Chapter 15: Truly Random?

A song with a somewhat childish voice echoed through the seemingly sacred hall.

History began a new cycle at this moment.

"Time has moved to the next movement; when the storm strikes, the Night Watchmen light the final lighthouse, and the invisible tide swallows the ignorant mortals."

"The heartbeat of the ancient beast turning over shatters the earth; the evil dragons once again occupy the sky; the ocean becomes a breeding ground for calamity; the bronze gates are smashed; Outer Gods arrive from the starry sky; the Hall of Heroes reveals a corner from history; and the heroic souls scatter the seeds of inheritance."

An strange tone, an unknown language, or a rambling prophecy?

"No, this is not a prophecy; it is the historical record of the Magic Tide phase from previous eras, events that have happened countless times, and the future that will unfold once the Magic Tide opens."

Did she pull a big shot? She kept spilling secrets Li En did not know.

She? Yes, she was a woman. All four who entered were wrapped in mist, unable to see each other clearly, but in the eyes of Li En, the master of this dream, everything was very clear.

She had golden hair and blue eyes, wore a pale gold long dress, looked about thirteen or fourteen, and her eyes were very lively as they shifted.

A fiery red dress would be more suitable for a ball; the ruby pendant on her neck was obviously of great value; her golden pupils turned into vertical slits when excited, with faint lightning flashing within.

She must come from some ancient noble family to possess such historical secrets beyond the era.

Considering the high cost of knowledge in this world, she was obviously not an ordinary noble.

The other three candidates, however, were nervously observing their surroundings; this lucid dream and the Hall of Heroes were too far beyond their understanding.

What they saw was a brilliant starry sky they had never seen before; the unique style of the scenery and the hall was something they could not comprehend.

"Are those the Zodiac constellations recorded in the legends? I wonder if I will have the chance to obtain a Zodiac number."

Only this girl, with a face full of excitement, kept spilling secrets and pointing at the surroundings, as if she had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

Li En Sudar stood above, watching them with an air of calm authority.

In fact, he was also listening to the girl fill in the setting, supplementing those secrets to perfect his persona and layout for what came next.

At least, he had not known about the Magic Tide and eras before.

From the sound of it, it seemed to be some kind of intermittent disaster; if you survived it, all was well; if not, the next era would come.

And the rulers of this world in the past were not these beast-people.

He had already heard the girl speak of the Age of Dragons and the Age of Beasts.

"Since the Hall of Heroes has appeared, the Magic Tide that will bring countless disasters will also appear." The girl thought of this too, and her face instantly turned pale.

The Magic Tide, or more accurately the Elemental Tide, was something the girl mentioned repeatedly; a cycle of history, like constantly rising water levels.

When the Magic Tide arrives, supernatural powers become more active, and supernatural beings and high-level species find it easier to advance, but all sorts of chaotic things sedimented by history will also crawl out.

"... Need to contact the Astrology Tower to confirm the recent sighting rate of giant dragons and determine if this is a precursor to the Magic Tide." A low murmur, a whisper inaudible to others.

But Li En, as the master of the dream, heard it and had to re-evaluate her identity.

"Caught a big fish."

This undoubtedly made Li En feel much more at ease; he could only interfere with these candidates, and the greater the other party's energy, the better.

But the current range of candidates is limited, meaning she should also be in Radiant City? Radiant City is not a new city; does it have such an ancient noble family?

Memorizing the other's appearance, Li En planned to open a box on her in reality, but upon observing her features carefully, he felt an inexplicable sense of closeness.

Some things circulate in the bloodline; that exquisite face made him feel as if he were seeing a relative.

"... Wait, where are her beast-form traits? Why does she have human round ears?"

Except for slightly strange pupils, Li En saw no other beast-ear or beast-tail traits; her ears were human semi-round ears, which meant she was...

"Dragonborn? A Forbidden Species?"

Yes, she was not human; there were no humans in this world, but rather species like the Dragonborn, whose appearance was very similar to humans.

They are often mixed-blood descendants of giant dragons and some mortal, but in the continent they are a taboo, especially within a kingdom that suffered a super-giant dragon disaster just over ten years ago.

Things related to dragons in this kingdom are not necessarily shouted at by everyone, but everyone has the right to kill them; several sub-dragon human species within the kingdom have been persecuted into migration or extinction.

She, who looks confident and seems to be in a good situation, appears to have suffered no persecution?

In a kingdom that hates giant dragons, there is actually a Dragonborn doing so well? Li En touched his chin with interest; this little kinsman's identity must be far from simple.

Yes, he initially suspected he was also a Dragonborn; if it was merely suspicion before, then the "Dragon Transformation" mark on the Heroic Soul Compendium and the first racial talent "Dragon Eye" were undeniable reality.

Now, perhaps because of shared kinship, it triggered a resonance in the bloodline and an instinctive sense of closeness.

"Little one, you are right; the new wave of the Magic Tide has arrived."

At this moment, it was no longer the time to let her continue to hold the initiative; Li En interrupted her words.

The moment he spoke, four pairs of eyes looked over simultaneously.

Everyone had been paying attention to the master in the center of this stage, merely maintaining silence to observe.

The old knight clapped his hands, attracting all attention; the fatigue that could not be concealed made him look as if he had just come down from the battlefield.

Battle-worn, damaged armor and a body covered in scars were his posture at the very last moment.

Li En originally thought pretending to be Sudar would be difficult, since he was not an "old timer" like Sudar, and his behavior and micro-expressions might give him away.

But in teaching mode, he was like a controller inside Sudar's body (the skin suit); he only needed to let the skin suit's body act to perfectly simulate it.

At the same time, whenever he wanted to speak, a virtual personality AI in his brain constantly prompted "What would Sudar do/say?"

All he had to do was make a choice among the answers.

This Hall of Heroes, could it really have happened more than once? The experience is far too rich.

"... The first batch of Evil Gods will awaken in two years, right beneath your feet."

The moment he opened his mouth, Li En started with a trump card.

Regarding deception, Li En knew a thing or two; the more equal the communication, the easier it is to be exposed; the softer your tone and the better your attitude, the less the other party takes you seriously.

Striking the other party's vital point at the very beginning, even intimidating them, is the foundation of rhetoric.

"Your Excellency! Y-your words are true?"

The first to expose nervous emotion was the lucky one Li En had operated in from the backend.

The leopard-man police officer Talia did not disappoint Li En's expectations; her wavering immediately stirred the emotions of everyone.

Each one stood immovable as a mountain; how could Li En be easily deceived.

"Two years, less than two years, the Evil God Elsenar will fully awaken beneath the ground here; this is also the root cause of my awakening here."

Following the little one's theory, the Hall of Heroes came to deal with a crisis; there is a world-ending crisis here, so I came.

A veteran knight who had fought in a hundred battles, using a flat tone to recount daily life while describing the world-ending crisis before them, caused young faces to waver.

The time was simply too close, too close. For a transcendent, what good are two years?

And at this moment, Li En finally had a possibility to resolve this bomb.

His power was limited, but these few promising little ones before him seemed capable of becoming the chess pieces he could use to leverage the grand situation.

At least, he could finally reveal this intelligence without being locked up somewhere and tortured for his source.

"Gray Cape Deer Elsenar. It is indeed underground, it matches; very few people know this, almost no one within the kingdom."

And that golden-haired, blue-eyed little one verified this intelligence.

She knew a bit about this Evil God buried underground.

This is too coincidental, isn't it? Why do you happen to know what no one else knows? Are you truly not a plant hired by that fellow above?

While others grew suspicious of her, Li En almost shouted "Brilliant!"

If he hadn't operated it himself, he would have thought the other party was his own plant.

"Clap, clap, clap."

Clapping his hands, Li En regained attention and control.

The second basic rule of scamming is to keep striking wave after wave, not giving the other party time to think calmly.

"Unless something unexpected happens, this city will be completely gone in two years, and a bleeding wound will appear in the center of the continent... Heh, this is also why I was awakened. I am Su Er Dawon, an ordinary Paladin forgotten by history." Self-introduction must follow the crisis immediately.

Want to solve the trouble? Find me, trust me.

"Su Er Dawon? Sounds a bit familiar..." At this moment, the dragonkin girl, seemingly possessing countless knowledge, finally did not answer instantly.

Her dragon eyes stared at Su Er, looking at his damaged armor and the holy symbol upon it.

"A Paladin of the Scales Insignia, from the Theocracy, Su Er? The foolish Su Er?!"

Instantly, she revealed an expression of delight.

"The Fallen God-Slayer of the Stan Theocracy! The Rebel Knight of the Fallen God!" She, once again, revealed a shocking surprise.

God-Slayer? In this world, gods are the most dangerous and powerful existences; the fall of every god brings immense disaster to the mortal realm; how could it not be recorded in history?

"God-Slayer? Did you misremember? I never committed such an act." The old knight frowned; for things not belonging to him, he held them in contempt.

His defeat at the hands of the God of Scales was a fact.

In his final memories, the Theocracy and the God of Law were still quite powerful.

"The memory of the Heroic Soul ends at death; is the intelligence he knows about his life also true?" And this seemed to verify something for the other party again.

The girl thought for a moment and said sincerely.

"That was indeed your deed. Although you were defeated by the God of Scales, your accusations caused many Judgement Knights to waver, ultimately leading to several legal reforms and internal turmoil. Thirty-plus years later, the God of Scales fell as a result, and you were regarded as the direct cause." The girl dropped a bombshell.

"She... died just like that? The Theocracy just vanished like that?" Hearing this, Su Er revealed a bitter expression. And Li En, within his body, felt something subtle; this bitterness and unwillingness from the depths of the heart—did Brother Su Er still plan to return to life and cut her down?

At this moment, Li En also understood why Brother Su Er was so fixated on the legacy of the Law Knights.

【Legacy of the Judgement (Law) Knights: Let the severed path of the Law of Scales be passed down again.】

The loss of this power was, more or less, his fault.

And now, he seemed to want to pass it down again? To let it be held in the hands of a suitable virtuous person?

The Heroic Soul Knight shook his head. From Su Er's perspective, he was already dead; the dead need not consider what the living must consider. The backups were Li En and the people before him.

He looked at each candidate; they were the future he had chosen.

Did they truly have the qualification to bear all this? Were they virtuous people qualified to hold this blade?

【Candidate Number 3, Compatibility: 31%, Satisfaction: 0%】

This was the tall spider-person who had remained silent, the candidate with the highest compatibility among all. It was compatibility, not synchronization rate, because the premise of "synchronization" is the same person, the same body.

After a series of training and assessments, this "legacy" in his hand should be handed to one of them.

And at this moment, Li En's mood grew even more subtle; the true Heroic Soul of Su Er probably knew of the Theocracy's doom.

Otherwise, there would be no way to explain why the "Legacy of the Law Knights" was also included in this teaching, even becoming his personal request.

Perhaps in Brother Su Er's eyes, the fall of evil laws and evil gods was self-inflicted, but for the powerful legacy of the Law Knights to be completely severed like this was simply too regrettable.

【The Power of Law is a good blade. If held in the hands of the virtuous, it is the hand of justice maintaining safety and peace; if held in the hands of an evil god, I would rather it did not exist now — Su Er Dawon.】

Perhaps this chaotic kingdom, with its fragile regime, also needed this power.

"Introduce yourselves. The Hall of Heroes selects people based on compatibility. You all have the qualification to inherit my legacy, but there is only one of these things; who gets it in the end is still my decision." Li En did not intend to reveal this hidden gift now.

Li En's eyes swept over, looking at each candidate; their expressions and their personalities would all be taken as references.

That girl raised her hand first.

【Candidate Number 4, Compatibility: 7%, Satisfaction: -5%】

This compatibility, so low it made Li En dazed, made him suspect that this fellow before him was the one who entered through the back door. It was his first time knowing satisfaction could be negative; this indicated Brother Su Er's personality found the girl before him somewhat annoying?

"Speak." Li En, instantly matching the persona, naturally did not hide his disgust.

He, Su Er Dawon, had always hated dragonkin and high nobles in the past; they were all big trouble.

"Can I not say my name and identity? Mine is quite special."

"Fine." Satisfaction dropped directly to negative seven. Those who hide their heads and show their tails did not win Su Er's favor.

"I... call me Dragon-Slayer, Dragon-Hunter, Dragon-Killer... then call me 'Dragon Hunter'." In her words was unsuppressible anger and disgust; those pupils turned vertical again... Dragon pupils.

Wait, something's wrong, right? You, a dragonkin, hate the dragon race so much?

"I call myself 'Shadow Judgement'." The second one followed up; Talia used the abbreviated form of her forgotten adventurer codename.

It seemed they understood immediately.

A guard against others is never unnecessary; setting aside whether the Heroic Soul Hall is real, if those who enter learn one's true identity, things could become quite dire.

They looked at each other, secretly relieved that the mist existed; the consequences of a single inheritance need no elaboration.

"I am Larry Labor. A paladin needs no lies or concealment."

And the moment that spider-man spoke, the satisfaction rating shot straight from zero to twenty percent. Hey, Brother Su Er, that's too biased.

But this name instantly triggered a stress response in several candidates.

"Labor?! You are from the Labor family."

Talia instantly woke up; wasn't this a potential enemy of her project team?

Yet the one who reacted most strongly was the pig-man who had remained silent, the only pure mortal among the candidates.

"Labor? I am 'Bonebreaker'." He raised his head, the scorching hatred in his twin pupils resembling the blazing sun.

"This morning, I became the new boss of the Bonebreaker Gang in the Dock District."

His gaze fixed firmly on that spider-man paladin.

"And yesterday, I was just a cook who had just lost his younger brother."

"And you, your family, your brother Diego Labor, are the murderers!"

Wasn't he the eldest child that Will's mother intended to ally with?

At this moment, Li En recalled the tall figure he had seen bowing to him at the funeral earlier that day; he had seemed very honest and simple back then.

What kind of situation is this? The criminal's family, the police officer hunting the criminal, and the victim's family, all gathered together?

Oh heavens, Heroic Soul Atlas, did you really pick randomly? Or are you deliberately playing with me?

(End of this chapter)