Chapter 611: A Tale of the Forsaken Land - The King of Humans Doesn't Know the Human Heart
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 611: A Tale of the Forsaken Land - The King of Humans Doesn't Know the Human Heart
Those who lived in the shade of the World Tree each had at least one contingency plan for a fall. It was all too common to lose one’s footing due to rain, wind, or the shock of an impact.
Maximilien was no different. He spread his cloak like a pair of wings. It didn’t flap like a bird’s, but the spinning saw blades within it pushed against the air, lifting him. Maximilien could glide through the sky more gracefully than any bird.
With his back to the ground, Maximilien gazed up at the heavens. He watched the flame disappear into the distant sky and murmured, his eyes filled with envy.
“It wasn't a Divine. The world hasn't been overturned.”
Maximilien observed the tiny, intricate gears meshing within his chest. The mechanism, a construct of logic built from gears interlocking without a millimeter of error, continued to wind its spring at a steady rhythm.
The World-Distortion Detection Gear. A device that did exactly as its name suggested. Maximilien’s masterpiece, it was so sturdily constructed that no physical shock could misalign it, yet so exquisitely precise that it could detect even the slightest change in the world’s principles.
When Maximilien had faced the Golden Lord in the Fallen Dominion, the sound of the gears had changed. The Golden Lord’s mere presence had altered the properties of matter.
When he had entered the Abyss, the gears had spun uselessly. In the Abyss, a space borrowed from the very fabric of the land, the gaps between the gears had widened, preventing them from meshing.
And when he had approached the Mage Federation’s Floating Castle, the gears’ rotational period had shifted minutely.
Anyone could break a gear, but only a Divine could alter the structure of its logic. Ever since deciding to become a Divine himself, Maximilien had carried it with him at all times.
That was how he knew the power that had incinerated the World Tree was not a Divine itself.
“But that flame… it’s unlike any I’ve ever known! A power originating from a Divine I am not aware of!”
And so, he intuitively understood that this immense, incomprehensible power must have originated from a Divine unknown to him.
It had burned, devouring even the ashes, emitting a sparkling smoke, and instead of settling, it had vanished into the far-off sky. A sharp, dizzying scent lingered on the air instead of an unpleasant, burnt smell. It was as if the flame had not originated from this land at all.
The stellar flames were so powerful and mysterious that even Maximilien could recognize how different they were from any ordinary fire.
This was the kind of special power only a Divine could create.
“My gears…”
They could not reach it.
His gears were insanely useful, but they could not defy the world’s underlying principles. They were nothing more than tools, assembled by intricately combining banal, classical devices.
As the King of Humans had said, a gear could never be more than a tool.
“It seems I cannot become a Divine…”
The difference was so vast it was despairing. A gap that could never be closed.
Having hit a wall, Maximilien covered his face and let out a hollow laugh. The sound echoed lonelily in the empty air, heard by no one.
“Thanks to this, my task has become clear! Good! The gears need only move in one direction!”
His goal was not to become a Divine. He had simply wanted to blanket the entire world in the logic of gears. The Military State was a masterpiece born from his genius inspiration and unlimited support, but it was still a far cry from his ideal.
For that ideal, he had approached the Tree of Corruption, met Nevida, and joined The Human Regime.
“Everything, for the King of Humans.”
His gaze shifted downward, toward a large lotus flower that was gently descending, scattering beautiful petals as it fell.
The lotus landed on the ground as lightly as if it were settling on the surface of water. Not a single sound was made; it looked less like it had fallen and more like it had just bloomed.
Twitch. Twitch. The lotus squirmed as if the space was too cramped. After swaying back and forth for a moment, it finally figured out how to open its petals. One by one, it unfurled its closed petals like fingers, revealing the interior it had kept hidden.
The sky, where even the clouds had been set ablaze by the divine flame, now let in the clear sunlight. Welcoming it, the being sleeping inside the lotus stretched.
“Haaam…”
With a yawn as light as the pleasant weather, the being stood gracefully on the ground.
Long, gray hair cascaded down to her waist, covering her breasts. Her long, slender limbs were so healthy they bordered on feral. Though she wore not a single stitch of clothing, she showed no sign of shame as she slowly gripped the earth with her feet.
She was a beast. It was only natural for a beast to stand on the ground.
It was not a special occasion, nor was it a momentous event.
But this single step she took would change the course of humanity forever.
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
The King of Humans, awakened from a long slumber, offered a light greeting to the world. And the world, in turn, welcomed her greeting with a gentle breeze, rustling leaves, dew that flowed over her skin, and light that bathed her body.
Like a newborn child, like an old woman awakened from a long sleep, she looked around with curious eyes before glancing down at her own body.
A naked form, without a single thread. Convention would scold her, but aesthetics would gasp in admiration. She herself, however, couldn't care less whether she was clothed or not.
“Oh, right. They said I should wear clothes.”
Since the majority of humans wore clothes, she decided she would wear them too.
The moment she made that decision, wild grass began to grow. Druidism—the enlightenment that comes from understanding the structure and origin of plants and controlling their flow. With that enlightenment, she made cotton plants sprout. The cotton grew rapidly, instantly blooming with white bolls and bearing fruit before snapping off and falling to the ground.
The seeds within the cotton crumbled, leaving only pure white fluff. A crackling Lightning Spool seeped into every fiber. The tangled threads straightened as if combed, forming bundles that twisted around each other like snakes to become yarn.
The King of Humans moved her hands. Warp and weft intertwined to create cloth. It traced her body, wrapping around her before stopping where it needed to be. She cut the fabric with her fingers, and the scraps fell to the floor. The cloth transformed into a complete garment, earning the honor of enveloping the King of Humans.
—This entire process took less than a minute.
As if rapidly replaying the history of human civilization, the King of Humans, now dressed in clothes created from nothing, casually tied her hair to one side. Having moved it out of her way, she looked at the unfamiliar visitor.
“They say it’s rude to watch someone getting dressed. Everyone said so.”
“Haha. So you possess such common sense, O King of Humans!”
Maximilien emerged from the shadow of a tree. He had been waiting, neither hiding his presence nor revealing it, and now he stood before the King of Humans with a remarkably clear expression. The King of Humans tilted her head and replied.
“Of course. It’s ‘common sense,’ isn’t it?”
“No, King of Humans. For you, ‘common sense’ is not the same as it is for others, is it?”
Maximilien clutched the hem of his clothes.
“King of Humans. You do not wear clothes out of need. Nor does the world have the power to force you to wear them. Yet you do. It must be because clothing has already become an inseparable concept for humanity.”
“Yes. You can’t live without wearing clothes, can you?”
The King of Humans offered a perfectly sensible remark and smiled brightly at Maximilien.
“Unlike your gears, Maximilien.”
She spoke as if she had seen right through his thoughts.
There was no need for debate. Clothes were already a part of humanity. The diverse humans born across the continent each created something to wear. Without anyone teaching them, they naturally converged on that outcome.
Gears, however, were merely one way of interpreting the world, and they were a long way from becoming a part of humanity.
That was why the King of Humans wore clothes, but not gears.
“However, King of Humans. Even if my enlightenment cannot reach the level of a Divine, even if it cannot become universal…”
But, conversely, if the King of Humans were to use gears…
And if their use were to spread from the King of Humans to all of humanity…
The converse of a statement is not always true, but humans sometimes mistakenly believe it is. And if all humans share that misconception, it ceases to be a misconception.
The King of Humans and humanity were in such a relationship.
“If you use my gears, then all humans will use them as well.”
Even though Maximilien had created the toy of the century in the Military State and was content with a structured nation that moved according to the logic of gears, he had still thrown himself into The Human Regime as if possessed, all to find the King of Humans.
It was all for this moment.
“Use my gears. For my sake.”
All the gears orbiting his body aligned. Click, clack. The sound of them meshing was suddenly swallowed and silenced.
All 918,000 gears, large and small, were connected.
The principle of a gear is relatively simple, and it doesn't take many to perform a specific function. In fact, more gears lead to greater inefficiency from friction and wear. A number like 918,000 was beyond unrealistic; it was in the realm of absurdity.
However, Maximilien had connected all that power into one, even if it meant achieving the pinnacle of inefficiency.
Maximilien’s Unique Magic, Gear Maiden. The ability to rotate the gears themselves according to his will.
To turn a single gear and move a structure of 918,000, how much formidable power would be required? It was impossible to fathom. Even the hardest gear would break and wear down.
But, conversely…
If, through a special Unique Magic, he could move all 918,000 gears at once…
And concentrate all that power into a single gear…
If, for just one moment, he could withstand the shock and implant it into the King of Humans…
Maximilien’s wish would be granted.
“Full gear assembly.”
Having absorbed all the gears, Maximilien looked like a giant. With a creaking sound, his body began to rev violently. The air trapped between the gears burst out, creating strange explosions.
Every rotation, inside and out, converged on one hand. A torrent of power, created by layering dozens of gears, was focused into a single fist.
The gears of his entire body groaned. The immense force was causing the gears themselves to wear down. The gears composing Maximilien’s body were made of the highest quality alchemic steel, but they were crumbling and abrading under the pressure of the logic built from layers upon layers of gears.
This was a power that no living creature who feared death could ever produce, a power that surpassed its own limits according to logic. It gathered in the single gear attached to Maximilien’s right fist.
“This is the Sun Gear. Now, try and take this!”
It could hardly be called a rotation anymore. The incredible speed heated the atmosphere, creating flames. It was as if it had become the wheel of a sun chariot.
A colossal power, the likes of which would be hard to find anywhere in the world, was shot toward the King of Humans, who watched him with eyes full of curiosity.