Chapter 1033: The Confused Ancient Remnant Ice King
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1033: The Confused Ancient Remnant Ice King
Even in the midst of this incredibly tense standoff, it wasn't just the Wizards who understood what was happening; the Elves and Holy Angels had grasped the situation as well.
The Witches, it seemed, had not lied to them.
At the Blood Slave Peninsula in the Core World, someone had activated a self-destructive blood sacrifice ritual beneath the Blood Slave Academy.
A blood sacrifice of such staggering proportions was not merely a means of slaughter, but a method of Transcendent Siphoning.
The sheer volume of blood energy, mingled with a vast sea of chaotic soul essence, was enough to trigger a bloodline atavism in a Marquis Vampire. It would cause their life level to skyrocket to the Transcendent level, transforming them into a Transcendent Vampire!
Vampires were not naturally a Transcendent Race—at least, not the branch residing in the Main World. The end of their racial path was the Transcendent Progenitor, which was merely at the Transcendent Saint Realm. Any Duke Vampire who ascended to the Transcendent level would fall back below that threshold the moment they dropped even a single sub-level.
None of them had expected a mere Blood Slave Academy to stir up such a massive commotion!
But… so what?
Under normal circumstances, this would undoubtedly be a major crisis. The Witch Academy had once pushed things to an extreme over a single Little Witch; now that so many people had died at once, it would be nearly impossible to move past it.
Yet, no matter how difficult it was to move past, could it possibly be more important than the matter at hand?
If people in the Main World died, they could be replaced. But if there was no longer a place for them in the Main World, what did it matter to them if every ordinary person in the Core World was wiped out?
They demanded an explanation from the Witch Academy!
They wanted the experiment that had just caused the disturbance to be terminated and destroyed, and they wanted a guarantee that the Witches would never attempt anything similar again.
This was their bottom line.
However, from the Witches' perspective, such a demand was utterly unacceptable.
Aside from the fact that the Three Great Transcendent Races held the lifeblood of the Main World in their hands, what other chips did they have to bring to the negotiating table?
Nothing! Absolutely nothing!
But… it was enough.
After all, those with nothing to lose didn't fear those with everything to lose. If pushed too far, the opposition was capable of any madness.
Just as the conflict reached its breaking point, the entire Main World shuddered!
This was a tremor in the material space of the Main World. An anomaly of such a high level was imperceptible to those living on the surface of the Core World.
However, the Transcendents deep within the Real Time could clearly feel the vibration of the Main World's material space.
The disturbance originated from the Void outside the Main World!
A Transcendent was ignoring the Transcendent limit and forcibly breaking into the Main World!
No matter the nature of a world, there was always a limit to the Transcendent life it could sustain.
Theoretically, the Main World was no exception. Furthermore, in its current fractured state, it was even less capable of bearing an excessive number of Transcendent beings.
A forced entry would leave an indelible mark on the Main World, and it might even be destroyed if it could not support the numbers.
As for why the Three Great Transcendent Races didn't use this as a threat against the Witches… it was because the Witches had the ability to slaughter the Transcendents of the Main World down to a sustainable level before the world itself could collapse!
Were the lives of Transcendents not lives as well?
"Damn it! It's you, Rebel Witch! What do you think you're doing?!"
When all the Transcendents arrived at the source of the disturbance, their expressions shifted drastically!
"Tsk… weren't you all just having an argument? I'm just picking up a few of my friends. Is there any need for such hostility?" Sheryl spoke as if she had done nothing wrong. Even facing so many Transcendents, her tone was as casual as if she were chatting about the weather.
At this moment, the "few friends" she spoke of appeared as blurry figures at the boundaries outside the Main World.
"You cursed Rebel Witch! Do you have any idea what you're doing? Do you intend to destroy the Main World?!"
Tuskage's eyes were nearly split with rage. He could no longer care about anything else, even though he had just been shouting about mutual destruction and threatening Mei Lind with his deterrence plan.
But now that someone even crazier had appeared, he had no choice but to step in and stop her.
As he shouted those words, he thought he saw the faint, ghost-of-a-smile on Mei Lind's lips, and he realized his leverage had utterly vanished.
Whether this Rebel Witch was acting in coordination with Mei Lind or not, he couldn't afford to gamble.
Because even if this was just a play, the Rebel Witch could still backstab Mei Lind and turn the act into reality. They could not withstand the presence of more than two additional Rebel Witches in the Main World.
They had lost this standoff completely. They might not fear those with everything to lose, but they feared madmen…
The Witches held too many cards, and they were far too good. With a single move, the opposition was left defenseless.
It seemed the Witch Academy's scheme had succeeded entirely, yet they didn't even know what exactly the Witches had succeeded in doing.
The blockade of the Expansion Realm was something even ordinary Transcendent Witches could not bypass, so it was only natural they remained in the dark for the time being.
They only knew that the Witches had secretly moved the previous Qi Observation Art project to the Expansion Realm, and then everything had gone silent.
For such a massive operation—one that even involved the cooperation of a Rebel Witch—they knew that whatever the Witches were doing was far from simple.
Anger, resentment, frustration…
A whirlwind of emotions swirled in Tuskage's heart.
Yet, there was nothing he could do.
By the time Tuskage realized all of this, the matter was already over.
* * *
The Expansion Realm.
After a brief explanation to the Ancient Remnant Ice King regarding its questions, the entity fell silent.
It was calmer than any of us Witches had anticipated; it seemed to accept its own existence quite rapidly.
The fundamental reason it could do so was… the Main World Ley Line.
The moment the Ancient Remnant Ice King interfaced with the world's ley lines, one thing was proven: it had been accepted by the Main World.
The regionality of ley lines was a barrier that no one, save for Ley Line Life, could cross.
It had become the de facto World Guardian of the Main World.
Its continuous movements pulled at the Main World's Luck, and every shift tugged at my heartstrings.
I was well aware that the only reason I could stand here calmly conversing with the Ancient Remnant Ice King was that so many Witch sisters were buying time for me.
But things had already reached this point; worrying was useless.
I understood that from the moment my consciousness was incubated, I had only one task left.
The trade.
"Since you understand most of it now, I wish to ask once more: are you the Will Executor of the Main World's consciousness?"
"This is the second time you've asked me that. Is the answer so important to you?" The Ancient Remnant Ice King looked at me, not giving a direct answer.
Not much time had passed since its awakening, yet it had already moved past the simple thought process of answering whatever it was asked.
"Yes. This question is not only important to me, but to you… as well." I nodded, offering no further explanation, instead drawing it into the problem.
"Why?"
I looked at the Ancient Remnant Ice King. The fact that it could ask such a thing meant it was truly ignorant of the matter.
But that was very strange!
In the final step of consciousness incubation, the intervention of Luck was a vital reason for the birth of the Ancient Remnant Ice King's consciousness.
Because of this, I felt there was a high probability it was the Will Executor of the Main World's consciousness.
It might even be the negotiating medium for this trade, as the Main World's consciousness could not communicate directly.
"Because I have a trade with the Main World," I finally said to the Ancient Remnant Ice King after a long silence.
"A trade… what was traded? Does it involve me?"
"It doesn't just involve you. It… is you."
"I don't understand."
"The original you was one of my Life Clones. I made a trade with the Main World: I would receive a piece of information, and the Main World would take you."
"What does the Main World want with me?"
"It wants you to…" I looked up at the Ancient Remnant Ice King. I didn't rush to answer, instead drawing out the words.
Though the Ancient Remnant Ice King possessed immense power, its consciousness was like that of a newborn babe.
When I perceived it with my Heart Sense, it was pure and defenseless. I could feel its growing anxiety; it seemed to know something, but it didn't understand what it was, or perhaps it didn't know what it signified.
Now, hearing my words, it saw the possibility of learning the truth!
"It wants you to… become the guardian of this broken world."
The moment the words left my lips, I could clearly read its realization through its spirit.
In that instant, it seemed to have connected many dots, so much so that it failed to respond to me for a long time. I waited quietly by its side, allowing it to organize its thoughts, just as I was waiting for its answer.
A long time passed. Neither I nor the Witches beside me showed any sign of impatience.
"Why me?"
During its silence, the Ancient Remnant Ice King had tried to speak several times, only to stop itself. Ultimately, the first question it asked was not the one it wanted to ask most.
"Do you want freedom?"
"You didn't answer my question."
"Becoming the World Guardian can also be your freedom. No one is demanding that you must do anything specific."
"You didn't answer my question!" The Ancient Remnant Ice King's tone became urgent, even tinged with a hint of rebellious fury.
Facing this surge of pressure, I believed I understood the Ancient Remnant Ice Clan better than the King standing before me.
Having prepared my speech, I spoke without hesitation:
"Because you are the King of the Ancient Remnant Ice Clan! You will lead your people to revival within the Main World! The Ancient Remnant Ice Clan is a race born for power. Power… will always find its destination. It will either be annihilated in conflict or endure through protection. Tell me, is it truly freedom that you want?"
A new life will always waver between the self and the race. But to seek the meaning of life, one must eventually step out of the cage called the "self."
If you find yourself doing something without knowing why, do not overthink it—for that is likely the very meaning your life has been searching for.
"You didn't say any of this to me before," the Ancient Remnant Ice King said, its aura deflating as it spoke with a complex tone.
"Because it wasn't a question you needed to consider yet." And more importantly, you didn't ask.
"Then when should I consider it?"
"When you have experienced life, when you have known what it is to be lost, and when you ask from the bottom of your heart—that is when you should think on it. Otherwise, just like now, everything I say will only leave you confused."
"I still don't understand. I just want to know the truth…"
"Is that so? You are only thinking because you have developed a consciousness and encountered doubts. It's like possessing a power you don't understand; only after hearing my answer do you realize: you became the World Guardian because of a trade."
"I never told you that…"
"But I can guess. I can even go so far as to guess that within your consciousness, there are obsessive cognitions driving you to do certain things… It seems I've guessed correctly?" I looked at the Ancient Remnant Ice King. Though it lacked what one might call micro-expressions, the feedback from my Heart Sense didn't lie.
It truly was the Will Executor of the Main World's consciousness; it simply wasn't aware of it.
As expected… this Main World's techniques for kidnapping and retaining people were still as clumsy as ever.
I should have seen it earlier, from the moment I first resisted Luck and refused to be a Child of Destiny, to when Tan Han also rejected the Luck Seed.
The will of a person—no, the will of any life—is something even a world consciousness finds difficult to fathom.
"The world consciousness is the same as ever, so stiff and awkward even toward its own children."
"That will within my consciousness… is that the so-called world consciousness?"
"Consciousness and will are different. The will within your consciousness only represents the expectations of the Main World. It could have easily carved that will into your very cognition, but it chose not to. It did so because it expects you to become an existence like itself, out of your own heart." I began to smooth-talk the entity.
Regardless, no one could prove I was lying unless they had the ability to drag the Main World's consciousness out for a confrontation!
And… it truly was a form of freedom granted to the entity, wasn't it?
At the very beginning, the moment that consciousness was born, I had even prepared myself to have another conversation with it, just like back then.
I hadn't expected the final outcome to be like this.
"Expectations…"
Hearing my explanation, the Ancient Remnant Ice King seemed to fall into deep thought after hearing that specific word.
Another long wait followed.
"Then… what does a World Guardian need to do?"
"You don't need to do anything, nor should you feel burdened by the need to do something," I said, shaking my head. "It's like how we don't consciously try to 'do things' for a home; rather, it's the things we do that make us feel like it is a home. The Main World is the same."
"Home…"
"Rather than agonizing in ignorance, it's better to experience what life is in the Main World. Then, you can face the questions that once puzzled you. In truth, many problems are just us making things difficult for ourselves. For instance, you've never asked why you were born as an Ancient Remnant Ice being instead of a Witch."
"Then… why am I an Ancient Remnant Ice being? Why not a Witch?"
"..." My expression faltered for a moment. Then, I pulled out a Mana Source. "You could be a Witch too. Accept this Mana Source, and you can become a Beyonder Prospective Witch. Want to try?"
"...No. I think I know why I am an Ancient Remnant Ice being now."
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to be a Witch yet."