Chapter 495: 483: The Final Gift

Chapter 495: Chapter 483: The Final Gift

This was the twenty-seventh year since Allen arrived in Aiselan.

Four years and eleven months had passed since his meeting with the Moonlight Level Wizard. Only one month remained of the five-year deadline.

In the Cybertron Command Center.

Allen slowly opened his eyes on the Gold throne. In the depths of his gaze, countless intricate Runes flowed like a galaxy before finally settling into stillness.

[“Artificial Soul” final evolutionary model has been successfully constructed.]

[“Humanity Algorithm 2.0” has completed its final compilation.]

[Soul data collection targets related to “Consciousness Upload” have exceeded by 117%.]

Jarvis reported the research progress item by item.

The Allen Network, Puppet technology, mineral resources, legion upgrades, tens of thousands of Alchemy patents that gathered Aiselan’s top wisdom, and the Dawn Star Level knowledge obtained from that meeting… His twenty-seven years of management had yielded returns far beyond his initial expectations.

He had fully experienced the benefits of possessing a stable territory. Resources, population, testing grounds, and an industrial system—given enough time, a territory could act like a rolling snowball, endlessly providing nourishment for a Wizard. Unfortunately, this place did not belong to him after all.

However, Aiselan’s value had basically been fully exploited. The path to the Morning Star was right before his eyes; it was time to leave.

Allen looked up and pulled up his cultivation panel.

[Cultivation Progress:]
𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

[1. Core Matrix (Second-level Wizard Stage): 7/8]

[2. Cognitive Sub-threads: 15/16]

[3. Core Witchcraft: 2/3]

He had completed seven of the eight Core Matrices in the Second-level Wizard stage. At his current pace, it would take another two years and seven months to engrave the final Core Matrix and complete all his cultivation for the Second-level Wizard stage. At that time, he could attempt to engrave his third Core Witchcraft, [Consciousness Upload], to break through to the Dawn Star Realm.

By then, he, Allen Wesren, would also have the qualifications to conquer a territory of his own.

“Recall all external Golem units,” Allen said calmly, closing the cultivation panel. “In five days, we evacuate Aiselan.”

[Command confirmed.]

[Global asset recovery protocol initiated.]

Inside the command center, screens of light lit up one after another. Tens of thousands of Golems, warships, mining units, and Demon Eyes were added to the recovery sequence. The management of twenty-seven years had officially entered its settlement phase.

Before leaving, he still had one last person to see.

Inside the council hall in the Royal Palace of Golden Stone City, William Aislan was looking down, reviewing a military report.

The impulsive young Prince of the past was long gone. Over two decades of royal rule had left clear traces between his brows. The short beard on his chin was immaculately trimmed, suppressing the last remnants of his youthful sharpness.

“The First, Second, and Third Battalions of the Steel Legion have completed their preparations. After being equipped with the ’Warrior Type-1’ combat armor, the individual combat strength of an Alchemy Warrior has already reached the standard of a Level 4 Spirit Mage.”

William finished reading the final line of data and closed the military report, a flash of pride in his eyes. This was a new type of combat force collectively forged by Aiselan’s ores, factories, and soldiers.

Just then, the air before him slightly distorted, and a figure appeared without warning in the center of the council hall. Clad in black robes and with black hair, his eyes were as indifferent as the starry sky.

“Lord Guardian!” William immediately stood up, waving his hand to dismiss all the attendants.

“I am here to say goodbye,” Allen said, getting straight to the point.

The smile on William’s face froze. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but it ultimately turned into a strained inquiry: “Did the kingdom do something wrong? Or has the development in recent years failed to meet your expectations?”

Over these years, Allen had made almost no public appearances. However, his influence existed in every corner of the kingdom. The Alchemy University, the Steel Legion, Spirit Communication Towers, automated mines, Sword Art Online… All of Aiselan was sprinting forward along the path he had laid out. No one had ever considered that this Guardian would one day leave.

“No, you’ve done very well.” Allen’s gaze swept over William. “My mission’s deadline has arrived.”

“Can’t the deadline be extended?” William couldn’t understand. “My lord, as long as you are willing to stay, all of Aiselan, including myself and the bloodline of the Aiselan family, can all…”

“William,” Allen interrupted him.

He looked at the King he had single-handedly supported, seeing the sincere pleading and deep fear in his eyes. Through him, Allen seemed to see those fifty-two million vivid faces. They toiled in the fields, fought on the coastal defense lines, and sweated in the factories, firmly believing that they were marching toward an unprecedented golden age.

Unfortunately, this was all a meticulously designed lie.

Allen knew that once he left, it wouldn’t take long for the Endless Sea, which had been silent for nearly five years, to once again surge with a sky-blotting Beast Tide. That Moonlight Level Wizard’s “scythe” would swing down again, harvesting these thriving “crops” and forcing them to continue evolving. He could even foresee this glorious white giant city reverting to the blood and fire of thirty years ago.

Should he tell him the truth? Tell him that their kingdom, their enemies, and even the kingdom Guardian they relied upon were merely experimental subjects and tools for a more powerful existence?

It was meaningless. That would only destroy their final will to fight and accelerate their demise.

A trace of pity gently brushed through the depths of Allen’s soul, which had almost completely turned into an ocean of data.

“My path is not in Aiselan.” Allen’s voice was devoid of any emotion. “I come from a place very far away, and I will journey to an even farther place.

“Aiselan’s future must ultimately be decided by yourselves.”

He raised his hand. A Rhombic Crystal shimmering with a faint blue light appeared out of thin air and floated in front of William.

“This is the last thing I will leave you.”

William subconsciously took it. “What is this?”

“A… spark,” Allen said. “Its name is ’One.’ It is a bodiless artificial intelligence that can maintain the Spirit Communication Towers within your borders and connect to your Alchemy Factories.”

This was the second-generation artificial soul he had cultivated, an experimental workshop will implanted with an ingrained directive: its highest command was to “protect Aiselan civilization.”

A final gift. It was also the cruellest form of “hope.”

With “One,” Aiselan would not immediately collapse when the next Beast Tide arrived. The Spirit Communication Towers would continue operating, the Alchemy Factories would sustain production, and the Steel Legion could replenish its losses faster. They would hold out longer. And they would bleed more. More people would complete their evolution on the brink of death, becoming the “high-quality specimens” that the Moonlight Level Wizard required.

But surviving inherently came with a price. All Allen could do was leave the choice to them.

William looked down at the crystal, his grip tightening. He bowed deeply toward Allen and remained in that posture for a long time.

When he finally raised his head again, there was no one before him.

Early the next morning, at the Fifth Defense Zone along the Western Defense Line.

The Royal Army legion commander stationed there stood at the camp gates, checking the time three times in a row. By convention, the Spider Slayers under the Guardian’s command would complete their first round of patrols before sunrise. But today, there was no movement along the coastline.

“General…” a soldier suddenly raised his hand, pointing into the distance.

The legion commander followed his finger, and his expression froze. On the first defense line, the torrent of steel that had been stationed there for years was moving. But the direction of their advance was not the Endless Sea.

Two hundred Spider Slayers retracted their weapons and mobilized their articulated legs. One hundred Peacekeepers formed a neat phalanx and turned back toward the rear. On the ground, a massive Space Gate silently opened. All the Golems entered it in sequence.

There were no farewells, nor were there any pauses. It was as if a pre-written program had finally reached its final step of execution.

Further away, a shadow blanketed a large portion of the camp. The legion commander looked up. That Hive Mother Ship, resembling a floating mountain range, was taking off. The hull rose higher and higher until it disappeared into the clouds, never to appear again.

“Where are they going?” the soldier beside him asked, his voice dry.

The legion commander did not answer.

The exact same scene was simultaneously unfolding across ten defense zones along the seven-hundred-kilometer coastline. Within the kingdom’s borders, thirty-four automated mines ceased operations. Workshop servants set down their tools. Mining Golems marched out of the deep, dark shafts in formation and entered temporarily opened spatial passageways.

The mechanical roaring that had lasted for over two decades faded away bit by bit. The miners stood on both sides of the tracks, watching the last Mining Golem leave. No one spoke. For the first time, they realized that once the mines grew quiet, they felt incredibly unfamiliar.

At the edge of the atmosphere, the Celestial Throne that had hovered there for twenty-seven years began to descend. The network of Demon Eyes scattered across the continent and the outer seas disconnected one by one. The three Flying Squadrons responsible for aerial patrols merged in the skies above Golden Stone City after completing their final handover.

The Storm Falcons and Freedom Gundams formed an arrow formation and dashed eastward. Sonic booms exploded in succession. In the blink of an eye, they disappeared into the horizon.

The Guardian’s power was retreating from every corner of Aiselan.

Soldiers rushed out of their barracks. Farmers put down their hoes. City residents flooded the streets and rooftops. People looked up at the sky that had suddenly emptied, then turned to look at the coastline no longer garrisoned by Steel Giants.

It wasn’t until they could no longer contact any Guardian units through the spirit communications, until those steel figures that had accompanied an entire generation were all gone… Only then did the people of Aiselan belatedly realize what had happened.

Their kingdom’s Guardian was leaving.

In the eastern suburbs of Golden Stone City, Allen took one last look at the massive white city bathed in the morning light. On the Royal Palace terrace, a tiny figure was gazing toward him from afar.

[Reality dimensional anchor released.]

Under the incredulous gazes of millions of citizens across the city, the steel city of Cybertron—which had stood for twenty-seven years like a miracle—began to turn ethereal. The black walls that towered into the clouds, the ferocious defense towers, the massive dome… Everything was like a reflection in the water, rippling in the breeze and gradually dissipating.

As the final corner of the architecture vanished into invisible rifts, the spatial ripples smoothed out, and the world returned to silence. Only a bottomless crater was left in its place, as if silently whispering that a god had once stopped here.