Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic

Dr. Schneider and his companion were headed toward Lake Schluch. By then, it was half past seven in the evening, and by the lake, numerous young men and women dressed in tuxedos and beautiful long dresses were strolling.

The mystical triple moons and stars reflected upon the lake, the sparkling waters seeming to blend with the night sky. This scene caused Shard, who had emerged from a floral path into the moonlight from the dark surroundings, to pause in awe.

In any of his lifetimes, he had never witnessed such a spectacle. Under the cool breeze of a summer night, the Outlander felt a striking impression:

He hurriedly walked through civilization, and a fleeting glimpse seemed to touch the power of nature. In this rather idealistic world, such strange feelings represented power.

"Don't you want to say something?"

He stood on a high spot away from the lake, gazing at the calm lake surface reflecting the moonlight and stars, feeling the night breeze of summer, and could only see the distant, faintly continuous mountains. This scene was truly breathtaking.

[Are you anticipating a small impression to obtain power? No, it hasn't reached that extent yet.]

"I'm quite curious, the power perceived from nature, which element does it belong to?"

[That belongs to your Enlightenment.]

As the two conversed, the Ring of Fate within the soul slightly rotated, brass-colored particles clinging to the Ring of Fate, transforming elements into spirit during the rotation, stimulating the enhancement of body and soul.

Every profound impression held meaning, even if it was an insignificant power.

[Active and deep contact with the Four Elements will elevate your spirit, refining your soul and flesh.]

As he gazed over the lake, a murmuring voice softly sighed next to his ear, as though a woman was resting her head on Shard's shoulder and whispering.

"So you're saying, theoretically speaking, even if I remain a First Ring Sorcerer, but if I can frequently contact the Four Elements, I could also use physical strength to defeat a High Ring Sorcerer?"

Shard asked, then heard the woman's laugh. It was quite pleasant; he might have misunderstood implications of laughs before, but this time, it was definitely mocking:

[Outlander, you still haven't understood the strongest aspect of the Circle Sorcerer System, the power of the Spirit Runes, you still don't grasp it.]

"What is that? How do you know?"

[My perspective is different from yours, what I see differs from what you see.]

"So, the sudden impression, is it a continuation of that luck earlier?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Shard hadn't forgotten about it yet.

[The outcome of Fate's dice will clearly present itself before you; all you need is to patiently wait.]

The woman giggled:

[I thought you had noticed it already, do you remember what I told you when I made you cast the dice?]

Shard pondered then repeated while looking at the lake with hands behind his back:

"'Through my vision, I saw something intriguing for you.'"

[Yes, in that moment, I saw someone using the means of Fate to kill you.]

"Who is it? Oh, it must be the Blood of Mercury, is this what Dwarf Rat Peter meant by using a Keeper of Secrets Level Relic for a failed revenge? What did you do? Can you influence reality?"

He was somewhat surprised.

[Of course, I can't influence the world. But you are outside of Fate, I merely used your peculiar fate with the power of that dice for retaliation; you can consider this as my unique power, born from your strength. Currently, the power I hold is limited to this, it's what makes you unique.]

"So you're saying, you can help me resist all attacks from Fate?"

Shard furrowed his brow, curious if the other party had any other abilities.

"The other me" possessing some special abilities wasn't very strange, although these special abilities were generally very weak and not worth mentioning, serving as passive acceptance by "the other me" as the other side of the soul after becoming a Circle Sorcerer, deriving from the elements and Spirit Queen and resulting in a "paranormal ability."

However, the power displayed by Shard's "other me" was indeed astonishing.

[Your strength is merely strength; it still needs a tool, like that dice.]

Shard nodded slightly and sighed deeply, still worried about someone wanting to kill him. His eyes noticed the distant boat on the lake swaying gently, but he couldn't see the people on it or know what was happening.

But he had no mind to care about that:

"Is tonight's good luck because of this? But it's still unclear."

"Then just wait. The person intending to kill you will eventually appear before you. It's destined by the dice."

"How can I believe you are really me like this?"

"But this power truly originates from you. Soon, you'll understand that I am with you."

Walking along the path by the lake in the rear garden of Lakeside Manor, he saw no sign of Dr. Schneider. Giving up the search and thinking of heading back to the front courtyard of the manor, perhaps his good luck was still at play, thus he spotted Priest Augustus in the maze made of garden hedges.

The priest wore a white robe with a pendant of the Holy Emblem of "Mr. Dawn" hanging on his chest, which was clearly the attire of clergy members.

When Shard saw him, Old Cleric was talking to an old gentleman who leaned on a cane. The old gentleman wore a somewhat outdated brown suit, and the large gold ring on his finger caught Shard's gaze for several seconds.

Not wanting others to know that he was acquainted with Priest Augustus, Shard did not approach rashly. Instead, he walked past them as if by coincidence, allowing Priest Augustus to discover him on his own.

Ten minutes later, standing underneath the statue of a knight on a horse brandishing a longsword, Shard successfully waited for the priest to approach.

"Mr. Hamilton, what are you doing here?"

Priest Augustus was surprised; he walked over briskly, his agile demeanor belying his age.

"It's complicated to explain, but simply put, it's regarding the Roder Card...that's not important; I just saw Dr. Schneider."

He immediately switched to business matters.

"What, Bill is here too?"

Old Cleric moved closer, allowing the circle of candles placed under the statue to illuminate them both. The cool night breeze of this summer's night made the candlelight flicker. The wind rustled through the grass of the garden, producing a rustling sound. It was not quite the peak of summer, so the chirping of cicadas was absent, making for a very serene night. Find adventures on empire

"You didn't know?"

Shard was even more surprised than Priest Augustus:

"Just now, I also saw two squads of Circle Sorcerers from the True God Church. I didn't recognize one squad, but the other was from the Church of War and Peace."

He briefly described the first squad of sorcerers. Priest Augustus immediately realized that it was a squad under the "Sun and Earth Church," affiliated with the True God "Lantern Bearer." This also reminded Shard; he vaguely remembered the shop owner in Purple Iris Alley mentioning the identity of that young lady with brown hair.

"What is going on? Is something about to happen at Lakeside Manor?"

Priest Augustus asked with some disquiet, looking up with Shard toward the grand mansion of Lakeside Manor, though nothing was happening at the moment.

"Probably something's about to happen. Just now, I even saw Mr. Lawrence and his mistress, Lady Lassoya."

Shard added, thinking this was key, and thus suspecting that encountering so many acquaintance was also a part of his inexplicable good luck this evening.

Sure enough, mentioning the right "keywords" gathered new information from Priest Augustus, who then had a realization:

"I see, now I understand. Mr. Hamilton, although I am not a sorcerer of the church, I can receive some news about the actions of the church's sorcerers. You mentioned Mrs. Lawrence's intentions yesterday at the study group. Last night, I went to see the doctor, and he mentioned this matter to me.

Can you guess which sorcerer Mrs. Lawrence found to help her?"

The old man asked. Shard thought for a moment, incredulously:

"She went to the True God Church?"

"Yes."

Priest Augustus nodded:

"A noble lady you once worked for met at a tea party, having experienced a mysterious event, thus she knew of the church's power. She introduced Mrs. Lawrence to the church. That somewhat reckless lady, without confirming whether Lassoya truly had any Circle Sorcerer background, directly reported her information to the church. It's probably akin to a false report; Mrs. Lawrence just wanted revenge...

Afterward, Lassoya's details were thoroughly investigated, and indeed, he was a member of 'Blood of Mercury', and moreover, the church has been looking for him for a long time."

"Lady Lassoya is a man?"

Even though he had suspected this, Shard couldn't help but be astounded.