WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom-Chapter 274: Rise and Fall of Civilization

A huge disaster fell, and the survivors found a way to survive by fleeing underground.

Below, the spark of civilization continued. Tunnels became streets, streets became districts, and districts became territories with walls and gates.

Air vents were guarded like fortresses, and water sources became more precious than gold. Underground life changed the survivors.

Over many generations, big bodies became a burden. They adapted and slowly became smaller.

After thousands of years, they became as small as normal humans.

Magic weakened underground, but it did not stop their progress.

They created artifacts and weapons and used magic more effectively.

People grew prosperous and reached a new golden era.

The survivors forgot the disaster. They grew greedy and began another war.

One faction finally broke the forbidden law.

They climbed forbidden shafts and cracked barriers that blocked them from the surface.

They saw green land for the first time in their lives. The sky above them was vast and blue, and the air felt fresh.

Magic was stronger here, giving them new possibilities. War stopped for a while because the land was so vast.

They began to migrate to the surface again, and their understanding of magic rose to a whole new level.

A new era formed.

Magic-users were registered, trained, and categorized.

Alchemy created magical liquid with miraculous effects.

Crafters created artifacts with rare materials, forging weapons that could destroy a whole mountain with a single attack.

Then war started again.

It did not matter why.

What matter was with better weapons the destruction became worse.

Gigantic tsunamis destroyed whole continents. Meteors fell from the sky and shattered the ground and the atmosphere.

Then the next disaster happened, a huge explosion that brought the whole world into an ice age.

The sky stayed gray for years.

Snow swallowed roads and cities.

The survivors hid in caves, broken tunnels, and buried ruins.

They burned anything they could find, and they killed each other over a handful of food.

Magic still existed at first, but it became weaker.

Generations passed under ice. Children grew up hearing stories about the old golden era..

The few who still had talent could only light weak flames, and even that became rarer as bloodlines thinned.

Magic began to disappear from the air.

Then one day, it was gone, and only old records still used the word "magic" like it was a fairytale.

Humanity returned to survival.

They hunted with stone and bone. They carried fire the normal way, with embers and dry wood.

They learned animal tracks, learned seasons again, and learned fear.

The ice loosened slowly.

Rivers opened first, then valleys, then plains. People followed water and animals into the new land.

Camps became villages when the same places kept feeding them.

Farming returned, and towns formed around storage and trade.

’This timeline... this history, it cannot be.’

At this point, Ben realized what this history was.

This was not just the history of this planet.

The scene continued progressing as he expected. Humanity learned to use bronze, then found iron.

Nations rose and fell as technology kept progressing, until it reached the world he was familiar with.

A world with internet, social media, and nukes.

But the scene didn’t stop here. It showed how a genius inventor found magic again.

How he found the miracle material that triggered World War 3.

After this, what happened filled Ben with horror.

’This is just like what lady of lake told me...

I don’t know how... but I came to the future.’

Then his eyes snapped open. "HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"

Ben let out a maniacal laughter.

A shockwave burst out of his body and rolled across the battlefield.

BOOM!!!

Red-gold flame and dark aether blasted outward together.

The plaza floor collapsed into a crater.

The remaining altar walls were turned into dust.

The Ash King was thrown back through the air, his flames flickering for the first time.

Elvira was forced to drop to one knee, her hair and clothes whipped by the pressure. D

raeven stared from the ground, coughing, eyes wide.

Ben floated in the center of the storm. Dark wings with an aurora glow appeared on his back.

Gold fire ran through them like veins.

The air trembled.

Ben looked at his hands.

He could feel it. The Primordial Flame was inside him now.

But this was only secondary to him now.

He finally understood.

He was home. He always was.

He never transmigrated to another world. "HAHAHAHAHA."

Ben laughed again.

Draeven shook his head, thinking he became crazy because of the Primordial Flame power.

But Elvira knew better. She looked at Ben with worry.

"Ben... just what happened."

She could feel Ben’s sadness and grief from it.

The Ash King looked at Ben with shock.

He could feel the Primordial Flame power was moved away from him.

Only a small bit remained.

"YOU!!! YOU!!! HOW!?"

He was in disbelief.

Why did the Primordial Flame allow itself to be consumed by Ben?

He knew that if not because of this, there was no way Ben could absorb it so easily.

It even took part of his.

"YOU THIEF!"

Ben looked toward the Ash King.

"You’re delusional.

This power was never yours, and never mine.

It chose its owner by its own will to protect this plane."

Finally, Ben understood why he was here.

Unlike other system users, he came to this moment because of the Primordial Flame’s will.

It used its power to affect the eve plan, resulting in the current situation.

’Seriously...

I’m just Ben, a construction worker...

Why did you choose me, Primordial Flame?’

No answer came, but somehow Ben felt like he got the answer.

It was very simple. Throughout countless civilization, as the Primordial Flame thinned out, Ben was the living being with the most Primordial Flame still slumbering inside his soul.

It stayed dormant all this time until this moment, when it finally made contact with the core.

"Whatever." Ben grinned. "Ash King, now it’s time for your demise."

There were still mysteries left, but for him, it felt like a huge burden had been taken from his shoulders.

Dark Flames ignited from his body as he appeared in front of the Ash King.

"DIE!"