Mage Adam

All the lords spoke one by one, their despair spreading uncontrollably.

Their words revealed a lot of information.

They seemed to understand how to use the altar, which Adam could grasp. After all, it was they who found the first Metal Eater and brought it here.

But there was something Adam didn't understand: why didn't the Titans know the danger of this race? With their wisdom, why would they invite such a threat into their home? Did the Titan God defeat the Dilus and leave Titania tens of thousands of years ago? But that still didn't make sense. If the Titan God won, where did he go? Why did he leave his people to suffer and face constant danger? Unless... unless the Dilus were truly a powerful race that spanned across voids and planes, and the Titan God only found one of them and perished along with it. The later Titans followed their ancestor's footsteps, found the ruins, and brought back what they thought were ancestral relics. Or maybe that message wasn't sent into the void; maybe it was a warning from the Titan God to his own world in his desperate moment, but it went astray.

When Adam voiced these questions, the Royals exchanged glances.

The first Titan Lord, Lord Fast, smiled bitterly and said, "You are right. We found the origin of the Metal Eaters in the ruins of another plane. When we discovered that this race could make us evolve more perfectly and become stronger, we thought it was a treasure left by the gods."

"The former lords did encounter such altars in the ruins, but no one paid attention."

"We received no warning and never saw the gods."

Adam couldn't help but feel sad for the Titan race. They thought they had found a golden apple, but what they got was Pandora's box, and they opened it themselves, bringing disaster upon themselves.

He pondered for a moment and asked, "How strong was Lord Lancelot before he died?"

The lords exchanged glances, unsure why Adam suddenly asked this question. Lord Fast answered, "As strong as me."

Then another question arose: the Devourer betrayed the Titans only about four thousand years ago, and it was transcendent at the time of the betrayal. According to Adam's observation, all Titan Royals were at level six, with the strongest, like Lord Fast, being at the peak of level six. If Lord Lancelot had the same strength, how did the Devourer, who was born from him, manage to grow so much stronger in just a few thousand years and reach the threshold of level nine? Did he really have such strength, or did the Titans overestimate his current power?

"The Devourer was much weaker than Lancelot back then. Even Svorsi could defeat it."

"But no Titan could imagine that our companion race, which lived and died with us, would turn against us. Many Royals' Flames were devoured. A small portion of this strengthened the Metal Eaters, but most of it was taken by the Devourer. This was his first leap in power."

"The first time?"

"Yes, the first time. The second time was when the Devourer invaded the Origin."

"The gods left a treasure there. They told the Royals at the time that when they were qualified to become gods, they could enter the Origin to use the treasure. Ater becoming gods, that one would also need to leave a treasure to ensure the inheritance would continue."

"But as the ages passed, we reached a bottleneck in our evolution. No one could reach the threshold to become gods. Every Titan knew about the treasure in the Origin, but no Titan was qualified to obtain it."

"So the Devourer also knew about this. After betraying you, it chose to seize it by force," Adam asked. "Because you cherished the treasure, you were reluctant to use the Ace Card, allowing the Devourer to grow stronger. Now, even if you decide to destroy both the treasure and the Devourer, you aren't sure if you can do it, right?"

"Yes."

"So, at the beginning of the betrayal, you had the power to destroy the Metal Eaters. Why didn't you do it?"

The newest lord, Lord Svorsi, answered, "The Metal Eaters were indeed weak at first, but precisely because they were weak, the Royals still had hope for utilizing them. But the Metal Eaters knew us too well. By the time we realized something was wrong, the situation was already out of our control."

Adam fell in silence for a moment, because avoiding the danger of nurturing a threat was almost a natural instinct to him. Individuals might fail to consider future consequences and die because of negligence, but the collective wisdom of a civilization should not overlook this. The only reason for the Titans' fate could be their pursuit of power blinding their wisdom.

Because their evolution stalled, they hastily nurtured the Metal Eaters after discovering their origin; because they couldn't bear to give up their newfound hope, they didn't immediately quash the rebellion; and when they realized the Devourer had grown, they were unwilling to use the Ace Card because they couldn't part with the treasure for becoming gods.

It seemed that...

"We deserve this," Lord Svorsi summed up.

All the flame projections dimmed in unison.

Adam didn't ask about the treasure for becoming gods. Although the Titans regarded it as a treasure, to Adam and most mages, it only had research value, not practical use. Adam was sure that any mage truly aspiring to become a Great Arcmage would never use such an external object to break through bottlenecks.

Pointing at the projected image of the Origin, Adam said, "I don't know how much longer your Origin and so-called treasure can hold. But now, it has almost become the Devourer's cocoon. You know better than I what will happen when the Devourer emerges. Have you thought about how to respond?"

Lord Fast replied sadly, "Can we really trust you, friend?"

...

"So, they just trusted you? Aren't these big guys afraid the mages might become another Metal Eater race for them?"

In the magnetized smelting factory, Garfield sat cross-legged on the ground. Lina had flowers blooming around her, and Sophia buzzed around her like a carefree bee. Compared to the gloomy Titans, Adam's companions were all very chill at the moment.

It had been half a day since the crucial meeting that would decide the Titans' fate. Adam had returned to the factory in York City. While making a new magical construct for himself, he reflected on the gains and losses of his previous intense battle.