am-books Chapter 258: Entering The Heavenly Empress Inner Realm
Chapter 258: Entering The Heavenly Empress Inner Realm
Chapter 258: Entering The Heavenly Empress Inner Realm
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Inside a cable- and screen-riddled room underground, countless machines moved from place to place, rearranging cables, connecting screens, and repairing or upgrading all kinds of batteries, cores, and other mechanical technology spread through this large underground palace of metal.
Within its very center, there was a gigantic spire made of silver metal, connected to thousands of cables across the entire hall. A single red “eye” glowed through its cylindrical form; it glanced, processed, and analyzed all the information it was gaining.
All the information it was gaining from her, through her very eyes.
“...”
All the emotions, all the doubt, all the guilt, and also all the happiness, the sensations of being alive—everything. They were slowly assimilating all of that and learning from it, improving, and growing.
Something they had not done in many years since their invasion, something they needed to fully understand the world they’ve been stranded on and its last inhabitants.
With cold, neon-red eyes, it glanced silently without saying a word.
However, aside from their mechanical servants, they weren’t alone either. A powerful presence was ever-present within its own endless, mechanical body.
A powerful presence whose origins weren’t exactly of their original world
Something that came from the stars.
.
.
.
(Anna’s POV)
Once we entered the Heavenly Empress Inner Realm, we were greeted with a much more beautiful and plant-covered land than with the Heavenly Demon’s Inner Realm. The skies were blue with white clouds too, and there was a bright yellow sun, very similar to back home, actually.
There were green mountains and a relaxing, cold wind. Many rivers covered these mountains, interconnecting on large lakes surrounded by even more greenery. There was a small town here too, with a second golden palace.
Apparently, the Heavenly Empress did keep some people here; there were at least a few hundred. I don’t know their origins, but they are either related to her servants or perhaps something else entirely.
Maybe the families of the Immortals she has been taking care of? The last ever Immortals to have survived. I had retrieved for her that one grass she needed to synthesize a healing pill for their weakened states, I wonder if that ever worked or was solved?
“Welcome to my Inner Realm, everyone. As you can see, it is slightly similar to the outside world,” the heavenly empress said. “There’s also a second golden palace here and a small village. The people down there are mostly the families of my sect’s members. Which I take care of while they are resting and recovering.”
“Wait, by sect members... You mean the Immortals?” I wondered.
“Indeed, Anna, thanks to you retrieving the necessary ingredient three days ago, I was able to successfully synthesize the pill and feed it to them,” nodded the heavenly empress. “Their broken meridians and damaged spiritual bodies have begun to regenerate, and now they’re resting to slowly recover better.”
“Well! I’m glad to hear that; it makes me happy I was of some help. I can’t wait for them to wake up. I wonder what type of people your close allies were, master,” I said.
“I have been wondering the same thing,” Wai Tian nodded.
“They were good people, good warriors, people that fought for righteousness and hope. Powerful and prideful members of the Heavenly Court,” said the Heavenly Empress. “And the very last survivors of the Last Battle against the invaders.”
“What happened to the rest?” wondered Zero One.
“Well, isn’t that easy to guess?” sighed the Heavenly Empress. “...They’re all dead. Everyone, there were once thousands of them, but they’re gone.”
“O-Oh... I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask that question out of disrespect,” sighed Zero One. “M-Maybe I wasn’t paying attention; I was confused...”
“It’s fine,” the heavenly empress smiled. “You’re here to learn after all, and I will teach you. Tomorrow classes will begin; Anna will be taught by me personally; the rest... I shall assign special trainings for everyone.”
“Wait, everyone? Even Fang Shuan and Ying Shen?” I asked.
“I’m so happy! Thank you, Anna!” Zero One clapped, smiling cutely.
“Wait, it can’t be that easy, right?” I tried to calm them down. “Master?”
“Well... Indeed, it is not too easy,” the heavenly empress nodded. “It would approximately take them a few thousands of years to mature enough, but it is within an approachable time frame.”
“Approachable?! That’s too much...” I almost hit my head into the table.
“Well, it could be greatly shortened if enough compatible materials and energies are fed to them,” she commented. “Inside of my Inner Realm, there are many places where they could enjoy some decent growth, so we can leave them there. However, to truly help them grow, we would need to feed them fragments of Crystalized Yang Essence, and Crystalized Ying Essence, both of such things cannot be easily harvested. And even in my Inner Realm, there’s only a few.”
“Where can we find these crystals?” wondered Wai Tian. “Is it possible to mine them?”
“Maybe... You see, in the center of the continent of Pangea, there used to be a gigantic mountain named the Bridge Between Heaven and Earth. It was such an enormous mountain that it reached the nine heavens and created a connection with Earth. It was in this mountain and its depths that these crystals could be properly mined at a rapid pace. It was part of the Heavenly Court’s territory. I do remember that annoying crow trying to always mine in there, and me always coming to scold him and stop him...”
The heavenly empress smiled and laughed a bit after recalling her past a bit.
Huh, that’s a bit suspicious; she remembers him more fondly than I thought...
“So that’s it!” said Ying Shen. “Perhaps we could go to Pangea and mine them?”
“Yeah!” nodded Zero One. “I want to help too! I think I could equip myself with powerful mining tools if you need help.”
“I suppose you two aren’t completely aware of what happened on the only continent of this world...” sighed Wai Tian. “Pangea has been sunk into the sea long ago; the mountain was probably also sunk.”
“Indeed, right now, if it hasn’t been destroyed already, that mountain must be right below their Mechanical Tree, the largest of them all. I fear the machines are extracting all those precious resources that could help us restore balance in our world...” The heavenly empress directed her gaze at Zero One. “Zero One, do you think you could ask them what they’re doing there?”
“Bttzzz... Can’t!” Zero One gave a weird sound. “I think something is interrupting my connection with the Data Bank—woah, this feels weird. I do have mostly all the essentials, but... this feels weird to not be connected. I’m offline...”
“Hmm, it must be because you’re inside my Inner Realm...” the Heavenly Empress sighed. “Well, this shouldn’t stop us.”
She waved her hand, creating a golden portal and walking outside with her.
Then, a bit afterwards, they came back.
“I’m so sorry. but they don’t seem to want to disclose any personal information. Mother is not responding,” sighed Zero One.
“I suppose it is fair they don’t trust us yet, as much as we can’t trust them yet,” the Heavenly Empress sighed. “So be it. You’re the bridge between the two of our factions, Zero One. But I just hope you can be enough to convince your “mother” that we might be willing to cooperate, perhaps.”
“I... I’ll try!” nodded Zero One. “Mother is stubborn, but there’s a reason why I was made to begin with!”
It seemed that her relationship with her “Mother” wasn’t as good as I thought.
She doesn’t easily listen to Zero One, and she doesn’t want to compromise either...
So what is her true goal with all of this?
Are all machines still our foes or allies?
Could...
Could Zero One have unintentionally created a separate faction from the machines now that I think about it?
Too many things to think about, ugh.
I need to go take a nap, honestly.
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