Rabel stood at the edge of the cliff, gazing toward Elysia as he took a drag from his cigarette.
Because Elysia had only just arrived, she had no idea that Rabel had a habit of checking the sleeping quarters after midnight.
He had developed it after several children disappeared in the middle of the night.
From the moment he first saw Elysia, he had realized that she possessed a bearing completely unsuited to someone her age.
As a result, he had unconsciously treated her like a peer and told her many things children should never have to hear.
Had he made a mistake?
When he discovered that Elysia was missing last night, he had not panicked.
A miniature biological force field combined with a clearly enhanced constitution was more than enough for her to move freely through this wasteland.
Given their earlier conversation, it was obvious that she had gone to the military base.
She must have heard some truths there that were far too cruel, Rabel thought as he looked at Elysia’s solitary figure.
I’ll find time to talk her through it tonight.
By the time Elysia returned to her senses, the sun was already high in the sky.
She rose and descended the hill, then noticed that the children were all awake.
On the sandy ground outside, they had planted several wooden poles into the earth as goalposts and split themselves into teams for a game of soccer.
Their laughter never stopped.
It was happiness in its purest form.
As she watched their lively figures, ripples once again spread through Elysia’s previously tranquil heart.
During halftime, Elysia walked over and greeted them.
The children responded one after another.
After last night’s storytelling, much of the distance between them and Elysia had disappeared.
“Do you want to play with us, Big Sister Elysia?” one of the children resting nearby invited her.
Elysia found herself in a bit of a dilemma.
The main issue was that she had long since passed the age when she wanted to roll around in the sand.
“Hmm~ Just watching you play already makes me happy~ How about this instead?
Would you like to see a magic trick?” The children gathered around.
Elysia first spread both hands to show that they were empty, then hid them behind her back and produced a bright, pristine pink crystal flower as though by magic.
The children cried out in amazement.
“This is for you~” She handed the crystal flower to the child closest to her.
He hesitated.
In his eyes, the crystal flower had to be worth a fortune.
Yet when he saw Elysia’s radiant smile, his hand still reached out on its own.
Once he accepted the crystal flower, a crowd of children pressed closer and surrounded him, carefully handling it as though it were a priceless treasure.
The children who could not squeeze in looked at Elysia longingly, but they were too embarrassed to ask for one.
“Don’t worry.
There’s one for everyone.” Elysia produced more from behind her back.
After receiving their crystal flowers, they were all overjoyed.
Elysia even condensed several extra ones and told the children to give them to Rabel and the guards later.
In truth, these crystal flowers were passive-trigger shields.
Elysia had named them Elf Magic: Guardian Invocation.
They would be enough to keep everyone safe for a long time.
Once they had carefully put away their crystal flowers, the children looked at her with sparkling eyes, faintly beginning to treat her as their leader.
“Then, would you like to hear a story?” Elysia proposed naturally.
They cheered and sat down in groups of two and three, forming a circle around her.
As Elysia watched them listen with earnest expressions, she felt as though she had returned to those nights long ago at the orphanage.
The story she told was about a young shepherd named Santiago.
In pursuit of treasure, he abandoned his flock and traveled the world, meeting all kinds of people.
Twice, he was robbed of all his money and lost everything.
Yet in the end, he overcame every hardship and tribulation, dug up the treasure at the starting point of his journey, and finally united with the one he loved.
Time was limited, so Elysia only selected some of the most important parts.
Even so, the story lost none of its charm.
The children sat quietly around her, listening as their thoughts seemed to travel into that distant and fantastical world.
Rabel stood in the distance and watched them.
Slowly, he lowered the cigarette in his hand, then extinguished it.
“Oh, right.” He smiled awkwardly.
“It seems I made a mistake.” Since she was mature enough, she could naturally guide herself through it.
If even he could come to terms with such things, how could she possibly remain trapped by them?
That night, Elysia gently knocked on Rabel’s door.
“Good evening, Mr.
Rabel.
Thank you for taking care of me.” Elysia inclined her head slightly.
“I’ve come to say goodbye.” There were simply too few people here.
While wandering through the desert, she had already severed all the suspended threads.
She had remained an extra two days only because she had grown curious about the people here.
Rabel raised an eyebrow when he heard that, a trace of surprise flashing through his eyes.
“You’re leaving so soon?” “Yes.” Elysia nodded and smiled faintly.
“After all, there are still so many places I haven’t visited yet~” “Would you like to say goodbye to the children?” “I already did this afternoon.” Rabel looked at her thoughtfully.
After a moment of silence, he asked, “Then before you go, answer one small question for me.
Elysia, what do you think is the meaning of travel?” “Meeting different people and seeing different things.” Elysia offered part of the truth.
Of course, the main purpose was actually to destroy the Cocoon of Finality’s arrangements.
“I see…” He pondered for a moment, then said, “In that case, it’s perfect timing.
I never told you about myself.
Would you like to hear it?” He pulled out a stool.
“Naturally.
I’m all ears~” Elysia gracefully smoothed the hem of her dress and sat down.
“Do you know about Mu?” “Yes.
The summit of the scientific world and the technological center of the entire world.” “Exactly.
Everyone knows that Mu is the most technologically advanced region in the world, but how many have ever considered that science, too, has borders?” “Eight of the world’s ten most advanced laboratories are located in Mu.
Those laboratories produce technological achievements capable of overturning the world every second of every day, yet those technologies have always benefited Mu alone.” “Of course, research and development consume vast resources, so withholding them from the public is understandable.
But technological development also creates an enormous number of by-products.
Those technologies may have no prospects for application in Mu, yet even the smallest portion released outside would be enough to greatly improve the lives of people in other regions.” At that point, he sighed.
“And yet those people in power would rather clutch these discarded technologies in their hands and let them never see the light of day than share them.
Even the portions they do release carry prohibitively expensive licensing fees.” “Why doesn’t anyone outside develop similar technologies?” “Mu’s legal department is just as famous as its technology,” he replied calmly.
Elysia was speechless.
“I was once the technical director of a laboratory in Mu.
Back then, in a moment of recklessness, I wrote to my superiors suggesting that they lower the licensing fees for those technologies.
What awaited me afterward was a termination notice.
In a single night, I lost everything.
“That evening, I locked myself in my room and drank alone.
I had completely lost hope for the future.
Then I saw the people here on television.
I saw the emptiness in their eyes.
“The next day, I sold my property, gathered everything I owned, boarded a plane, and came here.” Rabel smiled.
“A rather rash decision, wasn’t it?” “That is…
far more unexpected than I imagined.” Elysia was at a loss for words.
She had assumed that Rabel had planned all of this long in advance.
“Yes.
No matter how you look at it, it was an alcohol-fueled impulse, yet it sustained me here for seven years.
“Mu is overflowing with talent.
Losing one person like me would make no difference.
But if this place gained one more person like me, the lives of many children could be changed.
That is why I do not regret it.
And that is the story of one teacher.
“I have changed greatly over all these years here.
I learned to yield, and I learned to become more tactful.
On many nights as I fall asleep, I often wonder whether the technical director who once courageously staked his career on writing that letter still exists.” He smiled as he said, “Of course he does.
As long as my original convictions remain unchanged, he will never die.
So, Elysia, during the rest of your journey, you will meet many people and encounter many things.
You will change greatly, but when your journey finally ends, I hope you will still hold fast to the vision you began with.” The desert night wind brushed across Elysia’s face, bringing a faint chill.
She walked slowly through the sea of sand until she reached the top of a dune.
It was still more than ten kilometers from the military base, but from her perspective, everything there was already in full view.
During her time in the wasteland, she had not slept even once.
She was a little tired.
Elysia lay flat on the yellow sand and looked up at the night sky.
Stars spread across the darkness, reflected in her eyes as they burned in silence.
From Rabel’s scattered remarks, she could roughly piece together the situation in Mu.
All she could say was that it was not particularly surprising.
In the plot of her previous life, the black hole created by the Ninth Herrscher destroyed the entire continental shelf, causing Mu, the most technologically advanced continent, to sink beneath the sea.
Along with it vanished an enormous amount of exceedingly precious technical data.
Even then, Elysia had speculated that, despite civilization standing at the brink of life and death, Mu had still failed to establish an external backup repository for its technology, resulting in catastrophic technological loss and discontinuity.
The reason was simple.
After Mu sank, no one ever proposed rebuilding Eye of the Deep.
Eye of the Deep was a colossal portal to the Sea of Quanta, built through the convergence of enormous resources and the world’s greatest minds.
The Sea of Quanta was a vast domain no less expansive than the Imaginary Tree, containing countless bubble worlds.
They were merely projections of the primary world.
Most were very small, their existence highly unstable, and they constantly hovered on the verge of collapse.
Moreover, people from the intrinsic world experienced varying degrees of discomfort upon entering the Sea of Quanta, and those capable of entering it had always been a minority.
Yet one enormous advantage was enough to offset all those flaws: the Herrschers of the Imaginary Tree could not interfere with the Sea of Quanta.
One had to understand that those capable of entering the Sea of Quanta were only a minority on the scale of the entire world, but their absolute numbers were by no means small.
Had MOTH still possessed the complete technical data for Eye of the Deep after Mu’s destruction, rebuilding it under Vill-V’s direction would not have been difficult.
Once the passage was reopened, they could have used Cosmic Juggernaut’s 1st Power—Inverted Horizons—to generate a vast bubble world.
After that, they would only need to reinforce its membrane and ensure the bubble world remained stable over the long term.
They could then create an impregnable fortress that could serve both offense and retreat.
Unless a Herrscher passed through Eye of the Deep, it would be completely incapable of influencing the bubble world.
For civilization, this would undoubtedly have been an immensely valuable sanctuary.
Yet not even Dr.
MEI had ever considered this plan.
The only possibility was that the technology had been completely lost, while the Previous Era, devastated by the Ninth Herrscher, no longer had the capacity to redevelop it from scratch.
From that moment onward, the Previous Era’s defeat could be considered inevitable.
Then how can it be salvaged?
she wondered hazily.
As drowsiness gradually rose within her, she leaned against the slope of the dune and slowly fell asleep.
Morning light struck her face and roused her from sleep.
Elysia sat up, stretched, and let out a long yawn.
Although she had slept on a dune all night, her dress remained spotless.
She looked toward the military base.
Even from more than ten kilometers away, everything inside was still perfectly visible to her.
Elysia sat down casually and waited for the changing of the guard.
By late morning, the soldiers began filing outside and forming ranks.
Once the man who was obviously their commanding officer finished counting them, they boarded the transport aircraft one after another.
The dark gray transport aircraft stirred up clouds of sand and dust, its engines roaring across the entire desert.
It traced a long path down the runway, then rose into the sky beneath the blazing sun.
Elysia stood and raised one hand to summon her longbow.
With the other hand held loosely in the air, a pink crystal arrow condensed from nothing.
Calmly, she nocked it against the bowstring, drew it taut, and aimed at the transport aircraft that was about to disappear beyond the horizon.
She respected everyone who devoted themselves solely to making the world a better place.
She would also offer guidance to those who had lost their way, giving them a chance to return to the proper path before they committed an unforgivable mistake.
Likewise, when they fell into danger, she would never hesitate to extend a helping hand.
She had become Elysia, and Elysia loved everyone in the world.
But she would only ever love those who were human.
And so, she released the bowstring.