Chapter 456 Time Branch, Ill-Fated Parallel Universe
Li Lin walked into the door and found that it was a room similar to a private office.
A desk is placed across the middle of the door opposite the door. Enchanting tables, floating gear rings, and magic items that flow like an hourglass can be seen everywhere. The bookshelves on both sides are filled with thicker books.
This is a room that the drone has not scanned before, or that does not exist in the real world.
Li Lin quickly took a panoramic view of the layout of the room, and then turned his reflection to the desk, where sat an old man with gray hair, eyebrows, beard, and sideburns.
He is thin and wears traditional brown-red and gray-white robes. A beard longer than his hair hangs down in front of him. His eyes, which are covered by thick and long white eyebrows, faintly glow with emerald color.
Li Lin could see that there was deep sadness in the old man's furrowed brows, and the fatigue in his eyes was something that someone who had only lived a lifetime could never understand.
【Congratulations! You have contacted 45 heroes, leveled up by 1, and gained 2 skill points. 】
[Name: Kieran]
[Race: Icathians]
[Occupation: Elder of the Council of Icacia, Grandmaster Elemental Mage, Master Time Mage, Time Guardian. 】
【……】
"You are finally here, the favored one of the world, Li Lin."
Li Lin was not surprised that Kieran was able to reveal his identity.
After all, for a time guardian who can see countless possibilities on countless timelines, no subtle changes can be hidden from his eyes.
The butterfly effect brought by Li Lin is really too great. Just talking about parallel universes related to the world line of the main universe, it is impossible for any world to develop to the point where humans can enter space.
"Master Kiran."
Li Lin bowed to Jilan and saluted according to the method of saluting in ancient books scanned by his brain.
"No need to be polite, just call me Jilan." He stood up from the chair and passed by Li Lin, "I know you have a lot of questions now, come with me."
The two walked out of the door they had just entered. To Li Lin's surprise, what was outside was not the corridor they had just come from, but a larger and more spacious space that was completely different from the clock tower in Icacia.
The "click-click-click" sound of the clockwork clock echoed in the huge hall. Looking into the distance, countless yellow sands formed the desert scene of the past. The golden hollow spheres resembled the shapes of planets. In the endless yellow sand The space floats slowly.
In the center of the hall, there is a huge emerald-colored crystal that is approximately rhombus-shaped. It is the entity formed by "time" and maintains the operation of this tower in the gap between time and space.
In addition to these, there are many men and women in different clothes in the hall. They are busy coming and going, stopping from time to time to use emerald green magic to create pictures, and then communicate with each other. There are even some people holding a bag with void tentacles in their hands. Transparent jar.
“This is not the tower you saw, but a brand new place created after I erased myself from the timeline and arrived at the crack of time.
"The people below are like-minded magic geniuses that I have met in various eras. They voluntarily erased themselves from the timeline and jointly studied ways to deal with the terminal disaster.
"I originally planned to pull you in when you stepped into the outside tower, but your spirit was surprisingly tenacious, and it took me a lot of effort to succeed."
Kieran explained while leading the way, leading Li Lin up the spiral downward floating stairs.
"Actually, ordinary humans cannot stay in the cracks of time for too long, otherwise they will be 'exiled' by time forever like us."
He looked back at Li Lin, "But you are different. You are protected by Runeterra and can ignore these restrictions. This is the main reason why I can directly pull your consciousness here to communicate with me face to face."
Li Lin hesitated for a while, and finally couldn't help but ask the question that had been buried in his heart for a long time: "Can you...can you see my future?"
Kieran paused for a moment and just sighed without answering his question, which made him vaguely guess.
It seems that even Kieran, who can see through the past, present and future, and observe different parallel universes, cannot see my way forward...
The rest of the journey was silent, and Kieran quickly led Li Lin to the top of the bell tower.
It was a house door sealed by multiple time magic circles. Only Kieran had the ability to unlock the restrictions above.
He crossed his arms and made different gestures with his hands. Under the corresponding emerald light, the spell on the door receded and it was quickly unlocked.
Kieran took a deep breath, opened the door and signaled Li Lin to come in, then locked it and sealed it with time magic again.
The decoration inside the house is very simple, with only a giant circular gear floating in the middle in the middle, surrounded by countless small gears, some similar to parts on a clock.
Under the urging of Kieran's magic, the small gear drove the large gear to rotate, and then, the environment in the entire house suddenly changed.
The ground beneath their feet and the surrounding walls disappeared, leaving only a dark space filled with blue-purple illusory mist.
As the gears rotate faster, the giant circular gear in the center emits a dazzling emerald green light, and then the stars appear in the sky. An endless giant copper-colored dial appears under their feet. The huge second hand "clicks" and moves with each sound. It can shake the soul.
Kieran's gestures became faster and faster, and the clothes, hair and beard moved automatically without any wind, as if they had lost gravity.
Li Lin held his breath subconsciously. He could see that Kieran was using time magic, and he felt an inexplicable feeling of insignificance, as if he was just a solitary boat in the boundless ocean.
After Kieran made a few gestures again, a clock dial and a magical pattern of a Runeterra planet appeared on the fingertips of his left and right hands respectively. Several copper-colored rings floated out from the large gears and slowly stopped in front of them. In front of the two of them, it was like a holographic display screen, projecting different dynamic pictures.
Li Lin was surprised to find that these flashing images seemed to be parallel universes related to the world line of the main universe.
The pictures they show are not the same at all, but they inevitably show what is happening in various countries in Runeterra:
Swain, who obtained the power of demons in advance and overthrew Darkwill's rule, killed Irelia in Placidium, then led Noxus to defeat Karma, massacre the Kinkou, and completely capture Ioni. Asia's scene;
There is a scene where Ionia unites and completely drives Noxus out of the First Land, and then Irelia ascends the throne and is crowned Queen;
There is a scene where Demacia counterattacked Noxus and finally captured the Immortal Fortress. Garen personally beheaded Darius, the Hand of Noxus, and then Jarvan IV publicly executed Swain;
The Shurima Empire has not fallen. Azir and Xerath have joined forces to spread the light of the sun disk to every corner of Runeterra, and established the symbol of the empire's provinces around the world - the image of the golden disk;
With the help of the demigod Anivia, Warmother Ashe of the Avarosa Tribe of the Freljord finally defeated Sejuani, the Warmother of the Winter's Claw Tribe and Lissandra the Frost Witch, and unified the Freljord. The picture of De becoming queen;
There are also scenes of the ruined curse sweeping the world and engulfing the entire Runeterra in black mist, Mordekaiser leading the underworld army to return to the material realm, completely turning the world of the living into the paradise of the dead, and incorporating it into his own rule, and other different parallel universes.
However, there is only one destination for these different parallel worlds:
Black and purple corrupted and filthy creatures occupy the earth. The Void Monitor breaks through the ice and descends into the material realm, swallowing up time and space, bringing an end to all things, and everything turns into nothingness...
Li Lin couldn't help but gasp, and subconsciously reached out to hold his left chest, feeling his beating heart.
"Time, space, and reality are not a linear development path. It is a prism with infinite possibilities. Any simple choice will lead to another completely different time and space."
Kieran's eyes were completely covered by the blue light, and his voice had a sense of otherworldly hollowness, as if he and Li Lin were not in the same time and space at all when he spoke.
"With so many parallel worlds, is it possible that there is no successful case that can solve the void?" Li Lin couldn't help but ask.
Kieran's clicking frequency slowed down a bit, and then he waved his left hand, dispersing most of the rings in front of him, leaving only a row of rings with the scene where "Li Lin" appeared.
But what puzzled Li Lin was that the "self" in the pictures he saw did exactly the same thing from beginning to end.
Same time, same place, unified actions and conversations...
No matter how the people he communicates with change or the surrounding environment changes, what he does remains the same.
"Li Lin, who fled to Piltover to escape the war, first worked as a busboy in a watch shop, and later seized the business opportunity to become a multinational businessman. Finally, he encountered the ocean disaster Plank on the Watcher's Sea and was killed by a He was killed by a gunshot to the head, and his body sank to the bottom of the sea, where it was devoured by sea monsters.”
Kieran glanced sideways at the dull Li Lin, "Perhaps the repetition of events in certain timelines will lead to close connections and similarities, but each timeline is unique, and a person cannot have only one ending. Even if it’s me.”
Immediately afterwards, he waved his hand again and dispersed these scenes, leaving only the last ring, which was the picture of the past displayed by the current timeline.
What is shown above is the scene where Li Lin said goodbye to the owner of the dock clock shop during the Evolution Day celebration two years ago, and then followed the crowd to the northern city of Piltover to participate in the selection of craftsmen and craftsmen by the Gila Mann family.
"As for you, I didn't realize that you were the favored one of the world at first, but you are different from countless other timeline branches. You made a completely different choice.
"When I wanted to use the power of time to pry out more clues on your timeline, I was shocked to find that you are on our timeline.
"And the end of the mass extinction that I originally spied on Runeterra was inevitable. After you made a completely different choice, the fog of time that cannot be dispelled obscured my vision, making it impossible for me to see the future of our world clearly.
"But it's also our hope because it means our destiny has shifted."
Kieran stopped his gesture, the emerald green light on his body gradually faded, and everything around them returned to their original state, as if nothing had happened.
Then, Kieran turned to face Li Lin, who had not yet recovered from his stupor, and put his hand on his shoulder with a very solemn expression.
"I have been observing you, but your pace of progress is too slow. With your current growth rate, you cannot fight against the void... I must give you another push."