The Steam Age: Gears and Bones

Chapter 35

That was endless knowledge of alchemy.

She recognized their origin with just a glance—on the street, when she used two fragments of the Philosopher's Stone and the All-Knowing Eye to complete the structure of the ancient seal, the Emerald Record had rudely stuffed a large amount of information into the depths of her consciousness.

At that time, she didn't have the energy to look at what the information was; she just felt as if her brain had been smashed by a hammer.

Now she knew—it was the alchemical knowledge recorded in the Jade Record, from the basic formulas of material transformation to the nested theory of high-level transmutation arrays, from the equivalent comparison between ancient runes and modern alchemy to the optimal transmission path of mental power in alchemical arrays, so complex that it could fill a library.

Just now, these ideas were haphazardly poured into her brain; now they are being categorized and reorganized.

Those judgments she made based solely on intuition when she was repairing the seal were now being dissected one by one to reveal the underlying principles—why the node spacing of the sealing runes must precisely correspond to the outline of the divine abomination's body, and why the outer array's brick and stone structure needs to be embedded into the frozen soil at a specific angle to withstand the divine abomination's impact.

The energy pathways of matter transformation are clearly marked, corroborating her practical experience in manipulating the two Philosopher's Stone fragments.

The knowledge of mental energy transmission and distribution filled the gaps in her understanding that she could only vaguely grasp in the past—why the mental energy consumption would increase dramatically when driving two Philosopher's Stone fragments at the same time, and why the hastily constructed outer array would crack after a few impacts.

These were questions she had only intuitive answers to on the ground, but now each one had a clear answer.

New knowledge points are broken down, categorized, and connected with her existing knowledge system, then quietly settle down and become something she truly masters.

Then, the Jade Record itself made a sound.

It wasn't the kind of words she was used to seeing in the real world, but a real voice that resonated directly in the depths of her heart.

"The ability that the second page bestows upon you is deduction. Identification allows you to see through the essence of all things and understand their structure, while deduction allows you to deduce the unknown from the known and foresee the future from the present."

The Instrumentality Seal structure you deduced was completed precisely because of the awakening of this ability, even though it wasn't fully opened at the time.

Perfit stood before the book, saying nothing.

She remembered that when she repaired the ancient seal on the street, the All-Seeing Eye marked the missing parts of the damaged runes one by one, and then deduced in her mind the alternative structure that could fill the gaps.

That was beyond her alchemical skills—she had initially thought the Jade Record was completing the deduction for her, but now she understood that it was the Jade Record prematurely activating her abilities, which were not yet fully awakened.

"What you seal away is never the true entity you are trying to suppress," the Jade Record's voice continued. "What is sealed at the bottom of that deep well may be the corpses of the ancient gods, or it may be the enemies they killed."

Its true name and existence have been completely erased, sinking to the bottom of the world along with the era it belonged to.

But whatever it was, it had long since broken free of its shackles, left that deep well, and disappeared without a trace.

The divine abomination you sealed away with all your might was merely a small fragment that had been separated from its original form when it escaped, and it was revitalized after being tainted by the resentment it left behind.

Even so, with your current alchemy skills, you can only seal it temporarily.

The seal that traps it is incomplete—the runes you hastily added are exquisite enough, but the basic structure is still built on the remnants of the ancient seal, a power that is decaying.

The seal will crumble from within, taking anywhere from a few months to several years at most.

Perfit remained silent for a long time.

With all its might, the two fragments of the Philosopher's Stone were activated simultaneously, and the Emerald Record's all-knowing eye operated beyond its capacity. Its spiritual power was completely drained, and all it gained was the temporary sealing of the remnants of a being that had long since departed.

She didn't know whether she should feel fear or relief—fear because the true sealed artifact was still missing, and relief because she wasn't facing its true form.

"If it's a sealed enemy," she asked, "then what about the gods who sealed it?"

"They have fallen. All the ancient gods have long since fallen. What killed them was not their enemies, nor time, but their sins against one another. The sins of the gods are called the sins of the gods precisely because they are the manifestation of the sins of the gods."

Those beings they killed, imprisoned, betrayed, or forgot became resentment after the gods died, parasitizing their remaining corpses and seals.

The chill you felt in the cellar wasn't a curse; it was the despair of a dying god, the despair of being sealed at the bottom of a well for thousands of years.

Perfit lifted his gaze from the pages of the book and looked at the boundless expanse of water in the chaos.

Deep within her consciousness, she could still feel the stinging pain of depleted mental energy, but within her mind, the ability to deduce had already unfolded the first set of images—the decay curve of the seal structure, several possible paths for the divine abomination to disintegrate the seal from within, and the precise locations where she needed to arrange reinforcement nodes in advance.

"Then I'll seal it back up before it falls apart," she said.

-----------------

When Perfit woke up, the first thing he felt was the jolt.

Underneath my back wasn't frozen ground or the canvas of a tent, but a blanket folded several times. Underneath the blanket was a hard wooden plank. The plank vibrated constantly as the wheels rolled over the gravel road, transmitting each bump up my spine.

My head hurts terribly, a dull ache that comes with the exhaustion of all mental energy, like someone is tapping the inside of my skull with a hammer wrapped in cotton.

She didn't open her eyes immediately; instead, she moved her fingers first.

My fingertips brushed against the soft fleece of a coarse wool blanket. The back of my right hand still felt the burning sensation from when the Philosopher's Stone shard was activated, but my palm had returned to normal body temperature.

After she fainted, someone covered her with another blanket. When her chin touched the edge of the blanket, she could smell a faint tobacco scent, which was Chertzov's usual smell.

Then she heard the sound of wheels rolling over the frozen ground, the sound of boots stepping on gravel, and the sound of wind whistling through the canvas canopy of the carriage.

These sounds entered her ears in turn, unhurried and gentle, not like she was being chased.

People were walking around, their pace neither hurried nor slow, but continuous.

She opened her eyes.

Above, in the field of vision, was an old water stain on the canvas canopy of the carriage, stretching from the center of the canopy all the way to the iron ring at the edge.

She blinked, tilted her head slightly to the left, and saw the steam knight's armor.

Belfast was still wearing that suit of armor, sitting on the other side of the carriage, leaning against the side panel, in the same posture as in standby mode. However, no steam was coming out of the exhaust grille on the back of the armor, and the congealed black bloodstains on the breastplate had dried completely, cracking into irregular pieces of hard shell.

The sound of the steam core stopping stopped.