The closer the trio got to the camp, the more they could feel something strange:
Even with disaster looming overhead, there was no panic here.
Unlike other regions—where the moment something went wrong, agitation and chaos would erupt immediately—this place felt… steady.
The entire camp was orderly. Manpower was exactly as that little wolf pup had said—completely insufficient—but because of that discipline, their efficiency was only going to be faster.
Outside the camp, near the exit leading toward the Cradle of Generations, an isolation gate had already been erected at speed, sealing off the entire area close to the Cradle.
No matter what else you said, the people here were tough—unyielding and resilient.
"—You three!"
A sudden shout made Bai Ling stop mid-step. He turned, and saw a Feline girl. After she confirmed the trio's attire, her expression brightened noticeably.
"Thank you so much for what you did just now!"
Bai Ling immediately understood what she meant and waved it off.
"Just a small thing. Those workers were brave, too."
Given the current situation in No. 4 Valley, aside from the hub center, there were Riftlanders everywhere—nowhere was safe. Anyone who dared to leave camp to transport supplies had real guts.
"…If you and the two ladies hadn't acted in time, we'd have suffered much heavier losses."
"It was nothing."
Judging by their appearance, the Feline girl continued, they were planning to enter the quarantine zone. Her voice sank as she spoke.
"The anchor is extremely dangerous. The entire mine district has been wrecked beyond recognition… Even our worker teams outside…."
Her tone grew lower and lower—then she steadied herself, wiped the corner of her eye, and forced the emotion down.
"…Sorry."
"In any case—if there's no need, please don't step into the quarantine zone. The danger level is especially high."
Then, abruptly, Bai Ling felt heat bloom on the back of his hand.
At that exact instant—
Ding—
A sound rang directly inside his head.
And in the next moment—
Bai Ling saw.
Inside the Cradle of Generations, Nephis stood on a vast, empty stretch of ground. Before her was only a statue, half-buried in the mud.
From that statue, she drew out a chunk of Originium and gripped it in her hand.
Suddenly, as if she sensed something, she snapped her head around and swept her arm.
Boom—!
Countless shockwaves erupted outward, making the entire ore-vein source zone's ground scream in protest.
"…Strange… was that just my imagination?"
She lowered her arm and stared at the Originium in her hand.
If her underlings couldn't do it… then she'd try a small-scale catastrophe.
And that monster that had fallen silent years ago—had slept long enough.
It was time to wake.
"Senior Bai Ling?"
Eyldera's voice reached his ear, yanking him back to the present.
"Hmm?"
"…What were you thinking just now? Why did you suddenly freeze there?"
"I saw something. In the Cradle of Generations—something is rising up from underground. It's waking."
Alya had been about to head toward the medical center to help, but the instant she heard Bai Ling's words, she stopped dead and whipped around.
"…You said… something is waking inside the Cradle?!"
"It looked like… an Angel."
Bai Ling gave his best judgment, though he still couldn't say for sure what it truly was.
Why could he see that woman's movements at all?
"Senior—your left hand…"
Bai Ling looked down.
The horned-eagle icon—previously almost fully charged—had dimmed significantly again.
And a fleeting notification flashed and vanished.
[Ability Unlocked: Link (C)]
Because he had forcibly used a Command Seal to order her back at the valley fortress?
Other than that possibility, Bai Ling couldn't think of any reason.
"It's fine. But… the Angel inside the Cradle—what is it?"
"…A disaster," someone answered quietly. "A forgotten story from within the quarantine zone…"
An elderly woman stepped out from the side, her expression carrying loneliness—and an ache so heavy it was hard to describe.
"Grandma Zhana, you're here?"
"I'm just an old bag of bones, but it's good to walk around now and then."
After replying to the Feline girl, she turned back to Bai Ling.
"Young man… you said you saw it in the Cradle?"
"It hasn't fully awakened. But it's already climbing out of the mud—slowly."
Bai Ling recalled the image he'd just seen… and Nephis's final actions. There was no doubt—she had awakened that thing.
"…Sigh. It really has revived again… This is something from a very, very long time ago. Only old folk like us still remember."
"Once, someone planted an Originium seed within the Cradle of Generations…"
As the old woman began to recount the past, Eyjafjalla looked toward the massive Originium mountain in the distance—and even she was shaken.
She'd thought it was just a peak left behind after artificial mining.
But it turned out—
It was the remains of a colossal Originium tree.
On Terra, there simply wasn't space for something like that to grow.
Here, Oripathy was no longer an unsolvable terminal illness.
But on Terra, Oripathy was calamity itself.
And that Angel… had the terrifying power to reshape terrain with ease.
No matter how you looked at it, these things were horrifying.
And then there was its name—
Cradle of Generations.
A surprisingly fitting name—so closely aligned with its history.
Something that shouldn't exist on Terra stirred Eyjafjalla's urge to explore even more.
Bai Ling's attention, however, shifted to another point.
"…Could you let me see that Originium sapling with my own eyes?"
"Of course. It's over there."
Following the old woman, the three quickly came upon the sapling—like a fragment that Eyjafjalla had picked up.
If the fragments she'd collected were dead matter, then the sapling in front of them was still alive.
It had little vitality—but it was living mineral, unmistakably.
And the moment Bai Ling drew close and focused—
A presence surfaced from it, almost the same origin as Little Penguin's.
So Little Penguin really was that incredible…
And just as he was still marveling, Bai Ling felt someone approaching from behind—along with a familiar greeting.
....
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