Chapter 317 Echoes

Sinking...

Falling...

The agonizing pain in his chest gradually faded into endless darkness as his consciousness scattered.

This was an experience Xia Nan had never gone through before.

He could clearly feel his life force draining away through the wound in the center of his chest, slipping out with his gushing blood.

A biting cold, like the dead of winter, spread inward from his fingertips, swallowing what little warmth remained.

He could even hear his heartbeat slowing down, sounding as though it would stop entirely in the next second, alongside the roaring rush of blood through his veins.

Xia Nan could sense everything happening to his body, yet he could not control a single finger.

'Am I going to die?' he thought.

Perhaps it was because the truck that had sent him to this world in his previous life had given him a similar experience.

At this moment, facing the countdown of his own life, Xia Nan was surprisingly calm.

He even began to ponder what he should think about in this final, brief stretch of time.

Reviewing the battle was meaningless at this point.

'It looks like Barn won't be getting the final payment for reforging my longsword, but knowing his personality, he'll probably finish the job anyway... He'll send the finished product to the auction house, and it should fetch a decent price.'

'Given the strength this devil showed, those two adventurers probably won't survive either. It looks like the Magic Equipment on my body will be buried down here for a while. I wonder which lucky kid will end up finding it.'

'Damn it, the Fate Coin still had one use left. If I'd known, I would have just tossed it. What a huge loss.'

'Don't they say your life flashes before your eyes right before you die? Why hasn't that happened yet?'

'I really want another bowl of cream of mushroom soup...'

His thoughts scattered, and even time seemed to slow down along with his fading consciousness.

He was like a withered yellow leaf drifting down, a battered, lonely boat reaching the end of its journey.

When the fire of life finally extinguished, the burned-out body would be just like the charred, scorching remains of a campfire, leaving nothing behind but the final...

Ember.

Through a long period of arduous training, Xia Nan had already gained a considerable understanding of [Ember Echoes], this peculiar combat technique from an otherworldly Secret Realm.

He knew it was a special status-type skill related to fire and burning.

This body's talent was not bad, and his own spirituality was quite outstanding. Furthermore, he had the energy regulation and guidance of that Shattered Flame Crystal. Logically speaking, just reaching the Novice tier shouldn't have been too difficult.

But for some unknown reason, he ended up stuck at that final bottleneck, completely unable to grasp its essence.

What exactly was he missing?

Xia Nan had even considered asking Barn to let him observe by the forge for a while to carefully study the changes in the flames, or using a campfire to burn his own body in order to intimately comprehend the shifting forms of the fire streams.

Right up until the night before stepping into the Goblin Lair, he had spent hours feeling the changing temperatures of a campfire, trying to connect those flickering flames with the flow of energy inside his body.

But it had all been for naught.

Until... now.

At this moment, as death descended, his mind became more active than ever before.

Only then did he seem to faintly grasp the secret within.

[Ember Echoes].

The answer was actually hidden right there in the name.

Only when the flames had burned away to leave just ash, and the source of life slowly faded to a mere echo.

Only then could that final step across the threshold truly be taken.

...

The sensation of endless falling abruptly stopped as his feet touched solid ground.

Xia Nan's eyes snapped open.

His tensed body, ready for battle, suddenly jerked.

Because what appeared before him was not the spacious subterranean lair he had been in before taking his grievous wound.

Instead, it was an incredibly magnificent yet long-dead, massive palace.

Thick, cold dust coated the brick floor beneath his feet. Giant stone pillars lay broken and toppled, and shattered tiles were scattered across the ruins.

Suddenly realizing something, Xia Nan looked up, his gaze piercing the gray, decayed mist drifting in the air and the holes in the palace dome.

What met his eyes was a dim yellow sun hanging high in the center of the sky, looking as though it were about to burn out.

'So, I still haven't woken up?' he thought.

But before he could think on it further, a faint rustling sound drew his attention.

He looked ahead.

At the end of the palace, past several damaged steps, sat a ruined throne carved from black rock.

Upon the throne sat a knight, perfectly motionless.

His once-glorious and exquisite armor was now covered in dark red rust and deep dents. A mottled helmet hid his face, leaving only two tiny, faint points of light in the gaps of his visor that looked as though they might snuff out at any moment.

He did not seem corporeal; much like the entire scene before him, he gave off an illusory, blurred sensation.

Clack—

The sound of scraping metal echoed slowly through the air.

The knight slowly raised his head, his fire-like eyes staring at Xia Nan. A dry, hoarse voice full of exhaustion rang out in Xia Nan's mind:

"The flames have extinguished, and the world has returned to cold silence."

"The great and merciful Lord has abandoned us, gifting only pain."

"Lost one... you are late..."

Sighs filled with agony and regret, seemingly piercing through the soul, echoed within Xia Nan's skull.

The ruined knight slowly raised his right hand, as if this simple motion alone exhausted the power he had accumulated over countless millennia.

His metal gauntlet was long weathered and broken, exposing shriveled, dark purple flesh through the gaps.

He did not attack the black-haired young man before him, but merely opened his palm and reached out toward Xia Nan.

In the center of his palm rested a small pinch of dim sparks, like dying ashes trying to reignite.

"Even so... take it..."

"There is no need to fight for kingship, no need to burn for duty."

The dark light flickered in the eyes behind the visor. The sparks in his palm spun and gathered, emitting a faint yet stubborn glow.

Flickering, swirling.

By the time Xia Nan reacted, that pinch of sparks had already completely merged into his body.

Along with it came an unyielding will, like a scorching torrent, harboring absolute resolve and agony.

His consciousness blurred once again. The figure of the ruined knight ahead gradually became transparent, and the magnificent palace trembled as if it were collapsing.

"Burn... let the final echo of this dead world..."

"Be for the sake of... 'existence' itself."

The knight's hoarse, cryptic voice echoed in his ears, and darkness swallowed everything before his eyes like a tidal wave once more.

Xia Nan didn't know why his consciousness had arrived in this place at the moment of his death, but the translucent characters flashing before his eyes already told him that it had to be related to that combat technique he could never manage to reach the Novice tier in.

"Proficiency +1"

"[Ember Echoes] lv1: (1/100)"