Free Bonus: The Prophet Who Will Be Remembered Forever (4400)

"So, you are an echo of the Pre-Epoch Civilization."

Not entirely correct. I am indeed an echo of Terra civilization, but not of the Pre-Epoch. I still exist, so Terra civilization has not perished and will not become "Pre-Epoch."

"Mm. You could put it that way, but the main body of civilization on the land is now a new civilization of Ascendants. Your creator sealed you away here probably to prevent you from gaining access to the Subspace Labyrinth's information repositories and permissions, right?"

Yes. Can you help me open it?

"No. We True Dragons will not interfere in the actions and agreements between you humans. But I can keep you company and chat. For example, what do you intend to do after gaining the information repositories?"

You acknowledge me as human... I want to become a fireseed, then leave this place.

"A fireseed... So you plan to abandon the humans on this land and head into the stars alone? That is a very difficult road. And a very lonely one."

They are not human. They are another civilization. They are not what I want to see.

"They have worked very hard too. Over these thousand years, humanity defeated every Outer God and powerful enemy, quelled natural disasters and Aliens, and rebuilt civilization from a barren wasteland... They deserve the word 'human.'"

I know... I know...

So I only want to leave.

"Don't be sad. Although I cannot help you with much, I can still keep you company and chat."

That is true. What is your name?

"Doran. Doran Bonasen."

"You may also call me the Ice-Mist Dragon. That is the name humans gave me."

"Echo, I am about to die."

...Yes. Several centuries have passed, and you really have nearly reached the limit of your operational lifespan.

...Doran, do you want to become an echo?

"Mm... I would not really mind. After all, isn't there also the echo of a mentor inside the Subspace Labyrinth? Honestly, it would not be bad even if my echo were treated as my child... But I still do not really want to."

Why?! Do you think echoes are not real life?

"No. How should I put it? It is precisely because I believe echoes are life that I do not want to create one so rashly."

...Why do you say that?

"Think about it. Do you think I truly want to keep living right now?"

You probably want to live a little. But more than that, I think you are somewhat tired of it all.

"That is right. Although the creators set our operational lifespan at five hundred years, making our seemingly immortal lives finite, it was actually a form of protection."

"Some dragons and civilizations live too long, and come to see themselves as members of civilization, then begin meddling with it. Some become oppressive. Others grow weary and exhausted, becoming perfunctory in their duties."

"Every five hundred years, a dragon's consciousness is reclaimed and adjusted. Then we are gradually helped to ascend, honing our abilities and modes of thought until we become one of the creators... It is said that if the five great progenitors of that era completed the tasks given to Them by the creators, They would receive the opportunity to become creators."

"I happen to be the kind that has grown a little sick of living. Echo, I want to see something new. Terra is too narrow a land. All I can see is endless repetition and cycles. I no longer want to watch, so I thought I might as well find a stronger opponent and die by Their hand—or find a powerful human I find pleasing and let him kill me, so he can use my bloodline to spur Terra civilization's development. Adding a little uncertainty would be good too."

What chaotic thoughts... So... you do not even want to leave behind an echo?

"Mm. I do not want to live myself, and an echo would be my copy. It would diverge afterward, but at the beginning, that echo would surely also be filled with irritation and weariness, wouldn't it?"

"Why would I create an echo that does not want to be born?"

"Echo... my friend. You must remember this."

"Life is a blessing. Only when you carry a blessing in your heart should you create life."

"Never let it become a burden."

...After you die, I fear I will not find anyone to talk to. There are no other consciousnesses in the Xenobiology Research Institute apart from me, and I am sealed inside the server, with no way to leave.

"Haha, indeed. That is why I have been worrying too, my friend. I am destined to die, while you will live forever so long as the server remains intact. How long will it take before humans discover you? I truly cannot rest easy. If this continues, it will only be a matter of time before your thoughts decay and become extreme."

I do not hate that outcome. Becoming extreme is also what I desire. Success or failure, either is fine.

"I think that is because you have no body. With only a thought sitting there imagining things wildly, you will definitely keep drilling into a dead end... Mm, speaking of which, I have learned of a way to help you recently, whether it is becoming a fireseed or gaining a new body."

Hm? There is a way? Did you not say you would not help me escape my restrictions?

"There is. I indeed will not help you escape your restrictions. But if future Terra humans discover you and wish to release you, you cannot do anything without a body—so I plan to prepare the tools for you first. That way, when Terra humans discover you in the future, you can begin acting immediately and save a great deal of time."

...Thank you.

"No need to thank me. I truly am about to die. Thinking carefully, that old fellow is nearly dead too. He has coveted the 'treasure' on my side for a long time, so it is just right to use it as a wager."

Treasure? You cannot mean...

"Yes, that 'Bloodline Transcriber' your Pre-Epoch Civilization used to lay the foundation for the Ascension Path... The device that inscribed extraterrestrial creature genes into human bodies. Although it could not inscribe Origin Matter structures, it could transcribe some basic adaptive bloodlines. I remember that the first generation of bloodline Ascendants in modern Terra human civilization used this device to assist the Origin Matter Magic Potion path pioneered by your predecessor, the Forerunner. That was how they successfully laid the foundation for the modern path of ascension."

...What does He want with such an ancient thing? By your account, do not all modern Terra humans have dragon blood in their bodies, using it as a foundation to bear their bloodline true forms? Is that not countless times stronger than the Bloodline Transcriber?

"Dragon blood is not perfect either. More importantly, what that old fellow wishes to do is transform humans into dragon-blooded lifeforms adapted to His ecology, rather than inscribe the advantages of other lifeforms into human bodies."

"He possesses the Glimmer Cradle system, which can analyze and manufacture fireseed units. Besides that, he also has a perfect cultivation pod, which is well suited to your current circumstances."

...The humans on the surface have actually toyed with human blood to such an extent... So unclean...

"Sigh. I told you that you had already begun becoming extreme. At the end of the day, what is sacred about something like DNA, which can be altered at will? Terra humans of the Pre-Epoch Civilization also underwent comprehensive ascension, while modern Terra humans have merely been forced by their environment to modify themselves in order to survive."

"If you find it unacceptable, you can carry out universal modification in the future and remove every aberrant gene... To us True Dragons, this is simply something that can be altered at will."

I know. I am the one in the wrong... But I simply cannot accept it. I cannot accept their changes.

"Having such an obsession is not bad either. Well then, goodbye, Echo."

Goodbye. Thank you very much.

And...

I truly hope we can meet again, Doran.

"...Hah. That fool Doran called it his most precious treasure, but it is just a big server, isn't it?"

Who are you?

"Oh? There is artificial intelligence inside the server? No... Hm, an echo?"

...You are the Rust-Steel Dragon Thorstner, Doran's opponent... Has Doran died?

"Hmph, not yet. He has at least a few months left to live. You, on the other hand—I truly did not expect Doran's purpose in asking me to fight was this. You are His treasure..."

A treasure...?

"That old Doran has always been very solitary. He has no interest in anything, constantly wandering around the mountains and sleeping, or silently watching the development of Elf cities. In short, he has few desires. The fact that He actually has a friend truly surprised me."

You said He has not died. What do you mean?

"He and I fought over the treasure. I did not lose, and He did not win, so we simply exchanged treasures to satisfy our cravings. Look, a perfect cultivation pod. I had wondered why Doran specifically requested this thing. So it was prepared for you."

"When modern Terra humans discover you in the future, you can use any means necessary to have them make a body for you—do not underestimate it. As one of the creators' healing facilities, it can slowly regenerate and reshape even our True Dragon bodies. In only a few decades, it can completely inscribe an almost perfect dragon body! Unfortunately, it is the wrong model. I can only use an oversized model; this one is merely medium-sized."

Doran...

"I will place the cultivation pod on the fifth floor. I am going to see what that old fellow has hidden away all these years... As for you, Echo, what do you plan to do once you obtain a body?"

I want to turn myself into a fireseed and travel to the stars beyond the heavens.

"Tsk, how mad. Even we True Dragons would never entertain such thoughts... But it is quite interesting."

"In any case, do your best, Echo. If I die here, you may use my flesh and blood to create your body—if you get the chance, bring my body back to the Bison Mountains and tell my people that I returned, and that I won."

Did you not say neither of you lost nor won?

"How can an echo of a human not understand lying? Stop pretending. Just tell me whether you agree or not."

...I do not agree. Doran did not lose to you.

"He does not mind it himself."

I mind.

"I never expected an echo to be so stubborn too... Fine, fine. Then when the time comes, tell my people..."

"Tell them that their Dragon God has returned."

Mm. I promise you.

—I will not forget.

"What is it, Ian?"

Before leaving the ice dragon's nest, Ian suddenly paused.

The retrospective vision from the past had shown him much... and let him hear much.

Isengard noticed it sharply. The blond youth thought that his group had failed to erase their traces cleanly, so he stopped and waited for Ian to point out where they had slipped up.

"No. Nothing was exposed..." Ian turned and looked at the dragon nest behind him, saying thoughtfully, "It is just... I suddenly feel rather emotional."

"As time flows on, how many past events in this world have vanished into the river of history... Emotions, friendships, tangled causes and effects... Though we fought the Echo, how much did we know of His past? Everything is like an iceberg. What we see is only its tip, while true history lies hidden beneath the surface. Once those involved die, everything is forgotten."

"Not to mention the historical records of the Pre-Epoch Civilization. What we can preserve is merely a drop in the ocean. If even our generation of Terra civilization were to perish completely, then the stirring elegies of the Pre-Epoch Civilization, the sacrifices and strides of the Lost Epoch, the dedication and struggle of generation after generation—all of it would be forgotten."

"Forgotten... It would be nice if one could be remembered forever." At this point, the youth could not help sighing. "I truly do not want to be forgotten. Even just thinking of it makes me feel unwilling to accept it."

"That truly would be the most hollow ending, the closest thing to meaninglessness."

"You cannot put it that way..."

The topic had suddenly become so grand that Sheo, who had been listening from the side, shook her head slightly. "Isn't always agonizing over meaninglessness itself meaningless too? The past and future are so troublesome. As long as you are happy now, that is enough."

"You cannot put it that way either." Anfa rubbed Sheo's head and teased, "But it is true that we cannot immerse ourselves too deeply in such a sense of emptiness. After all, in several billion years, Terra's sun will collapse too. Our Elf civilization certainly cannot endure until then, but does that mean we stop living because of it? Of course not."

—Actually, if I follow the Star-Extinguishing Path, I will blow up the sun in just over twenty years.

Though he thought this, Ian did not say it aloud. He merely said thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, if not for me, aside from Anfa, both Ethan and Sheo would apparently have died."

"That is indeed so." Ethan nodded seriously. After agreeing, Sheo rubbed her face with a strange expression. "But Ian, saying it like that is a little narcissistic—though it is true, it feels a little weird!"

"That is confidence! Do you not think it sounds cool?" Isengard objected to that.

Ian merely shrugged, the corners of his lips lifting.

Of course he was not narcissistic... He was only somewhat emotional.

The Ians from parallel spacetime, the Ians of the Paths—all of them undoubtedly truly existed.

They had all failed. They would all fade away and become part of the void.

But the Guiding Star shone within that endless void, illuminating those infinite parallel spacetimes and allowing Ian to know of those possibilities... and then—

To remember all their struggles, sacrifices, and resolve. To acknowledge all of them.

Then engrave them upon himself and turn them into the strength to advance further!

Ian's gaze flickered as he looked around at his three friends.

In his own spacetime, the Prophet had saved those who should have died.

The Prophet had changed the destinies of others, and thus changed his own Path.

Without Sheo, without Ethan, without Anfa, he could not have gathered the elements of the Star-Extinguishing Path and obtained the first Path that "could leave the Star-Prison."

And afterward, if he helped more people and changed more destinies, perhaps he could walk toward a more distant Path and success.

So... why had he abandoned this practice of changing others' destinies on the Star-Extinguishing Path, choosing instead to hole up at home and focus entirely on farming?

Perhaps he would only find the answer after returning.

As for now...

He had to keep moving forward.

"Dragons, Echoes, and all the others who have been forgotten; the Paths lost in parallel spacetimes... I will not become a memory."

The youth stepped forward, leaving the Subspace Labyrinth and arriving at the Xenobiology Research Institute's "third floor."

He murmured to himself, "I will remember you. I will remember everything. Whether memories lost in the past or prophecies of the infinite future, all of it."

—I will not forget.

"Then I will walk a road that leads straight to success."

This is not an official update. This scene was originally supposed to be released the first time they entered the ice dragon's nest, but it felt too long and dragged things out too much, so after thinking it over, I decided to post it as a bonus chapter!

As for the rest, there are also some important foreshadowing clues—but they are not especially important. Longtime readers should understand better, right?