Chapter 1663 - The Other Part of the Truth (1/2)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

As Hao Ren reminded the rest of them, Lily, Vivian, and the others remembered the matter and quickly raised their arms to have a look. Before they left, everyone had undergone the marking ritual in the hall of the World Tree. A resurrection mark from the World Tree should have been on the back of their hands, but now, all of the marks had disappeared.

Everyone exclaimed in surprise at the same time. “It’s gone!”

“Holy sh*t!”

“Eh?”

“Nya nya nya?!”

“F*ck!”

All right, not really in unison…

The mark of the World Tree… Its biggest function was to lock down everyone’s life data, and in the event of a life-threatening moment, it would provide a valuable one-time resurrection. Its disappearance meant only one thing⁠—the resurrection had already been utilized.

Yet, no one knew that they had already died once!

“What’s going on?” Lily felt her fur suddenly bristle as if she had just seen death in the face. “The resurrection token is missing! Why? I don’t recall ever dying in L’Haronne…”

“Of course no one died. Based on the prepared protocols, if everyone has consumed the mark, the World Tree’s forced extraction protocol will activate and pull us back into the material universe. This process cannot be stopped even by the Umbral Realm.” Hao Ren waved his hand. “The mark of resurrection disappeared during assimilation when we stepped into the dream of L’Haronne. No one has any memory of that, but it had in fact happened. This process was sufficient to trigger the mark, and so it was consumed. In reality, we were still alive, so the forced extraction protocol was not activated.”

Lily blinked repeatedly as her tail drooped down. “Ah… what a waste of a resurrection token…”

“No, it worked as intended.” Hao Ren faintly smiled. “It warded off our assimilation to the dream of L’Haronne. Only with that were we able to operate while awake. Without that mark, we probably would have really started taking quests in White Maple Leaf City to survive, and follow that cycle for hundreds or thousands of years, until the goddess herself wakes up…”

The goddess of creation shrugged. “I’m Rheia when I’m asleep, and even I am trapped deep within the dream. It has nothing to do with me, yeah?”

Hao Ren was speechless

Why did he suddenly feel that the goddess’ image had just crumbled?

Cold sweat formed on everyone’s head at the same time as they heard what Hao Ren said. Looking at the back of his hand, Nangong Sanba exclaimed, “Bloody hell… that sounded really scary. If this wasn’t around, forget about discovering the truth of the dream, we’ll even forget who we are… Eh, wait a minute, that’s not right. Based on what you saw, the mark supposedly disappeared from the start, right? Why did none of us notice it?”

“Of course you didn’t. Didn’t you all notice? Only after I reminded you guys that you remembered the existence of the mark,” Hao Ren said slowly. “If I’m not wrong, the mark took our place in the assimilation and became part of the dream, completely disappearing from our memories. If not for that, we would not be able to totally ward off L’Haronne’s influence.”

As he spoke, Hao Ren remembered something and immediately opened his Dimensional Pocket to let Lil Pea out. The little mermaid was probably playing in her aquarium, as when she was released she was still holding an exquisite conch shell and bore a cheerful look. That happy look suddenly turned confused before returning to joy as she teleported to Hao Ren’s shoulder, bouncing about as she waved the shell about. “Daddy! I dug a big sandpit in that tank! There are so many shells in there!”

“Alright, alright. Let daddy see your hand.” Hao Ren grabbed the little mermaid’s arm as he entertained her. “As I thought… even in the Dimensional Pocket, Lil Pea’s resurrection mark has been consumed. She was only outside for a short while when we arrived on L’Haronne, just before we entered the city. She’s been in the Dimensional Pocket, which can separate space-time continuum and the cycle of cause and effect. Technically, she should not have been affected by the dream’s influence. So as I’ve guessed, the mark was consumed at the very beginning. After that, we received an ‘awakened’ buff, so when we made contact with Rheia, the source of the dream, she did not assimilate us…”

At that very moment, Nolan butted into the conversation, “Boss, why wasn’t I assimilated then? I did not have a marker at all.”