Chapter 1458: A Difficult Problem
Amber sat there, stunned, as Gawain recounted everything. Only when he finished speaking did she lower her gaze to her hands, then looked up again, a bit dazed. “So you think what happened at the Sky Station has something to do with me?”
“The hall was filled with shadow energy. When you were cutting through the thorns, your body went out of control, and you sensed limbs that weren’t your own,” Gawain said seriously. “I know it sounds like a stretch, maybe not very convincing, but there are just too many coincidences for me not to connect the dots.”
“But how could that be…” Amber clenched her fists in confusion, then slowly relaxed them. “I’m just an ordinary person who’s lived on the surface for decades. How could I possibly be connected to a space station out there…”
“You’re not an ‘ordinary person,’” Gawain said, locking eyes with her. “You know you’re special. Frankly, nothing that happens to you surprises me anymore. After all… you even hold part of Lady Night’s authority.”
Amber pressed her lips together, suddenly realizing she had no argument against that. Just as Gawain said, she was never truly ‘ordinary’—she was Gondor’s artificial human number 36, with a soul from the Shadow Realm. She was the only known ‘shadow dweller’ living in the current world, and she had an inexplicable connection to the Shadow Goddess… All these unique traits converged in one person, making it inevitable that unusual things would happen to her.
But until now, her idea of ‘unusual’ was limited to this planet. The Sky Station in space… a few years ago, she didn’t even know what a ‘space station’ was!
“So what am I supposed to do now?” Amber blinked, looking at Gawain helplessly. “By the way, do you really think I’m the so-called ‘Star Chart Keeper’?”
“That seems unlikely,” Gawain said slowly, “but on the other hand, your body was made during the Gondor Empire, yet your soul might be far older. After all, you don’t even know where your soul came from, do you? Of course, this is just a baseless guess, and there are plenty of reasons to doubt it. For one, the ‘Star Chart Keeper’ left by the Voyagers probably wouldn’t be as weak as you…”
Amber: “…That’s true.”
“The key now is your body,” Gawain frowned, his expression serious. “Besides the earlier loss of control and the tingling, do you feel anything else unusual?”
He was increasingly convinced there was a real connection between Amber and the Sky Station. At first, it was just a wild guess, but as time passed, the idea only grew stronger. If Cassandra and the others’ cutting of the ‘thorns’ somehow triggered a reaction in Amber’s artificial body, could there be lingering side effects? Were the thorns’ disappearance good or bad for her? These questions worried him more and more.
Amber clearly worried about her condition too. She nervously examined her hands and feet, hopped in place a few times, squatted repeatedly, jogged two laps around Gawain, and even slipped into the Shadow Realm twice—all sorts of strange self-checks before finally sighing in relief. “I don’t feel anything wrong. In fact, I feel… lighter?”
“Lighter?” Gawain raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“It’s like something that’s been holding me down all this time just disappeared. My limbs and mind feel much freer,” Amber carefully chose her words, trying to describe the strange sensation. “It’s like… you never thought you were bound by anything, you always thought your body was just supposed to be this way. But one day, the chains vanish, and you realize your body can actually be lighter. You finally understand something was holding you back all along.”
She paused, then added uncertainly, “But it’s just a feeling. My body doesn’t actually seem faster or stronger, my strength hasn’t changed. It’s more like a psychological lightness, I guess.”
“I get it,” Gawain said, studying her up and down. “So in the short term, that’s probably a good thing. But we still don’t know if you’re really connected to the Sky Station, or what exactly this ‘Star Chart Keeper’ is.”
“Yeah, I hope Nicholas and the others find some new clues soon,” Amber sighed. “You said I was just a petty thief back then, and now I’m caught up in all this…”
“Enough with the self-pity. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, why don’t you clean up your crime scene first?” Gawain patted her shoulder and glanced at the chaotic desk, shelves, and floor. “This place looks like a husky just ran through a boot camp. You… well, you probably can’t clean it up alone. I’ll have Betty send a few people over later.”
As he spoke, he grabbed Amber’s arm and started pulling her toward the door. Amber kept babbling as she was dragged along. “Hey, don’t pull me… What’s a husky? I need to look that up… Hey, where are you taking me?”
“Where? To wash your hands! The ink’s soaked in! And I need to change these clothes. Wait, what was that word you mentioned… Your crappy book is still being serialized? And you don’t need to add all those little details!”
Amber was dragged out the door, running and stumbling behind him, shouting, “Fine, fine! Next issue I’ll write: ‘The Emperor himself is deeply concerned about the publication of the Holy Words and personally offers constructive editorial suggestions’…”
Night deepened. The cold wind of early winter howled outside the window. The distant city lights and the stars gradually filling the sky felt cold and far away. But the warm air from the heat exchanger drove away the chill, and under the bright glow of the magic crystal lamps, Hetty rubbed her aching shoulders and set down the documents.
This was her bedroom, a warm and cozy space filled with feminine touches. She had changed into comfortable home clothes—a light dress that let her temporarily shed the weight and tension of being the Empire’s High Chancellor. Yet even so, the burdens of her position didn’t end with the workday. She had brought some files home from the government office and only just finished dealing with them.
“Maybe it’s time to optimize the workflow of the Secretariat and the secondary advisory group,” Hetty murmured to herself. “The previous plan should work…”
A faint commotion came from the hallway outside. Hetty looked up, puzzled. The noise sounded familiar but soon faded into the distance.
“…Could it be Rebecca? No, doesn’t sound like her.”
She muttered to herself. Less than half a minute later, footsteps approached her door, followed by a knock and Rebecca’s voice: “Auntie, are you in there?”
“…Come in,” Hetty said, her lips twitching as her fingers twitched slightly. “The door’s unlocked.”
The next second, Rebecca pushed the door open and peeked inside, carrying a large stack of files. The moment she saw Hetty sitting at the desk, her face lit up. “Ah, you’re still working!”
“Actually, I was just about to take a break two minutes ago,” Hetty said, her eyes immediately drawn to the thick pile of papers in Rebecca’s arms. The corner of her eye twitched involuntarily. “What’s all this?”
“Just some minor technical stuff that needs your review,” Rebecca said with a smile, setting the files down. She seemed oblivious to her aunt’s gradually shifting expression—or maybe she was just used to it after all these years. “I was going to bring it to the government office tomorrow, but I accidentally brought it home today…”
“How careless do you have to be to accidentally bring this home…” Hetty cut her off with a glance, then reached out to take the files. “By the way, what was that noise in the hallway? You weren’t running around, were you?”
Rebecca quickly waved her hands. “No, it was the Ancestor and Amber…”
“The Ancestor and Amber?” Hetty paused, hand frozen mid-file flip, looking at Rebecca suspiciously. “Amber, sure. But the Ancestor… Can you at least keep your lies logical?”
“I’m serious!” Rebecca hurriedly waved her hands again, then began animatedly describing the scene. “I just saw the Ancestor dragging Amber down the hall. They were covered in ink—on their hands, faces, and clothes. They were talking about the new issue of the Emperor’s Holy Words. The Ancestor even told Betty, who was passing by, to send people to clean up the study because half the bookshelves had collapsed…”
She paused, then added, “Actually, I was going to have him look over these files, but he seemed busy, so I brought them to you first.”
Hetty stared at Rebecca for a long moment, expressionless, as if trying to find even the tiniest hint of deceit on the earnest, open face of the Empire’s iron-willed girl. But in the end, all she saw was genuine innocence. She had no choice but to believe her.
It had to be true—Rebecca’s defining trait since childhood was stubbornness, especially when it came to statements that could get her scolded by the ancestors. Every word she said was heartfelt and sincere.
Hetty rubbed her temples and sighed deeply. “Rebecca…”
“Yeah? What is it?” Rebecca leaned in.
The Empire’s High Chancellor looked worried. “Do you think… the Ancestor’s been under too much pressure lately?”
Rebecca thought for a moment, eyes rolling. “Then I’ll make him some brain-boosting soup later…”
Hetty glanced at her sunny-faced niece. “Don’t say that was my idea.”
Before Rebecca could respond, Hetty’s gaze fell on the documents in her hands. As she scanned through the pages, her previously relaxed expression grew serious.
After quickly reviewing the first part, she looked up at Rebecca, who was standing nearby. “Is this the localization draft for the ‘Observation Device’?”
“Yes. The Star Decoders have been working overtime translating the original text. Then Jenny’s team re-annotated and theorized based on the translation. What you have here is the project overview and initial plan,” Rebecca nodded. “The technical challenges we’re facing are all listed here.”
Heddy’s expression grew serious as she carefully reread the material she had skimmed through earlier. After a moment of contemplation, she said, “The Noyans’ ‘Magic Tide Observation Device’ indirectly calculates the ‘origin oscillations’ left as ‘traces’ in space by monitoring magical fluctuations around nearby stars. The core component of the entire apparatus is the ‘vibration focal point,’ right…?”
“Yes,” Rebecca replied, her face equally grave. She pointed to a schematic in the technical documents—a diagram clearly derived from the original Noyan blueprints, though with some minor modifications. Her finger rested on the very heart of the device: a massive structure at the center of the ring-shaped observer, resembling a pyramid or an obelisk.
The Noyans’ magic tide observation system consists of two main parts. One is the enormous outer ring, assembled from multiple segments. The other is the colossal centerpiece within that ring, labeled on the plans as the “vibration focal point.” This focal point is the true heart of the entire system—it’s designed to “resonate” with distant stars.
Magic flows everywhere in the universe. These forces, which permeate all things, transcend the boundaries between reality and illusion, and even span across dimensions, form the very “skeleton” of this world. Everything depends on them to connect and maintain order. The countless stars scattered across the cosmos are like countless “foci” within this web of magical energy.
The invisible magic tide sweeps through the stars like a seasonal wind. While it wreaks havoc on the minds of sentient beings, it rarely interacts with physical matter, leaving almost no trace of its passage. Yet, stars—brimming with immense energy—can influence the tide’s flow to some extent. As they flicker and shine, they “reflect” the tide’s presence. This is their inherent nature as “magical foci,” perfectly aligning with the “Unified Wave Theory.”
In this sense, the endless stars are like mirrors scattered across space.
Only by observing these distant, shimmering “mirrors” can mortals catch fleeting glimpses of the apocalypse as it sweeps across the sky of the real world.
But watching the reflections cast by those faraway stars from a tiny planet is no simple feat.
“The biggest problem we face now,” Rebecca said, “is that the energy level required to operate the vibration focal point is astronomical—and it’s not just raw power it demands.” Her voice lowered. “Inside the focal point, the Noyans built a device that can interfere with the fabric of space-time itself. Its purpose is to blur the boundary between reality and illusion at the core, creating precise projections of the observation device in shadow realms like the Umbral and Phantom worlds. This enhances measurement accuracy of distant stars. Even with the blueprints, this thing is a nightmare to build!”
(End of chapter)