for the team Legendary-rank group, there was no live broadcast, nor any subsequent video playback. Specific information only circulated among the high-level officials of various civilizations. It seemed that because the battle time was too long, this competition hadn't ended yet, and the battle content couldn't be disclosed to the public.
However, as journalists, Firefly and Frost knew that this team battle was essentially a mutual probing exchange of military force between civilizations. Each civilization wouldn't send just one team, and there was no concept of a champion. After all, without going all out and with death as the premise of battle, not much could be probed. Many people were simply using the platform of the Civilization Invitational Tournament to resolve conflicts between their civilizations.
This was also the only method for adjudicating disputes between civilizations after Joshua's peace declaration—and such battles involving grudges and disputes were not suitable for broadcast on a harmonious tournament.
Anyway, all the participants present couldn't beat a certain game's Level 10 AI.
The past memories ended. After bringing the old-style Divine Mechanisms to the Divine Mechanism production line in Moldavia and sequentially performing related component upgrades and energy cycle optimizations for them, Firefly also bid farewell to her brother at this time.
"I'll be heading off now."
The silver-haired girl spread her hands. A streamlined suit of armor could be seen materializing on her body as silver mist diffused, firmly encasing her. A cyan orb hung at the center of her chest, shining with a flowing, watery light.
"Hard work, sister."
Sitting on the office chair, Frost sighed, opened a light screen, seemingly preparing to handle official business: "The Master's tasks are always so arduous, and he never tells us the reason... But we just do it."
"You work hard too, Frost. Planning the Divine Mechanism production line and the popularization of Divine Mechanisms—in a sense, this is like creating a new race. And you, overseeing all this, are the leader of this new race."
From behind the armor came the girl's clear voice. Firefly's tone sounded somewhat emotional and lonely: "You can always help the Master with these important matters. As for me, besides fighting, I don't know much else... Haha, I can't say that either. I've learned quite a few things over the years, but I'm never as good at this as you are."
"What kind of talk is that?"
Hearing this, the black-haired boy curled his lips and shook his head: "There's only what's suitable, not what's good or bad. I'm busy with these mundane affairs that have no great significance to the Master himself, handling logistics for you. But you, sister, can directly carry out the Master's instructions and go directly to help him. Honestly, it's just a division of labor. There's nothing to be emotional about."
"Ultimately, we are a part of the Master. Everything we do is to solve problems for the Master—right now, the Master is in the Genesis Maelstrom, conducting very important experiments and advancements. What we need to do is maintain stability in everything, ensuring that when the Master emerges from seclusion, he can see a world that satisfies him."
"I know all this."
The armor's power was starting up. The teleportation array was unfolding. Due to space-time distortion, Firefly's voice sounded somewhat distorted. She said softly: "As a weapon, it doesn't necessarily have to 'fight.' As long as it can help the Master solve problems, that is the best help for him. I understand all this. I also know that weapons are just one tool for solving problems. Just as we can transform Divine Mechanisms from weapons into AI assistants, swords can also be used as medical tools, construction tools, or even kitchen utensils."
"But still, I feel a bit unwilling. Even if just once, I want to be needed and wielded by the current Master... I don't need much, just once is enough."
"Goodbye, brother. Sorry for making you listen to my complaints again."
"Goodbye, sister. But this doesn't count as a complaint."
Watching the deep blue space-time channel open and disappear, Frost sat on the office chair, rubbing his brow tiredly. He didn't start working immediately but looked up at the familiar ceiling above.
"At least you accompanied the Master through the early battles," he murmured to himself. "As for me, I haven't followed him many times."
"But what does it matter? I don't regret it. I'm not always fixated on the identity of a 'weapon.' We have always been the Master's right and left hands. The Master's plans are all realized through us. During this time when he has temporarily departed, it is precisely the moment we should strive to complete the tasks the Master has entrusted and relied upon us to accomplish."
No one understands that man better than his weapons.
He is a selfish and lonely man, always walking alone. He is so selfish that he is unwilling to share even a little hardship with others, choosing to bear even sins alone in a distant time and space.
But there are two individuals who are exceptions—although he selfishly deprived them of the right to fight alongside him, that man transferred a part of his 'responsibilities' to them.
The responsibility as 'family head,' the responsibility as 'lord,' the responsibility as 'noble,' the responsibility as 'leader'... These responsibilities are all very important ones he should not ignore. But above these responsibilities, there are even greater ones, such as responsibilities concerning 'civilization,' concerning 'order,' concerning the future of the 'multiverse.'
Facing the surging darkness, the warrior stands at the front. But behind him, there are always other matters that need others to handle, to share his burden.
This is the responsibility of the 'two.'
He issues tasks and instructions, entrusting a part of his mysterious plans to the two. He even places the possibility of determining a part of his own future in the hands of those two individuals.
—If the value of a weapon lies in helping the holder solve problems, then without a doubt, the weapons capable of solving the above problems are the extremely rare 'divine weapons and sharp tools' in this multiverse.
"So, sister, don't belittle yourself too much."
"Whether it's you or me, to the Master, we are 'divine weapons and sharp tools' hard to find even in this multiverse."
Murmuring to himself, the black-haired boy bowed his head and began to work.
And at the distant end of the Void, the silver-haired girl in armor also began her long journey with firm eyes.
They are the weapons of Joshua Van Radcliffe. Even if inconspicuous, they can cut away troubles and handle worries for that man.
"This year marks the second year since the Master left the Mycroft World and went to the Genesis Maelstrom."
This year marks the second year since Joshua Van Radcliffe entered the Genesis Maelstrom.
The time of departure is drawing near.