Chapter 154: Years

Everyone around them was laughing. In contrast, the beautiful tour guide beside him trembled and stared blankly at the young man.

Everyone believed the Church of Light was as sacred and inviolable as legend claimed, but only she knew how unorthodox it truly was: The Book of the Church of Light was actually a bizarre tome filled with foul language! The Pope of Light spent all his time in the basement, an unkempt shut-in sloppily researching evil giant gods, and constantly claimed Emperor Armin was his wife! Most outrageously, the Chief Inquisitor was almost never at the Church of Light, constantly hunted, and on the rare occasion he returned, he’d be wielding a short staff, shouting like a fool about transforming! Only she, the Saintess of Light, was somewhat proper, constantly cleaning up the messes these troublemakers made.

The blonde guide slowly sighed, "Yet, it was these few foolish individuals, gathered in a small underground room, constantly debating, who ultimately saved our entire wizarding world!"

After visiting several more sights, the tourists excitedly set off in groups towards the old Farm Windmill Town. They planned to visit the town's pub, as its ale was renowned far and wide, rumored to possess the rich flavor of ancient Babylonian times.

After the excited tourists left, the young man who had been speaking nonsense silently approached the guide. "When we all become ancient history," he began, "will the first Saintess of Light start working as a guide here, telling stories of our past?"

Linda's eyes trembled violently.

"You are..." Linda's voice grew hoarse, her eyes unconsciously moistening. In those days, the low-ranking church wizards who survived and helped her pick up the pieces had all left, one by one. Many of them, after the decline of the wizarding era, achieved great feats, even establishing new human kingdoms, holding significant and glorious positions in history. Afterwards, surrounded by their descendants, they departed this world. Linda's aptitude wasn't strong; she had only just reached level five wizardry after consuming countless resources and had used Phoenix Blood to ignite her divine flame, allowing her to live until today. This was because the supply of Phoenix Blood was abundant back then, and most people had used it. Yet, two hundred years had passed. Although she still looked young and beautiful, she had less than three years left to live. Her wizardly spiritual power had also completely withered with age, leaving her with only the power of a level two wizard. Her days were truly numbered. But she was still waiting. Solely because of that one page left behind: "Wait for me to return." Two hundred years... She still hadn't forgotten the scene of raining blood and the massive, majestic Netherworld Gate towering into the sky. That book had once said it would record everything, but then he turned around, and an entire era passed. Or perhaps, she had gradually forgotten that promise from long ago. She might have even known it would never be fulfilled, yet she continued to wait, for she no longer knew what else to do. Everyone else had left the world; only she remained alive.

"It's me," the young man said, his gaze complex. "Two hundred years, and I've returned."

Linda's expression grew complex; she looked at him silently, choked up and unable to speak.

"As the price for losing my evil god body, Medusa helped me reclaim a human body. This was a surprise gift for me." He gazed at the young woman before him, stepped forward, knelt gently, and kissed the back of her hand.

"Are you still taking screenshots?" Linda suddenly asked.

He froze completely.

"It really is you!" Linda smiled gently and couldn't help but hug the young man. "I just wanted to see if it was really you. Every time something happy happened, you'd suddenly blurt out 'screenshot, screenshot!'" Linda's voice suddenly grew incredibly hoarse and trembled softly. "They don't believe! They don't believe in our era! I feel so lost, like I'm the last person left in this world. You left, everyone else left, and soon, I will die too, becoming the last dust in history, and no one will remember anything about us." "All that was familiar is leaving us."

The young man looked at the familiar statues and monuments. The familiar names, lives, voices, and appearances flashed one by one in his mind. Before their deaths, they had cried, hesitated, and broken down, yet still leaped resolutely into the altar. Had he become a hero in ancient myths? Was it great? Was he proud? Perhaps. But more than that, it was complex. And he felt the grandeur and cruelty of time. The countless heroes and valiant figures of that era, their selfless and admirable lives, were all about to be buried in the past. Two hundred years had passed; wizards had long since faded into oblivion. For human lifespans of thirty to forty years, five generations had already risen and fallen. Such a long time was enough to erase all history. The wizards who sought truth, buried in the gears of history, were about to be crushed into oblivion!

Behind them, the noble young man from earlier suddenly arrived with two knight guards. He gently bowed, performing a knight's salute. "May I offer you both a drink? I am very curious about your identities." Centuries had passed. Linda had regressed into a weak Level Two wizard, and the young man had even become an ordinary person. They hadn't noticed several young people secretly hiding in the nearby bushes.

"Aren't you afraid I'm a fraud? I'm telling you! We are figures from ancient mythical history..." The young man chuckled and said to Linda beside him, "Let's go."

Linda waved her hand, activating a spiritual power shield, and a gentle breeze swept past. The two slowly vanished without a trace.

"Wizards! Legendary wizards! The first Saintess! That legendary Book of Light from the first Pope of Light!" The noble young man stood frozen, trembling all over. Hahahaha!! He began to chuckle softly, which gradually grew louder, finally erupting into boisterous laughter that echoed through the dilapidated ancient ruins and mountain forest. "I found it! I finally found it! That ancient era, those mythical wizards from legendary history, they really exist! We mortals can also possess world-shaking power..."

Commoners did not understand, but only they still believed in the terrifying traces left by the wizards. Everyone else believed the expensive metals used to forge weapons were crafted from the hard bones of colossal beasts using special techniques, produced in the "Central Underground Forging Furnace," and that metal forging technology was the nation's highest secret. But when Albert was just an eight-year-old child, dressed in magnificent noble palace attire, he stared, utterly transfixed, as he witnessed the unforgettable truth of the world: rows upon rows of neatly stacked black metal bricks, perfectly aligned, like rows of sharp teeth, waiting to be fed and grow, a terrifyingly bizarre sight. At that moment, he heard the most powerful and majestic ruler in the world declare, "My children, metal is the creation of ancient alchemist wizards. This is the truth of the world!"

Becoming a wizard of ancient civilization had long been Albert's dream.

A confidant slowly stepped forward beside him. "Third Prince Albert, should we inform Earl Mitchell of this territory and then report to His Majesty?"

"No need," Albert said after a moment of silence, picking up his red handkerchief to wipe his eyes. His voice slowly calmed. "Notify the members of the Gwent Card Club. Tell them to find a way to get here... This is the greatest hope for us, the illegitimate children of high-ranking nobles, to rise."