Before his departure, Nol had finally completed his new magic.
He named it [Remembrance of the Dead], which could integrate fragments of the deceased's memories, connecting them together, allowing the undead to regain a certain level of intelligence.
To finish it quickly, Nol had to repeatedly simplify the mechanism. Currently, the effect of [Remembrance of the Dead] was temporary—it could only restore the deceased's consciousness for about half an hour, nothing more.
As for the discomfort in his own body and that of Teest, after sticking together for a few hours, Teest claimed to be fully recovered. Nol's condition hadn't improved, but it hadn't worsened either and wouldn't hinder combat, so he falsely claimed he had "recovered quite a bit".
Thus, after preparing the supplies, everyone was ready to spend their last night in Gravel Town.
In the chaotic, gray sky, four full moons shone brightly. Nol and Teest slipped out of the inn, taking the undead knight into the seldom-trodden bushes.
The tall knight was always silent. Whenever he stopped, he would look at the moon.
Teest drew his sword and stood guard, while Nol solemnly raised his magic staff.
The magic took effect instantly. A cyan-blue halo flickered from the feet of the knight, spiraling upwards. The thick, bitter air began to flow again, forming a whirlwind, with dead leaves tumbling endlessly on the grass.
Finally, the undead knight took his gaze off the moon, and the ghostly fires in his helmet quietly observed Nol.
Nol recalled for a moment and realized he hadn't given this knight a name. Just like the War King, who was simply known as "War King"—as characters from a past era not central to the storyline, their stories were simple and rough, with relatively brief backgrounds.
"Hello," Nol greeted in the simplest way possible.
The once mighty knight prince didn't respond. He lowered his head, slowly raised his hands, and looked at his skeletal hands covered in gauntlets. Traces of golden chains remained there, emitting faint golden light from the scratches.
After a long time, he slowly clenched his fists.
"What do you want?" he asked in a rough, emotionless voice.
"We heard your unconscious whispers, saying you had seen a moon. We just wanted to ask about this." Nol pointed to the sky, trying to sound gentler.
The knight looked up again, and for some reason, Nol felt intense sorrow from those ghostly fires.
"One question for another," the knight said with a slight bow.
"Fair enough." With limited magic time, Nol didn't want to waste it.
"What record did my brother, the 'War King', leave behind?" the knight asked in a chilling, undead tone.
Nol was relieved. The knight had asked the right person.
"During the Era of Strife among the kings, the War King left little information. According to existing records, he was in constant warfare since his ascension, never stopping even when his territory was stable. After… your death, he led his army to the lands of Shiva, perishing with the giant guardians, dying in the wilderness."
"The War King was cursed before his death, losing his sanity and becoming a continuously mutating undead. His followers left his body where it fell, building a mausoleum on the spot."
Nol also remembered a bit of side information: actually, the War King's territory wasn't very large, less than one-tenth of what was now "New Gemino". After the War King's disappearance, his lands were quickly divided. The war-loving king eventually turned into a monster and was imprisoned in the wilderness for hundreds of years. This was the origin story for the dungeon "The Fall of the War King".
Of course, considering the knight prince's feelings, it was better not to mention the second half of the story.
The ghostly fire in the undead knight's eye sockets flickered twice. "Did the War King leave any famous buildings in the palace, even ruins?"
Nol was stunned.
…Such a strange question.
There was nothing like that in the setting. The War King had no interest in architecture; he inherited his father's palace and then went to war for years. The ruins of the War King's palace were still in a city in New Gemino.
Lynn had installed surveillance dolls there, and Nol had also checked them out, finding nothing unusual. The palace was well-preserved, now said to be the private collection of a wealthy merchant.
So, Nol could only honestly shake his head.
"Did he really leave nothing behind?" The undead knight's tone was anxious for the first time. "There was a tall tower named the 'Moonwatching Tower'…"
"One question for another." Teest interjected, slightly displeased. "Knight, this is already your third question."
Nol shook his head lightly at Teest, then slowed down his voice. "Sorry, can you describe what that tower looks like?"
The undead knight moved as if to approach, then stopped. "Your knight is right. I asked too many questions… Let me answer your question first."
Nol swallowed nervously. "Please."
"My brother and I were born special." The undead knight didn't directly answer Nol's question, his tone filled with faint sadness. "We were different from others since birth, able to see a person's talents and what profession they were suited for… Father said it was a blessing from God."
Nol quickly realized this was a unique ability of plot-related NPCs. With such an ability, their interactions and battles with Players, especially those with dungeon bosses, would be more fluid—the bosses needed to adjust their combat strategies based on the Players' professions.
This was one of the fundamental mechanisms of Tahe.
"Our life was peaceful until one day, my brother took me out to see the moon. Our father forbade us from going out at night, and I had never seen a full moon before," the knight prince reminisced.
Nol nodded, familiar with this part of the story. The brother showing the moon to his younger sibling for the first time, revealing his ambition for the throne. However…
"From that day, our lives became chaotic…" The blue flame inside the knight's helmet dimmed slightly.
The two young children clearly remembered seeing four moons in the sky, common knowledge on the continent of Tahe. But on that night, standing atop the pavilion in the garden, they saw only one large, full moon.
A solitary, silver-lit moon.
The children were terrified.
The brother, forgetting his lines, dragged his sibling back inside. The next day, he went to their father early in the morning to report his discovery. The king, thinking it was just a child seeking attention, scolded him for leading his brother astray—but the young prince stood firmly by his brother's side, insisting they saw only one moon.
No one believed them.
After being reprimanded by adults for a long time, the brother became confused, repeatedly seeking confirmation from his sibling about that night. And his brother, no matter how much he was scolded, always answered with unwavering certainty.
You're not crazy. You're not speaking nonsense. I also saw only one moon. It was a very beautiful moon—larger than a dragon's eye.
Please believe in yourself, believe in me, brother.
The brother hid his swollen palms, repeating this over and over.
Another full moon night. The young brother hugged his only sibling, quietly crying for a long time.
The brother said, Once we grow up, we will be the day and moon of this kingdom, and my glory will also shine on you. I will lead the brave towards the light, and you will guide the lost… as the only moon.
The younger sibling patted his brother's back.
Sounds wonderful. I will be loyal to you, dear brother.
It was just a fragment… Really just a fragment—like other events the knight could recall.
After that, their lives were like a nightmare.
The two brothers grew up, and the elder became the "War King". After seizing military power, his behavior began to bizarrely split—
In the morning, he felt the pain of mothers whose children died in battle. At night, he forcefully gathered more soldiers, preparing for an even bloodier war.
One day, he firmly refused to let his beloved brother go to battle. The next, in front of all the ministers, he personally sent his only kin to the fiercest part of the war.
The king was mad. Rumors spread throughout the capital and to the distant armies.
In turbulent times, people suggested the younger brother seize the throne. The loyal younger brother rushed back to the capital, swearing in front of the court to be his brother's knight.
"I'm sorry." In the dead of night, the young War King spoke bitterly. "I can't control myself, brother. Just like feeling sleepy after sunset, I can't resist it… Every night, I dream about these things—about our past, present, and future."
"I know," the knight replied.
Since the full moon incident of their youth, his brother had become much more cautious and would never suddenly turn into a cruel ruler.
"I hate war, but I just know I have to fight like a madman. I don't want you to leave, to take risks, but I know I must…"
At this point, the War King choked up sadly. "One day, I will have to kill you."
"I've had such dreams too. At some point in the future, I will refuse to go to battle, and you will kill me for it."
Like when they were young, the knight gently patted his brother's back. "As if it has already happened, right?"
The War King looked up in shock, trembling lips uttering a curse-like sentence. "If you really are loyal to me, then choose between war and death."
"Bury me in the Endless Sea. These eyes have seen too much bloodshed. I only wish to sleep in the endless blue," the knight smoothly gave the answer from his dream.
Tears welled up in the War King's eyes. He buried his face in his hands, the heavy crown nearly slipping from his head.
"This world is mad," he muttered. "Everything has been wrong since that moon… All is false…"
"Yes," the knight gently replied. "Everyone knows there are four moons in the sky. Just like everyone knows, the Endless Sea has been gray-black for thousands of years."
His gentleness didn't soothe his brother.
"Then you must leave here! Stay away from me!" the War King yelled. "You can feel these things. Why don't you leave? Or are you like me, unable to resist—"
"Because I swore loyalty to you." The knight interrupted him, smiling at the confused king. "And I have to guide the lost. Your fate is much crueler than mine. Let me follow you until the very end, brother."
"Even if I—"
"Even if you pierce my limbs with golden chains and hang my corpse on the crown."
The War King's crown finally rolled off, falling to the ground. With the cruelest nightmare spoken, the young king finally shed tears.
"They all say you and I are blessed by God. A blessing? We're more like puppets of God. Otherwise, how could you and I end up in such an absurd fate?"
"Maybe it's all over and these are just memories, dreams… I'm already a hideous monster, and you're a restless corpse."
"If we can't escape our fate, then let's leave something behind."
The knight picked up the crown with both hands, gently placing it back on his brother's head. "We still have things we can change—in the end, people will help us distinguish what's real and what's false."
"Leave something behind?"
"Yes, like a sturdy building," the knight said.
If their conversation was just a dream, this building would naturally not exist. But if everything… If there was still hope, future generations would see their final struggle.
Finally, a spark appeared in the War King's eyes. He stood up. "That's a good idea, brother. I'll issue the order right now… No, it won't work."
The king bit his nails. "After issuing the order, you must cast a mental suggestion on me, making me ignore that building. So even if I go mad again, I won't destroy it."
"You already have an idea?" The knight was surprised.
"Yes." The War King looked at his knight, his gaze softening. "I'll build a Moonwatching Tower. Just one tower, just one moon, right?"
...
Four full moons hung in the sky.
The undead knight looked up. "You asked about the tower… It was a deep red tower, as straight and slender as an arrow, built near the royal palace."
"Beside the tower, there's a small waterfall, surrounded by hundreds of white dwarf trees, and the lawn was full of red flowers. Occasionally, eagles would perch on the tower, creating an incomparable scene. If it really exists, you should know it."
Shocked, Nol was unable to respond.
He had only intended to ask about the moon, but the knight's answer far exceeded his expectations.
Now it seemed that Tahe indeed had four moons. Only these brothers were affected by the system, experiencing the illusion of "one moon".
The problem was, the knight's subsequent description led him to a somewhat absurd conjecture…
"There is no such tower," Teest said gravely, clearly realizing something as well. "If there were, it would at least be mentioned in poems. I've been to your royal palace. I found no information about any 'Moonwatching Tower'."
"Just as I thought." The undead knight sighed deeply. "My brother was right. It's all an illusion."
"After waking up, I suspected… I remember those words, remember that tower, but can't recall my brother's face as the king—I only remember him as a child under the full moon."
Teest looked at Nol, and for the first time, Nol saw uncertainty in the eyes of the Mad Monk.
"Thank you both, for helping us… helping me resolve my doubts." The knight's tone was somewhat lonely. "Perhaps from the beginning, it was all just my dream."
"No! It's not—"
Nol started to speak quickly, but before he could finish, the blue fire in the knight's helmet dimmed. The magic's effect had ended, and the undead knight reverted to his reticent self.
It's not like that.
From the knight's words, Nol knew the problem—when they set up a character, they didn't let it grow up normally, slowly becoming what the game needed.
Just like setting up a boss like the "War King", they would first create the monster, then instill the background setting as "memories" directly into them.
The production team provided the basic setting. The AI would fill in the details based on Tahe's specific conditions and related NPC data, creating a "vivid memory" of life.
The brothers' bizarre memories were likely a conflict between "AI input of Tahe's environmental information" and "production team's specified imagery".
The War King's personality was completely changed by this small error, but his memory had to follow the setting, forcibly weaving towards a "cruel king".
After all, the ending was predetermined. All the two brothers could have were memories, not a life.
"To avoid deviation, your two sets of data were probably calculated together." Nol looked at the undead knight sadly. "It wasn't just your dream…"
But he didn't know if the knight could understand now.
"Nol," Teest suddenly said.
"Yes." Nol tensed up.
"If I understand your meaning correctly." The Mad Monk stared at Nol's lips. "The memories of the brothers from the Past Era of Strife are fake, 'system'-implanted from the beginning—they were lying in the dungeon from the start, one as a monster, the other as a corpse."
"…It seems so." Nol's voice was dry.
"It's hard to fake such a thing alone," Teest continued, almost ruthlessly. "The War King's palace still exists, and his wars are recorded, involving many historical materials."
"Right."
"Does this mean there's a possibility…" Teest sped up his speech, carefully choosing his words.
"The thousands of years of history of this land were also 'implanted'? That it has only truly existed for over two hundred years?"
Nol closed his eyes.
"Yes," he said.
Ever since realizing Tahe was a real world, Nol had put aside this conjecture.
Although he occasionally pondered if this real world had been operating since thousands of years ago. It was strange that the main storyline characters could be born normally just over two hundred years ago.
But along the way, constantly encountering concepts like "oracle" and "fate", he gradually stopped thinking in that direction—maybe it was "fate" that those people were meant to be born.
After all, this world had its scriptures and ruins. Such a conjecture was hard to prove.
…And now, he had evidence.
It was a terrible time to realize this, Nol thought, looking towards the distant Brick Mountains.
If their conjecture was true, the Demon King wasn't some weak enemy "defeated by the gods and lay dormant for thousands of years"— it was likely younger than they imagined.
And stronger than they imagined.