358 Replacement Ritual (1/2)

All Raven could do was sigh and smile wryly.

It was at this point that he already realized that there's no escaping this at all. His tracks had been exposed, and this old man is the Plane's Consciousness itself.

There was no point in hiding or lying. And even if he could, he wouldn't do so.

For the first time ever since his Soul Rebirth, he considered just telling someone about the truth. The truth that he kept to himself and never told anyone, not even the closest people beside him.

Raven released yet another exasperated sigh and laughed softly, he then said:

”Well, you got me old man.” He admitted, ”Yes, those were all me.”

He wanted to say that he had the help of some friends but he was worried about what's going to happen next, so he didn't say it. He didn't know the true intentions of the old man so he still have to be careful.

If things really goes south, he didn't want his friends to be dragged with this mess. Even if it kills him, he will face this problem alone since he's the root cause of it.

”I figured that such was the case too.” The old man said while smiling at Raven.

”Then?” Raven asked, ”What does the Plane's Consciousness want from me?”

The old man just stared at Raven with his eyes closed. He didn't say anything for a while so there was an awkward silent between them. Raven then heard the old man sigh and say:

”I have a feeling that you have an idea of what I want to happen.” The old man smiled kindly, ”Needless to say, I'm still going to say this.”

The old man paused before saying: ”I want you to replace me, Young Raven.”

A sigh escaped from Raven's mouth as he heard that.

The old man was right, Raven did have an idea of what he wanted to ask of him. And it was precisely the same thing he was thinking.

Raven's not ignorant. Other than the Plane's Consciousness itself, no one understands the state of the Grand Ancestral Plane better than Raven himself.

Hearing the Old Man's request told Raven many things.

For starters, the Plane's Consciousness is born a few moments after the birth of the Plane itself. The consciousness can take on many form and also change it depending on how it sees fit. And just like all creations, the consciousness and the plane itself are not exempted from the erosion of Time.

Everything gets old - eroded by time. Since the consciousness of the plane can take on a physical form, those forms could reflect the age of the plane itself. And while the Plane is destined to live for a very long time, it will still face death at a certain point.

And judging from the appearance of the consciousness, the time of the Plane is nearly over.

Of course, this is something that Raven didn't want to hear nor see.

Like what was established before, the consciousness is born a few moments after the birth of the plane itself. Replacing the consciousness means that the plane will enter a very delicate period.

The process of replacing the Plane's Consciousness is done by having the old consciousness pass everything it has and knows to the descendant, this includes the remaining lifespan it has. All life forms residing at the plane will feel the rapid decline of the old consciousness' lifespan. To them, this process will somewhat feel like doomsday is coming or the world is ending, which will cause everything to descend in mass panic and hysteria.

In addition to that, during the process of replacement, both the old consciousness and the replacement will be busy, which means that they cannot interfere with anything that's going on in the plane.

To top this all of, since the old consciousness needs to concentrate everything it has on this ritual, it won't be able to defend itself from outside sources. There is a reason why only those who were born from this plane could come back once they ascended to the Divine Realm, however that functionality will be removed once the replacement ritual begins, so if there's anyone who happened to be nearby and saw this happen, there's no telling on what will happen.

This is why it is extremely difficult for the old consciousness to make this decision. The replacement ritual has too many risk that can cause the plane's destruction. At the same time, it couldn't just allow the plane to end just like that. There's also the matter of finding a suitable candidate for the ritual too.