The essence of the tester is that of a spiritual servant, an aggregate of souls, a precursor to 'intelligent beings'.

It's the same as Garden. Ikali's Elemental Apostles are essentially no different from the Elemental Golems above the Four Rings, and the latter can even be considered their predecessors, or that the Elemental Gods are the top elemental golems, and there's nothing wrong with that.

In the same way, in the dark abyss, the spirit servants born under the Eden system are also the "top form" of spirit helpers. It can't be compared to the mass-produced account cards on the planet.

Of course, just as Shans didn't know that the mature "system" had been taken away, and that he was doing what Kanrosh had repeated many years ago, he didn't know what an account card was and what the real meaning of the system's existence was.

All he can do is continue to test and refine the system.

……

The new testers have undergone a long growth process in the Dark Abyss, gradually giving birth to independent AI, and then being sent to various places to perform different testing tasks. In order to protect the Garden of Eden, each tester will empty their memories when they leave, allowing them to consider themselves as independent and able-bodied people, not 'testers'.

But the test task becomes a subconscious mind, subtly guiding them to complete the test work and return with the results.

Eric: The mammoth hunter Kelly they'd seen before was Tester 017 Halib. Before him, the humans from the city of Heruambri who had fused with the souls of beasts had arrived on the Kadra Plateau in Lokan, where they struggled to survive. Halib's mission is to help them thrive and expand the database by collecting geomorphological features and biological information from the Kadra Plateau.

Later, as the old orc legend recounts, Halib died in an avalanche on the Hogarth Peak, but he saved the entire tribe with his own sacrifice. The dead Halib returned to Heru with his data, back to the Dark Abyss.

Xu Fu, numbered 018, was also one of the humans who traveled to Lokan as a long-distance traveler, and he was in charge of sailing experiments and collecting ocean data. To this end, he assembled a fleet of ships and traveled to the seven seas, where he met the sirens.

The sirens are half-human, half-fish banshees who have no males in their colony and rely on coral secretions from fluorescent seabeds to breed offspring, all of which are female. Therefore, after encountering Xu Fu's fleet, the queen of the sirens led the army to capture half of the males on the ship, and Xu Fu returned with data.

Tester 008 Hoth was tasked with building the city's social mission, and he traveled to the south of the mist-shrouded River Styx to establish the city of Hothdi, and passed on this mission.

Tang Yan, numbered 003, was tasked with the social test of establishing a guild, and he led a group of testers, including Qiu Lan, Tao Ya, and Huang Wu, to establish a sanctuary north of the River Styx, and live on an ancient hermit philosophy.

Later, the Templar absorbed some of the proto-Heru people north of the River Styx, and the testers and the descendants of the Heru humans were the first Orientals, and the addition of the Orientals gradually turned the Templars into a behemoth.

But problems followed.

Because of the absorption of too many "Orientals", the Templar became bloated and the tail was too big to fall, so it gradually surfaced from the previous underground organization, and also caused the fear of the Heru people north of the Styx, and the Michao people who had unscrupulously fished souls on the Styx in the early days were even accumulating strength to attack the Templar.

Not only did this go against Tang Yan's insistence on the "philosophy of seclusion", but most importantly, the already powerful Sanctuary upset the fragile balance with the Kingdom of Tallinn.

Hearing this, Eric was intrigued, as he had heard Ricky speak of the ancient hatred of the Kingdom of Tallinn and the Templars. But Shans's next words surprised him.

"The Kingdom of Tallinn is not indigenous to Heru either, and their appearance is an accident." Shansi explains, "In addition to the Golden Orchard, the Fountain of Strength, and the Spiritual Wind Meadow, the 'Hot Spring Pass' is also one of the core components of the Garden of Eden. There, in addition to visualizing the collected physical data, it is also possible to modify the parameters to create entirely new races. Tester Sartre of Number 019 was originally a goblin, but I thought the race was too ugly, so I made some changes, added goat horns, a mustache, and a tail, made some tweaks, and named it 'Tallinn'. ”

"So Ricky's ancestors are almost goblins? So what tests is he responsible for? Establish a nation? Isn't that a duplicate of Hoth? Eric asked.

Shans shook his head, "Sartre is shouldering the test of faction confrontation. He took another group of testers with the goal of building a group strong enough to fight the Templars, and the two would attack each other until one was destroyed. ”

Eric was shocked, "But...... What's the point? ”

"There's no point, it's my mission." Shansi stalled his hands.

"Theirs too."

……

As a faction that has been opposed to the Templars since ancient times, the Destruction of the Templars is in the blood of every Tallinn, and as Shans says, it is their mission.

This is different from the "belief" in Tang Yan's mind, he seems to really uphold the belief of the Oriental people that "peace is precious", and repeatedly tolerates the hostile Tallinn.

This turned into a strange factional confrontation, with one side defending and the other being aggressive, but as more and more Easterners joined the Templar, the Kingdom of Tallinn gradually began to be unable to approach the Templar, let alone fall in. It's like a spark burning into a raging flame, and it is scorched by the fire from afar, and there is no way to get close.

However, it was at this point that the Templar made a startling decision. They split into two parts, with most of the "Orientals" sent to Lokan to build a new sanctuary there, and the rest of the group continued to fight against Tallinn.

The bloated sanctuary was suddenly refreshed, but it also gave the people of Tallinn a chance to take advantage of it, so the sanctuary was destroyed, leaving only Peach Arrow and Phoenix Witch to hide in the kingdom of Tallinn, and there was no thought of "confrontation" in their subconscious, and only the way to return to the dark abyss was left.

At the same time, the obsession of the Tallinn people to "destroy the Holy Church" has also disappeared in their minds, and has become the guardian of the holy land, the dark land, which is why when the blood of Horsty activates the gate of the sacred tree, the Tallinn people behave like that. As Sartre's descendants, their memories are initialized by the Garden of Eden and turned into a belief in the protection of the Holy Land and the destruction of the Templars.

However, Ricky and Uno are not affected much, with Eric speculating that the former is due to Momoya and the latter is a half-breed. But he couldn't figure out why, since it was a confrontation, the Templars would be so unaggressive that they would take the initiative to bury the advantage when they had it.

It was also difficult for Shansi to answer this point.

"There's nothing unusual in the data they brought back." "But what happened later made me suspect that someone had done something. ”

"What happened next?"

"Be patient, Mr. Writer, the story is still long.

"The first tester, the guy with the number 000, you've met him, the legendary mage of humanity, Mangaza, the guy I call Piper." Shans whispered, "He told me that in Lokan, there is a place called the Wind Firmament, which is the area that the gods have painstakingly tried to invade. His words awakened a name in my memory – Piper. I don't know why there is such a name so deep in my heart, it seems to be tied to the 'Wind Firmament', and I only remembered the latter. Like the mission of 'perfecting the Garden of Eden', it is sealed in the depths of memory, and the origin is unknown.

"I gave the name to Manji, and he gladly accepted it, and from then on he became my deputy, and I didn't remove his memory. I'd also like to have a guy to talk to...... But others, they are different. ”

Shans breathed a sigh of relief, and continued, "Anyone who completes the test is recovered in a variety of ways, the most common of which is death. Unlike other living beings, the Soul Maid feels the call of the Holy Land all the time, and their souls do not belong to the River Styx, but to the Garden of Eden, to the Abyss of Darkness, and will eventually return to the Holy Land. Even if the door is not opened, their souls can come back through the cracks.

"Tang Yan, they returned in the form of death after the fall of the Sanctuary, and I removed their memories and placed them in the world you see now. There was always bright sunshine and meadows. This is not only a test of the mission system, but also a little selfishness on my part.

"They are no longer servants who have survived in the human world for so long, they are real beings, and I see them as friends, not tools for perfecting the Garden of Eden. So I want them to live a carefree life. But just before Momoya and Phoenix Witch returned, something happened. ”

Shans recalled: "Miss Sulia's Cantusa, the material from Ignos, was the core component of the Eden system. It records the soul of each tester starting with Mangaza, which is why they are able to regenerate an infinite number of times instead of returning to the Styx.

"I always thought that all the testers were back except for Momoya and Phoenix Witch, but in fact there were three survivors after the destruction of the Templar, and even if I checked them one by one with Cantusha, I couldn't find this vulnerability."

"He's Tester 007, and his name is Maleonn." Shansi breathed a sigh of relief and said slowly: "I've always liked that guy, he is a painter, and he feels that his little thumb affects his painting, so he went to the hot spring gate and became eight fingers." I also asked him to help me draw Piper as I remember.

"After Tang Yan and they came back, I don't know how many years later, he came back. But this time he seems to have changed when he came back. He had obviously passed the test of the Holy Land and had not had the slightest problem with him, but he had become extreme and unreasonable.

"The first thing he did when he came back was to argue with me and ask me what the purpose of the test was, whether they were slaves and servants under my control, whether I was doing so to establish a dictatorship and why I wanted to give them wisdom and the ability to think critically. A deformed existence like them, no matter how many times they die, their souls will not return to the Styx, they will only be absorbed here, why do they exist? He felt dirty about his existence.

"This was my biggest fear for a long time, I was afraid that a tester would doubt my existence, so I tried to simply erase his memories to prevent the situation from getting worse, but I failed. With a sudden burst of unimaginable power, he rushed into the heart of Ignos, snatching the heart of Ignos, the heart of the Eden system, a small tree whose bark Cantusha was. ”

Speaking of which, Shans's tone was not very excited, as if he was stating something that had nothing to do with him.

"I seem to be really tired, even if he did such a stupid thing I don't feel angry, as if I approve of his behavior, as if the real self-doubting person is not him, and I want this to end......"

"But what he did next angered me."

Shans suddenly became excited, and his voice was full of anger.

Dark clouds began to rise in the open world sky, and thunder rang out from time to time.

"He went to the Pinecone Labyrinth, where he was going to take everyone there, claiming to give them real freedom, and when he refused, he raised the butcher's knife to his former friend!

"I was instantly enraged, like a beast that had lost its mind. In order to gain the power to take him down, I became one with the Eden System. I succeeded, I burned him to ashes. But I also failed, he didn't die, but took Tang Yan and Qiu Lan with them, as well as the many people you are about to meet on the third floor of the labyrinth......

"That's all I did, now you should understand, right? Despite the erasure of his memory, Halib still misses the Kadra Plateau, and his wish is to return there...... I trapped him in the snow, so that he could not leave, but I did not have time to stop you. He is sent to an environment that has not yet been generated, where he rebuilds his home, but also regains his memories.

Shans crouched on the ground with his head in his hands, muttering, "He said I was the executioner, and I should have been burned." Maybe he's right......"

"But why do you want to erase their memories?" Eric couldn't help but ask.

"I didn't! I just removed them! ”

Shans stood up sharply and said angrily.

At the same time, a rumbling thunder rang out from the open world, and it began to rain in the sky.

"They are not spiritual servants, they are living people!

"Manji told me that the humans of Lokan were weaker and shorter-lived than the Herus, but they built beautiful city-states, and they farmed, herded, hunted, and built entirely new homes in the barren plains, and the lazy people of the Heru did not know how much more energetic than the Herus!

"Because of the fear of death, people's lives have meaning and motivation, but they cannot die! I don't want them to become puppets who are numb and lose themselves in endless reincarnation, but continue to remain a living person with a thirst for life! But I don't want them to be like Maleonn, to doubt themselves and think that they are 'deformed beings'......

"But I can't......

"I can't really give them a full 'life', I can only do this, cruelly strip those memories and store them carefully, and I hope that if one day they have a real 'life', I will give them back, even if they don't want to be friends with me anymore......

"I really don't have ...... Didn't erase anyone's memory......"

Shansi's voice grew quieter and quieter, and he looked at the group of Surya on the light curtain, and warm liquid flowed from his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Eric sincerely apologized, "Did anyone tell you why you were doing these tests?" ”

"No, I don't understand why I'm so obsessed, it seems like ...... It seems like this was done before, and I'm just repeating it now. I want to complete the test again, maybe a miracle will happen then.

"There is a voice inside me telling me that the one who truly loves the world and does not get exp by killing is the chosen one. So I put up that sign. I hope that one day I can wait for such a savior, save everyone, and save me......

"Now it seems like you're going to get through these levels, but I can't, I can't do that, I have to stop you. The Eden system is incomplete without a core, and all your actions are in vain, and their memories will be restored...... I don't want to go through that pain again, I don't want to ......"

Shans whispered as he turned to face Eric, who felt the space around him squeeze against him, his limbs bound, and his bones creaking.

In the light curtain, the hill where Surya and his party were located suddenly shook and shook, and large ravines appeared between the cliffs, revealing the hot magma below, and the heat was filled in the deep darkness.

The dark clouds in the sky seemed to be stirred by a large hand, and lightning gathered in the center of the whirlpool, illuminating the dark sky.

The rain curtain was torn in two by lightning, as if the end of the world was coming.