Chapter 322: The Last of the Automatons.

Meanwhile, back at the Spectre Guild headquarters, on the highest floor of the building, within the same luxurious office Nora had occupied earlier, Kael was currently seated on a comfortable sofa.

His Spectre X Nano Armor had already been deactivated, leaving him dressed in the same casual clothes he’d worn when he first arrived at the Guild.

Across from him sat Nora. The red-haired woman maintained an elegant posture, her expression composed as she watched him. But unlike her calm exterior, Kael was having a rather difficult time processing everything that had happened.

"..."

He leaned back against the sofa and slowly rubbed his forehead, wondering what the hell was going on.

Honestly, he still couldn’t quite believe the situation he’d somehow found himself in. He had come to the Spectre Guild for a very simple reason, just to collect his repaired Nano Bracelet.

That was it.

But things had started going downhill the moment this strange red-haired woman suddenly entered the testing chamber.

At first, Kael hadn’t thought much of it. After all, they were inside the Spectre Guild’s headquarters, so it wasn’t particularly strange for someone else to walk into the facility. However, what happened next was what completely caught him off guard. The woman had approached him, dropped to her knees, and addressed him as the Great One.

The Great One!

Kael could still remember how confused he’d felt. For a moment, he’d genuinely wondered whether the woman was mentally unstable, after all, who in their right mind would suddenly kneel before a complete stranger and address them with such an outrageous title?

If Evelyn hadn’t immediately identified the woman as the Guild Master of the Spectre Guild, Kael might have assumed she was simply some eccentric individual who’d wandered into the testing chamber by mistake.

But apparently, that wasn’t the case. The woman was Nora, and she was the actual Guild Master of the Spectre Guild. And for some reason, she’d decided that Kael was someone worthy of kneeling before.

Naturally, Kael had demanded an explanation, and fortunately, Nora had seemed more than willing to provide one. However, given the nature of what she wanted to discuss, she’d suggested moving somewhere more private, and that was how Kael had ended up in her office.

Luckily, Nora had begun explaining herself shortly after. Though, after listening to her explanation, Kael found himself with even more questions than before. Now, after spending quite some time processing everything he’d heard, he finally broke the silence.

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat, and Nora immediately straightened slightly.

"Yes, Great One?"

Kael’s lips twitched. There it is again. He still wasn’t accustomed to that title, but he couldn’t be bothered to correct her now. He decided to let it go for the time being, there were far more important things to discuss.

"So..." Kael leaned forward slightly. "Let me see if I’ve understood everything correctly."

Nora nodded. "Of course."

Kael looked directly at her. "You’re saying that you and your sister belong to a race called the Automatons."

"That’s correct."

"And your race was almost completely wiped out by some extremely powerful civilization."

Nora’s expression dimmed slightly. "...Yes."

Kael continued. "Apparently, you and your sister were among the only survivors because your mother sent you away before the destruction happened."

Nora nodded again. "That’s right."

Kael paused, then gestured toward himself. "And now you want me to help you take revenge against the civilization responsible for destroying your race?"

Nora met his gaze. "Yes, Great One."

Kael stared at her. "..."

For several seconds, neither of them spoke. Then Kael slowly leaned back against the sofa, rubbing his forehead again. What kind of situation is this?

So apparently, he’d somehow become entangled in the affairs of an ancient race nearly exterminated by some powerful civilization, and now its surviving members wanted him to help avenge them. Kael couldn’t help wondering if he’d accidentally wandered into someone else’s storyline.

After a moment, he looked toward Nora again.

"Alright." His expression grew more serious. "There’s something I don’t understand."

Nora nodded. "Please ask."

Kael spread his hands.

"What makes you think I can actually do something like that?" He paused. "From what you’ve told me, the civilization responsible for destroying your race is incredibly powerful."

Nora remained silent.

"And if they were capable of almost completely wiping out an entire race, then I seriously doubt they’re the kind of enemy someone can casually deal with." Kael looked at her. "So why me?"

He gestured toward himself again.

"What exactly makes you so confident I can help you defeat them?"

Nora answered without hesitation. "Because Mother predicted that you would."

Kael froze. "..."

He stared at her, and Nora stared back. A few seconds passed, then Kael slowly raised a hand to his forehead.

Here we go again.

Every time he asked Nora why she believed something, her answer inevitably circled back to the same person, her mother.

According to Nora, her mother had been the leader of the Automaton race, but that wasn’t all, she had also been the very first Automaton ever created. The original existence from which their entire race had developed. And apparently, she’d possessed abilities extraordinary even by the standards of her own people, among them, an almost incomprehensible level of computational power.

Or, as Nora preferred to describe it, an unparalleled calculative mind. But the more Nora explained, the more Kael realized that calling her mother’s abilities "extraordinary" was probably an understatement.

According to Nora, her mother’s calculations had been so advanced they were practically indistinguishable from prophecy. By gathering and processing enormous amounts of information, she could supposedly predict events with an accuracy ordinary people would find impossible to comprehend.

Her calculations weren’t based on magical divination or some mysterious prophetic gift, they were the result of an intellect capable of analyzing countless possibilities and determining the most likely outcomes among them.

And apparently, those calculations had been accurate enough for her to foresee the destruction of the Automaton race.

Kael still found that part rather difficult to believe. After all, predicting the fall of an entire civilization wasn’t something any ordinary mind, however brilliant, should have been capable of.

But according to Nora, that was precisely what had happened. Her mother had foreseen the approaching disaster and understood that their enemies were too powerful to confront directly. After calculating the possible outcomes, she’d apparently concluded that the Automaton race had almost no chance of surviving the coming conflict.

At least, not through their own strength alone.

That was why she’d sent Nora and her younger sister away before the destruction occurred, entrusting them with one final mission, they were to travel to this world.

And once they arrived, they were to search for a particular individual, someone who, according to her calculations, possessed the potential to help them accomplish what they could never achieve alone.

Someone capable of helping them avenge their fallen race.

And more importantly, someone who could eventually help restore the Automatons to their former glory.

Apparently, that person was him.