bookandnovel Chapter 63 New and Old
Chapter 63 New and Old
Chapter 63 New and Old (Combined)
Lorraine ignored Ohm's discouraging words.
He turned around and looked at Olivia, who was standing to the side, awestruck by the towering buildings of the Golden Age.
"Did you bring the Flaming Vines?"
Olivia snapped out of her shock and immediately pulled out the bag of Flaming Vines produced from the Plant Factory.
Olivia placed the Flaming Vines on the broken section of the output area.
Place your hands on it and close your eyes.
Green light emanated from her palm.
That was the life-catalyzing process of the second-order Abundant Earth Mother.
"Growth!"
The next second, a sickeningly loud growth sound rang out, and the seeds sprouted wildly under the nourishment of magic, the dark red vines resembling living blood vessels.
Starting from the output end, the energy intertwines and hardens between the input and output ends, eventually forming a biological bridge spanning both ends of the magical energy transmission pipeline.
It only took three minutes.
The ten-meter-wide and twenty-meter-long gap was connected by these thick vines.
Even more shockingly, the two ends of the vine pierced the broken energy pipes.
The previously dormant hub indicator light suddenly turned green again.
Ohm on the screen was dumbfounded.
【(ΩΩ)！！】
A row of huge exclamation marks flashed across the surrounding screens.
[This isn't magic! How could plants possibly be used as a medium to transmit magic? And with a transmission efficiency higher than mithril?!]
Ohm's code is almost completely messed up; [There's no such thing in the Golden Age's biological database!]
"This is a product of the witch's exclusive building—the Plant Factory."
Lorraine dusted off her hands, staring at the shocked emoticons on the screen. "Looks like there really weren't any unreasonable creatures like witches in your time."
Ohm shook his head frantically.
"No! Never! That was the era of magic runes! It was the era of reason! This kind of power—this kind of completely irrational power—has never appeared before!"
Lorraine seemed lost in thought.
It turned out to be the case.
Witches are a unique product of this wasteland era.
It is a new set of rules born out of despair after the world was destroyed.
While the magic rune technology of the old era was powerful, it was no match for these wildflowers that grew out of the ruins in terms of adaptability.
"This is evolution, Ohm."
Lorraine pointed to the still-pulsating flame vines.
"The old rules are dead, and new life is taking over the world."
Ohm fell silent.
She looked at the vines with a complicated expression.
It was a sense of loss at being abandoned by the times, but also a powerful experience of witnessing a new beginning.
Perhaps—you are right.
Her voice became very soft.
Since you've managed to do something so incredible—
"Um—could you please take a look at my body?"
That seal—perhaps it's not a problem for you either.
Lorraine nodded.
"lead the way."
He was also very curious.
In what form does this machine spirit, which possesses self-awareness and even emotions, exist?
Is it really a supercomputer?
Or is it that—
Something even more taboo.
The group walked through the corridor where power had just been restored and headed towards the small house near the base of the tower.
The closer you get there, the colder the air becomes.
It's not physically cold.
It was a chill that seeped into your very bones.
That was the oppressive feeling unique to high-level magic arrays.
Lorraine's heart skipped a beat.
His intuition told him so.
Behind that door lies the city's greatest secret.
It is also a glimpse into the truth behind the destruction of the Golden Age.
It was a white door without any markings.
There was neither a keyhole nor a handle.
But in the view of "The Witch's Codex", this door is covered with red warnings.
[A fourth-order void seal has been detected]
[Danger Level: Extremely High]
[Unsealing conditions: Two witches of rank 3 or above resonate with each other, or possess a "key"]
[Special Note: Unsealing will trigger a riot among the surrounding mechs, and the unsealed player will be relentlessly hunted down by them.]
Lorraine stopped at the door.
He did not touch it rashly.
Even with his possession of the Witch's Codex, he couldn't easily break this level of seal.
Lorraine glanced back at Anna and Lyra.
Both girls looked rather pale.
That is the natural suppression of lower-level beings by higher-level power.
"Don't come near."
Lorraine gave an order.
He cautiously walked to an observation window by the door.
He leaned closer and peered inside.
The room was very small.
There are no complicated server arrays, no flashing indicator lights, and not even cables.
In the very center of the room, there is only a cylindrical glass pillar.
The pillar was filled with a pale green nutrient solution.
In the center of the nutrient solution, something was suspended.
Lorraine's pupils contracted sharply.
That's not a chip.
It's not a hard drive either.
That's a brain.
A complete human brain.
The surface of the brain is covered with fiber optic cables as thin as hair, which connect to the base below.
It floated there quietly, occasionally pulsating slightly, as if breathing.
An indescribable sense of desolation welled up in my heart.
This is Ohm.
That adorable little robot spirit that can be affectionate, get angry, and want to see flowers.
Her true form was actually a brain that had been stripped of its body and imprisoned in a jar.
The so-called "machine soul" is not artificial intelligence at all.
Instead, they are living souls forcibly transformed into machine parts.
Behind the glory of the Golden Age lay such cruel technology.
After leaving the control room, the data stream belonging to Ohm on the surrounding screens refreshed again.
How is it?
Big brother, did you see that?
What do I look like? Am I imposing? Do I have shiny armor like those mechs?
Or is it that I'm ugly?
Lorraine took a step back, leaning against the cold wall.
What should he say?
Tell her you're just a brain in a water tank?
Tell her you don't even have eyes, you don't even have a mouth?
At this moment, even the usually calm Lorraine felt a pang of pity.
He took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
"That seal—I can't break it right now."
He avoided the topic.
"The seal is extremely strong. Even if we know its weakness, it would take at least two third-tier witches working together to break it."
This is the truth.
But he was also avoiding the question.
【oh----】
Ohm's voice immediately dropped in pitch.
It's okay—we've already waited for thousands of years.
"Then—can you tell me what I look like?"
Just tell me what it looks like. I can draw it on the screen myself.
Lorraine remained silent for a long time.
The air in the corridor seemed to freeze.
Anna walked over and gently tugged at Lorraine's sleeve.
Although she didn't know what was inside, she could sense the young master's sadness.
Lorraine looked up at the camera above her head.
The camera was turning anxiously, like an expectant eye.
You must not lie.
For someone like Ohm, lying would be an insult to her.
And she'll find out sooner or later.
"ohm."
Lorraine's voice was soft, yet clear.
"You—have no body."
The camera stopped rotating.
[No body?]
There was only one life support capsule inside.
Lorraine managed to utter those words with difficulty.
"You are a — brain."
"Only the brain."
A deathly silence.
A very, very long time passed.
A noise similar to a short circuit came from the surrounding screens.
Oh, I see.
Ohm's voice is no longer that of a little girl, but has reverted to a cold, synthesized electronic voice.
There were no ups and downs.
It has no emotions.
So it turns out—I'm not even a monster.
I'm just a cog in a machine.
No wonder—no wonder I couldn't get out.
[We had agreed that I could leave once the legacy of the Golden Age was passed on to the new Son of Man.]
So, my promise to the Son of Humanity in the Golden Age was all a lie?
Even if the seal is broken, I can't get out, I can't leave.
I will never—never—be able to see the blue sky with my own eyes.
A sense of despair spread across the internet.
The surrounding lights began to flicker, becoming bright and dim.
That's Ohm's emotions causing the system to crash.
She dreamed for three thousand years inside that tiny jar.
In her dream, she could run in a flower field and feel the wind blowing on her cheeks.
To be able to stroll with Sister Messiah on the gently breezy grassland.
Now, the dream is over.
The reality is cold glass and nutrient solution.
"Who said you can't get out?"
Lorraine suddenly raised her voice.
This sharp shout interrupted Ohm's breakdown.
"I've said before, just because the Golden Age couldn't do it doesn't mean we can't do it now."
Lorraine pointed to Anna beside her, and then to Olivia.
"You saw it too."
"Plants can be turned into cables, and can even transmit magical energy."
"In this era, the body is not a non-renewable resource."
Ohm was stunned.
【What—what does that mean?】
Lorraine looked at the camera with a determined gaze.
There is something called a witch.
"As long as there are enough materials and a suitable ceremony."
"It is not impossible to reshape a body while awakening."
Lorraine extended her hand toward the camera, her tone serious.
"ohm."
This is not a consolation.
"This is a lord's contract."
"As long as you help me protect this city."
"One day, I will fish you out of that jar."
"I will give you a pair of eyes, so you can see this world for yourself."
The screen flickered.
Two clear lines of data flowed down the screen, like two lines of tears.
[Really—is it possible?]
Even in this backward era?
However, Lorraine laughed.
"It is precisely because we are backward that we are full of possibilities."
"Like my companion, Lyra, through the witch's awakening ritual, she not only gained a new arm, but also freed herself from the entanglements of yesterday's misfortune."
"This is no longer the era of the magic rune master."
1
"This is the age of witches."
"It is an age of miracles."
The data streams on the screen converged into a big smiley face.
Although it's still pixelated, and still very rudimentary.
But it is more vivid than ever.
【Um!】
I believe in my older brother!
【Shall we pinky swear?】
Lorraine extended her little finger and gently placed it on the cold screen.
A little finger, one pixel, is also displayed there.
Fingertips facing each other.
Across a thousand years, across the boundary between life and machinery.
This is distinct from the Old Testament, which deals with the relationship between humans and machines.
A new contract, a new covenant between people, has been reached.
"Zi—"
—
The noise of magic overload echoed through the empty B-12 area.
The cables that had just been forcibly connected by the fiery vines were now pulsating as if they were alive.
Within the dark red biomass veins flow high-purity energy from the magic reactor.
The cable was connected by Lorraine to a secondary relay tower near the camp, and then connected to the camp's magic circle using Flame Vines.
Ohm's pixelated face was pasted onto the screen.
In the past few days, in order to make it easier to communicate with Ohm, Lorraine moved Ohm's screen into the camp's cabin.
((°A{)
[WARNING! WARNING! The pressure in the energy pipeline in Zone B-12 has exceeded 120%! Your plants will explode! They absolutely will!]
"It can't be blown up."
"The Flame Vines can grow thicker with magical energy, and the more magical energy flows through them, the stronger their carrying capacity becomes."
Lorraine dusted off her hands and turned around.
Anna was standing three steps behind him, next to the magic circle.
But her hands were shaking.
It's not because of fear.
It's because of that thing Lorraine just took out of the warehouse.
That was a rib.
It was crystal clear, radiating a pale, chilling aura, like a piece of crystal just carved out of a millennia-old glacier.
Tier 3 monster, the Snow Woman's rib.
The moment this thing was taken out, the moisture in the surrounding air instantly condensed.
Fine ice crystals fell with a soft rustling sound, landing at Anna's feet and immediately forming a layer of white frost.
She is the Witch of Flames.
This bone is her natural enemy.
That physiological aversion that emanated from her very bones made her instinctively want to back away, to melt this damned cold thing into water.
"Scared?"
Lorraine's voice was soft, yet it held Anna rooted to the spot like a nail.
Anna looked up abruptly, her eyes filled with unwavering determination.
"I'm not afraid."
She bit her lip, her voice trembling, but she didn't back down an inch.
"I know that the young master wants me to advance in rank and become more capable of protecting the territory."
"However, there's one thing I've never quite understood: I'm the Flame Witch, so why have ice-attribute materials been included in my advancement materials since the second tier?"
Lorraine smiled.
He walked over, wearing gloves, grabbed the rib that emanated a terrifying chill, and shoved it directly in front of Anna.
"Anna, look at it."
"Tell me, what is this?"
"It's...it's the remains of the Snow Woman." Anna stared intently at the bone, her breathing rapid. "It's ice."
"wrong."
Lorraine casually tossed the rib into the center of the magic circle that had been drawn beforehand.
With a loud "clang".
The ground instantly froze into a two-meter-wide layer of ice.
"This is not ice."
Lorraine crouched down, slowly tracing the ice with his fingers.
"This is slow."
Anna was stunned.
She blinked blankly, completely failing to understand what the young master was trying to say.
"In my hometown, there was a mad scientist who said..."
Lorraine stood up, pointed to the burning vines beside her, and then to the ice on the ground.
"It's hot because the particles are moving around like crazy."
"It's cold because the particles are too lazy to move."
"The so-called Flame Witch, before the third tier, you were learning how to make the fire burn brighter and how to make those particles run faster."
He walked up to Anna and saw his own reflection in her innocent eyes.
"But that's too low-class."
Lorraine reached out and gently pinched Anna's chin, forcing her to lift her head.
My fingers are cold.
Anna's face was burning hot.
The moment the hot and cold clashed, Anna shuddered and let out a suppressed groan.
"Ugh————"
"Once you reach the third tier, a level of qualitative change, what I need you to do is not burn anyone to death."
Lorraine leaned close to her ear, his warm breath hitting her earlobe and sending shivers down her spine.
"I want you to learn to control your speed," meaning to control the degree of chaos in your system.
"It can make them run wild, and it can also make them stop."
"That's entropy."
"It is also the initial stage of the final form of the Flame Witch, the incarnation of entropy, which you may reach in the future."
"Control of ice and fire."