Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4415: Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust!

At these words, The First Farmer erupted with maddened power, authority flaring desperately as his gaze turned livid with combination of rage and terror.

He roared with voice that made surrounding space tremble.

”I have only lived virtuously! I have not conducted any-”

GUH!

Massive globule of blood erupted from his mouth mid-declaration, staining the blue-gold Primus Mana platform with crimson evidence of internal collapse.

He tumbled backward, body losing all coordination as he began wheezing violently.

His form trembled weakly as he raised shaking hand to point accusingly at Noah, attempting to articulate condemnation but managing only...

”You... you...!”

He began choking on his own blood as eruption of desperate power seemed to have catastrophically exacerbated his deteriorating condition.

This entire encounter, having his singular remaining hope of reclaiming Perpetual Harvest definitively removed, appeared to be the final element maintaining his cohesion.

And now... his existence flickered like candle in windstorm, about to extinguish at any moment.

Noah observed this being with calm that suggested neither satisfaction nor regret, merely acceptance of natural consequence. Deep within his existence, The Principle of Perpetual Harvest was buzzing with unusual intensity.

A prompt bloomed with somber weight.

|The Principle of Perpetual Harvest senses the imminent termination of immense efforts from the one who nurtured its Seed from initial manifestation.|

|The First Farmer, its original cultivator, approaches final cessation.|

|Perpetual Harvest acknowledges debt that can never be repaid.|

...!

When Perpetual Harvest confirmed what was unfolding, Noah calmly waved his hand.

In the next moment, Elyndra materialized beside him...confusion evident on her features before she registered her father’s condition.

She rushed to his side immediately, shock transforming into desperate concern.

Noah spoke with voice carrying clinical detachment.

”Your father is dying. This is his collapse.”

...!

Elyndra’s expression transformed into frantic desperation as she knelt beside The First Farmer.

”What transpired? He was stable! He should have retained many years before deterioration reached critical threshold...”

...!

She embraced her father as he continued coughing and choking on his own blood, his existence rapidly fading like light dimming toward extinction.

His body appeared sicker with each passing second, flesh becoming translucent, essence bleeding away into surrounding atmosphere.

Elyndra turned toward Noah with expression mixing hope and desperation.

”Can you do anything? Can Perpetual Harvest possibly...?”

She looked at him with eyes carrying possibility of salvation, seeking miracle that might reverse what was clearly inevitable.

Noah... shook his head calmly.

He had released The First Farmer. Had made his judgment and rendered his verdict.

He looked at this being who had once been magnificent!

Observed the Sanctuary where genuine Civilization of Farming could have flourished under proper guidance.

And he could only think one thing, repeated mentally with weight of waste recognized.

What a waste. What an absolute waste of potential.

...!

Elyndra grasped her father’s failing form as tears spilled from her eyes, grief overwhelming composure she had maintained throughout previous discussions.

Her voice emerged broken.

”I’m sorry... I’m so sorry, Father. I should have... I could have...”

The dying First Farmer continued coughing and wheezing, crimson eyes filled with blood as his gaze turned toward his daughter...attempting to communicate something, perhaps forgiveness or final instruction, but lacking strength to form coherent words.

Moments later...

Silence descended.

”...”

Absolute silence replaced the sounds of struggle and failing respiration.

A being that had been of immense power...perished like any old manaless human.

In that silence, Noah felt his existence buzzing with renewed intensity as grandeur of Perpetual Harvest bloomed heavily throughout his being.

Prompts manifested with ceremonial gravity:

|PERPETUAL HARVEST - GRIEF AND GRATITUDE|

|The Principle of Perpetual Harvest weeps for the collapse of the one who initially attempted to nurture it from seed to maturity.|

|Effort is effort, even failed effort carries weight and meaning.|

|All the failed efforts of The First Farmer are being gathered by Perpetual Harvest into grand Harvest of Collapse.|

|This accumulated essence will be directed toward Foundation Palisades as final gift from the original cultivator.|

|The Principle of Perpetual Harvest will undergo a heavy period of accelerated accumulation and enhanced potency.|

|200 Primus Mana Glyphs of Perpetual Harvest can now be formed.|

|Each Primus Mana Glyph of Perpetual Harvest can perform the following Empowerment effect:|

|—Next 24 hours following The First Farmer’s collapse: Grant 1 Quintillion Complexity and Purity temporarily|

|—After 24-hour period concludes: Standard effect reduces to 0.25 Quintillion per Glyph|

|MEMORIAL DECLARATION:|

|”Even in collapse, the harvest continues. Every effort, successful or failed, feeds the infinite cycle. The First Farmer planted seeds across eons. Some withered. Some were stolen. But the final harvest... the final harvest belongs to those who continue tending the fields after the original farmer has departed.”|

...!

The body of The First Farmer ceased all movement entirely, becoming nothing more than empty vessel from which consciousness had permanently fled.

Elyndra held onto that cooling form as she wept, bellowing her grief across the Sanctuary that would now require new stewardship.

Noah stood calmly nearby, gaze fixed on what could have been...on the Civilization of Farming that might have flourished if different choices had been made at critical junctures.

With brilliant eyes reflecting both his own advancement and recognition of another’s fall, he spoke words that carried weight of epitaph and eternal truth.

”Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We live, and we die, but the Harvest continues.”

...!

The wind across the Sanctuary carried his words throughout the domain, and somewhere in the distance, the Trees of Principles seemed to bow slightly...acknowledging passage of their original cultivator while accepting transition of stewardship to another.

The Harvest, indeed, continued.

---

The First Farmer, that enigmatic and powerful being who had once opposed tyranny with every fiber of his existence...had succumbed to injuries dealt by THE Living Emotive and perished.

This news propagated across the Sanctuary with velocity, spreading through existential connections binding all residents of this agricultural domain.

It reached those who had resided here for eons, and shocked the Living Existences who had only recently arrived seeking alliance.

The mysterious and formidable First Farmer was dead?!

It constituted terrifying and terrible revelation, but the manner in which natives of the Sanctuary received this information revealed layers beneath surface shock.

Their expressions showed they had already possessed some awareness, that even though his actual collapse proved surprising in its timing, this outcome was something they had been anticipating with dread certainty.

The decline had been visible to many. The deterioration inevitable to those who knew.

So at this time, near a simple farmland that represented everything The First Farmer had valued, the weak and the strong of the Sanctuary gathered in unprecedented assembly to lay him to rest!