Above The Sky
Chapter 1012 - 1012 107 Fairy Furnace 12

1012: Chapter 107: Fairy Furnace (1/2) 1012: Chapter 107: Fairy Furnace (1/2) Spring has arrived, and it’s once again the season of life’s proliferation.

The South Sea Great Labyrinth and its surrounding waters, as seen in the Domain of Void, appear as a vast ring-shaped island.

Half the sky is clear, while the other half is dense with storm clouds, with the sea waves ceaselessly surging.

Looking further into the spectacle, one can see a massive underwater volcano rising from the azure ocean.

Its eruption crater juts above the sea surface, forming the outermost layer, the “ring-shaped island.” At the center of this island lies a deep cavern that leads endlessly downward, where the seawater turns black—as if a colossal, indescribably dangerous entity lurks within.

This scenery, in a sense, serves as a subtle metaphor for the “Labyrinth’s” presence and the “hidden danger” therein.

Ian and the Fae now reside in the Domain of Void on the ring-shaped island, where Hua’an has constructed a small observation outpost, effectively making it her temporary residence in the Southern Sea.

And there, at the center of the ring-shaped island, two Voidrealm Machine Gods are currently reproducing offspring.

Or rather, engaging in a peculiar act of “fusion and division.”

These two Mech Deities, identified by the Silver Chip, are named [Dust Remover] and [Incinerator] respectively.

One resembles a constantly spinning electric fan, encircled by visible layers of ash-blue roaring winds.

The other, however, looks somewhat like a robotic vacuum—but rather than soft, harmless brushes, it sweeps with golden-red, fiery Spiritual Fire.

Just based on their appearances and names alone, Ian doesn’t even need to guess to identify them as “virtual realm cleaning tools designed by bygone-era civilizations.”

They aren’t particularly powerful, possessing mid-to-high-level Third Energy Level capabilities.

The outermost layers of the two disc-shaped Mech Deities are consistently extending their interwoven blue and red Spirit Substance structures, resembling thousands of tangled data cables linking together.

On the central sea surface of the ring-shaped island, they rapidly spin, forming a spiral pattern reminiscent of a yin-yang taijitu.

Their mingling Spirit Substances twist tumultuously, occasionally discharging bolts of lightning outward.

It is evident—they are merging… or rather, fusing.

Ian observes the spectacle intently.

He witnesses [Dust Remover] and [Incinerator] use high-speed rotations to “decompress” their sturdy virtual bodies.

This external manifestation takes the form of the current swirling vortex of Spirit Substance before his eyes.

Within this “decompressed” Spirit Substance lies an intricate web of Inscriptions—the majority of Voidrealm Machine Gods are essentially semi-intelligent Spirit Energy lifeforms, created from runaway virtual realm programs by bygone-era civilizations.

These Inscriptions are the “meme programs” left by those ancient civilizations when crafting them.

Now, countless interwoven Inscriptions and fused information are being shared, as the two Mech Deities lay bare their complete data to one another, merging into an entirely new, more powerful Machine God…

At the center of the virtual ocean’s gray-red swirling vortex comes a faint shift, as thousands of data waves converge toward the vortex’s core.

Then, at the very heart of the vortex, a flash of silver light gleams—a soft yet distinct “hum” reverberates, as a silver sphere abruptly materializes at the vortex’s center.

Upon its appearance, time seems to pause—what was previously a turbulent vortex of intertwined data comes to a halt.

Then, as if a black hole were devouring all matter, the entirety of the Spirit Substance released during the decompression of [Dust Remover] and [Incinerator] is pulled toward the silver sphere, causing its vaguely ethereal form to rapidly condense into something nearly tangibly solid.

Its exterior gleams with a misty particle glow, akin to a nebula.

A sound—half sigh, half cheer—resonates.

In an instant, bolts of lightning explode from the nebula sphere’s surface, sweeping across the surrounding Domain of Void.

A new name appears within Ian’s field of vision.

[Voidrealm Machine God · Mechanogod Qumihuacan]

The boy’s eyes widen slightly—for the newly fused Machine God, although its strength still only remains at a high Third Energy Level, now possesses the potential to ascend to the Fourth Energy Level!

No, it’s not just that!

Ian notices that, aside from the Spirit Substance and Inscriptions compressed and transformed into this new Machine God [Mechanogod Qumihuacan], there’s also a small portion of remaining materials—eight silver spheres floating around the new deity, each named [Seeds of Qumihuacan].

“So this is how Voidrealm Machine Gods evolve and reproduce…”

Ian marvels, “Two Mech Deities that have reached their growth limits merge, their main bodies forming a stronger new deity, while also spawning varying quantities of ‘juvenile Machine Gods.’ As these newborn entities mature and mutate, the virtual realm will see the rise of an entirely new group of Mech Deities, each with its own unique functions!”

“This—is how virtual creatures mate, grow, and propagate?

Fascinating… truly eye-opening!”

Ian watches, utterly engrossed, even using the Silver Chip to record the entire process from beginning to end.

Of course, it’s not that he enjoys witnessing Mech Deities reproduce—it’s the immense inspiration and insights this offers for his Inscription Art.

Recently, Ian and Adalbert have been occupied with designing new functionalities for Artificial Souls, programming within the virtual realms using Inscriptions… for today’s Terra People, this already constitutes an extraordinarily ambitious project.

Even with Ian’s abilities as a Prophet researcher and Adalbert’s prodigious talent, it took them a considerable amount of time to barely complete it.

Yet in the face of Voidrealm Machine Gods, such Inscription programming pales in comparison—since the essence of Machine Gods is, indeed, the Artificial Soul developed by bygone civilizations, their functionalities, stored information, and data complexity far surpass Artificial Souls!

That might represent the true pinnacle of bygone-era technology.

Although Ian’s current level of expertise prevents him from writing soul programs or creating Mech Deities within the virtual realm, he can learn—after all, during their fusion, these two Voidrealm Machine Gods have completely unveiled their encapsulated exteriors and decompressed their base-level programming.

Ordinary individuals would be overwhelmed and incapable of capturing all the data flowing like a cascading waterfall.

Ian, however, equipped with the Silver Chip, can!

Just one glance, and he has freeloaded all of [Dust Remover]’s and [Incinerator]’s underlying data!

Regrettably, the nebula sphere—[Mechanogod Qumihuacan]—sealed its programs within a black box upon birth, rendering its internal code inaccessible to Ian.

That’s not a big deal, though—as its technological level is so advanced that Ian wouldn’t understand it anyway.

Better something simpler, for easier learning.

“However.”

Satisfied after witnessing the event, Ian steps away from the observation array, though a lingering doubt crosses his mind: “Is it really this simple?

Two Third Energy Level Voidrealm Machine Gods, neither at peak strength, merging to create a new deity with Fourth Energy Level potential… that’s incredibly efficient, isn’t it?”

“It’s not nearly that simple, naturally.”

A crystalline voice chimes in, as Hua’an floats leisurely beside Ian, holding a small parasol and speaking in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Dust Remover and Incinerator are highly complementary Machine Gods with matching capabilities.

Their informational data resolve each other’s issues, and they’ve both accumulated immense Origin Quality.

They’re far from average Third Energy Levels.”

“That’s why their fusion was able to yield a new Machine God.

Per the self-naming conventions of Voidrealm Machine Gods, this new deity should be called ‘Eradicator.’ I wonder what its core designation will be.”

“In fact, successful Machine God fusions are quite rare; achieving success in seven or eight out of a hundred attempts would already be considered exceptional.

Ian, you’re just lucky this time to witness the birth of a new Machine God rather than a ‘boom’—a virtual realm explosion!”

The Fairy Miss continues staring at the distant Eradicator with a tinge of sentimentality in her voice: “In Falling Star City, there exists a massive Fairy Furnace… all Fae who’ve truly lived their fill and wish not to be reborn choose to pour their memories and souls into that furnace, where they merge with other Fae souls… ultimately giving rise to new Fae.”

“I’ve never seen the Fairy Furnace with my own eyes, but I imagine its mechanisms must closely resemble the reproductive process of Voidrealm Machine Gods.

After all, during the bygone-era civilization, we Fae held considerable prominence—the Voidrealm Machine Gods were likely designed after us, modeled as semi-intelligent life forms.”

“What’s regrettable is how much of our technology has been lost… now we even have to study Machine Gods to rediscover parts of it.”

Hua’an’s musings reveal a wealth of information, particularly about the existence of the Fairy Furnace.

Though Ian had previously heard vague mentions of several furnaces in Falling Star City, one linked to the Fae’s reincarnation, he had no idea the Fairy Furnace’s purpose was this.

Fae who have lived enough, voluntarily embracing death, becoming materials for new Fae to come into existence…

Indeed, it reflects the carefree spirit of the Fae.

As for other aspects, they are quite reasonable.

As fellow Spirit Energy lifeforms existing within and traversing the virtual realm, Machine Gods and Fae inherently share countless connections.

The Fae’s continued dispatching of scholar Fae to observe Machine Gods worldwide is driven by a mission to acquire potential technology and information tied to their own kind within the deities.

Hua’an’s original objective had been to investigate the Fairy Den within the Great Labyrinth—a mission she had successfully concluded, integrating all the Primal Fairies of the den with the help of the Frost Butterfly, thereby laying a solid foundation for the Land of Bliss Township to establish a new branch here.

The methods were somewhat unconventional, but at least the Primal Fairies were compliant.

And precisely because her task had been completed, Hua’an now had the opportunity to observe the Domain of Void.

As fate would have it, she and Ian encountered this rare and wondrous moment witnessing the birth and reproduction of a new Machine God.