1110 Dark Prologue 2

"Since you're here, Big Bro, why don't you help us think of something!" Baylon said with a flattering smile. Compared to that shy, introverted Baylon from before, she seemed to be a lot more cheerful and extroverted now.

"Yeah yeah yeah, if it's Big Bro Nono, I'm sure you'll have an idea!" Clint hurriedly nodded in agreement.

Only White Winter was unconvinced. He had heard Baylon bring up her brother before, but no matter how he looked it, Nonosiva was just a regular prodigy from the Blackboard Region, with limited talent. He had seen plenty people just like that in the Gideon family. There was nothing special about him, so he had no idea why Clint and Baylon respected him so much.

"If you guys really have nowhere else to go, I guess you could come with me." But Garen was already planning something. Right now, Clint had one of Red Moon's mech parts, that was a Regent-Level part. If he could just examine it closely, he should be able to gain a great deal from it.

"With Big Bro?" said Clint, confused.

"That's right, I was just on my way to do something, join a competition," said Garen calmly, with a smile. "There's been a dramatic shift here, so I bet this place has become a focus point amongst all the factions. It'd be very troublesome for you to continue staying here, it's best if you could temporarily leave the Mother Planet."

He was absolutely right, and the three of them also nodded in agreement.

"We do want to leave the Mother Planet, but we can't find any other way…" said Clint helplessly. "The only way is to buy a spaceship and then fly out, but that sort of thing isn't for sale…"

Garen instantly laughed.

"No, other than the regular route, there is another way. Don't forget, I'm also an Energy Machinist…"

"Huh? Energy Machinist!!??" Clint and Baylon instantly widened their eyes, turning around immediately to look at White Winter.

"What are you looking at him for?" Garen was also slightly mystified now.

White Winter, however, lowered his head awkwardly.

"I-I'm also… an Energy Machinist…"

"You too?"

Garen had not noticed it, but once it was mentioned, he realized that White Winter really was an Energy Machinist, albeit a weakest Level-One Energy Machinist. His Willpower was weak enough to be negligible, and that was why Garen had overlooked it.

At Garen's current realm, he could basically just ignore anyone lower than Inherited Level, because anyone weaker than that was not even worth his gaze. It was impossible for them to pose a threat.

But he knew the general way things would go, so he knew that White Winter would also become one of the Star Generals in the future. The Red King had four Star Generals in total, and the same went for the White King. That was the tally during the final battle, and the Red King's Star Generals changed a few times along the way, but White Winter was always consistently there. He and Baylon would keep improving up until the final battle.

The other two, including the original Nonosiva, both changed twice. After Nono died in battle, there were two more replacements until it finally settled down.

"Alright, I'll admit that I might have overlooked you." Garen nodded at White Winter. "The Energy Machinists have a Teleportation Point here, we can reach one of the Energy Machinists' three main cities, the City of Nagadako, directly from here."

"We can do that too!?" Clint was instantly overjoyed.

*****************

Radiation Zone, an Energy Machinist base

On the scarlet-golden sands, there was a floating, giant city that moved along slowly, projecting an enormous black shadow onto the ground.

By the time Garen and company reached here, it was already three days later.

Garen did not immediately tell them what level he was at now, in case Clint and Baylon began to rely on him. They still needed to grow, or else they would never be able to fight against the White King.

And the way things were going, they would still accidentally stumble across this base at one point. They were supposed to have made a contact on the inside, eventually disguising themselves as Energy Machinists, and getting teleported to the City of Nagadako.

Garen merely simplified the process.

"This is the place…" Garen looked up at the floating city in the sky, and felt the emotions surging in his heart. Back then, he had left the Sixth Divine Wind General and Sinno here, but he did not know how they were getting along now.

"Let's go."

He strode towards the base.

Behind him, the other three were like sun-dried brinjals, completely weak and exhausted. Without their mechs, they were just slightly better than normal people, and so they had no resistance at all toward the intense scorching heat of the sun.

Garen would not block the sun and rain for them, and he proceeded on ahead by himself. The only good thing is that they knew that the temperature would drop slightly if they were closer to him.

That was the only thing they had to comfort themselves over the three days of walking.

Tesna, on the other hand, bit her lip and followed wordlessly. She had the worst physical fitness, after all, she was a true-blue regular person. If it were not for Turing's occasional support, she would have crashed out a long time ago, collapsing onto the ground, unable to get back up.

Just as before, there was a line of people queuing up in front of a tall, large, black stone pillar.

The people in the line took turns entering a small house, and they never came back, so they had clearly been teleported into the base somehow.

There were many people in Garen's group, so they were very eye-catching as they walked, but when many people saw that Tesna, Clint, and the rest were just regular people, they instantly pulled back their gazes and lost all interest.

Garen led the team to the back of the line, and queued up.

He came to the City of Nagadako, not only to visit his few long-time friends, but also to join the Major Sect Battle, and… to meet Celine!

Celine was also an Energy Machinist, and she had always been living in the Three Major Cities, so she would surely appear during this competition as well.

Thinking of Celine, ripples rose in Garen's heart. All these years, she had lied to him for all these years, but this was the first time his feelings toward her were so complicated.

The team slowly moved ahead, and some more Energy Machinists joined the line behind them. Some of them frowned when they saw the normal people beside Garen.

"Doesn't he know that normal people can't enter the base? Does he not know the rules?"

Someone said softly.

Garen turned around, but saw that the Energy Machinists were all acting as though it has nothing to do with them, as though it was not any of them who said it.

"Hahaha! Brother, I can't believe it's you!!" Suddenly, a familiar face appeared in front of Garen abruptly.

It was actually the little fatty that had lent Garen a hand last time, and that pretty girl with the bright eyes and white teeth was still with him,wearing a white face veil and a cold expression.

The fatty approached Garen, pushing his way forward, until he actually reached Garen's side.

"He's a friend, a friend, we're here together," he said smilingly as he squeezed past the dissatisfied Energy Machinists.

"It's you? Little Fatty?" Garen also recognized him from before.

"The prodigy from back then! Haha!!" the little fatty laughed, scratching his head.

Garen also was very fond of this guy, if it weren't for his help back then, he and the Sixth Divine Wind General may not have been able to deal with the Seventh Divine Wind General, who was chasing after them.

"Why are you still here?"

"Cuz I'm bored!" said the fatty, pouting helplessly. He came closer to Garen and mysteriously transmitted his voice.

"Since we seem fated to meet, let me tell you a secret. Have you heard of the Prodigy Alliance?"

Garen blinked. It was a signal to Turing, who was growing wary, telling him to calm down.

"Prodigy Alliance?"

"That's right, it's powerful alliance where all sorts of prodigies gather together!" praised the little fatty, sticking up his thumb. "Take this lovely lady beside me for example, she has irrepressible talent! She's the professional liaison for the Prodigy Alliance!"

"So?" Garen really had never heard of any Prodigy Alliance.

"Seeing as you're a prodigy as well, you have the right to join us. Whataya think? Do you wanna join our Prodigy Alliance? I can give you a discounted recommendation fee!" The fatty chuckled, rubbing his fingers together.

Garen broke out laughing, the Energy Machinists were about to face the biggest crisis they had ever seen, so what good would this Prodigy Alliance be?

"That depends on whether or not your Whatever Alliance has the right to have me join it."

"Hmph! What are you being so arrogant for, you should be honored that we invited you to join."

His words instantly caused the pretty girl beside him to bristle, and she snorted coldly.

"What do you mean by snorting like that! Don't you have any manners?" Baylon instantly lost her usual composure, and immediately said unhappily. Big Brother Nono had always been her idol, and she could not allow others to be disrespectful to him.

"It's my matter whether I snort or not, what's it have to do with you?" The girl was getting riled up too.

"You snorted at my brother, so that just shows you don't have manners. You're young and you look decent, but why don't you have any sense of common courtesy at all?"

"You're the one without manners! Do you know who I am? Back then, I was…"

The two of them actually started arguing as though there was no one else around. Clint smiled helplessly at the side, and could not get a word in edgewise.

Garen and the fatty just ignored the two of them.

"Let's talk about this after we get in, it's almost our turn now." Garen indicated for the fatty to stop mentioning it now, while he motioned for the person behind back him to stay back for now, so he could proceed into the small house alone.

It was the same process, where he pressed his hand against the huge metallic ball.

"An Energy Machinist can only bring two followers. Your identity card has been filled up," said the old Energy Machinist who was in charge of the two-way traffic after checking Garen's Energy Machine Imprint.

"Filled up? Can you check it again?" Garen took out a scarlet badge, and tossed it at the old man.

When he saw this Imprint, the atmosphere in the room instantly changed, becoming almost bone-piercingly cold.

"This is… a Sect Imprint? And a high-level one at that!?" The old man immediately got to his feet in shock, and hurriedly lowered his head in a bow.

"So you're from a sect, sir, no problem, Inherited-Level Energy Machinists from sects have a twenty-person quota, please, do as you like!!"

He added hurriedly.

"That's good to hear."

Garen nodded, satisfied.

The group entered the base under such strange circumstances, surprising all the other Energy Machinists. They were low-level members, so they did not know about Garen's true identity, or about that special rule.

The little fatty also followed Garen into the base.

At the first possible moment, Garen looked for Sinno, but unfortunately, the room inside the base was somehow empty. He has no idea where Sinno and the Sixth Divine Wind General went, the house was empty, and covered with a thick layer of dust. It was clear that nobody had been in here for a while.

Garen was slightly disappointed that he could not find Sinno and the Sixth Divine Wind General. But the most crucial thing right now was still the crisis that would befall the Energy Machinists.

The Major Battle was back, and it would be happening very soon. Toward the end of the competition, there would be more and more unsavory participants, and they would slowly reveal what was hidden before. There would be chaos, until the entire Battle fell apart at the seams, with betrayals and casualties galore. It would be the darkest day in the history of the Energy Machinist.

What Garen needed to do was to protect himself and the Scarlet Snow Sect, making sure that they survived the crisis.

Before things started to get chaotic, he must never reveal his true powers, or else he would incur even stronger rivals. This was a destined catastrophe, but it would also be his first chance to test Chinande.