Chapter 95 Rast: I Don’t Have Many Friends
The headquarters of the Shoreguards — Watchtower Spire.
Waves crashed upon the coastline, raising overlapping layers of tide, the sound of the sea ebbing in and out, elusive and faint.
Listening to the words spoken by the Shoreguards’ leader, Sisel, Rast felt the information being delivered was unnecessarily complex.
You want me… to lead the Shoreguards in toppling that so-called "Paradise," or rather, the underworld kingdom?
And to become an inside agent, infiltrating the Gravekeepers?
“To destroy that rumored ‘Paradise,’ I can at least understand that…”
“Because a so-called pure land that can isolate all disasters already sounds like some impractical, delusional fantasy.”
After all, based on his past life’s experience, if someone suddenly told him there was a high-paying overseas job that required no overtime and came with double weekends off… odds were, they were after his kidney.
If you actually went, you’d have no one to blame but yourself when they cut you open.
“But—”
Rast looked at the Sisel in front of him.
“To become a spy infiltrating the ‘Gravekeepers’—what does that mean?”
This was his first time hearing the name "Gravekeepers."
But—
To be mentioned with such grave caution by someone of legendary stature meant it undoubtedly held enormous secrets.
Even as he heard that term, Rast sensed that his equipped card, “Chariot: Intuition,” flickered faintly.
He had a vague premonition that this name—“Gravekeepers”—
Might be intimately connected with the history of the Sixth Era, the truth of Canaan he had been seeking, and even the entire Nightworld itself.
And following Rast’s question—
Sisel’s gaze instantly turned solemn.
He withdrew his eyes from the vast blue sea before them.
In the next moment, pale golden light quietly unfurled from him as its center.
It transformed into a pale golden, invisible field that enveloped the ground beneath him and Rast.
“‘Gravekeepers.’”
“That is the name of a secret organization.”
“It is also the greatest hypothetical enemy that generations of Shoreguards’ leaders… have persistently sought out and remained vigilant of, day and night.”
Sisel’s voice echoed through the room, yet the sound dissipated silently when it touched the golden field’s boundary.
All conversations and information exchanged between them were confined within that invisible barrier, with no possibility of a single word leaking out.
This is… some kind of soundproof barrier used for secrecy?
Rast glanced at the pale golden mute field, a subtle stir rising in his heart.
Among the seventeen known sequences of the current world, there was no record of such an ability, and Sisel didn’t seem to have used any transcendent items just now either.
Which meant this was Sisel’s Nightblade—or rather, in the current era’s terms, his ability?
But Sisel had clearly mentioned earlier that he also used a prophecy-type ability, which was how he learned of Rast’s suspected past as an immortal.
The same person’s Nightblade, yet it could manifest two completely distinct and unrelated powers…
This kind of déjà vu stirred up a few associations in Rast’s mind.
“All of this was only told to me by my teacher after I was chosen as the next leader of the Shoreguards.”
“It's said that the founder of the Shoreguards was once one of them…”
“But because he disagreed with the Gravekeepers’ ideology, the founder chose to defect and established what later became the Shoreguards.”
“And everything about the Gravekeepers became the organization’s greatest secret, passed down only among successive leaders and a very few others.”
Sisel’s tone was calm and steady.
On the other side, Rast’s expression remained unchanged, but he listened with full seriousness.
This was one hell of a bombshell.
An organization formed by a defector from the Gravekeepers had become humanity’s last line of defense, bearing the light of civilization, backed by a living legend.
Then what kind of entity must the true body of the Gravekeepers be?
However, based on Sisel’s words, the Gravekeepers clearly stood on a different side than the Shoreguards.
“Since becoming the leader of the Shoreguards… many years have passed.”
“All these years, I’ve been searching for the trail of the Gravekeepers, but have always come up empty-handed.”
“But I know—they are out there.”
There was a touch of weariness in Sisel’s voice, a sense of age that didn’t match his appearance:
“From the dawn of flame in the early era, to the golden age of flourishing civilization, and then to the sudden decline of civilization, spiraling into the tempestuous era of catastrophe.”
“From the sprouting of stories to the fall of epics… they have always lurked in the shadows of history, omnipresent.”
“And the Gravekeepers’ silence until now was merely because their appointed time had yet to arrive.”
Uncle—
As the leader of the Shoreguards, are you really okay with raising the other side’s prestige this high?
Aren’t you afraid I’ll lose faith in our organization?
Still, looking at the Sisel before him, Rast opened his mouth.
In this world, knowledge was equivalent to power—and the more secretive the knowledge, the more it was held in the hands of the strong.
A chance to converse freely with a living legend like this was exceedingly rare.
In the current age, it was questionable whether even a single legend still lived.
And Sisel didn’t seem like one of those cryptic types either—Rast had to seize the opportunity to clarify some things.
“So, Leader…”
Rast carefully chose his words. “Do you have a grudge against them?”
“It’s not that I have a personal grudge against them—it’s that the Shoreguards and the Gravekeepers have a grudge.”
A faint smile rose on Sisel’s aged face.
“Shoreguards—the ones who ‘guard the shore.’”
“No matter the cost, they must keep all corruption and foreign threats beyond the broken coastline… defending the last sea route, ensuring the spark of civilization continues to burn. That is the purpose of the Shoreguards’ existence.”
“And ‘Gravekeepers,’ as the name implies, are those who guard tombs.”
“The so-called tombs… are the graves of civilization.”
Sisel’s voice echoed faintly: “And if there were no gravestones to watch over, the Gravekeepers would no longer have a reason to exist.”
“If the Shoreguards are the preservers of eras and civilizations…”
“Then the Gravekeepers are the ones who write the final lines—those who bring every grand story and sweeping epic to a close.”
“Hence, this hatred is not driven by any individual’s will—it is an eternal conflict, one that can never end.”
“And now—”
“In their eyes, the end of the era, the final chapter of civilization… is likely fast approaching.”
“The Gravekeepers have been lying dormant for countless years. They understand our every move, while we know nothing about them.”
“If this continues…”
“When the end of the era and the true final chapter of civilization arrives, we’ll find ourselves in a terribly disadvantageous position.”
Sisel’s gaze landed on Rast, his eyes deep with meaning.
“Destroying Paradise, toppling the underworld kingdom—this operation may seem of utmost importance to the other high-level members—”
“But to you, it’s merely a cover. Just go along with it.”
“Your true mission is to use this opportunity as a way in… to find a way to make contact with the Gravekeepers.”
“That relic of the God of Death holds special significance for the Gravekeepers. Coupled with their belief that the end of the era draws near and their restlessness, they’re unlikely to let this chance slip by.”
“Of course, this mission is highly likely to fail. It may very well be a suicide mission.”
“Not to mention that in the process of overthrowing Paradise, you may come into contact with high-ranking powerhouses—or even genuine legends.”
“And even if everything goes smoothly, and you really do gain the Gravekeepers’ trust… it would also mean you’ll bear the label of a traitor in your comrades’ eyes.”
“You may never be able to clear your name, never return to the Shoreguards as one of their own.”
Sisel looked at Rast long and hard.
“Whether or not you take on this mission is entirely your decision.”
“After all, placing an unwilling spy inside the enemy is meaningless. This is not a task that can be accomplished through coercion.”
“If you refuse this task, I will simply erase the part of your memory related to the Gravekeepers.”
“Apart from that… the knowledge of the Tower Sequence I promised you still stands.”
【Now, fate splits before your eyes into two straight lines, unrelated to each other.】
【Where they ultimately lead—depends entirely on your choice.】
【Prompt: This is a critical branching point that will directly affect the trajectory of Remnant of the Era. Travelers, please treat it with caution.】
In the spiritual world, azure-blue text lit up once again.
But Rast ignored the words flickering in his mind.
He looked at Sisel, whose eyes held a deep and unreadable meaning. “Why, Leader, did you choose me?”
In terms of level and combat ability, while the Shoreguards might have no second legend, they certainly had no shortage of fifth- or sixth-tier transcenders...
And to destroy “Paradise” and overthrow a kingdom—naturally, the stronger the force, the better.
Someone like him, even if he had broken through to Tier 3 or Tier 4 with the help of the transcendent knowledge Sisel granted him, still lacked the strength to stand before a Tier 6 powerhouse.
And in terms of his status and contributions among the Shoreguards, Rast didn’t think that two brief trips into the Nightworld were enough to surpass the many veterans.
He should be a rather unremarkable figure within the organization.
“First—because you are, aside from myself, the first immortal I’ve ever met.”
“I don’t know, and don’t care, how you’ve managed to maintain such a youthful appearance for over a hundred years.”
Sisel seemed to have expected Rast to ask this. “But whatever past I can glimpse in you with my prophecy-type Nightblade, the Gravekeepers can do the same.”
“They proclaim themselves guardians of civilization’s tomb, the gravestone of the era—standing above history.”
“In the eyes of the Gravekeepers, ordinary humans who aren’t immortal and live no more than a century… are just grains of sand in the current of time, insignificant dust that will weather away, not even worth interacting with.”
“Second—”
Sisel’s aged eyes locked onto Rast, like an old lion watching a newly born cub in the pride.
“Though it’s a faint and nearly imperceptible intuition, I feel something special from you.”
“There’s no shortage of powerful, steadfast elites within the organization—those who are kind, upright, and brave… the sort who fulfill people’s fantasies of knights and heroes.”
“But heroes, knights, whatever they may be… can only do what is expected of them, the kinds of actions that fit within fairy tales and stories.”
“Yet what we face right now is far from the simplicity of a fairy tale.”
“To continue forward step by step, doing all the seemingly correct things, will only lead to a dead end.”
Sisel paused for a moment. “They, including myself, all seem to lack something compared to you—something far more important than mere strength.”
“A certain kind of hysteria… a near-maniacal obsession…”
“I can’t explain what exactly it is, or even tell whether it’s good or bad—but I choose to trust my intuition.”
“Maybe—”
“You’ll be able to do something beyond my expectations.”
...
The air fell into a brief silence.
Moments later, Rast opened his mouth and broke that stillness.
“Alright.”
“But before executing the plan to overturn Paradise—”
“I want to see it for myself. I want to personally confirm what this so-called underworld kingdom, ‘Paradise,’ truly is… and whether it really deserves to be destroyed.”
“Of course.”
Sisel nodded. “Only by seeing it with their own eyes can a Shoreguard carry out their duty.”
“Besides, there’s no rush for this plan. You should stay at headquarters for now and improve your strength as much as possible. Once everything is prepared, then you can set off.”
“Also, during this time, you may choose a few companions to go with you to ‘Paradise’… although they won’t be of any use when it comes to dealing with the Gravekeepers, they can still provide significant help early on.”
“For example, that little girl named Grey.”
“She’s just a newcomer, but her Sequence tier is extremely unusual—even a Tier 6 transcender may not be able to harm her.”
“And she seems to know you. She should be quite helpful.”
Rast gave a response and turned to leave.
Just as his figure was about to disappear past the doorway, Sisel saw him suddenly stop in his tracks.
“Oh right, Leader—one last question.”
Sisel blinked in surprise. “What is it?”
“Leader Sisel.”
The youth paused briefly.
“Would you say… we’re friends now?”
Such an offhand question made Sisel chuckle in amusement.
“Of course. I don’t have many friends left in this world—”
“One more won’t hurt.”