In This Era That Needs Change

Time slipped by unnoticed.

In Bavaria, Germany, Northern Europa.

Hidden beneath the lush vegetation of the municipal courtyard.

Sunlight filtered through the pale green leaves, falling silently.

Miss Sophia was seated in the grand, Baroque-style government hall, helping to process the recently received documents.

She was also browsing an email sent from England:

"Extraordinary Person Act, top priority in Westminster.

Mr. Franks, have similar incidents increased recently in Bavaria?"

"Miss, Transcendent-related crimes have been occurring frequently lately. The most notable is the Provence Sleep Event, in which all tourists inexplicably fell asleep after the six o'clock bells chimed."

"What was the result of the subsequent investigation?"

"Reportedly, during the follow-up review, some tourists with no prior painting experience produced incredibly exquisite charcoal sketches of lavender.

According to the Academy of Sciences, they experienced a phenomenon of conscious resonance due to mental contamination."

Mr. Franks was the Reinhardt family's butler, having served two generations of Bavarian Dukes.

He had watched Sophia grow up, so the sixty-year-old gentleman naturally held nothing back.

"I heard that All Souls College is conducting in-depth research on this topic.

Miss, after you finish your studies, are you planning to return from England?"

"I can only study at Christ Church right now; I haven't had the opportunity to enter All Souls College yet."

Oxford All Souls College was established to commemorate the Heroic Spirits who died in the Hundred Years' War.

Unlike other Oxford colleges, it has no students of its own.

Each year, All Souls College adds new members.

It invites the most outstanding students from Oxford University to participate in an examination organized by All Souls College, and the two most exceptional students become new members of All Souls College.

Becoming a member of All Souls College is considered the highest honor in England.

And after the Origin Era.

All Souls College relaxed the number of members it expanded each year.

Correspondingly, being a Transcendent became one of the threshold requirements.

The young lady had no aristocratic airs and smiled at the old butler, who was like a grandfather to her:

"But Christ Church has a church dining hall just like the one in Harry Potter, and the atmosphere is wonderful."

Oxford University in England only has three terms a year, each lasting only 8 weeks, so the three terms only add up to 6 months.

Therefore, even if she only used her vacation time to study with her father.

Sophia could gradually deepen her understanding of the Bavarian territory and government affairs.

But at the same time, she also had some concerns:

"Since there's no way to prevent the birth of Transcendent phenomena, the order of European society will definitely be impacted."

"Little Sophia, that's not something you should worry about."

Her father, Duke Joseph Reinhardt, pushed open the door and entered the room.

"Finding ways to establish a new order in an era of change is the duty and glory of the nobility."

He looked at his daughter, still somewhat worried.

So he smiled at her with great kindness and said:

"I will hold a banquet before the Westminster conference. At that time, you will be able to see the opinions of others with your own eyes."

She nodded.

Then she carefully opened the government hall file that had just been updated with a record:

"Father, Zero-Sum Game caught fifteen children in Regensburg and performed a Heretical Sect ritual. Have all the criminals been caught?"

"Not all of them were caught; two of them escaped.

Both were rats from the outer districts who escaped from Zero-Sum Game and fled to Celtic, which belongs to England. The Rangers and the Clock Tower will cooperate in the investigation."

Sophia felt relieved when she heard this.

She looked out from the office into the distance, where she could see the majestic Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak.

Even in the hot summer, the snow on the mountain's summit never melts.

The magnificent snow-capped Alps, and the shimmering reflections of the picturesque hills and lakes in front of the mountains.

This is Bavaria's unchanging beauty.

While admiring the scenery, the young woman also pondered the reality of the situation.

She was no longer the little princess who snuggled beneath velvet sheets with fairy tales.

Bavaria also had no need of a noble heir who only knew how to enjoy life.

"My teacher once said that change always comes with death and sacrifice."

"Little Sophia, you don't understand.

Once you've seen the vast sky and earth in the distance, how could you ever want to stop?"

Unlike the conservatives and academics of the Clock Tower, the Roman Curia, and the Great Library, Duke Joseph Reinhardt was a staunch pioneer.

Just like Ludwig I had been.

At the critical juncture when the world could be changed—the early days of the European Industrial Revolution—he chose to build Germany's first railway.

From then on, the long journey from Nuremberg to Fürth became a chronicle of civilization roaring with the sound of steam whistles.

Joseph put on his coat, his voice softening, "Tell me about your university experience at Oxford, little Sophia."

And so, time passed quickly.

On the eve of the Westminster House of Lords' Extraordinary Person Act restriction meeting, Duke Reinhardt hosted a top-tier banquet for the nobles at the Cairns Hotel.

Because the upcoming meeting would affect all of Europa, he chose not to keep the news secret.

Instead, he simultaneously invited the editor-in-chief of The Times, the most authoritative political newspaper in England.

As the crystal chandeliers in the magnificent banquet hall lit up, one Europa Noble after another, dressed in top-tier bespoke suits, arrived as scheduled.

In the night breeze, the chimes of Great St Mary's, Cambridge, flowed on, never ceasing since 1793.

At that moment, a handsome man in a black trench coat appeared in a London alley not far from the Cairns Hotel.

He elegantly adjusted his bow tie.

Then, in the instant he brushed past a waiter dressed in Cairns attire, a muffled gunshot rang out.

The assassin disguised as a waiter beside him fell into the alley, defenseless, leaving behind only a calm statement:

"The first."

The night in London was quietly stirred by a breeze.

Just like

the delicate butterfly whose mere flapping of wings could cause a tornado on the West Coast of North America.