399: Unexpected Events and Centaurs

In the center of the city stood an especially massive palace complex, as though an entire mountain had been hollowed out to build it. Farther away, a peculiar tower soaring into the clouds drew the eye. At its summit seemed to be a huge, slowly rotating glass sphere, faintly radiating ominous energy fluctuations.

The entire city resembled a precise, merciless machine, every component operating according to predetermined rules. This was the heart of the empire in this erroneous timeline.

A place where totalitarianism, terror, and twisted technology had been taken to their ultimate extremes.

"Attention, passengers. Please fasten your seatbelts and prepare for landing."

The airship slowly descended through the sky. The drone of its propellers sounded dull and weary in the thin air, while its enormous shadow swept across the meticulously orderly, chessboard-like streets below.

"I need to find what I'm looking for quickly."

Through the porthole, Ian stared at the oppressive imperial capital, already calculating how he could infiltrate the king's treasury and search for materials to repair the Time Machine, as well as clues to the secret of immortality.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, quietly circulating his magic as he sensed the city's energy field.

He could detect the ever-present anti-magic interference waves, like an invisible iron net suppressing all supernatural power. Yet he could also sense an exceedingly faint but remarkably ancient magical fluctuation deep within the black spire at the city's center—something technology could never imitate. It felt more like... some kind of sealed wizarding relic.

"Perhaps it's there."

Ian was ready to act the moment he got off the airship. Yet just as the vessel was about to dock with the airship terminal tower, and the passengers began gathering their belongings—

Rumble!

Without any warning, a ghastly white bolt of lightning tore through the