Chapter 573: The Source of the Supernatural
The brilliance flashing from the divine crown on Ace’s head absorbed a portion of His aura, turning into a stream of light that plunged into the black hole in the dome’s nebula. Ace felt a certain brand belonging to Him appear in a mysterious location on the Kaya Divine Mountain.
“A True Name?”
Ace murmured. Grand holy music sounded, the little sprites reappeared, and the projections and true bodies of the deities began to leave one after another. Finally, only Ace and the Lady of the Night, Artemis, remained.
Her Holiness Arte said gently, “Your laws of dreams have already reached the level of an incarnation. If you wish to become a Sovereign, you still need to dig deeper into your laws, develop their potential, and derive more possibilities. I value you highly, and I hope you can shoulder great responsibilities.”
Arte’s eyes seemed to flash with the radiance of fate, causing Ace’s heart to skip a beat, feeling that there might be a hidden meaning in Her words. After Arte finished speaking, She turned into moonlight and disappeared. Ace pondered in the Pantheon for a while, and His figure gradually dissipated.
In the Dream Realm sub-plane, Ace roamed the galaxy. This galaxy was not like the Milky Way of His past life, which had stars as numerous as grains of sand. There were only less than two hundred stars here, which was already the limit of Ace’s current capabilities.
He found the solar system He created imitating His past life and landed on “Earth.”
“To grow into the true galaxy of my past life, with nearly four hundred billion stars, there is still a very long way to go. The required resource accumulation is simply a terrifying figure.
“Who exactly created the universe of my past life? To be so vast and boundless, the energy required is simply inconceivably massive.”
This Earth was about the same size as the one in His past life and was located in the sun’s habitable zone. Its natural landscape was exceptionally primitive. Ace strolled here, His physical body unmoving, while His mind had already immersed into the deep layers of His mental imagery world.
The Demi-god Noble Phantasm, the Tablet of Fate, was still vanished, having transformed into a mysterious, long river of fate. Ace carefully studied this “river of fate” He obtained from the four-dimensional Secret Realm, and said slowly:
“I only obtained one law of fate, not the complete laws of fate. Obtaining the complete laws of fate is far too difficult. Only with the guidance of the Lady of the Night did I barely manage to pick up one. If I had to pick it up myself, I fear it would have been exceptionally difficult.”
After speaking, Ace raised His hand, and the river of fate actually began to surge with turbulent waves, gradually manifesting an object. It was precisely the Tablet of Fate.
The quality of this stone tablet had already sublimated, but it actually looked battered and tattered, as if missing many pieces.
“The clay Tablet of Fate has been upgraded to the stone Tablet of Fate. But to be precise, it’s a fragment of the stone tablet, not complete. Just like this law of fate, many laws of fate are needed to form complete fate.
“The stone tablet has lost its influence over the Wizard World, but correspondingly, it has gained the status to determine everything within this sub-plane. As long as it is within the range where the projection of my sub-plane descends, fate will be twisted and guided by me.”
This was an extremely powerful ability, and Ace was very satisfied with it. He now possessed the complete laws of dreams and manifestation as His foundation, a law of fate as an auxiliary, and the Ninth Ring foundational spell “Galaxy Descent” as a nesting structure.
If He only had the laws of dreams, Ace’s dreams would be illusory and powerless. Even with the laws of manifestation, the manifested objects would still require corresponding understanding to exist long-term. And this perfectly suited Ace’s Ninth Ring spell, “Galaxy Descent.”
“Galaxy Descent,” put plainly, was the sum of Ace’s cognitive understanding of the world’s underlying patterns—what this world is composed of, how it operates, etc. Other wizards directly engraved this cognition into their mental imagery world, mapping it to demi-planes and sub-planes.
Ace, however, used dreams as a nesting structure. Even if there were cognitive errors or conflicting understandings, this cognition could simply be disillusioned within the dream, making it extremely appropriate.
“Dreams are inherently illusory, but after I fill the dream with my cognitive understanding of the world’s patterns, the entire dream becomes incomparably real. Coupled with the laws of manifestation, the dream can overwrite parts of reality at any time.
“If I want to deepen the laws of dreams, actually, as long as I continuously expand the breadth and depth of my cognitive understanding of the world’s patterns, there will be no problem.
“The more important thing right now is to first create a Demi-god level projection.”
Ace slowly floated off the ground, flying deep into the galactic center. His divine body began to palpitate rhythmically. Accompanying Ace’s palpitations, those hundred-plus stars also palpitated, gradually forming a strange energy wave. The entire miniature galaxy suddenly burst with brilliant light.
That palpitation seemed to reach a certain critical point. After the brilliant light flourished, the entire galaxy became incredibly dim. All energy concentrated in the galactic center and flowed into Ace’s body. He was shrouded in starlight, like a being of light.
This lasted for about three days, until a being of light exactly identical to Ace walked out from Ace’s light.
The light on the light-being Ace gradually withdrew inward, and its form solidified. Bowing slightly to Ace, it turned into a stream of light and actually directly crossed the astral membrane, descending upon the Wizard World Cluster.
Ace looked at the retreating stream of light of His projection and said softly, “The so-called mysterious astral traversal actually has a more convenient route once one reaches the four-dimensional Secret Realm. One can completely jump directly from the four-dimensional level. It’s just that this still requires further research.”
He looked up at that “Door” in the galactic center. That was the super tool condensed from the Wizard Subconscious Sea capable of traveling to the four-dimensional Secret Realm. After seeing the Pantheon, Ace had a new concept for this Door.
“If my guess is correct, the Pantheon is actually the condensation of the wills of the deities. Then I can completely transform this four-dimensional secret Door into a sacred temple of the wizards’ will! It’s just that to do so, the concept of ‘Wizard’ must be extracted. Turning it into a divine authority is not appropriate; wizards do not need gods. Extracting this concept and condensing it into this mysterious Door is just right.”
Ace simply began to meditate quietly. As a Level 5 existence—that is, an existence at the level of deities—power is generated from nothingness.
In the past, Ace did not understand the meaning of this. Now He completely understood. The so-called power from nothingness was actually power drawn from the four-dimensional Secret Realm.
Normally, if a deity wants to communicate with the four-dimensional Secret Realm, they need to spend a long time adjusting their state, opening a dimensional rift, and drawing out the massive energy released when the fourth dimension degrades into the third dimension.
“This might be the source of supernatural power. The entire Astral Plane is in a bizarre state. As long as one advances to Level 5 Immortality, it is very easy to master the ability to open a dimensional rift. Although deities need to spend several years adjusting their state, this is, after all, not a direct, brief dimensional ascension to become a pseudo-four-dimensional existence, but opening a degrading dimensional rift to let the fourth dimension disintegrate into the third dimension.”
As Ace spoke, He also frowned.
Following His own understanding, He easily opened a rift with the help of the four-dimensional secret Door. A strange crack appeared above His head—abruptly appearing, yet seeming as if it had existed since antiquity.
That crack slowly enlarged, eventually reaching about three meters. Ace fixed it using His cognition. Like opening a window to heaven, or perhaps opening a gate to hell, disordered, chaotic, and extremely high-quality mana poured out from the silver crack.
Ace manifested the deep layers of His mental imagery world. The Ocean of Rules and the Tower of Rules emerged. That surging mana entered the Ocean of Rules. Its extremely high quality was on par with Source Power; if it weren’t so chaotic and unruly, it might even be better than Source Power.
This high-quality state lasted for a very short time. If not converted promptly, it would degrade three tiers within a day, ultimately slowly becoming orderly but also losing its quality. This loss was very difficult to reverse.
One day later.
“This conversion is too slow and too wasteful.”
Ace frowned deeply and continued to mutter to Himself, “At least ninety percent was wasted. Degrading from a quality higher than Source Power to Source Power quality takes about an hour; from Source Power quality to Divine Power quality takes about three hours; from Divine Power quality to high-quality mana requires twenty hours.
“My Ocean of Rules and Tower of Rules can only smooth out a small portion of the high-dimensional mana of Divine Power quality. As for the other two qualities of high-dimensional mana, they cannot be converted into order at all.
“Perhaps I need to first upgrade the quality of Heart Fire, transforming my Heart Fire into higher-quality Immortal Heart Fire!”
With a thought from Ace, the glazed Heart Fire appeared, directly bathing beneath the high-dimensional rift. Burning and converting the high-dimensional mana, it rapidly elevated its mystery level.
After about three months, Ace had opened the high-dimensional rift a total of ten times, each time existing for about three days.
The glazed Heart Fire suddenly changed from brilliant multicolored to an ancient, unadorned white fire. In a higher dimension, the time of that flame also seemed to be twisted, and a seed of fire appeared in three dimensions.
This seed of fire resided in the center of the flame, seemingly possessing a nature of immortality, very mystical.
“This is the Immortal Heart Fire. The fire ignited by desire, at this moment, twists its time, transforming into a unique seed of fire. It can be called the Immortal Seed of Fire.”
As He spoke, the Immortal Seed of Fire burned fiercely. The high-dimensional mana pouring out was like spilled gasoline meeting a spark; it was actually instantly “ignited,” converting at extreme speed into energy equivalent to Source Power quality.
This was exactly the highest level of mana Ace could absorb and convert. As for higher levels, it was not something a Level 5 existence could convert and absorb.
The Source Power quality energy generated by the high-dimensional rift this time allowed Ace’s miniature galaxy to birth over fifty stars, making His Divine Power almost a quarter more robust.
Ace’s eyes flickered with a strange brilliance, and He stated affirmatively: “I will become a Sovereign of Laws in an extremely short time. First, I open high-dimensional rifts much faster than ordinary deities, almost instantaneously. No matter how fast deities are, I fear they still need a period of preparation.
“Second, my Immortal Heart Fire can convert high-dimensional energy extremely efficiently. This is my unparalleled advantage. Although the specifics are unclear, the energy I’ve converted has expanded by nearly three hundred times compared to the beginning!
“As long as I accumulate enough Divine Power close to Source Power quality, I can quickly overtake on the curve, surpassing a large number of veteran deities in Divine Power. Thus, I will have the confidence to enter the pseudo-four-dimensional state multiple times, thereby deepening my understanding of my domain and expanding the scope and depth of my laws!”
Ace’s confidence began to swell. In fact, it indeed should swell. The amount of Divine Power does not determine the life and death of a Level 5 existence; after all, they are all three-dimensionally immortal.
But the amount of Divine Power directly determines the possibility and frequency of a Level 5 existence entering the four-dimensional Secret Realm, and is a crucial part of combat power. Especially this high-quality Divine Power similar to Source Power, which deities like to call Divine Power Essence. This essence can solidify divine bodies, forge Immortal Noble Phantasms, and even resurrect the dead, possessing many near-miraculous effects.
Crystals condensed from Divine Power Essence are the hard currency among the Kaya gods, who possess desires, love, and hatred.
“The only question is, should I first delve into the laws of dreams and manifestation, expanding their breadth and depth, or should I elevate the Eye of Truth into a true law?”
Just as Ace was thinking, the ahoge on top of His head twitched. The Book Sprite reverted to its original form. A chubby, adorable baby sat on top of Ace’s head, saying in pleasant surprise, “Wow, yummy!”
The lucky baby actually flew up and swallowed a few drops of Divine Power Essence that Ace hadn’t finished absorbing.
This startled Ace, but also piqued His interest. “I actually forgot about you, little thing. Hahaha, I completely forgot you.”
Ever since becoming a Demigod, Ace rarely had a use for the Book Spirit. He just carried the ahoge out of habit but didn’t use it.
The Book Spirit didn’t answer Ace. Eating the Divine Power Essence on its own, it actually began to gradually show anomalies. Seeing that the high-dimensional rift had already healed, Ace simply opened the high-dimensional rift anew. Placing the Immortal Heart Fire beneath it, and the Ocean of Rules beneath the Heart Fire, He slowly refined the high-dimensional energy into Divine Power Essence, and shared a portion with the Book Spirit.
The lucky baby was overjoyed and ate vigorously. It actually gradually changed from a human form to a book form. A book was constantly opening and closing, eating. This book gradually thickened. Its pages were entirely blank. With a pop, the lucky baby drilled out of the book.
With a wave of His hand, Ace summoned the book to His hand. His eyes flickered with white light as He examined it carefully.
“This seems to be a treasure with a mystery level reaching Level 5. Completely blank, it seems capable of recording something.”
The lucky baby hopped over, grabbed Ace’s collar, and climbed onto His head. In a milky, childish voice, it said, “This is the Book of Law Records. It’s a super-duper treasure that can brand laws! If Ace is going to the Divine Secret Realm, this can lend you a helping hand. However, I also get a copy of all the laws obtained. In addition to this, the Law Book and I also have a certain probability of recording the law fragments of other Level 5 existences. Anyway, it’s a very, very formidable book!”
It sat on Ace’s head with its chin held high, looking incredibly proud, as if waiting for Ace’s praise.
Ace looked at this book and patted the lucky baby’s head.
“This is indeed an immensely useful treasure. It came at just the right time. You put it away for now.”
Hearing this, the lucky baby nodded. The book slowly shrank and returned to its hands. Then it wiggled its body and turned back into a plump ahoge standing erect on Ace’s head. Looking closely, there seemed to be a book-like bifurcation.
Ace wasn’t in a hurry to use this book. After all, He hadn’t accumulated enough Divine Power Essence, and the galaxy hadn’t birthed enough stars yet.
He watched the high-dimensional rift slowly heal, a trace of worry flashing in His eyes.
“It can be understood like this: the entire Astral Plane is actually in the process of slowly degrading from four dimensions to three dimensions. Occasional natural degradations occur, and an excess of energy is injected from the higher dimension into the lower dimension. The entire Astral Plane is thus gradually tainted with ‘supernatural factors,’ thereby possessing the supernatural.
“But this also means that the reason the entire world possesses the supernatural should be because the higher-dimensional world has already collapsed. If things continue this way, the destruction of the fourth dimension is probably only a matter of time.”
(Chapter finished)
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