The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

To be honest, Linde's understanding of the collective unconscious only goes this far, because this thing has, in a sense, entered the realm of philosophy, or rather, metaphysics.

Many works in my previous life also depicted the collective unconscious, such as "Lord of the X Secrets" and "Attack on Titan".

Do you know about the Golden Age?

Deborah did not continue to explain the Ocean of Consciousness, but instead steered the conversation toward the Golden Age.

Linde humbly shook his head, and seeing Linde shake his head, Deborah finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Deborah was genuinely afraid that Lind would nod.

If Lind were to learn what the Golden Age truly was, Deborah would likely start to question Lind's identity.

"The tower is a product of the Golden Age, but the function of the tower back then was different from that of the tower now."

"The tower at that time was a true tower that reached the heavens and the earth, responsible for connecting the earth and the sky, and was called the stairway to the sky."

Upon hearing this, Linde suddenly asked, "The tower's original name wasn't Babel, was it?"

Deborah, who had just managed to gather her emotions, opened her eyes again and stared blankly at Lind.

After looking at each other, the two were speechless for a moment.

"How about... you sit here and explain it to me?"

Deborah stood up and gave her seat to Lind.

"No, no, please have a seat."

Lind quickly waved his hand, gesturing for Deborah to sit down.

Deborah looked doubtful, but still sat down.

"Shortly after the end of the Golden Age, humans and ancient elves gathered at the Tower of Babel and built the prototype of the tower at that time."

Just as Linde was about to interrupt, he saw Deborah's bottom slowly lift off the seat as Linde raised his hand. As soon as Linde lowered his hand, Deborah's bottom obediently sat back down.

"Please continue."

Finally, Lind had no choice but to signal Deborah to continue.

"According to Lady Anastasia, it was a last resort at the time. Although the Tower of Babel had lost its original function, as one of the most important things of the Golden Age, it still retained many technologies of the Golden Age."

"This allows us to use the technology left over from the Golden Age within the Tower to monitor the collective subconscious that was invaded and corrupted by the Outer Gods during the Golden Age. That era was known as the Post-Golden Age, the era in which most gods and beliefs gradually emerged, and the Tower was also consciously promoting the birth of gods. In Anastasia's words, these gods were the defense against corruption... what was it again?"

The word seemed to be a remnant of the Golden Age, so much so that Deborah always found it very difficult to pronounce and its meaning unclear.

"Firewall".

"That's right, the firewall..."

Deborah looked up at Lind again.

"My lord, why is the barrier against the contamination of external gods called a firewall? Is this wall really fireproof?"

After giving his answer, Linde turned his head away guiltily, whistling as if to say, "I don't know."

After giving Lind another skeptical look, Deborah continued, "It turns out that the predictions of the Tower ancestors of the post-Golden Age were very correct. Faith is the best way to face fear and despair, and it is also the simplest way to stabilize people's hearts."

"The gods who were born at that time not only led the believers to resist the gradually descending external gods, but also successfully sealed away the pollution that the external gods had caused to the collective unconscious."

"And the humans and elves at the Tower of Babel have since taken on the responsibility of cleaning up the pollution, monitoring the ocean of consciousness, and preventing the Outer Gods' pollution from resurfacing. This is the origin of the tower."

"On this continent after the Golden Age, the Outer Gods are still rampaging. The remnants of the Golden Age outside rely on the gods born from the ocean of consciousness to fight against the Outer Gods. In order to avoid being affected by the war, the Tower has completely closed itself off and is responsible for monitoring the ocean of consciousness."

At this point, Deborah paused for a moment and said, "However, after the tower's seal was lifted, the outside world had undergone earth-shattering changes. Not a single remnant of the old era could be found on the continent, and even the last traces of the Golden Age had disappeared. Fortunately, it seems that the Outer Gods also disappeared along with the traces of the Golden Age."

"According to Lady Anastasia, civilization has regressed drastically, and the war with the Outer Gods has even become a legend recorded in religious texts."

"Unfortunately, due to the great age of the time, the first members of the Tower could not overcome the limits of their lifespan. Many technologies and knowledge have been lost. All that remains is Lady Anastasia and the research on the Ocean of Consciousness. We are still looking for a way to completely eliminate the pollution. It is difficult to restore civilization with the Tower alone."

Deborah sighed deeply. How long had the Tower resisted pollution back then? Even the first members of the Tower didn't remember. According to Lady Anastasia, when the Tower re-entered the world's view, everything had changed. The world had almost completely forgotten this history and could only find clues in some religious texts.

What exactly happened on the continent after the Golden Age? How did the remnants of the Golden Age defeat the Outer Gods? Before Lind could speak, Deborah asked, "Governor, did you know that the damage caused by super-level magic to the magical environment is not actually irreversible? It's just that the time span is too long for humans to observe."

"The reason we prohibit super-level magic is not simply because it would damage the magical environment."

At this point, Linde already had a guess in his mind: "You mean that in the post-Golden Age, in order to fight against the Outer Gods, humanity used a technology similar to super-level magic, which almost razed the entire continent to the ground, resulting in the destruction of themselves as well?"

"This is just a guess, but given the circumstances at the time, this inference is the most likely."

As civilization regressed, the gods born in the ocean of consciousness gradually transformed into secular deities.

It was hard to say whether these gods could still shoulder the responsibility of the firewall, so the Tower later designed a God of Contracts, with a smaller scope of worship. While binding the professionals who joined the Tower, it could also act as a dam against the invasion of pollution, serving as the first layer of protection.

Subsequently, more and more high-level professionals appeared, and with the emergence of these professionals, super-level magic, a dangerous thing that should have been lost, was recreated by a genius spellcaster.

Subsequently, these high-level professionals began to plunder resources frantically in order to conduct their research, obtain rarer materials, and acquire more powerful super-level magic. This led to a war between the old empire and the predecessor of the Kingdom of Avar, which can be called the First Continental War.

All races and all creatures were physically united and took advantage of the internal strife among humans to expand wildly. So much so that after the strife ended, the old empire began a bloody revenge against non-human beings.

If humanity in the Old Golden Age used super-level magic to perish in order to fight against the Outer Gods, then the idea that humanity in the First Continental War used super-level magic for war and internal strife, blowing back the human civilization that had worked so hard to develop, is too abstract.

So at that time, the Tower finally joined the war and established new rules that are still in use today.

"Returning to your initial question, the Tower was originally a ghost of the old era... no, not even a ghost. After all, there are no longer any people in the Tower with the authority to enter the ocean of consciousness. Such a surviving lonely soul is already doing its best to guard the secrets of the old world and prevent it from being polluted and eroded. For us, most of the unofficial professionals who do not believe in the God of Contract are a burden. Where would we get the strength to rule the world through those unofficial professionals?"

But Deborah added, "Moreover, the Tower has, in a sense, ruled this continent, and all races on this continent have been abiding by the rules established by the Tower for the past hundred years, haven't they?"

"And I have a premonition that the Second Continental War is about to begin, Your Excellency. I hope that you can save this world and the Tower, just like the founding emperor of the old empire."

After saying this, Deborah seemed to have made up her mind. She took out a tablet from her bosom and handed it to Lind, saying, "This is the Grail Terminal left behind by Lady Anastasia. It contains the technological achievements of the Golden Age and can provide you with a lot of help. I will slowly teach you how to use this Grail Terminal..."

As soon as Deborah finished speaking, Lind casually unlocked the tablet.

"..."

"...Sorry, I'm used to it."