Chapter 1923 - 1922: Perfect Side Quest Rating

Hidden quest Perfect evaluation, as always.

Denos’s thoughts were actually very simple.

He was already all alone, with no family or friends still alive, and no attachments left.

What he could not let go of was that when Kovotra was destroyed back then, he was sealed inside a coffin and utterly powerless to do anything.

He was locked in that tiny box for eight hundred years straight; he could not take revenge, nor could he save the people he loved, or save his own city.

This was his obsession.

He did not fear death, but he feared being powerless.

So what He Ao needed to do was simple: avenge him, and wreck the Grim Reaper’s scheme.

That alone could fulfill most of this obsession.

And if one wanted to fully resolve this obsession, there was one more thing that had to be done.

"Save Vissen."

Save this city built on top of Kovotra, save the people in this city who had once again formed bonds with "Denos."

Back then, Denos had failed to save Kovotra, so He Ao had to be able to save Vissen.

So He Ao saved Vissen.

At that final moment, when the city escaped from that ritual saturated with the powers of the Divine Beings, Denos’s heart-knot had already come undone.

He Ao watched the rapid changes of the subtitles in his field of view.

[Main Quest Evaluation:

When the first ray of the Stars’ radiance is kindled, Truth is thereby born.

When the first Undead steps into the Netherworld, Death thereby seizes the supreme Authority.

When the first streak of daybreak pierces the sky and brings forth vitality to all things, people begin, from the depths of their hearts, to worship the light.

Hell is born from fear; desire is born from longing.

The Divine Beings stand still amid the Starry Sky; they are the final solution of the cosmos, and its very symbol.

They are the One, and the many; the instant, and the eternal.

They are the Incarnation of the universe.

The most ancient and mighty civilizations among the Stars must still crawl beneath the Divine Beings, to Listen to Their teachings.

The most erudite and powerful Wizards among the Stars still willingly follow in the footsteps of the Divine Beings, to become Their servants.

Even the most ignorant, most savage civilizations will fear the strength of the Divine Beings.

For fear is what is branded in the deepest place of the Life soul.

The will of the Divine Beings is fate; this is the Truth acknowledged by the universe.

Yet you discovered the crack within.

Wherever Death arrives, the earth shall fall into silent wasteland, and yet you let lives numbering in the millions gain new vitality in the face of Death.

The ancient Order of the universe has, in your hands, turned into a supple ruler, able to bend according to your will.

You dance among the Divine Beings, making all gods move as you move.

When the gaze of the Divine Beings falls upon the land, every preordained fate seems to begin to blur.

The battlefield of the Divine Beings is raised upon the earth—this is for the corpses that have passed, and also for the wholeness of the future.

When the suffusing radiance tears open the Firmament, when the eternal majesty enfolds the earth, when the gazes of the Divine Beings meet within the void—you walk out from that void.

You shatter all those endlessly laid-out schemes, seize fate into your own hands, and advance according to your will.

Truth accompanies you at your side; light blazes upon your two shoulders; even fear itself moves at your command.

Bards sing of your astounding feats; even Wizards brimming with knowledge will marvel at your wisdom.

The vast Starry Sky is passing on your tale; the Divine Beings, too, are Listening to your exploits.

Within the ancient history of the universe, you are enough to stand alongside those greatest Legends.

Within the torrent where history and fate converge, you leave behind a monument that stuns all who see it.

From the Starry Sky comes a distant, unending resonance—this is the hymn that the Stars play for you.]

[Main Quest Evaluation: Legend (9.5)]

[Main Quest Settlement Exchange Star: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★]

He Ao silently watched this evaluation text, and vaguely made out five words hidden among that dense pile of praise:

"Bro, you’re badass."

Badass is badass, but the score still refuses to go up even a bit.

At least the Exchange Stars went up—originally it was 14.5, now it’s become 15.

Up by half a star; this stingy system actually loosened up this time?

Is it because the real score of the main quest is actually higher than what’s shown, but since there’s only the 0.5 tier left, it couldn’t raise it any further, so it added it to the Exchange Stars instead?

This did slightly exceed He Ao’s expectations—he hadn’t thought the system would rate this main quest a bit higher.

But the opening of the system’s evaluation was pretty interesting—the first four sentences introduced five Divine Beings.

Good Friend, Grim Reaper, Eternal Light, Lord of Hell, Witch of Desire.

But no Holy Master.

Because in essence, the Holy Master wasn’t pulled into this Copy World; the main conflict also happened outside the Copy World, so They’re an outsider?

He Ao lifted his gaze and read those few lines once again.

Good Friend was clearly the highest-tier among them: "When the first ray of the Stars’ radiance is kindled," Truth awakens.

The first ray of the Stars’ radiance being kindled should refer to the shift from nothing to something—the moment of Creation of the universe.

Then came the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper’s introduction was quite interesting—starting from the Netherworld, indicating that the Netherworld is very likely the foundation of the Death God Power and the Divine Position.

Next was Eternal Light, born from Sun worship and the worship of light.

Big Sis and the Lord of Hell, those two Divine Beings, were instead glossed over in just a single sentence—one born from desire, one born from fear.

Which suggests that, by the system’s evaluation standards, these two Divine Beings are clearly weaker than the first three?

Judging from the order, among these five Divine Beings this time, Good Friend is the strongest?

Well, it does sort of look that way—Good Friend, from beginning to end, seems to have only sent over that initial bit of power through the New Netherworld, yet still managed to play the whole match.

The Grim Reaper, on the other hand, extended the full power of the Netherworld over here.

Big Sis went even further—no one knows how much power She sent down, not hesitating to pay any price.

Of course, you can’t really use this to measure the strength of Divine Beings; after all, from start to finish, what participated this time were not Their true bodies, but merely the Incarnations They transmitted over.

The system may not truly be ranking them like this; it could just be casually mentioning them.

Still, this information is definitely not useless. Sometimes the system’s tidbits that look inconspicuous, like auxiliary info, end up hiding some kind of secret "knowledge."

Gathering his thoughts, He Ao swept his eyes over the main quest evaluation once more.

You could tell the system really thought He Ao’s move of absorbing a bunch of Divine Beings to fight was pretty gutsy—the whole evaluation basically revolved around that.

Yet if he hadn’t dragged the Divine Beings over for help, He Ao himself would’ve been utterly unable to handle the Alliance of the Grim Reaper and the Witch of Desire.

Judging from the intensity of this quest, enemies he runs into later are likely to grow ever stronger, and "contact" with Divine Beings will only become more frequent.

But that’s all for later.

The text that had flooded He Ao’s field of view slowly faded, turning into new lines.

[Side Quest Evaluation:

The Divine Beings sit high above in Heaven; heroes on the earth control the chariot of history.

The era’s great wheel rolls ever forward—upon this wheel, there is no place for the mortal.

Yet what bears this wheel is the rivers and seas that mortals themselves become.

Lowly lives rise and fall within the flood; voiceless screams quake beneath the Shadow.

Insignificant droplets of water can be easily strangled, but when the rivers and seas surge up, they can raise stormy waves.

The heroes of the old era control the great wheel and wrestle against the seas; they beg for the Divine Beings’ protection, bringing power and oppression, attempting to calm the waters down.

And yet you leapt into the sea.

The surging rivers and oceans are the will of the rivers and oceans, and they are also your will.

You battled with heroes, battled with Divine Beings, gathering those insignificant drops of water into a force that shakes Heaven and Earth.

The ancient era opens a new volume for you, solely to record this singular Epic.

The Stars hang high in the sky, and the gods dwell above them.

The changes of the mortal world are but a fleeting instant within endless eternity to the Divine Beings.

But to humble mortals, they are everything.

Tiny flowers can break through sludge, blooming into a vast sea of blossoms in a dim wasteland.

Feeble droplets can seep from cracks in rock, merging into rivers and seas across the boundless land.

Your radiance pours down from the Firmament, illuminating the road ahead for the lost.

The gods cannot halt your steps, and ancient heroes must crawl before you.

History is merely the crochet hook in your hand, fate is the thread passing through it.

You sketch history and fate, sketching the future and hope of civilization.

You changed the course of the era, traced out the riverbed of history.

All lies beneath your pen, all follows your will.

The rivers and seas boil—that is them cheering for you.

The flowers surge—that is them crying out for you.

Even if the gods rewrite history, they cannot suppress your radiance.

Even if heroes seal all words, they cannot cover up your hymn.

Your brilliance spans the long river of history, shining upon eternal marks.

You are the present, and you are the future.

When eternity opens its next fleeting instant.

When ancient song rises from the deepest strata of the earth.

When slumbering Life awakens beneath Daybreak.

Across the Starry Sky resounds a far-off paean—that is people praising your name.]

[Side Quest Evaluation: Perfect (10)]

[Side Quest Settlement Exchange Star: ★★★★★★★★★★★★★]

A Perfect evaluation, thirteen Exchange Stars, an increase of three.

Previously, 9.5 only got 9.5 stars, and only above 9.5 got ten; that stingy system handing out half-stars, half-stars—yet for Perfect it actually gave thirteen at once.

Though it’s not as big an increase as for a main quest, it can be called generous.

The core of this side quest is the same as He Ao had previously deduced: the "New Era."

This means the system truly believes He Ao is altering the era, and this evaluation also comes from his act of changing the era.

It seems He Ao’s earlier conjecture was correct: the New Federation has indeed been established.

Christos and the others really did follow the momentum he set in motion, establishing a centralized new government.

In fact, even without his push, Christos and his people very likely would have moved toward unification.

But it might have happened later than now, losing more cities, more population, only completing itself amid chaos and defeat.

Of course, there was another possible outcome: the Consortium moved fast enough to break them one by one before the three great cities could unite.

The three months to quell the rebellion that Skewis spoke of was precisely this scenario.

And the Consortium Alliance and the Federal Central really did act in this way.

In truth, the very reason the Consortium Alliance wanted to assassinate Kemingda, elevate Skewis, launch a sudden raid on Dawn City, and provoke civil war was to seize this rare "window of opportunity."

Dawn City, Yilan City, and the Nolanka Group had previously been in that loose state of each minding their own; even if they formed an Alliance in a civil war, they would be quickly smashed.

Then the Consortium Alliance would have the chance to suppress, in a short span, both the opposition and the ideology of "K," truly extending the lifespan of its rule.

So they were willing to pay any price to ignite civil war, throwing in everything from the very start.

The person directing this war is likely thinking far more long-term than his allies.

Judging from Hawke’s Copy World earlier, even inside the Consortium Alliance there were probably many who didn’t understand this war.

After all, war brings risk—and the Consortium hates risk most of all.

Of course, all this "scheming" was premised on the three cities being swiftly crushed.

That, for the Consortium, was the "most ideal" plan.

But now, the three cities have moved toward unification and Alliance.

A unified "New Federation" will inevitably mean protracted war and attrition, and it also means that the New Federation’s ideology will, along with war, seep into the territories under Consortium rule.

From the moment the New Federation was founded, the situation had already slipped beyond the control of the Consortium Alliance.

The era truly pivoted at this point.

Is this the requirement for a "Perfect" evaluation?

To affect the historical process of the entire world?

As he pondered, the subtitles within He Ao’s field of view slowly shifted.

[Hidden Quest Evaluation:

People standing at a crossroads often do not realize they are standing at a crossroads.

Only when the great torrent of history has swept past do they, looking back, suddenly startle awake—discovering that the era has already undergone a world-shaking transformation.

People live within the era, and are drowned within the era.

Heroes change the era, yet are in turn forged by the era.

Peddlers and runners, lords and ministers—all along the lines of fate—create the era, while also being deprived of choice.

When preordained fate descends from beyond the world.

When greatness upon the Starry Sky casts down its gaze.

Ancient beings can only watch as everything they cherish becomes a necessary "sacrifice."

Across eight hundred years he has struggled again and again in the dark, striving to break through the fate that imprisons him, break through that shackling cage.

He cannot change his own fate, nor change the fate of the city-states.

When earth buries the remains, when entire eras are buried by history.

Life that crosses the ages becomes a kind of Curse.

But hope does not sink and vanish within the years.

When the ancient Life returns from history, carved upon him is not only history, but an eternal obsession.

Even if fate points straight ahead, even if the gods descend with power.

He will still hold his sword and walk forward.

To fight against fate.

To fight against Myth.

And to fight against his own impotence.

Regret did not, in the end, warp into despair, but instead gestated new hope.

A person’s true death is not the demise of the flesh, but oblivion.

When ancient history is handed down to the present, when the song of the city-state rises within the city.

Time will erase all traces, but cannot erase the power of Life.

That is a flame even Divine Beings dread.]

[Hidden Quest Evaluation: Perfect (10)]

[Hidden Quest Settlement Exchange Star: ★★★★★★]