Mei suggested calmly,

  "Why not create a myth?"

  The old man looked doubtful.

  "I'm not questioning your ability. But over the past thousand years, I’ve tried planting clues into history more than once—none of them succeeded."

  He had failed to rekindle the legend of the Firenze Empire, let alone forge an entire mythos. To do such a thing was akin to ascending to the heavens.

  Mei simply replied,

  "Try—and you’ll see."

  As her voice fell,

  The two vanished without a trace.

  In the shadows,

  A young girl watched the swirling threads of fate in the void. Her eyes were as still and clear as a lake. Across a millennium of history, she had finally sensed something… different.

  Unlike the other vessels,

  Whether due to the divine artifact’s influence or her own temperament, she felt no rush to advance her fate. Instead, she chose to remain silent—observing how the world would unfold.

  Evening sunlight.

  Dusk.

  The sea surged with monstrous waves as trembling land slowly sank beneath the tides. Battle flags fluttered. Spears and swords pierced the earth. It was a battlefield.

  A knight, his hair radiant like golden sunlight, stood before him and asked,

  "Hegram, what are you hesitating for?"

  ...

  Rosinante opened his eyes.

  The dream still lingered—vivid and stubborn. It had felt too real, as though he had lived it. The sensation left him deeply uneasy.

  He whispered,

  "Hegram…?"

  Hegram.

  Second of the Twelve Knights of the Firenze Empire, second only to Julius in strength. He was the one who had instigated the Twelve Knights’ civil war—a conflict that directly led to the Empire’s downfall.

  He was a maverick.

  Historical records had never revealed the true cause of his betrayal, leaving it an unsolved enigma.

  Apokolips, 1850.

  One hundred and seventy years had passed since the Burlington Firenze Empire incident.

  It had also been 170 years since Rosinante joined the Hermitage Society.

  Thanks to the Hermitage Society’s holy spring, his lifespan had been greatly prolonged. Living to 200 was no issue. More importantly, the spring allowed him to retain the vitality of youth.

  Outwardly, he still looked young.

  Though 170 years had passed, the Hermitage Society’s edited history had reduced the once-mighty Firenze Empire to just another ancient civilization.

  And yet—

  Why had he dreamed such a dream?

  A sudden vision of the Twelve Knights’ civil war…

  The Burlington incident had clearly left scars that time could not erase.

  Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom of Westland—LeBlanc City.

  A coastal city, but despite its long shoreline, it had always been unsuitable for building a port. The water was too shallow. The coastline receded steadily, year after year.

  According to scholars, over the centuries, the sea had retreated by over a hundred meters—

  Unveiling remnants buried deep beneath the shallows.

  Things no one had ever expected.

  Today—

  Bang!

  A scholar burst into the office, flinging the door open. The sudden noise drew everyone’s attention. He was breathless—but overflowing with excitement.

  "Hah… A huge discovery! On the coast!"

  "What discovery?"

  His colleagues, equally scholarly, turned with curiosity.

  "Ruins!" he exclaimed.

  "Ancient ruins!"

  The room froze—then erupted into motion. Everyone rushed out, eyes lit with anticipation.

  "Quick, show us!"

  "What era are the ruins from?"

  "Still undetermined," the scholar panted, "but the architecture is extremely archaic—nearly identical to the Dark Ages! If that's the case, this could be a world-shaking discovery!"

  Splash!

  Waves pushed seawater up onto the sand, then slid away, smoothing the shore. A team of scholars, wearing diving masks, submerged into the shallows—

  And there, under crystal-clear water, they saw a sprawling field of ancient ruins.

  Dark Ages architectural style—

  Undoubtedly confirmed.

  Unfortunately,

  Even in shallow water, the ruins rested at a depth of over forty meters. Far too deep for extended scholarly study.

  The team returned to shore.

  One of them suggested,

  "We may have no choice but to retrieve parts of it for study. It might damage some structures, but it’s the only way."

  "Agreed," others nodded.

  They would never abandon such a priceless find. If it held ancient records or artifacts, it could redefine everything they knew of history.

  Soon enough, news of the underwater ruins in LeBlanc City spread like wildfire across the Kingdom of Westland. Scholars from across the nation rushed to the site.

  Salvage efforts began in full.

  One by one, ancient artifacts emerged from the seabed—after lying hidden for over a thousand years.

  Scholars eagerly descended upon the finds.

  "Incredible," one murmured.

  "These are indeed from the Dark Ages… and more precisely—Firenze Empire relics. The weapon and armor styles are unmistakable."

  As the first unified empire in recorded history, the Firenze Empire—its era and reign—remained an inescapable focus for any serious historian.

  And yet,

  One critical question remained:

  “Why are these ruins under the sea?”

  To uncover the truth,

  Scholars combed through the historical records of the Firenze Empire. In an obscure passage, they discovered a note that seemed to support a growing theory.

  “According to the chronicles, during the Twelve Knights’ civil war, a tremor struck the land, causing a coastal region to collapse into the ocean.”

  A tremor...

  It sounded plausible on the surface—but the more they thought about it, the more questions emerged. What kind of tremor could submerge an entire landmass?

  Splash!

  One scholar dove deep beneath the waves, descending as far as his lungs would allow. Peering through the clear shallows at the edge of the ruins, he spotted something strange.

  There—

  A long fissure, partially buried in mud and sand. Despite coral now growing along its edges, the crack still showed a clean, straight line.

  It didn’t look like something caused by natural seismic activity.

  It looked like the result of a single, devastating sword strike.

  The scholar's heart stirred.

  “Discovery!”

  The salvage team surfaced, presenting their newest find: a massive collection of stone tablets—a truly monumental discovery.

  These tablets were covered in ancient inscriptions, many accompanied by beautifully detailed murals. Scholars were elated and began translating at once.

  Strangely enough,

  The script wasn’t from the Firenze Empire. Nor did the mural style belong to that period.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “This is…”

  A seasoned scholar gasped in astonishment.

  “This is Lucerne-era script! And these images—this is Lucerne-style art!”

  “Lucerne era?”

  That was the prehistoric age—some three thousand years ago, the time when many of the world’s great myths were born. Most of the legends still known today could be traced back to that era.

  The Lucerne Texts.

  This discovery would come to be hailed as Apokolips’ greatest archaeological find of the 19th century—a collection of twenty-four stone tablets dating back to the Lucerne era.

  They recorded, in poetic language and vivid carvings, the beliefs, laws, and way of life of a civilization previously thought to be entirely mythical.

  Before this moment,

  The Lucerne era had never been recognized in academic circles. It was widely considered a shared myth, a patchwork of folklore without historical substance.

  Now, that had changed.

  These Lucerne Texts, excavated from the underwater Firenze ruins, were undeniable proof. Their presence within Firenze territory, however, baffled scholars deeply.

  Because of this contradiction,

  The academic world was shaken. The origins of Apokolips’ civilization, previously dated to the Dark Ages—around a thousand years ago—were now being re-traced back to the Lucerne era, three thousand years in the past.

  “Could gods have truly existed then?”

  The myths from the Lucerne era were vast and far-reaching. They formed the most ancient and enduring mythological system in Apokolips.

  “How is that possible?”

  Skeptics objected.

  “Those are just romantic illusions—projections of mankind’s primitive awe and worship of nature. That’s how myths were born.”

  【Lucerne Text · The Fifth · Throne of God】

  【Fragment: She is god, she is supreme, she is monarch—the first monarch—ruler of millions of divine subjects, sovereign of the divine throne, lord of this land and this world.】

  This passage, from the fifth Lucerne tablet, clearly depicted their earliest deity worship.

  Scholars interpreted the term monarch as referring to a “king.” While not entirely inaccurate—this was indeed the first king—unfortunately, the name of this monarch was never recorded.

  Meanwhile,

  Excavation efforts at the Firenze underwater ruins continued. Artifacts emerged from the seabed day after day.

  Yet even so—

  The discovery of the Lucerne Texts had completely overshadowed the Firenze ruins themselves.

  Whoosh—

  The sea breeze drifted gently across the coast.

  Rosinante looked weary. His gaze remained fixed on the ancient ruins below the waves. Samuel, noticing his mood, spoke up.

  “You haven’t been yourself lately.”

  “I had the dream again.”

  Samuel understood exactly which dream he meant. It had become more frequent in recent years—Rosinante dreaming again and again of the battle between Julius and Hegram.

  Now they stood on what might very well have been the actual battlefield.

  The timing was too precise. Rosinante couldn't shake the feeling—he was being drawn into something larger.

  Something tied to the Firenze Empire.

  Samuel didn’t dismiss the idea. But they had exhausted every lead.

  Nothing had surfaced.

  No clues remained.

  There was nothing more to be done—for now.

  Rosinante steadied himself.

  “I’ve scoured the ruins. There’s no trace of holy relics. No lingering myths tied to the Firenze Empire. That alone should spare us a great deal of trouble.”

  “That’s a relief.”

  “What about the Lucerne Texts?”

  At the mention, Samuel's brow furrowed.

  “They’re authentic—undeniably from three thousand years ago. I’ve checked. No mistake.”

  “Holy relics?”

  Without question.

  These were top-tier holy relics, powerful enough to verify the existence of an entire civilization—and to trigger the highest-level response protocols.

  “Yes. I’ve already secured the originals. What the scholars are studying are fakes. I can’t decipher their contents, so I’m letting the researchers continue their translation work for now.”

  Samuel was an expert in archaeology—but even his knowledge had limits. The Lucerne era was simply too ancient. He had never encountered anything like this before.

  In truth,

  This might have been the true reason behind their entire mission.

  Not to fabricate the Lucerne myths.

  There was no need for that.

  Of course,

  If they could’ve fabricated something, they would have—but they couldn’t. Myths were humanity’s romantic response to the unknown. Born from primal reverence for nature and the cosmos.

  A myth didn’t require historical basis. It could be conjured from nothing—the names of gods, pantheons, legends—they could all be meaningless.

  Today, if one myth vanished, ten more would appear tomorrow.

  Trying to fabricate one was meaningless.

  Worse still,

  A fictional myth—lacking in relics and historical grounding—was powerless. The Incantation of Lore would have no effect on it.

  Conversely—

  If a myth was rooted in fact, tied to real history and genuine relics, then it had to be taken seriously.

  Just like this time,

  With the Lucerne Texts.

  That was why Samuel had taken immediate action to seize the originals.

  Without them, the Lucerne myths would never have been able to cause a ripple in this age.

  ...

  “It’s almost complete!”

  The old man could hardly contain himself. His white beard quivered with excitement, completely shattering his once-sage-like composure.

  Mei, however, remained calm.

  “Still missing one last piece.”

  Undeniably—

  The Lucerne Texts were the magnum opus of Mei and the old man. Fabricating a myth from thin air served no purpose, and creating a full-scale legend on par with the Firenze Empire in the present era was far too complicated.

  Mei chose a different route:

  She leveraged real, ancient history—then, using subtle distortion and fabrication atop that foundation, crafted a seamless illusion.

  She stole the fruits of older myths for her own ends.

  The stone tablets themselves were crafted by Mei, while the content of the Lucerne Texts had been personally written by the old man. As long as the world acknowledged what was written on them—

  Then it would be as if he had truly created a myth.

  And as long as his identity—his persona—embedded within the myth was recognized by the collective belief of the world, his conceptual advancement would be complete.

  Just as he had once woven himself into the legend of the Firenze Empire,

  He now had to be embedded in this new legend—as one of its core figures.

  Now,

  Only one final step remained.

  With the old man waiting in anticipation, the scholars finally finished translating the Lucerne Texts—all twenty-four of them.

  【Lucerne Text · The Twenty-Fourth · Wandering God】

  【Fragment: He is the shaman, he is the healer, he is fantasy, he is the wise man. He grants all wishes. He wanders the land. He is the master of heroes.】

  When the translation of the twenty-fourth tablet was complete, the passage referencing the old man finally came to light. Alongside the text, there was even an illustration—a depiction of an elderly figure.

  Portrayed as a sagely man, the Lucerne Texts described him as a god of fantasy. Scholars interpreted this as a kind of wizard.

  And with that—

  The grand operation was complete.

  “Hahahaha—success! At last, success!!”

  The old man let out a triumphant laugh.

  As his emotions peaked, power surged from the void, flooding into his body and pushing his fantasy concept toward full conceptualization.

  Mei and the old man had successfully altered the mythos of the Lucerne era, effectively stealing its legacy for their own.

  Mei’s role had been pivotal.

  She had created all twenty-four stone tablets, and through Truth Manifestation, cast them backward in time to the Lucerne era—three thousand years in the past.

  Although Mei had yet to fully grasp the Concept of Time, that didn’t stop her from traversing it.

  Truth Manifestation made such feats trivial.

  She didn’t need to understand time—

  She simply overwrote it.

  Moreover—

  Because of the blessing of Eternity, Mei was singular across all linear time. No matter when she arrived—past, present, or future—there was always only one Mei.

  There could be no duplicates, no parallel selves.

  Time travelers who thought to use temporal paradoxes against her would quickly discover that such tactics were useless.

  The blessing of Eternity—

  It was like a seal of cosmic uniqueness.

  Mei had planted the stone tablets three thousand years ago, and the people of that age—believing them to be divine revelations—wove them into their faith.

  The effect had been sown before the cause had even existed.

  From those seeds, the Lucerne myths had grown.

  That was why the Lucerne Texts had become recognized as holy relics—they weren’t fictional constructs. They had truly weathered three millennia of history, gathering legitimacy with every passing age.

  In a sense, they had become the very symbol of Lucerne civilization.

  For Mei, altering myth and history was child’s play.

  The old man never even grasped the full extent of what she had done.

  But the result was indisputable.

  He had, in a way, succeeded in creating the Lucerne mythos—and that alone was enough to trigger his conceptual ascent.

  The old man believed he had fabricated a myth based on real history.

  In truth, Mei had sent it into history—and let time do the rest.

  The concept of fantasy was crystallizing rapidly.

  The old man’s humanity had not yet been fully overwritten by divinity, and he remained consumed by elation.

  “Foolish.”

  Far away, the girl who watched over fate whispered quietly.

  And at that very moment—

  “Ha…ha…”

  The old man’s laughter suddenly halted.

  As his fantasy concept finalized, a flood of memories poured into his mind. Now trapped between the human and divine, his pupils shrank sharply.

  He turned his head.

  And met Mei’s indifferent gaze.

  A chill ran down his spine.

  “You… you are…”

  Hummmm—

  In that instant,

  The power of Conceptual Counter-Creation spread through the void like a snapping thread.

  The old man, caught completely off guard, was rendered helpless—a lamb before the butcher’s blade. His scream was full of terror and disbelief.

  “Daemon!!!”

  Shiro appeared without a sound—flawless in its timing.

  Just as the old man’s fantasy concept fully manifested, Shiro opened its maw and devoured him whole.

  Gulp.

  A beam of light flared to life before Mei.

  【Ability Acquired: Concept · Fantasy】

  ——

  【Ability: Concept · Fantasy】

  【Level: LV1】

  【Description: A higher-level concept capable of realizing almost any fantasy.】

  ——

  Conceptual deities didn't fear death; they feared having their concepts stolen by Mei. Once their concept was taken, they would cease to exist.

  The concept of fantasy, acquired!

  This concept's function largely overlapped with Truth Manifestation, immediately triggering the spatial merging mechanism upon acquisition.

  【Detectable Mergeable Abilities】

  【Ability Merge Complete】

  【Ability Acquired: Truth Manifestation】

  ——

  【Ability: Truth Manifestation】

  【Level: LV6】

  【Description: All sentient perceptions in this world become the wielder's perceptions. All sentient beings' fantasies, legends, myths, and concepts in this world can be temporarily manifested. Duration: one year. The specific effect cannot exceed the controller's current Grade.】

  ——

  After the merge, the ability name remained Truth Manifestation, and its level hadn’t changed.

  Though it seemed unaltered, the description now contained a new word:

  Concepts!

  Truth Manifestation could now manifest any remaining concept—not just ones Mei already possessed. Whether higher or lower in level, all could be arbitrarily manifested!

  For a duration of one year.

  This upgrade marked a significant leap forward. Although only one concept could be manifested at a time, that alone was enough to eliminate any of Mei’s weaknesses.

  Her power surged again.

  Once the fluctuations subsided, Mei's figure vanished abruptly. Her plans were intricate, interlinked like concentric circles, and the concept of fantasy was only one part of the whole.

  But things weren’t over.

  According to the accounts within the Lucerne Texts, setting aside mythical exaggerations, the first true human civilization and nation had emerged in the Lucerne era—three thousand years ago.

  And the ruler of that nation had been the first and oldest monarch in recorded history.

  Curiously, the texts didn’t mention the monarch’s personal name. However, to the scholars’ shock and excitement, they did reveal the name of that ancient nation.

  “How can this be?”

  “Is this just a coincidence?”

  The scholars stared at the translated name in stunned silence.

  Not long after the full translation of the Lucerne Texts, the Hermitage Society received a complete copy. Samuel personally compared every line against the original.

  Faced with the oldest known relic of civilization on Apokolips, the Hermitage Society treated it with the utmost seriousness—every word of the inscriptions had to be accurately understood.

  【Lucerne Text · The First · Primordial】

  【Fragment: She came from the void, she is supreme and sacred, she governs all, she encompasses all…】

  A large portion of the Lucerne Texts was devoted to describing the earliest monarch to rule the land—portraying her not merely as a leader, but as a sacred deity to be worshipped and obeyed.

  This drew Samuel’s attention.

  【Lucerne Text · The Second · Revelation】

  【Lucerne Text · The Third · Dominion】

  On and on, until the twenty-fourth.

  Samuel unconsciously began reading the final lines aloud, his eyes scanning down the last stone’s translation until they landed on the closing passage:

  “The primordial queen ruled the heavens and the earth, commanding all things to move according to her will. Thus the world had order, and the nation had a name.”

  “Upon the throne, the primordial nation… The name of Firenze!!!”

  Suddenly—

  A chill raced up Samuel’s spine. He shot to his feet in disbelief, checking again and again to ensure he hadn’t misread the text.

  “No mistake.”

  “It says Firenze!”

  How could that be?

  This was not a coincidence.

  At that very moment—

  The instant Samuel recognized the name of the most ancient nation as Firenze, the river of time shuddered.

  The power of Eternity ignited, bestowing upon Firenze an unmatched brilliance—one untouched by the passage of time.

  That supremely glorious light surged backward along the timeline, descending upon the ancient Lucerne era three thousand years ago… crystallizing into the myth of that age.

  Within the great river of time, a knight radiant as the sun brandished a shining blade and strode defiantly against the current—while a thunder-forged spear tore through the void, standing proud above time itself.

  Suddenly—

  Arrows whistled through the air.

  Chariot wheels thundered.