Chapter 622 - Confetti for Clearing the Game! (Finale) (Part 4)

Lu Ran didn’t know what to feel facing the will of Limitless City. “So it was you. Since you’ve appeared, that means I cleared the final secret realm, right?”

The will nodded. “Yes. To be honest, I hadn’t intended for you to clear it, but this dog surprised me.”

It looked at Captain Doofus. “Although its bloodline is ordinary, it already has the qualifications to approach the cosmic level.”

Lu Ran shook his head. “So, can I now learn Limitless City’s secret?”

The will said, “You should have some guesses. Why don’t you try first?”

It glanced at Lu Ran and his familiars and waved its hand lightly. All of Lu Ran’s injuries vanished.

Lu Ran said, “I’m tired, so I’ll pass on guessing. Just tell me.”

The will smiled. “As you wish. Limitless City is the universe, and the universe is Limitless City. Besides being the will of Limitless City, I am also the cosmic will of this universe. This place got contaminated by the collapse of another universe’s space-time. Even I, the universe itself, could hardly resist it.

“The cosmic will originally had no consciousness. Fortunately, because of this special disaster, I awakened and then came with the Genesis Dragon to this last sanctuary.”

So... Limitless City is the cosmic will.

“After I arrived, I found that my own power as the cosmic will could not resolve the black mist. So I needed to nurture a lifeform suitable to become the keeper of the universe and to contract me, so that together we could purify the black mist. I discovered the most suitable lifeform was human.”

Lu Ran asked, “So that person... is me? No. You chose others before me, like Hel, Peanut, and Ji Yuan... You had them try to contract you!”

The will said, “Right. After arriving, I revived many powerful humans and had them attempt to contract me. The final secret realm’s true boss was not the Genesis Dragon, but me. Only by successfully contracting me could one be said to have cleared it.

“Sadly, they all failed. Even when I created a virtual world for them, letting them grow to the peak and raise Primary-Divine familiars, they still failed in the end.”

Lu Ran understood. That explained why the Tree Monarch and others had challenge records in their final secret realm.

Dark Crow jumped up on the side. “

Ah!

Then the secret realm isn’t over. You still have to try contracting Limitless City! If you fail...”

Lu Ran shook his head and looked at the will of Limitless City that resembled him and said, “No. I think I’ve already succeeded, right? This life might not be my first. Those worldlines during my reincarnation experiences, where Limitless City didn’t exist, were my true experiences!

“Although, I don’t know why I chose to be reborn. Was it because something went wrong and my past power wasn't enough to drive out the black mist?”

“Some of your guesses are right, and some are wrong,” the will replied.

Lu Ran continued, “While studying the black mist, we found that the inside and outside of it lay on different timelines. Also, much earlier, the timekeeper discovered someone had traveled through time, apparently to be reborn. Though I have my doubts.

“The one who reincarnated shouldn’t have been me. Stellar Moon’s time as a whole was rewound, which caused two starfields to sit on different timelines. But then, why did Manager Ying meet the reincarnator in the time tunnel?”

The will said, “I’ll show you a piece of cosmic memory. Keeper, you imagine your past life too beautifully.”

***

Time rewinded, and Lu Ran saw images that left him speechless. Just like in Six-Path Flower's reincarnation world, this was a worldline without Limitless City. Lu Ran had still contracted Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow, but his road was rougher.

His Broken Horn of the Divine Deer was exposed, and people coveted it. His parents’ identities as necromancers from the Other Shore were exposed, so Lu Ran bore a lot of weight due to that. Forces pressed and encircled him. Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, and Dark Crow all fell to protect him. If not for the vampire his parents left to rescue him, Lu Ran would have died as well.

Because Lu Ran carried hatred, he chose to join the Other Shore and become a necromancer, wanting to resurrect Captain Doofus and the others. However, limited by necromancy’s flaws, he could only revive puppets without self-awareness, things that only knew how to devour souls. And so, he abandoned all feeling, studied necromancy, and used it to enact revenge.

With his strength, he crushed the Blue Planet alliance. He then came to Stellar Moon, but never met Baby Cloud, Six-Path Flower, or #18. Instead, he silently controlled the undead, hoarded power, and grew through slaughter. He eventually became humanity’s fifth Mythical beastmaster as a necromancer.

None of his familiars had feelings as they were all undead puppets. To acquire stronger souls, he even slew the Evil God. To refine a bone dragon, he cooperated with the Divine Tree and targeted the Chaos Dragon God. He eventually became friendly enough with the Divine Tree to hear the tale of Six-Path Flower.

In the end, Lu Ran stood at the peak of both worlds. With that, the cosmic will descended and explained the universe’s crisis. Lu Ran did not care about the crisis, but he did care about becoming master of the universe.

As master of the universe, he would likely be able to do many things he could not do before. And so, he sacrificed nearly all life on Stellar Moon and Blue Planet to strengthen himself and became the first to successfully contract the cosmic will, becoming the keeper of the universe.

“From now on, you are the keeper of the universe and omnipotent. Our first task is to resolve the issue of the black mist. The second is to restore every civilization swallowed by it,” the cosmic will said.

However, Lu Ran set a condition.

“Fine, but before that, I want to do something else. I'd like to rewind this star domain’s time and reset everything. Let me live my life over again.” Lu Ran spread his fingers and clenched a fist.

“With your current strength, reviving your dead familiars and kin, or even restoring the entirety of Stellar Moon and Blue Planet, would be easy. There's no need for so much trouble.”

“It wouldn't be the same. I don’t want them merely alive. I want to walk the whole way with them and reach this level together.”

Having sacrificed the entire world, Lu Ran looked at the cosmic will with tired eyes. “I’m exhausted, so just do as I say and erase the unpleasant memories of this life. I’ve decided that the new beginning will be a game, so we can start over easily.”

The cosmic will fell silent. But since Lu Ran was the first to contract the cosmic will successfully, it decided to indulge him. Without waiting for a reply, Lu Ran himself rewinded the world’s time.

At that moment, in the time tunnel, a little cat not sacrificed by Lu Ran yowled in shock.

“So a fish slipped through the net. Fine, you come with me. We’ll have company,”

Lu Ran sent a clone into the time tunnel and used the timekeeper to reincarnate them together. Thus, in the rewinded world, Lu Ran forgot everything and returned to high school age. The worldline twisted, and Limitless City descended into the world.

Upon seeing these scenes, Lu Ran fell into a long silence.

“So the reason Limitless City exists... was me."

"All life pursues power to pursue the beauty in their hearts. You should be satisfied now,” the will of Limitless City said, looking at Lu Ran, Captain Doofus, Sudden Death King, Dark Crow, Baby Cloud, Six-Path Flower, #18, Mystic Turtle, and the others.

“Compared with your last life, in this life you have more. I hope you will fulfill the keeper of the universe’s duty. Without a doubt, you are the best candidate for keeper.” The will looked at him with admiration.

“After the universe is restored, countless civilizations will continue to expand. In the past, as the cosmic will, I would often choose to reboot the universe from zero. But you can also act like a cosmic destroyer to exterminate those civilizations that expand without restraint, so others can endure.

“Your personality, compared to the Mythical elementalist, plantmaster, beastmaster, or mechanic, suits the role of keeper more. Those guys had too much humanity. If the Mythical elementalist had sacrificed Stellar Moon’s natural elements, she would have had a better chance of contracting me.

“If the Mythical plantmaster had used the world’s life force to nourish her plants, she too would have had a sliver of hope of being the keeper. Unfortunately, there are no ‘ifs.’ Only you sacrificed everything and strengthened yourself. By human moral standards, you would be a villain.

“But precisely because of that, you succeeded. You reclaimed everything. The universe will be saved.”

Lu Ran curled his lip. “I don’t think that’s a compliment. Compared to destruction, my duty now should be to restore. After driving out the black mist, I'll restore the civilizations devoured by it and return this universe to its peak. This universe hasn’t reached the point where we must destroy civilizations.”

The will said, “Correct. I will re-present destroyed civilizations in historical projection secret realms. You can enter each civilization’s projection to retrace and reshape it. But...”

“But what?” Lu Ran asked.

“With Limitless City’s current energy, it won’t be enough to rebuild the entire universe. Limitless City needs energy to create historical projections.”

“So the reason you could create Stellar Moon’s and Blue Planet’s projections was...” Lu Ran froze.

“Yes. Right now, the ones resisting the black mist are not the Four Supreme Divine Dragons. I invited them into Limitless City long ago to serve as the energy that creates each historical secret realm.”

Lu Ran was speechless.

So the strongest workers in the world were the Four Supreme Divine Dragons. Four batteries?

“And if we want to create more historical projection secret realms, relying on them alone is far from enough. So I hope...” It looked at Captain Doofus and the others. “I hope each of them reaches the cosmic level.”

Lu Ran said, “That’s... not a problem.”

“No, there is a problem. This universe has been damaged by the black mist and can no longer bear the birth of new cosmic-level beings. Even Primary Divines here are incomplete. So if you want to break through, you must go to other universes.”

“Other universes?”

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

The will asked, “Have you ever heard of parallel universes? There are more universes than there are stars. There are countless great universes, small universes, and parallel universes.

“In the Mechanical Era ascension realm, the Cosmic Overlord Legion you faced was a force from another universe. In that universe, perhaps there are thousands of Primary-Divine beings, and there may even be many cosmic-level beings. Compared to our universe, it’s a far more complete world. It even has its own keeper of the universe.

“That universe might even have a Blue Planet, lifeforms similar to the Genesis Dragon, and people similar to your acquaintances. It might even have the same films and animations you're used to. That is the so-called parallel similarity of the universe.”

“So you mean for me to go there and train my familiars to cosmic level?”

The will nodded. “I can send you there. As keeper of this universe, you don’t have to fear danger. With my power and the Genesis Dragon’s protection, as long as you don’t provoke that universe’s keeper, you will be fine.

“As a keeper, reaching cosmic level will be easy for you all. Once you restore your permissions, you will soon have power approaching cosmic levels. A keeper’s authority surpasses the cosmic level. You are the universe. This universe will hold no more secrets from you.”

Lu Ran sighed. “All right. Then... my parents?”

“They have already revived on Blue Planet,” the Will said.

Lu Ran smiled. “There’s no way I’m going back to work now. I’ll rest with my parents for a few years first.

Oh,

and I’ll shoo away the black mist.”

With that, Lu Ran swaggered toward the future, and his familiars followed, one by one.

In his ears, prompts began to ring.

[Congratulations on clearing the final secret realm.]

[Congratulations on becoming the keeper of the universe.】

***

Outside, on Stellar Moon and Blue Planet.

As countless lives looked up at the darkened sky, a voice resounded throughout and beyond Limitless City, and the black mist suddenly receded.

[Congratulations to Mythical beastmaster, Pedestrian A, for clearing Limitless City’s final secret realm, defeating Stellar Moon’s Genesis Dragon, and becoming Master of Limitless City...]

[Congratulations...]