Wasteland Echoer.

The latest content of Chapter 625, "The Epic of the Future".

"It sounds more like a 'telepathic' spell commonly used by mages," Dark thought to himself, examining the "earphone" that Nebrius had pulled from his ear.
"Indeed, the ideas behind technology all originate from magic. Even the astonishing technology created by the great emperors and scientists of the old empire is inseparable from primordial magic. I've heard that magicians in the first and second eras could transmit images with sound to their teammates in real time, even from a distance of a thousand kilometers. I wonder if the technology of the old empire could do that?"

“Of course.” Nebrius nodded confidently, but his eyes dimmed instantly. “That technology is called a ‘remote video communication device,’ which is clearly mentioned in the documents of the old empire. At least in the later years of Ivan XXII’s reign, the old empire had already created its prototype.”

"Unfortunately, we have yet to uncover any of the 'deep technologies' left behind by the old empire. These ordinary weapons, artillery, and communication devices are merely shallow technologies that the old empire did not care about. So far, we have not even been able to fully acquire the technological products within the 'Yudian Shore'."

"So that means there isn't one?" Dark muttered to himself.

Nebrius wasn't angry. Associating with such a powerful individual, who had already begun to show ambition, was a strategy that, if not to achieve a point of use for him, at least prevented animosity. Fighting such a powerful and ambitious individual in the future would be quite troublesome.

He paced back and forth along the edge of the "training ground." A few minutes later, he first ordered Hoshino Shota to drive away the soldiers training on the ground and announced to them that today's training mission was temporarily over.

After that, he led Dak to the very center of the entire "training ground," to a position where the "sun" hanging directly overhead could shine vertically upon him.

“We only knew before that Ivan XXII and his team left behind an astonishing number of technological products. It seems that some of these products were used and developed by later emperors of the old empire. However, due to the New Yuan Crisis, a large number of technological projects stagnated, were abandoned, or disappeared. In fact, this caused our technology to regress by at least a century.” Nebrius appeared deeply distressed, saying:
"Technological regression has led to cognitive regression, and the chaos brought about by the 'heartless people' and war has destroyed a large number of existing historical documents and books. Take Icefall City for example, it has been invaded by the 'heartless people' at least ten times since the beginning of the New Era."

"It's just that the first nine invasions didn't completely destroy the city. The 'heartless' and the Lost Ones only looted it before withdrawing, giving later invaders the opportunity to reclaim the city. However, as history continues to 'disappear,' technological innovations have no successors, creating a misconception for us later generations."

"What illusion?" Dark asked curiously, looking at Nabrius. In a daze, under the scorching light, he saw for a moment an illusion of an empire where industry and technology had reached an unimaginable "peak".

Silver skyscrapers stand tall, small machines fly freely in the air, neon lights illuminate the darkness, a dazzling array of food is available everywhere in the city, futuristic mechanical vehicles shuttle freely through the streets, and everyone can use an extraordinary device the size of a palm to communicate with each other remotely, read documents, watch performances, and even pay money...

However, this illusion lasted only a moment before it vanished instantly in Nabrius's slightly hoarse voice.

"It seems that the technology of the old empire is not much different from ours now; many so-called technological products are merely concepts proposed by Ivan XXII. But in reality, our technology hasn't stagnated for over 500 years; rather, it has been steadily regressing over those five hundred years." Nebrius sighed, gazing at the Transnabian Mountains behind Dark, and said:

“Every failure in the ‘heartless wave’ makes us forget a little more about the technology of our ancestors. If we keep failing, we will eventually degenerate into primitive humans who practice slash-and-burn agriculture. Only by excavating the experimental fields, underground factories and ‘between the two-headed eagles’ left by the old empire can we briefly ‘remember’ them.”

"By the way, Dark, do you remember the 'Epic of the Future' that I mentioned to you yesterday?"

“Of course I remember. I went back and looked through the notes Wolfya left me, and learned some things,” Dak recounted the contents of the notes:
"The Epic of the Future is a collection of prophecies about the future obtained by the 'Supreme Prophet' named Aida Ri Saiqi, a tribal prophet under the jurisdiction of the Central Empire, based on dreams from communication with the gods, as well as divination and deduction."

“That’s right. I remember that old guy Vasily obtained some tools in the ‘Deep Ruins of Suffering’ and the ‘Red Illusion Ruins,’ and deciphered the eighth volume, ‘The Nightmare of the Red Illusion,’ which is the H-205 mentioned in the document.” Nebrius circled around Dark, scrutinizing him, and finally stared into his gray eyes, saying in a subtle tone:

"It seems that the prophecy has been completely verified. 'The loyal fire of karma abandons the weak god' symbolizes that the 'God of Pramini,' the eternal red lord who wields fire, has completely lost his divinity and disappeared from the world. His divine position has returned to the hands of the Creator, awaiting allocation to the next ascendant."

“That’s true. Light Socrates personally killed the mad, mutated Lord of Eternal Crimson. However, He could not escape the fate of death. His body and spirit were soaked in ‘sorrow’ for hundreds of years. If it weren’t for his gradually disappearing divinity protecting him, he would have long since become a pile of black powder.” Dark nodded slightly, acknowledging Nabrius’s “information.”

"The future of 'Order' awakens amidst the ice," this refers to Light Socrates, the only 'Orderer' in this era. As for the 'Mechs,' my speculation is that once we reach the lowest level of the 'Radiant Evolution Platform,' we'll discover the technological creations of the Old Empire, spearheaded by the 'Mechs.'" A barely perceptible smug smile appeared on Nebrius's face. He glanced at the guards and the lost souls of the "Devotion Group" freely roaming the city of Belogersk, made a fist with his right hand, and continued:
"There will no longer be any technological gap between us and Shaneva. According to reliable documents that have been deciphered, the old empire, during the reign of Ivan XXV, deployed an army of one hundred individual mechs to suppress the rebellion of the Eventlay nobles. That army, though only one hundred strong, successively captured three cities and two strongholds in the west. Those mechs not only possessed traditional weapons such as machine guns, rocket launchers, and small missiles, but were also equipped with 'Low-Energy Divine Punishment Fire.' Traditional artillery shells could only hinder their advance; the human bodies of the resisters who reached them were quickly crushed into a bloody pulp."

"But Eventlay eventually succeeded in restoring its kingdom, so these individual mechs were pretty much useless then," Dark said sarcastically.

“Single-soldier mechs are indeed of limited use. After all, their numbers are far too few in this war. I have reason to suspect that similar single-soldier mechs were used in Ivan XXII's war against the Germans years ago. Perhaps some documents were deliberately concealed or destroyed, so I cannot find any evidence,” Nebrius explained.
"However, only in this way can we explain why the Germans, who possessed similar levels of technology to the old empire in terms of tanks, artillery, and aerospace forces, and even had slightly more troops than the old empire, suffered such a crushing defeat and were even invaded to the core town of Sunida."

“So… regarding the last half of the H-204 prophecy, I can boldly speculate that you, Nebrius, are trying to tell me that the surviving beast refers to me, ‘Dark,’ right? After all, I had a period of experience as a ‘monster.’ And the dragon race, does it refer to Seye, or Adaloni? Commander Nebrius…” Dark looked at Nebrius with a mocking expression, a hint of mischief in his voice, and said:

"Regardless, the current situation is that you control Adaroni, while Shaneva controls Seye. This is a life-or-death gamble. If the prophecy is true... no, the prophecy is true. Then, only by obtaining the 'true dragons' mentioned in the prophecy can we win the initiative in this war, right?"

“That’s not the case, Dark,” Nebrius replied with a mocking smile.
"The 'beast' is pursuing the 'dragon,' which should actually be interpreted as the dragon that is on your side being the one we are looking for. By the way, the Khitan Ri people have a slightly different definition of dragons than we do. They believe that only 'dragons' that can transform into humans are true 'dragons.'"

“A dragon that merely possesses a powerful body is nothing more than an underdeveloped or mindless ‘dragon beast.’ What we have obtained is Adaloni, a ‘dragon being’ with his own consciousness. Even if he does not currently possess all the power of the dragon race, we can provide him with energy, resources, and materials to help him regain his strength.”

Nebrius walked up to Drac and whispered in his ear:
"As for the 'dragon' Seye in Shaneva's hands, it is nothing more than a defective product forcibly incubated by the Hope Church of the Zhene people. Back then, Melina and the others used magical energy to forcibly bring Seye into existence, which meant that it never had the chance to possess human 'wisdom' and 'inspiration'."

"At the very least, the Adaloni in our hands is a strong human being, capable of serving as a low-ranking officer on the front lines. But the Seye in Shaneva's hands is a time bomb, a sword of Damocles, which could turn into a bloodthirsty, uncontrollable beast at any moment and bite off Shaneva's neck."

“I hope so. However, Commander Nebrius, you and ‘Flame,’ representing the ‘Dedication Group,’ promised me that once the war is over and we find Light, you would provide us and Adaloni with enough supplies to leave here and head to Khitanris.” Dark reiterated his position, saying:
“I’ve said it before, the Crusad Federation will eventually crumble, and I will not serve a dying organization. If you go back on your word, I wouldn’t mind becoming a time bomb next to you, ‘unleashing my true nature,’ turning into a beast, and biting your neck off.”

As he spoke, Dak deliberately moved close to Nabrius's neck, opened his mouth wide to reveal his slightly sharp canines, and made a fake biting motion.

Dark's behavior seemed to make Nebrius nervous. He nodded habitually and then quickly changed the subject, talking about other things:
"However, H-204 mentioned the dragon race at the end, but the subsequent prophecies H-205 and H-206 did not mention them again. Speaking of H-205... Dark, I remember wanting to talk to you about it yesterday. But at the time, I was preoccupied with the second form of the [Core of Khitanria], and I forgot about it while we were talking."

“Yes, I do remember the strange verses you mentioned.” Darke distanced himself from Nebrius, coughed a few times to regain his composure, and said:
"Since you mentioned 'The Epic of the Future' at the time, those few lines of poetry should be from H-205, right? I remember the content was: 'Lakes and ravines overflow, gods flee far away, mountains gather, winter is coming.' However, these few lines are strange and don't match the writing style of the previous content."

"This is indeed the content of H-205. I initially suspected that this passage might be a misremembering note made by researchers of the Old Empire's mysticism when copying it, or that the original was lost, and those who read it couldn't memorize it completely, so they filled in content with something similar in meaning. However..." Nebrius explained:
"After further interpretation of Volume 8 of The Epic of the Future, we discovered that from H-205 onwards until the end of Volume 8, the content became a special form of sentences composed of two long words, rather than long sentences like those in Gurky's lyrical poems."

"Perhaps, Adari Sage wants to convey some important information to us in this era through this method. Moreover, just last week, my guards and the Lost Boys of the 'Dedication Group' found the contents of Volume 8 of the Old Empire's records in the 'Radiant Evolution Platform' and the 'White Night Archives'. The records in both are consistent with the information we originally had."

"The shift from long, lyrical verses to short, somber prayers is more likely an indication of the current war. Your war with Shaneva will likely determine the survival of the Crusad Federation; it's a crucial juncture. Commander Nebrius, I'd like to know what H-206 is talking about?" Dark's expression suddenly turned serious, and he asked in a deep voice.

"The code name for H-205 and H-206 is 'The Silence of the Ice Wind,' which is indeed a very depressing and ominous omen. The content of H-206 is: The fire has died down, the ice has come, power has been transferred... The eastern dawn has not yet died down." After reading the last sentence, Nebrius suddenly fell silent for a long time.

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