In the silent hall, the sphere of light was emitting a faint but steady pulse.
Like a still-beating heart.
Aside from Ian, the hall was empty.
He was the first, and only, person to arrive.
He walked slowly toward the sphere of light.
His footsteps echoed in the vast, empty hall.
With every step, ripples spread across the silver floor beneath his feet, as if responding to his approach.
When he was ten meters from the sphere of light...
HUMMM!
The sphere suddenly erupted in a blinding, silvery-white brilliance!
The light swept through the area like a tidal wave, completely overwhelming Ian’s vision.
And then...
A fragmented, chaotic memory shard, filled with endless sorrow, forcefully crashed into his consciousness!
Ian’s vision blurred.
He found himself standing at the pinnacle of a majestic Star Tower.
Below him lay a Star Spirit Race city, bustling to the peak of its prosperity.
Silvery-white buildings stood like a forest, with iridescent tracks floating in the air, upon which countless members of the Star Spirit Race traveled.
They wore Star Robes, their faces handsome, with starlight flowing in the depths of their pupils.
Their civilization was at its zenith, its aura as vast as the sea.
But in the next second...
The sky... split open.
A pitch-black spatial rift stretched across the heavens. A viscous, seemingly living Abyssal Aura flowed along its edges.
Then...
Countless twisted, indescribable monsters poured out of the rift like a tidal wave!
They had no fixed form, resembling writhing clumps of shadow.
Wherever they passed, stars were extinguished, buildings crumbled, and the Star Spirit Race were reaped like wheat.
Screams, roars, desperate prayers...
All the sounds mixed together, only to be swallowed by the roar of Annihilation.
Ian saw a Star Spirit Race High Priest in a silvery-white Sacrificial Robe, standing on an altar in the center of the vast city.
He held his hands high, brilliant Starlight swirling around him.
Below the altar were hundreds of millions of the Star Spirit Race.
They knelt on the ground as silvery-white motes of light flew from the depths of their pupils, converging like fireflies on the sphere of light at the center of the altar.
"The Ascalon Empire... should not perish like this!"
[Consciousness Upload].
They were uploading their people’s consciousness into the Flame of Civilization, seeking to continue their existence.
But just as the ritual reached its most critical moment...
The rift in the sky suddenly expanded!
A colossal hand, covering the entire sky and pieced together from countless eyeballs and tentacles, reached out from the rift.
Its five fingers closed, grabbing for the altar!
The High Priest roared, the Starlight flaring to its absolute limit as he tried to resist.
But the gap in Power was too great.
It far surpassed the might of a Level Four Wizard!
The giant hand clenched gently.
The altar crumbled, the Starlight was annihilated, and the High Priest’s figure cracked inch by inch like shattered porcelain.
And the Flame of Civilization, which was about to complete the upload...
...was forcibly frozen in its final moment.
Of all the consciousnesses of the Star Spirit Race, half had been successfully uploaded, while the other half remained in their collapsing bodies.
The entire civilization was "frozen" at the moment of its destruction.
Like a nightmare from which one could never awaken.
The memory fragment came to an abrupt end.
Ian’s eyes snapped open, blood seeping from all seven of his facial orifices.
He dropped to one knee, gasping for breath, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
The sorrow and despair of a civilization at its end...
It was like icy water flooding his heart, so overwhelming that even his [Spirit Devourer] trait couldn’t consume it all.
"So this is... the end of the Ascalon Empire... of the Star Spirit Race..."
he murmured, pushing himself slowly to his feet.
His gaze refocused on the sphere of light in the center.
At that moment, a blurry, ethereal figure slowly materialized beside the sphere.
The figure wore a silvery-white Sacrificial Robe. Its face was indistinct, but its eyes...
They were clear, vast, and held the tranquil sorrow of a civilization that had reached its end.
The residual Will of the Star Spirit Race’s High Priest!
The ethereal figure spoke slowly, its voice not entering through Ian’s ears but resounding directly in the depths of his consciousness.
"The civilization is extinguished, but its embers remain."
"You are... the first to arrive."
His gaze fell upon Ian and lingered for a long time.
As if scrutinizing, as if evaluating.
"Your Sea of Spirit bears the mark of Star Spirit Race knowledge fragments."
"Your path... is one of Star Resonance."
Ian nodded, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"So, I passed the test?"
"The test never stops."
The High Priest’s ethereal form slowly raised a hand, pointing at the sphere of light.
"But you are qualified... to make a choice."
HUMMM!
Three streams of silvery-white light separated from the sphere and hovered in midair.
Within each stream of light, a line of ancient Star Spirit Race script appeared.
Translated, they read:
[A. Seize the Flame]
[B. Complete the Upload]
[C. Destroy It]
"Choose."
The High Priest’s voice was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
"This will decide... your fate."
Ian stared at the three options, a faint golden light swirling in the depths of his dark eyes.
He did not choose immediately.
Instead, he looked at the High Priest’s ethereal form and spoke slowly.
"If I choose to complete the upload..."
"What do I get?"
The High Priest’s phantom fell silent for two seconds.
"The blessing of the Star Spirit Race."
"And... a portion of the Inheritance."
"But only if you have the ability to guide the ritual, and... your spirit resonates with the Flame."
Ian asked again.
"And if I fail?"
"Your consciousness will be assimilated by the Flame, becoming part of the Star Spirit Race’s collective consciousness."
"Forever."
The hall fell deathly silent.
Ian slowly exhaled.
His dark eyes returned to the three options.
’Seize the Flame?’
’I’d probably die even faster.’
’This is a Level Four Morning Star Wizard I’m dealing with!’
’Even if it’s just a residual Will, crushing me would be no different from crushing an ant.’
’Even though it contains the complete Cultivation System and civilizational knowledge of the Star Spirit Race...’
’Maybe even the Inheritance of a Level Four Wizard...’
’But... the final Flame of a civilization carries such a heavy karmic weight.’
’Destroy it? Setting aside whether he’d even let me, if I detonated the Flame...’
’Just releasing the immense Star Energy inside...’
’I might be able to achieve a breakthrough, or maybe refine a top-tier Witchcraft Artifact.’
’But... that’s just wishful thinking.’
’Complete the upload? Help the Star Spirit Race finish their ritual and let the consciousnesses of their people rest in peace within the Flame...’
’That might earn me the blessing of the Star Spirit Race.’
’But the risk is also huge.’
’And... what tangible benefits would I even get?’
’Assimilation of my consciousness... that’s more terrifying than death.’
But he had no other choice.
Countless images flashed through his mind.
The mediocrity and despair from before his transmigration, the escape through the Silent Death Mountain Range, the three layers of fear in the Mirror Demon’s trial, the repeated life-and-death battles in the ruins...
And Gaga.
The little one who cried, "Ian, come back!" in their Soul Link.
Then, he opened his eyes.
"I choose B."
The moment he spoke...
HUMMM!
The sphere of light in the center of the hall erupted with an unprecedented silvery-white brilliance!
The light surged toward Ian like a tangible tide, engulfing him completely.
His consciousness was forcibly pulled into a space of pure white Void.
In the center of the space hovered the Flame of Civilization.
And the High Priest’s ethereal form stood beside the Flame.
"You have made... the correct choice."
The High Priest looked at him, and his indistinct face seemed to reveal a trace of... relief?
"Now, inject your Spiritual Power into the Flame."
"Feel the residual streams of consciousness within, and use your Will... to guide them in completing the final ’closed loop.’"
Ian closed his eyes, his Sea of Spirit operating at full capacity.
The pale golden points of liquefied light spun wildly, resonating with the Star Energy inside the Flame of Civilization.
And then...
He "saw" it.
Inside the Flame were countless silvery-white motes of light.
Each mote was a fragment of a Star Spirit Race consciousness.
They drifted inside the Flame like headless flies, unable to settle, unable to merge.
Because the upload ritual had been interrupted, their conscious structures were incomplete.
Ian took a deep breath.
His Spiritual Power extended like threads into the Flame, beginning to sort through the chaotic streams of consciousness.
This was not a confrontation of Power.
It was a "weaving" of the utmost delicacy.
He had to piece together, repair, and guide the incomplete fragments of consciousness, one by one, according to the unique Soul structure of the Star Spirit Race...
Time lost all meaning.
Ian felt as if he had been inside the Flame for only an instant, or perhaps for several decades.
Finally.
When the very last fragment of consciousness was guided into its proper place...
HUMMM!!!
Inside the Flame, all the silvery-white motes of light lit up at once!
They flowed like a river of stars, merging, and finally stabilizing.
They coalesced into a "collective consciousness" that emitted a gentle pulse.
It was done.
The remaining consciousnesses of the Star Spirit Race had finally found peace within the Flame of Civilization.
And at that very moment...
「Outside.」
In all areas of the ruins.
The survivors who were still struggling, exploring, and fighting...
The Sea Race Elder from the Tide Association, Herman and the two remaining members of Shadow Moon Tower, the surviving members of Immortal Heart, the remnants of the Withered Council, Liam and his two companions from the Silver Ring, the members of Embrace of Nature...
...everyone simultaneously felt an irresistible repulsive force surging toward them from all directions!
"What’s happening?!"
"My body..."
"NO!!!"
Terrified screams echoed from everywhere.
But before the sounds could travel far, they were swallowed by a pure white light.
The next instant...
All the survivors vanished from where they stood.
「Endless Sea, at the entrance to the Star Spirit Race ruins.」
The dark blue turbulence of Energy still churned within the vortex.
But at that moment, hundreds of figures suddenly appeared out of thin air at the vortex’s edge.
THUD! THUD!
A series of thuds sounded as people hit the ground.
The Elder from the Tide Association fell into the shallows, seawater soaking his Long Robe. He stared blankly for two seconds before jolting upright.
"We’re... out?"
Herman clutched his chest and looked around.
He didn’t see any sign of Ian.
"Why was I suddenly thrown out? It’s not time yet!"
"Something we don’t know about must have happened... Could it be that someone..."
"Quick, do a headcount! See who didn’t make it out!"
"How are we supposed to do that? Who knows how many people died in there..."
"Gangna... is he still inside?"
A Level Two Wizard from Immortal Heart’s expression changed as he looked toward the ruins’ entrance.
The vortex was slowly closing, and the dark blue Energy turbulence was gradually subsiding.
As if nothing had ever happened.
But everyone knew... they had no idea what had ultimately happened inside the ruins.
They only knew that at the final moment, everyone had been forcibly teleported out.
"Someone must have... gotten the Flame of Civilization?"
Someone who knew about the ruins’ situation whispered the guess, their voice laced with unwillingness.
"Or... they just died in there in the end," another person sneered.
But either way, one fact remained unchanged.
Someone had come into contact with the Flame of Civilization.
"Something big is about to happen... on the entire East Coast."
Liam of the Silver Ring muttered to himself, his expression complicated.
Suddenly, he recalled the instantaneous Level Two Witchcraft Ian had cast back in the corridor.
He recalled Ian’s calmness and ruthlessness when facing Bazaar and Selas.
He recalled the final scene, where everyone had been wary of him, yet no one dared to make a move.
"Could it be... him?!"
Liam’s pupils contracted. He pushed himself up with his Silver Staff and looked toward the Shadow Moon Tower group.
After searching for a long time, he didn’t see the figure he was thinking of.
He was just about to approach Herman to confirm the situation.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.
In an inconspicuous corner, he saw a familiar figure.
It was Ian!