9999 Titan Creations

"Well said, truly well said." Lanlos was momentarily beguiled, muttering to himself, yet a strange smile tugged at his lips—it seemed like agreement, but it was laced with hidden mockery. "I cannot even find a reason to refute you."

"Because what I speak is the very truth you pursue."

Lanlos seemed not to hear, reaching out to slowly trace the inscription on the tombstone—the words he had carved with the last of his strength: Better to die than to submit.

"But Sores gave me a reason."

"Weakness and avoidance can never solve a problem. Means are the seeds, and the goal is the tree; relying on fear, avoidance, disaster, and destruction can never yield the fruit of justice. I am the same, and is Sargeras not the same?"

The great Dark Titan, Sargeras. It is said he once exhausted his life and soul for the Pantheon and his kin, but after witnessing the Void irreversibly corrupt his slumbering brethren, he turned toward extreme nihilism. In his previous life, he had struggled to fight against fate, only to fall to illness; in this life, arriving in the Shattered Abyss and becoming entangled with demons, he had thought to use soft tactics when hard ones failed, yet in the end, it was merely choosing avoidance out of fear of failure.

In a trance, Lanlos felt as if he were locking eyes with that supreme being. There was no rumored terror or might, no oppression or insignificance; on the contrary, an indescribable sense of déjà vu tempted him to kneel before the eternal, inextinguishable flame in this dark void.

But the moment he lowered his head, a flash of bright red stung his eyes.

Better to die than to submit, better to die than to submit!

Sores's voice echoed in his ears like a resounding slap, tearing away the cloak of his self-righteousness and exposing his cowardice, fear, and avoidance, raw and bleeding under the daylight.

"I don't know what is right or wrong, let alone such obscure and intangible concepts as fate. I don't understand, not at all." Lanlos gripped the tombstone tightly; compared to his weak fingers, the hard texture felt like an endless mountain, mocking his insignificance and humility.

"But I do not believe my fate lies in your mouth."

The owner of that voice seemed surprised; the hand that had almost "touched" Lanlos stopped a hair's breadth away.

"What fate is, I do not know, but I know that my choices lead to different fates. Although I don't think I have mastered fate, since this outcome is one I cannot accept, then at the very least, I must make choices that I will not regret."

"What do you mean?"

"Ha!" Lanlos laughed, so loudly it shook his motionless body. His previously stiff face twisted into a defiant, arrogant grin. "Even if it means death! I will struggle to crawl before fate, raise my middle finger, spit a glob of phlegm on it, and shout..."

Lanlos jerked his head up, his azure eyes gazing at the palm reaching out from the void, and he laughed as he extended his middle finger.

"Go to hell!"

Crack!

A deafening roar erupted deep within his soul. Raging green flames suddenly ignited in his eyes, and a tyrannical power surged through his entire body like lightning—pure and vast.

Perhaps due to the impact of this power, the tombstone in his hand cracked under his grip. But Lanlos paid no mind; his attention was already captured by something else that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

Hum...

Lifeform pattern identification complete...
Security protocol disengaged...
Main control system coming online...
Error, process terminated...
Assistant management system coming online...
Warning: Unidentified intrusion detected, initiating defense protocol...

What is this?

"Host identification name: Sargerite Keystone. Greetings, Lanlos. Do you wish to view the host operating agreement?"

Unlike the previous barrage of system-like feedback, this synthetic, mechanical voice resonated slowly in his mind, giving him a moment to breathe. Crucially, the instant that defense protocol activated, Lanlos was surprised to feel a sensation like an ice pack pressed to his forehead. Then, the hand twisting in front of him vanished, and that eerie, demonic voice disappeared without a trace.

"Do you wish to view the host operating agreement?"

Host? Operating agreement?

After a brief moment of bewilderment, Lanlos finally regained his senses and tentatively asked, "View?"

"Warning: Database lost, retrieval failed, process terminated..."

Aside from the terrifying fact that it spoke from within his mind, these technical terms made Lanlos think of the programs and computers from his previous life. If he remembered correctly, Azeroth, being one of the Titan laboratories, indeed held many Titan technological artifacts.

However, based on the feedback just now, this seemed to be a defective product?

"Uh, what was it, Sargerite?"

Hum, hum...

The Sargerite Keystone shimmered with a faint light, a low resonance echoing in his mind, declaring its unique and undeniable presence.

"What exactly are you?"

"Keystone, main control plugin for space-time jumping. Functional definition: teleportation, mass teleportation, lifeform identification, star map data management..." Without a pause, the Keystone's voice emanated from the depths of his soul the moment Lanlos finished speaking.

"Wait, that's too much, explain in detail later." Seeing the thing had no intention of stopping, Lanlos hurriedly interrupted its emotionless self-introduction. "First, explain this string of information from start to finish."

As he focused his consciousness, the string of feedback records appeared in his mind like a pop-up window. Lanlos was about to read them one by one, but the Keystone seemed far more intelligent than he had imagined, providing the answer before he could.

"The Keystone was originally the assistant management system for Mardum. After the Titans and the guardians of various regions activated the beacons, it would initiate space-time jumps to recover and imprison demons within the beacon's range. When Mardum was destroyed, to prevent Sargeras and the Burning Legion from utilizing my star map retrieval database, the main control system revoked my permissions and ejected me at the cost of all energy."

"However, Sargeras discovered the Keystone's departure and shattered my chassis while I was initiating the space-time jump, causing the assistant management system to malfunction. One of the fragments seemingly used your consciousness as a carrier and eventually brought you to the Shattered Abyss. Although the Keystone resumed normal functional operation after repairs, it could not establish a connection with you because it could not identify your lifeform pattern, thus violating security protocols."

The other party glossed over the act of forcibly dragging him to Mardum, leaving a bitter taste in Lanlos's mouth. But on second thought, it was this thing that, by some twist of fate, had given him a chance to live again; it seemed he was the one who had come out ahead?

Too lazy to dwell on right or wrong, he shook his head and focused on the more important point: "We just connected, didn't we? Why do it suddenly at this moment?"

"The Keystone constantly monitors the host's status. This is the calculation result provided after confirming that the host's various indicators have met the requirements."

"Cough, by 'subject' you mean me?" Lanlos furrowed his brows, forcing himself to ignore the bizarre title. "You say you're constantly monitoring my physical state, but just now, only my mental state should have been fluctuating, right? How did you do it? Why didn't I feel a thing?"

This wasn't Lanlos being arrogant. After the ordeal his soul endured on Mardum, the resilience, intensity, and sensitivity of his mental power had undergone massive changes. Comparing his state to the research and experience on souls and minds left behind by Vihana, he shouldn't have been able to ignore such a thorough, top-to-bottom scan, even if he couldn't compare to the likes of Vihana.

To be under constant surveillance by a plugin whose primary function was opening portals and not even notice? That clearly made no sense. While an intelligent program wouldn't lie, Lanlos instinctively refused to believe something so damaging to his self-confidence.

"Considering the risks during beacon recovery, before initiating spatial leaping, target data must be acquired rapidly. With the help of the main control system's computing power, the Sargerite Keystone's record is 4.14 seconds to acquire data on 1,093,522 flora and fauna samples on a planet."

Perhaps it was just his imagination, but Lanlos felt that whenever the entity said these things, a pair of eyes filled with contempt was looking down at him from an unknown distance in the sky.

What a joke. How could a human be mocked by a program?

"Isn't your database broken? How do you still remember these things?"

"The Keystone's cache space records essential operational data."

Cache? It was becoming more and more like a computer. No, such an appalling matter couldn't be explained by the scientific concepts of Lanlos's past life. Across countless light-years, performing a sample check on every living thing on a planet in four seconds—this was something Lanlos, who considered himself a modern man, couldn't even dream of.

Unbelievable, incomprehensible, absolutely absurd!

Just as Lanlos was tearing his hair out over the unreasonable functions and logic of Titan technology, the faint humming of the Sargerite Keystone amplified slightly. Just as it had said, it was checking his status at all times, even his mind.

"If the subject wishes to fully understand the Keystone's functions, it is recommended to create a new database for categorization based on the subject's consciousness."

"Fine, let's try it." Although he only understood half of it, the prospect of fully grasping the capabilities of a Titan creation—combined with his yearning for such arcane knowledge and his own stubborn nature—made Lanlos agree almost without hesitation. But the next second, he burst into a string of curses.

Subject permissions granted, uploading drivers...

The moment this feedback appeared in his mind, Lanlos felt as if more than half the blood in his body had suddenly vanished. He nearly collapsed to the ground, his brain feeling dizzy and uncontrollable.

Driver upload complete...

"What the hell! What did you do to me..."

The sudden wave of weakness felt like working for a month straight without sleep. Lanlos felt his vision go black, and he nearly said goodbye to the world right then and there. When he finally managed to recover, his first act was to ruthlessly interrogate the culprit hiding in the corner of his soul. However, the entity offered no explanation; instead, as he focused his attention on the Sargerite Keystone, a strange, indescribable sensation emerged in his mind.

Lanlos

Race: High Elf

Language: Thalassian, Common, Demonic

Health: 100%

Mana: 9%

Spirit: 61%

Strength: 12

Agility: 13

Intelligence: 16

Constitution: 10

Perception: 15

Charisma: 8

What is this?

Lanlos "looked" at the list of data floating before his eyes, his face blank.

"By uploading the consciousness assimilation program, the subject can understand the Keystone's functions through their own mental consciousness. The database archives are located in the subject's memory partition and can be added to or modified at any time."

Lanlos was in no mood to process the entity's words; his mind was entirely captivated by the strange sensation that had just emerged. It was like someone who had lived with severe myopia for decades suddenly putting on glasses. Although his perception hadn't changed, the feeling that appeared in his mind gave him a chillingly clear understanding and recognition of all things in the world.

Yes, understanding. He suddenly grasped the way the Sargerite Keystone viewed living beings, himself included.

"Lanlos, are you alright?"

A voice—a sound coming through his hearing. What would be perfectly normal for an ordinary person felt inexplicably discordant to Lanlos now.

Opening the eyes he had closed due to discomfort, Lanlos looked blankly at the owner of the voice.

Beside him, Alleria was watching him with a worried expression.

"I'm not... uh..." The elf shook his head and tried to stand, but an irresistible wave of exhaustion seized the opportunity to strike, causing him to lose his balance and collapse toward the ground like a ragdoll.

Fortunately, Alleria was quick-witted and caught him. "You can't call this 'alright'."

Lying in the ranger's arms, Lanlos had no romantic thoughts whatsoever. He saw stars, cold sweat poured down his body, his limbs were almost numb, and even breathing became abnormally heavy. His lungs felt like they were filled with lead; every inhalation required every ounce of his strength. Romantic thoughts? He felt like his soul was about to leave his body.

It was no wonder; he had overlooked the fact that the Sargerite Keystone was a plugin. For the sake of the so-called upload, the Keystone had drained his mana pool, leaving him with just enough to stay alive.

Most living beings in this multiverse were created by the Titans. In this world, mana was not just energy used to cast spells; it existed within the flesh and soul of every living being. It was precisely because of this magical energy that the life forms on this plane were not limited to carbon-based life, but also included elementals, demons, ethereal, souls, and so on. Mana could be understood as another form of blood oxygen; it created and strengthened life, allowing it to survive even without oxygen. If a living being were to be completely deprived of it, they could not survive on biological supplies like oxygen and blood cells alone.

Mana was the cornerstone of this world and the fundamental sustenance for the life forms on this plane.

That bastard Sargerite had nearly sucked the life out of him without a word.

Though he was filled with annoyance, Lanlos didn't even have the strength to lift a finger. "Sorry, I think... my blood sugar dropped. I'll be fine after a rest. Could you trouble yourself to get me some food?"

Although she didn't quite understand the specific meaning of "blood sugar dropped," Alleria didn't dwell on it, assuming he was just delirious. Thinking of how long he had been unconscious and how he had been busy with the funeral arrangements, she quickly arranged for someone to bring him food and water.

"In your current state, I'm afraid you won't be able to catch the ship on your own." Once the elf had finished eating and drinking, and a bit of color had returned to his pale face, the ranger continued, "How about this: I'll arrange for someone to escort you to the ship, just in case."

"Sorry for the trouble." Trembling as he bowed in apology, Lanlos didn't try to act tough. As the saying went, a long-term illness makes a doctor; he knew very well that if he pushed himself while this weak, he wouldn't even know how he died.

However, there was one thing he didn't know.

After the elf left to rest, supported by a Farstrider, Alleria withdrew her gaze. Her bright, crystal-clear sapphire eyes fell upon the tombstone the elf had just knelt before. On the corner where his hand had rested, an irregular palm print was imprinted, with countless fine cracks spreading throughout, silently accusing the tyrannical and overbearing nature of that power.

That guy...

Looking once more at the stumbling elf, Alleria silently cast a stern glance at Sarell, who was following closely by his side. The latter understood and nodded quietly at her.