Hulim had never imagined that simply reading historical content to enrich her experience would lead her to witness a cross-temporal debate—and uncover the nearly complete historical context of the Himmler world.

  "......I really stumbled upon something incredible."

  She couldn’t help but sigh at Himmler’s past.

  But what struck her most—what filled her with regret—was the reason behind the end of each era.

  Scholars rarely mentioned this aspect, as if unwilling to face the harsh truth. Yet fragmented remarks revealed a cruel reality......

  Himmler is a world powered by magic.

  Magic is the foundation of our survival.

  But this life-sustaining power is fraught with uncertainty.

  For it signifies one undeniable fact:

  Individual power is destined to prevail over the collective.

  A creature of only E-rank poses little danger, requiring no serious concern.

  A D-rank creature is already somewhat hazardous and must be handled with caution.

  By C-rank, a creature becomes quite dangerous—needing someone of equivalent strength or a large team to counter it.

  As for B-rank......

  At this level, a creature’s power undergoes a dramatic, discontinuous surge!

  It is almost impossible for those below B-rank to defeat it. Even if victory is forced through sheer numbers, the cost will be unimaginable.

  An A-rank creature

  can easily threaten the safety of an entire city. By then, they can truly be called walking natural disasters.

  And S-rank......

  Every S-rank being that appears in the world is a catastrophic disaster. Without someone capable of stopping them, the fall of a nation is only a matter of days!

  It is precisely the existence of such individual great power that has made the development of civilization so arduous.

  Building a glorious city may take hundreds or even thousands of years, but destroying it only takes one night......

  Most importantly, the majority of those with such great power are not ordinary creatures with limited intelligence—they are humans.

  As long as there are humans, their thoughts will inevitably be diverse.

  Throughout history, S-rank powerhouses who went on rampages and sought to destroy the world due to various reasons have been far from rare.

  There have even been cases where an individual grew so powerful that no other S-rank could stop them, bringing an entire civilization to an end......

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Beyond the uncertainty of individual power, magical creations also carry unpredictability.

  Synthetic monsters, Destroyer Golems, magic mobile fortresses, and so on—

  these can all be found in the books of the Manacos Magic Academy.

  The main reason for the end of most eras is the loss of control over overly powerful magical creations due to human folly, ultimately dragging the entire civilization into the grave.

  "......Perhaps this is why the gods left the surface and founded Tiramshuin."

  Excessively powerful individual strength becomes an obstacle to the world’s progress.

  If the first two gods had remained on the surface, could the later gods have ever emerged?

  Probably not.

  Every god who appeared later was a protagonist of their era.

  If the gods had stayed on the surface, the light of such era-defining figures would surely have been overshadowed.

  In the end, while civilizations have repeatedly risen and fallen without divine intervention, the overall power of the world has continued to grow. Each new god has made the world stronger and more complete.

  Furthermore,

  could Himmler still hold out against the Demon King’s invasion today without its six gods?

  The answer is evident in the arduous resistance Himmler has shown against the Demon King’s army time and time again......

  ......

  It had been over half a month since Hulim entered the underground metropolis.

  Her body was steadily recovering.

  She could now cast Second-Rank Magic without difficulty, but regaining the ability to use Third-Rank Magic would likely take some time.

  Yet Hulim was in no hurry. At her current rate, full recovery was only a matter of time.

  Rather than spending half an hour in the Mana Pool every day, she preferred staying in the Tower of Ages.

  Even though she couldn’t cast high-rank magic yet, her cognitive abilities remained intact—she could still understand and learn the high-rank magic left by the sages here.

  As for various special magic circles, while her physical condition didn’t hinder her from setting them up, she lacked the necessary materials. So she could only memorize them for now, planning to verify them later when the opportunity arose.

  Besides the Tower of Ages, Hulim spent her free time exploring the ancient metropolis. Finding usable ancient magic items or structures similar to the Tower of Ages would be an unexpected bonus.

  And today, Hulim discovered something extraordinary......

  Somewhere on the edge of the underground metropolis,

  Hulim stared at the plant-covered cave before her, deep in thought.

  From the traces, the cave was clearly man-made—yet it felt completely out of place in this ancient Mogalia city.

  "......This must be the passage dug by those scholars."

  It wasn’t hard to infer: if the passage hadn’t been built by the ancient Mogalians, it could only have been created by later visitors.

  Hulim had wondered before how the sages who came to this underground metropolis had entered.

  It was certain they hadn’t been washed in by an underground river like her.

  There must have been an entrance they used.

  This cave was likely that very passage!

  "I’ve now recovered enough to use Second-Rank Magic. While I’m still no match for the creatures of Mirnabith, my ability to escape has improved quite a bit......"

  With that thought, Hulim made a decision.

  She couldn’t stay underground forever—she would eventually return to the surface.

  "I’ll scout ahead first. If I sense any danger, I’ll retreat immediately and wait until I’m fully recovered to find a way out."

  Gripping the hilt of Helkem, Hulim carefully ventured deeper into the passage......

  The cave wasn’t particularly large, with only a few bioluminescent plants and small creatures inside.

  There were no dangerous large beasts, monsters, or Golems.

  Moreover,

  the passage sloped upward overall.

  "......It seems this passage leads to the surface."

  About two hours later,

  the path ahead came to an end—blocked only by a narrow crack, through which light seeped in.

  At the sight of that light, Hulim immediately realized she had reached the surface!

  She didn’t act hastily. Instead, she observed carefully from behind the crack for a long time. Only after confirming there were no dangerous creatures outside did she take action......

  Thud! Thud! Thud......

  On the surface, near a building built against a mountain wall, a series of continuous impacts echoed.

  Small creatures like Horned Rats and Horned Rabbits living in the ruins scurried into hiding at the noise.

  Before long,

  Boom!

  A loud crash of something heavy collapsing rang out, and dust billowed from the depths of the ruins.

  Shortly after, a young girl emerged from the dust.

  She looked up, gazing at the sky.

  "It’s been so long since I’ve seen sunlight."