Chapter 473: Profaning the Prototype and the Fall

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.com

Alice had vanished, leaving Duncan alone with his thoughts. He couldn’t fully grasp how much Alice, the innocent puppet, knew or understood, but her recent awareness of the key’s potential danger reassured him. Until she comprehended its true nature, he doubted she would use it again.

The sun was setting outside, casting a dimming light as night approached. Two rings of magical runes, visible only to the initiated, began to descend toward the horizon. The amber glow of the fading sunlight spilled into Duncan’s room through the window.

Sitting at his desk, Duncan admired the sunset while focusing on a brass key lying before him. The intricate patterns on the key’s handle seemed to come alive in the fading light, shimmering as the sun’s rays mingled with the encroaching shadows.

After a moment of contemplation and hesitation, Duncan took a deep breath and reached for the key. As he touched it, a small green flame, soft as an ember, sparked from his fingertips and began to travel into the key.

Initially, Duncan had been wary of using the “ethereal flame” to investigate the key, fearing its powerful properties might alter or corrupt the key’s mystical nature. But now, he felt he had no other choice.

Desperate to uncover the secret Ray Nora had hidden within the key, Duncan carefully controlled the intensity of the ghostly flame to avoid damaging the delicate artifact. He remained vigilant, ready to extinguish the flame at the first sign of trouble.

As he held the key, the ethereal flame wrapped around his fingers and the brass, enveloping it in a gentle green glow. For Duncan, it felt like he was diving into a chaotic, boundless universe.

His eyes closed slowly as he used the flame as a “second sight” to explore the hidden world within the key.

He was greeted by a vision of an expansive, endless fog. Swirls of dust and smoke formed and vanished in an ever-changing tableau.

Puzzled, Duncan tried to make sense of the disorienting fog, but it was just a chaotic mess, constantly shifting but never revealing anything. This foggy realm was the key’s hidden “truth,” similar to what he had experienced when probing the mysterious puppet’s coffin, yet fundamentally different.

After some time in the endless fog, Duncan noticed the ethereal flame was diffusing normally, showing no signs of damaging the key. Relieved, he cautiously focused his attention in one specific direction within the fog.

An odd sensation pulsed in the palm of his hand that held the key. Was the key reacting to his investigation?

At first, Duncan thought the sensation might be coming from the brass key he was physically holding in the real world. Then a startling thought occurred to him: Did he have a physical form within this mysterious fog?

He remembered that during his previous exploration of the puppet’s coffin, he had existed merely as a “field of vision,” lacking physicality. Was the change because the key and the coffin had different magical properties? Or had his own mystical abilities evolved in a way he didn’t yet understand? These questions flooded Duncan’s mind as he looked down at his palm.

Held in his grasp was a mysterious, rectangular object with a black shell. It seemed to be made from a strange blend of metal and plastic. The device was small, about half the length of his palm and as wide as two of his fingers. The surface was polished and sleek, suggesting it was man-made. Intricate patterns on the device hinted at an underlying purpose or aesthetic, while one end featured a complex, metallic port organized with meticulous detail.

The object struck Duncan as a sort of data storage unit or control module, perhaps designed to interface with some kind of machinery. It reminded him of a USB drive or external hard drive, but from a different world; the port didn’t match any configurations he was familiar with.

Suddenly, an image flashed through his mind—a memory from Pland, where historical records had been consumed in a massive fire. He remembered the invading “heirs of the Sun,” each armed with complex, black umbrellas containing intricate mechanical and electronic workings.

Comparing the black rectangle to the umbrella he’d seen in Pland, Duncan noted similarities and differences. Both were highly precise, complex, and sophisticated, seemingly beyond the technology of his current world.

These items didn’t appear to be made by any known civilization from the great cities across the sea.

Duncan recalled that in his world, such objects were termed “Blasphemous Prototypes.” As his friend Dog had once explained, “Throughout the long history of this world, certain eras are ‘sealed off.’ Objects originating from these taboo periods are known as Blasphemous Prototypes. Their mere presence can be hazardous to beings in the real world.”

Could this strange, black-box device be one of these forbidden artifacts, a Blasphemous Prototype?

As he pondered the connection between the small device and the brass key he was still holding, Duncan’s contemplation was abruptly cut short. A deep, rumbling noise echoed from far away, grabbing his attention.

Startled, Duncan turned toward the sound. In the next moment, a dazzling light burst through the fog that enveloped this mysterious space. It streaked across the obscured sky like a meteor, rapidly morphing into a blazing fireball within the misty expanse!

As it roared past him, the fiery entity descended rapidly, its passage acting like a wind that swept away the surrounding fog. What was revealed in the blaze was nothing short of awe-inspiring—a massive figure propelled by flames. The entity appeared as though three spindle-shaped structures had been fused together, each ending in enormous thrusters that spewed streams of light. The surface of this massive object was in constant upheaval, with periodic explosions tearing its shell apart, ejecting plumes of smoke, and scattering flames in all directions. Debris rained down from the points of explosion, falling onto the fog-covered landscape below like temporary meteors, glowing brilliantly for a moment before extinguishing.

Duncan couldn’t gauge the exact size of the ship without anything to compare it to, but its scale was undeniably massive. The silhouette, engulfed in fire and veiled by plumes of smoke, dwarfed any city-state Duncan had ever known. It could have been even larger than several city-states combined. He imagined it traveling across galaxies, streaking by countless stars before making its dramatic entrance into this foggy, illusory realm. Its descent culminated in a ground-quaking explosion that left Duncan utterly captivated.

This gargantuan entity, which Duncan mentally named the “giant ark,” finally broke apart in an explosion so intense that it felt as if the very fabric of spacetime could unravel. The ark split into three pieces, each turning into a fiery comet that streaked through the fog, leaving thick trails of smoke behind.

The distance to where these fragments had fallen was insurmountably vast, well beyond any reasonable reach. Even if Duncan had the ability to teleport thousands of miles, he questioned whether he could reach the ark’s final resting place. After all, this misty environment seemed to be a mere echo of a long-lost moment in history.

Just then, he felt a gentle warmth emanating from his palm. Looking down, he saw the brass key he had been holding. Its handle was etched with an infinity symbol, and it emitted a soft light that moved in intricate patterns, eventually forming the words “New Hope.”

An otherworldly rumble echoed within his consciousness, causing the foggy illusion to dissolve into nothingness. As light and shadow blended and shifted, he found himself back in his own bedroom.

Shaking off the disorienting experience, Duncan refocused his senses. The brass key was still in his hand, but its warm glow and dancing patterns had vanished, leaving behind only the memory of their fleeting existence.

Every detail remained etched in his memory, especially the name—New Hope.

With a sense of urgency, Duncan stood up and reached for the notebook on his desk. He wrote down the words “New Hope” and detailed the extraordinary vision he had experienced. Only after capturing every nuance did he allow himself a sigh of relief and sit back down.

In his world, memories and thoughts were usually resilient against corruption, but Duncan knew that caution was indispensable. For in dealing with enigmas such as these, even the smallest oversight could lead to unimagined consequences.

After transcribing the bewildering events he had just lived through, Duncan sat back, lost in contemplation. The myriad questions plaguing his mind ranged from the essence of what he had witnessed to the connections between the strange device and the brass key, and the location of the shattered Arkship. One thing stood out: what he had experienced was not a figment of his imagination.

At some point in the distant past, before the formation of city-states and recorded history, a real event had taken place. A gargantuan spaceship, a titan of unknown origin and design, had made a calamitous descent onto this planet. The ark had ruptured in the process, scattering its fragments across an unknown landscape.

Inhaling gently, Duncan absorbed the gravity of his newfound insights. The realization that he might be dealing with an authentic episode from this world’s history sent a shiver down his spine.

He slipped the brass key into his pocket for safekeeping, its form settling against the fabric like a piece of an unfinished puzzle. Raising his eyes, he turned his gaze toward the window, where he saw Vision 001, a landmark now almost entirely swallowed by the sprawling landscape beyond his room.

“Things just got interesting,” Duncan muttered, his voice tinged with excitement and curiosity.

What had initially seemed like isolated anomalies—mystical keys, illusory realms, and cosmic arkships—were coalescing into a larger, intricate tapestry. Duncan sensed he was on the cusp of unraveling something monumental, something that could upend his understanding of reality itself. In that moment, fueled by a blend of awe, trepidation, and insatiable curiosity, Duncan knew he was irreversibly committed to following this mysterious path, wherever it might lead.

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