Russell exhaled deeply.

There was no obvious smile on his face, but his emerald green pupils were extremely bright.

Just watching the "strangulation" and the "inferior" transform into "Mahavira" and "Wolf Talk", the two people, who are incomparably similar in every sense, finally cut off their painful past, and ushered in happiness, Russell feels that his heart is satisfied.

He was a little confused about the future. But now he can finally be convinced that the path he is on is not the wrong one.

Not for absolute justice, nor for eternal victory......

He could not be a "god of justice." As a human being, he cannot give absolutely fair judgments to everyone, and he cannot become a judge recognized by everyone. Because he really realized that what people ..... crave is more than justice.

Essentially, what people yearn for is "happiness" that comes from justice. And if you want to get to the other side of happiness, you need more than justice.

People need more abundant resources, so they want to meet the "foundation of survival"; People want a more convenient lifestyle, so people need enough "wisdom"; People want to eliminate unnecessary disputes, so they want to reach "understanding"; People want to be better, and they need to be "strong and beautiful" with confidence from the bottom of their hearts.

People want the world to be "just", they want everyone to be "rich", and they want the future to always be full of "hope".

— and Russell is not an omnipotent god. Even if "God" were resurrected, He would not be able to accomplish all of this.

Because everyone's desires are inherently conflicting. What everyone thinks in their hearts is subtly different from everyone else's. And if these seemingly small differences are extended infinitely over a long period of time, they will become countless different futures.

It was because of this that Russell was confused.

He could not satisfy all his desires, let alone satisfy all his cravings. Even if he defeated the monkey-faced eagle with the sheath, he had his own desires - he wanted to defeat the sheath.

And then he has to slay down the dragon again, and he has to gain the approval of the elven directors, or defeat him; He's going to devour dreams afterward. In the future, what will he defeat and devour?

The twilight seeds in the universe are endless, and if he is defeated, then all the struggles he has done before will be meaningless?

And if he grows stronger to take care of everyone and defeat all enemies, is he a weapon, a man, an all-powerful idol, or a machine to solve calamity?

- Although in front of the Pope, Russell showed his determination and realized the loopholes and flaws in the "promotion" plan.

But in hindsight, Russell would rather not see that long-term future himself.

He knew that the Pope's plan would eventually fail, and the "now" he had sacrificed to shelter would come to naught..... but if the time dimension continued to lengthen, considering the future thousands of years from now, and facing new enemies, he would not be the next "promotion" if he still chose the "old plan" - would he still be defeated by the next brave man?

Russell, as long as he was human, could not always be right; But if he wants to become a god, wouldn't he have embarked on the old path of promotion and monkey-faced eagle again? How could he prove himself right?

But now..... Russell's complex and painful heart has finally been somewhat liberated.

The inferior who always has a cold face now shows a little shame on his face and turns his head away; The hideous and brutal strangulation is now shrunk next to the operating chair like a tamed big cat. Their hearts used to be miserable and lonely, but now they have found the meaning of their existence.

The inferior gave up the pointless and meaningless revenge, and the strangulation also gave up his self-deceptive "betrayal".

They all thought they were going to pay for their lives on this path. As they walked that way, they never thought they would leave here one day.

But if they are now, look back....

You will be aware of your immaturity and be ashamed of your extremes.

It definitely makes sense.

He doesn't need to be a demon king, he doesn't need to be a saint, and he doesn't need to be a god. Because Russell didn't take it all and give up the consciousness of smiling to appreciate the little happiness in front of him.....

Because from the very beginning, he didn't have to think about the distant future.

He's just a "hero".

Not to undo all the tragedies, not to defeat all the evils and demons—not to be an extreme and sharp blade, but to be as smooth as a mirror shield as Aegis.

A hero who fights to protect happiness.

Do what you can, do your best to save all the tragedies around you...

to love people, and therefore to love more people; To love humanity and therefore to love the world.

「… Thank you."

Russell thanked the strangled and inferior without warning.

Both of them were dazed and confused, but Russell smiled as easily as a cat.

Even people like the strangled and the inferior who have been burdened with too much of a past can be rescued by Russell from tragedy - wouldn't it be easier to help others?

Just like the name of the "Brokers".

Organizations that exist only to help others – in that case, there is no need to think about anything more.

Russell suddenly understood why the mentor had just opened the door and left him without discussing it with him.

Because at that time, he couldn't say anything meaningful. He has lost his most powerful "arguments" and is therefore left to empty words.

Needless to say. Just need to send him over and witness the happiness of the two, and Russell will naturally understand everything.

"I see.........

Combined with the last conversation with the mentor, Russell finally understood the ultimate purpose of the mentor as the "opener" to pull himself over.

Her wish is to overthrow the "Tower of the End" completely.

This meant lifting the seal on the dream, but that wasn't her purpose.

Because it also means that this stranded world that has been stranded for thousands of years will truly connect to the dream world. It's like a device with airplane mode turned on and connected to the Internet again...... That's when the world will go through real tests, but also real opportunities.

If Russell was still afraid of those unknown difficulties, standing still and fearing those future disasters, he would not dare to move forward...... How is this different from those who fear the end of the world and the collapse of the sky?

Russell finally understood how to refute the Pope -

It's like a quarrel is over, and you go home and go to sleep, and you wake up in the middle of the night – that's what I should have said!

- Because after all, this is not the world that "belongs" them.

This world does not belong to Ascension, much less to Russell; People are freer. They did not conquer this world, and this planet is not their private property. In this case, they have no right to stagnate the development of the world and stifle some possibility of the future for fear of future disasters.

That's too arrogant. And short-sighted.

Russell realized with some guilt that ..... words he had previously used to denounce the Pope could also be applied to himself.

Since it is a matter of the future, it is left to the future to solve; Since it is a disaster for all mankind in the future, it will be left to all mankind in the future to solve. Standing in the "present" and looking at the future, I will always feel worried and afraid; But the future of human beings will not be limited to the extent of the present.

"Wait, the mentor doesn't mean that..."

Russell suddenly remembered what his mentor had said, "Think about what Russell would do." He originally thought that this was another meme by the mentor

But now that he came to his senses and looked back, he realized that his mentor had already given him the answer.

Because the "Russell" here does not refer to him, but to the "philosopher Russell."

That "Russell" believed that all human activities originate from impulses

with wishes. And the goodness of the individual is the fulfillment of the "wish".

People want to fulfill their desires, and human beings are social animals who always love others. If we want to satisfy the wishes of the greatest number of people, we should pursue the universal good.

Although individual desires are different and even conflicting, where wishes can coexist, there is always more "sum of good" than where desires conflict, and "a greater total number of desires" can be satisfied. In other words, the "universal good" is convergent and can be taken to the limit—it will eventually converge to the "coexistence of desires."

Thus, the universal good is necessarily feasible in a sufficiently long term – or infinitely distant future. Love is preferable to hate, cooperation is preferable to competition, help is preferable to plunder, peace is preferable to war. The only problem is that humanity cannot reach infinity, so it has to be accelerated.

If humanity is to seek ultimate salvation through accelerated means, it must resort to science.

Science does not refer to "steel technology that excludes psionic powers and spells", but rather to a system of knowledge based on testable explanations, a practical method of understanding the world, based on testable explanations, and predictions about objective things.

It's not just the thirst for endless truth on Sogo Island, it's not the decryption of Sun Island's inductive knowledge system and ancient technology, and it's not the integration of Tongshen Island's industrial system. Not truth, not knowledge, not technology – but a clear approach.

Since the future of humanity is already in jeopardy, the future of humanity can only be reassured if it is indeed on a path that will open up more possibilities, and when enough people are fully aware of it.

- The path of the elves and dragons was wrong from the very beginning.

They should not hide the truth of the future and obscure the past. If they had announced everything from the very beginning, perhaps thousands of years later, humanity would have thought of a solution to the problem.

They still use the perspective of the past catastrophe to fear the future catastrophe, to see it firmly as the "unstoppable" doom, and to attack all optimists who deny the end. The destruction of the old human civilization frightened these eighty-four inheritors...... Therefore, they chose to "be rulers" and rule the world with their own right perceptions.

So, looking back......

INTERVIEWER How is this essentially different from the promotion plan?

The mistakes made by the Raiders a thousand years ago are exactly the same as the ascensions they make today. They all sacrificed the whole "now" in order to fight against the calamities of the future. With confidence in his own pure and resolute will, he became the "forerunner, caretaker and guardian of mankind", and became the most special ruler.

In order not to decay themselves, they specially made their spirits and hearts immortal. For this they paid enough. But thousands of years later, these immortals are still corrupted by time.

The end is near. They become desperate, they become decadent, they become depraved.

Pope Ascend is disgusted by the ignorance, sluggishness and conservatism of the spirits, but he is also on this path. Russell, who wanted to become a god in confusion, also unconsciously gradually moved towards this path.

"The only lesson that humanity can learn from history is that it has learned nothing from history......

Humans keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

It is only now that Russell realizes the weight of this statement. The era that erased [history] has forgotten even this most important warning by everyone.