Steampunk: Sixth Era Epic-Chapter 1745 - 1744: Night of the Eclipse

The moonlights bathed the earth, while the great lake under the moon remained calm.

As Shard’s figure rose from the lake’s surface towards the night sky, the edges of the three rounds of the moon high above also began to show tiny black shadows the size of rice grains, which spread across the rest of the moon.

This speed was hard to detect with the naked eye, but in front of the astronomical telescope on the third floor of No. 6, Saint Delan Square, Luviya captured it immediately.

She moved away from the telescope, confirmed the time with her pocket watch, recorded the timestamp, and then looked into the telescope again, quickly sketching the moon’s current form with a pencil on white paper.

Although she was busy with her work, the girl with violet eyes was still worried about Shard, who should have returned home by this time but hadn’t yet.

"Meow~"

Suddenly hearing a cat’s meow, she turned around and saw Mia appearing at the door, lowering her head and meowing.

"Are you worried about Shard too?"

She asked softly, put down the paper and pen, retrieved the night snack Shard had prepared for her from under an overturned food box, placed it on the table for the cat to eat, and then quickly walked to the table and picked up her divination cards. Without any preparation, she drew a card at random, and her pretty brows furrowed:

"This is... The Lovers?"

"It has begun."

In the Far North, at Saint Byrons Integrated Academy.

As the ceiling above the Great Library gradually became transparent, and the astrolabe concealed itself, the starry sky of the Far North revealed itself beyond the ceiling. Miss Danester waved her hand to manipulate the starry sky, magnifying it until the three moons, undergoing a lunar eclipse, occupied the entire view, allowing the people sitting on the sofa in the center of the library to clearly see the changes in the starry sky.

Principal Mr. Pigman, Lisa Anaster, the Astronomy College professors, and some tense students prepared to take notes together looked up at the extremely clear starry sky. Mrs. Molly Toriell, who had read Shard’s fortune with "Detective holding a blood-stained Roder Card" when he joined last summer, joked with a smile:

"Clearly this is a library, yet it has the best astrological equipment in the entire school, even our Astronomy College doesn’t have such a setup."

"There’s nothing we can do about that, when the Academy of the Fifth Era was first established, this library was the initial building, thus it contains the most effort from Miss Feliana and Miss Orland."

Principal "Silver Guardian" Andre Pigman, wearing a monocle, replied with a smile, and as for the name "Miss Orland," it was only recently investigated and confirmed.

"This is the library’s property, since the start of the Fifth Era, so the Astronomy College should not test me."

Miss Danester also said, then indicated for everyone to focus on observing this rare millennial lunar eclipse.

Professor Lagus, the vice-dean of the Astronomy College, had stood up to begin an explanation of this lunar eclipse. All the lights in the library went out, and under Miss Danester’s control, the full view of the starry sky at the moment was projected below the moons.

Professor Lagus tapped his throat, then spoke in a loud voice:

"Professors and students, please look here..."

The red-haired librarian, who had originally been smiling as she watched the moons, feeling the influence of the lunar eclipse, suddenly changed her expression. Raising her hand, a small, red leather-bound book flew towards her, its red cover visibly fading.

"What’s wrong?"

The principal asked softly. Miss Danester stood up from the sofa, disregarding the astonishment of the others:

"Continue without me, I’ll be leaving for a moment."

"Where to?"

"Green Lake."

"What?"

But the female sorcerer had already turned into a red light and disappeared from the spot.

"It has begun."

In Tobesk, at the top of the right tower of the Sun Church.

In the night breeze, the Circle Sorcerers of the Church, holding wine glasses, laughed and looked at the starry sky, while Hog Lendel, wearing "Sunlight Greatsword," stood with Iluna, who was dressed in a brown coat:

"Mr. Rondale, thank you for inviting me here to watch the eclipse, it’s truly dull staying at home alone. However, I never expected that within my 17 years, I would not only encounter the Star Ocean Whale passing through the Material World but also be able to witness a lunar eclipse of such significant magnitude."

The seventeen-year-old girl sighed with amazement. She had initially wanted to go to No. 6, Saint Delan Square to find Luviya. She was somewhat worried about Shard’s situation, as lunar eclipses greatly affect the users of lunar power:

"It’s becoming more and more chaotic."

"The epic of The Chosen One steadily progresses, and of course, the world won’t have the same peace as before. But let’s not talk about work tonight, Miss Beyas. Instead, let me test you on the significance of the lunar eclipse; besides being an astronomical event, what else does it symbolize?"

The two clinked their glasses, and the red wine in Mr. Rendell’s hand and the juice in Iluna’s cup swirled together.

"This won’t stump me. During my training in the Papacy, it was only my ancient language scores that were poor... The Sun and Moon symbolize the supreme existence of world brightness. Their alternating cycle maintains various fundamental rules of the material world. When a solar or lunar eclipse occurs, it signifies that some rules can become blurred for a short period."

"Indeed."

"The Sunlight Greatsword" smiled and nodded, looking towards the direction of Midshire Fort:

"Luckily, the chaos between life and death happened last autumn. If it were now, it would be truly disastrous... However, issues are also arising in the Green Lake Region. Chaotic space is affecting the entire material world."

"Yes, and it’s said that the Three Major Academies have already sent letters to students worldwide, warning Circle Sorcerers to pay attention to unusual spatial phenomena around them, stating that these occurrences will become more frequent after the lunar eclipse. Since last year, the number of chaotic spatial regions in the material world has rapidly increased, and the number of ordinary people inexplicably transported to distant places has also risen."

Iluna gently sighed, feeling a vague sense of foreboding in her heart. She had a strong feeling that Shard would encounter something very dangerous tonight.

"Has it started?"

In Green Lake City, at the entrance of the Green Lake Hotel, a lady who was about to push the door open unexpectedly looked towards the night sky. The dim light from the carriage windows, street gas lamps, and hotel windows collectively illuminated her figure, with a puzzled expression on her pretty face:

"So soon? I thought there would be still a few dozen minutes."

Nonetheless, she didn’t continue to observe the night sky; instead, she pushed the door and directly entered the hotel.

By this time, it was already past ten o’clock at night, and on the ground floor of the hotel, only a few guests remained for dinner. The hotel owner Mr. Soren Green and Miss Helena Green were checking accounts and invoices together behind the counter. Today was the last day of the Sowing Moon, and this was a necessary task.

Upon hearing the door open, Mr. Soren Green subconsciously lifted his head, ready to say "Welcome," but froze upon seeing the breathtakingly beautiful lady.

The lady who entered didn’t intend to speak to the man, approaching the front of the counter and speaking to Ms. Helena Green:

"Has John Watson, who lives on the third floor, appeared this evening?"

The golden eyes stared at the woman before her, and Ms. Green found herself inadvertently asking about the guest’s privacy, information she shouldn’t disclose:

"No, ma’am. He went out in the morning and hasn’t returned since."

Soon after realizing her mistake, Ms. Green covered her mouth and stepped back two paces. Mr. Green reached for the handgun under the counter, intending to protect his sister, but was stopped by the red-haired lady:

"Don’t be so tense. I am his... lover."

She gave a meaningful glance at the twin siblings behind the counter:

"I heard he’s been involved with another woman in this area, so I came to see... this woman, wouldn’t happen to be your relative, would she? Like an aunt?"

Mr. Green immediately lowered the handgun under the counter, looking towards his sister while taking a step back to let her answer. They certainly knew Megan’s relationship with "John Watson," and naturally had heard about the powerful Circle Sorcerer’s lover in another region.

"This lady... this..."

The woman with glasses had never handled such a matter before and didn’t know what to say for a moment:

"Our aunt, and Mr. Watson, they are..."

Fortunately, Galina Cavendish, who disguised her appearance, didn’t push the matter further. While Ms. Helena Green stammered, she turned with interest to survey the hotel, then unexpectedly looked towards the direction of Green Lake, detecting unusual element reactions:

"Don’t tell anyone I ever came here."

With those words, she made a spellcasting gesture, then turned and left the hotel. Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the carriage door parked at the hotel entrance opened, and Tifa’s voice came from the carriage:

"Miss, have you found him?"

"It seems to have started near the Green Lake’s surface... I had brought you on the train to fly over here early, planning to give him a surprise."

She didn’t board the carriage but waved to Tifa:

"But this can be considered a surprise too. Go wait for Angelina and them at the train station. I must see what trouble Megan has gotten Shard into this time."

The best observation point for this lunar eclipse was in the Old Continent’s central region, but other areas of the Old Continent could also view this rare astronomical phenomenon. Due to prior knowledge from newspapers about the upcoming lunar eclipse, many residents along Green Lake didn’t go to bed early, waiting to observe this rare astronomical spectacle.

The Circle Sorcerers from the surrounding church near Green Lake naturally looked up during their mission, witnessing the unique astronomical phenomenon with black shadows already forming on the tri-moon.

But soon, as they sensed the element changes and spiritual shifts worldwide due to the unique astronomical phenomenon’s emergence, they spotted an even more astonishing spectacle besides the Moon.