The Nora are a highly xenophobic tribe.

The enlightened Tirsa was interested in reforming the outdated traditions of the Nora people, but the old-fashioned Lansra was always opposed, and Tirsa's reform ideas were never implemented.

The other eldest mother, Jielong, has a biased stance in favor of Tirsa, but in order to avoid a split within the eldest mother's council, she has never expressed her position clearly.

This attack by outsiders made Jielong's mind change somewhat, which is why the two clashed before.

According to Nora tradition, only those with special permission are allowed to leave the territory and go to the outside world.

The war leader Sona led the elite of the clan to seek revenge was unanimously agreed upon by the three members of the Elder's Mother's Guild, and the others had only two options to leave the territory of the Nora clan.

One is to become an exile who will never return to his hometown from now on, and the other is to be given the title of seeker by the eldest mother, giving a special token.

Seekers can travel to mission places in the world, complete sacred tasks given by the Eldermother, and return to Nora territory at any time, which is completely different from the meaning of exiles.

Ever since she saw the woman who resembled her, Aloy had been planning to leave Nora territory and go on a quest for life, and Tirsa's proposal was right for her.

"I am willing to be a seeker, and I swear that I will track down the murderers who attacked the Holy Land and make them pay the price in blood!"

……

At the altar at the summit of the Holy Mountain, Tirsa and Geeron watched Eloy descend the mountain.

Tirsa turned to someone next to her and said, "Are you sure you don't want to say goodbye to her?" ”

Standing behind Tirsa was a middle-aged and elderly man with slightly gray hair, who smiled and shook his head, but said nothing.

"Ah, I forgot."

Tirsa patted her forehead: "Rost, you can speak." ”

Rost, Aloy's adoptive father.

More than a decade ago, the Nora tribe was invaded by foreign tribes, and Rost's wife and daughter were killed in the turmoil.

In order to avenge the blood feud of his wife and children, Rost volunteered to become a cursed death seeker.

He traced the murderer all the way out of the Nora holy land, traveled all over the world, and caught and killed the murderers who thought he was at large from now on.

After killing the last killer, Rost was also seriously injured in the decisive blow to the opponent.

Thinking he would never survive again, he wanted to get as close to Nora territory as possible before he died.

Luckily, on foot, the mortally wounded Rost was brought back to the territory by a member of his clan who had also lost a loved one at the hands of the murderer, and was eventually cured of his injuries.

Rost is a seeker of the dead, and according to Nora custom, his body has long since left the Holy Land, but his soul has always been with his people, and it stands to reason that his body should not return to the territory.

Remembering his success in avenging his people, the three eldest mothers made an exception and agreed that he would remain in the Holy Land as a banisher.

By chance, Tirsa handed over Elsa, who could not tolerate the tribe, to Rost to raise.

After more than ten years of getting along, Rost has long regarded Aloy as his real daughter.

The trial ceremony was Aloy's only chance to return to the tribe, and for the sake of his daughter's future, Rost said goodbye to Aloy and watched her enter the Heart of All Mothers under Tirsa's welcome.

"No need."

Rost looked at Aloy's distant back with relief: "I am an exile, even if I meet Aloy, I can't respond to her words. ”

"Rather than meeting and not being able to communicate, it is better to send her away silently."

"I believe that Aloy, who was born without the constraints of common sense, will definitely become an important promoter of the reform of the Nora people in the future."

"At that time, perhaps, I will have the opportunity to see her again."

……

Although the Eclipse Cult withdrew from Nora territory along the way, in order to stop the pursuers, Siris left behind many corrupted mechanical beasts along the way.

These mechanical beasts were also mixed with some medium-sized war machines that Lu Xiao had personally demolished before, and the Nora clan called them the Corrupters.

Vault 53 is located between the Kingdom of Calga and the Nora Clan, right on the border between the two communities.

The drone has been recording Aloy's itinerary from a high altitude, and Lu Xiao, who is sitting at the base, has witnessed her remove an overclocking from a degrader and hack it into the terminal...... That is, the cylindrical part that Lu Xiao got before.

After testing, Lu Xiao found that this small terminal could overwrite the logic program of wild automatons in a very short time, making their thinking module able to accept commands.

Automatons that have been corrupted by unknown energy cannot be rewritten, and larger automatons are difficult to rewrite with this small overclocking terminal.

"No wonder the Eclipse cultists are able to control the mechanical beasts in the wild to assist them."

Lu Xiao thoughtfully took out the strange energy that he had sealed with the Rune Rune before.

"So, what is this thing?"

"Since the Eclipse Cult has a way to control machines, why use this corrosive energy to corrupt the mechanical beasts?"

In order to test the effect of this energy, Lu Xiao deliberately caught a tanuki from the wild and came back.

This corrosive energy has proven to be not only useful for automatons, but also for carbon-based creatures who can be harmed if they touch it.

When Aloy recovered from her injuries and returned to the road, more than half a month had passed since the ambush.

At the same time as Aloy set off, Alethea and Consus, who had been in retreat for a long time, finally completed the task assigned to them by Lu Xiao.

"Lu Xiao, your intuition has come true."

Aletheia, who had recondensed her electronic body, said solemnly: "The pile of data fragments and broken code you found in Cradle 9 came from Gaia, and they were the 'wreckage' left behind after she performed the self-destruct procedure. ”

"Self-destruct?"

Lu Xiao grew her mouth in surprise: "Why did Gaia want to self-destruct?" Elizabeth Sobek's order? ”

"Of course not."

Rubbing his beard, Consus explained, "Judging from the data records we've recovered, Gaia had some sort of intractable problem more than two years ago. ”

The corners of Lu Xiao's eyebrows twitched, "Two years ago again?" ’

"Gaia did some calculations about the situation, and finally came to the conclusion that it could not be resolved by conventional means, and that self-destruction was only a last resort for her."

Alethea took over and said, "We've found the name you've always cared about in the broken data—Hades. ”

"More specific information can't be sorted out, but Gaia mentioned that she left a message for Elizabeth Sobek to keep in a message recorder."

"Huh?"

Lu Xiao frowned, and took out the small silver recorder he had gotten from the No. 9 cradle more than a month ago from his carry-on space.

"Is this it?"

"That's right."

"Elizabeth Sobek ......"

Lu Xiao lowered her head and muttered: "The real Dr. Sobek died as early as 2066, but Gaia mentioned her again after nearly a thousand years. ”

"Considering that Aloy was born through cloning technology that is impossible to accomplish with outside technology, it must be ......"

Alethea shrugged, "Eight, nine, ten, that's why I asked you to get Aloy's DNA sample." ”

"As long as Dr. Sobek's DNA can be used to unravel Gaia's 'last words', the truth about Gaia's self-destruction and Hades's whereabouts should be answered."

"Perhaps, we can also learn the truth of the year through Gaia's guidance, and understand what has happened on Earth in the past few hundred years."