[Vol. 9] Chapter 42: The Reborn Origin Machine
This is the form it has now.
Violet could not understand the reason for this change. After the puppet shrank, it didn’t show any new abilities. She studied it again and again but found nothing, so she had no choice but to leave it be.
Until the time at Nofenburg in the Ice-Sea Principality, when the tide of Calamity Beasts came. At first, Violet hadn’t noticed that beneath the frozen sea there was a hidden “inner world anchor point.” Instead, it was this long-silent, greatly shrunken puppet that sensed something and sent her a special signal. Thanks to that, the priestess was able to foresee the change in advance and guess that Octavier would appear.
When she had once shared information with the “large puppet” and saw those hollow places scattered across the world, Violet had memorized the rough locations of each one. The Ice-Sea was indeed among them. However, its hollow zone was not large. It didn’t even cover half of the region. She hadn’t expected such a coincidence, that she would stumble upon it right away.
So, the priestess decided to test things a little.
In truth, the rules covering this place were extremely powerful, like a distorted divine kingdom. Even gods themselves would have to tread carefully here. The only reason Violet dared to act so arrogantly was because of this little puppet, the [Origin Machine].
Like police against thieves, since the [Origin Machine] once boldly marked these locations and urged her to come capture something, it was very likely this puppet was the natural enemy of this strange power. It might even be a sharper restraint than what existed between her and the World-Devouring Serpent.
Now that everything connected, it was exactly as Violet had guessed.
She quietly watched the puppet release boundless radiance, sweeping away everything around it like dry leaves in a storm, while the twisted creatures cried and wailed. The priestess finally let out a small breath of relief.
Her return here had always been an experiment, a test. Both to further investigate the truth behind these fog-covered hollow zones, and to see how many powers were hidden here and what kind of relationship they had with each other.
Already, three forces had shown themselves.
- The great evil god Octavier, acting as a guardian.
- The strange realm itself, filled with immense and chaotic rule-power.
- And the puppet’s predecessor, the special doll once called the [Origin Machine], now trying to hunt them down.
These sides were neither simple enemies nor clear allies. The being behind the [Origin Machine] was without doubt the Primordial Light, or at least the existence now called by that name. Back in that recorded vision of the great battle, Violet had clearly seen a silver light wound the source of Divine Catastrophe, causing part of its power to scatter into pieces and fall across more than ten different places.
Those fragments were very likely the reason places like this now existed. The faction led by the [Origin Machine] seemed to be working to cleanse these uncontrolled fog zones, recover the scattered fragments, and achieve some hidden purpose.
But some surviving gods, such as the great evil god Octavier, likely did not want the Primordial Light’s side to reclaim those fragments. That was why they hid these places with special methods, lying in wait, and secretly seeking mortals like Moraya who could “resonate” with them, to strengthen themselves further.
When Octavier’s tentacles reached out from beneath the ice sea to grab Moraya, the real aim was not to attack or kill her. Instead, it was to bring her here for an inheritance trial. Just from this, it was clear that Octavier’s faction of gods and the Primordial Light’s faction were not allies, even if they were not fully enemies either.
As for the last one, the very power that makes up this world, its nature is probably not much different from the Eastern Calamity [Ghost Ship] of the past. Although it cannot be called completely mindless, it is basically just a beast driven by obsession and even hatred. Because it cannot be used well, a new successor is needed to take over this power.
Of course, Miss Violet herself does not belong to any of these three sides.
Although the little puppet’s former body was something called a [Origin Machine], in truth that thing was just a puppet that followed fixed commands. Ever since what happened back then, it had mysteriously lost its core, which in some sense already meant it was “dead.”
The only reason it can move again now is because Violet once used the authority of the [Eternal Scepter of the World's Heart] to give it life again. In essence, it is now like Snow Wing, or even like the Fruit that was fostered in a certain queen’s palace, an independent being created by the priestess.
A bond that comes from the soul and even from the root of causality is not something Violet could mistake.
Looking at the little one still shining like a super high-watt light bulb, with the stance of not stopping until it had purified this place completely, the priestess drew back her thoughts and shook her head helplessly.
“Alright, alright, I know you’re excited, but tone it down a little. If you destroy this place too soon, it will also affect Moraya.”
Hearing Violet’s reminder, the puppet finally held back a bit. It turned its head and looked at her. Even though its extremely simple face showed no expression, through the soul waves and the automatically formed contract, the two of them could naturally understand each other without any barrier.
It nodded obediently, and the dazzling light around its body, as bright as the sun, slowly faded. Then it turned, swayed lightly, and returned to perch on the priestess’ outstretched wrist. Its little feet dangled and swung, while its face kept rubbing against the girl’s palm, as if trying to act cute to please her.
Seeing the little one behaving so adorably, Violet couldn’t help but smile as well.
The reason she had given life again to this powerless little puppet was, at first, just a sudden idea.
Because of the weak ripple that suddenly came from outside the frozen sea, Violet realized that even in its broken state, it still had a special sense for its own duty. It was an excellent candidate to be a kind of “policeman.” Since that was the case, having such a helper would certainly make exploring places like this twice as effective, it was a long-term benefit.
Besides, Violet still clearly remembered the powerful strength the [Origin Machine] once showed when facing Leonis, especially its physical ability that was almost equal to Xiao Guang. That left a deep impression on her. The timing just happened to be right, so she decided to make an experiment.
However, although the idea seemed simple, when it came to actually carrying it out, the priestess discovered it was far more difficult than she had expected.
Even though she could easily give life to something as ordinary as a stone by the roadside, with this palm-sized little puppet she ran into obstacles everywhere.
To put it simply, its “rank” was simply too high.