Everyone in the great library was constantly loitering.
Anyone could find a book of their interest here.
Juanlu found recipes for delicacies from various races, even the Divine Court.
Even Porolo, who hated reading the most, found something to his liking here.
There were simply too many books here.
These books were worth a thousand treasures.
Alka floated in the air, as if sitting on air, reading the book in his hands.
As he floated, he suddenly turned upside down.
He flipped through the pages one after another.
He returned the book he had finished reading to its original place, and a gentle spray of magic from his back pushed him to the floor below.
Lucelia and the others were all reading below.
"The culprit behind the destruction of the world is a demon from the abyss, blasting the world into pieces in an attempt to swallow the fragments into the abyss, becoming part of it.
The demon's success was essentially due to the gods' inaction at the time.
They were even anticipating and waiting for the demon to destroy the world."
This was the summary Lucilia was writing.
This was also the conclusion they had drawn from their recent research into books, history, and materials.
Simply put, the arrogant gods have become much more low-key since their fall.
But this low profile doesn't mean the once reckless gods have learned their lesson.
Rather, they knew they were constantly being oppressed by a colossal being, a resignation they merely endured. Now that the opportunity presented itself, how could they possibly continue to be oppressed by a being greater than themselves?
So, even when the world was about to be destroyed, they continued to act, even fueling the flames and allowing it to continue unchecked.
Because they had already devoured the portion they each represented within the world, they were already free and powerful beings throughout the universe.
As for the help their mother had once provided them, and their power, they all came from her. And the mortal lives above were completely meaningless.
According to their speculation, the final ones willing to remain would likely be the four existing gods.
Through the books here, Alka and his companions understood these four gods better than most people in the outside world today.
The one who initiated this final act of saving the world was most likely the Mother, then known as the Stone Mother.
She favored her believers and nurtured new life.
She was essentially a very pure Mother, though of course, she wasn't always this way.
According to the book Alka had read earlier, the Mother's transformation into the compassionate one she later became was due to her experiences walking the earth during the Day of the Fall.
Before that, the Mother wasn't much different from other gods. At best, he's a bit more indifferent than the other gods, indifferent to his duties and abilities.
He believes mortals are merely mortals.
After the gods returned to their positions after the Fall, almost every one of them underwent a transformation.
The Sea God, who contributed the most, is also an indispensable god.
To be honest, after reading the Sea God's biography, Alka has always believed that this god is likely a simple homebody.
He doesn't want the place he's always been in to fall apart, so he seeks a new place.
Logically, the largest sect in the Vast Sea would be the Sea God's Church.
But from their journey, the Sea God was the least noticeable. All of the church's followers were born out of a natural faith born from the ocean.
He never deliberately preached.
The world the Sea God inhabited also showed that it was essentially the same as the Vast Sea.
To emphasize one word.
Hold.
As for Life, Alka and the others basically understood why there was such a clear conflict between the Flower Fairy's followers and Life's followers.
Because Life was once the Flower Fairy's subordinate deity. Back then, she wasn't even called Life, and was a mortal who ascended to godhood on the day of her fall.
It was only after the Flower Fairy's death that she inherited her legacy.
And then, she continued to rise. Perhaps because she was once a mortal, she was also one of the gods unwilling to leave this world.
As for the final Wise One, he was actually the most mysterious one, as there were only the fewest books recording him.
Records of this god's existence only appeared during the most intense period of the final war between gods.
He was an extremely secretive being, or perhaps unwilling to communicate too much with mortals.
Therefore, this god was the one most unknown to the public.
"How long have Jason and the others been in there?" Alka asked casually, sitting on the floor nearby.
Also sitting next to him, flipping through a book, Sofia took out his hourglass and examined it carefully.
"Thirty-five days and nights."
"It's been so long. If the Crystal Dragon King hadn't been sitting there quietly, I'd have thought something had happened to them."
With that, Alka collapsed to the floor.
They had been in this library for a long time.
How much longer they would have to stay was unknown.
"Didn't Lucilia ask you to help copy the books here? Why haven't I seen you move in the past few days?" Sofia closed the book in his hands and turned to Alka beside him and asked.
Hearing this, Alka scratched his forehead helplessly and said, "There's nothing we can do. Some of these books can be reflected through the mirror.
But those slates, book covers, and crystal records are completely impractical. Whether we seal the images or copy them with pen and paper, nothing works.
Once these words are transferred to other directions, the copied text loses its meaning, becoming a pile of meaningless scribbles, a garbled code."
You have to understand that even though many of the contents of such a large library are drawn with books, just like the slates floating in the central beam of light and any other recording media stored elsewhere.
Some of the text is unrecognizable, and especially those recorded in non-book form are almost always encrypted in an incomprehensible way.
It possesses so-called uniqueness.
It cannot be recorded or reproduced, and can only be recorded in the mind.
I don't know how this is achieved, but some of this knowledge is simply unimportant.
The only certainty is that the recordings made in this way are from a very, very long time ago.
Even in the Golden Age, they would be considered ancient.
"Descendants, we've succeeded."
A resounding voice suddenly rang out.
The readers immediately stood up and looked in the direction of the voice, which was the main hall of the fortress.
The voice was none other than the Crystal Dragon King.
"Does this mean Jason and the others are about to emerge?" Alka asked, turning around.
"I think so. We're almost there."
With that, everyone leaped up and flew out through the opening in the library's roof.
"Why didn't they go through the main entrance?"
Because the main entrance was nowhere to be found.
Halfway through his flight, Alka turned and looked behind him, suddenly realizing someone was missing.
He quickly opened the portal and poked his head in. After a moment's observation, he reached out and pulled Simon out of his dimension.
"Jason and the others are coming out."
Simon, somewhat bewildered, glanced at his surroundings, nodded, and hurriedly followed the others.
Soon, they were back in the hall.
The hall was still covered in crystal plating as before.
The Dragon King, who had been sitting on his throne, seemingly asleep, had opened his eyes.
At this moment, the thin crystal portal in the center of the hall flickered faintly.
Clearly, something was about to emerge.
With a flash of light, Urulius and Jason burst out of the portal.
Arka opened her eyes and looked. Their strength didn't seem to have changed much since they entered.
But just by looking at them, she could tell something was different.
It felt different.
Looking at the people waiting outside, Jason smiled at them. The crystal dragon arrived beneath the throne.
"Grandfather, I have completed the trial."
"Very well, descendants."
The enormous, majestic dragon head gazed at the crowd.
"I can sense that you, like us once upon a time, are dedicated individuals who saved the world from peril.
You, like us, have felt the pain and wailing of Mother World, but now you feel even greater pain than we ever did.
Though we ultimately failed, we have left behind a legacy that is truly enduring."
As the Crystal Dragon King spoke, a powerful glint flashed in his eyes.
Before anyone could react, they were all frozen in the crystal.
Including Urulius.
Those frozen in the crystal were not completely unconscious, but rather in a state of illusion.
In this illusion, something seemed to be imparting knowledge to them.
Countless people were arguing.
They seemed to be arguing about how to fill the gap and save the world in such a crisis.
"The King of Prismatic Light is dead! Our leader is dead, and the world has no chance."
As this voice rang out, it was clear he had been punched by another figure nearby.
"Are we gathered here because of the King of Prismatic Light? We are fighting for this world, for our home.
How can we give up so easily just because the King of Prismatic Light is dead? If we all give up, what about the others? What about the warriors of other races who followed us?"
"They betrayed their own tribes, even their former beliefs, to fight for the world.
Are they going to give up their efforts with just such a simple statement? We are not just fighting for ourselves now, but for the entire world, for everyone! Think about it!"
The shouts of disagreement continued, and those who disagreed exchanged insults.
These people were once like-minded friends.
This time period was clearly the time when the King of Prismatic Light, or the Crystal Dragon King outside, died in the massive explosion.
In other words, the world must have shattered during this time.
The sound was clear, but the image was blurry. Everyone could still make out figures through the hazy image.
They were probably in the fortress where they were, and it had become the same as it is now: shattered and crumbling, but not completely collapsed.
Instead, it floated in the starry sky.
However, continuing to try to save the world was meaningless, as the world was completely destroyed and shattered.
Apparently, the Four Gods hadn't yet devised a solution to reconstruct the world. In the illusion, several blurry figures vanished.
Including the giant dragons radiating light. With the death of their king, they too followed the shattering world and fled.
Seeking new homes across the myriad realms of the starry sky, many departed, taking with them those caught in the middle.
In the end, only fewer than ten people remained in the shattered fortress and its shattered halls.
Some figures also faded before them.
Even though time seemed so long, it seemed to them to be slow and fast.
Throughout that long period, some people passed away from the wounds of their shattered worlds, while others, bound to the world itself, perished.
In the end, only three remained alive.
They continued to shuttle through the halls, the library, and various parts of the fortress.
They remained here.
Making their final struggle.
The illusion in the picture stretched away.
It was the starry sky, but within it lay a dense mass of fragments.
The world had long since been destroyed.
At that moment, a different force emerged.
Then the illusion became clearer.
In this boundless world of the starry sky, the raging waters formed an extremely exaggerated tsunami. From an unknown source, the ocean waters that could form the world surged forth, impacting and dragging the fragments of the world.
Then, they propelled it towards the starry sky, the isolated islands within the tsunami following suit.
The ocean waters formed a massive vortex, generating such a powerful suction that the surrounding fragments began to gather towards the ocean.
In this critical moment, the seemingly still-living beings within the fragments were protected by an unknown force.
The center of the vortex.
The very spot where the world exploded, the ocean waters filled the deep void. The fragments of the world transformed into a massive island, pressing upon the wound.
One after another, gigantic figures appeared within the vast universe of deep space.
These four figures were, as they had imagined, the four remaining gods.
The vortex continued to spin, and Alka saw dots of light above, intermittently flickering as it rotated.
Amidst this vortex, a boundless sea formed.
It seemed as if the Sea God had vanished.
The other three gods began to exert their power.
The lives that had once been protected emerged, as if thawed, in a new world, appearing on the small island floating in the boundless sea.
They began to spread life, reviving all things, infusing the sea with new life.
And so on.
The illusion began to fade, converging from the vast field of vision, returning to the shattered fortress.
In the blurry image, the three remaining figures could be seen still moving through the fortress, but they were hurried, their pace brisk.
More figures returned.
Those who had left in utter despair saw hope again and returned to the new world.
The figures gradually increased.
The figures in the image grew from three to more than a dozen, then to over twenty.
They conversed within the fortress.
Finally, the towering figure of the Crystal Dragon King appeared from the throne in the hall.
This was their combined memory, the last part of the Crystal Dragon King they could find.
The Crystal Dragon King's final remnant in this world.
At this moment, the image faded, but the voice grew clearer.
What did the voice seem to be saying?
"Later generations, we have made many preparations for the revival of this world.
If you wish to revive the world, then please listen carefully. To fully revive the world, you must reawaken its will.
This is difficult, extremely difficult. The extreme pain of a world's will, from its death to rebirth, and now its shattering, will weaken it, even completely shut it down."
"I don't know what the future world will be like."
However, there are some things that even the mighty Four Gods find difficult to change.
Our research reveals that the world's will rejects the former gods, and the Four Gods' efforts will cease at the moment they repair the world.
Even if they become even more powerful, they will find it difficult to change this shattered world. Therefore, it is speculated that the primary responsibility for changing the world will fall on trillions of mortals.
"We offer two options. One: Let the world endure immense pain, fully awaken, and endure this suffering.
We paid a tremendous price, but finally, someone has survived the grief of the world's ocean of consciousness and established effective communication with the world.
The world's desire for death isn't solely driven by pain, but by something deeper, something we don't understand.
Therefore, if we intend to revive the world and maintain hope for life, it will be extremely difficult."
"...So we must first repair the deep wounds caused by the explosion, which the Four Gods haven't fully mended."
Therefore, we need successors..."
"Finally, we will disseminate our greatest research findings through knowledge. This is the final contribution we can make to the world.
Based on the current state of the world, we have created a meditation method suitable for all mortal beings.
Based on the spiral of magic and guided by the divine beings of the present world, we currently lack the time to verify the ultimate culmination of this meditation method.
But we have already simulated the stage of godhood, which is theoretically feasible.
We hope that those who receive this information will inherit our will."
The voice faded.
The illusion vanished as well.
The crystal enveloping Alka and the others shattered, and Alka and the others opened their eyes.