novelonline Chapter 3960 The Spark of Life
Chapter 3960 The Spark of Life
Chapter 3960 The Spark of Life
"what's the situation?"
The three immediately went to examine the pile of ashes, but after the red "spark of life" disappeared, nothing remained in the ashes. The phrase "spark of life" had appeared in the minds of Shad and the two old men on its own, as if they were supposed to know it.
"You felt that strange, twisted life force too, didn't you?"
To prevent the contagiousness from persisting even after the two malfunctioning machines were destroyed, the three remained rooted to the spot. Mr. Finch asked the other two, and Mr. Shad and Mr. Muñoz nodded in unison:
"I sensed it. So it was those 'sparks' that activated the machinery? I've never heard of anything like this before. What exactly is it?"
Shade then shook his head again:
"I have been to many places in the Old World, and this is the first time I have seen a similar situation."
Mr. Finch hesitated for a moment:
"I do recall some past events, but they may not be accurate. In the early days of the steam revolution, Arcadia, the city of scholars, was arguably the most renowned city of inventors of that era, with a constant stream of new inventions being born there every day."
My organization has documented some incidents from that era, involving machines suddenly malfunctioning and exhibiting unusual activity. The most famous accident of that time resulted in three workers being seriously injured and five dying. However, the official investigation later concluded that the serious accident was caused by a structural problem with the machine itself, coupled with worker error.
Seeing that both of them were looking at him, Mr. Finch continued his recollection:
"My predecessors investigated the matter thoroughly back then, but the incident was resolved by the Church of Creation, and we didn't find any useful clues. Since then, similar incidents have occurred almost every five or six years in the Old World, but we haven't encountered them directly. We've only investigated them afterward, and we still haven't been able to find the real cause."
The biggest commonality among these incidents is that the metal involved in the accidents must be completely 'deactivated' using methods similar to those employed by Mr. Watson. If deactivation is impossible, sealing is the only option; otherwise, its contagious nature will gradually activate more machinery.
Xia De was very curious:
"This doesn't sound like a minor incident. After all, while the destructive power of a single machine is limited, if it's not dealt with promptly and the activated machines grow on a large scale, it won't be something that one or two Ring Warlocks can handle. Especially if this kind of mechanical activation becomes more contagious as the number of specific individuals increases, I can hardly imagine what might happen."
But Mr. Finch shook his head:
"In the past, the contagiousness of accidents wasn't as strong. Munoz's pocket watch 'came back to life' in just five minutes, which is unprecedented in previous accidents. Munoz, what happened in the tower before that coffin went out of control?"
Mr. Finch confirmed again, while Mr. Muñoz shook his head with absolute certainty:
"Definitely not. At first, someone just heard a creaking sound coming from inside the coffin, like parts getting stuck, so I had them bring it here to be repaired. I never expected it to suddenly come back to life while we were repairing it."
I wanted to bring it under control and find out what was wrong, so I even sent someone to look for you. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly.
He then looked at Xia De:
"So, this Mr. Watson is..."
"Yes, the very good young man I mentioned in the letter is the one who wants to obtain [Active Metal]. But let's talk about that later; for now, let's be wary of whether other machines have also come to life."
They waited patiently for a full five minutes, making sure that no other machinery in the vicinity malfunctioned, before cleaning the room and gathering the dust. The presence of the "Black Moon Mark," a standard high-level magical technique from the Saint Byron lineage, was not questioned by the two elders about its origin; they simply pretended not to have seen anything.
After finishing his preparations, Mr. Muñoz shook hands with Shad:
“Mr. Watson, thank you for your help earlier. However, I need to arrange for this room to be sealed off first, and then check if there are any abnormalities in the other mechanical structures inside the tower. Finch, please take this young gentleman to the fifth floor and wait for me. I will come to find you as soon as possible.”
Shad said very politely:
"Things here are more important. I can wait."
But even at 11:00 AM, when Mr. Munoz appeared in the fifth-floor meeting room, interrupting Mr. Shad and Mr. Finch's discussion on "how to classify mechanical intelligence," no one in the "Miracle Tower" could reveal the truth behind the coffin's anomaly. The cause of the accident was likely those "abnormal life sparks," but no one knew where they came from. The two elderly gentlemen still suspected a problem within the Miracle Tower and would continue their investigation.
What they're really worried about is that similar situations might occur again. This time, the coffin was brought under control just as it went out of control, but if it's not handled promptly and results in casualties among ordinary people, it could lead to serious trouble.
However, this matter was put aside for the time being, as Shad had been waiting for a long time. Because Shad had helped with the matter earlier, Mr. Munoz treated him with considerable courtesy, and the old man did not say anything else.
“Mr. Watson, you want the [active metal], right? I do have such a relic. More than ten years ago, I used it to conduct experiments. After the experiments failed, the relic exhibited uncontrollable properties, so I contained it. It only regained its activity half a year ago.”
Before the year-end holiday, I was considering selling it to the Church of Creation through the black market. If you had come a month later, you probably wouldn't have seen it.
He was happy to do business with Xia De, and when discussing the price, he didn't make things difficult for Xia De by proposing a "barter" deal, but instead directly stated a number.
Although [Active Metal] is currently classified as a Guardian-level (Level 3) relic, its scarcity causes its price to far exceed the average level of Guardian-level relics. Old Master Finch even explained to Shad that the price was quite reasonable, as Mr. Munoz and Old John were not the same kind of people.
Therefore, Shad did not object to the price and readily agreed to the deal.
"Alright, 280 crowns, deal."
However, Mr. Munoz didn't bring the [Active Metal] with him; he didn't want to bring that relic directly into the "Miracle Tower" before knowing if the deal would go through. Therefore, after agreeing on the price, the two agreed to conduct the transaction of goods and payment here on Sunday. Shad had no objection to this, since the key wasn't used until Wednesday.
Although Shad knew that the halfling girl's origins might be questionable, he still decided to take the relics with him first. He needed more clues to find out the real reason she entered the "Stained Blood Factory".
The three enjoyed their conversation, but the two elderly people were still concerned about re-inspecting the potentially dangerous machinery in the "Miracle Tower," so they didn't invite Shad to stay for dinner. However, they warmly invited Shad to visit the "Miracle Tower" again if he had time.
"Here you'll find not only machines designed and assembled by us old folks, but also the ingenious ideas of young inventors. In recent decades, investors have discovered quite a few truly valuable inventions here, which can be considered a contribution by us older folks to the new generation of inventors."
With nothing to do at noon, Xia De returned home for lunch, since he didn't want to visit someone's house without an appointment.
Luvia had promised to look after the cat at noon that morning, and when Shad returned at noon, Luvia was chatting with Winnie, who was preparing lunch. The girls welcomed Shad home, and Shad recounted the strange things that had happened to him in Arcadia City that day.
"A machine inexplicably going out of control without any cause? And a 'spark of life' has been discovered? Similar things happened in the early Fifth Era."
As Winnie placed the steaming hot food on the table, she explained to the two of them:
"The fifth era saw the rise of steam much earlier than we do now, because there were far more superhumans back then, so the civilizations of the material world chose a development path that combined mechanics and arcane arts."
The inexplicable mechanical malfunctions related to the 'Spark of Life' were known as the 'Mechanical Plague' or the 'Inventor Plague' in Her Majesty Chloe's time. The frequency of these strange, unexplained events varied cyclically with the level of civilization's development. However, compared to other dangerous events of the Fifth Age, these incidents were not considered particularly dangerous and therefore did not receive much attention.
Luvia was very interested in this:
What exactly is the 'spark of life' that Xia De mentioned?
Winnie thought for a moment:
"His Majesty Chloe and I discussed this. It's something that shouldn't exist. Normal life can survive without any external force, let alone a 'spark.' Life and death are the rules of the world, while an 'abnormal spark of life' is something of unknown origin that can give life to 'non-life.' It can activate the creations of intelligent life and break the rules to give life to inanimate objects."
As for people recognizing its name upon seeing it, it is because of the resonance between lives, which is the inherent logic of life itself.
It can only exist by attaching itself to life, but it cannot manifest itself until that life dies, so no witch has ever truly captured it. That's all I know. Compared to the insane and dangerous threat left over from the Fourth Age that existed at the beginning of the Fifth Age, mechanical malfunction is really not a big deal.
"Then Winnie, has anything similar happened in Chloe's country?"
Shade also asked, and the ice maid shook her head:
"Your Majesty's kingdom is located in the northern part of the Northern Continent. Although there are a large number of mechanical creations in the kingdom, most of them are made of ice and snow. It is a place with a cold winter all year round, and ordinary mechanical creations would be affected by the extreme cold."
Xia De nodded in understanding, then glanced around his house. Although he had never deliberately added mechanical appliances to his home, metal appliances such as steam pipes and gas lamps were indispensable in most homes of that era.
Xia De didn't know the true nature of the so-called "mechanical plague" or "abnormal life spark," but he hoped that this anomaly would only occur once or twice every five or six years. Otherwise, the world would probably become even more chaotic.
"Could this be the calamity of 'creation'? To give life to inanimate objects, to give intelligence to creations?"
The idea immediately popped into Xia De's mind, but at this point, there weren't enough clues, and he couldn't explain it clearly.