Chapter 570: Vestiges of Memory (3)

The personal equipment used by Gileon, Kaiser’s close aide, known as Deadrise.

Why was such an item discarded here, covered in Kaiser’s blood?

Lennok, who had drawn the Iron-Plated Wings over with mana threads, cautiously examined it and tilted his head.

“Only one wing. So, the other one…”

According to Purity’s own testimony, who participated in the operation at the time, the stabilization research in the actual past had concluded without any major issues.

This implied that Purity and his comrades at the time had also not experienced combat.

Therefore, it was unlikely that Gileon’s wing fell here due to combat or other external factors.

“Hmph.”

The little fox spirit hopped down from Lennok’s arms and sniffed at the Iron-Plated Wing.

Davi, who had been pondering for a long time, wagging her lush four tails, lifted her head and spoke.

“It’s hard to tell because of the smell of blood, but the internal mana circuits and synchronization components are all broken. They’re completely crushed; it’ll take time just to deduce their function.”

Although the Iron-Plated Wing looked dusty and old, its original form was intact enough for Lennok to immediately recognize it.

Frankly, the fact that the equipment’s form remained even after decades was proof of its incredible durability.

Yet, what did it mean that the wing’s internal structure was completely ruined beyond repair?

Lennok soon deduced the answer.

“…It’s due to the Exposure Phenomenon.”

Lennok muttered, gazing at the location where the stabilization device would have originally been.

“Because the experiment ended ambiguously, a Dissociation Phenomenon of spacetime occurred, and in that process, mana particles were exposed, sweeping through the power plant’s core.”

That’s why the Iron-Plated Wing’s form itself wasn’t destroyed, but rather, the internal circuits and components that directly handled mana were all exposed and broken.

This also explained why Gileon abandoned this wing here and left, and why it was so heavily stained with Kaiser’s blood.

“Did he expend the wing to protect Kaiser, who was standing in front of the stabilization device, and then abandon it knowing it couldn’t be repaired…?”

“Exposure to mana particles is fatal to organic beings. Given the circumstances, that seems to be the case.”

In actual history, did Kaiser also suffer severe injuries from the recoil during the stabilization research?

If so, one could infer why Gileon left so hastily, abandoning the wing.

Ignoring Davi, who quickly climbed onto his head, Lennok remained lost in thought.

“If he realized there was no hope and abandoned the wing the moment he was caught in the Exposure Phenomenon, he must have torn it off right where he protected Kaiser. In that case, Kaiser’s position would have been…”

Around the location where the Iron-Plated Wing was first found.

Lennok began tearing away the melted cement and steel frame debris from that area.

Crumble!

Amidst the dust-billowing debris, Lennok frowned and motioned with his hand, blowing it all out of the power plant’s core.

The bare floor of the power plant’s core was visible through faint traces of paint.

Lennok found a bloodstain beneath it, extending from the Iron-Plated Wing, and slowly ran his finger over it.

“The bloodstain is in much better condition than the one on the Iron-Plated Wing, which was directly exposed to the phenomenon. This should be enough.”

“What are you going to do with it?”

Davi, perched on his head with her front paws stretched out, tilted her head.

“Given that decades have passed, there’s not much you can do with just Kaiser’s bloodstain.”

“True. But what if it’s Kaiser’s own spell?”

Saying so, Lennok took out Kaiser’s pocket watch from inside his coat and pulled the second hand.

Creak…!!

The moment he carefully applied the bloodstain to the vertically aligned second hand inside the pocket watch.

The bloodstain, leaving Lennok’s fingertip, transformed into a droplet of blood and began flying out of the pocket watch, heading somewhere.

It was the result of applying a reversal spell to Kaiser’s bloodstain. It would most likely head to the place in this sector where his traces remained strongest.

“Ooh?”

Davi’s eyes widened in wonder as she jumped off Lennok’s head and disappeared, chasing the fluttering blood droplet.

Lennok chuckled, stood up, and was about to follow with his staff when, at that very moment.

Click!

He noticed the slowly moving second hand of the pocket watch had completely stopped, and his expression slightly hardened.

‘Has the power already run out?’

Considering the pocket watch’s abilities, he had anticipated that acquiring the activation conditions or necessary power would be difficult.

However, since he couldn’t immediately study the artifact’s structure, he had simply tried to discover the conditions by using it directly.

He hadn’t expected it to stop working after only two uses.

‘Spells that manipulate time seem much more demanding and complex than those that manipulate space. Considering the relativity of the concept of time, the cost required to construct such a spell might be absurd.’

Lennok did not forget that the artifact Kaiser left behind resembled a pocket watch.

The very fact that the ‘Defying Heaven’ Mind Imprint he left upon his demise was embodied in the form of a clock was evidence that it was an artifact designed to be charged and used.

He hadn’t thought the pocket watch’s ability would be consumable, but it was a shame not to be able to use the reversal ability again, especially while tracing Kaiser’s presence.

Thinking that he might need to find a company that produces watch batteries, Lennok followed Davi’s presence.

Up the underground stairs, they reached the control room located between the main power plant buildings.

A blood droplet had fallen in front of a heavily sealed door wrapped in numerous bright yellow talismans, and the Cybernetic Spirit was bouncing excitedly in front of it.

Lennok stood before the control room door and carefully observed the flow of power surrounding it.

“It’s not mana… no. It’s closer to spiritual power.”

“It’s maintained by resonance, using vibrations of the same wavelength, rather than direct power preservation.”

Davi said, scrambling into Lennok’s coat.

The Cybernetic Spirit, nestled comfortably in his coat pocket, tilted her head.

“That’s why the security seems to have held up even with drastic timeline changes…”

“The problem is that the spiritual wavelength doesn’t end at the control room door; it continues into the space inside the door.”

Lennok said, resting his chin on his hand in thought.

“If we forcibly break the barrier, the internal facilities will all be destroyed. It’s obvious.”

“Shall I try to use my power?”

“No, it’s a completely different field from cybernetics. If you make a mistake, your spirituality could be contaminated.”

Although Davi’s system specialized in manipulating cybernetic space and controlling flows, she was, strictly speaking, a type of spirit.

If she were to be damaged by carelessly entering such a spiritual security spell, it would be difficult for her to recover with her own power alone.

“With this level of security, it must undoubtedly be Madrich Onnion’s work, and unless it’s a Military Spirit Sorcerer of his caliber, it would be difficult to even touch it.”

The problem was that a Military Spirit Sorcerer of Onnion’s level was rare even if one searched the entire continent, and such beings rarely appeared in public.

Even without resorting to the absurd solution of bringing a Military Spirit Sorcerer from Military City Yorta, any choice would inevitably drag out the time.

‘Since the pocket watch Kaiser left has stopped, borrowing the power of the reversal spell once more here… wait.’

There was one more item Kaiser had left, besides the pocket watch.

Thinking that far, Lennok absentmindedly rummaged inside his coat and pulled out a talisman covered in unknown characters.

The talisman Kaiser had given him through Krod as a messenger in the past.

The talisman, which he had been told was used to paralyze the control room’s functions, was still in Lennok’s possession.

“…”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t had time to pass through the control room when he re-entered the power plant to meet Kaiser.

Yet, Kaiser had given Lennok this talisman as a message at that time.

Was it because he thought Lennok would come here after resolving all the situations?

“Master?”

Davi’s worried gaze from inside his coat brought him back to his senses.

“…Right.”

There was a way to immediately confirm what Kaiser had left behind in this power plant after his spacetime stabilization research failed.

There was no reason to hesitate.

The moment Lennok thought so and affixed the talisman in his hand to the control room door.

Thump-thump-thump!

Click!

All dozens of talismans surrounding the door snapped, and the barrier vanished as if by magic, followed by the sound of the lock disengaging.

Lennok grasped the doorknob and slowly opened the control room door.

Whoosh!

As soon as the door opened, a chilling wind flowed out from within.

The chill emanating from the control room, left abandoned for decades, made even Lennok, protected by various magical safeguards, flinch.

That was probably not simply a matter of temperature, but because the spiritual power flowed out as the barrier created by military spirit magic dissipated.

Lennok ignored the chill and calmly surveyed his surroundings.

All the CCTV cameras that should have illuminated various parts of the power plant were broken, and the screens and levers on the control panel that filled one wall were also not working.

“There’s nothing here?”

“No, he definitely left something behind.”

Lennok replied and began searching through the boxes and shelves where the control panel and lockers were located.

Cheap elixirs left on the shelves, light firearms, a brooch-shaped artifact containing faint mana.

In addition, explosives that superhumans might use during combat, and rusty curved knives, tumbled out one after another.

Thud!

“Kaiser giving me the key to unlock the control room’s barrier was undoubtedly because he anticipated I would encounter this situation.”

That was probably because Kaiser himself intended to hide something containing his research results inside the control room after the study was complete.

By remembering how his past self, before meeting Lennok, would have acted, he inferred how his self in the timeline without Lennok would behave.

Through this method, Kaiser succeeded in guiding Lennok to this place even after he had ceased to exist.

“The Kaiser of history knew that the research would ‘fail’ normally, and therefore intended to leave something here after the failure.”

He muttered, quickly recalling the items Kaiser had given him, one by one.

“The Kaiser who met me inferred how his true self would act and indirectly conveyed that fact to me… I see.”

Lennok stopped abruptly and pulled out his cell phone from his coat.

The firewall code used to transmit Kaiser’s message.

The moment he rapidly typed the firewall code, composed of hundreds of character sequences, onto the broken control panel’s keyboard.

Click!

The broken screen of the control panel opened directly, revealing something from within.

“…”

It wasn’t a special artifact, or a treasure, or even a powerful weapon.

But it was more precious than any item or artifact Lennok had found in this power plant so far.

A short diary made by binding several old sheets of paper.

The only record Kaiser had written by hand in reality decades ago.

“Kaiser’s Research Log.”

Lennok muttered and unhesitatingly opened it immediately.

“It was here.”

Flutter!

[March 15th. Immediately after hastily gathering my comrades amidst the civil war to begin the research, I realized that this research would fail.]

The first sentence of the research log began with Kaiser’s own shocking confession.