1110 Dark Prologue 2 (1/2)

”Since you're here, Big Bro, why don't you help us think of something!” Baylon said with a flattering smile. Compared to that shy, introverted Baylon from before, she seemed to be a lot more cheerful and extroverted now.

”Yeah yeah yeah, if it's Big Bro Nono, I'm sure you'll have an idea!” Clint hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Only White Winter was unconvinced. He had heard Baylon bring up her brother before, but no matter how he looked it, Nonosiva was just a regular prodigy from the Blackboard Region, with limited talent. He had seen plenty people just like that in the Gideon family. There was nothing special about him, so he had no idea why Clint and Baylon respected him so much.

”If you guys really have nowhere else to go, I guess you could come with me.” But Garen was already planning something. Right now, Clint had one of Red Moon's mech parts, that was a Regent-Level part. If he could just examine it closely, he should be able to gain a great deal from it.

”With Big Bro?” said Clint, confused.

”That's right, I was just on my way to do something, join a competition,” said Garen calmly, with a smile. ”There's been a dramatic shift here, so I bet this place has become a focus point amongst all the factions. It'd be very troublesome for you to continue staying here, it's best if you could temporarily leave the Mother Planet.”

He was absolutely right, and the three of them also nodded in agreement.

”We do want to leave the Mother Planet, but we can't find any other way…” said Clint helplessly. ”The only way is to buy a spaceship and then fly out, but that sort of thing isn't for sale…”

Garen instantly laughed.

”No, other than the regular route, there is another way. Don't forget, I'm also an Energy Machinist…”

”Huh? Energy Machinist!!??” Clint and Baylon instantly widened their eyes, turning around immediately to look at White Winter.

”What are you looking at him for?” Garen was also slightly mystified now.

White Winter, however, lowered his head awkwardly.

”I-I'm also… an Energy Machinist…”

”You too?”

Garen had not noticed it, but once it was mentioned, he realized that White Winter really was an Energy Machinist, albeit a weakest Level-One Energy Machinist. His Willpower was weak enough to be negligible, and that was why Garen had overlooked it.

At Garen's current realm, he could basically just ignore anyone lower than Inherited Level, because anyone weaker than that was not even worth his gaze. It was impossible for them to pose a threat.

But he knew the general way things would go, so he knew that White Winter would also become one of the Star Generals in the future. The Red King had four Star Generals in total, and the same went for the White King. That was the tally during the final battle, and the Red King's Star Generals changed a few times along the way, but White Winter was always consistently there. He and Baylon would keep improving up until the final battle.

The other two, including the original Nonosiva, both changed twice. After Nono died in battle, there were two more replacements until it finally settled down.

”Alright, I'll admit that I might have overlooked you.” Garen nodded at White Winter. ”The Energy Machinists have a Teleportation Point here, we can reach one of the Energy Machinists' three main cities, the City of Nagadako, directly from here.”

”We can do that too!?” Clint was instantly overjoyed.

*****************

Radiation Zone, an Energy Machinist base

On the scarlet-golden sands, there was a floating, giant city that moved along slowly, projecting an enormous black shadow onto the ground.

By the time Garen and company reached here, it was already three days later.

Garen did not immediately tell them what level he was at now, in case Clint and Baylon began to rely on him. They still needed to grow, or else they would never be able to fight against the White King.

And the way things were going, they would still accidentally stumble across this base at one point. They were supposed to have made a contact on the inside, eventually disguising themselves as Energy Machinists, and getting teleported to the City of Nagadako.

Garen merely simplified the process.

”This is the place…” Garen looked up at the floating city in the sky, and felt the emotions surging in his heart. Back then, he had left the Sixth Divine Wind General and Sinno here, but he did not know how they were getting along now.

”Let's go.”

He strode towards the base.

Behind him, the other three were like sun-dried brinjals, completely weak and exhausted. Without their mechs, they were just slightly better than normal people, and so they had no resistance at all toward the intense scorching heat of the sun.

Garen would not block the sun and rain for them, and he proceeded on ahead by himself. The only good thing is that they knew that the temperature would drop slightly if they were closer to him.

That was the only thing they had to comfort themselves over the three days of walking.

Tesna, on the other hand, bit her lip and followed wordlessly. She had the worst physical fitness, after all, she was a true-blue regular person. If it were not for Turing's occasional support, she would have crashed out a long time ago, collapsing onto the ground, unable to get back up.

Just as before, there was a line of people queuing up in front of a tall, large, black stone pillar.

The people in the line took turns entering a small house, and they never came back, so they had clearly been teleported into the base somehow.

There were many people in Garen's group, so they were very eye-catching as they walked, but when many people saw that Tesna, Clint, and the rest were just regular people, they instantly pulled back their gazes and lost all interest.

Garen led the team to the back of the line, and queued up.

He came to the City of Nagadako, not only to visit his few long-time friends, but also to join the Major Sect Battle, and… to meet Celine!

Celine was also an Energy Machinist, and she had always been living in the Three Major Cities, so she would surely appear during this competition as well.

Thinking of Celine, ripples rose in Garen's heart. All these years, she had lied to him for all these years, but this was the first time his feelings toward her were so complicated.

The team slowly moved ahead, and some more Energy Machinists joined the line behind them. Some of them frowned when they saw the normal people beside Garen.

”Doesn't he know that normal people can't enter the base? Does he not know the rules?”