The Crystal Age

Strangely, mosquitoes kept crashing into the dead tree and sculpture in the center of the town, seemingly committing suicide.

Is this some new mosquito repellent method?

No, it's just that some scoundrel treated this "The Interstice" House of Time. Without the corresponding hero equipment for his class's legendary gear, he had little interest in tackling the boss.

After leaving the tavern that had been converted into a dormitory, Vina saw two familiar faces by the cart: Margaret Nearl and Amiya.

"Huh? Is Miss Vina the last member of the team?" Amiya, somewhat surprised.

"After all, it's a farm theme," Oute said. "I believe this will save some time for settling in."

Settling time?

Amiya habitually put on an awkward smile, only to find that Vina didn't seem offended at all.

"A farm?" Vina asked. "What farm? Do they have potatoes?"

As expected of a British person from another world.

"Given the context, the Columbus Exchange is highly likely to have occurred," Oute said. "However, even if the land was planted before, now the only thing it can grow is crystals."

"Crystallization!?" Amiya exclaimed.

She has gradually accepted Kal'tsit's premise, viewing the Interstice as an organic combination of Oute's subconscious and fragments of memory.

"Look over there," Oute said, pointing to the distant sky.

Beneath the deep blue background, a thick halo seemed to surge.

"A meteorite struck the mill there. More precisely, the mill was struck by a meteorite in the past, and now, that meteorite has struck the mill in its current form."

What kind of nonsense is this?

Vina frowned.

"Besides the mill, the miller also cultivated a vast expanse of land. But a bad year ruined everything. The crops were afflicted by disease, and the miller suffered heavy losses. The following year he tried again, but drought drained him of his lifeblood."

"In desperation, the miller turned to the local nobles for help."

"The learned local nobleman offered a brilliant solution: he sent the miller a stone slab engraved with celestial patterns."

"One night, with a loud bang, a meteorite from the dark depths of space destroyed the miller's mill."

"Within the meteorite emitting a strange light, countless crystals emerged. And these crystals also emitted the same light. Those illuminated by this light also developed the same crystals."

"The once fertile land has become a lifeless wasteland, capable only of growing polluted fruit. The fields are filled with crystallized people, and the farms are covered with crystallized crops."

But why is the halo so thick...? Ouch!

A warm, gentle power surged into her forehead, Vina quickly realized that it was Oute's Originium Arts.

"Don't think about it. The more you think about these things, the more you dig into them, the more likely you are to run into problems," Oute said. "Contrary to your appearance, you are surprisingly a very thoughtful person who hesitates when doing things."

Unlike those who "knew a little" about Oute, Vina didn't think about the connection between all of this and Oute. Instead, she inadvertently asked herself a fatal question.

Her subconscious deep contemplation of "the Color of Madness" touched upon a fundamental rule that the cracks in this world had stitched together.

"... I'll take that as a compliment."

"No, this is criticism." Upon arriving at this secret realm, Doctor. Oute became unexpectedly blunt. "Hesitation is human nature when faced with a dilemma. But a commander can never use this as an excuse—if one is merely an ordinary person, why become a commander?"

"Vina, if you were just an ordinary person, you would be a disaster for everyone."

"Teacher... Gawain come to see you?!"

Oute shook his head. "I don't need anyone to solve this mystery for me."

He only needs to ask Kal'tsit.

Although as a player he already knew this, this question actually brought the cat a little psychological comfort...

"We've been delayed long enough; it's time for us to set off."

"Wait, where are we going!?"

Let practice be the teacher this time!

Chapter 314 The Crystal Age

Following the road leading to the mansion ruins, you'll see a path leading to an abandoned farm.

Under the soft blue light, half of a mill stands abruptly in the center of the farm.

The windmill's blades continued to spin aimlessly, creaking and groaning, unaware that it was already dead: a huge gash had almost severed the mill in half.

From a physics perspective, that slender structure, barely the thickness of a palm, could not possibly support the windmill atop the mill.

But reality delivered a resounding slap to the laws of physics.

"Why didn't it fall down?" Vina looked up.

Unwittingly, the lonely moon in this world entered her eyes.

Fortunately, she didn't pay attention.

"You can always pin it on the spell," Oute said.

"What's the point of using Originium Arts to maintain a mill like this?" Nearl wondered.

Amiya glanced at Oute and said, "I guess the mill isn't important."

Oute looked up and said, "No, the mill is important."

"The 'miller' is also very important," he said in Kazimierz.

"Młynar?" Nearl frowned. "What's wrong with Uncle?"

That's right, Młynar Nearl, his name means "miller".

"Poor 'Młynar,' it's all because of its 'The Ancestor.'"

Oute will not repeat the story that has already been told.

However, at this moment, Nearl realized that Oute's metaphor before setting off... was actually the arrow shot into her body.

Following the deserted path, the group soon arrived at the "entrance" of the farm.

"Where's the mill from before?" Vina scratched her head.

In the distance, one can see the ever-changing halo of light, with its deep blue hue. But once you get closer, the boundless jungle and the tightly fitted stone slabs block your path.

The stone slab was engraved with star patterns, and some ignorant mortal connected the stars on the slab together, calling them "constellations." As if in this way, the plants, trees, birds, and beasts on the ground could be associated with the blazing fireball in the sky.

Aside from the stars, the stone slab is covered with densely packed linear characters. To an outsider, they are blurred into a single mass, completely incomprehensible.

But if you look closely, the words seem to writhe like worms.

Amiya cautioned, "Miss Vina, these words are fragments of Doc Otter's memory. Although they are blurry to us, I still suggest you don't delve into them."

"...Oh." Vina seemed a little distracted.

When Nearl was training new operators and Sarkaz Del Diener, she had already accepted this premise, and she never paid any attention to the text from the beginning.

They walked for a long time in front of the long wall formed by the dense forest stone slabs, and finally found a stone slab inlaid with a stone disc.

Oute held out his hand.

The whole world seemed to have been cut off by a frame; when his hand touched the spot where the stone disc should have been, the stone disc disappeared.

At that moment, the worm-like inscriptions on the stone slab crawled into the girls' minds along with their gaze. Those "fragments of Oute's memories" gnawed at their brains, winding and twisting to carve out a line of text:

Gravity is desire, time is vision.

"Just now...?" Nearl, somewhat bewildered, "What did that feel like?"

Oute declined to elaborate. "I've heard that it's not that people are constantly pursuing knowledge, but rather that knowledge is constantly pursuing people."

"And its pursuit is cruel and emotionless, like a falcon or hound hunting a rabbit."

Amiya exclaimed, "Why are you capturing me!?"

With the little rabbit's banter, Vina and Nearl's already thin desire to get to the bottom of things faded away.

"Nearl, you go first. Vina, follow behind."

"Clear!"

As a master of Originium Arts, Nearl walked in the front row carrying a Thermal-Driven Halberd. Behind Vina, who was carrying a warhammer, was Oute, who was nervously playing with a crystal-shell dagger.

Amiya hooked her arm around his forearm and asked worriedly, "Doc Otter, were you alright just now?"

She believed that Oute's earlier remarks were merely a pretext, and that the brain-devouring illusion was a sign that Oute's memories were gradually returning.

If she had a choice, she wouldn't want Oute to regain his memories.

"Time never exists here. Even if it did, it would be a labyrinth." Oute didn't answer Amiya's question; instead, he pointed to the sky.

There, the night sky, like a photograph being exposed in a darkroom, recorded the comet's trail.

"The comet had already destroyed the farm, and the farm had long been sealed by the stone slabs. But all of this is only just beginning."

Before the girls could even understand what was being said, several "mummies" that had survived hundreds or even thousands of years under meteorite radiation rose to their feet.

They... no, they are still alive, but every crevice in their skin shimmers with ever-changing light.

A flat-shelled monster, a farm worker.

Moreover, beneath the group's feet, the heavy plow horse, which had been lying dead for some time, shook its head and got up from the plowed field. Unlike the farm workers, its back was covered with dazzling, dark blue crystals.

A flat-shelled monster, a plow horse.

This... is indeed a projection of Originium Infection into Doc Otter's consciousness!

The ploughing horse snorted and stomped its hooves heavily, kicking up a cloud of dust. It was this action that drew everyone's attention.

"The hooves of this beast are light!"

It turns out that what stitched together these shrunken, monstrous bodies was light!

The dust kicked up by the plow horse also shimmered with a dim, shifting fluorescence, making it impossible to find any trace of it.

"Nearl, force it to show itself. Vina, stop those two workers."

"Clear!"

"Receive!"