“Freedom…”
Personally, it was a reason that Zich could comprehend very well. After all, he had thrown away everything that restricted him and flipped the world upside down to simply gain strength. Of course, it was only later that he found out that he had been fooling himself to think that was freedom.
“Explain it in detail.”
“To explain that story, I have to go back to the time when the Brushel System was created. You know how great the Clowon Empire was, right?”
“I know.”
With just the Brushel System, no other country could pose a threat to the empire. Furthermore, there was a high possibility that the variety of skills that the robed figures gave to Demon People was part of Clowon’s great legacy.
“The root of the empire’s power was the Brushel System. No matter how outstanding the empire’s magic was, it couldn’t turn back time. Thus, the empire developed its magic to the utmost level by using the Brushel System and increasing its national power with it. In other words, everything started from the World Tree.”
Since he had already guessed that the trees were the center of regressing, Zich quietly nodded.
“Do you know about the Golden Emperor?”
“He’s Clowon’s first emperor who also made the Brushel system.”
“Yes, he is the one who established the Clowon Empire. However, before all that, it is said that he was a member of a high-class family. Above all, he was an amazing genius.”
He was also Lyla’s father; thus, it wasn’t strange at all for the emperor to be a genius. Instead, Zich was curious about a different point.
“Do you not know exactly? You are speaking as if you heard this information from somewhere else.”
“Even I don’t know everything. The knowledge I have is nothing more than clumps of people’s memories related to the Brushel System on top of the World Tree’s will.”
“Then, does that mean there’s someone who knows the origin of Clowon’s Brushel System? Is it Glen Zenard?”
“No, that is um, part of Lyla’s memories.” As if it was hard for him to say Lyla’s name, Zich Brave stuttered when he said Lyla’s name.
“It must be from one of the memories that Lyla can’t remember.”
“That’s also not it. This memory is from the original Lyla who was the Demon Lord. It was erased from her without a trace. Specifically, when the Brushel System was initialized once, her memories from before that point were completely wiped from her.”
“That’s good to hear since there’s no way that she would become a Demon Lord again.”
An individual’s personality was based on the individual’s natural character and the experiences they went through. If Lyla’s memories from her Demon Lord days were wiped out, it meant that the experiences that came with it were completely gone too.
‘Lyla would be happy to hear this.’ Zich knew that Lyla was secretly concerned about this matter. However, that was that, and there was another matter he had to attend to.
“If Lyla’s memories were erased, how would you feel about that?”
“Someone else remembered Lyla’s memories. You met her too.”
Zich immediately thought of one being. “Finel.”
“Yes, it’s her memory.”
Zich Brave’s voice sounded a bit bitter. Since he had a great sense of justice, he probably sympathized with Finel.
“Besides the memories she showed Lyla, she had quite a few other memories. Although she died, I could fortunately store the memories from before. Well, since there isn’t a specialized core like Lyla to store the memories, I can’t store the memories for long, but it’s possible to hold them for a brief period of time.”
In short, Finel remembered the memories of Lyla’s initialization, and the World Tree was using that memory. Zich nodded and waited for Zich Brave to tell him more.
“Anyway, it is said the Golden Emperor found the World Tree in his youth. It was an outstanding discovery since it could almost hold an infinite supply of mana. From that point on, the Golden Emperor invested everything he had to study the World Tree. In the end, he found a way to use its mana. His research had progressed smoothly thanks to his genius brain and his family’s riches. Then, he came up with a plan to use several and different kinds of World Trees. However, as the Golden Emperor aged, he began to obsess over one area of research.”
“I suppose he wanted longevity. It’s an obvious story.”
It wasn’t even an exaggeration that immortality was the dream of every powerful figurehead. Those with power didn’t hold back on pouring all kinds of resources to live just one more day. If the emperor got his hands on the unimaginable existence such as the World Tree, it would have even been more so.
“Like you said, he tried to lengthen his life. It seemed like he had an easy time with this task by using the World Tree. However, the Golden Emperor couldn’t be satisfied with just that. As he researched the World Tree more and more, he became more obsessed about its power and desired to earn more,” Zich Brave said disgruntledly as if he thought ill of this fact.
Yet, Zich responded differently. He had turned the world upside down to gain strength, and he was closer to the Golden Emperor than he was to Zich Brave.
“In the end, the Golden Emperor used the World Tree and created a gigantic system.”
“That must be the Brushel System.”
Zich Brave nodded. “To control the World Tree’s power more easily, he detached four pieces of power from it. The World Tree’s mana was too great to deal with by itself. So, that was how the four trees you saw so far were created. Then, the emperor broke off a branch from the original tree and created a sword to use as the system’s key.”
Zich’s eyes naturally shot towards his treasured sword. Zich Brave noticed Zich’s movements and said, “Yes, Windur is the key.”
Zich pulled out Windur and glanced at its blades. No matter how many times he looked at it, it was a strange-looking sword; but now, he could understand the reason for its appearance.
‘The reason why it looks like a tree branch is because it actually is one.’
“Windur later becomes the emperor’s symbol. Due to that, many of the empire’s important buildings were structured in a way so that Windur could open them. It was the builders’ sign of loyalty that they would hide nothing from the emperor’s eyes.”
Zich now also knew why Windur could open all of Clowon’s ruins.
“Like this, after the Golden Emperor connected the four clones and the original World Tree, he made a system and tried to turn back time. And as you know, he was successful.”
This system literally gave the Golden Emperor an infinite number of opportunities.
“From that day on, he had nothing to be afraid of. There was no need for him to be afraid of failure. If there was something unfavorable for him, he could just simply turn back time. Then, he raised his own country and called it an empire. Moreover, the Brushel System continued to evolve, and part of the reason for that was because he integrated his most talented child, his daughter, into part of the system.”
Zich Brave was talking about Lyla.
“It was also during this time that Estellade and Tornium were born. The knowledge inputted into Windur, Estellade, and Tornium was stored into Lyla’s memory. Normally, Windur was given to the Emperor, Estellade to the Crown Prince, and Tornium to the strongest general in the empire. However, depending on the situation, the owner could change for a short while, especially when important information could be obtained elsewhere. However, the emperor always kept Windur.”
Since Windur was the mark of the emperor, this was as expected.
“Like this, the whole world seemed as if it would become a personal garden for the Golden Emperor. However, the Golden Emperor died in the end. Isn’t that weird? Why did someone who possessed such overwhelming strength accept their death? Even if there was a limit to his lifespan, he could just keep turning back time.”
Zich shrugged his shoulders and replied jokingly, “He must have gotten bored of life. Or maybe he reached some kind of awakening.”
“That’s not it.”
“If that’s not it, then there’s only one thing left.” Zich turned back his head and stared at the Tree of Wind. “There’s a limit to the Brushel System.”
“That’s exactly right. Even though the Golden Emperor did whatever he wanted and treated the world as his plaything, as more time passed, he realized a serious drawback. The more he turned back time, his mind grew stranger. Or to be more exact, he began fixating on only one thought—his greatest wish.”
“Hmm, a wish. Then, what was the Golden Emperor’s wish?”
“Immortality.”
Zich’s response was lukewarm. “Isn’t that what he originally wanted? He also had a way to do it. What’s the problem if his wish becomes a bit bigger?”
“Fulfilling a wish is basically just a way for you to become happy. However, the side effect of repeatedly regressing is that it makes the process your ultimate goal in an extremely twisted and narrow-minded way.”
“Didn’t he just become senile? He’s not just fucking one or two years old.”
Zich Brave chuckled. “Your words have a point, but it’s something entirely different. From what I heard, it feels like you’re not yourself anymore, and you just become a doll that moves to fulfill your sole goal. To state it simply, you become insane. It was to the point that even the Golden Emperor, who arrogantly looked down on the world and time itself, felt terror.”
“That’s why he stopped regressing.”
“Yes. I don’t know if that’s the limit of the system or a human’s limit. However, in the end, the Golden Emperor could not beat this fear and accepted his death.”
“Then the Brushel System was passed onto the next generation.”
“Yes, and that led to the empire’s progress. However, this fear also appeared in the next emperor. Not long after that, the next emperor also accepted their death.”
“Thus, the reigning period for a Clowon Emperor is until they accept the Brushel System and feel that terror.”
“Yep, and that time period seems to differ between different people.”
Zich beckoned Zich Brave to continue with his eyes.
“Like this, the Clowon Empire continued to prosper. They stored information and grabbed lost opportunities by regressing. It sounds simple, but it’s basically cheating. If nothing went out of the ordinary, Clowon would have prospered forever.”
“But Clowon fell in the end.”
“It’s because a variable appeared.” Zich Brave’s eyes slightly darkened. “As I said before, people who experience a certain amount of regressions will experience their minds going astray and fall into terror. Then they stop using the power of regression. I haven’t experienced it myself, but I’m sure it must be absolutely terrifying since it’s a terror that Clowon emperors, would give up on everything and accept their deaths even though they could control the world however they wanted. However, a variable was born into the Clowon’s royal family—a person who completely fell for their desire to the extent that even this terror could not stop them.”
“It must be Clowon’s last emperor.”
Zich Brave nodded with a stiff face. “He was also the same as the other emperors. He did as he pleased, but this was what all Clowon emperors did.”
Unless they were saints, it was basically impossible for a human to not abuse a power that allowed them to erase all their mistakes.
“However, even he progressed the empire when he wanted to. However, the end of his regression slowly approached, and his time of reign was coming to an end. Despite how terrified he was, he persistently tried to continue regressing.”
“And he became crazy.”
“Yes, the last emperor’s wish was to rule over the world, so he turned into a tyrant. I heard that his reign was really a hellish time. An enormous number of people were killed and tortured. Thus, regardless of how long the empire lasted, more and more people expressed their discontent. You’re able to easily predict what happened then, right?”
Zich let out a twisted laugh and said, “Rebellion.”