Arcanum: Chaos Path

Chapter 377 The Sun God and the God of Wisdom
"...Was there something wrong with what I said?" Hrabergen met Rolin's gaze, which was filled with a mixture of respect and surprise. He was clearly a little uncomfortable with this and had to bite the bullet to ask.

He really couldn't understand why Rowling was suddenly looking at him like that, after all, Helabogen found it hard to comprehend the unique Chinese reverence for the god of learning.

Or to be more precise, Hrabergen found it difficult to understand why someone like Rollin would respect a scholar.

“No, I’m just a little surprised.” Roland shook his head and smiled as he said, “You are both gods in the realm of knowledge, but compared to Stiano, you give me the feeling of a true scholar.”

Stiano is the real name of the god of steam and machinery.

Herabogen paused for a moment upon hearing this, then his expression turned strange, as if he wanted to laugh but had to suppress it. Herabogen then tried to regain his composure and said:

"We just have different areas of expertise. When it comes to mechanical creations, steam is more specialized than I am."

Upon hearing this, Luo Lin paused for a second, recalling the scene he had witnessed during his recent visit to the mechanical laboratory, and said tactfully, "I think knowing what to do but not why to do it cannot be considered true expertise."

Luo Lin really didn't mean to harass the steam base. Although he didn't like that old guy, the other party was working for him after all, so Luo Lin was still very friendly to his tools.

The main steam engine is really disappointing. This doesn't mean that the steam engine doesn't work properly in the mechanical laboratory, but rather that it completely abandons its own brain and simply does whatever Rosell says.

Just as Russell propelled the Industrial Revolution over 100 years ago, the steam-based counterpart in the mechanical laboratory relied almost entirely on Russell to advance the experimental progress. Steam itself cannot be said to have made no contribution; it can only be said to have acted as a simulator, using its extraordinary abilities to help Russell experiment with his various ideas, embodying the principle of "though the child doesn't understand, the child is very powerful."

To be honest, after watching for a while, Rolin really wanted to say, "Why don't you two switch paths?" Roselle should be the god of steam, while Stiano is just a foolish ruler who would rather have a beauty than his kingdom!
You know what, it doesn't seem like it's entirely out of the question. Rosell turning into Rosell isn't actually impossible... Rowling's thoughts wandered for a moment, mainly recalling Rosell's collection of cross-dressing pictures—referring to certain blasphemous cards. Then he came back to his senses, looked at the inscrutable Herabogen, and smiled, saying, "Sorry, I was a little distracted."

"It's alright." Herabergen shook his head repeatedly, embarrassed to admit that he had actually been a little distracted just now.

Helabogen had just subconsciously recalled the various behaviors of Steam Ascension Sequence 0.

Therefore, even Helabogen couldn't honestly say that the God of Steam was very skilled in the field of steam.

After all, if the God of Steam was truly skilled in the field of steam, he wouldn't have been unable to develop any mechanical technology before Rosell's arrival, and after Rosell's fall, he would have completely blocked the technology progress bar, creating a bunch of fancy but ultimately unproductive things.

Previously, Helabogen had not thought about this in detail, only feeling that those who could become Sequence 0 all had their own extraordinary abilities. Now, he suddenly had some doubts, perhaps there were also slackers among Sequence 0.

“No, generally speaking, we don’t call such people slackers, we call them lucky geniuses. Perhaps steampunk will achieve greater success by taking the path of monsters.” Rolin seemed to have seen through what Herabogen was thinking and said with a smile. Herabogen fell silent, because he found himself unable to refute.

"Alright, now that we've finished discussing the two thousand assistants, it's time for some catching up!" Roland said, clearly enjoying the drama, and shoved the previously silent Sun God towards Helabogen, urging him on:
"After so long, don't you have anything to say to each other? Don't worry about me, really, you can treat me like I'm not there. I promise I won't say anything or go around telling others."

As he said this, Luo Lin's eyes were filled with a thirst for gossip. He really loved watching the drama unfold and almost openly displayed this fondness.

The sun god smiled helplessly and took a step forward without resisting Rolin's force. His gaze fell on Heraborgen, his eyes showing neither resentment nor rejection, only a faint smile.

He said, "Although I should say it's been a long time, it is still a bit strange, after all, we only just met in my time."

Upon hearing this, Herabogen's eyes flickered slightly, perhaps recalling something or not. He looked at the Sun God, meeting his gaze in those eyes that were very similar in color to the sun, yet did not feel scorching, only warm. He pursed his lips and said, "But for me, it has been a long time since we last met, Your Majesty the Sun God."

The sun god paused for a moment upon hearing this address, then smiled with a nostalgic expression and said, "It's been a long time since I've heard you address me like that. The last time was probably back in the Second Age."

"Back then, I was still a servant of the Imaginary Dragon," Herabergen said, not refuting, but echoing the sun god's words. He looked at the sun god and said:

"Because I saw your potential and wanted to join your cause, I chose to contact you. It turns out that my choice was correct. You are truly someone worth following, in every aspect."

"Can I take this as an affirmation of me?" the sun god asked with a smile.

"To be more precise, it's an affirmation of my judgment," Hrabergen said, neither refuting nor admitting it.

The sun god paused for a moment, then smiled and nodded, saying, "Your judgment is indeed excellent."

The two then exchanged a glance, and Hrabergen finally couldn't help but laugh, saying, "Actually, I've wanted to make a joke like this with you for a long time, but I always felt it wasn't appropriate, since my relationship with you isn't as close as with other people."

Upon hearing this, the Sun God frowned for once and looked at Helabogen, saying, "Perhaps our relationship is not as close as others, but I don't think we are so distant that we can't even have a joke."

The sun god wouldn't ignore the fact that He and Herabogen were equally close, but the sun god also genuinely didn't think there was anything between Herabogen and Him that couldn't be joked about. He wasn't the kind of boss who was very strict; most of the time, as long as it didn't involve matters of principle, the sun god's personality was quite mild.

(End of this chapter)