Until that moment, Lian had assumed the awakening of that creature had begun after his and Seris’s entry.
They had killed the monsters around it, and blood had been spilled on the ground.
The blood and energy had been made available to the sitting giant, and that creature had reacted.
The chains had trembled. The Titan had shown a sign of awakening for the first time.
Lian had thought they were the main cause. Even the information and signs he had seen later had confirmed his reasoning.
But if the Forgotten Tree had been drying up for a long time...
If the world’s water cycle had been weakening for years...
If the chains were also connected to the power of that same tree and the world’s roots...
Then they had not started the Titan’s awakening. The process had begun long before.
He and Seris had only accelerated its speed for a short time by killing monsters and providing blood.
Even if they had never entered the Giants’ Graveyard, the Titan would still have opened its eyes sooner or later.
This situation was a disaster, a very great disaster... He now understood why the Cindari wanted to leave this world.
They neither had the ability nor the power to fight that giant, and if that giant awakened, the destruction of this world would be inevitable.
The power of that giant, according to the memories he had seen, at its peak was at least equal to an awakened one who had passed four evolutions.
"I don’t have complete information." Aren said, his voice pulling Lian out of his thoughts.
"I told you I barely learned their language. A large part of the writings are also encrypted or only accessible to high-ranking individuals."
"But I saw it several times in reports that when the tree dies, the disease will take over the entire world."
"What exact word did they use?" Lian asked.
Aren said a word in the Cindari language.
The System could not fully translate it, but a few concepts appeared in Lian’s mind.
Contamination.
Silence.
Spread.
Destruction of life.
No doubt remained. It was the same Black Silence.
"Some of their historical writings said that when the tree dies, the carrier of the disease awakens. I don’t know exactly what the disease is or what creature carries it." Aren continued.
But Lian knew. The disease was The Black Silence, and its carrier was the chained Titan.
At that same moment, a cold and emotionless voice echoed in his mind.
Not only for him.
A notification different from ordinary Quests was sent throughout the Special Area.
Every Awakener, in every forest, ruin, city, or dungeon they were in, received the same message.
[Hidden World Condition Discovered.]
He remained motionless. The blue light of the panel formed before his eyes.
[The Withering of the Forgotten Tree has reached a critical stage.]
[The restraints of the Corrupted Titan are collapsing.]
[Main Quest Issued.]
[Main Quest: Prevent the Awakening of the Corrupted Titan.]
[Objective: Stop the complete awakening of the Corrupted Titan before the Forgotten Tree dies.]
[Quest Participants: All Awakeners within the Special Area.]
The words appeared one after another, and then the reward section was displayed.
[Rewards:]
[200 Fragments.]
[+3 Levels.]
[250 Free Stat Points.]
[Return to Ruined Realm]
[Bonus rewards for awakened ones with the highest contribution.]
The reward was huge, much larger than any Quest he had seen until that moment.
Three full Levels, two hundred and fifty Stat Points, and 200 Fragments were only part of it.
The most important reward was considered to be leaving the Special Area. The System had finally announced the real path back.
But Lian was still not looking at the reward section. He was waiting for the failure penalty, and he had a guess about it too, a guess he hoped would not be correct.
The next line appeared.
[Failure Penalty: The Black Silence will gain access to Earth.]
For a few seconds, only that sentence remained before his eyes.
The Black Silence was not going to only devour this world.
If the Titan awakened completely, that disaster would find a way to Earth.
Lian’s mind began to analyze at high speed. The System had not brought hundreds of Awakeners into this Special Area without reason.
The main goal had never been just survival, hunting monsters, or finding opportunities to become stronger.
All of them had been brought in to prevent the Titan’s awakening. Perhaps the rift between worlds would open with the creature’s complete awakening.
Maybe The Black Silence had the ability to bypass the Special Area’s rules.
Or perhaps the Titan itself, as a contaminated creature, could break the path through which the Awakeners had entered, in reverse.
In any case, the result was the same. If they failed, Earth would face a disaster whose true power was still unknown.
Moreover, this disaster, whatever it is, has no clear way to be fought against or destroyed. Even this world’s heroes, by sacrificing themselves, could only seal it.
And now you’re telling me this damn thing is going to enter Earth?
"Damn it." Lian said under his breath. The situation was much, much worse than he had thought.
"Something wrong?" Aren furrowed his brows.
"No." Lian pushed the panel aside from his view. For now, he couldn’t do anything. He had to first listen to the rest of this native’s words.
And then find a way to get out of this city as soon as possible. He had to find a way to prevent that monster’s awakening.
If it awakened, they would have no chance!
"Tell me the rest." He then gestured briefly for him to continue.
"What did he say? Why did you pause?" one of the Cindari guards asked.
"He’s talking about the state of this world." Lian answered.
"What state?"
"He says resources are running out, and the Cindari are looking for a way out."
The guard frowned.
This translation was part of the truth, but it made no mention of the Forgotten Tree, the Titan, or the Main Quest.
If Tharos and the Rootspire commanders were really aware of the situation, they themselves knew what Aren was saying.
If they were unaware, Lian did not intend to be the first to gift them that information.
"These people think I know how to open the rift." Aren said, a bitter smile appearing on his face.
"If I knew a way, would I be here?" He raised the chains around his wrists.
"From our world’s perspective, I must have been trapped here for two hundred and fifty damn years."
"Excuse me, how many years?" Lian thought for a moment that he had misheard.
"Two hundred and fifty years."
"As far as I heard, each Cycle is twenty-five years." Lian frowned.
Aren was silent for a few seconds. His gaze changed, not in a suspicious way, but more like someone who had realized the person in front of him didn’t know obvious information.
"You don’t know?"
Lian gave no answer, and a bad feeling came over him. He felt this discussion was not going to end well.
The Ruined Realm native’s chain attached to his spine stretched, and his face contorted with pain for a moment.
"Twenty-five years have passed here, but in our world, two hundred and fifty years have passed."
"Time flows slower here. Every one year in this world equals ten years in our own world." Lian said nothing.
This information was even more unexpected than the Main Quest.
The Special Area was not only separated in space. Time also flowed at a different ratio there.
If Aren had spent twenty-five years in this world, two and a half centuries had passed in his original world.
Everyone he knew was probably dead. Their children were also dead. Perhaps even the governments, cities, and civilizations that were familiar to him had changed drastically.
That was exactly why he was happy when he found out the seven regions had not fallen yet.
Because two hundred and fifty damn years had passed!
The people who had entered the Special Area in the previous Cycle belonged to two hundred and fifty years ago in their own world.
Perhaps now they were only names in history books, or even completely forgotten.
But Aren was still talking hopefully about his stones being found and his people coming. All these years, he had been waiting for salvation from people whose generations had passed away.
"Are you sure?" Lian asked.
"Completely."
"When we entered, we didn’t know about the time difference. After comparing the dates we found in the ruins, Archives, and old writings, we understood."
"Every time, the rift opens for this world after twenty-five years, about two hundred and fifty years have passed in our world."