After being stunned and shocked for a while, everyone slowly returned to their senses.
Gulp!
There was the sound of someone swallowing saliva. Many people felt their throats tighten, and their Adam’s apples twitched weakly.
Some people’s eyes twitched. They didn’t know what expression to make at this time...
“How did you do it?” Regus exclaimed in surprise. This usually steady and steadfast general couldn’t contain the excitement within him. His mind was still a little confused.
Aisha looked at Link in disbelief as well. Her bright eyes widened, and small question marks seemed to pop up above her head.
Before Link could respond, a gentle wave of magical power swept over everyone.
Everyone couldn’t help turning their heads to look. They saw the great sage walk toward them with a smile.
There were strange black lines on that kindly old face; they were the traces that were left after being polluted.
When the God of Evil descended, the great sage and the high priest tried their best to block the pollution for the majority of the people. As a result, they had been poisoned by the pollution.
“You did a good job. If you had existed in the past, things might be different...”
Everyone’s attention was on him, but the great sage did not reassure them. Instead, he sighed deeply. Those majestic and wise eyes stared at Link, laden with emotions. In them were unspeakable sadness and regrets.
These surging emotions were soon suppressed by the old man, and his eyes became extremely bright. It seemed like the darkness before dawn had finally faded, replaced by optimism and hope that shone upon everything in the world!
“You are a variable. Perhaps there really is hope that we may be able to break apart the dark cloud that shrouds all civilizations and bring a touch of hope to your era...” The great sage spoke slowly, but at some point, the expressions and bodies of the people around him seem to have frozen like brittle old photographs.
The river of time seemed to have split into two at this time—one of which solidified, freezing the surrounding people in the past.
Only the time between the great sage and Link continued flowing. But soon, even the great sage froze, and he quickly faded away as a cloud of darkness rose.
Link wasn’t surprised by this; he already knew that everything that had previously happened was just a remnant of the past.
Everything had finally come to an end.
The consciousness did not go far. Link could clearly feel his body, and he opened his eyes again.
What appeared in front of him was an Olympian-style palace. The purple crystals around the dome radiated light.
He was lying on a platform, and a somewhat illusory figure was quietly watching him in front of a huge screen not too far away.
That illusory figure looked exactly like the great sage.
However, Ou Chen, Luo Xingyao, and the others—who entered the ruins with him—were all still lying on the platform not far away.
They had yet to awaken.
Sensing Link’s gaze, the illusory figure smiled and said, “Don’t worry, your companions are not in danger. They are still immersed in the afterimage of the past. Those afterimages are just my reenactment of history with arcane magic. They are like travelers visiting a memory of the past, and no real harm will come to them.”
Link looked up slightly and cast his gaze toward the illusory figure. “Great Sage—may I call you by that name? Did what I see earlier actually happen in the past, or was it another test?”
Link still didn’t trust everything he saw; he was still wary.
The illusory figure froze a little. It seemed that he had been affected by Link calling him ‘Great Sage.’
But the great sage’s demeanor soon returned to normal, and he calmly said, “Visitor from an unknown era, you may call me that. Great Sage is a name from a distant time. You don’t have to doubt; what appears before your eyes at this moment is the truth. You should’ve noticed that what you experienced was the end of our race. We have been exterminated long ago. There are only fragments left and can do you no harm. On the contrary, we hope that you can survive the doomsday. We long to see a ray of hope.”
The illusory figure seemed extremely calm as he spoke of the extermination of his race; it was as if he were a bystander.
After some thought, the great sage spoke again. “I have to say that you are a very special existence. Even though the best of our clan’s magic pulled you into that memory, it encountered a lot of obstacles. Your mental power and some of the items on you are very unusual. Even if I want to do you harm, I may not succeed.”
Link’s eyes flickered; he knew that what the great sage said was the truth. He had the [Fearless Pathfinder] title, as well as the [Talisman of Eternal Sleep]—which provided him extremely high mental resistance.
If the great sage had evil intentions and wanted to wipe out his spirit in the afterimage of the past, it wouldn’t have been an easy task. Instead, it would alert him and allow him to break free from the afterimage.
Furthermore, Link had many pieces of powerful equipment. He had no lack of resources that he could use to deal with a dangerous situation.
Even if Link was killed, he could resurrect. In other words, he had a hidden health bar and still had lots of health.
Just as Link was thinking about it, the great sage spoke again. “Visitor from an unknown era, you have done the impossible. In the cycle of eras, you are the only one who has changed the old destiny of our race. According to the original plan, you will become this place’s real master from now on and receive all the inheritances left by our people. We hope it will help you.”
As the great sage finished speaking, a system prompt sounded in Link’s mind.
“Ding! Congratulations on clearing the Epochal Ruins of the Atlan era—[Remnant of the Past]. Mission Completion: Incredible. Mission Evaluation: SSS!”
“Ding! You will gain node sovereignty over the Epochal Ruins of the Atlan era and receive all the inheritances of the Atlan civilization.”
“Ding! Due to your incredible mission completion and SSS-level evaluation, you will get an 800% EXP bonus!”
“Ding! You get 100 million EXP!”
“Ding! Your level has been raised to Stage Four, Level 10!”
“Attention, there’s still a surplus of EXP. You have reached the threshold of Stage Five; please complete the level up when you are ready.”
“Since you are the first existence in the current era to obtain sovereignty over the ruins, the system will make a world announcement. Do you wish to remain anonymous?”
...
A series of system prompts sounded like a news blast.
It wasn’t until this moment that Link truly let his guard down.
Even the system prompts had appeared. It would seem that this wave had been completely stabilized!
Next came the exciting harvest time!
As for the world announcement proclaiming him as the first to obtain the sovereignty of the ruins, Link hid some of his information and revealed only one of his professions.
The system announcement soon rang out all over the world, triggering a tsunami of reactions.