But they still unconditionally protected this world, doing their best to make it better in every way they could.
After thinking about that, Notch finally realized a problem he had been ignoring for a long time, maybe he wasn't as great as he once thought.
Maybe, it was only because of his special identity that he wanted to become great.
Maybe, he wasn't the most suitable person to manage this world.
"Maybe… the right to manage this world should be handed over to someone more fitting…"
———
[Inside the Nether Fortress]
After endless effort, the Wither King finally gained the recognition of the Wings.
Beside him, the sparring partner, Entity 303, was completely exhausted.
"I really underestimated you, kid. I thought you were just some buy-one-get-one-free deal, but I didn't expect you to be not much worse than the Dread Lord! You actually dodged my attacks?"
Hearing Entity 303's words, the Wither King rolled his eyes.
"With that speed of yours? Not to brag, but I could dodge you with my eyes closed!"
———
Meanwhile, Little Bug and 007's private efforts to connect had finally moved Iron Sword.
"Didn't think a big dummy like you could learn this fast! Must be because I'm such a good teacher!"
"Say a few words less, will you? You're drooling again!"
———
The Last Dancer was completely collapsed on the ground, his arms limp and unable to lift.
"I'm old, I'm old… my body can't handle this anymore…"
———
The Dread Lord had no idea how many times he'd face-planted before he finally learned how to use the Power of Fear to fly.
"Looks like I need to find a new, stronger body… this one's about to fall apart…"
———
Though everyone had been completely worn out, things still ended fairly well.
After all their hard work, they finally gained recognition from the weapons best suited for them.
Just as everyone was getting ready to celebrate, the Dragon Prophet walked over, his face full of heavy thoughts.
He looked around and sighed deeply before finally speaking.
"This world… might be more complicated than we thought…"
Earlier, the Dragon Prophet's obsidian staff had forced him to recall fragments of his past.
Although he couldn't remember everything, he still managed to awaken a few scattered memories.
Hearing the Dragon Prophet's words, the previously joyful atmosphere instantly turned heavy.
"You remembered something from before?!"
"Huh? It's already this complicated? How much worse can it get?!"
"Many of us lost parts of our memory… it seems that missing part wasn't simple at all…"
The Dragon Prophet nodded.
"I can't remember everything yet, just some fragmented pieces."
"What I can confirm is… this world has been rebooted."
"The world before the reboot was very similar to the one we're in now…"
"It also had native beings, and there were foreign players."
"That world too was filled with endless wars…"
"When we first awoke, there was always this one shared memory in our minds."
"We all took part in a great war, a war known as the 'Threefold Division'."
"That war supposedly divided the native beings into three regions, the Overworld, the Nether, and the End."
"But that memory… was actually fabricated."
"That war wasn't a 'Threefold Division', it was a war launched by the Three Realms against the ruler of that world!"
The amount of information in those few sentences was explosive. Everyone who heard it was completely stunned, speechless from shock.
After a long silence, the Ender Queen finally couldn't hold back and spoke.
"If this world has really been rebooted… then why were only we the ones who fell asleep? Why are we the only ones who remember the previous world?"
"And… what happened to the native beings of the old world?!"
As she spoke, she looked toward the Dragon Prophet, the Last Dancer, the Wither King, and the Dread Lord.
They had compared notes before, they were all people who had been in a deep sleep for a long time before awakening.
So why did the current world only seem to have them, these few "old ones"?
Where had the world's former native beings gone? Were they completely destroyed, or did they lose their memories?
And if it was just memory loss, why did only the Ender Queen and her group retain theirs?
The Dragon Prophet thought for a while before replying.
"I can't recall everything… but based on the fragments I do have, I can make a rough guess…"
"Maybe… it's because we were the ones who came into contact with the core of the event. That's why we kept our previous memories."
Now, in this world, there seemed to be only a handful of beings who still remembered the past one.
Counting them all, there were only the Ender Queen, the Dragon Prophet, the Last Dancer, the Dread Lord, the Wither King, and the Execution Dragon.
Among them, the Ender Queen, Dragon Prophet, and Last Dancer were all from the End, they were the leaders of the End.
When the war broke out in the old world, as leaders of the End, they would have been the first to rush to the front lines.
Likewise, the Dread Lord and the Wither King represented the Nether, so their situation would have been similar.
And the Execution Dragon, being a godlike being, must have been one of the key forces in that battle.
In other words, they must have all been at the absolute center of the event, hence why they retained their old memories.
After listening, Null hesitated briefly, then nodded to confirm the Dragon Prophet's reasoning.
"A reasonable deduction."
"Before, when I peered into the minds of the Void's purple consciousnesses, their fears weren't concrete. They were just seven color blocks, each representing one layer of consciousness."
"But later, when I peered into the mind of the Wither Storm, I saw Notch's silhouette."
"We had already guessed before that since the Wither Storm belonged to the blue layer of consciousness, it meant he had accumulated more power, thus getting closer to the source of power, revealing more about it."
"In other words, the closer you are to the source of information, the clearer that information becomes."
"You all retaining your memories must be because you were at the center of the event."
After saying that, Null paused, then continued.
"As for the other beings… there are probably three possible outcomes."
"Death, loss of consciousness, or…"
"Reincarnation…"
Hearing that, Entity 303 seemed to realize something and spoke.
"All three outcomes make sense…"
"Death and loss of consciousness aside, for reincarnation…"
He thought for a while before continuing.
"We all know this is a game world created by Notch. In the world I came from, I've never seen a game world spontaneously generate conscious beings."
"This world is the first of its kind."
"At first, I thought the reason this world developed consciousness was because of our King's influence."
"But now it seems that the King was only one of several influencing factors."
"Some people influenced by the King did gain consciousness, like Null, Dead Spirit, Eddie, and others…"
"But there are still many conscious beings in this world who were never influenced by the King."
"Like the Villager King, Blue Demon, or the Pillager King… they never had contact with the King. Which means their awareness developed on its own."
"And that kind of self-awakening doesn't make sense."
The Dragon Prophet nodded and added,
"So, those beings who weren't influenced by the King might have gained consciousness due to the 'reincarnation' Null mentioned…"
"Maybe they were once part of the world before the reboot."
Hearing that, the Ender Queen rubbed her temples and sighed.
"The more I hear, the more it sounds like some sort of reincarnation cycle… Are we just repeating the same things over and over?"
Her words hit like a bomb, shaking everyone to the core.
They couldn't help wondering, had this really happened only once, or were their memories erased, leaving only the most recent fragments?
Her words lingered like a curse, wrapping around everyone's thoughts. A chill crept up their spines, and goosebumps covered their skin.
The Ender Queen's reasoning wasn't baseless. Her words were like a blade cutting through their perception of reality.
But faced with such an eerie situation, no one knew what the truth really was.
The fear of the unknown tightened around their hearts like an invisible hand. The scene fell into dead silence again, time itself seemed to freeze.
At last, Entity 303 broke the stillness. His voice was low but firm.
"Things are already complicated enough. We shouldn't dwell on these hypotheticals."
"No matter how many times this world's been rebooted, that's not something we can change."
"If everything really is a cycle, then our goal should be to break it this time."
"For now, all we can do is use the fragments the Dragon Prophet recalled to uncover more of the truth."
His words snapped everyone out of their unease. Rather than sinking into endless fear and speculation, it was better to focus on solving the mystery before them.
Everyone nodded, regaining their determination and focus.
Then, the Dread Lord, who'd been silent until now, finally spoke up.
"Just now, the Dragon Prophet said that war was a battle of the Three Realms against the ruler of the old world."
"And the Ender Queen mentioned before that the real HIM led us to strike against the Void's existence."
"So that means… the beings of the Void were actually the rulers of that previous world, right?"
Hearing the Dread Lord's words, the Dragon Prophet nodded in confirmation.
"Yes."
Before his words had even faded, the Dread Lord continued, "Based on what Rookie found, we already know the three consciousnesses of the Void are Notch and his two friends."
"So that means those three were the rulers of the world before the reboot."
"And the real HIM led the Three Realms to rise up and fight against those three, am I right?"
Hearing the Dread Lord's reasoning, the Dragon Prophet nodded again, confirming his conclusion.