Chapter 88 Different Timelines
Mei Haihai gazed at the sea before her, a faint melancholy in her eyes.
This calm sea is the graveyard of countless ocean dwellers and players of maritime games.
No matter how many lives it has buried, it remains here, rising and falling in rhythm with the moon.
Meihai has been a marine inhabitant for so many years, and everything has changed except for the ocean itself, which has remained unchanged since ancient times.
That's why she always liked to look at the sea; only in this way could she preserve some memories of the past.
Faced with Xiong Duoduo's question, she sighed deeply.
"I was once a player of the Great Voyage game, just like you. I obtained a legendary magic awakening dungeon card and came here."
"The difference is that when facing the final test, I didn't remember who I was. The dungeon card expired, and I was left here forever."
"Later, I became an archmage and fought against the ocean dwellers in adversarial dungeons. After killing countless of my former comrades, my memories suddenly returned."
"But it was too late then. Everything was over. My instance was finished, and I had no chance to leave."
Mei Haihai's statement was actually within Mingzhao's expectations. After regaining her memories, she would find that Mei Haihai had many language and behavioral habits that were the same as those of humans.
The Great Voyage game has only just begun, so why does it seem like she has already experienced a long period of time?
"Teacher, when did you enter the instance?"
Mei Haihai: "I knew you would ask this question. I entered the Frozen Sea on the third day. If I'm not mistaken, your entry time was not much different from mine, right?"
Mingzhao was stunned.
"Yes, I was in the Frozen Sea for 1 day, so why..."
Mei Haihai: "In my 100 years at the Sea God Magic Academy, I have seen many humans from the continent. The timing of their arrival here is randomly distributed over the past 100 years, with no discernible pattern."
"Therefore, I made an assumption. The timeline of the Great Ocean Voyage and the timeline of this copy were originally two parallel lines that did not interfere with each other."
"The existence of copies brings these two parallel lines together."
"The game will record this intersection point and send you back to the original location after the instance ends. This is why even though you have spent so many years in the instance, when you return to the game, the time is still the same."
"When the dungeon card appears, each person's own timeline is separated from the timeline of the Great Voyage game and intersects with the timeline of the dungeon. And the position of this intersection point on the timeline of the dungeon is different for different people."
"This leads to a situation where two people may enter the instance at the same time, or at roughly the same time, but their time in the instance may differ by decades or even centuries."
Mei Haihai's words cleared up all of Mingzhao's doubts.
In other words, her life at the magic academy was actually a piece of history that was separated and became a new timeline.
This is why, even though she believed she should be the first person to enter the legendary instance, she encountered many of her own kind.
She finally understood that the extremely high mortality rate in legendary dungeons stemmed not only from being executed immediately after her identity was discovered, but also from being assimilated by the ocean dwellers and forgetting her own identity.
In the real timeline, the continental humans had only just begun their great seafaring adventures.
But for the history of marine inhabitants, they have existed for hundreds of years.
Over the centuries, the relationship between continental humans and ocean dwellers has been constantly evolving.
At first, they were pure enemies. Whoever met them would fight to the death.
However, due to the waste of resources caused by this approach, new ways of getting along have gradually developed.
Today, they can act as trading partners and even share their cultural and recreational activities, making interactions between ordinary residents friendly and common.
However, this still cannot conceal the hostile relationship between the two races with conflicting interests.
Once a competitive instance or war occurs, the sea dwellers will once again become their enemies.
This is why, in the timeline of the Great Voyage game, Mingzhao can do business with the sea dwellers and establish friendly relations.
In the dungeon, the two races are irreconcilable enemies, and once discovered, they will be either killed or assimilated.
In the Magic Awakening instance, one advantage is that the instance is set in an earlier timeline, when the relationship between ordinary humans and ocean dwellers was much worse.
Another point is that magic, as a core combat power, is a resource that cannot be shared with the continent's humans, who may become enemies in the future.
Mingzhao already understood the principles of dungeons, but he still found it somewhat difficult to adapt.
The thought that her respected teacher might be a player from the same era and similar age as her in the game "Great Voyage" made her feel extremely awkward.
"Teacher, when I get back, I'll come to you and tell you what will happen next. You'll definitely have a chance to become human again."
Mei Haihai, unusually gentle, patted her head.
"Do not try to change history, because history has already been predetermined. If you do so, you will suffer the backlash of the magic of time."
"Go back. When we meet again, I may not remember any of this. Maybe by then, we'll be enemies."
Mingzhao felt her eyes sting, but nothing came out.
If it were her or Xiong Duoduo, she might have already started crying while hugging Mei Haihai.
But she was Mingzhao; she had witnessed so much separation, death, helplessness, and betrayal that she could no longer shed a single tear.
Mei Haihai shoved a package into her hand.
"I have nothing to tell you. I believe you know what you're doing. Take this package and I hope you can become a pillar of humanity."
"The time is approaching; I can already sense the presence of time magic."
"Mingzhao, never forget your name."
This was the first time Mingzhao had heard her call him by his real name.
Goodbye, my teacher.
The light and shadow shifted before her eyes, and Mingzhao returned to her ship.
It was still morning, and everything was exactly the same as before she left.
Mimi flicked her tail, watching the fish in the sea with a bored expression.
Xiao Zhi is directing the Nether Bone Hand to perform its daily routine cleaning.
The large and small groups are still arguing and making noise.
The sea remained calm and unfathomable.
But Mingzhao felt as if she had already lived a long life.
She spent three years with her friends Xiong Ba, Xiong Jiu, Xie Jiejie, and Xie Jianjian.
Perhaps it was all a lie, perhaps all the beautiful memories were just a pretense to deceive her.
But the time we spent together, the genuine affection we shared, was entirely genuine.
Perhaps the next time we meet, we'll be enemies.
The softness in Mingzhao's eyes was gradually fading, and determination and resolve were reappearing in her eyes.
She has not forgotten her goal of becoming stronger by all means; she wants to lead her compatriots to conquer the Great Voyage game.
She has never forgotten her homeland, her people, and the things she truly wanted to protect.
Nothing can stop her.
Having figured all this out, Mingzhao's mind returned to peace.
Let all of this be sealed away as a memory; her most important task right now is to continue becoming stronger.
Mingzhao took out the cloth bag that Mei Haihai had given her.
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