Chapter 631: The Choice
That was a brilliant firework. A white hole erupted directionally, radiant and blinding. Ace drastically accelerated the white hole’s eruption process. Level 6 runes flickered in and out of existence as He activated his Overlimit power. In just ten short seconds, He exhausted all the matter within the white hole.
The white hole vaporized and dissipated, leaving behind a heavily corroded, endlessly tragic Realm of True Names. In this war between worlds, despite the opponent’s extensive preparations, the wizards won a sweeping victory with effortless ease.
“All that remains is the aftermath—eliminating hidden dangers. After that, it’s time to initiate the plan.”
Ace maintained his Overlimit state and ascended to the fourth dimension. A Pseudo-Status Level 6 existence is essentially a four-dimensional creature, and only the fourth dimension can destroy the fourth dimension.
He entered the ruined particle cluster of the Realm of True Names, reaching the core of the world and the particle state of the Mansus. This was a highly unique core. It was the Great Source, but unlike the Great Source of an ordinary world, the Mansus was saturated with the Law of Dreams—or rather, it was the shed skin of the Supreme Law of Dreams.
“In an even more ancient era, a Level 6 existence who mastered the Supreme Law of Dreams died and fell into this layer of the Astral Plane, subsequently forming the Realm of True Names?”
Doubt lingered in Ace’s eyes, but his hands did not stop. He completely obliterated the branded True Name of Eternal Night.
After destroying the True Name, Ace did not leave immediately. Instead, he observed carefully from his four-dimensional state. This was a pioneer who had walked the path of the Law of Dreams. If the secrets hidden within could be deconstructed and understood, it would surely be of immense help to him!
“I must merge the entire Realm of True Names and drag the Mansus into the Wizard Multiverse to study it. Furthermore, the physical bodies and souls of all existences above True God in the Realm of True Names have already been melted down by me. They must be resurrected using their True Names in the Mansus.
“Only by resurrecting them can the Deity Slavery Act formally begin!”
Returning to the three-dimensional level, over a thousand Legendary Immortal Wizards were waiting. With a wave of Ace’s hand, sub-planes transformed into streams of light, flying into the Realm of True Names to begin dismantling the ruined world.
The Wizard World was like a beehive, the Legendary Immortal Wizards like worker bees, and the Realm of True Names like a defenseless flower, allowing itself to be plucked.
This was a massive project that could not be rushed. Ace utilized his authority as Controller to open the crystal wall, allowing the Legendary Immortal Wizards transporting world fragments with their sub-planes to maneuver more easily.
Another 20 years passed. The shattered spaces, continental fragments, elemental vortexes, and all other useful resources from the periphery of the Realm of True Names were transported to the Wizard Multiverse. They transformed into natural alternate spaces, demi-planes, and even sub-planes, quietly floating on the outer edge of the Wizard World.
As time went on, these heterogeneous entities would eventually become part of the Wizard World’s foundation.
Now came the most crucial step—dragging over the Great Source centered around the Mansus—the world rule layer of the Realm of True Names. This was not something that could be resolved on the three-dimensional level; Ace had to intervene personally.
Ace adjusted his state and began to mobilize the power of the entire Wizard Multiverse. 120 million stars extinguished simultaneously, plunging the entire galaxy into darkness for a brief moment. About ten seconds later, the stars regained their brilliance.
Alexander, conducting an experiment on Planet Athena, looked out the window at the anomaly. The pitch-black sky gradually brightened, much like his experiment.
He smiled and returned to his experimental design, attempting to “see” the inside of an atom.
Ace had already ascended to the fourth dimension. Using his sub-plane as an anchor and borrowing the power of the entire Wizard World, he became a four-dimensional existence.
Using the curvature of space-time, he condensed sturdy ropes. Level 6 runes rippled as they “hooked” the particle cluster centered around the Mansus, slowly pulling it into the particle cluster of the Wizard World.
On the three-dimensional level, the core of the Realm of True Names moved via a jump, passing directly through the crystal wall to appear on the outer edge of the Wizard World, rippling in the Sea of Illusion and Reality.
On the four-dimensional level, Ace let out a long sigh. The interior of the Wizard World had formed a dual-core structure. They orbited and attracted each other, gradually stabilizing.
“The first step is complete. What remains is the gradual overlap and fusion of the world rule layers—a fusion with me as the dominant force!”
The Wizard Multiverse floated quietly in the desolate Astral Plane. All thrusters were shut down. Only the 300+ artificial sub-planes gazed into the distance like stone gargoyles, guarding the Wizard World.
Within the world, the two cores orbited each other. The Mansus was different from the main plane of the Wizard World; it was somewhat akin to a dream. Under Ace’s guidance, it gradually overlapped with the Prime Material Plane of the Wizard World.
Metropolis Planet Athena, Kan’er City.
Alexander was driving a flying car. It had been 10 years since graduation. After his old friend Goldolo had invited him over and over, he finally set aside the experiments he had been obsessing over and came to the city where Goldolo lived.
Goldolo had opened a magical information technology company here 4 years ago.
“‘Goldolo Dream Information Company’? Quite an interesting name.”
Alexander drove his flying car to the outskirts of Kan’er City and saw a nameplate outside a somewhat shabby warehouse.
It fit Goldolo’s style and his expectations for the future, though it was a bit rustic here. However, Alexander did not look down on Goldolo because of this; their years in university had shown him Goldolo’s talent.
He parked the flying car and waved his wand. The flying car’s automatic spatial collapse function activated. With a pop, it turned into a capsule the size of a fingernail, rolling into Alexander’s hand. He pocketed the capsule and walked through the metal doors.
A sweet-looking girl stood at the front desk. In a gentle and clear voice, she said, “Hello, this is Goldolo Dream Information Company. Who are you looking for?”
Alexander’s eyes swept over her. She was an ordinary Mage Apprentice—no, a pretty Mage Apprentice.
“I am a classmate of Your Excellency Goldolo, the owner of your company. I came here at his invitation. Here is the invitation letter.”
The receptionist took the letter, inspected it carefully, and upon confirming the magical crest, her smile grew even more genuine.
“Welcome, respected Professor Alexander. I have admired university scholars since I was young, but unfortunately, I lack the talent for studying. May I ask what discipline you are in?”
“Microscopic Mechanics.”
“Wow, is that researching the specific structure of atoms? Pardon my presumption, but could you tell me what atoms have inside them…?”
The young girl was very good at closing the distance. Although she only had a half-baked understanding of these foundational theories, the stars twinkling in her eyes and her occasional, perfectly timed gasps of amazement made Alexander feel a bit light-headed.
Soon, the two arrived at Goldolo’s office, but Goldolo wasn’t there.
“Great Professor, please wait here for a moment. I will go to the R&D lab to find Mr. Goldolo,” the girl said warmly with a sweet smile.
Alexander nodded. Honestly, the girl was too enthusiastic; he wasn’t used to it.
About ten minutes later, Goldolo walked in wearing overalls, looking a bit grimy.
“Haha, Alexander! Long time no see. I finally got you to come. Have a seat.”
Goldolo cast a Scourgify trick on himself, then poured two cups of tea.
“Ginkgo leaf tea from Planet Solder. The taste of home.
“After graduation, I went to work for the Warren Company. It’s the holy land of magic computers, and the pay was good. But I always remembered my dream: to create a universal dream terminal. So, after working my way up to a Level 3 Technical Director at Warren, I quit to start my own business.
“As a Golden Wizard, I had some savings, and also some ideas. This is my conceptual design blueprint.
“I invited you here this time not just to catch up with an old classmate, but also to ask for help. I’ll be blunt: I’ve run into a bottleneck in developing my terminal. You were right—foundational theory is also extremely important. I need your help.”
Goldolo spoke openly, without beating around the bush. Although the two had drifted apart somewhat in recent years, they still understood how the other thought.
Alexander smiled and took the conceptual design blueprint Goldolo handed him, studying it carefully.
The entire terminal was divided into four sections: the Core Computing Area, the Dream Law Area, the Information Interaction Area, and the Magic Net Link Area.
The problem lay in the Magic Net Link. It required the application of some techniques from Microscopic Mechanics, as well as crucial mathematical parameters. Furthermore, it involved General Relativity. The Magic Net was a very miraculous existence; its threads were mostly distributed along curvature traces.
The transmission of information was also based on space-time curvature to achieve faster-than-light communication. These interface issues could not be solved by a simple magic information engineer.
Alexander frowned and said, “I need to understand the details of your terminal. Also, if I participate and successfully develop it, I need 30% of the patent rights for the entire set.”
Nearing his fifties, Alexander’s mindset had become much more pragmatic. As a Gold Wizard, he wasn’t considered old, but he felt the limits of his aptitude. Becoming a Legend was truly too difficult.
He had always yearned to research foundational theories and explore microscopic mysteries. Pinning his hopes on improving his personal power was almost impossible. The other direction was inventing and researching reliable tools. But he knew all of this required resources—or, in other words, magic tokens.
Patent rights were the best source of income. He could see the great future of this terminal, its potential to change the lifestyle of ordinary people—or rather, anyone below the Gold Wizard tier.
Goldolo laughed heartily and said loudly, “As long as you can solve the problem, I’ll give you a 35% cut of the patent rights! I’m truly glad you stuck to your choice now, otherwise, I really wouldn’t know who to ask for help!”
The two entered the research lab together. After signing a magical non-disclosure agreement, Alexander began to carefully study the prototype concept machine.
Three months later, a product named the “Dream Terminal” began sweeping across Planet Athena.
Fantasia was no longer the privilege of Golden Wizards, nor the privilege of the residents near the galactic center. The 2 billion residents of Planet Athena could all freely roam the Fantasia dream world and experience a second life. A time dilation ratio of up to 1:30 meant everyone effectively gained nearly 30 times more lifespan out of thin air.
For a time, many people became addicted to Fantasia. Moreover, Gensokyo wasn’t purely virtual; many of the harvests within were real, and even power could be weakly fed back into reality, making people even more frantic.
Relying on the Dream Terminal Model 1, Goldolo’s company came back from the brink of death, raking in massive profits. Alexander also received a huge dividend, vastly improving his living conditions.
Goldolo moved his company to Athena City, the capital of Planet Athena, and bought a skyscraper. It had 500 floors and stood 1,600 meters tall, piercing the clouds.
On the top floor of the building, with brilliant sunlight streaming through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, Goldolo spoke excitedly in the conference room: “Our Dream Terminal Model 1 is a massive success. We’ve received orders from the 46 districts of the 4th Spiral Arm. This means further expansion of our business.
“But this alone is not enough. We are currently only making a terminal. If others enter this market, it is entirely possible for them to bypass our patents and develop a terminal with the same functions using a different method. We must stay ahead of the curve!”
“What do you want to do?” Alexander asked directly. He wasn’t good at product design or business strategy, so he didn’t even plan to think about it.
Goldolo stared at Alexander and said seriously, “I want to take the lead. We will open our technical standards and allow patent licensing, letting this type of terminal rapidly spread across the entire galaxy. Then, we’ll do patent upgrades and interface development.
“All licensed terminals must use our operating system and enter Fantasia through our Windows. Furthermore, Fantasia is just one option; we can create multiple options and develop specialized dream worlds, especially for gaming and entertainment!
“Interaction, performance, gaming—this is our direction of development. We will sell the standard and build the software framework platform!”
Alexander nodded and said softly, “I am not very good at software development. If you have hardware needs, I can handle those.”
Goldolo smiled at Alexander. “I have a new plan. I want to trade your 30% patent rights for 10% of the company’s shares. The company will transform into an investment firm, with a hardware subsidiary, an interface development company, and an entertainment interaction company under it. Meanwhile, you will be the CEO of the hardware subsidiary!”
Alexander’s index finger twitched slightly. He was somewhat tempted, but ultimately said, “A very enticing proposal. But please forgive my refusal. I am willing to convert my rights into a 5% stake, but forget about being CEO.
“Working with you, I’ve made more than enough money. But my dream has always been in foundational magical theory. I want to lift the veil of the microscopic world; I want to use tools to observe the microscopic world myself!
“A person’s energy is limited. If I continue to pour my energy into the terminal business, I will drift further and further away from the microscopic world. I will never be able to verify the mysterious neutrons, protons, and electrons!”
Looking at Alexander, Goldolo suddenly felt his mouth go dry. He let out a dry chuckle and said earnestly, “There’s no conflict, no conflict at all. Our terminal business is just taking off. Walking away now is equivalent to giving up a great empire. I am willing to share it with you. Even if you want to walk away, wouldn’t it be better to do so after earning more magic tokens and gaining a higher social status?
“Besides, even if you can’t verify them, neutrons, protons, and electrons—the smaller particles that make up atoms—have long been observed by Lord Ace through the grace of the Great Source. Does it matter if you observe them yourself? What difference does it make?”
Goldolo truly didn’t understand. Obtaining fame, fortune, and status—even with poor aptitude, one could pile on resources to become a Legend. They could even purchase powerful aptitude-enhancing potions. Though expensive, they could absolutely change one’s aptitude. By then, successful and wealthy, without financial worries, couldn’t one pursue their dreams then?
Goldolo had a dream too: he wanted to be a wandering singer, form a band, and tour the galaxy. Once he made enough magic tokens, he would definitely use his “superpower of money” to realize this dream!
Looking at Goldolo, Alexander felt as if he had returned to the day they enrolled. Perhaps history was just that repetitive, and human nature and thoughts could not be changed.
“I am very grateful to you, Goldolo. But I must return to my beloved laboratory. If you are willing, I’d like to convert my rights into a 5% stake and help our company maintain the initiative in hardware upgrades.”
Goldolo looked at Alexander and finally let out a long sigh. “I’ll give you a 6% stake. You can help the company whenever you’re willing. I also hope you can invent the tool to see the microscopic world.”
Alexander nodded and turned to leave the conference room with effortless grace. Goldolo watched the white clouds below the building and sighed deeply.
Time slipped away bit by bit. Just as Goldolo planned, the Dream Terminal rapidly seized the entire market through licensed production. His company also began transforming into one that sold patents and interactive interface systems.
The dozen or so incredibly fun newly developed game worlds caused his assets to balloon rapidly, turning him into a star figure in the Galactic Alliance overnight.
With massive amounts of magic tokens thrown in, Goldolo successfully advanced to a Level 3 Legendary.
Three years had passed.
Returning to Ace: He had already overlapped the entire Mansus with the Prime Material Plane. Although he couldn’t quickly deconstruct the secrets of the Mansus and extract its dream mysteries, the Mansus had merged with the Great Source of Dreams. Ace had seized the most crucial resource from the remains of the Realm of True Names: the True Names of the 24 Lords of Time and 3,500 Named Ones!
The Deity Resurrection Plan and the Deity Slavery Act were announced to be initiated simultaneously. As a pilot, a Named One Ace was very familiar with—the Angel of Holy Light—became the first test subject.
He had his memories wiped, leaving only a pure soul and physical body. After multiple failed attempts at separating the soul and flesh, the Legendary Immortal Wizards finally mastered the mature technique of True God-level soul-flesh separation. They canned the physical body, guided in the threads of the Magic Net, and manufactured a self-starting Super-dimensional Mana Generator.
“Commencing the experiment. Activating the inscribed rune array. High-dimensional rifts successfully opened. Optimal opening: 21 rifts. High-dimensional energy stably converting to super-dimensional mana. We have succeeded!”
The Legendary Immortal Wizards present cheered in jubilation. The Legendary Immortal Lich Witte, head of the Super-dimensional Mana Generator project, chuckled darkly, gently stroking the pale female head beside him.
(Chapter finished)
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com