Chapter 683 - 430: Igniting the Artificial Sun

Chapter 683: Chapter 430: Igniting the Artificial Sun

’Why are you jumping between topics so much?’ Tang Ling complained silently.

"Seeing beautiful scenery and eating delicious food makes me happy. If I witness a tragedy, I feel sympathy and sadness. It’s a very unpleasant feeling in my heart."

Jiang Che thought for a moment before saying, "The World is definitely different now that I have a richer emotional life. It used to be like I was living in a dark, monochromatic painting, but now the World is filled with all sorts of colors."

"That sounds wonderful," Tang Ling remarked with a sigh. Then she asked, "So... what does love feel like?"

Jiang Che paused for a second, then narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, "Why are you asking that question?"

Tang Ling replied matter-of-factly, "Because I’m curious, of course!"

"Love is the strongest emotional driving force for humanity. There are countless movies and literary works about love. I’ve seen a lot of them, but I still can’t understand the feeling.

Many sci-fi works have plots where robots fall in love with humans. And while that’s feasible, I really want to know what that kind of feeling is like."

"I don’t know either," Jiang Che said.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Hmm..." Tang Ling fell into thought. "Then what do you feel for Zhou Chen?"

Jiang Che’s narrowed eyes suddenly turned dangerous. "There seem to be many different meanings behind your words."

’I think I’m starting to understand some of the characteristics of love...’ Tang Ling felt like she was onto something.

"I’m just asking," she said earnestly.

Jiang Che stared at her for a long moment before taking a sip of coffee and saying calmly, "I don’t dislike him. I want to spend time with him. Sometimes my mind wanders and I think about him. I feel relaxed and happy when I talk to him, and I want to share my life with him."

"Ooooh—" Tang Ling drew out the sound. "So that’s how it is."

"Any other questions?" Jiang Che asked, her face devoid of expression.

"Not for now. If I think of any, I’ll come find you—"

Before she could finish, Tang Ling suddenly froze.

At the same moment, Jiang Che also showed a look of astonishment, staring intently at Sun Cliff Mountain displayed on the screen.

The Artificial Sun, which had been extinguished for more than a dozen centuries, had actually lit up!!!

’What happened?!’

·

·

「Sun Cliff Peak.」

Zhou Chen walked out of the cave and looked at the silent, steel Sun floating at the World’s Peak. The Steel Wings on his back began to beat, and he slowly flew toward it.

The Artificial Sun was massive. At this distance, it completely filled Zhou Chen’s vision, blotting out the sky like a cold, silent planet of steel.

It was covered in a thick layer of frost. When Zhou Chen placed his palm on it, two mournful cries, incredibly clear, instantly rang in his ears. The despair they contained was bone-chilling, almost enough to devour his Soul.

After such a long time, the consciousness of these two Souls had been worn away, leaving only the instinct to pray for release and pure pain and despair.

"I’m here to set you free."

Zhou Chen lowered his gaze and swung the Hammer of Forging. In that instant, Destruction of All Things activated.

The Rule that destroyed all things descended. The two Souls within the Artificial Sun were instantly annihilated, dissipating like smoke. The wails in his ears abruptly ceased.

"Hngh..."

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded from behind Zhou Chen.

Zhou Chen’s blood ran cold. He whipped his head around to see two glowing golden Soul Bodies floating behind him.

One was incredibly tall, while the other was short, stocky, and had a magnificent beard.

Without a doubt, these were the Soul Bodies of the Dwarf King and the Giant King.

"How is this possible..." Zhou Chen said in disbelief.

"We are merely the lingering attachments left behind after our Souls were set free," the Giant King said in a deep, powerful voice, bowing his head slightly. "Thank you for helping us find release."

The Dwarf King also bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement.

’Lingering attachments...’ Zhou Chen recovered from his shock and said seriously, "I received your legacy. In a way, that makes me your disciple. It was my duty to help you find release."

The Giant King sized up Zhou Chen and nodded in satisfaction. "It is a fortunate thing that our legacy fell to you. You have the aptitude to become the King of Forging. Our skills will certainly not be lost to time."

"I hope you will carry on our skills and bring them to new heights," the Dwarf King added.

"I will."

"No, no, no. I think you’ve misunderstood. I’m talking about this."

The Dwarf King pointed at the cold, steel Sun behind Zhou Chen. "This is our ultimate creation, the one we are most proud of. It is the culmination of our life’s work. I hope you can make it shine once more—that you can ’bring it to new heights.’"

"But..." Zhou Chen was speechless for a moment. These two Forging Giants had ignited the Artificial Sun by burning themselves!

"You don’t have to burn yourself to ignite the Artificial Sun. It’s just that time was short, and we were gravely injured in that world-spanning war. We couldn’t think of a better way, so we had to throw ourselves into it. I believe you can find another way," the Dwarf King said.

"...I’ll find a chance to try." Zhou Chen did, in fact, have a way.

Making a Prayer could definitely ignite the Artificial Sun, but that would require a massive amount of prayer value. Of course, that wasn’t the only way. If all else failed, he could just take the Artificial Sun to a Satellite City and have them throw something in as fuel.

The souls of the Giant King and Dwarf King began to show signs of dissipating, growing more and more ethereal. They spoke in unison as two streams of light flew toward Zhou Chen:

"We grant you control over the Artificial Sun."

The next moment, Zhou Chen was shocked to find that he had established a Soul connection with the Artificial Sun. An Artifact description page even popped up. This thing was actually an Extraordinary Artifact!

After doing this, the souls of the Giant King and Dwarf King completely dissipated. Smiling, they turned into motes of light and returned to the mortal world, finally and completely released from their millennia-long dream.

[Quest "Release" Complete. EXP +35,000!]

["Path of the King" Quest Updated: You have helped the Dwarf King and the Giant King find release from their long, painful dream and have obtained control of the Artificial Sun.]

LV 35 → LV 39!

[Prayer Value +30,000 +30,000!]

The Prayer Value clearly came from the Dwarf King and the Giant King. This was also the first time Zhou Chen had received so much Prayer Value from individuals—their Status was high enough, and their Prayer for release was strong enough.

"I never thought the Artificial Sun could be manually controlled. The Kings of Forging of Gaia were truly worthy of their title."

The Nameless Ghost’s voice sounded, full of admiration. "Do you want to try igniting the Artificial Sun?"

"The two Kings of Forging ignited the Artificial Sun by burning themselves. Are you trying to send him to his death?" Danika advised against trying.

"Perhaps I can think of a way. To be honest, I once received some guidance from Noah, so I have some insights into the Sun Realm," the Nameless Ghost said humbly.

"Who exactly are you?" Danika asked, surprised.

"I already told you. Just a lonely, wandering ghost. I wasn’t famous at all when I was alive, so you definitely wouldn’t know me. I just happened to run into Noah by chance and received some guidance from him... He was the kind of person you couldn’t help but admire from the bottom of your heart and want to follow. You really should have met him."

"Alright, I have a way to ignite the Sun."

Zhou Chen cut them both off.

Just now, he had Eva perform a divination to calculate how much Prayer Value was needed to ignite the Artificial Sun. The answer he received was:

[40,000 Prayer Value to ignite it for one week.]

And after their release, the Dwarf King and the Giant King had provided a total of 60,000 Prayer Value.

So, he prepared to use 40,000 Prayer Value to ignite the Sun for one week.

Disasters were currently breaking out all over Gaia, and Abyssal Power was active. If he could ignite the Sun, he could effectively suppress the Abyssal Power, thereby reducing the impact of the disasters.

This was also the dying wish of the two Forging Giants.

Besides, the Gaia People were surely all hoping to see sunlight again.

If he could fulfill that wish for them, the amount of Prayer Value he would receive would far exceed what he spent.

"I make a Prayer: ignite the Artificial Sun."

Zhou Chen solemnly made his Prayer.

The Prayer Star Seeds, visible only to him, gathered into a brilliant river of stars and surged into the Artificial Sun.

And so, the miraculous creation that had lain dormant for more than a dozen centuries was awakened. A searing glimmer of fire faintly appeared on the cold, steel planet.