Chapter 174: Battle of the Broken Coast, Completion
In the hazy dawn, the night broke silently.
It enveloped Rast, making his body appear ethereal and transparent, whisking him away from the echoes of history in the Sixth Epoch.
Towards the other side of the river of history, to that illusory distant place.
In the increasingly dense darkness and the gradually fading consciousness, Rast saw lines of azure text slowly flowing through his mind.
[Night World Mission – “Echoes of the Era: Battle of the Broken Coast” Completed]
[Current Mission Rating: EX]
[Rewards for this Night World mission have been issued]
[Sequence Experience Points have been granted]
[Your Arcana Sequence is: “Tower”]
[Your Rank Level is: 59 (Fifth Layer)]
[Due to reaching the limit of your current layer, excess Sequence Experience has been stored]
[Based on your journey in this historical echo, your Emblem Armor has been reforged and sublimated]
[Your Emblem Armor “Unfinished Fairy Tale Book” has been sublimated to “Distant Past Poem”]
[Your Emblem Armor “Traitor’s Wing” has been sublimated to “Chapter of the Fire Thief”]
[Your inherent skill “Heart of Iron” has been sublimated to “Iron Heart Dome”]
…
This is a realm shrouded in eternal night, without sun or moon, and without the brilliance of stars; only the boundless dim darkness reigns as the theme of this world.
And Rast was thus submerged in the silent night, feeling the soft veil of night fall upon him, slowly healing his wounds in a “retrace” manner.
Thanks to the inherent skill “Fate Nexus” he obtained from Grey, which cannot be actively canceled, Rast’s body possesses extraordinary resistance to time and fate-related skills, even achieving complete immunity within certain limits.
It is precisely because of this passive ability that Rast could maintain the upper hand in the battle against the silver-haired girl, who was a favored child of fate, during the confrontation in the Royal City Holy Scripture with Grey.
Grey’s trump cards—”World Stasis” and “Time Retrace,” near cheat-like supermodel skills—lost all effectiveness against Rast and were easily defeated by him.
However, “Fate Nexus,” as a double-edged sword inherent skill, posed a disadvantage when Rast was severely injured and needed to rely on retracing abilities for healing.
Not to mention that Grey’s healing was completely ineffective against him—even the routine repairs provided to each Night Traveler upon returning from missions in the Night World were minimal in effect on Rast.
Similarly, with his internal organs shattered and on the brink of d*ath… an ordinary Night Traveler would have likely healed completely by now, but for Rast, he could merely cling to life, avoiding d*ath at best.
“It seems when I return to the present world, I will have to lie on the hospital bed at Starry University for a while.”
“However, something similar has happened before; the campus hospital should be used to it by now.”
“Mr. Silver said that to prevent situations where healing was impossible in the Night World, the campus hospital even specially hired a Night Blade known as ‘Soul Chaser,’ a doctor claimed to be able to heal anything alive, even gods… It seems I shouldn’t stay in bed for long.”
“By the way, Akshia seems to have a ‘doctor’ label as well.”
Muttering to himself as his voice echoed in the eternal night, Rast couldn’t help but smile.
He had not forgotten that his first encounter with the ice blue-haired girl was on the hospital bed at Starry University.
Who would have thought that a mere chance meeting in the hospital… would become the starting point for everything, leading to a splendid dreamlike fairy tale and numerous subsequent events.
Recalling the moments the two shared, a faint sense of comfort rose within Rast.
Although the journey had its twists and turns, at least the ending was quite good.
No matter what, he had ultimately saved that girl from the Abyss, penning the conclusion he had wished for in that unfinished fairy tale.
His efforts, not wasted, had seen him through countless life-or-d*ath perils.
Moreover, at the end of this historical echo—the future of the Sixth Epoch civilization—Rast felt quite expectant.
On that night of the black sun, Leader Cisel single-handedly pulled down four legends to accompany him to d*ath.
And after the Battle of the Broken Coast, no legend would walk the earth in the entire Sixth Epoch.
Of course, even with the loss of legendary rulers, the Beast Tide in the deep seas, along with the rampaging Iron Cross and cult organizations, still posed a severe threat to humanity—
But Rast believed that as long as Grey grew, and once she truly ascended to the legendary throne, these hardships and obstacles would not necessarily be insurmountable before the might of “Fate.”
Along with the inheritance of cross-era knowledge from Cisel and himself, and the ability to see through fate… Grey might lead the people of the Sixth Epoch to rise rapidly, catching up to the technological level of the present world in a very short time—
Or even surpass it, entering a true future era, which was not impossible.
Indeed, according to the current understanding of the present world about the Night World, the Sixth Epoch is a completely destroyed era, and whatever actions its people took, the outcome of destruction was already determined… yet that is just a conjecture, not a solid conclusion.
Furthermore, Rast suspected that the history he traversed might not be the true historical timeline… Since that was a real past and not an illusion, the future’s outcome might not be fixed, and possibilities like parallel worlds could exist.
Under Grey’s guidance, the civilization of the Sixth Epoch might truly step into a broader future.
“If it were the me who once wandered in Deep Blue Harbor, I probably wouldn’t feel this relaxed and joyful after achieving the mission’s goal.”
As Rast felt the overflowing sense of comfort and satisfaction in his heart, he whispered silently.
This was indeed a feeling he had never experienced before; after achieving a short-term goal, one should immediately proceed to execute the next step of the plan—excess emotions would only waste energy meaninglessly. This was the principle Rast adhered to during his cyclical time in Deep Blue Harbor.
However, after joining Starry University and encountering and witnessing many people and events in both the present and the Night World…
The boy who once lived mechanically, whose heart was driven by gears like a steam furnace, had indeed changed, even if initially Rast himself hadn’t noticed this transformation.
“Now, if I see Xiao Ai again, she probably won’t need to worry about my mental state anymore.”
With that in mind, Rast couldn’t help but feel a slight anticipation.
Returning to that border town named “Canaan,” where gentle pipes drifted through the air.
However, before heading to Canaan, he needed to take stock of the rewards from completing the Night World.
Rast’s thoughts shifted.
In the next moment, lines of new azure text unfolded before his eyes.
[Distant Past Poem]
[Category: Emblem Armor]
[Description: This is the unfinished fairy tale, refined and completed after writing a brand new ending in bl**d on the blank final page, resulting in the sublimation of a new Emblem Armor.
What is inscribed in this old tome is a fairy tale long past, and it is also a poem from bygone days—though the pages may have turned yellow long ago, the spirit etched in the fairy tale book remains as brilliant as ever—
Even in the Abyss, one must chase that fleeting light, recklessly striving for one’s happiness and beauty…
This intense emotion belonging to a certain girl bears no less brilliance even after transcending an entire epoch, shining like a diamond, dazzling and bright.]
[Armor Effect: The words written in this tome will have a certain probability of being fully reflected in the landscape of reality; the story written upon it will be woven into reality.]
[Note: The actual effectiveness probability of this Emblem Armor when used will vary according to factors such as the difficulty of the written content, surrounding environmental constraints, the rank of the writer, mental energy, and the rank of the target being influenced.]
(End of Chapter)
