I, the Final Boss of the Beta Server!

Chapter 136: Take My Place and Accompany Them Through This Life

Upon the resplendent soul circuit, a dreamlike light flowed endlessly.

Rast placed his hand on the crystalline object, his soul's aura slowly seeping into it.

At the same time, countless tiny runes on the surface of the crystal were activated, forming a continuous stream of light...

It pulsed and shimmered in rhythm with Rast’s heartbeat, just like human breathing.

“This is the ‘Cradle’ system embedded within the Forbidden Armament.”

“Once your authority is registered, the core key of the Zenith Sword will be fully bound to your soul, analyzing your soul fluctuations in real time and transmitting feedback.”

“And once the soul signal originating from you is interrupted for more than 12 hours... or if your soul’s aura fluctuates beyond the preset value or shows signs of tampering, the self-destruct module on the core key will be triggered.”

“Just like a baby sleeping in a cradle, if the cradle’s motion is stopped by an external force, the baby within will awaken and begin to cry.”

“Then, within five minutes, the self-destruct program will turn the Forbidden Armament—Zenith Sword—into a pile of pure, research-worthless scrap metal.”

Dean Agatha’s explanation followed shortly after.

“Although I have full confidence in you, Rast, the Cradle system and self-destruct module are mandatory components for all mechanical armaments in the Forbidden Index. I hope you understand.”

“After all, even if the probability is small, we must still guard against the possibility that you might fall in battle, or be captured by hostile forces, your mind polluted and eroded, and your will rewritten…”

“If the Zenith Sword were to fall into enemy hands, and the Forbidden technology within it reverse-engineered, neither the Academy nor the Empire could withstand such consequences.”

“I understand, Dean Agatha.”

Rast nodded lightly.

He could certainly understand the Academy’s concerns.

After all, when it came to the number of legendary beings and the accumulation of high-tier transcendents...

Modern civilization had only developed for a few centuries—not even a millennium—how could it possibly compare to the six entire epochs of accumulation within the Nightworld?

Those apocalyptic disasters that once ended the past epochs and descended as Nightworld’s final remnants and twilight calamities…

If they had followed the same traditional path of cultivating transcendents like those ancient civilizations in the Nightworld, modern civilization would likely have long since been annihilated by the twilight calamities.

And the reason the Seventh Epoch had endured until today, even keeping most twilight calamities outside the borders of civilization for most of that time, flourishing and continuing—

Was precisely due to mechanists and magi-tech.

If the historical remnants within the Nightworld failed to be conquered, then the Forbidden Armaments deployed around the Nightworld’s perimeter were the Academy’s final trump card.

These forbidden mechanical armaments, capable of threatening even legendary beings, truly deserved to be called national treasures.

If leaked—especially falling into the hands of enemy nations or secret organizations with malicious intent—the consequences would be unimaginable.

With that in mind, Rast couldn’t help but quicken the pace at which his soul anchored to the mechanical crystal.

Until—

Crack.

A crisp sound suddenly rang out deep within Rast’s mental world.

In the next instant.

Using the soul circuit directly linked to his mind as a bridge... an uncountable flow of information surged into his brain.

Like a roaring tidal wave, it crashed and flooded his mental world.

Had it been an ordinary person, their mental world would have already burst under the overwhelming data stream, their will completely shattered, reduced to a mindless vegetative state.

This torrent of information was the final step.

Only by fully analyzing every detail of the blueprint and truly understanding the mechanical structure and operational principles... could one truly gain control over a Forbidden Armament.

Yet such armaments, created with the life-long effort of generations of top mechanists, were not something ordinary people could easily comprehend.

At best, one would suffer severe mental damage and need years to recover…

At worst, one’s soul would be obliterated by the vast information flow, the self completely wiped out, becoming a breathing, heartbeat-having shell with no trace of awareness—an empty corpse.

Such was the price and risk of mortals daring to peek into the realm of the forbidden.

Though becoming a mechanist didn’t require the role-playing and constant training of transcendents...

It did place an even greater burden on mental strength, and the risks of mental collapse or going berserk during one’s growth were no less than those faced by Nightwalkers walking the line between life and death.

However—

Faced with the torrent of data, crashing like mountains collapsing and flooding his spiritual world...

Rast’s expression remained unchanged.

If that data stream was likened to a rushing river or sea, then Rast’s mental strength was like a stone standing firm in the middle of it.

No matter how violently the tides surged, he remained unmoved.

This unshakeable mental strength was perhaps the strongest dimension among the five aspects of Rast as a Nightwalker.

Not to mention the innate skill he obtained from the Nightworld that significantly boosted soul resistance—「Heart of Steel Forging」.

Even without that passive skill, he had relied solely on his willpower in Deep Blue Port to remain sane amid the Iron Cross Plague and the corruption of the Evil God.

No matter how vast the Forbidden Armament’s data was, it posed not even the slightest risk to Rast’s mind.

Gradually—

The flow of data within his spiritual world began to slow.

At the same time, his mental power began to expand outward, devouring the pure 0s and 1s that comprised the data stream, analyzing and deducing them.

Until...

The final stream of 0s and 1s had been fully digested.

Upon the control platform, that silvery crystal suddenly burst into a dazzling brilliance.

Within the clear radiance, the crystal slowly became illusory, eventually fading completely.

And within Rast’s spiritual world, as dreamlike light particles danced...

In the silvery-white glow, an ethereal object gradually condensed into form—

A delicate, faintly glowing key.

【Key of Heaven】

【Type: Megastructure Armament Component, Mechanical Core】

【Rarity: Orange】

【Grade: Forbidden】

【Item Description: Core component of a megastructure armament. Internally contains a folded sub-dimensional space using dimensional folding technology.

Once the mechanical structure array has been deployed, the “Key of Heaven” can be used as the guiding component to activate the Forbidden Armament—“Zenith Sword Prototype.”】

【Note: This Forbidden Armament is now bound to the soul of the Nightwalker “Rast.” If signal feedback is interrupted or abnormalities exceed preset values, the Zenith Sword’s self-destruct module will automatically engage.】

Gazing at the pale silver key before him.

A blue information screen quietly appeared in Rast’s vision.

This was a system prompt from the Nightworld.

As Dean Agatha had said, although ordinary mechanical weapons usually lost functionality upon entering the Nightworld, mechanists had spent years researching ways to bypass that limitation...

For example, assembling constructs using crest-based equipment as a foundation.

Of course, this method was extremely costly and not always successful... so mechanical weapons were not commonly used by Nightwalkers to explore the Nightworld.

But, without question—

At this moment, the Key of Heaven before him was a certified Nightworld item, one Rast could carry into the historical remnant.

“All right...”

“Then my task ends here.”

Dean Agatha’s voice came from nearby.

Her once-gentle tone now carried a trace of exhaustion.

In just a month.

It was naturally impossible to go from nothing to fully completing a Forbidden Armament—from conception, design, drawing... to production, calibration... and finally manufacturing a prototype.

All she had done was guide and assist Rast in fully understanding the refined blueprints, mechanical structures, and principles of the Zenith Sword—

And based on the enemies Rast would face in the epoch remnant, perform specialized modifications to the Zenith Sword prototype... even among legendary ranks, different sequences and types required different alterations.

Even so, it had been no small effort for Dean Agatha.

Though she was one of the continent’s strongest mechanists, she had not yet reached the legendary level...

And Forbidden Armaments were a path that peeked into the legendary realm through external means, requiring utmost caution with every step.

During the process of crafting a Forbidden Armament, even the slightest error could lead to catastrophic outcomes.

In mechanist history, there were many precedents where runaway Forbidden Armaments exploded and wiped out entire city districts.

“Oh right, I remember Barbalossa also gave you that Holy Grenade, didn’t he?”

Just as Rast was about to rise and bid farewell, he heard Dean Agatha speak again with her back still turned.

“Leave that too. I’ll use the last bit of time before you enter the epoch remnant to modify it for you…”

“I heard from that weasel that you’ll be facing a legendary of the Abundance Sequence, is that right?”

“The Holy Grenade’s original ‘Holy Light’ attribute is especially effective against cultists, chaos, corruption, and pollution types, but against Abundance-type transcendents, its power will be greatly reduced—possibly even becoming a source of nourishment instead.”

“I’ll rework its properties, adjusting it for anti-Abundance effects.”

Looking at the old woman’s hunched back, Rast gave a deep bow.

“Sorry to trouble you, Dean Agatha.”

“Heh, no need to be so formal.”

Dean Agatha waved her hand behind her: “Although it’s only been a month, I can sense... your ability to endure loneliness makes you a natural mechanist.”

“As the dean of the Ashen Institute, it’s my duty to guide talented students of potential.”

“Besides, helping you... well, it’s also a bit selfish on my part.”

She paused, her aged eyes sweeping across the clear and spacious mechanical lab.

“I devoted my entire life to building the Ashen Institute and researching mechanics… Never married, and naturally left no descendants.”

“However, at His Majesty Allen’s invitation, I served as a royal tutor for many years... I watched both Ophelia and Shiltina grow up.”

“Though it may seem presumptuous of me to say this about the royal family of the Granweil Empire, in my heart, Ophelia and Shiltina are no different from my own daughters.”

“They may have entirely different personalities, but I know very well—those two girls are both extremely self-willed and stubborn.”

“This stubbornness can help them reach towering heights and achieve brilliance that others can only dream of… but sometimes, it becomes a double-edged sword that traps them in dead ends they can’t escape on their own.”

Agatha looked at Rast and smiled: “And now, you’ve gotten entangled with both of them.”

“Though they might not say it, I can tell… you hold a special place in both their hearts.”

“Especially Shiltina. Normally proud like a swan and unwilling to change for anyone, even she has started to soften because of you… even if she hasn’t realized it herself.”

“I’ve grown old, and so has His Majesty Allen—”

“We can’t accompany them through the rest of their lives.”

The old woman’s gentle voice shimmered alongside the pure white glow of the Nightblade, 「Place of Absolution」.

When Rast came to, the scene before him had already shifted.

A soft force had gently pushed him outside the mechanical lab of the Ashen Institute.

Only Dean Agatha’s aged voice still echoed in his ears.

“So, if one day they once again walk into a dead end because of their stubbornness…”

“Rast, I hope you can take my place and help guide them out of it.”

“And, in the days to come—”

“Accompany them, through the rest of this life.”