The Ancient Dragon Temple.
"Well, I have to say, all your friends are quite an interesting bunch... I haven't seen people as interesting as them in quite a while..."
Sitting on the throne, the dragon king glanced in a certain direction with a look of surprise. He sensed Liam's 'enlightenment' from kilometers away. Themes had placed a barrier to hide it so as to prevent unwanted attention, but for the Dragon King, it was easy to see through it.
Before Link could say anything, he noticed that the surroundings suddenly changed, and now he was standing in a very high place in a building.
He noticed the Dragon King standing with his hands behind his back, looking at the horizon. Link walked over to his side and found that he was now standing on the rooftop of a gigantic temple built on a small island that seemed to be floating in the sky.
The place was so high in the sky that Link could see the vague silhouette of the central city from far away.
"Hmm? When we were in the central city... I didn't notice this floating island from there- "
Before Link could even finish his question, Dragon King Idri shook his head and replied in a calm tone,
"I have placed a very powerful spatial barrier on the space around this floating island; not even Peak SS-rankers can sense this temple's presence from the outside..."
"It is only natural that you didn't notice it... But I'm quite sure that you can learn to see through such barriers if you improve your 'legendary' skill more..."
"Dao Rhythm is a power that works in 'Harmony' with the world itself; as long as you can improve your mastery over it, you will find yourself being able to influence many things in the world that you couldn't before..."
"With Dao Rhythm, you can borrow the power of the 'world' itself, which is a very strong ability..."
The Dragon King glanced at Link and said,
"In the annals of history, only one person has said to have achieved near perfect mastery over Dao Rhythm; that person was King Allen Von Reinhart..."
Link nodded his head at those words and then asked in a solemn tone.
"Uh... The princess said that you invited only 'Me' specifically? So, can you please tell me what you need from me?"
The Dragon King nodded his head at Link's words and said,
"Link... Have you ever had a strange memory before? When mastering 'Dao Rhythm' or some other time... a vague silhouette of sorts that seems to be guiding you about something?..."
Link was taken aback by that question for a second, but then he nodded his head and said in a solemn tone,
"Right after I got defeated by Rio, I entered a strange plain of consciousness... it wasn't mine; it felt like I was traveling in someone else's dream at that time..."
"There was a man wearing white clothes and a golden crown; he seemed quite handsome too... He said that he preserved the 'Law' of 'Dao Rhythm' from corruption..."
"But I have no idea about it."
A rare solemn look appeared on the Dragon King's face at that moment. He nodded his head and said,
"Yeah, just as I thought..."
Link was confused at the dragon king's behavior, and he asked in curiosity,
"Uh... Do you have any information about this?"
The Dragon King came out of his momentary daze after hearing Link's words and said them in a calm tone.
"Actually, when I first saw you use Dao Rhythm in the tournament of Supreme Talents... I already had my doubts..."
"Someone of your caliber is bound to awaken the hidden messages left by him in the 'law' of Dao Rhythm after reaching certain levels of mastery..."
Idri sighed and spoke in a solemn tone.
"That man who wears the golden crown is none other than King Allen himself; my father once told me that King Allen left some of his legacy in the 'law' of 'Dao Rhythm' before he disappeared..."
"Those who awaken Dao Rhythm can inherit his legacy once they reach certain levels of mastery..."
"But even I didn't expect that he had hidden a part of his own consciousness in that legacy..." The more Idri talked, the more confused Link became; he couldn't make heads or tails of all this.
Seeing the confused look on Link's face, the Dragon King started to explain.
"King Allen left quite a few treasures in this world before he disappeared; one of them was his sword, which is called 'Vinash', and the other was his words embedded in the law of Dao Rhythm..."
"There has been no one in the past millennia who has awakened 'Dao Rhythm', so no one was able to find what the words embedded in the 'law' said..."
"But now that you have learned about those words, I have found one of the last few pieces of this huge puzzle..."
"Things seem more clear now..."
Idri glanced at the sky and said in a solemn tone,
"I have long sensed that the laws of this world are getting 'corrupted' to the very core... Everything seems to be changing at a rapid pace; the density of mana and miasma has started to rise suddenly in the past seven years..."
"This isn't a good sign..."
"The increasing density of mana and miasma means that this world is heading for ruin... The more dense the miasma, the lower the defensive capabilities of the 'world..."
"In other words, there will be a time soon when ascending to the next realm will become possible... The only reason most people fail to ascend is because of the defense mechanisms of the world..."
"But in the absence of the defense mechanisms, ascending to the realm that is beyond the
level of a demi-god will become possible..."
Link frowned at those words and asked,
"But isn't that a good thing? The awakeners will have a new path to follow-"
Before Link could even finish his words, the dragon king shook his head and said in a solemn
tone,
"No, this isn't good; miasma inherently is a very destructive and corrupt power; it is slowly corrupting the laws of the world, which is weakening the defense of the world..."
"But corrupting the laws of the world also means that the world itself is getting corrupted... If this continues, then the balance of mana and miasma in this world will go haywire..." "Miasma will continue to seize more power, and mana will become weaker and weaker even with its increased quantity... Eventually, the 'law' of 'Mana' will also get corrupted..." "All creatures in this world have some amount of mana except for the demons, as they miasma... And if the 'Law' of 'Mana' gets corrupted to the point of no return, all creatures that have mana in their bodies will also get corrupted..."
"That includes all awakeners too..."
Hearing this, Link felt a chill run down his spine. All this time, he was thinking that the increase in miasma would only result in the demon population increasing.
Link can just become strong and kill demons to deal with that, but if everyone in the world became a demon by getting corrupted, then even Link wouldn't be able to do anything. "This actually explains everything perfectly... The 'Sea of Endless Miasma' has started to expand at an insane rate recently, and this is likely one of the reasons for it..." "Everything in the world is getting corrupted... except for one 'Law' that is the 'Law of Dao Rhythm'... King Allen likely said that he preserved this one 'Law' from corruption..." "That means only this 'Law' is the last ray of hope for this world..."
But then Idri's expression became even more solemn. He glanced at Link and said,
"King Allen left a piece of his own consciousness as a legacy for future generations... This means only one thing: that King Allen has unfortunately met his end..."
Even for an SS-ranker, their consciousness is a very important aspect of their 'existence'.
If not for a last-ditch effort, no SS-ranker will dare to separate a piece of their own consciousness from their body.
If King Allen has done such a thing, that means he already knew that his end was near, and he placed his consciousness as a legacy because he already saw his death coming.
It was likely a last-ditch effort from him.
What Link and Idri didn't know was that not only the legacy in the 'law' of 'Dao Rhythm', King Allen put a second piece of his own consciousness in Rio's sword, 'Vinash'.
The person who Rio saw when awakening his formless sword's true power was also King Allen
himself.
This means that King Allen had already seen that he was going to suffer a very terrible fate.
Thus, he separated two different pieces of his own consciousness, and he even abandoned his sword and used his consciousness to prevent the 'corruption' in the law of 'Dao Rhythm'.
All this shows that something terrible must have happened to him in his last days.
Idri looked at Link and spoke in a serious tone.
"Link Rex... Or should I say, 'The World's Chosen'... It seems you have a very big responsibility on your shoulder; the fate of the whole world rests atop your palm..."
"Only you have the 'law' that has not been tainted by miasma, which means you have the responsibility to save this world from the clutches of miasma..."
As the saying goes, the more talented and powerful you are, the more responsibility is on your
shoulders.
Link was granted insane talent by the world and awakened to the purest 'Law' that exists in
this world. He will have the ability to borrow the power of the whole world in the future.
But all of this didn't come without a price, and in return for all this, Link has the responsibility to 'Save the World'...
It won't be wrong to say that Link Rex was born to be the 'hero' of this world, and that is the
meaning of his life.
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here! And now we have made it official: Link is the real 'hero' of
this world, not that fake guy called 'Fade'.
Question of the day:.
Do you now understand why Link possesses so many talents and powers?
(Tell me your thoughts in the comments.)
By the way, don't forget to use those power stones!!