Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Thursday night's descent of the Evil God, and the subsequent battle with an unnamed moon deity, of course, couldn't be so easily quelled. One incident closely related to the citizens of Tobesk City was the citywide lockdown today, strictly prohibiting going out, with Riddlevitch Field, the Church, and the Tobesk garrison taking full control of the city's situation to conduct door-to-door searches.

This was partly because the Church had made a firm decision to capture any surviving members of the "Lord of the Blood Feast" cult and members of "Blood of Mercury," even if it meant smashing half of Tobesk. On the other hand, the Church's High Ring Sorcerers almost went to stop the Evil God with a resolve to perish. Although they were eventually saved by an unknown Saint, the people forced into attending the Blood Feast were still severely injured.

The reason Iluna was able to obtain that bottle of No. 1 Holy Water Essence was that the Church considered the injuries of the others before giving it out.

Therefore, the citywide lockdown also meant maintaining public order with a high-pressure attitude while almost every High Ring Sorcerer was injured.

But last night's events also frightened the other Circle Sorcerers in the city, and now, no one wanted to provoke the Church. Moreover, almost everyone was happy to see those madmen being captured by the Church.

This meant that except for Church members like Miss Beyas and a few Members of the Royal Family who got passes, every citizen had to stay home today.

As the capital of the Draleon Kingdom, such a citywide lockdown was bound to cause a stir. But considering what happened last night, not even objections from Yordle Palace were heard.

His Majesty the King's emergency interview from last night made the front page of all the morning newspapers, and although the city was under lockdown today, the newspapers were still delivered because the citizens needed to know exactly what had happened:

"Cultists poison the city, scores perish last night, city-wide manhunt today... Oh."

At the dining table, Shard could not help but sigh while holding the newspaper. The news on the paper looked alarming, but in reality, the number of casualties was not in the hundreds but in the thousands. Though, when compared to the fact of "Evil God's descent," this number wasn't large, and even for peace times in 1853, it was not unusual for thousands of people to go missing in Tobesk within a year. Still, the number of over a thousand deaths in one night would definitely cause panic across the Old Continent.

Shard's guess the previous night was correct; indeed, it was the cultists who poisoned the city through the "Silver Parrot Milk Delivery Company" controlled by "Blood of Mercury," offering a sacrifice to the Evil God to create a grand "Blood Feast."

This was mentioned in a letter found on the body of a Silver-Eyed One, and it was also why Luisa was able to deduce the general cause of the events before seeing Shard.

"There might be a public mourning event afterwards, the impact of this matter... Fortunately, we had you, otherwise, the casualties last night would have been much worse. I know you won't let anyone know what you did, but I'm aware of the risks you took... Shard, it seems somewhat unfair to you."

Miss Annette sat beside Shard at the dining table, saying softly while holding her spoon. Shard put aside the newspaper in front of him and looked at her, still lamenting last night's casualties:

"Things can't be settled that way. Miss Annette, the deeds we do will always leave a mark on this world and eventually come back to affect us. Although my actions are unknown to others, one day, I will understand their significance to me."

The Diviner liked such talk; she stirred her food in the bowl with her spoon:

"You're right, Shard. By the way, you can call me by my name from now on, no need for 'Miss Annette' anymore."

"All right then... Luisa?"

"Yes, that's my name. Does it sound strange?"

The martial law throughout the city meant that today's original task, which was to accompany Mrs. Lemer to receive her inheritance, was definitely impossible to complete. And since Luviya was now stuck at Shard Family's home, she couldn't return to the Prophet's Society to gather information either.

The two of them were essentially trapped at No. 6, Saint Delan Square, but fortunately, they had no other matters to attend to, so they sorted out the gains from the previous night after breakfast.

Of the six Relics, now only five remained, as the Demon Eye "Greedy Silver" had been taken away by the "Lord of the Blood Feast" as part of the meal. The specific allocation would have to wait until Miss Beyas returned in the evening, but of course, the Sage-Level Relic "God's Gift Box" was definitely Shard's, as the lady who became an Angel had personally stated that he should keep the item.

As for the "Puppeteer's Script" with only three blank pages left, Shard said he would not touch it at all.

Luviya, on the other hand, was quite interested in the new Impermanence Card that Shard had acquired, borrowing it for a while to conduct research. In her words, it was an item utterly related to Fate.

Shard then explained that the Impermanence Card truly contained the power of an Ancient God, which surprised Luviya.

"Didn't you see the fight last night? Didn't you see the dark gold Balance?"

Shard was also surprised:

"I thought you had already noticed."

"How could you think that a mortal could witness the battle of gods? My eyes are powerful, but they could barely catch a glimpse of the final Moonlight. I'd even bet that apart from Iluna, I probably saw the most."

This meant that Shard no longer had to worry about exposing his identity. At the same time, the doctor, Priest, and Miss Luisa were not likely to easily link the Moonlight from last night to Shard.

With nothing better to do during the day, Luviya browsed through the letters found on the Vampire Kind and Silver-Eyed One in the living room, which were brought back from the Ruins the previous night, while Shard verified the new powers he had acquired.

The gains from the Ruins were substantial, not only allowing him to directly advance to a Second Ring Sorcerer but also enabling him to fully acquire two new Arcane Techniques "Moonlight Greatsword" and "Toy Making".

The former not only allowed him to go toe-to-toe with the Vampire Kind who was suppressed by Miss Beyas in the Ruins but also, when combined with "Lagre's Leap" and "Blade of Temporal Disarray," enabled him to carry out quite a coordinated attack.

Of course, if it weren't for the presence of Divinity, those rifts that followed would probably have given Shard a hard time. Continue reading at My Virtual Library Empire

After Shard burned his Divinity to become a deity, the "Moonlight Greatsword" even directly clashed with the "Lord of the Blood Feast". It's fair to say that as an Arcane Technique gained through the use of a Relic, it did not require Spellcasting Materials and even the consumption of using the technique was very low.

Using the Arcane Technique, only the step of drawing the "Moonlight Greatsword" from the air was the most Spirit-consuming part, with subsequent wear and tear almost matching the recovery rate of Shard's Spirit. Moreover, even if the Greatsword shattered, another could be drawn immediately with no waiting time. And as Shard's Level as a Circle Sorcerer increased, the Moonlight Greatsword would become ever more powerful, undoubtedly the strongest attack method he currently possessed.

The only drawback was that the Moonlight Greatsword would disappear once it left his hand; it could only be used for close combat and not thrown like Miss Beyas's "Sunlight Gun".

Although infusing Spirit and elements into the sword could make it produce an attack effect similar to "Sword Light," this was very draining and in no way compared to the long-range attack effect of the "Silvermoon's Slash".