Chapter 438 (1/2)

”Testing, one…two…three… Think it's working… this feels kind of strange.”

Zhang Dong was looking at a person in an old video. There was some kind of date on it but it didn't make much sense to the system they had now. This made it seem that this was recorded before the current dating system was put in place.

'The current dating system dates back to a hundred thousand years, it probably started right after the last war between empires. If the timer gets restarted every hundred thousand years, there is no way of knowing how old this is.'

First, he took a good look at the person that was recording himself. Just like any other system users that he had seen, he was quite handsome. It was clear that the people chosen for this position wanted to make themselves look the best and he was the same.

The person looked more like a traditional cultivator but he wasn't that young. His hair was a mix of black and silver that had appeared due to age. Either the person had gone with the elder option in his e-mail or he had just spent quite a bit of time in this world. But judging that it would probably take many years to build a place like this, he was sure it was the latter.

He didn't look as old as some of the elders, at most he was about fifty. But it would be hard to tell his true age with just the appearance. Nascent soul masters lived to around a thousand years and depending on their cultivation they could keep their youthful look even into their older years. This person had the system with them, so even here he could already be nine hundred.

”I did it, I have managed to create this testing ground. With it I will be able to find more people like me, by that I mean people with a system! I know that you are out there, I can't be the only one…”

It seemed that this person was really the one that figured out the secrets of the system but as it was starting to get to the good part, the video was cut off. Zhang Dong realized that this computer was quite old and even if it looked fine from the outside there was a limit at which data could be stored.

When he tried to click the next video after it, he was shown a corrupt image with no sound. Other ones wouldn't even start playing and Bob was also unable to reconstruct the corrupt data.

'It's already a miracle that this thing didn't crumble into dust, it's at least a hundred thousand years old…'

Without much to do, he continued to go through the many videos one by one. Finally, he was able to play a part of it, in this video, the man looked a lot older. His skin had some wrinkles and his hair was now almost fully gray. His eyes also looked tired, it was as if he didn't sleep for some time.

”Log number 59… ah whoever cares, not like anyone will ever see this… but anyway…”

The man gave out a sigh while leaning back in the gaming chair recreation.

”I have been unable to discover any other people like me, it has been many thousands of years, no one was able to finish this trial and no other system could be discovered. I have been putting myself into stasis to prolong my life but there is a limit on how much time I have…End log”

The video cut so he continued to the next one.

”Log number 245… I'm getting tired, so I went outside to stretch my legs… my old sect is no more, I don't recognize anyone… I don't think anyone from my bloodline is alive anymore…”

”567… It has been a hundred thousand years… the war cycle has repeated… but no other of my kind has appeared and I know the reason. I have made an error in my calculations, unless I cut off from the source no one will come… without a new system user the empire has no chance of winning, they have retreated into the center but they will survive… I know what I must do…”

”569… I know how to remove myself from the system but I'm too old to survive the procedure. Only when close to death is this possible and by prolonging my life artificially I will certainly die, I must leave this in the hands of someone else. I have updated the trials but I'm unsure if it will work… there are too many variables that could go wrong… I have decided to ascend.”

”571… I am planning to ascend today, this will be the last time. Even after living for this long, I do not wish to die, I am afraid… I know that something is waiting for me, I don't know what it wants and why it created this game-like world, I know that there are others like me but I'm unable to travel to them at this point, I only hope that the person watching this can meet me on the other side…”