"Dream ended."
"Returning----"
The warm ashes drifting lazily through the air turned into even finer cinders and vanished without a trace; the crimson sparks carrying an inexplicable sense of desolation no longer appeared as the streams of flame across his body went out.
The battle was over, and the sixty-second duration of [Ember Echo] had also reached its end.
The scorching heat coming from the hilt of the [Emberfall] Straight Sword into his palm faded away, and even the blade that had once been wreathed in firelight turned a cold, dim ash-black.
Xia Nan stood where he was, his dark eyes a little dazed as he digested the massive amount of information that had appeared in his mind in an instant.
"So it was Moen----"
Perhaps the experiences in the dream after he had activated [Dreamweaver Corridor] had caused him to misjudge.
Xia Nan had thought that, like last time, he would become the founder of [Gravity Etching] and, within memories already buried deep in the river of history, walk through the entire process of creating this Combat Skill alongside that person.
But he had not expected that the master of the dream he experienced this time would actually be the elderly Priest possessed by crystal, the very one he had personally defeated just a moment ago.
He could not help recalling the messages [Dreamweaver Corridor] had given before the dream began: "Search failed," "Individual related to Dreamweaver detected," and "Replacement simulation in progress."
A thoughtful expression appeared on Xia Nan's face.
Why had the archive search failed?
Had [Dreamweaver Corridor] truly failed to find any dream memories related to [Gravity Etching], or was there no story worth remembering because too few people had mastered this Combat Skill? Or was there some invisible force obstructing it?
Moen had just been