Chapter 4: Reflections of the Past
"The truth of the Nightworld is something even the most erudite sages find difficult to grasp."
"However, according to current mainstream theories, the Nightworld is not a single realm, but rather a conglomeration of countless illusory worlds."
"It is the lingering traces and echoes left behind in history by the demise of innumerable past civilizations."
Perhaps sensing that Rast's confusion was not feigned,
Shiltina, after a brief hesitation, took the initiative to explain.
"Some scholars believe that the power sustaining the Nightworld may originate from one of the primordial Pillars of Legend..."
"The one who governs the authority of Eternal Night, the witness and recorder of all civilizations and past histories — the Lord of Silence."
"Hence, the few who possess special credentials allowing them to enter and exit the Nightworld freely, also refer to themselves as 'Travelers in the Night'."
"The illusory worlds these travelers enter are historical echoes that reappear at the moment of the Eternal Night's descent — fragmented memories like ephemeral reflections."
Rast had already guessed what Shiltina’s next words would be.
"And this Deep Blue Port where we now stand is one of the countless historical echoes gathered within the Nightworld."
"In true history, Deep Blue Port was destroyed in a clandestine Descent of the Evil God."
…
Listening to Shiltina's explanation,
Long-sealed memories surged like a tide in Rast’s mind.
He was a transmigrator.
More precisely, Rast had recalled the memories of his past life on Blue Star around fifty thousand reboots ago.
To possess the memories and perspective of a transmigrator… for anyone, that would undoubtedly be a divine cheat.
Yet for Rast, it was utterly useless.
In his earliest, still-clear memories, Rast had already been trapped within Deep Blue Port.
No matter what he did in this port town, when dusk came the next day, the entire world would rewind to 7 PM of the previous evening.
And this predicament remained unchanged even after he regained his past life’s memories.
Transmigration truly was a powerful golden finger.
A transmigrator could plagiarize past-life literature and product ideas to become rich with ease.
Or rely on superior insight to advance global technology and drive civilization’s progress, becoming a revered saint of the people — not an impossible feat.
But all of that required time.
Getting rich through plagiarism or advancing civilization — neither was something that could be achieved overnight.
Even in the butterfly effect, the butterfly that flapped its wings in the Amazon rainforest… still needed several days for a storm to brew across the ocean.
Yet Rast had less than a day.
In that short day, he seemed omnipotent, yet could achieve nothing — leaving behind nothing.
Let alone things like raising his social status, becoming a revered sage to gain power, wealth, and beauties…
Rast could have achieved all of that in Deep Blue Port even without awakening his past memories.
After tens of thousands of repeated loops, he had long grown tired of it all.
But now, with Shiltina’s appearance, everything had finally taken a turn.
“Nightworld”
That word felt familiar.
Rast pondered for a long time before finally recalling some fragments of deeply buried past-life memories.
Before his transmigration, he had been a member of a game development team, working on a fantasy game called Snow Moon Emblem.
And the Nightworld was the core content of a paid DLC titled Shadow of the Past, scheduled to launch alongside the base game.
In the design draft, the Nightworld was akin to a dungeon hub.
It gave players something to do after completing the main storyline — a place to grind endlessly and boost playtime and daily active users.
Additionally, multiplayer functionality was also to be implemented through the Nightworld.
Even monetizing the multiplayer feature separately — there really was a reason why Kirin Bow's nerf proposals never affected the devs.
Unfortunately, Rast, according to memory, never got to see the game he worked on go live.
After pulling an all-nighter, he transmigrated to another world the day before Snow Moon Emblem’s first closed beta.
Because the game hadn't officially launched, and Rast wasn’t responsible for the plot or art design — merely a beleaguered programmer —
Aside from the parts he had directly coded, Rast only had a vague impression of the game’s story from the initial pitch meeting, knowing few of the finer details.
Still, with just those fragmented impressions, combined with Shiltina’s explanation, it was already enough for Rast to understand his current situation.
The civilizations that had already perished, their historical echoes resurfacing under the descent of night — fragments of memory.
What they called “Reflections of the Past”, or in terms of his previous life — an infinitely restarting, endlessly looping game instance.
This was what had trapped Rast for centuries.
The truth of Deep Blue Port.
…
These thoughts passed in a flash.
Soon, Rast spoke again.
"So, that ‘Sequence Staircase’ you mentioned earlier,"
"And the Tower, and Shadow and such — those are the special powers you Travelers in the Night possess, who can freely enter and exit the Nightworld?"
Shiltina nodded. "That's right."
"More accurately, only those who ascend the Sequence Staircase are qualified to enter the Nightworld."
"Currently, seventeen known Sequence Staircases exist. For example, she was a dancer of the 'Shadow' Sequence and had already reached the third tier."
"Some people also call that staircase the 'Inner Demon'."
Shiltina crouched down, pulling away the face of the corpse to reveal the cracked black iron mask, now split in two.
"If I’m not mistaken, she belonged to a secret faction hostile to me in the real world, tracked me with a special item, and followed me into the Nightworld."
"The Shadow Sequence is particularly effective against me. If not for being mentally countered by you due to her carelessness, this would have been a hard fight."
Shiltina rummaged through the masked woman’s corpse for a moment before standing up again.
"The power you manifested just now — the one that countered the dancer’s bewitching word spell — if I’m not wrong, it’s a rare Sequence Staircase."
"'Tower' — the Lantern-Bearer."
Shiltina fixed her gaze on Rast. "I originally thought you were a historical echo projected by the Nightworld — a native of the resonance."
"But now, it seems I was mistaken."
In the Nightworld, hidden laws existed.
If an outsider Traveler in the Night revealed any information about the Nightworld to a projection within the historical echo, the information would be distorted — and the revealer severely punished.
Yet at this moment, Shiltina had not suffered any backlash from the rules.
"You are not some illusory reflection of the past within the Nightworld’s echoes."
"But a real, flesh-and-blood human being."