Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Chengshan is a very busy child; he is the Sage’s disciple. Yesterday’s hunting excursion was one of the rare bright spots in his life. Most of the time, he is simply working, always working, much like today, in Malin’s eyes, this ten-year-old child tirelessly labors.

Sometimes Malin would also read the intelligence Chengshan handed over, mostly information about the local area. Since the day before yesterday, various settlements and small cities, as well as many Adventurers, have observed the existence of Chaos. However, Chengshan’s Sage faction expressed no surprise at this because their Diviner faction had already issued warnings. Moreover, due to this matter, he had already reported potential issues with Cloud City’s Astromancers. Malin trusted that after receiving the message, the Sages would conduct a thorough review.

"The invasion of Subspace has become an observable fact, but mortals are so short-sighted... Lord Malin, how is the situation in the Western Human World?"

"Faced with Chaos, no amount of armament can truly be called ’adequate.’ I can only say that I’ve been doing my utmost." Malin set down the report in his hand and casually picked up the second one.

This particular report explicitly stated that among newborns in the region over the past five months, the proportion of those with abilities had already reached sixty percent.

The report reflected more than just a certain cheerfulness about the projected rise of average Thanan martial power in the next twenty years. Far more prevalent was the ineffable concern expressed by the medical system compiling the report... an indescribable worry.

Even as doctors, they understood that this proportion was excessively high—so high it was absurd, so high it was unnatural.

"What you’re reading now is the report on newborns, correct? Actually, within the internal reference reports of the Sage Hall, the ability-user rate among newborns in core areas of Thainan has already reached and exceeded seventy percent. That’s an inconceivably terrifying number." Chengshan said this without lifting her head, continuing to pore over the reports in front of her.

Malin nodded: "In Sydney and Farole, I have the most comprehensive firsthand intelligence. When I arrived, the proportion of newborns with abilities in the capital city of Farol, Rome, had already exceeded sixty-five percent. In Regensburg, the capital of Sydney’s Union, this figure was slightly lower—about sixty-three percent. This indicates that Subspace is gradually overlapping with our world. Population centers of the terrestrial realm are all being affected."

At this point, Malin and Chengshan, who had just looked up, exchanged glances. The latter sighed: "The larger the population in a city, the more Transcendents it contains. And Transcendents themselves are responding to the hungry calls emanating from Subspace. I’m deeply worried. If an Evil God invades this world through newborns, we may be entirely unable to detect its presence in time."