Start in Terra, immortal

"This is the Demon Realm? It's much more dilapidated than I remember..." Alice had been to the Demon Realm before when she worked for Hilder. Back then, while the Demon Realm wasn't exactly thriving, at least the demons could still live there.

"Yes, all the buildings have been destroyed. It looks like a world that has been destroyed," Xilan said with a sigh. "No wonder that magician was worried about the inhabitants of the Demon Realm."

"Let's go, let's find the memory pages here."

As soon as the adventurer finished speaking, a powerful pressure appeared, pressing the three of them to the ground. Even with their best efforts, they could not stand up straight.

Just then, the Bakal scales on the adventurer's body flickered briefly, and the rock-like pressure on the three of them vanished completely, giving them the strength to sense the source of this oppressive aura.

"This...isn't this the aura of the Eye of Darkness?" After sensing it carefully, Xilan discovered a familiar scent.

"Yes, it is indeed the aura of the Eye of Darkness." Alice recognized the aura as well, "and it is more powerful than any Eye of Darkness I have ever seen before!"

In the pitch-black sky of the Demon Realm, a more clearly defined black void appeared. Even in the complete darkness where no light existed, this black void was extremely conspicuous.

As an ominous aura flowed down from the void, a sphere-like object enveloped in dark energy fell from the void and landed in front of the three people.

The moment this thing appeared, Alice was on high alert and quickly plucked the strings of her harp, releasing one protective magic circle after another beneath their feet.

"Be careful! An unknown force is seeping into your body. If you can't stay awake, you'll soon be devoured by it."

The black sphere, which was almost purple, quickly released a burst of energy that blew and swept away everything around it—including the three of them.

After the energy was released, the dark energy around the sphere began to writhe and deform like liquid, gradually forming the shape of a young demon.

However, unlike ordinary demon boys, this demon boy, who was entirely black and purple, had purple eyes that emitted a purple light, and a bright purple ball of light, like an energy core, on his chest.

In addition, there are two unusually large and grotesque arms that are completely out of place with the slender demon's appearance.

"Are you the blade he chose?" Under the astonished gazes of the three, the dark purple demon boy spoke his first words, "That magician actually wanted to put me into his memories, I really don't know what he was thinking..."

"Who are you?" the adventurer asked.

"You are not worthy to know my name!" The dark purple demon boy looked down on the three adventurers. "Since you call that power the Eye of Darkness, then I am its source and its master."

"I came here to confirm what kind of thing will be chosen by him." With that, the source of the Dark Eye casually unleashed a burst of dark energy.

Before the three adventurers could react, they were struck down by the powerful darkness and forced to the ground, unable to get up.

"Is that all?" The Root of Darkness laughed. "Even with its own will, its power is still far too weak. Rejecting my proposal and choosing instead such a willful ant? What is Rosso thinking?"

After saying that, the source of the Dark Eye vanished without a trace in a way that the three of them could not perceive, leaving only a page of memory book that shimmered with golden light.

Within the pages of the memory book lies a hidden space belonging to the Demon Realm. Everything within this space is blue—both the sky and the ground are blue.

The only difference is that there are still some non-blue stone tablets standing upright on the ground from time to time, some intact and some damaged.

Beneath two relatively intact and fairly continuous stone tablets, two people were conversing. One was an elderly magician, and the other was Hilder.

"Mar? What are you doing here?" Hilder recognized the magician in front of her at a glance. Although he no longer looked young, his unique magical power was exactly the same as the Mar she had seen before.

"Lord Rosso sent me here, saying it was to ease your relationship with the adventurers and, incidentally, let the adventurers know part of the truth." Although it wasn't the first time Mar had met Hilder, the current Hilder still felt unfamiliar to Mar.

Unexpectedly, Herder, who once so firmly believed in prophecy, would abandon darkness and embrace light, transforming from a mere behind-the-scenes manipulator into a pioneer carrying heavy burdens.

"There's no need! He'll understand when he's qualified to stand beside me. Besides, with the intervention of those who transcend, it's possible that more than just adventurers will see this memory..."

Herder abruptly shifted the topic to Mar, "But you, in order to protect Dewdrop, you've turned yourself into this old man, and you didn't even ask him for help?"

Mar smiled and shook his head: "This is what I should do, and it's within my capabilities. Since it's something I can handle myself, why trouble Lord Rosso?"

The words had barely left his lips when the blue space shattered abruptly. Golden light swirled, and the scene vanished completely.

Inside the library, the three of them exited the pages of the memory book.

Xilan plopped down on the ground, panting heavily: "This...this is too much information! That mage was actually Mar? The legendary great mage who created the Grand Magic Circle—Mar?"

"Judging from Mar's words, what's Hilder's reason for doing all this?" The adventurer was puzzled by Mar's attempt to mend their relationship with Hilder. Could she not be the mastermind behind it all?

Alice's expression was equally grave. Although she was also shocked by the magician's true identity, her attention was more focused on the "dewdrop" Hilder had mentioned: "What is a dewdrop?"

"The answer may lie in the next few memory books."

Just then, the boy suddenly appeared beside them, his face bearing an unprecedentedly serious expression.

"What...did you see?" he asked, his voice less cynical than usual.

Alice briefly recounted what she remembered.

The boy remained silent for a long time after hearing this.

Finally, he sighed, "That old man... really did leave behind things he shouldn't have. The affairs of those at your level are not something you should know."

"Now we know." The adventurer looked directly at him. "Do you have anything to tell us?"

The boy shook his head: "I don't have the authority to say too much. But since that old man chose to leave these memories to you, it means he had his reasons. I can only tell you one thing—"

He paused, then looked at the adventurer seriously: "You still need to be careful of Hilder. Don't let this Hilder... make you careless about the Hilder in your world."

Combining Rosso's explanation of the "branching" theory with their own thoughts, the three seemed to ponder this statement.

"You still have four volumes to read. Time to move on to the next one!"