"From the information we've gathered and the fragments of memory I've recalled, that does seem to be the case."
The Dread Lord pondered for a moment before continuing to speak.
"Combining all the information we currently have, we can roughly outline a story like this."
"In the world before the reboot, Notch and his two friends ascended together to the supreme throne, becoming the rulers of that world."
"However, their rule didn't seem to gain the recognition or support of the beings of the three realms."
"The real HIM stood up and led all living beings of the three realms to launch a fierce assault against the rulers."
"The outcome of that war was that two of the three rulers lost their original bodies and were imprisoned in the Void."
"As for Notch, his situation was rather special, part of his spiritual power remained in the Void. His physical body didn't perish, but he lost his previous memories."
"As for the real HIM... his current state is still unknown."
"However, the existence of my king, the other two HIMs, and the Trial Grounds, all these clues suggest that he hasn't completely disappeared."
"As for the other beings, some died, some reincarnated as we mentioned before, and some, like us, fell into a deep sleep and had their memories tampered with."
After saying this, the Dread Lord looked around at the group and asked, "So far, this is what all the clues seem to point toward, right?"
Hearing his words, everyone carefully reviewed all the clues they had discussed before. After thinking for a while, they nodded one after another and said, "This should be the main storyline."
"All the current clues indeed show this same direction."
"Yeah, the timeline I've pieced together matches yours pretty well."
Seeing that no one objected to his theory, the Dread Lord nodded and continued.
"Although this storyline sounds reasonable, it doesn't actually hold up under scrutiny."
Everyone looked confused upon hearing that.
"What do you mean? Where's the problem?"
"The story and the characters all seem to make sense, don't they? How does it not hold up?"
"Don't keep us guessing, just say it already…"
Seeing that no one seemed to realize what was wrong, the Dread Lord took a moment to organize his thoughts, his sharp gaze sweeping across the group as he said, "The current Void is in a sealed state, it has no physical form, and its power must have greatly weakened. Yet even in such a state, they can still cause such a huge impact on the Overworld."
"Then what about them at their peak?"
"Notch and his two friends ruled the world before the reboot, they must have possessed supreme authority and unmatched power, right?"
"Not just one being with such power, but three of them!"
After saying that, the Dread Lord shook his head and gave a self-deprecating smile.
"I might not remember what happened before, but I do know this, right now, my strength is far beyond what it was in my prime."
After speaking, he looked toward the Ender Queen, the Wither King, and the others.
"I'm guessing it's the same for you all, isn't it?"
At that, everyone fell silent. Because they knew, the Dread Lord was right.
Their current strength was indeed much greater than before. Even with all this newfound power, when facing the Void as it existed now, the most they could do was clean up some low-level entities.
And that was with the three rulers still sealed. In their full-power state? That was something else entirely.
Seeing this, the Dread Lord went on.
"Even though the real HIM led the three realms, the forces of that time, including us…"
"Let's be honest, we couldn't even shake those three, not even one of them."
"In other words, while we might've joined that war, we were probably only dealing with the small fry."
"The real truth is, the real HIM singlehandedly sealed all three of them away."
As he said this, the Dread Lord looked at everyone again.
They thought about it for a while but didn't refute his reasoning.
His logic was sound, there was really nothing to argue against. The facts all pointed that way.
Seeing that no one objected, the Dread Lord's gaze swept over the group again. His expression turned serious as he pressed on, "Then, have you ever thought about this?"
"How was the real HIM able to fight against those three? How could he even seal them away?!"
His voice was low and powerful, like a warning bell ringing in everyone's ears, and his eyes carried deep confusion and doubt.
"Where did his power come from?"
That question struck like lightning across the sky, making everyone's hearts jolt.
The Dread Lord's words were like a key, unlocking a door deep within everyone's minds that none of them had ever opened before.
Upon hearing his question, everyone immediately fell into deep thought.
Their expressions grew heavy, brows furrowed, each of them trying to make sense of it.
The Dread Lord's question had completely stumped them.
It was something they had never truly thought about.
Just like he said, the three rulers were the most powerful beings of their time. So why was the real HIM able to defeat them?
What hidden truth lay behind it all?
And after sealing the three rulers, the real HIM had even gone on to create multiple plans to fight against the Void.
Those plans required an enormous amount of power to carry out, and the strength HIM used clearly exceeded the limits of this world.
The Trial Grounds, the other two HIMs, even Xu Yuan's appearance, all of it was part of HIM's plan.
So where exactly did all that power of his come from?
And if he really was that strong, why didn't he take advantage of the rulers' weakened state to finish them off once and for all?
Hearing the Dread Lord's question, the Ender Queen frowned deeply, falling into thought.
After a while, she looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "Why are we so fixated on where the real HIM's power came from?"
Then, lowering her gaze in thought, she added, "I don't quite understand what you mean."
"You're suggesting that Notch and his two friends should've been the strongest beings of that time, and that the real HIM shouldn't have had power strong enough to rival them?"
Among everyone present, only the Ender Queen still remembered fragments of her time spent with the real HIM, so she knew firsthand just how powerful he was.
That's why she found the Dread Lord's question so confusing.
She couldn't understand why he assumed that Notch and his two friends must have been the peak of that world's power, nor why he hinted that HIM might have borrowed power from somewhere else to match them.
Just as the Dread Lord was about to explain, Entity 303 spoke up first.
"I think I get what he means…"
After saying that, Entity 303 turned toward the Ender Queen and explained, "You might not fully understand where this game world actually came from."
"This game world…"
Entity 303 paused, taking a moment to organize his thoughts before continuing.
"To players, this world is a holographic world."
"Holographic means… players can connect their neurons through certain devices and enter this world, becoming what you see here…"
After saying this, Entity 303 looked around at everyone and asked, "Do you get what I mean?"
Before anyone else could respond, Steve quickly raised his hand.
"I do, I do!!"
During the whole discussion, Steve hadn't been able to say a word, he'd been completely lost. So now that the topic was finally something he could understand, he was the most excited of all.
But while Steve understood, the others clearly didn't.
"I've heard that term before, but I still don't really get it…"
"Do we have to understand this stuff for the discussion to continue?"
"What's this 'holographic' thing got to do with my question?"
"…?"
Seeing everyone's confusion, Entity 303 sighed helplessly.
"Forget it, you don't need to understand the details. Just know that because the game was holographic, this world we're in now was able to exist."
The group nodded vaguely, half-understanding, half-confused.
Seeing this, Entity 303 continued, "You've all heard before that this game world was something Notch spent ten years creating."
"But those ten years weren't ten years inside the game, they were ten years outside the game."
"You might not realize this, but it doesn't take that long to build a holographic game world."
"Based on my experience, it should've taken at most three years."
As he spoke, Entity 303 glanced around, noticing everyone's blank, 'smart-looking' faces, and couldn't help but sigh.
He understood, they were all clueless in this area. It was normal for them not to get it.
But that wasn't the point. They only needed the basic idea.
So, after organizing his thoughts again, he went on, "From what we know, Notch and his two friends started working together to create this holographic world."
"My guess is, it didn't take them very long before they succeeded in creating one."
"But the world they created back then wasn't this one."
"It was the world from your memories, the one that existed before the reboot!"
Just moments ago, Entity 303's talk about holography had already left everyone's minds blank.
And now, with this new revelation, their brains simply short-circuited.
"???????"
"You guys keep talking… I give up."
"Weren't we just talking about reincarnation? How did we get another world out of nowhere?"
"So the old world was created by Notch and his two friends, and the new one by Notch alone, are these two worlds even the same or not?!"
Seeing everyone looking like they were suffering from severe constipation, Entity 303 quickly tried to calm them down.
"Relax… you'll get it in a second."
After a brief pause to gather his thoughts, he continued explaining.
"I can't say for sure if these two worlds are exactly the same, but I can say with certainty, they're definitely connected."