**Chapter 6: The Return of the First Day** (Seeking Continued Reading)

Young Lante hugged a smoldering, old gas stove, wrapped in clothes pieced together from scraps of fabric, lying halfway up a thickly snow-covered mountainside, staring at the distant First Day Mountains. Nearby, several other Rhine people were lurking just like him, wrapped in thick clothes and holding stoves for warmth. However, some had brand-new, refined gas stoves and snow-white clothing, making it easier for them to blend in with the snowy terrain. Others, like young Lante, had patched-up stoves with iron plates and wore multicolored garments made from scrap fabric.

Even though Lante's stove was in such poor condition, it was still a treasured possession he had traded all his savings for. It was his only hope for keeping warm in this freezing white hell, maintaining enough body heat to survive long enough to obtain the mechanical demon parts and, with that accomplishment, join the city guard to secure a stable life.

He carefully moved his numb arm, adjusting the intake valve on the stove to further reduce the flame. By making the gas burn slower, he could stretch out what little fuel remained for a bit longer. As long as his chest stayed warm, he wouldn’t freeze to death; frostbite on his hands and feet was unavoidable.

Thinking about the possibility of finally obtaining the mechanical demon parts, joining the city guard, and moving out of the sunless lower district into the middle district where sunlight occasionally shone, filled Lante with hope. There, he wouldn't have to share a bed with others, taking turns to sleep, but could have a bed of his own—or even an entire room. This thought filled him with renewed energy and warmth. Although Lante was poor, he held a beautiful vision for the future.

Compared to him, a boy named Mari, dressed in snow-white clothes nearby, had a different mindset. Mari had a new gas stove to keep him warm and plenty of gas to burn without conserving. He was just stiff from lying in wait for too long, yet his heart was full of complaints. After all, acquiring mechanical demon parts was a dangerous task that should never have fallen to a noble's son like him. He should have been living in the upper district of the City of Divine Grace, bathing in sunlight, sipping red wine, and waiting for the commoners from the lower district to sacrifice themselves to collect the parts for him. But since his father had become a criminal, he too was branded as the son of a criminal, leaving him no choice but to mix with these commoners.

"The patrolling mechanical demon is coming. Everyone, stay silent," a burly middle-aged man whispered gruffly, and everyone immediately lowered their heads a little more. Through a gap in the snow, young Lante watched the mechanical demon approaching from the foot of the mountain.

It was his first time seeing the legendary mechanical demon, with its enormous metal body and six thick mechanical legs, which made a rumbling sound as it stomped through the snow. Lante could feel his heartbeat quicken.

When the mechanical demon with its evil red-glowing eyes finally moved farther away, Lante let out a sigh of relief.

"Quick, quick, quick! Move! The patrolling mechanical demon just left, and there won't be another one for a while. Now's the best time!" shouted the middle-aged man as he leapt up from his hiding place and dashed downhill. Everyone immediately followed. Lante, with numb limbs from the cold, staggered as he struggled to keep up with Uncle Simon.

The six Rhine people stumbled down the mountainside, trudging toward the distant Olden Mountains, which loomed like a giant dragon lying across the land, its vast body dominating the world. Lante had heard many legends about these mountains. It was said that they were the First Day Fortress left behind by the First Day Dominator thousands of years ago. One day, the Dominator would return to destroy the world, and the mechanical demons were the fortress's guardians. The mountains were not truly mountains but a colossal building the size of a mountain range.

In the past, Lante had thought these tales were just stories to scare children. After all, how could there be a building as large as a mountain range in the world? And how could the sacred City of Divine Grace, the only city blessed by the gods, fear such a mythical figure? But now, as he faced the endless Olden Mountains and the mechanical demons that appeared intermittently, Lante finally realized his own insignificance.

Following Uncle Simon, the group hid and crept along until they reached a mechanical graveyard buried in snow near the Olden Mountains. This was their destination; here, parts from dead mechanical demons were discarded. Their task was to gather any usable parts from the graveyard.

"Start searching! Remember, we only have an hour before the mechanical demon patrol resumes. We must leave by then, or we’ll be dead if they find us," Simon cautioned in a low voice.

"Got it." The group stifled their excitement and quickly began their search. But before they could find the parts they needed, the ground started to tremble, catching everyone off guard and sending them tumbling.

"How… how is this possible? The mountains… the First Day Mountains are splitting apart!" Simon’s eyes nearly popped out of his head.

The others saw it too: the Olden Mountains were splitting open from the middle. The tremors were coming from the shifting mountains.

"What's happening, Uncle Simon?" young Lante shouted to the only person in their group who had been here multiple times before.

"How would I know? Nothing like this has ever happened before," Simon muttered, feeling like he was losing his mind.

Especially when he saw that, as the mountains parted, an overwhelming number of mechanical demons were pouring out from all directions. Where they usually saw only one or two patrolling demons, now they were swarming across the land in countless numbers. Even near the mechanical graveyard, a large number of demons appeared.

Unlike before, the mechanical demons seemed to completely ignore them, even passing right by without attacking.

The six Rhine people stood frozen, surrounded by the sea of mechanical demons.

"Uncle Simon, what… what should we do?" For the first time, young Mari addressed Simon as "Uncle." Faced with the threat of death, the noble son had finally set aside his pride. Unfortunately, Simon had no answer. He had already fainted from fright.