"You are Roland, right?" Lan suddenly spoke while Roland was pondering over "Erosion".

"Ah... yes, that's me," he replied, snapping out of his heavy thoughts. Garcia's words flashed through his mind... Wait, was she here to call him out for ditching her?

"I've heard Garcia mention you several times," she said, not looking at Roland, who couldn't see her expression. "She said you are one of the rare independent Awakeners who haven't been disturbed by external influences, which is very rare for ordinary people. She's very glad you're willing to join the association."

"Uh... is that so?" Roland replied stiffly.

The "independent" she mentioned should mean "wild," but he remembered that on the night he agreed to join, Garcia had filled out the application for him with almost no expression. Where did the "very glad" come from?

"Although I hate people who are not punctual, it's a common problem for most people. After all, you can't feel the passage of time, can't hear it ticking away—so, for some special people, it's not an unforgivable flaw."

Strangely, Roland felt that the chief disciple's words carried a hint of melancholy.

"But you need to know one thing: although there aren't many special people, the large base number means there are still a few. If you don't cherish your special qualities and maximize them, you'll be eliminated sooner or later."

Was she warning him to devote himself wholeheartedly to the association and not cause trouble like other wild Awakeners? Roland frowned inwardly. He really didn't like this kind of lecturing. He might not have minded before, but now that he was the King of Graycastle, his mindset had changed.

"Go down after you're done looking," Lan said, turning around leisurely. "Listen carefully to what I say next, it might help you. Next!"

Roland grimaced, not taking the brief conversation to heart.

A huge sense of confusion was enveloping him now.

As for whether the Martial Artists Association could defeat Erosion and save the world, he didn't care at all.

Back in his seat, he was still frowning.

What exactly was "God" thinking?

According to Didi Ming's research data, the Red Moon was the key to transforming magic power and the basis for the existence of the Dream Realm—in a sense, it was equivalent to the puppet master hiding behind the scenes, a background board-like existence. Even if it wanted to annex the Dream Realm, it wouldn't need to show its original appearance, would it?

Witches could see the true form of the Red Moon because that was the real world, but this was a realm constructed based on his and Jieluo's memories. Wasn't that like someone with a brain implant seeing the circuits running behind the world?

Or was it that previous assumptions were all wrong, and there was a deviation in the understanding of some information, leading to him guessing in the wrong direction?

"How is it? Do you believe it now?" Garcia glanced at him. "That's definitely not something that can exist in reality."

"I didn't doubt you in the first place," Roland shook his head, temporarily suppressing the distracting thoughts in his heart. "It's your master who's not as scary as you said."

"What's wrong with Master?" she asked, slightly stunned.

"She said a lot of things to me, like what a special person I am, how much the association values me," Roland teased casually. "Oh, right... she also said you were very happy that I agreed to join the association. Was that really the case? I didn't see it at all."

As he said this, he deliberately looked at the former Third Princess, wanting to see what kind of expression she would make. Would she deny it outright or try to cover it up in a panic? Whatever it was, it should be very interesting.

But he never expected that she would look at him as if he were a fool.

"What are you talking about?" Garcia rolled her eyes. "Master didn't say anything when you were on stage... Do you think I'm blind?"

Roland was taken aback.

"This distance might be far for ordinary people, but I'm a martial artist. I can see every single hair on your face clearly when you're on stage. You want to fool me? You're still too green." She said disdainfully.

Didn't... speak?

Just as he was about to ask further, Lan had already closed the glass box again, clapped her hands, and brought everyone's attention back to the podium—this time, the noise in the hall was much quieter.

"Our world is not flat, but on a membrane. Some people can understand this, and some people can't, but it doesn't matter, just listen to me." She turned around, causing the screen behind her to display what she was talking about. "This membrane has curvature. In simple terms, it presents an arc shape—in some places, this change is more obvious. If there are other worlds outside of our world, then there is a possibility that two worlds intersect at one point, and such an intersection is Erosion."

"Of course, this is just a guess, but only this guess can explain the anomalies we see—since Erosion was discovered, countries have never stopped researching it. However, unfortunately, the other world has completely different rules. Any detection method has proven ineffective, and even the matter on this side cannot remain stable after crossing the border. You have all seen that the iron bar is proof."

"What does this have to do with the Fallen?" someone asked.

"Of course it does. The power they obtain comes from another membrane—this is also why the Fallen are not afraid of ordinary martial arts. The overlapping membranes temporarily connect the two worlds. I don't know what impact this will have on the other world, but for us, the rules still work: energy spreads from high to low and creates a series of incredible phenomena." Lan raised her voice. "To be precise, not only the Fallen, but any Awakened person is related to this energy."

"What... did you say?"

"My power belongs only to me, and has nothing to do with any bullshit membrane!"

"Does the Martial Artists Association think we are no different from the Fallen?"

The hall exploded.

This time, Lan did not stop them. Only after everyone quieted down on their own did she continue, "Of course there is a difference. We can control it, but the Fallen cannot. But it must also be admitted that we are, in a sense, very similar to the Fallen—especially in resisting ordinary martial arts. I wonder if you have ever considered a question: since natural force can be trained to be freely controlled and immune to any harm, why haven't martial artists dominated the entire world?"

"This..." There was a faint murmur in the audience.

"Because Erosion will not always exist," Lan said bluntly. "As the curvature changes, the overlapping membranes will gradually separate until the next reunion—this cycle can be long or short, from morning to evening for the short ones, and billions of years for the long ones. The Erosion we encountered is about two thousand years, and the overlap time is only less than a hundred years. Once disconnected, natural force will disappear without a trace. So although there have been Awakeners who became unparalleled overlords and unified the world, the interval of more than two thousand years is enough to turn the empire they created into nothingness."

"Thousands and hundreds of years, even ordinary history cannot be explained clearly. How do you know what happened in the past?" Although some people still questioned, their attitude had become much more restrained.

"I don't know," the chief disciple admitted frankly. "This is just a hypothesis. Two thousand years ago, there were no scientific observation methods or recording methods. To verify it, we can only wait for two thousand years. But don't forget that history is always full of amazing coincidences. As long as you compare the biographies and histories of various regions, you will find that that period gave birth to many heroic epics and legends, and before that, it was an era of myths—and most myths are related to the end of the world and salvation. Can we think that Erosion created all of this?"

There was a brief silence under the stage. After a long while, someone asked, "Even if those epic heroes were Awakeners of natural force, what does it have to do with us? According to you, even if we do nothing, Erosion will end on its own, so what's the point of your association's promotion of resisting Erosion?"

"Don't forget that besides us, there are also the Fallen," Lan replied calmly. "This is what I said at the beginning, there is no evil power, energy just spreads out according to the rules; it has no malice, but it doesn't mean that those affected don't. We are in the early stages of superposition, and such loopholes will continue to increase

and expand, and there will be more and more Fallen. The only ones who can harm them are martial artists who use the same power—this is a survival competition, and only one side can survive. If we cannot defeat the Fallen, not only normal Awakeners, but the human world will also be completely destroyed by them."