At this moment, the public had no idea what had happened.
Information from Haicheng was sealed the instant it arose.
This was not like before; people could no longer bear a blow of that magnitude.
Until Haicheng was fully liberated and every invading sea beast suppressed, no news from the city would be allowed to spread.
"Heaven has granted us the resurgence of spiritual energy—but it has taken far too many lives as well."
"Is this truly the era we wanted?"
Deep within the Imperial Capital, an elderly man in a Zhongshan suit gazed into the distance and let out a faint sigh.
By the natural course of the times, breakthroughs in technology might one day have cast quiet Earth back into war—but that was a matter for the far future. The resurgence of spiritual energy had happened now.
Its advent accelerated human evolution and brought new changes to technology.
Countless people profited by it.
Yet at the same time, many lost their lives; nations were shaken; hard-won peace was broken once more.
He could not call the resurgence a tragedy—he understood that this energy had indeed brought endless benefits to the planet and to humankind. But he could not call it a blessing either, for the price paid was immense.
And in the future, they would continue to pay it.
Cough, cough…
As if his stirred emotions had triggered it, the old man began to cough.
A green radiance fell across his body; the fit gradually eased, and his whole person seemed much lighter.
"Longfellow, I'm troubling you again."
He addressed the fresh-faced youth standing behind him.
"This is what I should do," Charles Longfellow replied solemnly.
The ability he had awakened was not strong—in truth, it had no combat utility at all.
But it was the strongest support-type power in existence, the very ability countless people dreamed of.
Longevity.
He himself could enjoy a life span tens of times that of an ordinary human—and as his cultivation advanced, his life span would only lengthen.
If that power acted on him alone, it would be nothing special—envy from others, perhaps, but no wider use.
The crucial point was that his ability could be shared.
He could share his life span with others.
If not for this ability, the old man before him would have died of illness a month ago. By relying on Charles's power, he had survived to the present.
If he could, Charles would have liked to grant the elder a full century outright. He knew who the old man was; he knew how much this man had given Huaxia over a lifetime.
But the old man refused.
Long life easily warped a person's thinking, stoking greed and ambition—especially at his level, where such impulses could swell to fill the mind.
Bound by a finite life, he could devote himself wholly to Huaxia's service and accept borrowed years with a clear conscience. Unbound by that limit, he no longer knew what he himself might do.
The dragonslayer becomes the dragon.
He did not want to become the sort of man he despised, and still less to betray the country he had served with loyal heart.
"To found an era is too hard," he murmured.
"It was so in the past. It is so now. It will be so in the future."
He shook his head; something blurred in his eyes, as if he were remembering days gone by, but in the end he only sighed.
At the same time, Bureaus of Spiritual Energy in city after city began to muster their espers.
Tianhai, Vantora City, the Imperial Capital, Gusu…
The danger facing Haicheng this time was even more terrifying than the second aura tide. Even though Skyler Quinn, Firewing, and Chris Frost—the first wave of powerhouses—were already on their way, officials could not set their worries down.
That vast shadow in the deep sea, and the seemingly casual, horrific attack it had unleashed…
However confident they were in those three, they could not bring themselves to believe their strength surpassed its.
They even braced for a scenario in which only the combined strength of Skyler, Firewing, and Chris could match it.
If possible, of course they prayed that would not come to pass—because they had no idea where that mutated sea beast stood on the ocean's scale. If it took all three just to hold it even, and if that creature ranked only "upper-middle" in the sea…
Then they would have to swallow a hard truth:
Even the very top espers among humans were only middling figures in the ocean.
They certainly did not wish for such a thing to be true—but they had no choice except to think it through.
Sometimes they truly hated the words "just in case," because they meant having to account for far too many contingencies—most of which would likely never happen.
"May your martial fortune flourish!"
In city after city, instructors rasped the words to the warriors about to depart.
They were instructors, yes, but what they could teach was combat skills and experience; they did not possess the gifts needed for extraordinary abilities.
If they could, of course they would go along—but they could not.
They still had more warriors to train, and more importantly, they were too weak to fight as espers. As soldiers, Haicheng already had all it could use; their going would serve no purpose.
To live is to be able to create greater value.
"Yes, sir!"
The cry thundered from the ranks of every Bureau of Spiritual Energy.
Those bureaus had been founded during the first aura tide, and many had been drawn in by the pay. But after the second wave, those unsuited to the work had left; the ones who remained—and the newly joined—understood exactly what the bureau stood for.
To join was an honor—but it also meant a greater chance of death.
Since the second resurgence, many brothers around them had died: to protect civilians; to cover a teammate's retreat; in ambushes by mutated beasts; in… innumerable ways.
Before, they had survived.
This time, they might die.
It didn't matter.
To die protecting the people—to die guarding Huaxia—was an honor to them.
Among the idioms born of a long river of history, there are some no man can resist:
Seal the Wolves at Juxu; be the first to scale the walls and seize the banner; foremost among the three armies; a name recorded in the annals; bring honor to one's ancestors; peerless servant of the nation; pillar of the state; top the imperial examinations; shake Huaxia with one's might; receive the Mandate of Heaven; long life and everlasting prosperity…
In this battle, they could be said to bring honor to their forebears; to shake Huaxia; to have their names recorded in the annals of history!
Even if they died, they could meet their ancestors in the Nine Springs and say with pride:
"Forebears—your descendant has made something of himself!"
"We didn't disgrace our family name."
And if they lived—if they came home and saw their parents again—they could grin wide and say:
"Dad, Mom—your son counts as a hero now, doesn't he?"
(End of this chapter)