"So where do we start?" The old man with his ever-angular side profile sighed. "You're challenging my memory... So, higher than the Great World, right?" A hint of contemplation appeared on Jericho's master face. "Let's start with the era before ours."
"The previous era?" Jericho mumbled.
The old man, known as Peak Master Jeremiah, nodded. "Interesting fact... Our world experienced multiple eras. Every era suffered world-scale catastrophes. Most of the records about the three previous eras were almost gone."
'Interesting...' Dylan, who was listening, became interested immediately. Even the game, didn't delve much into the lore of this world. After Version 5, Azazel's Descent underwent massive changes, and the balance tilted to the demon race side.
"Well, those three eras had hundreds of names in the books."
Jericho squinted. "Why is that so, master? Is there no definite name for the three previous eras?"
Jeremiah smiled bitterly. "Hundreds of historians delve into the three eras to uncover undiscovered records with the help of a top-tier archeologists. With no exceptions, every historian who contributed died one after another. Even those archeologists..."
With wide eyes, Jericho swallowed. Those deaths definitely aren't a coincidence! Something must have killed them. But he was confused... Why though? Is there a powerful being behind the scenes that doesn't want the public to know about the previous three eras? What exactly happened to those three eras? What catastrophe had befallen them?
"This is also the reason why the three eras had hundreds of names." Jeremiah chuckled. Suddenly, his expression transitioned to utmost seriousness. "This topic about those three eras is sensitive. Even with my strength, I'm not sure if I won't just drop dead tomorrow if we talk in-depth about it. So I'll just brief you a little to prevent that, okay?"
"Understood, Master Jeremiah!" Jericho nodded, infected by his master's solemnity.
In turn, Jeremiah just nodded. "The previous era is most known as the Heaven's Gate Collapse Era..."
'I'm quite familiar with that...' Dylan, who heard a familiar term, perked up.
Well, he was just familiar due to the brief background provided by the game but it didn't go in depth much about it. Because after Version 1, the game lore of subsequent Versions didn't focus much on the history of the world, but rather, on the future.
Jeremiah smacked his thigh and laughed. "This will answer your question. I hope it fulfills your curiosity. First of all, in the previous era, there was the Heavenly Realm, where the experts above the Great World Realm resided, overlooking the mortal realm... Well, the mortal realm is our world, got it?"
Jericho nodded. 'Heavenly Realm? Sounds overbearing. So, there are really beings beyond the Great World Realm... This is bad news but also good news for you, right?'
'Heh...' Dylan grinned. 'As long as there is my Leveling Deity. It's only good news for me.'
"The name of the realms of those beings are unknown, but the first major realm's name is an exception... It's called Heavenly Warrior Realm...
Such expert descended in that era and is said to have slaughtered Great World experts from the Mortal Realm like pigs due to fit of anger."
"Those unparalleled Great Worlds that ruled the Mortal Realm? They're helpless. That's why there's a word in ancient records that said 'Below the Heavenly Warrior, everything is just ants... It could be said that compared to the first major realm of the Heavenly Realm, our Great World experts of the past are just bigger ants."
"Is that true?" Jericho was somewhat doubtful about this. "How could the ceiling of the world be that weak? They couldn't even put resistance?"
"I don't know..." Jeremiah said with a bitter smile. "This is just speculation of mine. Treat it like a castle in the air. I think the reason why there are no Fairy and Great World experts was because they were annihilated by that being from the Heavenly Realm." He took a deep breath. "As for the name of the era? It's because the Gate of Heavenly realm collapsed for unknown reasons."
"In our era now, the beings from the Heavenly Realm and our Mortal Realm can't communicate with each other. For this reason, the existence of Heavenly Realm just became a myth in our world. No one knows if that realm really exists due to how much time has passed."
"But it was probably true. What a pity, without the Gate of Heavenly Realm. Even if Great World expert emerges, they won't be able to ascend to the next major realm."
'Ask why is that so...' Dylan whispered to Jericho as if he was Eren.
Jericho cursed inwardly. "Why is that so?"
The old man looked at the sky with a vague, unreadable expression. "The bottleneck of Great World Realm, as per sect master's words, was to cross the Heavenly Gate. Because in the heavenly realm, there was dark matter substance in every corner of the air that Great World experts needed to absorb to shed their mortal bodies and step to the Heavenly Warrior Realm..."
"Since the heavenly gate collapsed that is no longer possible..." Jericho had an eye of realization as he picked up Jeremiah's words. "How about those two eras before that Heavenly Gate's Collapse Era?"
"I don't have a clue... Ask the sect master about that. But disciple, I warn you, topics about the previous three eras our taboo. It might attract danger to our sect so be careful... It's not worth it for mere interest." Jeremiah's kind smile returned then he went to his reclining chair with a laid-back demeanor.
...
Dylan came out of his abode and went directly to a tree near Congyun City with deep eyes. He stayed silent for a minute before letting out a sign. "It seems even if I reach Great World, I won't be able to step onto the next realm quickly with the Heaven Gate's absence. If that's the case, I'll need to wait for two years and my Leveling Deity would push me to the next six major realms, ignoring that bullshit bottleneck..."
"Absorb dark matter? I wonder how my Leveling Deity would manage to make me a Heavenly Warrior without the required dark matter? It's really a damn cheat code."
Of course, he would still try to find a way to try to go through the Heavenly Realm. Maybe find ways to restore the gate or enter without the gate?
At that time, once he becomes a Great World, he would naturally have more power, a peak existence in this Mortal Realm.
He could command countries with his status. Deploying an armies and thousands of players to investigate won't be a problem with one word from the first Great World expert after a long time. Dylan's esistence would prove the existence that Fairy Realm and Great World Realm really exists.
'Since the players can respawn infinitely. They are the perfect candidates to investigate this matter. Even if an unknown force repeatedly kills players, it would be futile... Investing in the players is really worthwhile. They are good pathfinders to test the waters because they're immortals.' Dylan smirked.' 'Even if there really is a being plucking the strings behind the strings. He or they would have headaches with the existence of players.'
'I hope the mysterious deaths behind the historians in the past aren't related to a power beyond the Great World Realm though...'