Chapter 75
After making the promise with Avia that day, she immediately returned here to find the sword hidden underwater in the lake, as Avia had instructed. However, she searched for several days without success, making her wonder if Avia had misheard the legend. After all, that guy had never been here before, so how could he know that there was a sword hidden underwater?
As for whether it's self-deception?
She didn't think that way, since it was pointless, and Avia seemed quite serious when she said it.
As for Meli, although she felt that she would gain nothing this time as well, she was used to it and didn't feel anything special.
At the bottom of the lake in the dim night, the small Phantasmal Species that lived there peacefully passed through the mysterious end.
What awaited the White-Haired Girl was not the indifferent clear water, but rather a gentle and warm sword that blew from the Planet itself.
That thing, hanging high above the Lake Rock, even with its dim and imposing light, was dazzling and heavy.
A sword was created in the Earth's inland sea at the time of the Giant God' destruction; it is unknown whether it was a human, a god, or someone else who called it the "Holy Sword."
That was the strongest fantasy that emerged after the Planet forged people's sorrowful wishes, a ray of starlight that transcended all time and space. The dream itself, which all living beings had failed to realize, was itself the hope for saving the world from crisis.
"Wow, it actually exists... this sword..."
As the White-Haired Girl sighed, the Holy Sword naturally detached from the rock and floated before her eyes, which she instinctively picked up.
Have you found someone to entrust this to?
Hearing the gentle voice, Meli looked back.
Gazing at the magnificently dressed woman standing quietly at the bottom of the lake, amidst the very faint shadows cast by the starlight.
That was a familiar face to Meli, the female Fairy had taken care of her for a long time after her parents left her here, the Great Mother of the Fairy.
The highest-ranking pure Fairy born in the Inner Sea of Stars, a being comparable to a god, is the Great Mother.
The later Morgan is a half- Fairy of the Great Mother level, and also the Lady of the Lake Vivian, with elements of Mahgous and Morrigan.
"Well, how should I put it..."
Meli probably knew that this seemingly powerful sword, unsurprisingly, should belong to the Lady of the Lake, and that her actions constituted theft, which she had been caught red-handed.
Seeing Meli's expression, the Great Mother probably knew something, so Yu Mi explained:
"Right now, it's just here; the Lady of the Lake aren't responsible for it."
"That's good..."
Meli breathed a sigh of relief, because in her memory, the Lady of the Lake and her gang were really troublesome to deal with due to their many side effects.
"But why are you here, Great Mother?"
"You're still immature; the illusions you set up can only fool me for a while. But so, you came back these past few days just to find this," the Great Mother said in her usual gentle tone. "That sword should have been given away a hundred years ago, but unfortunately, it was delayed until now. It's only right that you have it now. Do you have someone to give it to?"
"Um, I was commissioned by a human, it's more of an exchange..."
Looking at Meli's current state, the Great Mother couldn't help but reminisce about the past.
"My Great Mother, I'm entrusting my child to you."
Using unfamiliar etiquette, the father of the Nightmare kowtowed as hard as he could, his voice choked with tears.
"You shouldn't have gotten involved. You're really going to die this time."
"... Yes, but I was about to die anyway, and I still had to rescue my lover."
At a splendid and lavish dinner party, as people look to the Future and talk about their dreams, the brighter their light shines, the thicker and darker the shadows cast on the ground become.
"How strange, that human woman actually managed to evoke feelings in you?"
The encounter between the human and the Phantasmal Species stemmed from a simple acquaintance, but because they were Phantasmal Species, their union could only end in tragedy. However, they still ended up together. As pure Nightmare, once they had offspring, they would die quickly due to the responsibility of procreation. After death, all their abilities would be slowly passed on to their offspring.
Will this child be like you?
"This child is different. As a child born from both humanity and Nightmare, she possesses both her mother's kindness and her father's indifference."
Nightmare looked at the Great Mother and continued.
"The lesser good, the greater the sin; the greater the evil, the lesser the punishment. Her views are the same as mine. She can always judge these things from an outsider's perspective, even if the object is God. Her perspective is based on her own sense of entitlement."
Just as her mother hoped, over time, she will climb the sand dunes, her vision will broaden, and she will see things—joy, happiness, fondness—all will be unexpectedly discovered and recalled, sometimes even warming her frozen nature... She will one day become independent, and sooner or later fly to a world unknown to us... Although this child left our hands a little too soon...
"Since that's your wish, I can only watch you go."
As Nightmare disappeared from the Great Mother's sight, he said:
Please take good care of her...
A breeze picked up, and the clouds drifted by gently.
There were no road signs, yet the river flowed on its own in one direction.
How long will the footprints of the past remain? By now, we probably don't even know who left them.
"Is that so?" The Great Mother smiled, then turned and left. "Since it was you, Meli, who gave it away, an exchange is acceptable."
Even so, precisely because of this--
We should cherish even more the Pole Star we've found.
153: Mooncell
At dawn, as the first rays of sunlight pierce through the thin mist and gently caress the snow-capped peaks, the silvery world seems to awaken, radiating a dazzling light.
This is the Alps, the highest and most extensive mountain range in Europe.
Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up, one can see the peaks soaring into the clouds, majestic and imposing. On the mountainside, exposed rocks and lush green vegetation are interspersed, forming a unique natural landscape.
"Finally found it."
In a corner of the mountains, Avia had come here immediately after leaving the Millennium Castle, smiled, exhaling white breath as she snapped her fingers together. Along with a slight tremor that followed, a corner of the snow-covered rock wall changed.
What should have been Hidden Realm undiscovered at present has a man-made "door" appearing on the rock wall. To be more specific, it is a very high-tech door, but behind it is a cave shrouded in shadow.
This is the Giant God Ruins with Alien Star Key that was later discovered by Charlemagne and Astolfo.
It was here that the young Carl the Great came into contact with the Alien Star Key, touched the will of the stars, and learned that he was destined to pacify Europe, and thus began his efforts to achieve this.
According to Carl the Great in FEXL, he and Attila were both Revelation, but neither of them could make the Alien Star Key their own; they could only activate it.
In order to see if she could use the artifacts in the ruins to resolve the crisis Odin had told her about the Giant God, Avia came alone this time, without Typhon or Black Princess, since going to the moon on a spiritual level would be somewhat dangerous.
Once inside, Avia turned up the brightness of the Od lights, making the dark cave brighter.
Is there any danger here, or is it a high-tech trap? Neither is impossible. Exploring here requires utmost caution. This is Avia's opinion.
The silver-haired youth slowly made his way deeper into the cave, having already passed several branching points. This cave seemed surprisingly deep, and the closer he got, the more numerous the stopped Gears appeared. He had been moving forward silently for nearly three hours.
A mural depicting the Velber, created by an unknown person, appeared before Avia's eyes.
At its center, a gigantic eye, seemingly embedded within, appears to be alive, gazing intently and intensely at everything with its condensed essence.
This is the Alien Star Key that does not belong to the Velber. It was with its power that Carl the Great sublimated his ability into the Heavenly Voice Assimilation.
Without much hesitation, Avia lightly jumped and touched the Alien Star Key with her hand.
In that instant, he felt as if he were in an endless sea of blue data, a vast amount of information, a project that recorded the different concepts of humanity, an information storage system edited like patterns, which was not a knowledge system used by humans.
But at this moment, Avia could sense that the 'moon' had been recording, observing, and measuring, and had given birth to intelligence several times during the recording process, but had personally dismantled it, remaining a mere observer.
No matter what humans do on Earth, the 'Moon' will accept it all and simply observe.
Avia understands that the 'moon' is actually the mooncell inside the moon, an observation device placed by Extraterrestrial civilization that has disappeared 4.6 billion years ago, now known as the Moon UO.
Because the goal was to record everything equally and faithfully, it was necessary to go beyond the capabilities of an observer. As a result, the capabilities of Mooncell evolved dramatically, from observation to surveillance. The capabilities of this calculator eventually expanded to the point where it could even control planetary operations. With the expansion of its scale, the operational policies also became more complex.
It has created countless terminals and even manufactured Wisdom to manage functions at all levels, but on the other hand, it has resolutely refused to equip itself with Wisdom.
Observers should not possess intellect; if observers do possess intellect, the meaning of things will be determined by the observers.
In the world of Fe, due to a grand Magecraft Ritual performed by Magecraft in England in the 1970s, the "Greater Source" was prematurely depleted, resulting in continuous disasters on Earth, the depletion of resources, and the Mage's Association being reduced to the Atlas Institute, which is not heavily reliant on Magecraft.
Against this backdrop, the financial groups known as the "Western Europe Conglomerate," descendants of Charlemagne, successfully rose to power, becoming a political force that nearly controlled the world. They united most of the countries to form NERO, while the United States America, the Kingdom of England, and the Republic of India, allied with the Western Europe Conglomerate, constituted most of their military strength.
Due to the depletion of the Greater Source and the exclusion by organizations such as NERO, the Mage's Association was basically wiped out. Some remnants of the Mage's Association went to the Middle East and formed a resistance organization called the "Liberation Front" with other people who opposed NERO.
In 2015, a lunar exploration team led by Western Europe Conglomerate discovered that the moon itself, except for its surface, is entirely composed of giant photonic crystals, known as Mooncells. MCs scan the entire Earth approximately once every nanosecond and then accumulate the scan results in their own database.
Based on this, the Northern Hemisphere Resource Organization, an organization composed of 45 member states, was established in the same year at the call of Western Europe Conglomerate. It proposed and agreed to completely restrict Universe exploration.
By 2030, technological and human progress had stagnated. The world's resources were monopolized by "Western Europe Conglomerate," leading to conflicts between different people's ideologies, frequent wars, and the world on the verge of destruction.
However, Avia also understands that compared to the world she is currently in, which is a mixture of various stories, Fe is just an insignificant Parallel World.
Unaware of how much time had passed, the silver-haired youth, whose consciousness was wandering in a sea of data, opened his eyes without warning.
What comes into view is a spacious 'room' with very little furniture, but given its size, which seems to encompass both heaven and earth, one might hesitate to call it a room.
In its center is an unusual object, surrounded by stone pillars that stand haphazardly, as if encircling Holy Grail. None of them are upright, giving it a desolate feel.
That kind of heterogeneity brings about different concepts; it is an ancient relic of an unknown civilization.
This is the center of the Moon Cell, and also the Holy Grail of the Seven Seas that depicts the seven oceans in the Fe world.
The moment Avia appeared, a mechanical voice rang out:
"You who come from the earth, why have you come? Tell me."
154: The Moon King Who Has Not Yet Arrived
MoonCell can talk?
This was something Avia hadn't expected. After all, in his memory, this Spiritron Crystal didn't have its own consciousness; it was something that absolutely wouldn't allow itself to develop consciousness.
However, he quickly recovered from his surprise and returned to calm. Perhaps it was just a mechanical question, after all, Minecraft is a product of high technology.
Did you send me here?
Avia stood atop a pillar, an expression of keen interest on her face, without directly answering the MC's question.
"You came into contact with the remnants of the Harvest Star Vanguard Wilpha 02's clone on the ground. The erosion she left in Serial Phantasm weakened, and she chose to draw you here."
Serial Phantasm, abbreviated and commonly known as "SE. RA. PH", is a fictional world of Spiritrons constructed within the Mooncell Crystal. It is a "lunar City -type engine" created to operate the Mooncell Crystal and is distributed throughout the Mooncell Crystal.
Long ago, the Starship Harvest Star Vanguard Sefar pierced the back of the moon, infiltrated the Mooncell Crystal, and after reaching a state that was physically impossible to eliminate, it made contact with the photon network inside the Mooncell Crystal, eroding the Mooncell Crystal in the form of an intelligence agent, and gaining the territory of the Velber within SE. RA. PH.
Meanwhile, Sefar's main body is causing destruction inside the moon while simultaneously sending his clone to Earth. Sefar is also an existence composed of pseudo- Spiritrons, having been a pseudo- Spiritrons since birth. Sefar is only recognized as a life form in the available information.
Therefore, to people on earth, Sefar is nothing more than information. Thus, in order for Sefar to move on earth, something must be made that can reproduce Sefar's information on earth— Flesh.
Therefore, Sefar, who landed on the moon, used the functions of the Mooncell Crystal to create a physical clone that appeared on Earth.
This is similar to using the Mooncell Crystal as a 3D printer, printing an "Earth-based Sefar entity" from "Sefar information".
Before the Holy Sword Wielder used the Holy Sword to destroy the Giant God's clone, on the Moon, the Mooncell Crystal had already suffered a crushing defeat and was deeply attacked and corroded by the Starship. Fortunately, Sefar's clone on Earth was destroyed by the Holy Sword, which caused the main body of the Harvest Star Vanguard, which Synchronization with the clone, to be unable to move for a few minutes.
Taking advantage of this brief opportunity, the Mooncell Crystal created an isolation space within itself, surrounding and sealing the Harvest Star Vanguard's true form with Unknown Domain. In human terms, it was like turning a part of the body into a hollow.
"I see."
For Avia, this was somewhat expected. After all, he knew that although the Titan Sephalus was trapped in the Unknown Domain by the Magecraft, he had actually been gazing at his memories of his time on the surface of Earth all these years. These memories included those of destroying the gods and those of being Attila.
"MoonCell, could you please assist me in using your blockade to stop anything from another galaxy?"
This was one of Avia's goals. Ever since he learned from the Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg that Kihara had Planet support, he had been worried that when the time came to fight him, Beelzebub, who was hiding behind the scenes and might have made a deal with the Kreece gods, would use this to break through the Planet's blockade against the Kreece gods from other star systems, thus bringing about his desired arrival.
"Assistance is permitted, but because we must focus all our efforts on containing Harvest Star Vanguard Wilpha 02 and preventing him from escaping and being discovered by Velber, it cannot be permitted."
After the Giant God's defeat, the Mooncell Crystal launched an extremely powerful interference campaign across the entire Milky Way, making the Velber "unaware" of this Solar System. However, once it loses its normal function, or the Giant God emerges from its seal, the Velber will rediscover this place.
"Well, actually, that's why I came here."
After speaking, the silver-haired youth glanced around.
Speaking of which, a thousand years after the events of the FE world, Tevis H. Pissman, who was qualified Savior in Type-Moon, fought against the Moon King here with his own Servant, the Savior, to determine who would win the Moon Holy Grail.
This gave him a sudden thought: what if he directly controlled MC now? After all, it was impossible for the Greater Source to be depleted prematurely like in the FE world.
Seemingly sensing Avia's thoughts, the MC's mechanical voice continued to ring out:
"However, I must remind you that my presence here is a place I am destined to reach in one of the many Parallel World without Crimson Moon. The phantom I ascended in the world that discovered me can also be seen as the final destination of this place. If you are willing, please make your decision as soon as possible."
So you can actually communicate through your thoughts...