A burly man leaned alone against a huge stone block on the riverbank grass.
The moonlight was tranquil, shining bright on the river water.
As he recalled the past thirty-some years, two streaks of tears crossed his dark, weathered face.
Back then, he was still an apprentice, learning the craft under a master smith.
In the workshop, there were many apprentices like him, and also many skilled artisans. But none could match him—within just two years, he had climbed into the top tier.
At that time, he had undoubtedly become the rising star of the workshop.
He had a beloved woman, a beautiful, gentle, and kind lady.
His master decided to pass on both his inheritance and his shop sign to him, and his wedding with his lover was being prepared.
For a moment, he felt like the happiest and most successful craftsman in the world.
However, a senior disciple who was jealous of his success and a friend who coveted his lover forged a letter, reporting him to the Imperial Judicial Bureau for colluding with the Black Party.
On his wedding day, he did not obtain a bright happiness. Instead, he was locked away by the Judicial Bureau into a pitch-black cage.
“Give up. They already know you were framed. Otherwise, you would have had your limbs cut off and been displayed on the city walls as a deterrent.”
“The officials have quotas. People like us—the more, the better.”
“With luck, they’ll let you go after three to five years.”
“Without luck…” The stranger pointed to the innermost part of the cage. “There’s a man who was locked up until he died. No one handled the body. It stank for the first few years. It’s okay now—he’s just bones.”
At first, the man clung to hope.
But a year passed with no news.
Two years, three years, four years…
He nearly went mad.
“You said you used to be a craftsman. I happen to know a bit about that.”
In the tenth year, the man who had taught him knowledge died.
That year, he began trying to chisel through the wall.
In the fifteenth year, his escape attempt was discovered.
No trial, no discussion, no room for any justification.
Before the gallows, his thin, withered body was nothing like what it had been.
And the long-missed sunlight was blindingly bright.
“Number 24601, attempted escape, openly defied imperial law. Sentenced to death.”
The executioner’s face was expressionless, as if he were long accustomed to this.
—
The manifestation of suffering lies in human nature, but its root points to the corruption of the Empire.
“Do you resent those two who took everything from you?”
A voice echoed around his ear, yet it seemed to come from the distant heavens above.
“Then do you want revenge?”
“Is that so? Then do you want to change things?”
“Change what? Why, change this corrupt and ignorant world, of course!”
The world suddenly shifted. Winds and clouds churned.
In an instant, Xiugu found himself in a strange place.
His withered muscles, deathly pale skin, and the heart worn dry by long days of darkness and solitude—all were restored to vitality and energy!
God…
If not a Divine Miracle, how could such an earth-shattering change be explained?
At the same time, streams of distant, unfamiliar information naturally poured into his mind.
Knowledge, information, a mission…
Leaving the riverbank, he set off on the journey to fulfill his destiny.
“To… Starfall Bay.”
“Lafeier…”
Four others were similarly chosen.
—
May 25, noon.
Xiugu, along with four artisans, had been waiting for some time at the Starfall Bay Train Station.
This was their first task: to transport three machines back to the prison.
Of course, relying solely on the five of them was impossible.
So, with Lafeier’s permission, Xiugu brought along a Half-Orc Squad.
He remembered Lafeier’s instructions from that day in the carriage, so he showed exceptional leniency to these dozen or so half-orc girls.
“By Lord Lafeier’s order, to ensure stable work efficiency, everyone must eat their fill before starting work!”
With that, he called on his four companions to distribute lunch to everyone.
Each person got a palm-sized grilled meat patty, topped with an egg-based creamy sauce, and half a loaf of bread as the main course.
The girls trembled in fear. Even when the food was placed in their hands, they stood frozen, shaking.
Looking at their gaunt bodies, Xiugu felt a tightness in his chest.
“Eat quickly,” Xiugu said, taking a huge bite of the meat patty, then leaning close to the girls. “Remember, this is the special care of our new warden, Lord Lafeier!”
Finally, with a gulp, one of the girls took a bite of the meat patty.
Certain she wouldn’t be kicked away, she began to chew the juicy, fatty meat ravenously, wolfing it down.
Seeing this, the other girls also started eating.
Perhaps reminded of their own painful pasts, or simply out of pity, the five artisans felt their eyes sting.
These half-grown children not only endured harsh labor but also often went hungry and lacked proper clothing.
Those who have suffered the most are the ones who pity those still suffering.
Xiugu recalled the words of that god: “Change this ignorant, corrupt world.”
Ignorant and corrupt… This was not some ethereal castle in the air, but a bloody reality right before their eyes, touching every aspect of life.
The roaring trains, the sprawling railways, the endless churning and roaring steam… Every second, someone descended into hell because of it; every minute, someone rose to heaven because of it.
The best of times, the worst of times…
Some lives were as cheap as weeds, while others indulged in debauchery and excess.
In this era of gradual peace and prosperity, darkness thrived alongside the light.
The Empire had ushered in a great age, a bloody age, a sorrowful age, a corrupt age, a fractured age, a unified age, a cloud-laden age, a murky age, a dazzling age, a luxurious age.
When the train, with its earth-shattering roar, shuttled across the desolate, endless wilderness, the blazing white steam would return the blood and tears that forged steel and wheels exactly to the pitiful people who dug the road with their own hands.
And the evil dragon that had stolen those treasures and taken countless lives still roared across the sky.
Facts had proven to Xiugu that under the tyranny of those evil dragons, no one could escape.
And he himself was supposed to be just another pale skeleton in that dragon’s lair.
The train pulled into the station.
Watching the young girls, their small bodies restored with vitality, laboring to move the multi-ton machines onto carts, Xiugu suddenly realized a truth—or rather, a fact.
Only by uniting all forces that can be united could there be a chance to establish a new order on this land of silver.
“This is what Lord Lafeier meant…”
‘I do not want you to trample the Hybrids as if they were slaves.’
And so, a fiery heart that surpassed this era was born.