<h4>Chapter 938: A System on Its Last Legs</h4>


    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: Yuan Tong


    Under Willy’s guide, the group headed for the Path of Abundance and the Royal Highway towards the manor called ‘Hearthfire’. The road that they were on were originally the sanctuary’s streets and roadways, but after being left in a state of disrepair for so long, the roads have lost their lusture, and walking on it was extremely difficult.


    The surface of cemented roads had folded up, exposing the man-made paths underneath. The roads were riddled by potholes and yet it seems like no effort was made to repair them. It was an unpleasent trek, no different than walking on a broken path in the wilderness. Nangong Wuyue was rather winded walking on such a path, and wondered if her serpentine form would help. But after recalling Vivian’s little nice magic had already scared the locals senseless, she suppressed her desire in morphing her three meter long tail out. Of course, a little grumbling was par of the course. “Say… Are all your roads these difficult to walk on?”


    “Difficult?” Willy looked at the road surface under him, “Oh right. This certainly cannot bepared to the roads in Highspire as this is a poor backwater. Neither the Eisenstadt or the Kingdom of Highspire will be sending anyone to fix the roads here.”


    “Why… are the two ‘countries’ fighting a war? Is there some bad blood or something?” Hao Ren asked.


    Willy simply blinked. “Why? Because winter ising of course. We need to light the fire at the World’s End. Those who have perished in battle are fuel to the fire. All four kingdoms did not fight because of some petty grudge. I thought this wasmon knowledge.”


    The group looked at each other with an astounded look. Vivian immediately frowned. “Your kind have… splitted into FOUR kingdoms?”


    “Are you really from the Frozen Beyond?” Willy swallowed his saliva. “Everyone knows this. The Kingdom of Highspire, the Eisenstadt, the Freistadt, and the Starhold. These are the four kingdoms in this world.


    Hao Ren was astounded after hearing that, and was rather incredulous to say the least. The world order within the sanctuary inside the ark had changedpletely, and have became a few disparate city states and viges, and the roads of old became the way of transportation between the ‘cities’. Skyscrappers and other tall buildings were fortified into fortresses and townships while the industrial zone became the wilderness after being torn down and everything useful scrapped. The sanctuary had been turned inside out. A medieval society had bizarrely grown upon the ruins of an advanced civilisation. And these ruins, was just so small.


    It was a literal dystopian nightmare.


    Hao Ren looked up. It was possible to see the entirendscape of this enclosed scape. Hao Ren wanted to ask what do the young man think of this weird world structure, but he quickly realised that he did not have much to ask at all. The young soldier was born and bred here. He was raised and educated in the same ce as well, and thus his world view would be as such. If no one in the ship now knew of the concept of the ‘ark’, it was probable that everyone here think of the world as a giant egg shell. The freezing world outside the metal hull probably mean nothing to Willy.


    Willy was jittery throughout the journey. He really really did not want to travel on this part of the road, especially after hisrades were defeated and in thepany of these unknown strangers that knew sorcery. That left him with a sense of severeck of security. But the soldier did not have a choice, he still have to brave through to guide the ounders, and to watch out for any attacks by the Eisenstadt or Freistadt soldiers.


    Quite some time had since passed since they had departed and Hao Ren did not see anyone appearing. He inevitably started doubting Willy’s. “You mentioned that this road was dangerous? Why haven’t we ran into anyone yet?”


    Willy rubbed his hands together as he tighted his sleeves. It was cold now, and the youngd was shivering slightly. “I don’t know… They are usually soldiers patrolling this path, or at least merchants going between cities…”


    As he walked he looked up, the dim lights across the cityscape looked like flickering fireflies in the dark, making this enclosed ce looked like a cave filled with fireflies. The young soldier’s brown eyes exudes some sort of uneasiness. “It’s getting worse day by day for thest ten years. I myself had ran into countless weird incidents. Perhaps the Eisenstadt and Freistadt patrols are cking off today?”


    “Getting worse day by day?” Hao Ren asked.


    As Willy opened his mouth to speak, a weird low hum shook the boy.


    The sound came from deep under, and sounded like some sort of massive equipment slowing to a halt. The soundwave revebrated across thend, and while not particrly loud, the entire ce suddenly shook. At the same time, Hao Ren felt that he suddenly got lighter as his got a feeling that he was about to float away. Willy’s expression turned to panic as he screamed. “Don’t move! It’s the Rising! The Rising!”


    Just as Willy finished, everyone felt their bodies turned light. The sanctuary’s artificial gravity had disappeared.


    Hao Ren saw a red light ran rapidly from one end of the ce to another and was followed by another. It looked like an rm light and Willy’s eyes were locked onto the light, as he counted under his breath. “One… Two… Three… Three meteors. Oh goodness, it seems like it won’tst very long… Please stay still, and don’t jump!”


    The artificial gravity hadpletely disappeared by now, and yet Hao Ren and the rest was still ‘standing’. In reality however, they were already floating, it’s just that their soles are still slightly touching the ground. Willy immediately stiffened and did not move, afraid that any movement would cause him to ‘rise’. This would not only throw him uncontrobly into the air, and it may even throw him across thend. Hao Ren quickly understood why the young man was so afraid. He tried to soothe the boy’s fear. “Don’t worry. Don’t worry, your warning was in time. No one will be flying. Say, does this happen often?”


    “No, it happens once every few months, but it seems like it was much less frequent before I was born.” Willy took a deep breath, and he was already by now used to Hao Ren’s ck of knowledge’. Speaking to someone itself helped him to calm down. “Winter ising, and the heart of this world is slowly freezing. Thend will be powerless to keep us standing on our feet… Nan had told me before. But if we are able to relight the Furnace of the Ancestors, everything will return to normal. Nan told me that too.”


    Hao Ren gave a casual ‘Oh’ in reply before looking at the massive pipings and alloy bridges above him. There were lights across their surfance, and they were not there before. It seems like the ark has an automated maintenance system, and it was clear that it was having problems, it was still functioning, if barely.


    The artificial gravity had disappeared for almost an hour now, and from time to time Willy sped his hands together before his chest, silently muttering something that sounded like a prayer to the gods. After the gut-wrenching hour had passed, Hao Ren heard another hum came from underneath, and as it disappeared, he felt heavy again, and he was solidly nted on the ground once more.


    Willy’s wobbly legs almost failed him and he struggled to stand. Giving Hao Ren a rather awkward smile, he said. “You guys don’t seem to be afraid of the ‘Rising’.”


    “As long we don’t rise, we won’t fall.” Hao Ren shrugged.


    Willy’s expression darkened. “My best friend said that before too, but he ended up dying in the za of Wind Valley City on the other corner of the world.”


    As he looked up towards the titled buildings. “That was a long ‘Rising’, andsted a whole day. Poor Borqen, he just identally stretched and I saw him suddenly rose into the air, higher and higher… and that time I still did not know how to use the meteors to determine how long the phenomenon willst. I thought it was going to end very quickly, but in the end, he became nothing but a ck dot in the sky. His sister was with me that time, poorss… her brother even crossed the ‘World’s Axis’. And by the time the Earth Mother had recovered, Borqen had fallen into the other end of the world. It was a few dayster that the lord of Wind Valley City sent in back in a box.”