Chapter 473: Profaning the Prototype and the Fall

Alice had left the scene, departing to some undisclosed location.

Duncan couldn’t fully understand how much the innocent puppet named Alice knew or understood, but he was somewhat reassured by her recent awareness of the potential danger that the mysterious key posed. Until Alice fully understood what the key was and what it could do, he was skeptical that she would even consider using it again.

Outside, the sun was slowly setting, its light dimming as night approached. Two rings of magical runes, visible only to those who knew to look for them, started to descend toward the horizon. The fading sunlight cast an amber glow over the expansive ocean, a sight that spilled into Duncan’s room through the window.

Sitting at his desk and enjoying the picturesque sunset, Duncan turned his attention to a brass key that lay before him. As the sun’s light mixed with the creeping shadows, the intricate patterns engraved on the key’s handle seemed to come alive, shimmering in the fading light.

After a few moments of quiet contemplation and cautious hesitation, Duncan took a deep breath and reached out to pick up the key. As he touched it, a small green flame, soft as an ember, sparked from his fingertips and began to travel into the key itself.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

Initially, Duncan had been hesitant to use what he referred to as the “ethereal flame” to investigate the key. He was worried that the flame’s powerful properties might alter or corrupt the key’s own mystical nature. But now, he felt he had no other options left.

Duncan was desperate to find out the secret that Ray Nora had hidden within this key. Keeping this objective in mind, he carefully controlled the intensity of the ghostly flame so that it wouldn’t damage the delicate artifact. He remained on high alert, ready to snuff out the flame at the first sign of any problem.

As he held the key, the ethereal flame gently wrapped around his fingers and the brass, covering it in a gentle green glow. For Duncan, it felt like he was diving into a chaotic, boundless universe.

His eyes slowly closed as he used the flame as a kind of “second sight” to explore the hidden world within the key.

He was greeted by a vision of a fog so expansive it seemed endless. Swirls of dust and smoke formed and vanished in an ever-changing tableau.

Puzzled, Duncan tried to make sense of the disorienting fog that filled his sight, but it was just a chaotic mess, constantly changing but never revealing anything. This foggy realm was the key’s hidden “truth.” It was similar to what he had experienced when he had previously probed into the mysterious puppet’s coffin, but the situation here was fundamentally different.

After spending some time enveloped in this endless fog, Duncan noticed that the ethereal flame was still diffusing normally, showing no signs of damaging the key. Relieved, he cautiously refocused his attention in one specific direction within the fog.

However, as he did so, he felt an odd sensation pulsing in the palm of his hand that held the key. What could it mean? Was it the key reacting to his investigation?

The distance to where these fragments had fallen was insurmountably vast, well beyond any reasonable reach. Even if Duncan had the ability to teleport thousands of miles, he questioned whether he could reach the ark’s final resting place. After all, this misty environment seemed to be a mere echo of a long-lost moment in history.

Just then, he felt a gentle warmth emanating from his palm. Looking down, he saw the brass key he had been holding. Its handle was etched with an infinity symbol, and it emitted a soft light that moved in intricate patterns, eventually forming the words “New Hope.”

Abruptly, an otherworldly rumble echoed within his consciousness, causing the foggy illusion to dissolve into nothingness. As light and shadow blended and shifted, he found himself back in his own bedroom.

Shaking off the disorienting experience, Duncan refocused his senses. The brass key was still in his hand, but its warm glow and dancing patterns had vanished, leaving behind only the memory of their fleeting existence.

Still, every detail remained etched in his memory, especially the name—New Hope.

With a sense of urgency, Duncan stood up and reached for the notebook on his desk. He wrote down the words “New Hope” and detailed the extraordinary vision he had experienced. Only after capturing every nuance did he allow himself a sigh of relief and sit back down.

In his world, memories and thoughts were usually resilient against corruption, but Duncan knew that caution was indispensable. For in dealing with enigmas such as these, even the smallest oversight could lead to unimagined consequences.

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After transcribing the bewildering events he had just lived through, Duncan sat back, lost in a sea of contemplation. The myriad questions plaguing his mind ranged from the essence of what he had actually witnessed to the tangled cause-and-effect relationships, the inexplicable connection between the strange data device and the brass key, and the ultimate location of the shattered Arkship. However, one thing stood out as undeniable to him: what he had experienced was not merely a figment of his imagination or a mere illusion.

At some point in the distant past, before the formation of city-states and the recorded annals of history as he knew them, a real event had taken place. A gargantuan spaceship, a titan of unknown origin and design, had made a calamitous descent onto this planet. The ark had ruptured in the process, disseminating its fragments far and wide across an unknown landscape.

Inhaling gently, Duncan allowed himself a measured moment to absorb the gravity of his newfound insights. The realization that he might be dealing with an authentic episode from this world’s history—obscure, forgotten, but undeniably real—sent a shiver down his spine.

With deliberate motion, he slipped the brass key into his pocket for safekeeping, its form settling against the fabric as if it were a piece of an unfinished puzzle. Raising his eyes, he turned his gaze toward the window, where he saw Vision 001, a landmark or perhaps an artifact, now almost entirely swallowed by the sprawling expanse of the landscape beyond his room.

“Things just got interesting,” Duncan muttered to himself, his voice tinged with a newfound sense of excitement and curiosity.

What had initially seemed like isolated anomalies in his life—mystical keys, illusory realms, and cosmic arkships—were now beginning to coalesce into a larger, more intricate tapestry. Duncan sensed that he was on the cusp of unraveling something monumental, something that could potentially upend his understanding of reality itself. And in that moment, fueled by a blend of awe, trepidation, and an insatiable desire for answers, Duncan knew that he was irreversibly committed to following this mysterious path, wherever it may lead.