Time passed.

Alex told the Archivist everything.

There was no reason to keep anything a secret.

After the Archivist had heard everything, he finally understood what had happened.

In the end, the Archivist wasn't sure what he should feel.

Every Mage Emperor had the dream to one day leave Aterium.

Yet, that dream was now confirmed to be impossible.

So, there actually was an end, and the Archivist had already reached it.

Even becoming a God wouldn't change anything.

Yes, the Archivist would become more powerful, but nothing else would change.

He would still be stuck in Aterium for all eternity.

It made no difference.

At this moment, Alex and the Archivist were the only humans in existence.

After talking for a long time, Alex offered the Archivist to become a God as well.

However, the Archivist declined.

The Archivist wanted the world to have more Mana.

If he became a God, Aterium wouldn't have enough Mana anymore for another God.

The Archivist still had hope.

One day, maybe the world will give birth to an unprecedented genius.

Maybe, that person would be able to find a way through the eternal Destruction around Aterium.

Yet, if the Archivist became a God now, that person wouldn't be able to become a God without the Archivist dying.

Obviously, the Archivist didn't want to die.

That was why the Archivist decided to remain a Peak Mage Emperor.

Alex shared a bit of the Archivist's hope.

And thus, time passed.

Alex and the Archivist studied the silver wall, Entropy, and the eternal Destruction beyond Aterium.

They learned a lot.

But eventually, there was nothing more to learn.

At least, their minds weren't advanced enough to understand Entropy, Mana, and Destruction fully.

At some point, things stopped making sense, and it was like everything turned into gibberish.

That moment had arrived 300,000 years after Shang had left.

By now, thanks to Alex and the Archivist, humans had reappeared in the world, and they had already created many different paths.

Naturally, beasts were also there, and they were a bit more powerful than the humans.

Aterium had transformed into something unrecognizable from before.

Alex and the Archivist gave up trying to comprehend the fundamental forces of existence.

It was impossible.

At that point, Alex decided to comprehend all the Concepts in Aterium.

Since he was stuck in this world, he decided to learn everything he could about it.

With Alex's powerful mind, it only took him 50,000 years to comprehend all the Concepts except for the Concepts of Life.

But after a million more years, Alex had even comprehended them.

Then, there was nothing left to learn.

By now, the world had undergone another soft reset.

It wasn't nearly as absolute as the one that Shang had done, but it could be described as an apocalypse.

A lot of powerful people and beasts died.

And then, life became stronger again.

Another million years later, Alex realized something.

Even though there had not been a single Abomination since then, the amount of Mana in the world had still decfined!

It had only declined by about 0.001%, but that still signified a certain finality to existence.

Naturally, Alex and the Archivist looked for the source, and they found it.

Unimaginably tiny bits of Entropy randomly appeared inside Aterium.

These bits were so tiny that they immediately exploded without anyone noticing or caring.

It would probably take over a trillion years before they eradicated all the Mana in the world.

However, they would still eventually eradicate it.

Of course, that dampened the mood even more.

Was there truly no hope?

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

ltneverended.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Everything was the same.

Nothing had changed.

There was nothing more to learn.

Alex couldn't become more powerful.

Alex knew every little particle of his world like the back of his hand, and he was even able to foresee what would happen years in advance.

Eternity.

Only now did Alex slowly realize what eternity meant.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Alex didn't even actively think anymore.

He was just there.

There was nothing to think about anymore.

There was nothing for Alex's body or mind to do.

Nothing.

He was just there.

No purpose.

No goal.

No hope.

Nothing.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Another million years passed.

Alex felt pain.

Existence had become unbearable.

Alex looked at a powerful sword he created all day.

He wanted to end it.

But if he did, Aterium would also cease to exist.

The inner conflict was eternal.

Alexjust wanted to die.

But he couldn't.

Every second felt like an hour whenever Alex was in an inner conflict.

Hejust wanted everything to end.

Please.

Please!

WHOOOOOOM!

Suddenly, Alex's head shot up.

Just now, something had happened!

Alex looked at an isolated island to the north of Aterium.

Inside a cave, deep underground, something had changed.

There was something new!

Something that Alex had never seen before!

It was some kind of golden gate!

Yet, in the center of the gate, there was only nothingness.

Alex recognized the nothingness as Entropy, but for some reason, this kind of Entropy was different from the one he was used to seeing.

It somehow felt… mystical.

It was strange.

Alex disappeared and reappeared in front of the gate.

Alex had no idea what this gate was or how and why it had suddenly appeared.

For a while, Alexjust looked at the gate.

Then, he stretched out his right hand and touched its frame.

Alex's eyes widened in shock.

It was so hard!

He couldn't destroy it!

One had to remember that there was nothing Alex couldn't destroy!

Yet, for some reason, the hardness of this gate was beyond anything Alex had ever touched!

But when Alex looked into the gate, he felt something.

Deep fear.

True terror.

His entire existence was telling him that he would die if he entered.

All his instincts told him that survival was impossible.

Yet, this gate represented something new.

Maybe, there was something that Alex could do?

Maybe, this gate could give him a way out of Aterium?

But then, Alex realized the issue.

If he entered the gate, Aterium would lose its connection to him, and Aterium would get destroyed.

Once more, Alex was stuck in an inner conflict.

He had to choose between a potential hope for himself and Aterium.

Alex struggled.

Yet, before Alex came to a decision, something happened.

BANG!

Alex's eyes widened in terror as the gate before him exploded to the side like someone had just kicked it.

“I said, stop doing that!”

Alex looked with frozen shock at the… what was this? It was some kind of silver shadow?

It looked like a two-dimensional silver shadow of a man.

Alex had never seen anything or anyone like it.

“Fuck, this is getting annoying!” the silver shadow shouted in annoyance.

Then, the silver shadow “turned” to Alex and looked at him.

At that moment, Alex felt like the silver shadow learned everything about Alex's existence and history in a single instant.

“Oh wow,” the silver shadow said a moment later.

“You have some problems, dude.”

“Dude…?” Alex repeated in shock.

“But hey! Don't worry! I knowjust the guy that can help you!” the silver shadow said with a cheerful tone.

SHING!

Then, a small card appeared in front of Alex, and he looked at it with shock.

“The Gravitas Mental Health Clinic?” Alex read in confusion.

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