Chapter 7: Not Yet the Promised Time
Boom.
The earth trembled.
In the silent world, a tremendous roar echoed.
Within the mist-shrouded ruins of the city, something seemed to be moving. It was colossal, looming in and out of sight within the gray haze, its body, vast as a mountain range, shuddering as if drawing power from its surroundings.
As it passed, mud and stone crumbled into dust, towering peaks collapsed into flat plains. The "power of existence" was drained by this gargantuan monster, causing the very fabric of the world to waver.
Accompanied by a crisp sound like shattering glass, everything around it grew blurry and distant, as if it would cease to exist in the next moment.
—Fire.
Vaguely, still drowsy, Ying seemed to hear a voice.
—Fire!
The voice echoed between sky and earth, spreading across the entire world, as if anticipating, as if pleading for something.
What did it mean by fire?
The girl questioned herself inwardly, puzzled.
—Naturally, it is the spark of the world, the primordial light of existence. Only fire, only fire alone, can illuminate the void and banish chaos...
Boom! Another thunderous crash. The girl instinctively felt that the owner of the voice seemed ready to answer her question, but for some reason, it was interrupted by some influence. The deafening roar from an unknown source shattered the reply amidst the surging gray mist, making it impossible to hear the rest.
With the sudden eruption of noise, surging waves of chaos rolled in, causing Ying to feel a wave of discomfort. A suffocating pain invaded her soul. But then, a silvery-white light flared, and some inexplicable force gently lifted the Divine Mechanism girl's consciousness, shielding her like a barrier, blocking and driving away all chaotic power.
Time passed. The waves subsided, and the shield vanished with them. Lifting her head to gaze at the dim, lightless sky, Ying looked around in confusion.
Just now, she had sensed a great will gently watching over her.
[Remnant of fire, descendant of steel, creation of my people... It is not yet the promised time. You should not be here.]
A deep voice resonated within Ying's heart. At the same time, an inexplicable repulsive force pushed the girl's soul away, lifting it upward, toward the faint radiance of the sun.
[Return now. Return for now. When the promised day comes, you may take up your mission.]
Finally, just as she was about to leave this world, Ying, utterly bewildered yet strangely reluctant to part, seemed to hear a blessing:
[—May the sun eternally illuminate your soul.]
Then, a silvery-white light flashed. A sensation of being squeezed and pushed out washed over her. In a daze, the silver-haired girl opened her eyes in reality.
She had woken up.
"Oh, awake? Did you sleep well?"
The newly awakened girl had just sat up straight, her eyes vacant, her silver hair slightly disheveled, with even a few strands inexplicably caught between her lips—in short, completely unaware of what had just happened, Ying flinched at her master's teasing remark. She quickly stood up and apologized in a fluster: "I'm sorry, Master. I suddenly felt very sleepy for no reason..."
And then I had a dream... Wait, what did I dream about just now?
"As a Divine Mechanism, I shouldn't need to sleep. Why is that..."
Biting her lip lightly, the Divine Mechanism lady furrowed her delicate brows, muttering to herself in confusion: "Divine Mechanisms do have a hibernation state, but that's not the same as sleep."
"It's fine. No need to react so strongly. Sleep is a ritual to adjust memories and purify the soul. Even a Vampiric Dragon, which doesn't need sleep, will hibernate for years or even centuries as needed."
Joshua watched the silver-haired girl muttering in a daze and found this side of Ying unexpectedly endearing. He couldn't help teasing her again: "Anyway, next time you want to sleep, just let me know. I'm not a bad person—how could I bear to make you follow me around working while yawning?"
Speaking of which, the warrior suddenly realized that since he had advanced to the Gold-rank, he hadn't slept in a long time. Over this extended period, whenever he felt tired, he would simply close his eyes for an hour or two of brief rest, then fully recover and continue working.
Such high-intensity combat and training—if it weren't for Joshua, anyone else would have collapsed long ago. Yet the Divine Mechanism girl had followed him all the way, never once absent... Thinking about this, Joshua couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt. He had never imagined that he had unconsciously become a heartless lord exploiting his subordinates, a scumbag oppressing child labor.
Although Ying always claimed she was the same age as the warrior—but who cared about that? The warrior was a visual creature.
The silver-haired girl was still frowning, trying to recall. She vaguely remembered seeing many strange things in her dream. Though she had been somewhat groggy at the time, she still remembered some details.
"What was it..."
Standing in front of the sofa, pacing back and forth, Ying racked her brains, but at most, she could recall fragmented impressions—gray mist, a stagnant world, everything encased in crystal stone, surging waves of chaos, and a colossal creature slowly moving within them... Though it sounded like a lot of content, no matter how she tried to connect the dots, Ying couldn't remember anything more.
"This time, it felt similar to those memory fragments I saw through Master's will on the city wall last time. Even though I felt like I saw a lot, I could only remember a tiny bit... Could it be that I unconsciously linked with some great existence just now?"
Thinking this to herself, Ying was deeply puzzled: "But I only have the ability to share memories with Master because of the Divine Mechanism contract. What reason would I have to link with that existence?"
"Hmm?"
Just as she was troubled, the silver-haired girl heard her master's intrigued voice: "Dwarves... They want to gift me a set of armor?"
Joshua sat at his desk, holding a gray-black letter in his hand, reading its contents with interest: "And it's personally crafted by the Great Forger, Iron Body Moria? Doesn't that mean it's almost certainly a Legendary-rank equipment? And they're just giving it to me outright?"
This counted as one of the few good news items recently. The warrior nodded slightly. He had just read through some other letters and roughly confirmed that Alfonso's description of the situation in the Imperial Capital was accurate. He had been feeling annoyed, but this sudden good news lifted his spirits considerably.
The Dwarves naturally had their own script and grammar, but they also knew the Common Tongue used by humans. However, while everyday conversation was fine, when it came to formal written documents, their habits inevitably made the text feel jarring and awkward.
It took Joshua a while to finish reading the entire letter. A large portion of it consisted of meaningless blessings and filler words. The core message was roughly congratulating the warrior on inheriting his title and obtaining the 'qualification'—which Joshua assumed referred to successfully contracting the Divine Mechanism. Therefore, according to an ancient agreement, they would forge the best set of armor for the warrior and gift it to him free of charge. If possible, they would also send an envoy to visit and set a date for collecting the armor.
"Dwarven armor is bound to be the finest of the finest. I can hardly wait."
Putting down the letter, Joshua looked up at the study ceiling, his face full of anticipation: "Ordinary armor is far too fragile for someone at my level. In my battles with the Black Dragon and the Dragon Spider, even high-quality enchanted armor couldn't hold up for long—it was usually destroyed within minutes... This is truly a timely help."
With a Divine Mechanism as his weapon and Legendary-rank equipment forged by a Dwarf Great Forger as his armor, Joshua felt that even in his previous life, he hadn't been this extravagant at the same level.
Time passed. In the study of the detached mansion, the black-haired warrior was envisioning the future, while the silver-haired girl was troubled by her dream. No one spoke, and the room fell into silence.
"Knock, knock, knock."
A hurried knock broke the quiet. (To be continued.)