After the withered man, who looked like a corpse torn from an ancient grave, finished speaking...
Silence descended.
A deep silence.
A heavy one.
So profound that even the ancient hall seemed to have stopped breathing.
The man remained seated upon his enormous throne, completely motionless, while the red flames hanging upon the walls trembled from time to time, casting distorted shadows across his dry, withered features.
His body was frighteningly thin.
His skin clung tightly to the bones of his face.
His dry white hair fell lifelessly around his shoulders.
Had it not been for those two black eyes, resembling bottomless holes...
Anyone would have mistaken him for a corpse that had died thousands of years ago.
But the truth was different.
For this body, which appeared to have been dying for ages...
Harbored a terrifying existence within its depths.
An existence that could not easily be measured.
An existence that had lived for so long that even time itself had become incapable of erasing its traces.
Then...
Suddenly.
Without warning.
A faint crimson light appeared before him.
The light gathered within the void, then formed a transparent screen of dark-red light before him.
It emitted no familiar energy.
It was not a soul.
Nor a spell.
Nor an artifact.
Nor anything the man could recognize.
It was as though it had appeared from a place that did not belong to this world.
Mysterious words began to appear across the surface of the screen.
[System initialization in progress...]
The words remained still.
And the man stared at them.
He did not move.
He showed no astonishment.
He did not even raise an eyebrow.
He simply...
Read.
His black eyes moved slowly across the crimson words, as though the appearance of the screen was not truly a surprise to him.
After several moments...
The words changed.
[System initialization complete.]
Then another sentence appeared beneath them.
[Welcome, Host.]
Silence descended once more.
The man continued staring at the screen.
His withered expression did not change.
Not even slightly.
As though...
He had been waiting for this moment for a very long time.
Several breaths passed.
Then his dry lips moved slowly.
A low, hoarse voice escaped his mouth, as though his throat had not been used for speech in thousands of years.
"Fafnir..."
His words stopped for a moment.
Then he continued:
"The True Sovereign of humanity."
The name alone carried a strange weight.
As though it were not merely the name of a man...
But the name of an entire era.
A name associated with war.
Blood.
Victory.
And a great fear that remained carved into the memory of Gandalia.
The man continued speaking in a calm voice:
"Known as the Greatest Human... or the Human Emperor."
He paused briefly.
Then said:
"An existence who led humanity during the Primordial War."
His tone contained almost no emotion.
Yet the words themselves seemed to carry a history that could never be condensed into a few sentences.
"His overwhelming strength... and his terrifying ruthlessness... made him one of the most fearsome existences on Gandalia."
The hall fell silent.
As though even the darkness itself were listening.
The man continued:
"He was attacked by an unknown force originating from beyond the planet Gandalia..."
His eyes paused for a moment.
"Which resulted in him suffering a fatal injury."
His fingers slowly moved across the armrest of the throne.
Then he continued:
"Afterward, he entered seclusion in order to heal..."
His voice lowered slightly.
"Seclusion that lasted five thousand years."
Five thousand years.
A number that seemed to carry an entire history within it.
Five thousand years of silence.
Five thousand years of waiting.
Five thousand years during which the name of the Human Emperor vanished from the world...
But his memory never disappeared.
Then he said:
"And in the end... he died after his injuries worsened."
The corpse-like man stopped speaking.
Silence.
A long silence.
Until it seemed as though the hall had once again fallen into a deep slumber.
But suddenly...
The man's lips moved.
A smile appeared upon his face.
A small smile at first.
Then it slowly widened.
It was a terrifying smile.
Sinister.
Filled with something difficult to describe.
With his withered features, protruding facial bones, and dry skin, his smile looked like that of a creature that had just crawled out of the realm of death.
He spoke calmly:
"Do not worry, my friend."
His smile stopped for a moment.
Then widened further.
"From now on..."
His black eyes lifted toward the void.
"I am you... and you are me."
There was no hesitation in his voice.
No doubt.
Only a strange certainty.
As though he were speaking of a truth that could not be disputed.
Then he continued:
"I will make certain that your dream is fulfilled."
A cold glimmer appeared within his eyes.
"I will impose my absolute dominion over Gandalia..."
He paused for a moment.
Then said:
"And I will make humanity the sole ruler of this planet."
The moment his words ended...
Silence returned.
But this time...
The silence was different.
It carried within it a promise of something to come.
Something that could turn the entire world upside down.
After that...
Fafnir shifted his attention toward the crimson screen.
He began examining the system carefully.
He did not treat it as a free gift.
Nor did he rush forward in excitement.
Instead, he studied everything.
Its functions.
Its capabilities.
Its limitations.
Its benefits.
His mind worked at astonishing speed.
Trying to understand this strange thing that had appeared before him.
Something whose origin he did not know.
Something that did not seem to belong to any power system he was familiar with.
After several moments...
He spoke a single word:
"Status."
Immediately...
The screen changed.
The previous words disappeared.
Lines of crimson light flowed across its surface.
Then a new panel appeared.
[Host Status]
Name: Fafnir
Race: Human / Unknown
Power Level:
True Immortal — Stage Nine
Condition: Damaged
Divinity: Unknown
Physical Condition:
Severely injured
Skills:
••• — Numerous skills
[System Notice]
The body has suffered severe damage.
Restoration of full power is impossible in its current condition.
Fafnir read the information in silence.
His eyes moved from one line to another.
And when they reached his power level...
His eyes stopped for a moment.
True Immortal — Stage Nine.
Even in his current condition...
This body still stood at the peak of the True Immortal realm.
But one word was enough to change the meaning of everything.
Damaged.
His injuries were not merely wounds.
They were something far more serious.
Something that even five thousand years of seclusion had not been enough to heal.
Fafnir lowered his eyes slightly.
Then asked:
"System... can you heal my severe injuries?"
The response came without delay.
A new line appeared on the screen.
[Yes.]
Then the following words appeared:
[This system can heal your injuries and assist you in restoring this body's power.]
Fafnir remained silent.
Then he asked:
"What are your functions?"
The system responded immediately:
[This system can convert herbs, cosmic treasures, and even weapons into pure cosmic energy.]
The words stopped for a moment.
Then another sentence appeared:
[The cosmic energy can then be used to raise your cultivation realm, Host.]
The moment Fafnir read those words...
Something changed in his face.
Very slowly...
A smile appeared.
A demonic smile.
Sinister.
And so terrifying that his withered features seemed to belong to a demon that had crawled out from the deepest layers of hell.
If an ordinary human saw Fafnir's face at that moment...
Their heart might have stopped where they stood.
Not because of his strength.
But because of that expression alone.
That strange mixture of madness...
Excitement...
And happiness.
Then...
A sound emerged from his throat.
"Heh..."
He stopped.
Then:
"Hehehe..."
It sounded like laughter.
But it was not natural laughter.
His voice was rough and distorted, as though it came from a dry throat that had died long ago.
It was like two pieces of rusted iron slowly scraping against each other inside an empty room...
A sharp metallic screech.
Horrible.
And terrifying.
The sound echoed throughout the hall.
Then bounced between the ancient pillars.
As though the palace itself were laughing with him.
"Hehehehehe..."
For the first time in an immeasurable span of time...
Fafnir felt genuine happiness.
A happiness that did not come from gaining power.
Nor from discovering a treasure.
But from something far simpler...
Hope.
After five thousand years of pain.
After five thousand years of seclusion.
After this body had been brought to the brink of death...
A new path had appeared before him.
A path through which he could heal this body's injuries.
Restore its power.
Return this body to the pinnacle.
And perhaps...
Surpass it.
Fafnir stared at the crimson screen.
And for the first time since awakening...
He felt that the future was no longer completely dark.
The system's function...
Was exactly what he needed.
A means of healing this body's injuries.
A means of restoring its lost power.
A means of transforming treasures that others might consider priceless fortunes...
Into nothing more than energy he could use on the path of cultivation.
And most importantly...
It might give him the opportunity to restore this body to the peak of its former strength once again.
Silence once again filled the ancient hall.
The words disappeared from the screen for a moment.
The faint red light returned to reflect across Fafnir's withered face.
He sat upon the throne made of skulls...
Like a corpse that had lived far longer than it ever should have.
Yet behind that seemingly dead body...
Something else had begun to awaken.
Something the world was not prepared for.
And within the darkness...
That strange metallic laughter continued to echo.
The laughter of an ancient beast...
That had finally found the key that might allow it to reclaim its glory.
And perhaps...
Create a glory greater than anything the world had ever known.
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