Chapter 957: Where to Here on

The group returned to the royal city escorted by a mob of people. Vivian and Lily was at the forefront, they were clearly now gods in the eyes of the ark’s denizens. Or at least something supernatural. For this ignorant and superstitious ‘world’, using religion as a tool to control the masses as just too easy, a healthy dose of fear and some supernatural phenomenon was more than enough to do the job. Just ask Vivian, the professional on such matters.

Lily trudged alongside Vivian with a stiff look on her face, and had to fight her urges to hide behind Hao Ren from time to time. She had only intended to join in the fun but things has since progressed beyond her imagination. “Woah… this… is going overboard isn’t it?”

“If you’ve been through the Age of Mythology you’d be used to this.” Vivian whispered with a soft snigger. “The men of old would fear almost everything. Seven thousand years back, by just conjuring a small ember itself was enough for me to shock an entire tribe. This place doesn’t seem all that different from Earth back then.”

The whole process could be described as chaos. While Hao Ren had activately pushed for things to develop this way, the reaction driven by the locals’ superstition and agitation too had made him a tad bit uncomfortable. Hao Ren met the king of the Kingdom of Highspire, a tall and well-build man with a slightly dark skin. He too then met the scholastic entourage from the three other kingdoms. He even have to bring the old man to meet the nobles in the royal city before getting together with Vivian to crack their heads on crafting a believable myth to stave off the king’s and the scholars bombardment of questions.. His sole relief was that the ‘Ice Witch’ had total authority in the hearts of these people, and even if the tale that they had came up with had lots of plotholes, he did not need to worry about being questioned on the spot.

By the time the dust had settled, half a day had already passed. Hao Ren and the rest were now enjoying the hard-earned respite on the terrace at the upper levels of the castle. Vivian looked down at the crowd beneath them. “Seems like it’s much more lively compared to when we first came… It’s pretty amazing really, for such a small city to contain so many people.”

Hao Ren smiled before turning towards the other side of the terrace and the old man who had been rejuvanated after eating the Golden Apple sat by a steel table. Before him was a few old manuscripts, and the old man treated those manuscripts like a treasure, never letting them leave his sight. Even when it was break time, he was still busy flipping through and checki the condition of the mauscripts. These things were after all hundreds of years old, and he was afraid that they might had suffered damage from weathering.

“So what’s next?” Hao Ren popped the question whimsically. As the situation was chaotic back then, he did not pay too much attention to the old man. He only knew that Nangong Wuyue brought him to meet the many scholars within the city and also had an audience with the king.

“In the honour of the Ice Witch, the king had treated me really well, but he kept asking me what was I prepared to do for his kingdom. It seems like he was worried about his sovereignity..uh.” The edge of the old man’s mouth shuddered slightly. “But that means nothing to me, I only wish to pass on the correct history to them. I even saw those ‘scholars’, most of them were ignorant, but yet each and everyone of them were smart and treated me with even more reverence than the king. I think I should pay that ‘Starhold’ place a visit, or maybe pass on the manuscripts to them.”

“When I got to know that they were copying ancient tomes as part of their training, I knew that these scholars were the key.”

“But it doesn’t sound like things were all smooth sailing.” Lily muttered as she hugged her arm. “I thought that that black-skinned king would have postrate himself before you the moment he saw you. If the ruler of Highspire had such a reaction, I bet you that the others won’t be much different.”

“That’s more than enough.” The old man smiled, indicating he did not mind that at all.” I just need the freedom to move across nations, and to right to educate the people. If those kings were to listen to my teachings it would have already be a big surprise. As for the shape of the society… I have no intention to change it, much less the energy to change it. They have already lived like this for hundreds of years. The best way is for them to continue living like this and the change take place naturally.

Lily glared at him. “But you’re their ancestor!”

“I’m just a old man who walked out of the reactor. And the nature of kings is to question any authority aside of their own. Even if it is divine authority.” The old man looked towards Vivian who was some distance away. “I don’t even have the authority like you two. At least both of you have actual supernatural powers.”

Vivian turned around as she heard that, a faint smile graced her face. “That’s normal. If authority alone could pacify an entire civilisation, there wouldn’t be any conflict at all. Your road ahead will probably be full of potholes; while the kings may now listen to you, if your teachings were to threaten their authority and sovereignity, they will still strike against you. And I believe the history, the real history that you have with you will clash with the locals’ perception.

The old man laughed. “I know, before I went to sleep long long ago, I have spoken at length with my friends on what sort of problems we might face in the future. I am a anthropologist, a educationist, and a psychologist, I know what and how to disclose things to people so that they will be able to ease into it.”

Seeking the confident smile on the old man’s face, Hao Ren ruffled his hair. “Seems like you’re better than being a huckster.”

The old man smiled back without a word, before his gaze turned serious. “So… Can you tell me who you actuall are now?”

When he first woke from the sleeping pod, the group before him told him that they were wanderers from the stars, and their ship was just right outside the ark. The old man had not put too much thought into it, and thought that Hao Ren and the rest were just aliens whose technology were much more advance. But when a mysterious Golden Apple had rejuvanated him, the old man had plenty of questions to ask. While his world view does not contain real magic, he felt that the group had some supernatural abilities. Then he saw Vivian summoning a winter storm at the same of a finger, and Lily conjuring a flaming blade out of thin air. These incidents could not be explained by science alone, and looked more like magic from the tales of the ancient times. Thus, the old man bore an almost overwhelming curiosity towards the group.

Hao Ren sat before the old man before telling his tale at a slow pace.

But of course, the confidential parts were simply skimmed past, using words like “a powerful force from beyond” to explain Hao Ren’s backer.

The old man listened without a word; while there were changes in his eyes, it was calmer than expected. Hao Ren was surprised by the old man’s reaction. “You’re not surprised?”

“I find it very difficult to be surprised anymore.” the old man shook his head. “I grew up in the ark, and followed the ark across the stars. I’ve seen planets falling into gravity rifts and being torn apart, and planets disintegrated by a supernova, and those great beings from the deep space had long left behind tales of the gods. We knoew that the universe was vast, and have many powers beyond human comprehension at work. So I’m not at all surprised, even if a god were to appear before me. Of course, there were somethings that were unexpected. I never thought their messengers would look like this… I thought you all would be…”

The old man gestured in the air but found it difficult to describe what he wanted to say. “It’s best summed up having a sort of brilliance to it, at least like the ones from the deep space.”

“I too have some very ‘brilliant’ ways to solve things, but those are usually bad stuff.” Hao Ren shook his head. “I’m leaving, there’s work to be done.”

The old man stood up by reflex. “Will you be back?”

“Of course.” Hao Ren smiled, before passing him a communicator. “There’s a lot of work to be done for your civilisation. How long you think this old junk would be operational? A hundred? Two hundred years? I have to find somwhere to relocate you all before the whole thing shuts down. And I need to write a report of the redevelopment progress. The Goddess I serve is very particular about this, and I would need to monitor your status for a long time as the effects of the apocalypse is still present in this world. I don’t want the survivors I spent so much time finding gets eaten up by some tentacles just because I turned away. This is a communicator. You’re now the herald of your people, we’ll be in touch, and I think that will come sooner than you think.”

The old man took the communicator and placed in his pocket after enquiring on how to operate it.

“Say, have you remembered your name?” Hao Ren asked. “I can’t be calling you old man all the time…”

The old man opened his mouth, and only spoke after some pondering. “I only remember that my callsign was ‘Father’ in the plan…”

Hao Ren glared back. “Lets not go there, our age here…”

He stopped for a bit before stealing a glance at Vivian. “Our average age is many times of yours! And our total age is even more ancient than your ark!”

“Bringing up the average by dragging me in huh…” Vivian mumbled to herself.

The old man stood up straight after listening to what Hao Ren said. After some thoughts, he said. “You can call me Lawrence.”

“That’s your name?”

“No, its just that I have some familiarity with that name. Possibly a friends, or my father’s.” the old man smiled. “Regardless who that was, they won’t be using that name anymore. So from now on, I’m Lawrence.

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