Chapter 371: Chapter371-A Simulated World? The Mysterious Hand Behind Everything

Caelan could clearly sense that the moment this conjecture appeared in his mind, the entire dreamscape underwent a profound transformation.

The surrounding environment instantly filled with countless flowing "0"s and "1"s.

These numbers formed innumerable chains of data, winding through every corner of the space around him.

The other "Caelan," however, seemed to greatly enjoy this sensation. He merely waved his hand, and countless data chains immediately gathered in his palm.

It was just like an ancient animated series called Digimon, where the entire world was built upon digital information.

As the other "Caelan" continued moving, the data chains in his hand became denser and denser, until eventually, they formed an enormous digital screen as massive as a wall.

Caelan opened his mouth, preparing to ask something.

However, before he could speak, an enormous dragon suddenly appeared on the wall-like screen before him.

The dragon’s body was even larger than the tallest mountain. Even a [Divine Dragon] would appear no more significant than a tiny ant before it. The sacred radiance emanating from its body almost covered the entire world!

Before Caelan had the chance to carefully examine the dragon’s appearance, the image upon the wall-like screen suddenly changed once again.

This time, what appeared on the screen was a creature resembling a gnome.

He possessed an advanced civilization, and his entire body had been enhanced by high-level technology. Even his limbs had undergone steam-powered mechanical modifications. The length of a single one of his legs alone exceeded that of the largest aircraft carrier in the world.

However, just as Caelan attempted to make out the creature more clearly, the scene changed again.

This time, what appeared was an indistinct figure.

Caelan could only vaguely glimpse her graceful silhouette hidden within the darkness, along with the faint glow of moonlight surrounding her.

Immediately afterward, the final clear image appeared.

It was a towering titan, whose entire body was covered in muscles so extraordinarily powerful and massive that they seemed almost beyond imagination. In terms of sheer size, even compared to the enormous dragon that had appeared in the first image, this titan was not inferior in the slightest.

Yet this time, the image still remained for only an extremely brief moment.

In the next instant, the scenes on the wall-like screen began to flash and change at terrifying speed, making them utterly impossible to see clearly.

"Caelan" furrowed his brows.

He seemed to be attempting to reduce the flickering of the images on the screen as much as possible.

Reality, however, proved that he had no control over any of it.

He had only just raised his hand, intending to touch the wall-like screen, when the energy spilling out from it completely destroyed his entire body.

Yet in the blink of an eye, the figure of "Caelan" appeared once more, as though everything that had just happened had been nothing more than an illusion.

But the dreaming Caelan understood very clearly that everything he had just witnessed had truly taken place within this dream.

What Caelan could not understand was what meaning lay behind those rapidly flashing scenes on the wall-like screen.

Thus, after thinking for a brief moment, he finally spoke.

"So, can you tell me exactly what you are trying to express?"

Upon hearing this question, "Caelan" fell into a brief silence.

Just when Caelan believed that he was destined to obtain no valuable answer from him, the other party suddenly opened his mouth and slowly spoke.

"These images are all Chosen Ones from either the future or the past—Chosen Ones who are destined to appear, or perhaps have yet to appear!"

Caelan froze slightly.

Then, unable to restrain himself, he sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.

Almost instinctively, he looked toward the wall-like screen once again.

However, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to clearly make out any image other than the first four scenes he had witnessed.

The other "Caelan" made no attempt to stop him.

He truly seemed like a ghost, silently standing where he was and quietly waiting.

In the next moment, Caelan and "Caelan" met each other’s eyes.

Then, as though by tacit agreement, faint smiles appeared upon both their faces at the same time.

Accompanied by those smiles, the entire world suddenly collapsed.

The countless chains of data also shattered into innumerable individual numbers.

When Caelan opened his eyes again, he discovered that the sky had already grown completely bright.

Within his storage space, the [Moon Staff] was currently emitting a faint halo of light.

Caelan narrowed his eyes slightly as certain conjectures arose within his heart.

So... had that dream just now actually originated from the [Moon Staff]?

During this recent period of time, Caelan had experienced far too many events and learned far too many hidden secrets that ordinary people could never know.

However, the more deeply he investigated these mysteries, the more he felt that the existence of the Chosen One was nowhere near as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Take himself, for example.

Although he was a Chosen One, it seemed that he was still nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

Perhaps everything concerning him had already been firmly controlled within the hands of existences from some higher dimension.

Caelan did not like this feeling at all—the feeling that his destiny was being grasped and manipulated by someone else.

He wanted to know exactly what kind of conspiracy existed behind all of this.

And what about those so-called higher-dimensional existences that had created the Instances?

Had they truly disappeared?

If so, where had they gone?

Furthermore, what exactly was the other version of himself that he had seen within the dream?

Was that figure truly himself from a parallel world?

Or was some powerful existence merely borrowing the appearance of "himself" in order to transmit some kind of message?

Caelan tightly furrowed his brows, doing his best to analyze everything he had witnessed within the dream.

There was one thing he could be almost completely certain of.

That colossal dragon should be [Divine].

After all, according to the records of the Church, the so-called gods and angels worshiped by them had all been born from a dragon.

As for that titan, Caelan did not even need to question his identity before arriving at a conclusion.

A dark-skinned titan—who else could it possibly be other than the [Dark Titan]?

What Caelan found difficult to explain, however, was the identity of that technological lifeform, as well as the graceful figure hidden within the darkness of the night.

Who exactly were they?

At this point, one hypothesis could be made.

Suppose the "Caelan" within the dream truly was him, rather than someone else.

Would that mean that before his own era, there had still been two unknown eras that no one knew about?

But...

That did not seem to conform to common sense.

Caelan rubbed his tightly furrowed forehead.

At this moment, he suddenly came to understand the truth behind a famous saying.

The more you know, the more you realize how much you do not know.

Just then, Caelan suddenly recalled the clue that the [Waxen Seal] had previously provided him.

The [Lunar Crown] seemed to have become a simulated world.

Then, at some point in the future, when he entered that simulated world, could the scene he encountered be something similar to the dream he had just experienced?

The more Caelan thought about it, the more likely he felt this possibility was!

However, immediately afterward, an even bolder idea surfaced in the depths of his heart.

Somewhere within his intuition, Caelan could vaguely sense that, at a certain point in the future, he would enter that simulated world.

If that was the case, did it mean that all of the previous-generation Chosen Ones who had appeared within those images would eventually fight against him?

At this thought, Caelan could not help sucking in another sharp breath of cold air.

He suddenly felt as though there was an enormous invisible hand looming behind everything...

A hand that was manipulating his destiny.