Treasure Hunting System： The Ocean Conquerer-Chapter 620 - 289: The True Origins of Alka_3

Pain brought numbness, and with it, the cessation of life. Sorrow and pain transformed into an ocean, filling the world’s core. A world that had just awakened with consciousness was destroyed by its own gods, shattered by the children born and nurtured from itself. It was meant to die, yet was forcibly pieced together again. From the moment its consciousness began, it had been enduring indescribable pain. The world only wished for death.

Facing the choices presented by the group, Alka found himself in a unique position. His past experience—lying on a hospital bed in a previous life, suffering until he wished for death rather than enduring endless, hopeless treatment—was remarkably similar to the world’s current state.

He could understand.

His loved ones, those who cared, had tried to save him then, but he himself had prayed for death.

He empathized too deeply; he felt its suffering as if it were his own.

So he was conflicted.

Yet, at that time, he had also wished to survive; he had simply seen no hope.

Alka took his own emotions—his craving for life, his desire to live, and his past yearning for death—and mixed them with the Natural Essence’s intent to repair its mother. Together, these feelings washed over everyone.

「...」

The thorns slowly receded.

Everyone opened their eyes, but at this moment, they all remained silent.

Alka stood up and said, "Let’s have a good rest today. Once we’ve all calmed down, how about we talk then?"

Faced with this proposal, no one objected, and they each returned to their rooms.

Once the doors were closed, the entire ship became extraordinarily quiet. Everyone seemed to be deep in thought.

Alka lay on his bed, once again sinking into his Dream World. He sat within his Dream World, lying on a lawn of myriad glowing plants, looking up at the sky of his world. The Mirror Surface emerged, still in the form of a deer head, but he did not wear it.

After a long time, Akka murmured to himself, "I’ve decided. I’ll do my utmost to save you. If it doesn’t work, if there’s no other way... then I’ll grant your wish and help you step into death." He seemed to be talking to himself, yet his words also seemed directed at someone else.

He decided to look at it from another perspective—from the viewpoint of those who had once hoped he would live, those who had held out hope for him.

"If you’ve despaired, if you’ve lost all hope," he continued softly, "I’ll try my best... to create hope."

Having made his decision, Alka began to recall everything he had experienced since putting on the deer head mask and connecting to the world through the power of the Natural Essence. At that time, he had been drowned by the world’s sorrow and had become somewhat disoriented. But the expenditure of illusionary power and the Gold and Silver Energy had helped him, allowing him to awaken from the ocean of sadness, even connecting with the world on that ocean’s surface.

Through the emotions hidden deep within his heart at the time, he had seen his own origins. Because he longed to know his origins, the world had responded to him at that moment. It was precisely because he had seen his origins that he was now so torn about what to choose, because he truly wanted to help this world.

Before entering this current body, Alka’s soul had originally appeared in the Star Realm through a crack in space. The violent energy there had almost torn his soul to pieces, nearly causing Alka to permanently vanish from this world, leaving not a trace. No one knew how his soul had arrived in this world, only that it seemed fated to perish in a foreign land.

But he had just happened to appear next to this shattered world.

The world, numb with pain and awaiting death, had simply thought Alka was a soul that had accidentally fallen from her. Since she hadn’t completely died, she felt she must fulfill her duty. Temporarily awakening and enduring the agony, she took Alka back into her world. She thought Alka’s soul was one of her children; she believed she ought to do so. Even though her shattering and all her pain were caused by her children, she still instinctively loved.

Thus, Alka’s soul was naturally received by the Stone Mother. She, in turn, guided this soul—one the world had just saved—to her Island and into the body of a child who had recently died. So, Alka’s true origin was of no real importance to the Stone Mother; even his rebirth was due to a blessing the Stone Mother had bestowed. Because Alka was naturally her follower. The upbringing and education from his country in his previous world had shaped who he was, making his soul firmly believe in what was meant to be. This conviction aligned with the Stone Mother’s own teachings.

So his previous worries and concealments had been meaningless. The Stone Mother knew his origins and did not care. With the world in such a state, what was there to care about? He was just an outsider’s soul, not to mention one personally saved by the world itself.

The world awakened and, enduring the pain, brought Alka in—even if it might have been a mistake. But saved was saved. Besides, Alka had presumptuously connected with the world on his own and been drowned by the ocean of sadness. The Gold and Silver Energy had gently touched the world, attempting to make it aware. And the world had responded again, deliberately placing itself back into the sensation of pain. In her pain, she saved the child who had accidentally fallen into her sorrowful emotions, momentarily stopping her own anguish.

So how could Alka not care for her? This world, it could be said, was the foundation of his new life. To say it was the mother of his new life was no exaggeration.

Otherwise, Alka would have long since been shredded to dust in the Star Realm, leaving no trace. She had even saved Alka a second time. Alka believed that the second time, when he was submerged in the sea of sorrow, the world must have discovered his true nature. Yet, she had still been willing to save him and send him out.

That was why Alka struggled to make a choice.

It was too painful, too unbearable. The world’s forced survival was a torment, a torment greater than anything else it could experience.

Alka’s original intent was definitely not to destroy the world, but to save it. Yet the world itself forcibly wished for death.

This confused him, leaving him unsure of what to choose.

Because, whether from Mirmi’s memory fragments or the information he had obtained by becoming the Natural Essence, he knew that destruction... was far simpler than saving.

Saving might only bring greater pain, more profound torment. Because it wasn’t such a simple matter.