<h4>Chapter 462: The Morning Star</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Henyee Trantions <strong>Editor: </strong>Henyee Trantions
Bricks of stone fell like rain drops. When the lightning disappeared and he regained his sight, Harold finally realized that the vampires were all gone and the hall itself was also on the edge of falling apart.
“It was just a... silver coin...” murmured one of the dwarves.
Harold quickly calmed down and scolded. “The coin was possessed of the power of God! The Almighty God of Steam is not only the God of Machinery, but also the Lord of Life and Death, the King of Lightnings, the Lord of Punishment!”
“Why a silver coin then?” asked another dwarf.
Harold wasn’t good at exining this kind of stuff. He squeezed the words out with great effort. “That shows the Almighty God of Steam is also the God of Wealth, the King of the kings, the God above all gods!”
Everything could be exined by the almightiness of God.
The dwarves nodded under the convincing words. All of them, including Harold, put their hands on their chests and bowed deep in front of the gate,
“Steam Above!”
They then walked in the gate in pairs. Within half an hour, they had all left the underground hall.
As soon as they left, the power supressing the space instantly disappeared, and the space started shaking fiercely. Pieces of starlight fell from above, and soon the entire gate disappeared together with the copse of the underground pce.
......
After quite a few days, Sanelson’s “father”, a vampire duke, arrived at the ruins following the blood connection between Sanelson and him. He came to figure out why Sanelson had gone missing for days.
A space joint! The vampire duke was shocked.
Staring at the copsed underground pce, he now cared no more about what happened to Sanelson. In great anger, he turned around and was ready to teach d a good lesson — Even if he had fallen asleep to recover, d still must be responsible for this.
An unreported space joint in his territory! The Church might find it andunch an attack at any time!
Another few dayster, a deafening noise burst out in the direction of Count d’s castle. The vampire count’s anger surged right into the air,
“I will kill that bastard who trapped me!”
However, d had no idea who did this to him and had no clue to trace him, not even with Horoscope.
......
Lighting up the torch, Augustus saw an abandoned city; there were thick chimneys, metal pipes, bolts, springs, and gears everywhere. The civilization of Steam was right in front of them.
He immediately understood. Tears gushed out. He cried in great excitement and sorrow. “This is our homnd, where our ancestors worked and lived!”
Augustus kneeled down onto the ground and kissed the coldnd overgrown with weeds. “We’re back! We’re finally back!”
The dwarves all followed him, kneeling and kissing theirnd of origin. Bitterly they cried, shedding tears for what they had lost.
After Harold and the rest of the dwarves came and the gate disappeared, Augustus took a deep breath and said to the over twenty thousand of dwarves, “this isn’t our final destination. We shall go back to the ground, and start our new life! There shall be no more very, no more painful deaths, no more suffering!”
His eyes were shining with hope and determination. “Grab your torches and follow me! Don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid. This is the revtion of the God of Steam!”
“Steam Above!” Answered aloud the dwarves together.
The torches were lifted. Following themand of the instructors, the dwarves marched forward in order, in units of families and viges, through the abandoned city of steam. The Mechanic Knight was divided into four, safeguarding in four directions.
The city was huge. Eveloping the light of the torches was the endless darkness. In the darkness, the only light came from the dim green shine emitted by noctilucent moss, but it wasn’t afort for the dwarves at all. They were afraid of the darkness, and the green light seemed to be the blood-thirsty eyes of countless monsters.
What was in there? They didn’t know.
Silence seized them, only the sound of their own steps could be heard. The journey seemed to be getting longer and longer, as if they could never leave this ce.
When the dwarves started getting lost and panicking, Augustus’s voice came again.
“Don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid. Follow me!”
“Yes!” Answered the dwarves together, although not too confident.
Augustus raised the staff high,
“The God of Steam is with us! No difficulty, no danger, no suffering can conquer us!”
Hearing the name of the God of Steam, the dwarves became braver. Saying God’s name silently in their mind, they were equipped with the courage for scattering the darkness. Gradually, they walked faster and faster.
Bang, bang! The rifles shot together, throwing the monsters leaping from the darkness to the ground in blood and flesh.
They had the power of steam, thus, they were invincible!
“The Almighty God of Steam, the Lord of Life and Death, the King of Lightnings, the Lord of Punishment, the God of Wealth...”
“You’re the God above all gods, the King of the Kings...”
The dwarves sang forth the names together. Their voice joined into this force driving away the creatures hiding in the darkness.
Finally, this huge troop walked out of the city through the tunnel and came to the caves connected like spider webs.
“This is thest test. Only true followers can walk out from the maze. Don’t hesitate. Don’t be afraid. Follow me!”
“Yes!” This time, their voice was much louder and full of confidence.
All the forks looked identical, and the dwarves were very afraid of getting lost. However, their leader Augustus had closed his eyes, walking following his heart.
Seeing what their leader was doing, the fire of hope lit up in the dwarves’ hearts again.
They should have faith in the Almighty God of Steam, have faith in His chosen exarch. Here, eyes and ears should not be used to seek the path, but hearts and faith!
They dwarves walked on, panicking no more, confused no more.
After a long time, they saw a dim light in front of them and a broad forest in the far end.
They did it!
They were on the ground now!
Suddenly, Myrna pointed at the sky and said, “look!”
The far end of the sky was partially lit up, where a bright star was hanging. The star was quiet but twinkling, directing the path eternally.
“Morning star...?”
“Is dawning?”
Those dwarves were born on the Night Hignd and they had never seen daylight. They had only heard about morning stars from the stories passing on through generations and knew that it represented the arrival of light.
“You’re the Lord of Life and Death, the bright Morning Star. You connect night and day. You bring us new life!” said Augustus devoutly.
The morning star was reced by the orange light in the east, and then, a fireball slowly rose above the horizon.
The dwarves had never seen anything like this. Now, they started to actually feel the arrival of their new life!
Augustus raised his arm and cheered aloud. “Our new life hasmenced. We’ll strive for the prosperity of Antis! The Antis on the ground!”
“Strive for the prosperity of Antis!” The more than twenty thousand dwarves responded at the same time, their loud voice disturbed the flocks of birds hiding in the forest.
At this time, a melody full of passion arrived from faraway.
The dwarves turned their head and, to their great surprise, they saw a fat man wearing a long ck windbreak and a beret walking towards them, followed by a group of human. The melody came from the small box engraved with strange ck patterns in his hand.
Before the dwarves reacted, Augustus told them, “he’s the guide. I received the words of the God of Steam. He’ll be leading us to our brand new life.”
The dwarves were no more afraid. Belief had given them the power for conquering fear. They quietly stared at the fat man and hispanies, who studied them like how they looked at buckets of ale and how the vampires look at blood.
“I am Arthur Adol, the one who will lead you to your new life, a life much, much happier than the previous one you had on the Night Hignd.” Arthur grinned broadly at the dwarves.
In his eyes, the troop of dwarves was the symbol of arge amount of money. With so many skilled dwarves, the mass production of the alchemical products could be realized.
Following Arthur, the dwarves walked all the way down to the station. On the tform, when they saw the long magic steam strain, they burst out into tears again. They were convinced again that this ce was their homnd, the paradise of steam.
The dwarves stared at the magic steam train out of great curiosity, wishing that they tear it down and check every part of it, until they got on the train.
“Why is the guide sent by the God of Steam a banker?” Myrna just learned the word ‘bank’.
Harold said proudly, “I said it. The Almighty God of Steam is also the God of Wealth. It makes sense.”
Then he said longingly, “I saw the small silver coin turn into a powerful bomb with powerful electric currents... I wonder if the Civilization of Steam picked the wrong side for studying huge warships and cannons. Maybe... maybe we should invent new cannons using the power of electricity...?”
“Here you are, the new book from the Lord.” Smiling, Augustus handed a book to Harold.
Harold picked it up and saw the name: Basic Electrical Engineering.
Later, Arthur walked to thest carriage of the train and sat down in front of a young man wearing a double-breasted suit. He said to the young man like an old friend but also respectfully, “Evans, I can’t believe you can find this many skilled dwarves!”
Lucien Evans was probably the next grand arcanist. Arthur had to show respect.
Holding the teacup in his hand, Lucien said, “treat then well. Give them enough sry and freedom. After all, they left that ce because of me. When they have acquired basic electrical engineering skills and knowledge, they’ll be able to train more workers.”
Because the vampire princes and the most powerful vampires on the Night Hignd had left for the mysterious dimension, searching for the Primordial Ancestor, Lucien’s rescue n carried out rather smoothly. He achieved the guidance using the power for awakening the dead of the Immortal Throne magic robe and a new electromaic spell, Lucien’s Electromaic Gun – Although this spell was not that powerful yet, when Lucien reached a higher level, its power would also grow.
“You have my words. I’ll treat them well,” said Arthur without hesitation. He did not ask a single word about the so-called God of Steam.
The magic steam train was approaching Rentato. In the early morning, the lights in Rentato were still on, as brilliant and bright as constetions in a sweet dream.
The dwarves were so surprised that they could not close their mouths. It was as if they hade back to Antis.
......
“Evans, since most sorcerers in the school of Electromaics and Light-darkness — Sorry, I have to say this — dislike you quite much, for your safety, we are giving the public another excuse for holding this banquet rather than telling people that it is your award-winning party. I hope you understand,” said Joaquin, the president of the Moonsong League, a level-nine arcanist ND ninth-circle archmage, while smiling.
Since Brook just confirmed the change in momentum several days ago, which verified Lucien’s light quantum hypothesis, no matter how reluctant Moonsong League was, they had to ept it.
Following Joaquin, Lucien grinned. “We can save the trouble. You could just give me the prize. I’m worried that my presence might be too much of a surprise to the guests.”
“No, this is the tradition. We got to have a decent banquet when awarding you the medal.” The president shook his head seriously.
Otherwise, the public would look down upon Moonsong League, using them of being too narrow-minded to properly recognize Lucien’s great contribution.