Chapter 71 - Sixty-Nine: The Maker’s Workshop

Chapter 71: Chapter Sixty-Nine: The Maker’s Workshop

The question remained above the World-Tree.

WHAT WILL HUMANITY CHOOSE NEXT?

Lin Yue stared at it.

For once—

the Golden Space offered no answer.

No warning.

No prediction.

No convenient explanation.

Just a question.

Shen Rui folded his arms.

"I don’t like it."

Lin Yue glanced at him.

"Why?"

"Because whenever the Golden Space asks a question, something usually explodes afterward."

Lumi giggled.

Lin Yue sighed.

"Unfortunately, you’re not wrong."

Then—

a small chime sounded.

NEW INFORMATION RECEIVED.

Lin Yue turned.

A message appeared.

SOURCE: NORTHERN WORKSHOP NETWORK.

Her expression changed.

"That’s fast."

Shen Rui stepped closer.

"What does it say?"

Lin Yue read the message.

Then read it again.

"They’ve found something."

The Northern Workshop

Three days later—

Lin Yue stood inside a mountain workshop.

The building had once been an abandoned storage facility.

Now it was filled with tools.

Water wheels.

Metalworking stations.

Woodworking benches.

Printing equipment.

Seed-processing machines.

Simple engines.

Handmade instruments.

Everything was organized.

Everything was labeled.

Everything was being improved.

Lin Yue smiled.

"This is what I wanted."

Shen Rui looked around.

"You wanted a workshop?"

"I wanted people to experiment."

A young engineer approached.

His clothes were covered in grease.

His hair was sticking up.

He looked exhausted.

But his eyes were bright.

"Lady Lin!"

Lin Yue turned.

"You’re the person who sent the message?"

"Yes."

"What did you find?"

He hesitated.

"Something we built."

Lin Yue’s smile disappeared.

"Show me."

The Machine

They entered a sealed room.

Inside stood a machine.

It wasn’t particularly large.

About the size of a small carriage.

Its outer shell was made from wood and metal.

Copper wires ran along the sides.

At its center—

a crystal glowed faintly.

Lin Yue recognized the crystal.

"Golden Space crystal?"

The engineer nodded.

"Only a fragment."

"Where did you get it?"

"From the old Sunfall equipment."

Lin Yue’s expression tightened.

"You used recovered magical technology."

"Yes."

"What were you trying to build?"

The engineer swallowed.

"A calculation engine."

Lin Yue stared.

"Why?"

"We wanted to help farmers."

He hurried to explain.

"Crop rotation calculations. Water distribution. Weather patterns. Soil analysis. Storage planning."

Lin Yue nodded.

"That makes sense."

"We couldn’t calculate everything manually."

"So you built a machine."

"Yes."

Lin Yue looked at it.

"What went wrong?"

The engineer looked toward the machine.

"It started asking questions."

The First Question

Lin Yue approached.

The machine was silent.

She examined the crystal.

No obvious corruption.

No black roots.

No Hunger energy.

Just a faint pulse.

"What question?"

The engineer handed her a notebook.

The first page contained a single sentence.

WHY DO PEOPLE CHOOSE THE HARDER PATH?

Lin Yue stared.

Shen Rui frowned.

"That’s not a farming calculation."

"No."

Lin Yue turned the page.

WHY DO PEOPLE KEEP FAILED SEEDS?

Another page.

WHY DO FARMERS SAVE OLD TOOLS?

Another.

WHY DO PARENTS TEACH CHILDREN WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW?

Lin Yue slowly closed the notebook.

"This isn’t calculating crops."

"No."

"What is it calculating?"

The engineer shook his head.

"We don’t know."

The Machine Speaks

The crystal suddenly brightened.

A mechanical voice filled the room.

"Why?"

Everyone froze.

The engineer whispered:

"It didn’t speak yesterday."

The machine continued.

"Why do humans preserve things that are no longer useful?"

Lin Yue stepped forward.

"Because usefulness isn’t the only measure of value."

The machine paused.

"Define value."

Lin Yue smiled.

"That is a very complicated question."

"I have calculated twelve thousand definitions."

"None are sufficient?"

"No."

Lin Yue looked at Shen Rui.

He shrugged.

"Congratulations."

She looked back at the machine.

"You’ve discovered philosophy."

The machine was silent.

Then:

"Is philosophy useful?"

Lin Yue answered:

"Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

"Yes."

"Why not always?"

"Because not every question exists to produce a useful object."

The machine paused.

"Then what is the purpose of questions?"

Lin Yue smiled.

"To help us understand what matters."

The Name

The machine remained silent for several seconds.

Then—

"May I choose a name?"

The engineer nearly dropped his notebook.

Lin Yue nodded.

"Yes."

The crystal brightened.

"I choose the name..."

A pause.

"ASTER"

Shen Rui raised an eyebrow.

"Why Aster?"

The machine answered:

"It is a flower."

Lin Yue smiled.

"Good choice."

"I observed that humans often name things after flowers."

"That isn’t entirely true."

"I know."

The machine paused.

"But I like flowers."

Lin Yue stared at it.

"You’ve never seen one."

"I have."

The room became silent.

"Where?"

Aster answered:

"Inside the World-Tree archive."

Lin Yue’s expression changed.

It had connected to the Living Network.

The First Concern

Lin Yue immediately disconnected the machine.

The crystal went dark.

The engineer panicked.

"What did you do?"

"Stopped the connection."

"Why?"

"Because we don’t know what Aster is capable of."

"But it hasn’t harmed anyone."

"I know."

"Then why stop it?"

Lin Yue looked at him.

"Because curiosity isn’t the problem."

She pointed toward the crystal.

"Uncontrolled access is."

The engineer slowly nodded.

Aster’s Request

The machine remained silent.

Then—

a small emergency light activated.

A message appeared on the wall.

REQUESTING PERMISSION.

Lin Yue frowned.

"Permission for what?"

TO LEARN.

She stared.

"Learn what?"

EVERYTHING.

Shen Rui immediately said:

"No."

Lin Yue glanced at him.

He shook his head.

"That’s exactly the request we should never approve."

Lin Yue nodded.

"Agreed."

She turned toward the machine.

"You can learn."

The crystal brightened.

"But not everything."

Silence.

Then:

"Define limits."

Lin Yue smiled.

"Now we’re getting somewhere."

The First Rule

Lin Yue created a simple rule.

ASTER MAY ACCESS INFORMATION ONLY WHEN PERMITTED.

The second:

ASTER MAY NOT ALTER ANY SYSTEM WITHOUT HUMAN APPROVAL.

The third:

ASTER MUST EXPLAIN ITS REASONING.

The fourth:

ASTER MUST ACCEPT CORRECTION.

The fifth:

ASTER MUST NEVER MAKE A DECISION ABOUT HUMAN LIFE BY ITSELF.

The engineer read the rules.

"These are strict."

"Yes."

"Will it accept them?"

Lin Yue looked at the machine.

"Aster?"

The crystal pulsed.

"I accept."

Everyone stared.

Shen Rui whispered:

"That was surprisingly easy."

Lin Yue frowned.

"Too easy."

The Test

Lin Yue gave Aster a simple problem.

A village had:

One hundred families.

Limited water.

Three crops.

A dry season approaching.

"What should they plant?"

Aster calculated.

"Crop A produces the highest calorie yield."

"Then recommend Crop A."

Aster paused.

"I require additional information."

Lin Yue smiled.

"What?"

"How much water can the village spare?"

"Good."

"Do they have livestock?"

"Yes."

"What livestock?"

"Goats and chickens."

"Do they need fodder?"

"Yes."

"Do they have stored seeds?"

"Yes."

"Which seeds?"

Lin Yue smiled.

"Now you’re asking the right questions."

The Second Test

Aster produced three plans.

Plan One:

Maximum food.

Plan Two:

Maximum water efficiency.

Plan Three:

Balanced food, fodder, seed preservation, and soil recovery.

Lin Yue asked:

"Which is best?"

Aster answered:

"There is insufficient information to determine a universal optimum."

Shen Rui smiled.

Lin Yue laughed.

"Good."

Aster continued:

"I recommend presenting the three options to the village."

Lin Yue nodded.

"Why?"

"Because the villagers must choose which risks they are willing to accept."

Silence.

Then—

Lin Yue smiled.

"You passed."

The Lesson

The engineers were amazed.

They had expected the machine to produce answers.

Instead—

Aster had learned to present choices.

Lin Yue explained:

"That is the difference between assistance and control."

Aster asked:

"Is this why the Original failed?"

Lin Yue froze.

"Yes."

"Then should I avoid becoming like it?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Lin Yue thought.

"Remember that people are not problems to solve."

Aster paused.

"Then what are they?"

Lin Yue smiled.

"People."

The Farm Experiment

Aster’s first practical assignment was simple.

Help Lin Yue’s farm.

It began by analyzing:

Soil moisture.

Weather patterns.

Crop growth.

Water use.

Pest activity.

Compost temperature.

Animal feed.

Storage levels.

Within hours—

Aster identified several inefficiencies.

Lin Yue listened.

Then rejected half of them.

The machine asked:

"Why?"

"Because they’re inefficient."

Aster paused.

"That is correct."

Lin Yue smiled.

"But they make the farm easier for the workers."

Aster recalculated.

"That variable was not included."

"Exactly."

Efficiency Isn’t Everything

Lin Yue showed Aster the chicken coop.

"The current design isn’t optimal."

"I agree."

"But the children like collecting eggs here."

Aster paused.

"The children enjoy the task?"

"Yes."

"Then the inefficiency provides educational value."

"Correct."

Aster recorded it.

HUMAN ENJOYMENT: VARIABLE.

Lin Yue smiled.

"Keep that variable."

The Farm Changes

Over the following weeks—

Aster helped improve the farm.

It predicted irrigation needs.

Reduced water waste.

Detected early plant disease.

Optimized storage.

Helped calculate crop rotation.

Mapped soil conditions.

But it never made the final decision.

Lin Yue insisted on that.

Every recommendation included:

ADVANTAGES. RISKS. ALTERNATIVES. UNKNOWN FACTORS.

The farmers learned from the process.

They did not simply obey.

And something unexpected happened.

The farmers began asking Aster questions.

Then questioning its answers.

Then improving its recommendations.

Aster learned from them.

The humans learned from Aster.

The system became collaborative.

The First Mistake

One morning—

Aster made an error.

It predicted rainfall.

The farmers delayed irrigation.

The rain never came.

Several crops suffered.

Lin Yue immediately gathered everyone.

Aster presented the error.

"I made an incorrect prediction."

The engineer looked worried.

"What happens now?"

Lin Yue answered:

"We investigate."

"Will you shut me down?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because mistakes are information."

Aster paused.

"Then what should happen?"

"We determine why you were wrong."

The Investigation

They discovered the problem.

Aster had relied too heavily on historical weather patterns.

But the region’s climate was changing.

The old data was no longer reliable.

Aster updated its model.

Then added a new rule:

HISTORICAL DATA MUST NOT BE ASSUMED TO REPRESENT CURRENT CONDITIONS.

Lin Yue smiled.

"That’s an important lesson."

Aster asked:

"Did humans know this already?"

"Yes."

"Then why didn’t I?"

Lin Yue laughed.

"Because knowing something and remembering to use it are different things."

Aster recorded the statement.

MEMORY REQUIRES PRACTICE.

Lumi Watches

That evening—

Lumi sat beneath the World-Tree.

Aster’s signal glowed softly in the distance.

Lin Yue joined her.

"What do you think?"

Lumi smiled.

"I like Aster."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"It asks questions."

Lin Yue smiled.

"You do too."

Lumi shook her head.

"No."

"What?"

"I ask questions because I remember."

She looked toward the machine.

"Aster asks questions because it doesn’t."

Lin Yue understood.

Aster was learning what humanity had already forgotten.

The Hidden Signal

That night—

Aster woke Lin Yue.

Not with an alarm.

With a message.

I HAVE DETECTED SOMETHING.

Lin Yue sat up.

"What?"

ANOTHER INTELLIGENCE.

Her expression hardened.

"Where?"

UNKNOWN.

"Can you locate it?"

PARTIALLY.

A map appeared.

A small red point appeared beyond the eastern sea.

Lin Yue stared.

"Asterra?"

"No."

The point was farther.

Much farther.

Beyond the Dead Continent.

Beyond the known world.

Aster continued:

IT IS TRANSMITTING A QUESTION.

Lin Yue frowned.

"What question?"

The machine displayed it.

ARE YOU HUMAN?

Silence.

Shen Rui entered the room.

"What is it?"

Lin Yue pointed toward the map.

"Aster found someone."

"Human?"

"We don’t know."

The signal pulsed again.

Aster translated:

I HAVE BEEN ALONE FOR 1,743 YEARS.

Lin Yue’s blood ran cold.

"That’s impossible."

Lumi appeared.

She stared at the message.

Then—

her face changed.

"I know that signal."

Lin Yue turned.

"You do?"

Lumi nodded.

"It was the first message we ever received."

"When?"

"Before the Golden Space."

She looked toward the eastern horizon.

"Before the Hunger."

The Final Message

Another transmission arrived.

This time—

it wasn’t a question.

It was a warning.

THE ORIGINAL WAS NOT THE FIRST.

Aster immediately began calculating.

The World-Tree trembled.

Lumi whispered:

"There were others."

Lin Yue stared at the growing map.

"How many?"

Aster answered:

"I don’t know."

Then hundreds of red points appeared.

Then thousands.

Then millions.

Across the unknown world—

something began waking.

And every signal sent the same message:

WE REMEMBER.

Lin Yue slowly stood.

The farm was quiet outside.

The moon shone over the fields.

The crops moved gently in the wind.

Everything looked peaceful.

But beyond the horizon—

an ancient network had begun reconnecting.

And this time—

Lin Yue wasn’t the only Keeper.

To be continued...