I, the final BOSS of the beta test server!

Last thought for a moment and put away his revolver. "This is another layer of verification. After all, besides the pseudo-humans who replaced my companions, there's also the possibility that my companions are actually some kind of illusion, created based on my memories."

"Before entering the night world, I set a mental suggestion in my subconscious, telling myself that Miss Hiltina is actually a super glutton who can eat ten hamburgers, twenty pieces of fried chicken, and drink ten glasses of happy water in one meal."

"If you really are a creature of my imagination, then you should admit that you are a good-for-nothing."

"Of course, if I simply give a mental suggestion without completely modifying the corresponding memory details... this mental suggestion will quickly conflict with the original memory, allowing me to detect a flaw."

Shiltina: ...

Although what you said is quite reasonable, what about this urge in my heart to hit someone?

It was at this time that Rast and Hiltina finally confirmed each other's identities after spending some time and effort.

Last saw lines of azure blue text flash through his mind.

[Night World Quest - "Echoes of Disaster: Guardian of the Mist" has been opened]

[Era Introduction: Nearly a hundred years have passed since the disaster known as the "Iron Cross Plague" broke out in Deep Blue Port and swept across the entire continent.

Even though, due to unknown reasons, the Iron Cross wave spread wantonly for more than a decade and was curbed after a new civilization belonging to the Iron Cross race was established.

However, with the Iron Cross Plague as the origin, evil gods, natural disasters, pollution, corruption, beast tides... disasters of varying sizes have continuously descended upon this once prosperous continent.

The once rapidly developing civilization came to an abrupt halt, countless prosperous kingdoms were shattered by the disaster, and millions of civilians were displaced. Today, compared to a hundred years ago, human civilization has not only not advanced, but has actually regressed, with only one-tenth of the population remaining from its peak.

The remaining humans can only huddle in the scattered surviving countries and survive.

Land transportation had long been blocked by the Iron Cross and the Beast Tide. The sea routes had become a bridge connecting the survivors' strongholds, allowing the various settlements to exchange what they had, thus ensuring that the basic framework of human civilization remained intact and did not completely collapse.

And the one who stands along the coastline, watching over the final channel...

A mysterious organization that keeps the flame of civilization alive under the watchful eyes of alien races, cults, and evil gods.

Its name is——

Shore Guardian

】

[Mission Introduction: Frozen Water Town, an inconspicuous coastal town, is located on the former "Golden Coastline", now the "Broken Coast". It is one of the important waterway nodes connecting human civilization. The "Shore Keepers" have members stationed there for a long time.

But a month ago, the town was shrouded in thick smog, and the "shore watchers" originally stationed there lost contact.

As a member of the Shore Watchers, you and your companions were sent here by your superiors to investigate what happened in the fog-shrouded Frozen Water Town.

Chapter 55 Who can keep a diary?

The current historical reverberation is "Reverberation of Disaster", and entry is limited to travelers of level 3 and below.

[Mission Objective: Find a way to leave Frozen Water Town, or be buried here forever]

[It is detected that your status is at a critical level, and this reverberation has a compatibility with your sequence, starting the promotion task]

[Promotion Quest "Tower": Uncover the truth about Frozen Water Town, shrouded in fog.]

[Tip: There is no time limit for completing the mission in this reverberation, so you cannot leave the night world after the time limit ends.]

[Hint: Night Traveler obtains a legitimate identity in the remnants of history and is proficient in the basic common language of this world]

Are these the tips that Night World gives to travelers?

Rast's spirit examined the azure words in his mind one by one.

According to the night world information he had read in Star University in the past few days, the echo world of the night world spanned almost all the lost history before the "Pale Age".

Some of these lost historical fragments are related to each other and have a clear sequence, while others are completely independent, as if they came from different eras of civilization.

Organize, summarize, and analyze the fragmented information brought back by many travelers from the reverberations of the night world...

Finally, a complete historical trajectory was reconstructed before the "Pale Age", eras were divided according to the rise and fall of civilizations, and a reliable chronicle was written.

This has always been the goal of the Ruins Institute.

I don’t know whether it is lucky or unfortunate.

According to the background introduction of the night world, the Echo of Disaster they entered this time was in the same era as the Deep Blue Port that had trapped Last for three hundred years, with only a hundred years between them.

But in just a hundred years, there is a world of difference.

Although Deep Blue Port is still at the end of the steam age, everything is thriving and the prototype of new technologies has already sprouted.

In time, we will soon be able to enter the electrical age and even the information age.

However, the outbreak of the Iron Cross Plague became the turning point for the decline of civilization.

Today, the spark of civilization is already fading, and it can only survive by relying on waterways under the watchful eyes of foreign enemies.

"According to the division of the Ruins Institute, this is the history of the Sixth Epoch." Last muttered to himself.

The last known era of civilization before the Pale Gap, the era closest to the current time point.

At the same time, it is also the era that the Ruins Institute and travelers know the least about, and the chronicles are the most incomplete.

While thinking, Rast's gaze suddenly paused.

Then, it stopped at that inconspicuous word.

……

"So it's the Echo of the Disaster that can't automatically return after reaching the time limit. No wonder the previous reconnaissance team was wiped out here."

"Also, this place actually belongs to the same Sixth Epoch as the Deep Blue Harbor Echo."

"The Ruins Institute had previously speculated that the order in which the Night Worlds appeared in the present world was based on the order of the eras they belonged to."

"It seems that the Ruins Court's theory of seventy-two night worlds might be quite plausible. Most of the night worlds from the first five epochs have already been conquered. The remaining ones are from the Sixth Epoch, which has appeared the least frequently and about which we know the least."

As Hiltina's words rang out, it was obvious that she had also seen the era information provided by the Night World.

But then, her voice paused slightly.

"Shore-keeper?"

Hiltina glanced at Lust and said, "If I remember correctly, the internal code name you entered into the Obelisk file was 'Shore Keeper,' right?"

"It's truly an honor." Last smiled. "I didn't expect Miss Hiltina to find time to follow up on my admissions progress despite her busy schedule."

"But it must be a coincidence," he said. "It was just a name I accidentally heard in Deep Blue Port, and I filled it in when filling out the Obelisk file."

"Is that right?"

Hiltina's gaze paused for a moment on Rast's calm face, and finally she sighed as if giving up.

Ishtar has already proved with a bloody lesson that the idea of ​​trying to peek into Rast's true heart... is a fantasy in itself.

"However, your explanation does make sense."

Hiltina pondered, "Since this organization called 'Shore Keepers' is so mysterious, it even carries the mission of guarding the waterway and maintaining the spark of civilization."

"Perhaps the Shore Watchers have existed for hundreds of years, hiding behind the scenes, unnoticed by the world... Since you heard bits and pieces of this organization in Deep Blue Harbor, that's not hard to explain."

"But there's no point in talking about this now."

"If we can make it through alive, we can hand it over to the people at the Ruins Institute for research."

Her eyes moved slightly, scanning the narrow space inside the lighthouse.

There wasn't much here, except for a kerosene lamp, two haphazardly placed beds, some simple furniture, and a mountain of cans and broken bottles...

All that was left were two silver badges and an old diary on the wooden table.

The lines of the waves were engraved on the silver badge with rough lines.

Not far from the line, there is a pair of simple silver wings that surround the coastline.

Watching the Shore

Looking at the two silver wing emblems, Last instantly understood the meaning of the patterns.

He put one of the Shore Guardian's winged emblems on his chest, and then gave the other one to Hiltina.

On the other side, Hiltina had already opened the old diary.

The faint light of the kerosene lamp illuminated the words written in black ink on the yellowed paper.

July 15, 93th year of the Cataclysm Calendar

[As a member of the shore watchers, this is my first day in Frozen Water Town, guarding the Broken Coast.]

[Of course, I've arrived at Frozen Water Town, but I must remain stationed at the lighthouse outside the town, observing any abnormalities on the sea surface and maintaining the normal operation of the navigation lights.]

My daily life is spent at the lighthouse, and I rely on headquarters for regular supplies of food and consumables every six months, so I don't have much interaction with the residents of Frozen Water Town.

[I heard that ten years ago, the lighthouse keepers along the Broken Coast were all in teams of two... Later, this was reduced to one person. It is said that this was caused by the destruction of another surviving human nation, resulting in a serious shortage of manpower.]

[Sometimes I also fantasize about going back twenty years and having a beautiful person of the opposite sex as my companion while I was guarding the tower. Even if I did have a companion, it would probably be a big, dirty guy.]

[As a serious person, I never keep a diary. However, according to headquarters regulations, tower guards are required to record their daily activities regularly.]

[This seems like it would be very troublesome, never mind, I'll just write it down when I collect the logs (crossed out).]

Chapter 56: Last: Now it’s a professional match

After the first page of records, there is a long blank, with only the date marked, and even if there are occasional characters, they are scribbled nonsense.

It looked just like the scribbles that Laster made up to get by when his primary school teacher asked him to hand in a diary.

Hiltina turned the pages one by one.

Until the perfunctory text came to an abrupt end on a certain page.

July 11, 94th year of the Cataclysm Calendar

[This heavy fog in Frozen Water Town has lasted for two months. Although fog is not uncommon at the seaside, this is the first time I have encountered fog that lasts this long and is so strong.]

In this dense fog, visibility is a mere 100 meters at best... The lighthouse has completely lost its effectiveness. I only need to use the foghorn occasionally, which gives me a lot of free time.

"Anyway, the supplies will arrive in four days, and I'm about to change shifts. I'll just let my replacement take care of everything else."

……

July 19, 94th year of the Cataclysm Calendar

The fog continues, and it's been four days since the scheduled resupply date. Did the resupply team encounter an accident along the way?

[Luckily, I have nearly a month's worth of supplies left, which should be enough to last until the new supply team arrives.]

……

July 15, 94th year of the Cataclysm Calendar

[Damn it, it's already been a month since the agreed supply date. Even if we set out again, three batches of supplies should have arrived!]

Given the importance of the broken coast to civilized waterways, as long as "shore keepers" exist, they will never abandon the lighthouses along the coast.

"Has something happened at headquarters? No, the leader's rank has reached an unprecedented sixth rank. Even the Iron Cross King or the favored ones of those evil cults are more than capable of fighting. If not, the Broken Coast wouldn't have been able to withstand their encroachment for so long. I'm worrying for no reason."

……

July 21, 94th year of the Cataclysm Calendar

My food and water are exhausted, and the fog still hasn't lifted.

During this time, not only was communication with the outside world severed, but even the occasional sound of ship whistles on the sea disappeared, leaving the lighthouse eerily silent.

I activated my special ability, Origami Magic, and used the discarded metal parts from the lighthouse to create two mechanical messengers, modeled after carrier pigeons. I then manipulated them to fly in different directions out of the fog to investigate the situation outside.

[This method consumes a lot of mental energy, but I can't care about that now.]

……

When he read this, Rast couldn't help but look up and look at Hiltina beside him.

"Ability?"

Information about the Sixth Epoch is already quite scarce at Star University.

However, his authority in the Arcane Tower was insufficient to query the information about the Sixth Epoch, so he could only rely on the big white legs next to him.

"Ah."

Hiltina nodded slightly, seemingly not surprised by the description of "superpowers" in the diary.

"Since there are traces of races like gods, dragons, and elves in every era."