Bronze City

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	Bronze City (青铜城)
Type	Ancient metal city and large-scale sealing complex; identified by Lu Yuan's system as an Ancient Ruin 137
Location	Western Auris Empire; its Inner City stands above an underground Abyss 137 199
Role	Major western trade hub, Night Watch stronghold, and containment system against Weird entities 137 237
Status	Active and rebuilding after surviving a Taboo-level crisis. Its former bronze walls and Inner City boundary have rotted away, while the Flesh has retreated underground and become a recyclable Eerie resource; the Empire has promised reconstruction support and tax concessions. 500 502 504
First Appearance	Mentioned as Lu Yuan's prospective transfer destination 107; physically reached 137

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Bronze City Status: 9/50	211	Status is recorded following the deaths of officials connected to the Pipe Network investigation.
Bronze City Status: 12/50	218	Lu Yuan identifies an unknown organism eroding a core sealing structure.
Bronze City Status: 32.2/50	330	Status increases while Klaus and Lu Yuan examine the cracked Copper Wall and its surviving inscriptions.
Bronze City Status: 38.2/50	363	A damaged Bronze Sin node is found being consumed by blue-gray roots.
Bronze City Status: 39.2/50; Fragment count: 1/5	365	Lu Yuan's vision reveals the citywide Copper Pillar network and obtains the first documented Bronze City fragment.
Bronze City Status: 41.2/50; Fragment count: 2/5	369	A second fragment is linked; the original builder's message warns that removing all Key fragments at once would weaken the Bronze Pillars' passive defense.
Bronze City Status: 45.2/51	452	The growth-stage entity Hope restores Sanity nearby, and the recorded city status ceiling rises to 51. Lu Yuan later connects the additional point to Leike's survival. 619
Fragment count: 5/5; Golden Order completed	463	The Person on the Wall relinquishes the final Fragment, allowing all five Fragments to merge into a complete Golden Order.
Bronze City Status: 48.2/51	476	Status increases alongside Lu Yuan's advancement to Forbidden Studies—Scholar and the release of accumulated skill experience.
Bronze City Status: 51/51	500	The system recognizes that Bronze City's predetermined destruction has been averted and its fate has been reversed.

Background / History

Church records describe the region as a forbidden zone before Bronze City existed. Around a thousand years earlier, an unidentified object fell into the area, spread a devastating Curse, drew the Eerie, and triggered a war involving western city and family coalitions as well as the Church. Most of the combatants, inscriptionists, and craftsmen involved reportedly died there. 345

Bronze City was later created through a massive sealing effort. Herman states that its construction employed tens of thousands of craftsmen for thirty years, while the wall inscriptions alone required ten years of work by the Empire's greatest engravers. The Dwarf race also participated in constructing sealing inscriptions within the Tower of Erudition. 137 285

A vision witnessed by Lu Yuan shows the city’s construction: Copper Pillars were raised around the Abyss, linked by a vast inscription web, then covered by molten copper to form the walls and unified city structure. The unnamed builder activated the entire system with a copper-lit object before scattering its fragments among the pillars as contingencies. 365 369

The city's aboveground walls, conductive bronze structures, underground Copper Pillars, and deeper inscription network were designed as interdependent portions of one complete sealing system rather than separate defenses. 193 365

The special metal formula used for the city's construction has been lost and cannot be replicated by contemporary craftsmen. Adrian also notes that records concerning Bronze City are unusually scarce in both the local Night Watch archives and its headquarters, suggesting that someone deliberately erased information about the site. 137 345

The Auris Empire later used the Sea of Knowledge above Bronze City as part of its Fishing Plan, seeking knowledge needed for imperial border defense. Arthur identifies the city as one of several sites where the Empire conducts projects involving the extraction of material or knowledge from dangerous existences. 345

Oden later suggests that the City Founder was likely a junior of the Forbidden Studies Hall of Knowledge, linking Bronze City's construction to the same individual responsible for creating the Hall's statues. 507

Lu Yuan's construction vision identifies traces of a path shared with the builder. Oden describes the statue-maker as a talented junior who provoked an overwhelmingly powerful existence, and laments that the destruction of Bronze City's walls has erased traces left by the founder. The founder's identification remains a suggested connection rather than a confirmed name. 365 507

Appearance & Layout

Bronze City is a colossal metropolis cast from bronze, holy silver, and unidentified metals. Its high, thick walls bear mottled green rust and dense, precisely arranged Rune formations; Lu Yuan estimates the walls to be at least thirty meters tall. Its Rune-covered metal gates are opened by enormous mechanical winches. 137

• Outer City — A dense ring of shops, residences, inns, taverns, and merchant activity outside the main walls; home to ordinary residents and visiting merchants. 137
• Inner City — The district of nobles, officials, and the Church. It is built atop the subterranean Copper Pillar network and the Abyss below. It was completely inundated by the Flesh during the final crisis. 137 199 460
• Pipe Network Layer — A copper-lined underground utility system that intersects with, but deliberately avoids parts of, the deeper sealing complex. Its conduits terminate at the boundary of the Weird Inscription barrier beneath City Hall. 251 323
• Tower of Erudition — A major Inner City structure whose foundation inscriptions connect to Bronze City’s underground sealing network. Its collapse during the crisis killed the nobles sheltering beneath it. 389 502
• Old Council Square — The principal collapse-site and descent point used during the later Abyss expeditions. Its exposed opening was temporarily reinforced while the Night Watch, Holy Armor Army, and Iron Guard Battalion prepared a large-scale descent. 356 407
• Night Watch branch facilities — Lu Yuan initially reports to a three-story, off-white stone building in the Outer City, marked by a silver Night Watch emblem. During the siege, the branch's underground level and nearby temporary shelters provide refuge for residents, although the underground space alone is insufficient to house thousands comfortably. 137 452
• Pre-crisis environment — The city is characterized by a pervasive smell of bronze rust and extensive inscription patterns. In comparison with Oak Forest City's greenery, Lu Yuan observes that even roadside weeds scarcely grow in Bronze City. 401
• Post-crisis changes — The bronze wall marking the boundary between the Inner and Outer Cities has rotted away, leaving a broad groove, while the city’s original bronze construction has largely been lost amid the destruction. 502 504

Abilities & Systems

Defensive Rune Array

The wall formations repel and isolate Weird entities, creating a safety zone that allows Bronze City to serve as a major trade center despite the contaminated wilderness around it. 137

• The entire city can flare with bronze light and a holy aura, driving back manifestations such as the black-eyed clouds over the city. 190
• When fully activated, the city’s Runes react violently to disturbances associated with the entity sealed within its depths. 180
• The defense depends on both its irreplaceable metal composition and its inscriptions; neither component is sufficient alone. 137
• Bronze structures and conductive ground sections can distribute energy from the walls across threatened areas, producing deep-blue beams of light at multiple collapse sites. 193
• The defensive system ultimately failed to contain the spreading Flesh during the Taboo crisis, and the city’s bronze walls later rotted away in the aftermath. 460 504

Transcendent Suppression

Bronze City’s inscriptions impose a citywide oppressive force that weakens Transcendents within its coverage. 319 334

• The suppression can shorten Klaus’s Bone Blade, erase his Afterimages, and diminish his aura. 319 334
• The suppression also weakens Klaus's mental defenses, making him more vulnerable to Jie's mental attacks. 319
• A complete Copper Sheet is believed to function as a transit credential, allowing its bearer to move within the sealing system without suppression or repulsion. 249
• Bolen’s silver shards can temporarily bypass the city’s defensive inscriptions. 311
• Archbishop Adrian’s Golden Blessing can block the suppression entirely. 334
• Jie can deliberately activate the city's suppression using a small object while the Gray Covenant's own members remain unaffected by its detection. 334

Guardian Bond

The city’s inscription system can deeply bind a Guardian to Bronze City, restraining the danger of the Guardian’s Transcendence Path going berserk in exchange for longevity and a mutual protective relationship. 377

• The Guardian cannot die so long as Bronze City remains standing and his path does not go berserk. 377
• The Guardian watches over the city, while the city’s inscriptions in turn suppress and stabilize him. 377
• During the siege, Klaus considers an imperial potion that could make him a new Guardian and potentially enable advancement to the Fifth Order. This is considered as a defensive option rather than an established transformation. 452

Copper Pillar Sealing Network

The underground Copper Pillars are conduction structures forming a complete seal beneath the city. Four cardinal pillars share matching conduction paths and inscription styles, while further nodes extend deeper around the Abyss. 237 365

• The pillars channel and distribute power through the citywide inscription network. 260 365
• Bolen concludes that the pillars are not the power source; he believes they extract power from the dangerous existence behind the hidden bronze wall. 260
• Tampering with or replacing the original Conduction Veins can reverse their energy flow, revealing contamination being driven outward from an underground source. 203 204
• The Bronze Pillars’ passive defenses are tied to the scattered Key fragments and should not all be removed simultaneously. 369
• Rising pillars and spreading Eerie Inscriptions indicate that something beneath the city is becoming active. 323 345
• The deeper network branches radially from the four upper Bronze Sins through the rock strata, with individual Copper Pillars serving as anchor points connected to further nodes. 365
• Lu Yuan's system identifies the sealing hub as potentially capable of external control, although the conditions are initially unknown. The founder's message states that a person whose consciousness is linked to the Key fragments can summon them when needed. 365 369
• The five Key Fragments eventually reunite into the Golden Order after Lu Yuan obtains the final Fragment from the Person on the Wall. 463

Weird Inscription Barrier

A massive bronze wall beneath City Hall is covered with ancient Weird Inscriptions rather than ordinary large-scale inscriptions. The inscriptions appear to be designed to seal and extract an unidentified target. 251

• The barrier causes severe illusion effects, Sanity loss, and powerful suppression. 251
• The Pipe Network was deliberately built around this area, with its conduits ending at the inscription boundary. 251 323
• The entity behind the wall is implied to be integral to the city’s functioning, making its release a threat to both the seal and Bronze City itself. 260
• The failure of the barrier permits the emergence of a massive Crown with seven glass eyeballs and precipitates the final spread of the Flesh. 439

Inscription Resonance and Borrowed Power

Bolen's Third Order mastery of Inscription Studies gives him a partial connection with Bronze City's inscriptions. He explains that an inscription master of his level can form a resonance with a city in which they reside long-term, allowing him to borrow some of its power and sense major changes in its defensive load. 311

• Bolen uses a portion of the city's power during the underground battle with Nine. 311
• His silver shards share the lineage of the city-wall inscriptions. Through them, Lu Yuan can sense Bronze City's aura and perceives the possibility of influencing its inscription conduction to a limited extent. 313
• The shards' suppression relief is brief: one activation during Klaus's battle lasts only about a dozen seconds. Forcing another activation allows Klaus to recover his strength temporarily but breaks the shard. 319

Hope

Hope is a growth-stage entity nurtured from a Wish as a seed and becomes a crucial source of recovery during Bronze City's crisis. 452

• Its golden light restores nearby Sanity and can potentially allow compatible humans or Eerie Transcendents to advance into a higher realm. 452
• Leike enters a continuing fusion with Hope after advancing to the Fifth Order; Hope’s roots remain entwined around him while he recovers. 473 502 504
• Following the crisis, Lu Yuan receives three Leaves of Hope from the entity. 504

Vulnerabilities

• Erosion of sealing nodes — Gray-green mycelium and blue-gray roots corrode Copper Pillar inscriptions faster than they can be repaired. 218 363
• Metal-devouring infection — The underground growth can consume copper and parasitize Born as well as Ghouls, threatening both the sealing structures and the expedition's mechanical personnel. 362 363
• Compromised Conduction Veins — Original copper conduits can be replaced or tampered with, allowing contamination to flow in the reverse direction through the city’s system. 203 204
• Overloaded defenses — Bolen senses that the city’s inscriptions are carrying an abnormally heavy burden and may be overloaded. 311
• Collapse points — Ground collapses across both districts opened paths for Ghoul incursions; the Inner City collapses exposed enormous underground Voids. 234
• Bypass methods — The Gray Covenant, Ascension Society members, Copper Sheet holders, and those protected by Adrian’s blessing can evade or negate the city’s suppression. 288 334
• Undetected infiltration — The city's arrays fail to detect the Forest Seed growing beneath an Inner City warehouse, where living humans are used to nourish its roots. 294 295
• Internal contamination — During the final crisis, the Flesh covered the entire Inner City, filling streets and buildings while the city’s defensive systems failed to contain the disaster. 439 460
• Loss of the bronze structure — The city’s ancient bronze walls and the boundary between its districts rotted away after the crisis, leaving its original defensive architecture irreparably altered. 502 504

Relationships

• Night Watch — Maintains the Bronze City branch, investigates its underground systems, defends collapse points, coordinates civilian shelters during the siege, and leads reconstruction afterward. 137 388 452 502
• The Church — Holds influence in the Inner City, constructs temporary churches near Old Council Square, and possesses records concerning the site’s ancient war and sealing history. It later sends additional personnel for reconstruction. Its stated priorities during the Abyss investigation are preventing the sealed existence from emerging and studying Bronze Sin's construction and inscriptions. 210 345 346 356 502
• Tower of Erudition — Connected to the Sea of Knowledge project and to the underground inscription network; its foundation inscriptions link to Bronze Sin pillars and the city’s sealing root. The Tower ultimately collapses during the crisis. 345 389 438 502
• Auris Empire — Funds and directs projects connected to the city, values its harvested Sea of Knowledge data, and orders that Bronze City be held at all costs during the crisis. Following its survival, the Empire grants increased support and tax concessions. 285 345 438 502
• Gray Covenant — Infiltrates the city, investigates the Copper Pillar system, and uses hidden Inner City sites for the Forest Seed’s growth. Before the accelerated Abyss descent, its local forces are largely dismantled: Jie is killed, Nine, J, and Q are detained, and K remains at large after being rescued. 244 249 295 345
• Ascension Society — Participates in the Abyss descents and later provides Born workers to assist in Bronze City's reconstruction. 346 356 504
• Hope — A Wish-born entity whose growth restores Sanity, supports higher-order advancement, and helps preserve Leike’s life following the city’s final battle. 452 501 504
• Person on the Wall — Influences events around the Copper Wall and Tower of Erudition; it foresees Bronze City’s destruction in one possible future. It takes the final Fragment before bargaining it to Lu Yuan after that future is altered. Its perception extends over nearly half the city. 438 463
• Oak Forest City — Receives 210 East District craftsmen before Bronze City becomes isolated, then later supplies grain, medicine, and reconstruction assistance after the crisis. Isabella provides the relocated residents with prepared housing and a year's rations, welcoming their skills as craftsmen. 391 400 503
• Dwarf race — Supplies craftsmen for Empire-funded sealing inscriptions within the Tower of Erudition. Green confirms this involvement while noting that he does not know the precise identity of the sealed target. 285
• Lu Yuan — Originally transferred toward Bronze City on Old Morgan's recommendation, partly so that making it his permanent record location would obscure his untraceable background. He later investigates its seal, reunites the Key fragments, and reverses its predetermined destruction. 107 463 500
• Knight Academy — Becomes Lu Yuan's planned destination after the crisis. Klaus arranges for him to study there and keep a low profile, and Lu Yuan subsequently travels north with the Blue Knight after departing Bronze City. 502 513
• Withered City — Lu Yuan later wonders whether knowledge obtained at great cost in Bronze City can help address Withered City's severe Eerie crisis. The benefit remains a possibility rather than a confirmed outcome. 574

Story Role / Major Arcs

Arrival and early unease

Lu Yuan reaches Bronze City after a three-day journey through the Weird Stone Forest and oasis belt. Although the walls remove the immediate sensation of contamination, the Outer City is already tense with increased Night Watch patrols and reports of disappearances connected to the Tower of Erudition. 137

Old Morgan's earlier recommendation serves both as a career opportunity and a way to protect Lu Yuan's obscure background: routing his records through Bronze City would make his origins more difficult to trace than transferring him directly from Grim Port to headquarters. 107

Anomaly and Pipe Network investigation

Lu Yuan’s contact with the Sea of Knowledge reveals a chained, distorted existence within the city. Bronze City’s Runes activate in response, while the being offers him power in exchange for help. 179 180

Investigations below the city uncover Copper Pillars, the Abyss, a hidden bronze wall of Weird Inscriptions, and evidence that the Inner City’s defenses are part of a far deeper sealing network. 199 237 251

The Sea of Knowledge subsequently leaks over the Inner City, drawing the Guardian and other powerful figures into the escalating conflict surrounding the city’s hidden core. 253

Bolen advances to the Third Order after his encounter with the Copper Wall and proposes that Bronze City may be alive, with its power supplied by the existence sealed behind that wall. He and Lu Yuan recognize that releasing it could collapse the inscription system and expose the city to retaliation. 260

Gray Covenant infiltration

The Gray Covenant exploits weaknesses in the city’s systems, searches for access to the City Hall seal, and grows the Forest Seed beneath an Inner City warehouse using living humans as fertilizer. The city’s arrays fail to detect the seed. 244 249 294 295

Klaus plans a purge of suspected collaborators among the Inner City nobles. Subsequent battles demonstrate that the Gray Covenant can evade the city's suppression and activate it against their enemies, while Bolen's silver shards and Adrian's Golden Blessing allow Klaus's forces to counter this advantage. 302 319 334

Before the major Abyss investigation, Klaus reports that Jie has been killed and Nine, J, and Q detained. K's rescue and continued freedom leave a remaining threat despite the dismantling of most local Gray Covenant forces. 345

Rising pillars and descent into the Abyss

As the Bronze Pillars begin emerging at an accelerating rate, the Night Watch, Church, and Ascension Society organize descents beneath Old Council Square. Lu Yuan’s visions reveal the original construction of Bronze City and the Key fragments embedded in its pillars. 345 356 365 369

The expeditions confirm that the Forest Seed’s roots are eroding the Bronze Sin extension nodes faster than their inscriptions can be repaired, threatening the entire Sealing Matrix. 363

The explorers also encounter metal-devouring growth infecting Born and Ghouls. A fused creature reaches the surface collapse point but is repelled by the sealing inscriptions on its Copper Plate, demonstrating that the temporary defenses remain effective at that stage. 362

Lu Yuan maps the radial underground inscription web and learns that the sealing hub may permit external control. The founder's contingency message explains how linked Key fragments can be summoned while warning against removing all of them together. 365 369

Isolation and citywide collapse

Klaus evacuates selected East District craftsmen to Oak Forest City before communication with Bronze City fails. When Lu Yuan returns, the city is under martial law due to escalating underground casualties and a planned third descent. 391 400 413

During Lu Yuan's absence, Leike, the Great Ascendant, the Earl's Attendant, and a hooded Night Watch expert lead a heavily equipped descent. They encounter an overwhelming corruption entity and retreat; subsequent planning records the loss of two Alchemy Cannons and several personnel, as well as corruption injuries suffered by the Attendant. 407 410 413

Multiple collapse points subsequently release Ghouls and Great Ghouls into the city. The imperial government prohibits evacuation, forcing the remaining defenders and residents to hold Bronze City despite the worsening siege. 422 438 439

The disaster exposes the unequal effects of earlier Ghoul attacks: thousands of Outer City residents had died in northern and southern collapse zones, whereas the Guardian's intervention had largely spared the Inner City's residents, whose losses were primarily defending knights. 398

Flesh siege

The seal behind the Copper Wall fails, allowing the Crown with seven glass eyeballs to emerge. Dark red and dark-gold Flesh spreads from the Inner City walls until it fills the entire district, leaving only the tallest structures visible. 439 460

Thousands of remaining residents are directed into temporary shelters around the Night Watch branch and its underground level. Many had previously chosen to stay rather than abandon their homes when departure was still possible. 450 452

The Empire's Sky-Seeking Fortress carries Klaus and Lu Yuan toward the Tower of Erudition. Despite its substantial weaponry, Logan acknowledges that ordinary reinforcements cannot resolve a crisis involving a Taboo existence. From the airship, the group sees Flesh piled three or four stories high and plant roots fused into its spreading mass. 459 460

The Person on the Wall later reveals that it saw a future in which Bronze City was destroyed, but claims Lu Yuan’s presence altered that outcome. 463

Fate reversal and reconstruction

Lu Yuan acquires the final Key Fragment from the Person on the Wall, completing the Golden Order. The system subsequently confirms that Bronze City's predetermined fate has been reversed and its status reaches 51/51. 463 500

The reversal grants Lu Yuan the passive ability Nonexistent Fate, which removes him from prophecy and the writing or manipulation of his future. His later reflection connects the city's additional status point, beyond its original fifty-point limit, specifically to Leike surviving the final crisis. 500 619

With the Taboo crisis overcome, residents emerge from underground shelters and outside aid arrives to rebuild the city. The Flesh recedes beneath the ruins, the Ghouls vanish, and Bronze City begins reconstruction despite the loss of its ancient bronze walls and the Tower of Erudition. 501 502 504

Nearby cities, including Oak Forest City, provide food, medicine, and labor for reconstruction. The surviving Flesh at the bottom of the Abyss loses its former Taboo-backed threat and becomes a recyclable Eerie resource belonging to the rebuilt city. 503 504

Born workers assist with clearing corpses, filth, and ruined buildings while new lumber and stone arrive. Residents mark out foundations and plan replacement homes. The Ghouls have been consumed by the retreating Flesh, eliminating the previous need to dedicate manpower to fighting them underground. 504

The Tower's collapse kills the nobles sheltering beneath it, as well as Selina and other students. Calvin Morton survives, while the awakened Old Dean declines to continue as a dean after confronting his role in the disaster. 502 504

Klaus arranges for Lu Yuan to leave for the Knight Academy, both to learn from experienced Knight Commanders and to avoid excessive attention from the Empire. Lu Yuan later verifies 573 Night Watch points in the Northern Territory, but notes that the Bronze City Sea of Knowledge battle was excluded from that accounting. 502 513 523

Looking back on the crisis, Lu Yuan concludes that without his intervention Bronze City would have been annihilated, a new Taboo would have occupied its site, and the Empire would have lost the territory. Its survival therefore represents a new branch carved into an otherwise predetermined fate. 619

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