Chapter 182 : Chapter 182
Chapter : 182
This was the first time I had used the skill since Silf gave it to me.
Using [Fountain of Life] didn't feel particularly magical, perhaps because I wasn't the target of the skill myself. I could only see a white light, smooth as silk, submerge into Palos's body.
However, the removal of negative effects in the skill was quite useful. Almost immediately after I used the skill, the debuffs on Palos's panel disappeared.
I reached out to check Palos's forehead. It was still hot to the touch, but I didn't know if it was my imagination, it seemed to have gone down a little.
I changed him to a fresh, magically chilled towel and opened [Carrier Pigeon]. Sure enough, I saw the message Merlin had sent, saying he had already found clues.
It was likely that the people of Augreer didn't know there was still anyone alive who knew this kind of malicious secret technique, or that someone could recognize it at a glance.
Therefore, aside from acting a bit secretively, the formations they set up were quite open and undisguised.
This was also because the Castellan of Slanlipa City had himself arranged magic circles around the city to ensure the annual Slanlipa Festival could proceed smoothly.
These malicious secret technique formations were hidden within the magic circles; commoners who didn't understand magic formations wouldn't be able to tell the difference at all.
Merlin's progress was fast. After knowing I didn't need to worry about Slanlipa City, I thought of the players who had been forcibly logged out.
It was actually a good thing that the players were forced offline at this critical moment. At least the members of 'Flame' could be fully mobilized. They didn't need to continue playing NPCs in the novice villages to deal with players, allowing them to resolve this crisis faster.
However, the player count increasing to ten thousand in three days was what I should be distressed about.
This wasn't just a matter of doubling the numbers; this was a full ten thousand players!
A small city in the Ailman Continent had about that many people, right? How many people did our 'Flame' have again?
At most, a few hundred people, and that was after I counted some extended members.
What counted as extended members? For example, in Freedom City, aside from children like Nika, Rocco, and Jeff who knew of my existence, the remaining children who didn't know but were assigned tasks by Nika and the others counted as extended members.
Even counting them, there were less than a thousand people. Facing three thousand scattered players was manageable, but three days later, ten thousand players would log into the game.
For a moment, I wanted to just give up and rot, but an inexplicable sense of responsibility made me continue to think with a headache about whether these few novice villages could digest so many players.
Thinking on the bright side, the sudden explosion of seven thousand people in the second closed beta could be considered preparation for the upcoming open beta. At least there was still a limit on the number of people.
If it were the open beta, I didn't dare to imagine how many players would flood into this world.
This was a holographic game.
I knew what this concept meant to the people on Blue Star. It represented that a future which only existed in fantasies had been realized.
I knew the water behind this game was very deep and it wasn't necessarily a product of technology, but the ordinary people on Blue Star didn't know that.
How many people were on Blue Star...?
Just the Flower Country alone had over a billion people. It was impossible for all of them to have the ability to play a holographic game, but at the very least, there would be tens of millions, or even over a hundred million people interested in a holographic game.
Not to mention foreign countries...
I hadn't seen foreign players yet, but with the second closed beta in three days, it was hard to say. The moment the term 'holographic' appeared, let alone ordinary people paying attention, even nations would likely pay close attention.
I smiled bitterly. The more I thought about it, the more bleak the future seemed.
That's hell you're walking into!
...
Chaos, darkness.
I seemed to be in a place without light. My surroundings were pitch black, without a single ray of light shining through.
Loneliness.
This was my first sensation.
I looked around blankly, but I couldn't quite recall why I had suddenly appeared here.
I tried hard to remember what I was doing before...
I was... taking care of Palos? No, that was earlier. Later I went to... right, I remembered the ten thousand players about to come online. I felt a headache, but I had to consider the upcoming arrangements.
And then?
My memory seemed to fragment there. Later, I seemed to have fallen asleep in a daze.
Did I faint directly from overusing my brain?
I rubbed my chin, thinking uncertainly.
But fainting shouldn't have fainted me into a place like this, right? Did I transmigrate again?
I tried summoning the system panel.
No reaction whatsoever.
I tried pinching myself. Good, it didn't hurt.
It seemed I was dreaming.
And it was a rare lucid dream.
Being able to think and control myself in a dream sounded a bit magical.
I wasn't anxious anymore. After all, who hasn't had a few dreams? I had dreams a few times since transmigrating; at most, it was just hard to wake up from a lucid dream.
I looked around. It was still pitch black, but I didn't know if it was an illusion; I seemed to be able to see some things now.
Before me seemed to be a cluster of buildings.
I tried to take a step forward, and immediately, my body seemed to lose control, walking straight ahead.
Me: ???
Why couldn't I control the dream again?
I tried to move a few times but didn't succeed. My forward strides, however, didn't stop.
I gave up. I would just treat it as experiencing a lucid dream in the first-person perspective.
As I walked, I discovered that the surrounding scene seemed to change. It was still pitch black, but I could see the things around me clearly. It was just that my viewpoint seemed to be fixed, so I could only move along with the perspective of the dream's protagonist.
The protagonist of the dream seemed to be someone who walked without looking sideways, moving with wind beneath their feet, not giving me any chance to observe the surrounding environment. I could only study it through fleeting glimpses.
This was a corridor.
There seemed to be exquisite reliefs on the corridor walls, but I couldn't see clearly what was carved.
I glanced at the ground from the corner of my eye. The light was very dim, and I couldn't see the specific structure of the ground, but I could determine that there were also some exquisite reliefs on the floor.
Why did it feel a bit familiar?
They say many dreams are constructed based on a person's memories. If I felt this scene was very familiar, it meant this scene was indeed stored in my memory, just that I hadn't thought of it normally.
I tried hard to recall. This kind of memory, which was obviously of Western architecture, definitely wasn't left from my life on Blue Star. Then it could only be from when I transmigrated into the Ailman Continent...
It could also be something that happened when my consciousness transmigrated while playing the game in the past.
But I really didn't remember that place having such a long corridor? Even the former Demon King's palace didn't have such a long corridor. Besides, the Demon King's palace floor wouldn't have such flashy and impractical reliefs; weren't they afraid of tripping while walking?
Mandiper?
No, Mandiper didn't have reliefs on the floor either. Moreover, Mandiper was an underground city; they would dim the lights for better cheating, but they wouldn't let the entire corridor plunge into such a dark environment.
Then where could it be...?
I even recalled the home of Dean, the first one I killed, and confirmed that greedy Castellan's home didn't have such a corridor either.
As I struggled to recall, the scene before my eyes changed again. No, more accurately, the light finally became brighter.
The relief floor beneath the feet abruptly disappeared, and the corridor walls on both sides changed from reliefs to complex murals, vividly depicting the legends of Ailman—the birth of the Gods.
Countless exquisite gems were embedded within, and soft gauze covered the space, making it appear mysterious and dreamlike, possessing the absurd beauty of a dream.
But I recognized it. Ironically, this absurd scene that looked most like a reconstruction from memory was something that had truly appeared in my memory.
Or rather, this was also once one of my dreams.
In the transmutation dreams I had when I played "Demon King" in the past.
If this was the place I was thinking of, then soon I would—
Just as I guessed, a heavy door soon appeared in front of me, carved with complex runes. They were obscure and hard to understand, but I could recognize that it was an ancient magic formation.
The person in my first-person view pushed open the door, revealing an even more mysterious and magnificent palace.
In the center of the palace, a woman wearing complex and exquisite robes stood with her back to him. Her black hair was pinned up, secured by delicate silver accessories. Even in the dim environment, the runes on her robes faintly glowed.
Seeming to hear the noise, the woman turned her head slightly, revealing half of her beautiful face.
—Sylvia, the High Priestess of the Eternal Empire.
The Demon King's army had accepted two traitors from the God of Light.
One was the Angel race led by Theodore. Angels were creations made by the God of Light; they were born as kin of the God of Light.
The other was the High Priestess Sylvia. Her birth tribe had once been bestowed blessings by a God. They were born believers of the God. That history was unverifiable, but their tribe indeed possessed a magical innate talent from birth: 'Prophecy'.
Every newborn in the tribe would possess a Divine Talent, and without exception, all of them were 'Prophecy'. They were called people who could observe the past and future.
It was hard to determine if the tribe had truly received a God's blessing, but the tribe had indeed believed in the God of Light from ancient times to the present. They were the most devout believers of the God of Light, except for Sylvia.
Sylvia was born during the most intense period of the War of the Gods. She was also the child with the most powerful talent in the tribe. When she was six years old and hadn't even awakened her Divine Talent yet, she had predicted the fall of a God.
Even though everyone in the tribe possessed the prophecy talent, no one could do what she did—predicting even the fall of a God. From the day Sylvia's prophecy came true, she became the next High Priestess of the tribe.
When Sylvia grew to fourteen, she officially became the tribe's High Priestess. Living up to the expectations of her clansmen, she led her people to avoid disaster after disaster, some caused by the ripple effects of the God wars, others brought by natural calamities.
Until four years later—when Sylvia came of age, the Demon King officially declared war on the Gods.
I didn't know what she predicted, but on the second day after the Demon King declared war, she told the clan leader she hoped to lead her clansmen to join the Demon King's team.
However, at that time, the Demon King's army was only in its nascent stage. Let alone facing the God of Light, it was difficult to defeat even an ordinary God. And their tribe had always believed in the God of Light.
Joining the Demon King's team was equivalent to betraying the God of Light. This was something all the clansmen could not tolerate.
Sylvia, who proposed this terrible idea, was deemed by her clansmen to be sick, suffering from hysteria. Unfortunately, Sylvia couldn't say what exactly she had predicted to make such a decision. After several failed negotiations, Sylvia was locked up.
Or rather, imprisoned. She was nominally still the tribe's High Priestess, but she had no rights as a High Priestess anymore, and even her freedom was stripped away.
Sylvia became a caged bird.
I didn't know exactly what happened during those days. When Sylvia talked about that past, she just smiled faintly.
'To love is to wish for life; to hate is to wish for death.'
Sylvia was imprisoned for ten years. When she was twenty-eight, the Demon King's team grew stronger. A battle of the Gods affected the tribe. While the clansmen struggled desperately to resist, it created an opportunity for Sylvia to escape.
Wearing that set of complicated, heavy, and even hard-to-walk-in High Priestess attire, she left the tribe of her birth, appeared before the Demon King, and reached a deal with him, achieving the splendid empire that followed.
This was written by the first recording officer of the Eternal Empire.
—Actually, the content of the deal wasn't complicated.
It was just that Sylvia would use her ability to help the Demon King end the War of the Gods, and the Demon King had to give her the position of High Priestess after everything ended. At the same time, after the War of the Gods ended, he could not proactively start wars for various reasons.
This was the background story of the UR card 'High Priestess - Sylvia'.
Yes, from my perspective, Sylvia, the High Priestess who defected from her tribe to join the Demon King's faction, was actually just a UR card I had drawn, and a card that came with new gameplay mechanics at that.
Since Sylvia joined the team, before starting a battle, aside from deploying plans, arranging combat personnel, setting up army formations, etc., the Demon King had an additional option to predict the war outcome.
Sylvia's support function was very strong. In a sense, she was even more useful than the bound healer support, the Elf King Silf. During the heated period of the God wars, the Demon King used Sylvia to win countless battles.
It was just that in the later stages of the God wars, the Demon King's army strength increased, and the Demon King himself had the power to fight Gods. Sylvia's prophecies became minimal in effect when facing higher-level Gods (like the God of Light and the other Six High Gods); she could hardly predict the actions of Gods.
So in the later stages, Sylvia basically went into seclusion within the Demon King's team. I would only go to Sylvia to check my luck before wanting to grind dungeons for good drops.
If the luck was good, I'd grind like crazy. If the luck was bad, then I'd pay to win + grind like crazy.
A person couldn't be unlucky forever, right?
And after the War of the Gods ended, when "Demon King" officially entered the infrastructure building phase, Sylvia, who became the High Priestess, truly went into seclusion. Even the function to check luck was gone; asking about it just resulted in "in retreat."
So much so that I later forgot I had the Sylvia card.
However, forgetting was impossible, because as soon as I saw this corridor decoration, I remembered the temple Sylvia demanded from the Demon King after the Eternal Empire was established.
Haha, how could I forget?
In the entire palace construction of the Eternal Empire, the temple where Sylvia resided was the most expensive. One temple was worth ten of the Demon King's sleeping chambers. While the Demon King's office hall was still a rough house, the temple had already been built to be magnificent.
The Demon King didn't even have the option to refuse!!!
I had a deep impression of this temple that once emptied my empire's treasury. I originally thought Sylvia built this temple for the fallen God of Light, since she was once a believer of the God of Light. But it turned out there wasn't a single element of the God of Light inside.
Even the murals depicted the birth of all Gods, the origin of life... it had a bit of a Goddess of Life vibe.
In summary, Sylvia also belonged to the 'Rebels' in the Demon King's team. The difference from the Angel race was: Theodore gave an order and the Angel race rebelled; Sylvia waved her hand and was imprisoned by her clansmen.
Although my thoughts were chaotic and I seemed to recall many things, it was merely an instant within the dream.
In my view, Sylvia, dressed in the complex High Priestess attire, turned around and bowed slightly in my direction. She looked up, opened her mouth, and shouted something.
I didn't hear it. The world seemed to have been muted.
Me: ...?
What was going on? It was bad enough I couldn't control this dream, but I wasn't even allowed to hear sound?
I instantly felt a bit bored. At this moment, I could only see Sylvia seeming to say a few sentences to me. Looking at her expression, I must have responded with something too, but I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear at all.
This scene didn't exist in my memory either. I felt that either I had forgotten, or this wasn't my memory at all.
Or perhaps, this wasn't my dream at all?
If I could see both people's mouth movements, maybe I could guess the dialogue content based on lip-reading, but how was I supposed to guess the dialogue content seeing only one person's mouth move?
I was somewhat helpless and could only watch Sylvia 'perform' like watching a pantomime.
She walked to a giant crystal ball. That crystal ball was half the height of a person; with the heavy base, it was level with Sylvia. She reached out to touch the crystal ball, closing her eyes as if... prophesying?
Speaking of which, the crystal ball Sylvia used for prophecy before wasn't this big, right? When did she get such a big crystal ball? Did she secretly embezzle from the Demon King's little treasury again?
So why didn't Sylvia need the Demon King's approval to use the Demon King's little treasury?
Was this polite?
I watched her press her hand on the crystal ball, close her eyes, and open her mouth: "..."
"..."
"..."
Couldn't hear, couldn't hear at all.
Just as I was about to zone out and analyze exactly how many Gold Coins from the Demon King's little treasury this magnificent dome of the temple had cost, a familiar sentence suddenly rang in my ear.
"...When war and calamity descend, and the world is annihilated, only the Descenders can save it all."
I suddenly snapped back to attention, looking at High Priestess Sylvia.
Her brows carried a hint of divine compassion, looking particularly strange, yet her mouth chanted the half-prophecy I had heard repeatedly since transmigrating.
'When war and calamity descend, and the world is annihilated, only the Descenders can save it all.'
At first, I thought the Descender in the prophecy referred to myself. After learning the specific time of the Descenders' arrival and that players were about to log in, I guessed the Descenders referred to the players.
The war and calamity mentioned earlier were traceable, but I had never found the connection between the world's annihilation and the Descenders.
Currently, I hadn't found the cause of the world's annihilation, and how the Descenders would save it was also a question. If forced to say, I felt the appearance of players was more likely to cause the world's destruction.
Don't underestimate the power of the Fourth Calamity!
I had always wanted to know the complete prophecy. However, Merlin, who had further interpreted the prophecy, expressed ignorance. Divic, Isabel, Legolas... none of the people who had lived from that time until now knew what the complete prophecy was or where it came from.
The only clue they could give me was that perhaps the head of the Demon King's Guard back then, Archangel Theodore, might know something.
But because of the warning from the game previously, I hesitated to go find Theodore. After all, my only lock-health cheat right now came from Theodore's feather. One careless move and I could really get myself killed.
This left me still muddled about the prophecy to this day.
But this dream pushed aside the heavy fog before my eyes a little. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say I was suddenly enlightened now.
The prophecy.
A prophecy that spread for unknown reasons yet was extremely accurate.
Damn it, having the ability to make a prophecy two thousand years into the future or even further, being able to spread the prophecy in the Eternal Empire without being stopped by Theodore, or even having it nipped in the cradle—who else could it be?
Wasn't Sylvia the only one left?!
As fellow 'Rebels', the relationship between Sylvia and Theodore could be called decent. If it was Sylvia who spread the prophecy, Theodore indeed wouldn't stop it directly; he would definitely go to Sylvia to ask the reason clearly.
Wait, then this dream I was currently in—
Could it be Theodore's memory?
My eyes widened in an instant. As if to verify my guess, the crystal ball in front of me retracted its light, and the translucent surface of the crystal ball reflected a face I could never forget.
Blonde hair, golden eyes, a handsome, sculpted appearance like the sun god Apollo.
Who else could it be but Archangel Theodore?
Accompanying my guess turning into reality, the originally silent dream finally had more sound.
"This is your prophecy?" Theodore's voice remained cold, carrying a tone that brooked no refusal. "Is this the reason you are spreading rumors in the city?"
"His Highness Theodore." Sylvia sighed deeply. "You said it yourself, this is my prophecy, not some rumor."
"Our world is fragile, just like this crystal ball. looking iridescent and incomparably magnificent, but like a flower in the mirror or the moon in the water, it shatters at a touch."
Theodore's voice was calm as always, but for some reason, I heard a hint of impatience in it. "I don't want to hear you say these prophecies. I just want to know the reason you are spreading rumors."
"Sylvia, do you want to shake the King's rule?"
"His Highness Theodore, do you know prophecy magic?" Sylvia answered with a question. She looked away, gazing at the gorgeous and exquisite temple, her eyes holding indescribable emotions.
Theodore: ...
I could answer this. Theodore didn't. He was a guy who only knew how to fight, born missing a screw, a natural fighting machine. Aside from combat-related skills, Theodore knew nothing else.
However, I couldn't make a sound in this dream. The temple fell into silence because of Theodore's silence. I even felt embarrassed for Sylvia.
Sylvia, however, didn't feel anything wrong. She spoke as if muttering to herself: "I could predict the fall of a God at six years old. At thirty-six, I helped His Majesty predict victory after victory. I have predicted countless things."
"Some good things came true, some bad things were reversed by His Majesty. I once thought His Majesty was where destiny lay. As long as His Majesty was there, everything wouldn't get worse."
"But I have never predicted such a terrifying future, His Highness Theodore."
Sylvia turned her head, her deep black eyes looking straight at Theodore.
"This world will welcome destruction. No matter how I calculate, I cannot find that single turning point."