Alice in the Land of Steam

Is Chapter 1385 all true?
The candlelight illuminated the faces of the audience, the flames dancing in the outlines of their pupils. The massive bookshelves cast deep shadows, and the ancient books stood silently, guarding all the unspoken secrets and the distant and mysterious origins.

How exactly were the demon spirits, once hailed as "the essence of nature and the spirit of life," born?
If we're going to discuss this, we'll be touching on a very serious question: how exactly are fairies born?
Few people ponder this question, because once they do, it seems unbelievable. The simplest truth is that all living beings in the mortal world reproduce in only two ways, rules established by the Goddess at the beginning of creation. One is mating within the same species, resulting in natural conception. This rule applies to most life forms, from humans who dominate the world to wild and untamed beasts, from birds soaring in the sky to whales diving in the deep sea. Born from moisture, hatching from eggs, or being born from a womb—all are the ways of nature.

Another method involves nurturing beings from natural elements using pure magic. This is typically applied to magical beasts or even calamity beasts born with immense power. They often appear in ancient myths and legends as natural disasters, such as the Flamebon that controls volcanoes, the bird Senro that stirs up storms, or the sea monster Leviathan that dwells in chaotic seas. They are worshipped, feared, and even despised by the world. However, a common characteristic of these beings is their difficulty in reproduction, resulting in a small population size. Some individuals are even entire races. It's hard to say whether this is a rule set by the goddess to balance excessively powerful innate abilities. Humans, being the weakest of all intelligent races, possess the most astonishing reproductive efficiency.

However, neither of these two methods is applicable to fairies.

The way the fairy race reproduces can only be described in four words: incredible.

Take, for example, the dwarf spirits that Ling and his group encountered in the Sosen Mountains. These spirits are born from objects that are "significantly smaller than their kind." For instance, among trees of the same species, if one tree is noticeably smaller than the others, a dwarf spirit might be born from it. Even among man-made objects, if inferior products like plates, dishes, and teacups are produced due to technological limitations, dwarf spirits might emerge from these inferior items.

It sounds completely illogical, doesn't it? If you investigate closely, you can ask many "whys." Why would a gnome be born from a smaller object? Why must it be small and not tall? Why can man-made objects also give birth to spirits? Why can a spirit that can use magic be born from an object with no magic? Where does their magic come from? Who endowed them with intelligence? Does the inanimate object that gave birth to them tell these gnomes how to use magic? If you artificially manufacture inferior products, can you artificially and mass-produce gnomes?

These questions once drove mages attempting to study the demon race to the brink of madness. However, the dwarf spirits were considered among the most easily understood of the demon races, at least their birth patterns and methods had been summarized. Many more, however, were completely incomprehensible, the kind that would shatter one's worldview upon contact. For example, the Gur spirits that always appeared during Rorona's alchemy were also a type of demon race, but before the girl, no one had ever discovered their existence. This was because Gur spirits were born from impurities in alchemical materials; their birth process was like extracting impurities from ingredients, but their existence lasted only a few minutes.

Why did alchemists before her never realize that impurities could give birth to spirits? If we believe that only Rorona's alchemy could create the spirits of Gur, could we then say that the girl created a new race of spirits? However, this is impossible, because creating life is the privilege of the goddess. The only explanation is that the spirits of Gur already existed, but no one knew how to bring them into existence. But in what form did they exist before their birth? Did they possess self-awareness? Did their disappearance signify death, or a return to their origins?
These questions are simply inexplicable, just like the existence of the spirits themselves—inconceivable.

Perhaps to protect their fragile worldview, or perhaps because they felt there was no point in delving deeper, people gradually ignored this obvious problem, assuming that spirits were a race representing paradox and miracles. They always seem to emerge from places you don't know and disappear when you don't, like a mysterious natural phenomenon.

Today, Cheryl reveals the truth to everyone.

“The birth of a fairy originates from strong and sincere emotions.” She said earnestly, “Love, longing, encouragement, expectation, hope... as long as the emotion is strong enough and sincere enough, a fairy can be born.”

Surprisingly simple.

But before this, no one had ever connected the two.

Moreover, there is a clear flaw in this statement.

"Can inanimate objects possess emotions?" Ovira asked curiously. "What is the emotion that gives birth to the little spirits born from inferior products and the spirits of Gur born from impurities? Neither man-made inferior products nor natural impurities have intelligence, let alone emotions, right?"

Cheryl's answer to this question was: "It's not necessarily one's own emotions; it could also be the emotions that others have invested in them."

This makes the problem even more complicated. Who would entrust their emotions to inferior and impure things so intensely and sincerely that they could give birth to a fairy?

“For ordinary people, it’s impossible. No one would love another more than themselves, let alone these insignificant things,” Cheryl said softly. “But there is a great soul in this world who loves this world more than anything else, loves its vibrant side, but also loves the shadows it casts under the light; loves those born with a life of freedom and joy, but also loves those born into obscurity and obscurity; the magnificent wonders of the world weigh as little as decaying grass and stubborn rocks in its heart. Perhaps only such selfless, equal, and compassionate love can give birth to the purest life in the universe?”

By the time she finished speaking, everyone had already guessed the identity of that person... or rather, that deity.

Surprise, hesitation, contemplation, and emotion... a mix of feelings welled up within them, leaving them with a thousand words weighing on their hearts, yet unable to utter a single one. Just as Cheryl had said, only through the harsh trials of reality could one truly understand the greatness of such love.

“Indeed, fairies are souls born from the emotions of the goddess.” Cheryl’s voice was so gentle, as if she were afraid of disturbing someone’s sleeping dream.

Unlike humans, other beings, and beasts, who are shaped by the goddess herself, these beings are nurtured unconsciously by the budding of emotions, which sprout, branch out, and bear fruit, ultimately giving birth to beautiful seeds. This is a process that even the god who created the world cannot stop, because He cannot control His own love. "We are all believers of the goddess, so we naturally know the legend about the creation of heaven and earth and the birth of the universe."

“In the beginning,” Cheryl raised her hand and gently drew a circle in the air, symbolizing the beginning of everything, “the goddess created this world in seven days and endowed it with life, soul and wisdom. It prospered in all its ways, and the new and ancient planet turned a new page. But on the eighth day, the goddess looked at the world she had created with her own hands, and for some reason, a tear fell from her eye.”

No one knows why the goddess wept at that time. Perhaps she thought of the old world that had perished and felt guilty for creating them but being unable to lead them to a bright future; or perhaps she saw hope and believed that this new world would flourish and prosper, thus shedding tears of joy... But whatever the reason, her strong and sincere emotions at that time were also incorporated into her tears, and they became the cradle of new life.

The first fairy was born from the tears of the goddess, who was also the first fairy queen. Her name is now lost to time, as the era is long past. Fairies, too, are subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death. When the mission and authority were passed to the current fairy queen, Titania, many ancient stories had long since vanished, submerged in the depths of the river of time.

The only certainty is that the original Fairy Queen built her dwelling around the tears of the Goddess, vowing to guard the emotions left behind by the deity for generations to come, and to repay the grace of being born. Later, new fairies were constantly born from the tears, and many other beings fled to this place due to disasters or wars, seeking the Fairy Queen's protection. Inheriting the Goddess's emotions and possessing a kind nature, she could not refuse them, so this small settlement gradually expanded, eventually forming the paradise of Assyria that we know today.

But not all fairies are content with the status quo; some yearn for the world's wonders and leave Paradise to embark on journeys. They traverse forests, fly over canyons, climb mountains, and cross plains, leaving their mark on every corner of the world. During this process, the powerful emotions left to them by the goddess spread. She loved this world so deeply that these emotions, combined with every scene she encountered along the way, gave birth to new fairies.

When He felt the wind, the wind fairy emerged from it; when He felt the clouds, the cloud fairy fell to earth; flowers, water, trees, earth, sky and sea, void and time, man-made and natural... all the miracles of life, the incredible paradoxes, are born under the drive of emotion.

In the end, the fairies' footprints spread throughout the entire Mirror Star world, and new fairies could no longer only be born from the Tears of the Goddess. However, they still regarded Paradise Assyria as a sacred place. Every fairy, at the beginning of her birth, would have an impression of Paradise Assyria and the Fairy Queen engraved in her mind, even though many of them would never return to this place, to their original homeland, in their entire lives.

……

"Mother's...tears..."

Ovira murmured softly, her gaze hidden in the shadows of her bangs, lost in thought. She wasn't alone; the other young queens reacted similarly, for they had never heard of, nor recalled, that the great and compassionate goddess who created the world could ever shed tears for anyone.

That's only natural, isn't it? After all, beings with emotions must have smiles and tears, and the goddess's emotions are so intense that they can influence life and reincarnation. So why do they have no recollection of this? It has nothing to do with lost memories. The girls are absolutely certain that even if they regained their past memories, there would be no fragments related to their mother's tears—because she loves her daughters just as deeply and doesn't want them to grieve for her tears.

Cheryl noticed Ovira's address to the Goddess but didn't take it to heart, simply considering it a special form of respect. Since the Goddess created this world, every living being in the mortal realm naturally had the right to call her Mother. It was said that in the Paradise Country of Assyria, many followers of the Creator Goddess cult used this term, and naturally, no one would connect them with the legendary young queen or the seven deceased saints.

Her purpose in telling this story was not to evoke empathy from the audience, but merely to introduce the sequel.

"Now, few know this legend. It is the greatest secret of the demon race, and one of the reasons why the Assyrian Kingdom of Paradise is determined to isolate itself from the world and never get involved in worldly conflicts. But in the ancient times, when the flame of civilization was still dim and primitive beliefs were still being nurtured, many people knew of the existence of the Goddess's Tear, and some even had personal contact with it. Perhaps it was because the demon race was naturally simple and disliked lies that many rumors about the Goddess's Tear began to circulate on the continent. Some said that the demons' incredible magic and seemingly inexhaustible magical power came from this tear; some said that as long as one bathed in the radiance of this tear, all injuries, defects, and even congenital deficiencies, whether physical or spiritual, could be purified in an instant. This effect was effective on living or dead, mortal or divine; others said... that as long as one devoured this tear, one could obtain great power. How great? Perhaps, just like the god who shed this tear? A thought, a feeling, an emotion, could create life and give soul."

If the first two rumors were merely sensationalism and exaggeration, then the last rumor was undoubtedly malicious.

Lin Ge straightened up and asked solemnly, "So, these rumors..."

"nature--"

Cheryl said softly, "It's all true."

Give me some cats