Branch Point

Beneath the cold, dim ancient stars, Duncan silently faced the dark red core of Navigator One, which resembled a colossal eye. The whole world seemed to freeze at that moment. In a daze, Duncan felt that a point of divergence—a point that would determine the course of the entire world's history—was drawing near.

And in that silence, he recalled something he had heard from the "gravekeeper" after entering the Tomb of the Nameless King:

The observer who reached the end of the timeline sent back the first and final message—the end of time had come, and the Flame Usurper had set the whole world ablaze.

After a long while, he let out a soft breath and broke the silence. "You think this is an omen of disaster? You want me to take over this world in order to avoid that future?"

Yet the Abyssal Lord's reply surprised him again.

"No." The dark red core trembled, its voice calm. "I do not rely on any 'revelation' or 'omen' unsupported by sufficient data. When critical information is missing, judging something as 'good' or 'bad' based solely on incomplete data is not rigorous. I do not know whether you will truly set this world ablaze in the end, nor do I know under what circumstances you would make that decision—there is insufficient data, and no conclusion can be drawn.

"I want you to take over all this only because, within the scope of currently known information, it is the most feasible and reliable solution for sustaining the shelter. Compared with a future I cannot understand or assess, I trust my present calculations more."

Within the dark red core's response, Duncan heard a kind of reason and precision unlike anything else—a quality Navigator One should naturally possess as one of New Hope's core mainframes,