Chapter 584: The Law of the Magic Net
Seeing that all the Level 6 existences were very interested, the biological son of the World Tree, Orlas, hesitated for a moment before saying:
“Then I will talk about that period of history of the Elf World.
“Our Overgod, Ao, is actually not an existence born in our world. He drifted here from the Astral Plane. No one knows where He came from; we only know that He had already appeared before our world was born.
“According to what He said, He came from a shattered world, fleeing alone, bringing only one supreme treasure: the seed of the World Tree!”
As soon as Orlas spoke, He piqued the interest of all the gods present. Judging from this, the gods of the Giant Tree World, and even the elves, were seemingly not native existences of the Giant Tree World.
“Before its birth, our world was chosen by the Overgod Ao. During the time of primordial chaos, the seed of the World Tree was planted. From then on, this world has been inextricably linked with the World Tree.
“It’s hard to say whether we count as descendants of the world. I was the first living being born on the World Tree, and Ao called me His Crown Prince.
“After that, living beings were born one after another, every single one of them a deity. At the beginning of its birth, our world was on this level. Ao seemed to know a great many things. He led us to conquer numerous worlds, and each world was turned into a leaf of the World Tree.
“In other words, we once conquered over four hundred worlds on this level.”
These words shocked the gods. Even the Archduke of Lust from Hell couldn’t help but ask in a delicate voice, “You mean to say, you once conquered over four hundred worlds as powerful as Kaya?”
The Axe of the World Tree, the God of War Turian, said, “Haha, we wish we had. But frankly speaking, powerful worlds like the Kaya World are extremely rare on this level.
“Most worlds have at most one or two Level 6 existences, and some have just ascended to this level and don’t even have a single Level 6 existence.
“Strange to say, or perhaps His Majesty Ao had long anticipated it: our world drifted to a certain place and waited for tens of thousands of years, and actually, close to three hundred worlds ascended one after another. All of them were turned into leaves of the World Tree by us, becoming part of the planes.
“Our world slowly elevated like this, ultimately accumulating enough power to ascend to a higher level in one fell swoop.
“Moreover, we are different from you. You have thirteen innate Level 6 existences, plus pseudo-status Level 6s like the Archdukes of Hell and the Abyss. If your world wasn’t plagued by severe internal strife, this kind of power would probably have very few rivals on this level.
“Even for our world, at our strongest period, we only had seven Level 6 existences. However, we are relatively unique; the Overgod Ao possessed power far exceeding an ordinary Level 6, and even reached an incomprehensible Level 7 after ascending to the upper layer.”
Several deities exchanged glances, all feeling that the two hadn’t gotten to the point. The impatient Lord of the Ocean simply asked directly, “After you ascended, what exactly did you encounter that caused the world to split in two?”
Orlas pondered for a moment, seemingly lost in memories: “That was supposed to be a moment of jubilation. Our world had finally accumulated enough energy, and within the Divine Secret Realm, we had already connected with the upper layer. We don’t know the specifics too well either; all of this was handled single-handedly by His Majesty the Overgod Ao.
“The world ascended. After conquering nearly four hundred worlds, we finally ascended to the upper layer. His Majesty Ao even reached the inconceivable Level 7 in an extremely short time. Everything was so beautiful.
“But then, our world split in two. It was as if there was a flash of cold light, and we faintly heard His Majesty Ao’s angry roar.
“The specifics are completely beyond our grasp and understanding. The time was too short; we didn’t even have the chance to go to the Divine Secret Realm to peek at the changes before our world was already ruined.
“His Majesty Ao bled on the spot, the World Tree was chopped in half, and countless deities perished right there.
“There seemed to be some kind of power that pushed us down from the upper level, making us fall back to this level again.”
The deities looked at each other in dismay. Orlas’s description was too vague and fantastical. The King of the Underworld, Lamor, paced back and forth, saying softly, “Could it be that you encountered an upper-layer world doing the exact same thing as you?”
“The same thing?”
Orlas stood there dumbfounded, as if struck by lightning. He recalled the times he and His Majesty Ao ambushed newly ascended worlds at that miraculous vortex. What He hadn’t told the gods was that there were actually relatively easy-to-break places in the membrane between levels.
Those were voids on the four-dimensional level, which didn’t manifest in the third dimension, but great, top-tier Level 6 existences could discover them.
The pressure of ascending through those voids was greatly reduced. His Majesty Ao called them “ascension traps,” and lying in ambush there made it easy to accumulate enough energy.
Unlike the Kaya World, the Kaya World nurtured a massive number of True God existences. These existences would open high-dimensional rifts and absorb high-dimensional energy, which continuously expanded Kaya’s foundation. Although Kaya hadn’t waged war with other worlds except in the ancient era, relying on its massive base of True Gods, it was still continuously accumulating resources for ascension.
If Ace were here, He would definitely explain it from the perspective of thermodynamics. Kaya itself is an isolated closed-loop system, but because of the thousands of True Gods and ordinary Main Gods, plus the thirteen Titan Main Gods, this system has become an open system with countless switches.
And every place it opens points to a system with higher energy, thus its own energy will also become higher and higher.
Olras suddenly felt a chill all over His body. He thought of a possibility that all the deities had thought of: since They could ambush newly ascended worlds from lower levels, then the upper level could also ambush Them. Perhaps this was the true reason the world split in two and fell.
With a long sigh, Oras and Turian suddenly lost their interest in talking.
The King of the Underworld, Lamor, said, “After this world merger, our world’s accumulation might also reach its limit. It seems ascension doesn’t necessarily mean everyone’s shackles are removed and we can touch a higher future; it also means danger and the unknown.”
…
Ace was unaware of the United Gods’ discussion. The stars in His galactic universe were still multiplying geometrically, approaching a hundred thousand in just a short month. If this were told to all the Titan Main Gods, it would probably make their eyeballs pop out in shock.
“Thanks to this great collision, the higher dimensions are unstable, allowing me to easily open so many high-dimensional rifts, pushing my Divine Power accumulation to its peak in one fell swoop. Even a Sovereign who has existed since the beginning of the world probably wouldn’t have as robust a Divine Power as me.
“This is the gap determined by concepts and knowledge. Knowledge is power!”
One hundred thousand stars palpitated simultaneously. Unimaginably strong energy broke through the High-Dimensional “Door” in the galactic center. Ace, wrapping Himself in energy, charged fearlessly into the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm, leaving His voice behind in the third dimension.
“When I had ten thousand stars, my power had already received a massive boost. Surpassing a hundred thousand has taken it up another notch. Now, I have the confidence to take a hit from a pseudo-status Titan Main God head-on, hahaha.”
It seemed somewhat arrogant, but also quite fitting.
Ace’s Divine Power accumulation was truly appalling. It was no exaggeration to say that besides those true Titans, even the accumulations of the Archdukes of the Abyss and Hell couldn’t compare to half of Ace’s.
Using this tyrannical accumulation to travel to four-dimensional space and construct the complete Law of the Magic Net at the fastest speed was Ace’s plan.
Ace practically burst into the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm, like a giant whale leaping out of the ocean, still carrying splashes of water, then suddenly transforming into a Roc [1], sweeping across thousands of miles.
“All the past and present can serve as data. The future is ethereal and ever-changing; it’s very difficult to pick up law fragments. Instead, from the past, I can pick up law fragments related to energy and modify them.”
His state was extremely active—or rather, exceptionally good. His Divine Power accumulation had increased by nearly a dozen times, making Ace, a Sovereign, unprecedentedly powerful. He swam upstream in the long river of time.
He could not change the past, but He could copy certain fleeting possibilities from the past. Ace picked up law fragments related to energy one by one, and the records on the Book of Records grew more and more, as if about to undergo a qualitative change at any moment.
“The Book of Records and the Law of Comprehension are simply a match made in heaven. The effect of their mutual assistance is simply one plus one is greater than three!”
Ace wasn’t stingy either, simply integrating the Law of Comprehension into the Book of Records. The final straw for the Book of Records had arrived; the information flow materialized in the fourth dimension, shining brilliantly within the long river of time.
The ahoge on Ace’s head turned into a chubby baby at this moment. Holding the Book of Records, it said in a milky voice: “I am the God of Records, the God of Comprehension, the loyal subordinate god of His Holiness Ace, the Sovereign of Dreams. I comprehend all things and record all things. I am the projection of Knowledge.”
Boom!
Ripples appeared in the long river of time. It seemed a deity was roaring in anger. The lucky baby, who had just become a True God, turned back into an ahoge with a pop, standing erect on Ace’s head, amidst wave after wave of ripples. Although Ace had gifted the Law of Comprehension to the lucky baby, when the lucky baby turned back into an ahoge, He also received all the authority blessings of the lucky baby.
“So that’s how it is. It invaded the domain of Knowledge. But that’s just fine. The Gods’ Fall is a godsend opportunity. In the future, perhaps you can merge the domain of Knowledge and take a step further.”
The ahoge on Ace’s head radiated myriad rays of light, like a super-powerful magnetic field, attracting all law fragments related to the Magic Net in the long river of time. Ace fully activated His Comprehension, modifying these law fragments into suitable forms.
Laws of the Magic Net were woven one by one. Ace keenly discovered that Fate and the Magic Net also had countless intricate connections. He dismantled His several Laws of Fate and integrated them into it.
Thirty, forty, fifty… The Laws of the Magic Net grew more and more numerous. Ace’s one hundred thousand stars provided a massive amount of Divine Power support, making His time in the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm much longer than before.
“Why does this law need so many? I’ve already extracted over three hundred, and it feels like I haven’t even reached one-tenth.”
Ace couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious. This was already His longest foray into the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm. If He prepared for another time, He didn’t know if He would still have the chance. By wantonly opening thousands of high-dimensional rifts, He had acted like a catalyst, pushing the high-dimensional collapse to a climax.
Like pushing over the first domino, this series of reactions later on was no longer something Ace could control. In other words, this was His only chance.
Not daring to wantonly waste Divine Power anymore, Ace calmly combined the Laws of the Magic Net while trying to conserve His Divine Power as much as possible.
Finally, from the endless past, in the continuously turbulent Great Source, at the scorching point of the collision of the two worlds, in each leaf of the Giant Tree World, Ace extracted three thousand and one laws. A quantitative change led to a qualitative change.
The complete Law of the Magic Net was born at this moment. The two scorching worlds in the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm both seemed to be cheering. This was absolutely an epoch-making law, worthy of being called a great law. It was the law for unblocking the world’s energy, the law for promoting the world’s internal circulation.
Right upon its birth, Ace also felt the difference in this law. The Law of the Magic Net was extremely overbearing; as the second law, it actually wanted to come from behind and occupy the central position of the Ocean of Rules in the mental imagery world.
“I’ll ignore this for now. The most important thing now is to use the remaining time to penetrate the Law of the Magic Net and become the true incarnation of the Magic Net.”
Ace threw the remaining Divine Power into the world’s Great Source, putting all His energy into understanding the Law of the Magic Net. Rippling within it, His understanding grew deeper and deeper, actually achieving the incarnation of the Magic Net without realizing it.
Exiting the Four-Dimensional Secret Realm, He let the projection continue converting high-dimensional energy to relight the dim stars. Only then did He focus His attention deep within His mental imagery world, beginning to sort out the relationship between the Law of the Magic Net and the Sovereign Law of Dreams. At first, Ace tried to use the Dream to encompass the Magic Net, but undoubtedly failed.
He then extended a portion of the Magic Net into His Dream Realm and placed the central core of the Magic Net in the galactic center. The Magic Net spread rapidly in the Dream Realm, and in a short while, it densely covered the entire Dream Realm.
Not only the surface-level galactic universe with its nearly one hundred thousand stellar systems, but it went even deeper into the unknown depths of the rules, connecting with Ace’s three thousand pseudo-laws of the Dream Realm, and even penetrating the High-Dimensional “Door.”
Ace felt His whole body tremble. Gurgling high-dimensional energy naturally became orderly along the Magic Net, degrading into pure Divine Power Essence, slowly replenishing His lost Divine Power.
“Does this count as turning on a cheat code for a permanent high-dimensional rift? Comparing the conversion volume and rate, this is roughly equivalent to opening less than forty high-dimensional rifts? If I can still draw from it after the storm completely dissipates, then that truly is a cheat code.”
Ace said with a hint of fantasy, which also indirectly pointed out a problem. Once the storm completely dissipated, deities would be unable to draw energy from higher dimensions. In other words, Their Divine Power would decrease with every bit used. As for drawing mana from the inner side of the world, that would be completely useless.
“This is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. When hot water and cold water mix, the temperature can only equalize; the cold water cannot get colder, nor the hot water hotter. Energy cannot move from a lower state to a higher state without paying a price.
“If one wants to convert mana into Divine Power, I fear it can only be done through the path of faith.
“Just like if you want to turn ice into hot water, you can only add some coal and burn it. Faith and the status of city-states are that coal. It seems the inner side of the world will probably see a renewed struggle for faith. True Gods who lose faith and cannot obtain energy from higher dimensions will probably temporarily decline into demigods.”
Ace’s gaze looked towards the distance, holding more expectations for the Magic Net. As the Magic Net interacted with various pseudo-complete laws in the Dream Realm, dream “gods” walked out one by one. And at this time, Ace also suddenly discovered that the Law of the Magic Net had actually undergone a mutation.
(Chapter finished)
[1] Roc: Peng (鹏), a giant mythical bird from Chinese mythology.
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