Chapter 27: Deep Blue Harbor, Completion
The night softly enveloped Rast.
Although the night curtain was so thin, it seemed to isolate the entire world. The sounds, lights, and colors that originally existed in the world of Deep Blue Harbor were now difficult to perceive.
Rast sank into the silence of the night.
His body was concealed by the night; the shattered bones of his arms and legs gradually regained sensation, and the injuries covering his body disappeared without a trace. His once-dry mental power was refilled.
Even the Iron Cross that had taken root deep within Rast’s soul, constantly tormenting his mind with its brutal desires, melted away like ice and snow the moment it met the night, quickly disappearing without a trace.
This feeling was unique; compared to the healing and purification Rast had experienced before, this process was closer to “reversal.”
It was not the healing of wounds but rather, at the moment the night touched Rast, the time he had spent in a state of “injury, fracture, and being polluted by the Iron Cross Plague” was erased, returning him to his original state.
Reversing time—such a description sounded somewhat incredible.
However, considering the information Hiltina had revealed to him earlier… As the creator of the Night World and the silent lord who witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, the entire Deep Blue Harbor was merely a recorded echo of history that had once occurred in the Night World.
Reversing a short period of time seemed like a trivial matter for the Night World.
Rast’s previously chaotic thoughts began to clear up with the reversal. He started to examine the information that appeared on the azure light screen in his mind.
Most of the information was not difficult for Rast to understand. In his past life, he was responsible for developing the Night World module at the game company.
After learning the truth about Deep Blue Harbor from Hiltina, Rast easily grasped most of the content in the light screen.
Just as Hiltina had speculated, after obtaining the credentials and successfully completing the current history echo’s task, he had also been chosen by the Night World as a qualified candidate, becoming a “Night Traveler.”
His sequence long stage was the Tower, which according to Hiltina, was already lost to the real world and only had remnants recorded in historical texts.
The rank level was also easy to understand. According to Hiltina, a level of 19 meant he was only one step away from the second tier.
Rast speculated that the reason he could achieve such a high level without any extraordinary knowledge inheritance or training was due to the hundreds of years he had spent in Deep Blue Harbor.
Compared to Hiltina’s “Chariot,” the Tower sequence long stage clearly leaned more toward spirit and soul. Throughout the tens of thousands of reboots, Rast’s body received no physical training, but his mental training was preserved.
And there was the task reward he obtained from completing the Deep Blue Harbor echo—innate skills and emblem armor.
Rast’s thoughts stirred.
In the next moment, the azure light screen in his mind changed.
[Heart of Iron]
[Category: Innate Skill]
[An endless same day, a cycle of time; this is not a gift for humanity but the most despairing curse. No matter how sincere emotions or passionate ideals may be, they will ultimately decay, deteriorate, and finally turn to dust in the face of prolonged time.]
[So, what is hidden within this heart that supports a decayed shell, unwavering even in the face of the Evil God’s pollution and the Iron Cross’s reversal…?]
[Skill Effect: Your soul resistance increases by 50%. The effects of pollution, corruption, seduction, mental control, hypnosis, and mind-reading abilities targeting you will significantly diminish and will backfire on the user.]
…
[Moon of Iron Patterns]
[Category: Emblem Armor]
[This heavy-hitting revolver has fought alongside you through long years, from the alleys of slums to the spires of city halls. It bears witness to your emergence from the tide of black iron until you again see the bright moon.]
…
[Sevenfold Domain]
[Category: Emblem Armor]
[This is a hunt in the rain, with seven straight lines piercing the eyes, the sights, and the soul. Only the best snipers can wield this rear-breech single-shot sniper rifle, and its legend continues.]
…
Starlight twinkled in the night, all falling into Rast’s palm, transforming into two shining emblems, gradually melding into his body.
But Rast felt that he could summon these two emblems at any time, and the revolver and sniper rifle quietly lay within the emblem’s space. As soon as Rast had the thought, the firearms would fall into his hands.
According to Hiltina, the rewards for completing missions in the Night World are generated based on overall task evaluation and completion processes, and they are likely related to the experiences within the current history echo.
Perhaps due to this recent experience, the two firearms that had accompanied Rast for a long time also ascended into emblem armor, much like Hiltina’s slender sword, “Twinkling Morning Star.”
Upon checking the task rewards, the only remaining information on the light screen was the last line.
Rast focused on the two lines of flickering azure text.
[Detected that the Traveler’s heart image world has bound the Night Blade, matching process interrupted.]
[Your Night Blade is: “Library of Fools.”]
According to Hiltina, every Night Traveler selected by the Night World would receive a blessing known as “Night Blade,” based on their soul’s origin and heart-image scenery.
However, the generation of his Night Blade was interrupted.
Because—
“Library of Fools.”
He softly uttered the name. According to the description, this was his own Night Blade, not from the Night World, but one that was originally bound to his soul.
In the next moment, a brand new world unfolded before Rast.
It seemed to be a pitch-black tower, with Rast standing at the very center of its base, facing an endless darkness, with only faint star-like glimmers shining far away.
In the deep darkness, there were twenty-one pale long stairs, extending upwards from the ground beneath Rast’s feet, leading directly to the top of the tower, to the end of the distant deep space.
Rast looked around, surveying the twenty-one pale long stairs.
Most of these long stairs had an ethereal door at their base, surrounded by golden chains that seemed to be under some kind of lock, difficult to undo.
Only two of the staircases lacked such golden chains and ethereal doors sealing them.
When Rast fixed his gaze on these two long stairs, luminous points of light quietly gathered on the steps, transforming into two ethereal cards.
The illustrations on the back of the cards depicted a tower struck by lightning and a royal chariot pulled by black and white lions.
On the front of the cards were character illustrations.
One depicted a girl in red and white knight attire, a slender sword sheathed in a silver scabbard, with chestnut hair flowing freely.
The other illustrated a tall figure clad in a black hooded cloak, with a revolver hanging at the waist.
Rast recognized both character illustrations very well; the first one was Hiltina, while the other was surprisingly himself.
(End of Chapter)
