Chapter 299 True Identity [1]

Chapter 298

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Episode 80 – True Identity [1]

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I opened my eyes when the darkness I normally always saw transformed into absolute white.

“….”

I blinked as I looked ahead. Then I lowered my gaze and stared at my hands.

‘So I can see.’

I raised my head again and looked straight ahead.

Everything I could see was completely white.

It was like a completely empty room, similar to the rooms in an asylum.

Nothing existed except the color white.

I turned my head to look around, thinking that perhaps it would be different behind me, but…

“…”

Everything was still white.

The space stretched endlessly in every direction, forming an apparently infinite expanse.

However, at that moment, I turned about 50° to the left and noticed a structure in the distance.

At first glance, it seemed to be about a kilometer away.

But after narrowing my eyes, I could clearly tell that the structure was at least a thousand kilometers away.

It was a pavilion.

Inside was a table with two chairs, and sitting in one of them was a blurry figure calmly drinking from a porcelain cup.

Without wasting any time, my figure blurred, and I appeared in front of the pavilion in less than a second.

As soon as I arrived, I turned my gaze toward the seated figure.

However, when the man noticed my arrival, he slowly turned his head and looked at me with a faint smile.

Then he said:

“Hello.”

“….”

I silently stared at the man sitting in front of me, who maintained a faint smile.

His hair was black, as were his eyes.

However, around the iris of his left eye was a red circle, while his iris itself was completely black.

His other eye was also completely black.

On the other hand, his skin was pale. Moreover, both his expression and his eyes made it clear that he had lived for a very, very long time.

He had a tired expression and dark circles under his eyes.

Even so, he maintained a smile.

But putting everything else aside, my eyes couldn’t help but focus on his clothes.

It was a style of clothing that was very familiar to me.

“Take a seat.”

I snapped out of my thoughts upon hearing his words.

I nodded and walked into the pavilion. Then I sat down across from him and looked at him again.

He held my gaze for a few seconds before taking a sip of whatever was in his cup.

However, for some reason, I couldn’t perceive any scent coming from it.

After drinking, he placed the cup on the table.

“I suppose you’re wondering why you’re in this place instead of simply… obtaining what you came here to find, right?”

I nodded, not having much to say about it.

The man interlaced his fingers and brought his palms together.

Then he slightly turned his head and gazed at the completely white space surrounding us.

“First of all, knowing you… no, knowing myself, you probably already have an idea of who you really are, right?”

“….!?”

My expression finally abandoned the mask of indifference I had maintained until then, and I couldn’t help but widen my eyes.

The moment I heard the words ‘knowing myself,’ there was no longer any need to figure out who the man in front of me was.

At that moment, the man smiled and continued:

“You can ask questions later. For now, just let me talk. We have all the time in the world in this place, anyway. One minute outside is equivalent to one year here.”

I nodded while suppressing the countless questions I wanted to ask.

“And above all, it will take quite some time to explain many things and prepare a few things before you can leave.”

Once again, I nodded without saying a single word.

The man took another sip from his porcelain cup before continuing:

“It is just as you theorized: you are one of the Eight Progenitors and one of the creators of the Four Specialties.”

In reality, it hadn’t been too difficult to deduce that I was probably one of the Eight Progenitors.

More specifically, the ‘Sword Lord,’ because his presence seemed to be intertwined with mine.

On the other hand, I also had an idea of who Veronica was.

My suspicions grew even stronger after I recovered the memories contained within the seven Rings of Origin.

In those memories, everything revolved exclusively around a pair of friends talking about the Apocalypse that had been foretold to them by a couple of old men.

Furthermore, both of them would eventually become known as Progenitors millions of years in the future.

I immediately knew that the girl was Emiry, the Progenitor known by the title Lady of the Beasts.

On the other hand, the boy was the Progenitor known by the title Sword Lord, Evans.

I silently looked at the man in front of me as I waited for his next words.

“Evans is your first life, the beginning of everything. And yes, the person standing before you is Evans. More precisely, an avatar I left behind before reincarnating into my second life.”

Evans took a sip from his porcelain cup as he gazed into the distance with a distant look in his eyes and continued speaking.

“I won’t go into too much detail, since it would be better to explain everything else once I remove the Seal of Memories.”

‘Seal of Memories.’

The question naturally echoed in my mind. However, instead of asking, I simply continued listening in silence.

“If you’re wondering why you can remember your life as a video game developer before awakening in your current life, the answer is simple, and you probably already know it.”

I nodded slightly.

I had already realized that the memories of my previous life were, in fact, false.

First of all, that was supposed to be my previous life simply because I could remember it, while I had no memories of the lives that had come before.

The reason was obvious.

The memories of my life as a video game developer were completely false.

They had simply been created for the purpose of helping me adjust to the new world before me. This life probably held some kind of significance, and when the time came, I would recover all my memories for some reason.

“My life as a video game developer never existed. They were memories created for a simple purpose while you slowly uncovered the truth until you reached this point.”

“And if you’re wondering why we sealed your memories in all of your lives, the answer is just as simple.”

Evans turned his head and looked at me with a serious expression.

“If you retained the memories of all your lives except the first, everything we planned could fall apart, because no one can bear the weight of so many lives. Why do you think the Evil Gods exist?”

“The answer is simple: memories, experience, and the amount of time they’ve lived. If you don’t control all of that, if you lose sight of who you were and what defined you as ‘you,’ everything would fall apart. That’s the second reason your memories are sealed.”

“What’s the first?”

I finally asked the question.

Evans answered immediately.

“It is because of the beings that came here by taking advantage of the ‘Trial.’ They have many names and titles, but we simply call them Outer Gods.”

“The Outer Gods are entities that exist throughout the entire Cosmos. They are corrupt and evil beings that bring madness to anyone who even learns of their existence.”

“The Outer Gods are not beings chosen by the Origin. Their power grows as they devour the worlds that the Origin puts through the Trial.”

“These Trials are what cause each world to evolve. For example, the birth of Mana, Divinity, Astral Power, Soul Power, or Heaven and Earth Energy.”

“However, we call this ‘Trial’ the Apocalypse because, although what it offers us in exchange for overcoming it may seem beneficial, in essence, it represents an Apocalypse for all of us.”

I listened in silence as I absorbed every word Evans said.

He continued speaking.

“Although the Outer Gods devour worlds undergoing a Trial, obviously, they don’t have it easy. The Trial comes from the Origin, and everything is sustained by this Universe. The ruler, the Absolute God, the God of Creation, or whatever you want to call it, is what we know as the Origin.”

“The Outer Gods cannot simply enter and devour a world undergoing a Trial. When they enter one of those worlds, their power immediately falls to the lowest level among the Gods. Furthermore, the world itself imposes restrictions on them, so they need a great deal of time to enter and subsequently devour it.”

“But as you can see, our world still exists because we, the Progenitors, managed to drive the Outer Gods away. However, we couldn’t do it completely, and during the process, I was the last one left standing before using my Authority.”

“Cycle of Reincarnation. That’s my Authority. Our world can still be devoured by the Outer Gods, and you know why.”

I shook my head.

Evans took a sip from his cup before answering:

“Because of the Abyss. The Abyss is an Outer God, and it is also the strongest of them all. It has many names, but it is most commonly known as the Abyss.”

Honestly, everything he had said was already something incredible to even imagine.

However, there was something I found even harder to accept.

Who would have thought that, all this time, there had been an entity helping the Outer Gods devour our world?

And it was none other than the Abyss, a place that had always been considered a World or a Dimension.

‘That means everyone who entered the Abyss was devoured not by monsters, but by an Outer God.’

A chill ran through my entire body.

Then, a question arose in my mind.

What would happen if the Abyss decided to come to this world personally?

As that thought crossed my mind, Evans spoke:

“I know what you’re thinking, but that will never happen. The only dangers are the Outer Gods and the Evil Gods. Beyond that, unless you come into conflict with the Gods of Origin, there won’t be any problems.”

“Oh, and when I say Gods of Origin, I mean all beings who were chosen by the Origin.”

I nodded slightly after hearing Evans’s explanation.

Evans continued explaining a few more things. However, after everything he had initially explained, the rest wasn’t particularly important.

Then, several hours later, Evans suddenly spoke:

“It’s time to remove the Seal. Once it disappears, I will cease to exist as well. However, we’ll still be able to talk for a few days before I disappear completely.”

Upon hearing his words, I immediately tensed, and a wave of emotions washed over me.

After learning the reason why the Evil Gods were the way they were, I couldn’t help but think that, once I recovered my memories, something might happen that I would be unable to bear.

Seeing me, Evans quickly explained:

“Don’t worry. Obviously, we had already anticipated this. Even if you recover all your memories, they will be fragmented, and there will be a two-year Assimilation Period. During that time, your memories will remain fragmented, and you’ll be able to access them one by one.”

I nodded, took a deep breath, and then slowly exhaled.

“Very well, I’ll remove the Seal. Enjoy… or perhaps not… your journey through all your past lives.”

The instant he finished speaking, a couple of system notifications appeared before my eyes.

They filled my entire field of vision within seconds.

〖Through the use of the Authority: Cycle of Reincarnation, the Seal of Memories has been broken〗

〖The Authority: Cycle of Reincarnation has been activated〗

〖Recovering all memories of the Player〗

〖Due to the Passive Effect of the Authority: Cycle of Reincarnation, experience, talents, memories, personalities, and emotions will be Acquired〗

〖Sending the Player’s consciousness into the Cycle of Reincarnation〗

〖The Cycle of Reincarnation has detected a total of 18,847,291 Lives over the course of one hundred million years〗

Upon reading the final notification, I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the sheer number of lives I had lived.

However, in the next instant, my vision went dark.