Barbaric Ember and Barbaric Will

In the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen copied the contents of Austin's fragment of the Eternal History Book into his own Eternal History Book. 

At the end of the fragment, Austin had left a clue. 

This time, the clue didn't point to a city near Monument City but directly to Thousand Mountains City, located at the westernmost edge of East Island. 

This spanned the entire East Island continent, and it seemed Austin was preparing to head to the Central Continent. 

The Lost Nation was structured with the Central Continent at its core, surrounded by eight island continents in eight different directions. 

While some historical information from the eight island continents had been sent back by historians before their deaths, the mysterious Central Continent had no information sent back by any historian. 

Rosen didn't plan to delay in the cities along the way, nor did he share the intense curiosity of other historians. As long as he obtained the Sequence 5 miracle treasure Austin had carried with him, the secrets hidden within the Lost Nation were unimportant to him. 

Two months later, Rosen crossed the East Island continent and arrived at the Thousand Mountains Mountain Range. 

This area had a thousand coastal mountains, constantly battered by coastal tsunamis. Each time a tsunami receded, it left behind a large amount of seafood at the foot of the mountains. Thus, Thousand Mountains City, built by carving into the mountains, could sustain a population of tens of millions solely on this seafood. 

Rosen stood atop the highest peak, gazing across the sea at the distant Central Continent. 

Since the main world was flat and circular, the sea horizon offered an unobstructed view of very distant places. 

Moreover, the Lost Nation wasn't shrouded in ashes, so the Central Continent was visible from East Island across the sea. 

Rosen quietly infiltrated one of the mountain interiors, beginning his search for the clues Austin had left behind. 

A tsunami had just receded the day before, and nearly all of Thousand Mountains City's residents had gone down the mountain to collect seafood. 

Those that needed to be consumed quickly were eaten immediately, while those that could be processed and preserved were swiftly transported to factories. 

Everyone was bustling with activity, leaving only the elderly and children inside the mountain. 

After wandering through the mountain interior, Rosen's biggest impression compared to Hundred Flowers City was the stark contrast between civilization and backwardness. 

Both were on the East Island continent, yet the technology of Hundred Flowers City surpassed this place by thousands, if not tens of thousands, of times. 

This was clearly abnormal. In fact, along the journey from Monument City to Thousand Mountains City, Rosen had noticed something: the further west one traveled toward the Central Continent, the fewer cities there were. 

Moreover, the technological level of the cities along the way relatively decreased the closer one got to the Central Continent. 

This was clearly abnormal. The only technological product in Thousand Mountains City was the seafood processing factory. The residents here were unaware of Hundred Flowers City's virtual networks and mechanical puppets. They didn't even know there were other cities beyond Thousand Mountains City. 

Rosen also noticed something unusual about Thousand Mountains City: it completely lacked the power of civilizational fortune. 

Every civilization has civilizational ember, and every nation at the level of a duchy possesses civilizational ember. 

The power of civilizational ember should envelop the entire civilization. The closer one is to the civilizational center, the stronger the power of civilizational fortune should be. Conversely, the further one is from the civilizational center, the weaker the power of civilizational fortune in towns should be. 

However, Rosen discovered that the Lost Nation, as an empire, seemed to operate in reverse. 

From Hundred Flowers City to Thousand Mountains City, the closer one got to the Central Continent, the weaker the power of civilizational fortune within the cities became. By the time he reached Thousand Mountains City, there was no civilizational fortune left at all. Combined with the abnormally backward technological level, these anomalies undoubtedly hid a significant secret. 

Rosen continued exploring Thousand Mountains City but soon stopped and retreated into the Mysterious Study Room. 

As time passed, he sensed danger beginning to envelop him. 

Opening the Void Sketchbook, Rosen began to draw a prophetic painting. 

Since he didn't have time to search for clues, he decided to attempt to obtain them directly through prophetic means. 

Soon, the prophetic painting was completed, depicting a fragment of Austin's Eternal History Book. 

Rosen took the fragment from the desk in the Mysterious Study Room and, holding it, extended his hand through the World Window. 

In the void, strands of flowing light gathered and merged into the fragment of the Eternal History Book, generating new content on its surface. 

These strands of light were traces of Austin's divine essence left across different timelines. Only the fragment of the Eternal History Book could gather them from different timelines. This was likely the power of some miracle skill Austin had mastered, as such a feat would otherwise be impossible. 

After retrieving the fragment, Rosen began to examine the newly added content. 

According to the fragment, after leaving Monument City, Austin had come directly to Thousand Mountains City. 

Here, Austin discovered that the entire Lost Nation was attempting to transform civilizational ember into barbaric ember. 

Visibly, the words "barbaric ember" on the fragment of the Eternal History Book were gradually disappearing. 

Rosen immediately opened the Arcane Brass Book. It contained too many secrets, and he hadn't finished reading all of them. Moreover, even if he did, he would forget everything upon closing the book. 

This time, after opening the Arcane Brass Book, he quickly found information related to barbaric ember. 

All things in the world are interconnected and mutually restraining. This is the underlying rule of existence. 

If something lacks a restraining counterpart, it will eventually spiral out of control and destroy everything. 

The same applies to the development of civilizations. The stronger a civilization, the more it demands from the world. 

Thus, the stronger a civilization, the greater the threat it poses to the world. 

This is why barbaric ember was born. Barbaric ember is naturally the nemesis of civilizational ember, possessing the terrifying ability to regress civilizations. Due to the immense threat of barbaric ember, this power was sealed by the gods from the moment it was discovered. 

Civilizational ember and barbaric ember are two sides of the same coin, capable of transforming into each other. 

Legend has it that the original civilizational ember was transformed from barbaric ember. 

If a barbaric primitive civilization continuously develops and eventually gives birth to a powerful intelligent civilization, barbaric ember will transform into civilizational ember. Conversely, if an intelligent civilization glorifies barbarism, it may regress back into barbaric ember. 

The further one moves toward the periphery of the Lost Nation, the more civilized it becomes. The closer one gets to the Central Continent, the more backward it becomes. 

These anomalies will cause the civilizational ember of the Lost Nation to regress into barbaric ember. 

The consequences won't be limited to civilizational collapse. Even the intelligence of the Lost Nation's citizens will sharply decline, eventually turning them into primitive barbarians. The regression of tens of trillions of humans into barbarians could even cause the civilizational ember of the World Government to collapse. 

Rosen continued to examine the fragment of the Eternal History Book. Austin had left behind a coordinate at the edge of the Central Continent. 

He also provided a warning: if fatal warnings were found in subsequent clues, one must immediately retrace their steps and leave the Lost Nation. Leaving a fatal warning meant that, in Austin's view, continuing further would be certain death. 

Rosen calculated the coordinates Austin had left. He now needed to cross the sea to reach the Central Continent. 

Leaving the Mysterious Study Room and quietly slipping into the sea, he began to cross the vast ocean, which spanned millions of miles in a straight line. 

Rosen's method of movement was unique. He expanded his World Domain and then extended it forward. When the domain took on a spherical shape, its coverage was at its smallest. When it took on a tubular shape, it could easily extend several times beyond the limits of his divine perception. 

As long as he ensured instantaneous movement within the domain, there would be no interference with the external space. 

This was a very safe method of movement. Unless a true god happened to appear on his path and detected his World Domain, it was almost impossible for him to be discovered. After all, even true gods wouldn't have nothing better to do than to monitor the entire Lost Nation in real-time with their divine perception. 

A few days later, Rosen crossed the sea and arrived at the Central Continent. 

He quickly found the coordinates Austin had left on a cliff by the shore. He no longer needed to actively search for clues. 

This indicated that Austin's mindset had completely changed. When he was in Hundred Flowers City, Austin had been very confident, so the clues he left were meant to test those who came after him. However, as he progressed further, Austin grew increasingly desperate and lost interest in playing puzzle games with his successors. 

Once again, strands of divine essence from different timelines gathered onto the fragment of the Eternal History Book. 

After arriving at the Central Continent, Austin had returned to this coordinate multiple times to update the clues he had left behind. 

Austin had spent many years investigating the Central Continent and was shocked to discover that it was home to countless tribes of barbaric primitive humans. 

Unlike the humans of East Island, who possessed normal human intelligence but lacked transcendent abilities, the primitive humans of the Central Continent had low intelligence but wielded incredibly powerful transcendent powers. 

Even a tribe of a thousand people had a demigod-level transcendent guardian. 

A tribe of ten thousand had a deity-level guardian. Tribes larger than ten thousand didn't exist because barbaric primitiveness inevitably led to low productivity. A population of over ten thousand was already the upper limit for human tribes here, and once it reached a hundred thousand, civilization would gradually emerge. 

All human tribes here possessed barbaric ember, and each barbaric ember was independent. 

The entire Central Continent was essentially a factory for producing barbaric ember. 

Austin also discovered that at the very center of the Central Continent stood a grand ancient city. 

The human tribes of the Central Continent did not allow intelligent individuals to exist. If any tribe discovered someone whose intelligence exceeded others, they would immediately exile that person to this ancient city. The ancient city was a one-way destination—no one ever left. Austin's final destination was this ancient city. 

Rosen continued reading. At the end of the fragment, Austin mentioned two things. 

Austin pleaded with him to take the fragment of the Eternal History Book and leave the Lost Nation, returning the fragment to the historical realm. 

Without the strength of a true god, he should not continue to explore the ancient city. 

If he couldn't resist the urge to explore, he should first deliver the fragment to the Eternal realm and then return. 

As payment, Austin had left behind two treasures he had acquired. 

The burial site of the treasures was in the sea. Rosen turned back and soon found the spot where Austin had hidden the treasures. 

However, there was nothing there. The treasures had already been taken by someone else. 

If it had been the true god guarding the Lost Nation who took them, they should have left a trap here. 

If it had been a historian like him, following Austin's trail, why hadn't they taken the fragment of the Eternal History Book? Moreover, the clues in Thousand Mountains City and the Central Continent were formed from Austin's divine essence. No one should have triggered these clues before him. 

If it wasn't a true god or a historian, could it have been the barbarians of the Central Continent who found and took the treasures? 

Rosen quickly located the nearest barbarian tribe. The tribe had a population of ten thousand. The barbarians wore no clothes, and each had a flame mark over their hearts. 

These barbarians had extremely strong bodies but very weak spiritual energy. 

However, this didn't mean spiritual energy was their weakness. The barbarians in the tribe could activate the flame marks over their hearts, causing their entire bodies to ignite with barbaric ember. This barbaric ember provided exceptional resistance to spiritual energy while simultaneously enhancing their physical strength to terrifying levels. 

Rosen quickly discovered the treasures Austin had left behind because they were too conspicuous within the tribe. 

The entire barbarian tribe had no houses or tools. Everyone simply gathered and lived together in caves, hunting with their bare hands. Under such circumstances, two clearly civilization-made treasures stood out abnormally conspicuously in the tribe. 

Rosen drew a prophetic painting, which showed that approaching the tribe would immediately lead to detection. 

Although he successfully obtained the treasures and even killed the tribal chief in retaliation, the prophetic painting then showed blank spaces. Clearly, forcibly infiltrating the tribe would likely alert the true god guarding the Lost Nation. Otherwise, the prophetic painting wouldn't have shown blank spaces. Only the laws of a true god could interfere with the laws invoked by the prophetic painting. 

Rosen then considered another possibility: could he control a barbarian to steal the treasures? 

He drew another prophetic painting, but the result was still blank spaces. 

Rosen realized the issue most likely lay with the barbaric ember. Otherwise, enslaving an ordinary barbarian shouldn't have alerted the true god. It was only by triggering the barbaric ember that the true god guarding the Lost Nation would be alerted. 

Rosen tried various methods, but the prophetic paintings showed no favorable outcomes. 

This made him realize that it might be impossible to obtain the treasures without leaving a trace. 

Since that was the case, he might as well resort to force. 

As long as he obtained the treasures and entered the Mysterious Study Room, he could instantly escape the Lost Nation and return to Glorious Royal City. 

If he was going to use force anyway, he might as well steal the barbaric ember from the barbarian tribe. 

He tried, but miracle ember couldn't control barbaric ember. However, miracle ember had the instinct to devour barbaric ember. 

But taking action could leave traces, potentially allowing someone to trace it back to him. 

Therefore, even if he were to act, he needed to completely sever any connection to his true self. 

After careful consideration, Rosen decided not to take action himself. 

He planned to have the Mother Tree of Life act instead. If the World Government wanted to pursue, they could go after the Mother Tree of Life. If they had the capability, they could try to find the Ancient God's True Realm. As long as he didn't act personally, there would be no trace left behind. At worst, he could secretly use the Sequence 5 miracle treasure Austin had left behind. 

Having made up his mind, Rosen communicated with the Ancient God's True Realm within his World Domain. 

Soon, the Mother Tree of Life, shrunk to the size of a palm, left the Life World Fruit and entered the World Domain. 

The World Domain overlapped with the World Window, and through the window, he tossed out the Mother Tree of Life. 

The prepared Mother Tree of Life instantly expanded its law domain of life over the barbarian tribe. Although it had fallen to Sequence 0, the Mother Tree of Life controlled the laws of life, not the rules of life. 

Even if these laws of life weren't recognized by the current main world, it didn't hinder the laws of life from exerting their full power within the law domain. 

In an instant, the barbarians were tightly bound by countless branches. 

The tribe's strongest chief was grabbed by the Mother Tree of Life's right hand, formed from countless branches. No matter how fiercely he struggled, he couldn't break free immediately. The Mother Tree of Life then extended its left hand, grabbed the barbaric ember, and began to retreat. 

Unlike civilizational ember, which had almost no physical form, barbaric ember was clearly a flame. 

When the Mother Tree of Life returned to Rosen's World Domain, the left hand holding the barbaric ember had already been carbonized by the terrifying high temperatures. 

Rosen brought the World Domain to the base of the World Tree, where the Imaginary Dragon began to suppress the tribal chief, who had the strength of a deity. 

At the same time, his avatar in Glorious Royal City began to open a door to change the spatial coordinates anchored by the Mysterious Study Room. 

The moment the door of Glorious Royal Palace opened, the Mysterious Study Room had already left the Central Continent. 

Almost immediately afterward, a true god shrouded in flames emerged from the ancient city on the Central Continent. 

At the ruins of the barbarian tribe, the true god picked up a piece of the Mother Tree of Life's leaf, which had been burned to ashes. 

Almost on the same day, the World Government launched an unprovoked sneak attack on the true god of the elven race. 

One-third of the elven continent was destroyed in the aftermath of the battle. The newly cultivated Mother Tree of Life, leveraging its geographical advantage, dragged down a true god of the World Government in a mutual destruction. Shortly after, the elven true god retaliated by destroying a human empire near the border. 

When Rosen received this news, he couldn't help but feel a lingering fear. 

He hadn't expected that the World Government would go so far as to sacrifice a true god to pursue the matter to the end. 

The newly cultivated Mother Tree of Life of the elven race fell, and it was clear that the World Government had realized they had targeted the wrong party. However, the matter wouldn't end here. It seemed the Mother Tree of Life would have to remain within the Ancient God's True Realm from now on. 

At the base of the World Tree, the miracle ember continuously devoured the barbaric ember. 

One of the unknown miracle traits began to light up as the barbaric ember disappeared. 

[Miracle Ember: Miracle Rule] 

[Level: Great True God]

[Miracle Attribute: Miracle Ember can control civilizational ember formed from civilizational fortune.]

[Miracle Traits: Fate Scales, Sequence 1 Unknown Activated, Unknown, Barbaric Will, Unknown, One and Only, Eternal and Indestructible]

"Barbaric Will?" 

Rosen carefully sensed this newly lit miracle trait. 

It turned out that barbaric ember was also a form of civilizational ember. Barbarism itself was a unique civilizational system. 

However, this civilizational system was completely opposed to other civilizational systems. 

After the miracle ember lit up the miracle trait Barbaric Will, it could now also control barbaric ember. It could regress civilizational ember into barbaric ember and sublimate barbaric ember into civilizational ember. 

Activating the miracle trait Barbaric Will allowed the temporary conversion of miracle ember into barbaric ember at the cost of losing rationality. 

Rosen was currently at Sequence 2. After activating Barbaric Will, he could easily tear apart deities with his bare hands. 

Of course, such immense power came at a cost. After losing rationality, his intelligence would be reduced to that of a barbarian. He would only regain clarity after killing all hostile beings around him. Thus, this was a forbidden ability where he wouldn't regain clarity until all enemies were dead. 

To permanently rid himself of the side effects of Barbaric Will, he would need to become a true god in the future. 

Finally, Barbaric Will also had a passive effect: it granted him immunity to divine damage at the level of a true god. 

(End of Chapter)