EFB Chapter 77 The Many Firsts We Shared
Chapter 77 The Many Firsts We Shared
Chapter 77 The Many Firsts We Shared
The first rays of dawn pierced through the steel dome of the mobile city, spilling onto the messy deck.
The air still held the smoky aroma of last night's barbecue, but Lorraine was already standing in front of the mountain of spoils.
He held the heavy "Witch's Codex" in his hands, the pages rustling as no one turned them, finally settling on a brand new page that emitted a pale blue glow.
That is Ohm's chapter.
Lorraine's gaze swept across the screen, and lines of data refreshed like a waterfall.
Name: Ohm
[Race: Witch of a Thousand Machines (One of the Twins)]
[Rank: Third Rank]
[Core Authority: The Principles of All Affairs]
[Skill 1: Data Deconstruction]
[Description: As the pinnacle of the Golden Age, she sees the world as composed of code and geometry. She can instantly discern the structural blueprints, operational logic, and fatal weaknesses of any mechanical construct within her sight.]
[Note: This ability also applies to alchemical artifacts from the "mystical side," but the analysis speed depends on the complexity of the target.]
[Ability Two: Mechanical Possession]
[Description: She can infiltrate any mechanical unit with her consciousness, manipulate it, or seize ultimate control of it.]
[Current limit: Simultaneous control of twelve Tier 3 units, or one Tier 4 unit (requires enormous computing power, and the physical body will be in a dormant state).]
[Capability 3: Overclocking Command]
[Description: Forces the mechanical unit's durability to be overdrawn, increasing its performance by 300% for a short period of time]
[The cost: After overclocking, the unit will most likely be rendered unusable or require major repairs.]
[Note: It is said that during the Golden Age, some unmanned tanks would suddenly start up and charge into enemy lines to fire and kill the enemy.]
Some firearms, meticulously maintained by their owners, can still fire even when their ammunition is depleted.
No one knows the principle behind this creation out of thin air; it can only be attributed to the machine spirit stealing ammunition from another dimension.
Lorraine tapped the pages lightly with her fingers, her gaze lingering on the "Overclocking Commands" section for a long time.
"That's interesting."
He closed the book and turned to look at his side.
Ohm wore an oversized white shirt—Lorraine's spare clothes. The collar was loose, covering her newly remodeled petite body like a porcelain doll wearing an adult's clothes.
She was crouching in front of a half-destroyed mech, her silver-gray pupils shimmering with a ghostly blue light.
It was a dilapidated mech whose body had been severed by Haji and whose core had been extinguished.
It should no longer be able to move after being damaged to this extent.
But at this moment, in front of Ohm, it seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, the broken mechanical arm cracking and piecing itself back together, distorting and dancing a comical mechanical dance.
"How are you feeling?" Lorraine walked over and handed her a bottle of water that had been unscrewed.
The blue light in Ohm's eyes faded instantly, and the mech crashed back into the scrap heap with a thud.
She took the water bottle, first holding it carefully, feeling the coolness from the bottle wall, before tilting her head back and taking a sip.
"It's a strange feeling." Ohm licked the moisture off his lips, his voice brimming with barely concealed excitement. "Before, I could only give them macro commands like 'move' and 'attack,' but now—I can almost feel the aching of their gears meshing, the stinging pain of their aging circuit boards."
"If I wanted to, I could even control the rotation angle of every single screw on this piece of scrap metal."
She raised her hand and made a grasping motion with her palm towards the pile of scrap metal.
Sizzle—
A crackling sound of electricity rang out, and a dozen screws defied gravity and floated up, twirling merrily around her fingertips.
"Is this the power of a witch?" Ohm tilted his head, his long silver-gray hair falling over his shoulders. "It's even more unreasonable than simple machines and magic runes."
"You'll get used to it." Lorraine smiled. "This is a product of the new era. When faced with unpredictable changes, civilizations that only have feudal eras must have some other means to survive."
He pointed to the steel sky above, which led to the second level of the Tower of Babel.
"With your help, the success rate of that plan has increased by at least 70%."
Ohm tilted his head and blinked like Lorraine: "Are we going up there? To find—my sister?"
When she mentioned "older sister," a complex mix of fear and attachment flashed in her eyes.
As one of the twin souls of this city, no one knows the current situation of the second floor better than her.
That area is the "industrial zone" of this mobile city, and it was once the most insane arsenal of human civilization.
And dwelling atop it is her sister Messiah, the machine spirit that symbolizes "divinity" and "solemnity," who has long been eroded by the moments of vicissitude and driven mad by immense mental pressure over the long years.
It went completely berserk.
"That's right, we have to go up."
Lorraine stood up, her gaze sharp as a knife.
"Of Fimbulle's three winters, we've only managed to kill one so far, and that was after giving it our all."
"Only by reaching the second level and acquiring the resources there will we have the ability to fight against two fourth-tier powerhouses at the same time."
"Although there's a magic reactor on the second floor that we could blow up again, I'm not willing to use the same method a second time."
"This time, we will use our own strength to fight against those two fourth-tier monsters."
"However," Lorraine paused abruptly, "before we go up to see your sister, we need to prepare a big gift for her."
Lorraine's finger hovered over the construction page of "The Witch's Codex".
"I will use your power to build twelve more third-tier witch towers."
"Do you need to make any more preparations, Ohm?"
Ohm bit his lip.
The Witch's Tower?
I've seen other witches around my older brother use it before, and now I can get it too?
Ohm no longer hesitated and said solemnly, "No need, I have been looking forward to this for a long time."
Upon hearing the response, Lorraine pressed her finger heavily onto the build button.
[Confirmed Construction: Magic Heavy Cannon Tower (Tier 3) x12]
[Resources required: 1200 standard units of Military Alloy, 3600 Magic Crystals ——————]
Rumble—!!!
The once lifeless deck suddenly began to tremble.
The mountains of scrap metal and the remains of abandoned mechs in the camp warehouse seemed to be drawn by some kind of magnetic field, floating in mid-air against gravity.
They disintegrate, recombine, and melt in mid-air, with countless tiny screws and gears spinning rapidly in an unseen furnace, producing a metallic clanging sound that is both teeth-grinding and incredibly pleasant.
With twelve crisp metallic clangs, twelve magic-powered heavy cannon turrets rose from the ground and were embedded in the camp's walls.
That was no longer the rudimentary watchtower that Lorraine had previously built out of earth and stone; it was a true killing machine.
Each tower is over ten meters tall, cast entirely from a jet-black alloy, with deeply embedded magical patterns flowing across its surface, pulsating like blood vessels.
The main cannon at the top of the tower was so thick it was terrifying; its dark muzzle was big enough to fit an adult. Six secondary cannons surrounded it, like stars around the moon, their menacing appearance fully exposed.
"Go, Ohm." Lorraine looked at these masterpieces, a fervent glint in his eyes. "Feel them; they are your hands and your eyes."
Ohm took a deep breath, his bare little feet stepping onto the cold deck, and took a step forward.
She closed her eyes and opened her arms as if embracing the void.
[Neural connections — activation.]
[Handshake successful.]
[Loading fire control system —]
Buzz—
The patterns on the twelve magic-powered heavy artillery turrets suddenly lit up, turning into a dazzling ice blue—the soul color of Ohm.
In that instant, Ohm's body trembled violently.
An unprecedented feeling, flowing along an invisible network of magic, instantly washed over her newly acquired human nerve endings.
It's no longer about cold code interactions, nor is it about the monotonous data transmission of "0" and "1".
She felt—the wind?
It wasn't the wind blowing on the skin, but the airflow disturbance sensed by the twelve towers.
The cannon's steering bearing became her joint, the energy rhythm of the magic crystal became her heartbeat, and the magic patterns extending from the alloy armor became her sense of touch.
This feeling is so wonderful, it's even a little bit addictive.
Ohm suddenly opened his eyes, his silver pupils shining with an astonishing light.
"Big brother————"
She turned her head, her voice trembling with barely suppressed joy and surprise, like a child unwrapping a new gift, "I feel it—they're alive. No, they are me!"
She raised her right hand and gently flicked her slender fingers to the left.
boom!
A heavy artillery turret on the left responded instantly. The turret, weighing several tons, rotated at an incredible speed and agility that defied the laws of physics, and its muzzle precisely locked onto a rust spot the size of a fingernail a hundred meters away.
Then fire!
The heavy shells crashed down, instantly shattering the rusty area and the mechs behind it into dust.
"It's not just about control—"
Ohm clutched his chest, his cheeks flushed with excitement. "In the Golden Age, all the turrets were controlled by rigid programs. They only calculated trajectories, wind speeds, and lead times—cold, soulless."
"But now—" She looked at her palms, her eyes glazed over, "These witch towers, they seem to be responding to my will. My anger makes the cannon fire more intense, my calmness makes the aim more precise—it feels like my soul has been magnified twelve times, infinitely extended by this twelfth witch tower."
She walked quickly to Lorraine, her cheeks flushed and alluring like cherries.
"Lorraine, this feels really good!"
Ohm was somewhat incoherent, gesturing wildly with his hands, "For me, it's like—like the first time I ate barbecue yesterday!"
"After obtaining a human body, I experienced so many firsts."
She counted on her fingers, one by one, "The first time I felt the wind blowing through my hair, it was so ticklish."
"It was the first time I felt the warmth of the sun on my skin."
"The first time I tasted your grilled meat, the flavor of the fat bursting on my tongue was so delicious."
"And these first times—"
She looked up, her gaze fixed intently on Lorraine, her clear eyes reflecting his image. "It was all done with my older brother."
"Now, I've accomplished another first."
She pointed to the twelve towering turrets behind her, a bright, almost unfair smile spreading across her face. "This is the first time I've experienced the feeling of being connected to the Witch's Tower."
"This technology did not exist in the Golden Age. There were no witches then, only cold magic runes and machines."
"This novel experience that amplifies my power and makes me feel invincible—that's also what you gave me."
Looking at the girl in front of him, whose face was flushed with excitement because she had gained the sense of touch, Lorraine's gaze softened involuntarily.
Who would have thought that this being, who controls the entire mobile city and was once regarded as a god or a monster, has such a pure heart?
She wasn't some lofty god; she was just an ordinary girl trapped in a steel cage, someone who dreamed.
He reached out and covered Ohm's smooth, long silver hair, gently stroking it.
The sensation from my fingertips was no longer the cold metal shell, but the smoothness of my hair and the slight warmth emanating from my scalp.
"Ohm, this is just the beginning."
"For witches and lords who have long lives, our current experience is but a drop in the ocean."
"In the future, we will experience countless firsts together."
Ohm, like a cat being stroked, subconsciously rubbed against Lorraine's palm.
"Really?" She looked up, her eyes full of hope. "A first time even better than barbecue?"
"certainly."
Lorraine nodded: "Once we reach the second level of the Tower of Babel and kill the remaining two Fimbulwinters, I will take you, and this entire city, and march back to Frostwolf City."
"I'm going back to take back what's rightfully mine, and then I'll send those people to hell."
Lorraine spoke words of murder, yet her tone was as gentle as the morning light.
"Once we clean up all that trash, I'll take you to see a real human city. I'll take you to eat some real street food and let you experience the vibrant atmosphere of the human world."
"Street food?" Ohm's eyes lit up. "Even better than grilled meat?"
"Different styles."
Lorraine gestured, "I don't know if they sell it in Frostwolf City, but if I can't find it, I'll make it for you."
"There's something called 'tanghulu' (candied hawthorn). Bright red hawthorn berries, coated in a glistening layer of sugar syrup, are skewered on bamboo sticks."
"With one bite, you first hear the crisp sound of the sugar coating breaking, which is so sweet it sticks to your teeth. Then comes the sourness of the hawthorn, which makes your mouth water and instantly neutralizes the sweetness."
"Sweet and sour, that's from my past life—cough, that's what my little sister loved to eat the most in my memory."
Ohm listened intently, his throat moving unconsciously.
Although she didn't know what hawthorn was or what syrup was, just hearing Lorraine's description made her dormant instincts stir her newly acquired taste buds.