Chapter 1: The Lost Traveler

  Sixty-seven days ago, the flames of war that had engulfed almost the entire world dissipated with the unconditional surrender of the Helvetic Empire and its vassal states.

  The spring breeze filled with floral scent dispersed the gloom, and the warm March sun, which had a hint of coolness, once again shone on the southwestern coast of the Karpas continent, where the White Sand City, which was once prosperous but now scarred from war, stood.

  Against the sky as blue as velvet, a "Ankasha-class" airship with thirty-two black steam-powered cannon barrels exposed, but its body riddled with bullet holes, flew slowly and heavily in the direction of the sea and sky intersection, leaving behind a trail of white and black steam.

  Sunlight, shining on the cold and massive steel hull of this Loraine Republic Sky Guard-painted vessel, seemed to be silently interpreting the gods of war... who had not yet completely departed.

  The colossal statue of the sea god Alonso, standing on the cliff overlooking the sea, its only remaining half arm stretching towards the sky at an angle in the sunlight - during the war, it symbolized the noble spirit of the 360,000 citizens of Baisha City who would never yield to the evil axis in the passionate or dull speeches of the successive mayors of Baisha.

  But now, the silent sunlight poured over the broken sea god statue lighthouse, shining a little bit on the large slum near the seaside of Baisha City.

  In the slum, a dimly lit attic that had been on all night, a pair of pale and weak hands due to malnutrition pushed open the old wooden window facing the sea from inside.

  As the wooden window opened, a fourteen or fifteen-year-old boy with black hair and eyes stretched his waist and stuck his head out of the window, greedily taking a deep breath of the fresh air filled with sea salt.

  Slowly exhaling the turbid air from his abdomen, the black-haired and black-eyed youth with bloodshot eyes looked up at the Sea God's giant statue lighthouse, his gaze filled with a sense of weariness that was not befitting of a fourteen or fifteen year old.

  The eyes of the black-haired, black-eyed youth also reflected the still-not-far-away Ankasha-class airship. He could clearly see some sturdy Minotaur soldiers carrying huge steam guns on their backs, as well as several short and stout Dwarf engineers waving large wrenches, busily running back and forth, seemingly inspecting something.

  This far surpasses human vision, originating from the thin blood of the spirit tribe in the body of a black-haired and black-eyed youth.

  It was probably thanks to this thin spiritual bloodline that the black-haired, black-eyed youth had a very good appearance, and although he was still young, he could already be described as having sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, with a face like jade.

  "Good morning, Lord Alonso, Marlon-Riest greets you. Hmm... counting it up, this is the 25th time I've said good morning to you, so can you please bless me a little today?"

  He shifted his gaze back to the colossal statue of Poseidon shrouded in thin fog, and the black-haired, black-eyed youth muttered to himself.

  As soon as he finished speaking, the black-haired and black-eyed young man turned his head and cast his gaze on the desk in the small attic under the dim lamp light.

  On the desk, a large volume of neatly arranged square manuscript paper was bound together. The topmost sheet, used as the cover, had two rows of slightly stiff but clearly written copperplate script:

  The Little Prince

  The Wanderer - Ma Long

  ……

  Yes, Ma Long felt like a "lost traveler".

  Ma Long, he was just an ordinary office worker in the earthly world, working from 9 to 5, who would secretly play with his mobile phone during work hours and write some online articles after work. After finishing writing online articles... it's time for him to dominate the forums with his keyboard skills.

  But that's not all of Ma Long's life - because every weekend, Ma Long will go to the children's welfare institute in the suburbs without fail, and after receiving his salary and manuscript fees each month, he will also take out one-third of them to buy various food and books for the children in this welfare institute.

  When he encounters elderly people and children begging on the streets, Ma Long never directly gives them money, but instead finds a nearby restaurant to buy some hot food and delivers it into their hands.

  Some friends have said to Ma Long's face that he is very foolish, saying that now it's a money-based society, and why bother with those people who are destined to be eliminated by society anyway, you won't get any benefits from it!

  Ma Long's response was just a faint smile and a faint sentence: "Yeah, I also think I'm quite stupid, but I still think I can go and have the ability... to help them out a bit, that's enough."

  In short, Ma Long is such a person who enjoys this high-tech era like all young people, and has a kind and delicate soul that has not been covered by indifference.

  It was just twenty-six days ago that Ma Long's peaceful life was disrupted ——

  That day, after finishing another volunteer work at the welfare institute, Ma Long returned to his cozy home, took a comfortable hot bath, and opened his computer. On the forum he often visited, he saw that someone with the username "Shén Shàng Shén ài ōu" had posted a thread titled "The Future Fantasy World in Your Eyes", which had broken 100 comments and was trending red-hot.

  With the intention of watching the excitement, Ma Long opened the post.

  After roughly browsing through 70 or 80 posts, Ma Long felt a bit bored. Because apart from those messy posts, all the other posts describing the "future mysterious fantasy world" were essentially the same - a sword and magic fantasy world filled with war and hatred, where civilization was forever stuck at a medieval level of magic.

  Ha! Humans on this earth, despite having a dog-eat-dog brain for thousands of years, have still managed to take step by step from ignorance to modern civilization.

  Even in a world of fantasy, filled with all sorts of non-human creatures such as elves, werewolves and vampires, they are ultimately intelligent beings... Can the civilization level of a world composed of intelligent beings forever remain at the medieval stage?

  It's impossible... Every large-scale war and the peace that follows will inevitably bring about an unprecedented fusion of culture and technology, and when culture and technology accumulate to a certain extent, they will inevitably lead to an unstoppable explosion!

  Will the world of humans never have a "genius" who can turn steam, oil and other energies into a driving force for civilization's great progress and explosion, possessing magical powers, magic crystals and even more powerful energies?

  So, in Ma Long's view, even if the fantasy world is a real world where gods truly exist, the overall trend of the world will inevitably and irreversibly evolve from the ignorant era of gods to the gradually enlightened era of mortals!

  Steam-powered machinery, pneumatic-powered machinery, and magic-powered machinery will eventually replace the giant beasts and dragons with "iron bodies" to dominate the sea, land, and air!

  As for the gods who look down on the masses, the withering of the power of faith brought about by human enlightenment will cause them to retreat to the second line, even if they do not fall in a humiliating manner.

  Or maybe there will be a new batch of gods emerging, such as the "God of Steaming Steel" or the "God of Steam Punk".

  In short, the "future fantasy world" in Ma Long's eyes should be a civilized world that is completely different from the Earth's civilization. In fact, among the vocabulary he knows, only the word "steampunk" roughly matches his idea.

  Lagging behind and advancing together, magic and science coexist...

  With this idea in mind, Ma Long tapped away at the keyboard for half an hour and poured out his thoughts as the 197th comment.

  "You——, is correct! You——, will receive a reward!"

  The moment Ma Long's finger lifted off the Enter key, this sentence full of infinite majesty exploded in his ears!

  Then, before Malong could react with the proper amount of shock, everything went black and he lost all consciousness.

  When Ma Long woke up again, he had become a 14-year-old boy named Ma Long-Liszt living in the slums of Baisha City. He lived in a future fantasy world where all gods retreated to the second line and ordinary people rose with wisdom, and had just finished a magical and steamy version of "World War".

  Memories inherited from "Ma Long-Li Si Te" occasionally appear, such as green-skinned half-beasts, long-eared elves, bearded dwarves, steam trains spewing white fog, and steel airships soaring in the sky, etc., clearly telling Ma Long that his post about the "Future Fantasy World" was correct.

  From originally being average-looking, he transformed into a handsome guy with sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, resembling a white-faced version of Louis Koo, which seemed to be a very delightful thing for him.

  What Ma Long needs more is his current identity - a war orphan.

  The Loleo Republic, which has just escaped the flames of war, is now busy competing with two allied nations of similar strength for the spoils of war, but has forgotten war orphans like Marlon-Lyster.

  In other places, Ma Long was unclear, but at least in this slum where he lived, the number of homeless war orphans exceeded 200.

  Malnutrition and loneliness are constantly eroding these poor, tattered war orphans, making them the "ghetto demons" despised by decent people.

  Compared to street urchins, Marx's situation was much better, as he at least had a dilapidated garret that could provide some shelter and a meager income from his work as a clerk.

  The problem is that for Malong, who has long been accustomed to the modern life of the earth, neither this dilapidated attic nor those unpalatable inferior foods are acceptable living conditions.

  So, Ma Long started his "creation" on the first night he was possessed by a soul in this world, twenty-six days ago.

  Maybe it's because of the crossing, but Ma Long can now clearly remember all the movies, magazines and music he has ever seen or heard.

  "Alas, Heaven does not take, but instead suffers its blame."

  "For myself and in order to help those poor children, I... need to make use of these memories."

  As he pushed open the creaky wooden window of the attic, Marlon, who had fully merged with the memories of war orphan Marlon-Lyster, was saying to himself before greeting the giant statue of sea god Alonso's lighthouse in the sunlight for the first time.