Chapter 1 Midgard

They didn't need to traverse all nine realms to reach Midgard. In fact, after Heimdall's demise, the Midgard space was fixed on the seventh layer of the Nine Realms. Behind this solidified space chain were the Land of the Dead, Nibelungen, and the Netherworld, Niflheim. It was said that the situation in those two realms was even worse than elsewhere, but Hao Ren wasn't planning on going there yet.

They had arrived at their destination: the Twilight City of Midgard.

Midgard, in the days when the ancient Norse pantheon flourished, was the "Middle Court" of the Nine Realms. It was said that Odin led the gods in creating various realms on the branches of Yggdrasil and designated the Middle Court as the place for humans to live. In Vivian's memory, however, this continent was actually a human experiment base and observation test site for the Norse "gods." But no matter what it once was, it was now much like the other realms.

The sky over Midgard was a reddish leaden color, and the extremely dim sunlight was almost like midnight. Thick, murky clouds covered the dry, twisted earth, casting a gloomy atmosphere as if the sky were about to collapse. Beneath the sky, the scorched earth no longer resembled its former self. Dense smoke and poisonous mist spewed from the crisscrossing ravines, and the tentacles of the First Born writhed out of the largest fissures, forming ridge-like protrusions on the ravaged land. Midgard once had several rivers flowing across the continent and lush green mountains, but now the rivers were dry, the mountains were barren, and hidden among those scorched mountains was the last spark of this "world": the Twilight City.

The spherical aircraft glided silently through the darkness, gradually approaching the energy reaction source ahead. The situation in Twilight City was displayed in front of everyone through a holographic projection.

It was a city of unprecedented scale, but also a chaotic, dilapidated, and precarious one. Hao Ren saw a layer of dim yellow barrier enveloping the mountains. The barrier was translucent and irregularly shaped, as if someone had barely managed to expand it to its current form. Inside the barrier, large patches of strangely shaped buildings could be vaguely seen, piled on top of each other like some kind of pathological, proliferating biological tissue, filling every inch of space within the barrier, just as Wendell had described.

The spherical aircraft stopped some distance away from Twilight City. Anthony asked, "Where's the entrance?"

Wendell was clearly a little unaccustomed to this aerial view. He stood at the edge of the platform, trying to identify the city's location before finally pointing to a corner of the barrier near the mountains: "That's one of the main gates."

"Any procedures for entry and exit?" Hao Ren asked casually.

Wendell simply shrugged silently: "Procedures for whom?"

Hao Ren quickly understood the meaning of those words:

Inside the barrier was humanity's last refuge, and outside the barrier was endless darkness devoid of life. This could almost be seen as a one-way passage between the living and the dead. Who, other than the Light Seekers, would dare to go out through the gate? And in this dark, eternal night, who would come in from outside the gate?

Perhaps the gates of Twilight City had once had checkpoints thousands of years ago, but now, even if there were checkpoints, they would probably be just for show.

"After we get inside, we'll probably have to deal with the Steam Council," Wendell said. "They manage the city."

The old man's expression was somewhat complicated when he mentioned the name "Steam Council," with respect mixed with a hint of dissatisfaction. He respected the city's administrators, but the "Steam Council" wasn't very supportive of the Light Seekers' cause. In fact, as a pragmatic governing body, the Steam Council was constantly reducing the size of the Light Seekers' ranks and had recently issued a notice that no more Light Seekers would be sent out.

This made Wendell's feelings towards the council quite complex.

"The Steam Council? We're not that interested in them," Vivian shook her head. "We want to see your 'Ancient Saint' first. He's still protecting Twilight City, isn't he?"

An "Ancient Saint" who had suddenly appeared two thousand years ago and had been protecting the humans of Midgard ever since had aroused great interest in Vivian. She vaguely guessed the identity of this Ancient Saint, and that was the main reason she had come here.

Wendell looked at Vivian in surprise. "Of course, the Ancient Saint is still protecting us… but it might not be easy for you to see him."

Hao Ren raised an eyebrow. "He doesn't see people?"

Wendell shook his head. "The Ancient Saint hasn't shown himself for many years. Now, only the caretakers in the lower district can see him. Thousands upon thousands of people in Twilight City want to meet the Ancient Saint, but ordinary people simply don't have the qualifications."

Vivian smiled slightly. "We've come from other realms. I think that identity is enough to pique the Ancient Saint's interest."

Wendell's expression changed instantly, clearly agreeing with Vivian's words. He pondered for a moment. "Alright, that makes sense. The Ancient Saint will definitely be pleased to hear your news. I can send a message through the Light Seekers' organization, we still have some connections with the caretakers. But no matter what, the Steam Council will definitely notice you – they manage the entire city, and nothing that happens inside the barrier can escape their notice. To be honest, I'd like to avoid provoking the Steam Council as much as possible. They're… very conservative, and they might try to stop you."

Hao Ren waved his hand to indicate that it didn't matter, and then Anthony controlled the spherical aircraft to approach the gate of Twilight City.

Some distance away from the barrier, the aircraft slowly descended. The group landed directly on the desolate ground outside the city: in order not to cause too much commotion, they couldn't fly in with such a large aerospace shuttle.

Before reaching the barrier entrance, Hao Ren saw the situation outside the light curtain.

Outside the barrier was a dry, twisted land. This land had also been eroded by the magic energy storm, and everything on the ground showed severe signs of weathering. Amidst the severely weathered surface landscape, a rather ancient group of buildings could be faintly seen: they were probably the ruins of the city from more than two thousand years ago.

These ruins were right next to the Twilight Barrier, and some of the wreckage and ruins were even bisected by the barrier!

"That's the ancient city of 'Camshillun'," Wendell explained, standing next to Hao Ren, curiously fiddling with the life-support collar around his neck: this small device was much more advanced than his original magic amulet, and he felt nothing walking in the magic energy radiation with it on.

Looking at the ruins of the building bisected by the light curtain, Hao Ren knew what they meant: "Life and death, separated by a wall."

"When the barrier went up, this city happened to be on its edge, so the entire city was divided in two. Half of the city survived and is now integrated into a district of Twilight City, while the part outside the barrier became like this," Wendell shook his head with a bitter smile. "There wasn't a gate here back then, so everyone who was left outside died."

Lily stood on a large protruding rock and looked into the distance, suddenly discovering that there were actually faint lights in the dark wilderness outside the light curtain, and was immediately surprised: "There are actually people active outside the barrier?!"

"Those are the gatherers," Wendell nodded. "Resources are always limited inside Twilight City, so we have to risk mining ore from the darkness outside. Scholars have researched various methods, and we've managed to open three mines near Twilight City, but unfortunately, we can't go any further. Come with me, I know a route after we enter the gate that will minimize trouble."

The group advanced in the darkness, heading towards the magnificent light curtain that emitted a soft yellow glow.

Twilight City, just like its name, served as the last beacon of civilization on the Midgard continent shrouded in eternal night.

They spent half an hour crossing the city ruins outside the barrier. After passing through a large area of weathered and collapsed building remains that were almost indistinguishable from rubble, a light ring appeared before them, wide enough for three trucks to pass side by side: this light ring was embedded in the Twilight Barrier, and the light curtain within the ring was noticeably thinner than outside. This was the gate.

"What is this?" Hao Ren asked in surprise, looking at the things outside the gate.

Outside the gate of Twilight City was a piece of land that had been artificially leveled. Here, hundreds of sculptures were arranged in a disorderly manner, all depicting men, women, old, and young in various poses. Some of these lifelike figures were crying with their heads in their hands, some were helping each other, and some were struggling to crawl forward. But the most striking thing was the sculpture at the very front of the group: it was an old man sitting on the ground, his legs withered and deformed, but he was just sitting there quietly, facing the gate, waving and smiling.

It was as if he was waving and smiling at the entire Twilight City, or as if someone was standing on the other side of the light curtain, and the old man was waving goodbye to him.

To this, Wendell only said one sentence: "When the barrier went up, half of the city was left outside."