Chapter 364 Steel Earth

Xi Wei was neither omnipotent nor omniscient despite being a god. He could not keep an eye on border wastelands, let alone be aware that a giant was heading towards the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) from twelve thousand kilometers away.

That was why he was simply pleased that the Players secured the key to enter the fourth stratum… and therefore did not hesitate to whisk it away and replicate it with a counterfeit for Edward with his divine power. …The heck you looking yet? Never seen a god exploiting his followers?

That being said, Xi Wei’s action was a type of protection towards Edward’s group from a certain point of view.

After all, the key itself was tailored to each high elf, one of the greatest supernatural races there were. Even first-rate Players like Edward’s group would have a tremendous gap in power compared to them, and something bad could happen if they used the key recklessly.

As the race who could utilize Mystery-a power connected to divine power, it was hard to guarantee that such an item would not affect the user’s soul.

And to Xi Wei, it was fine if his believer’s body was directly destroyed. On the other hand, not even he could help them if their soul was distorted or instantly crushed.

“Still, high elf technology is really unbelievable…”

After getting the pass and seizing the opportunity to take control of Dark Sky Stratum, Xi Wei understood the place somewhat even though it had been inscrutable before.

At first, he had assumed that Dark Sky was a sealed space that separates Deep Wall and Steel Earth. But once he took control of the third stratum, he realized that it was a spatial fragment separated from the world—there was no escape no matter how one wandered if anyone inside could not find the key!

It was very likely that this spatial fragment belonged to a shadow plane, with the high elves processing it into a reflection of the Elven SIN. It thereby acts as a cover, keeping every observation method ‘inside the world’ from seeing through the inner strata of the Elven SIN.

“Normally, almost all observation would fail to look inside the Elven SIN, and even the God Eye of divine beings could only see things in the mortal realm, with their followers acting as beacons. Otherwise, they would have to spend a lot of divine power to observe from worlds beyond or be blocked by Dark Sky…”

Xi Wei couldn’t help gasping in awe. “With such class of talent that surpasses human intelligence and technology of processing planes, the high elves’ magitek levels would probably not lose out to the gnomes who invented god-killing ships…”

And there was no telling if it was that talent that led to the extinction of high elves, or if they had sensed the gods’ malice, and only then spend their talent in building the SIN in a fight to the death against the divine.

Since the God of Games of that age had recently died at the time while Xi Wei (and his predecessor) were yet to be born, he simply didn’t know what happened between the high elves and the gods of that era.

Either way, they became despondent like the punished gnomes, losing their heart to stride towards the future.

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Unlike their god who was still left in wonder at the impressive concept of Dark Sky, Edward’s group did not rest too much after clearing that stratum. Once they finished replenishing consumables, they made a circle around Princess Leah and watched as she activated the Steel Earth Key.

In an instant, pale-blue radiance burst forth from the tip of the key. Everyone in the party could then feel invisible threads pulling their unresistant bodies into the light, drawing them into the belly of the tortoise colossus.

But unlike before, what appeared before them was not the Faint Crystal stratum which was full of crystal clusters, but a massive metal city that was still working!

If Xi Wei were the judge, he would say that the city was brimming with steampunk. While there was no ever-present steam, the different-sized metal pipes, towering chimneys, old but still-moving gears and bearings as well as spherical buildings that were probably furnaces were all there. There was no telling what the automated machines were producing, just as everything was the color of metals far as the eye could see-it was all distinctly steampunk.

And if one were to put their finger on what felt out place, it would be the lack of any person walking in the streets. There were instead several small automatons the size of an Akita dog, each resembling silver teapots with long legs that walked around to clean the place, which was not steampunk but cyberpunk instead.

As Edward’s group walked along the streets, they were left utterly confused by the current situation.

There were no monsters suddenly leaping out, enemies standing in their way or even traps of whatnot…

While it felt safe here, how were they supposed to clear this area?

“Well, it is steel… I can’t find a single normal rock on this floor, and there are manmade metal buildings everywhere. It looks bustling and the houses are clanging from the inside, but there’s just no one around.”Gou Dan scratched his head. Even though he was not a coward, the unusual air around does leave him flustered.

“There are too many diverging paths and they look like they would reach different directions. It is basically impossible to find targets around here.” Princess Leah decided. “Let’s split up from here and try looking for clues to clear the floor. Gather here around two hours later, and remember to comment in the forums if you can’t.”

“‘”Alright!””

It was true that both Earthlings and people from other worlds quite enjoy the term ‘freedom’.

As Princess Leah called for a disbandment, everyone including the typically-composed Edward excitedly scouted around. There were many buildings beside the streets, most of which had their doors opened and gave the impression of being a shop.

When everyone had a rough look around just now, he did not point out anything even though there had been elements he found interesting.

Nonetheless, the Players still have their basic safety knowledge and would not stray too far from other party members. They stayed on the same street and at a distance where they could hear if one of them were yelling out, so that they could help each other when someone needs help.

And after half a day of separate scouting, the Players led by Edward found something interesting just as expected…