Endless Debt-Chapter 932 - 45: Eye of Omniscience (3)

"The Order Bureau has obtained the original object, haven’t they," the Astronaut said, "you’ve also discovered that perhaps ether is a foreign substance to this world."

The Astronaut sat down in the recliner, his bulk almost spilling out of the chair.

Bologue sat in another recliner, his mind sometimes chaotic, sometimes clear.

"Yes, we’ve discovered this," Bologue answered like a student answering a question, "it could be related to the rising ether concentration."

"Indeed, ether concentration," the Astronaut nodded, "the ether concentration of the entire world is continuously rising."

"What do you think will happen if we let it continue, Bologue?"

"What will happen...?" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"Yes, imagine it, your imagination has always been quite impressive, hasn’t it?"

Bologue paused, then began to recount to the Astronaut the scenario he had rehearsed countless times in his mind.

"First, there’s a breakthrough in Alchemy Matrix technology, in high ether concentration environments, the combat abilities of Condensers become more potent, the shackles between tiers will loosen, and even the Crowned, which only exists in theory, has a great probability of emerging one day in the future."

The Astronaut commented, "That’s the positive side."

"With progress comes hidden dangers brewing in the shadows. I’ve been to the Wind Source Highlands and gazed from afar at the sea called the Angry Sea, where high concentrations of ethereal vortex points linger, with almost substantial ether directly causing extraordinary phenomena in the Material Realm."

Bologue murmured, "As ether concentration continues to rise, these ethereal vortex points will become more numerous, and uncontrolled extraordinary phenomena will gradually invade the human world, until everything becomes a chaotic mess."

Through ether and the Alchemy Matrix, Condensers can distort the Material Realm, creating all sorts of supernatural powers, but this power ultimately belongs to the control of the Condensers, whereas nature is chaotic and mad, no one knows what terrible effects rampaging ether can produce.

"Look at this, Bologue."

The Astronaut pressed the remote, and weather maps began to appear on the screen.

"These are the data graphs compiled from the information I’ve collected over recent years and the observations from the Eye of Omniscience."

The weather maps began to expand, changing frame by frame, with white weather patterns first covering the ocean and then invading the inland regions.

Bologue knew this wasn’t a weather map, the images resembling air currents depicted the majestic ether flows in this world that roamed like ocean currents.

"Extraordinary phenomena similar to the Angry Sea will gradually cover the ocean, making navigation extremely dangerous, eventually leading to a complete breakdown of human sea trade, followed by inland invasion, terrifying disasters will destroy many cities, many will perish, and the survivors will shrink into the fortresses of large cities.

Human civilization will regress under such crisis, basic sciences will be severely impacted, but correspondingly, a new extraordinary era will dawn, and Condensers will step out from behind the curtain to dominate the world.

It will be a dark age, extraordinary disasters will seize most of human territory, dragging the world into unknown darkness, with rampant disease, erupting wars, massive loss of arable land, and ensuing famine from food shortages, unending death filling everyone’s lives."

The Astronaut uttered his prediction, "What’s worse, this is not just prophecy, but an inevitable future."

Bologue questioned, "How can you be so certain?"

"This observatory, which I call the Eye of Omniscience, took many years to build, fortunately, I managed to complete it in time."

The Astronaut spoke of his great creation.

"Many years ago, I made something similar, but its lens pointed at the starry sky, to explore unknown territories, whereas now, this Alchemy Telescope is aimed at the planet we inhabit.

It can closely observe almost all ether concentration changes within the planet, detect every ether flow’s trajectory, nothing escapes its gaze.

When needed, it can even lock its gaze on localized areas, and the ether flow of individual Condensers does not elude its observation."

The Astronaut provided an explanation Bologue couldn’t refuse.

"As long as there is enough data support and computational power, you can deduce the chaotic future, turning the unknown into the known."

Bologue inwardly agreed, "Just like the collective."

The Astronaut rearranged the changing weather maps into a film, and what Bologue didn’t notice was that as the weather patterns shifted, the clock in the corner of the film also slowly advanced.

"What do you intend to do?" Bologue asked confusedly, "Are you trying to save the world? Are you joking?"

"Why can’t a devil save the world?"

The Astronaut retorted, "To be honest, the rise in ether concentration doesn’t align with my interests."

"Think about it, humans are already so powerful, and with the progress in Alchemy Matrix technology due to the rise in ether concentration, can we devils really still control you? Not to mention, extraordinary disasters will lead to massive population deaths, every member of the population is like a crop waiting for me to harvest."

The Astronaut laughed.

"The time for choice has arrived, to sit by or to help me solve this issue."

Bologue’s eyes were fixed, with a pathological tinge, staring at the golden visor on the Astronaut’s helmet, where he saw his reflection in the Canyin mirror.

"No...something’s not right."

Bologue shook his head, "Does the rise in ether concentration imply the overlapping of the Ethereal Realm and the Material Realm..."

The Astronaut replied, "You’ve also noticed that nauseating thing; unlike my kindred, I don’t quite wish for that thing to reach the Material Realm."

"My kin can’t be trusted, even if we have pacts, we can only trust each other."

"That sounds absurd."

Bologue shook his head, finding himself oddly bound to the Astronaut, in some so-called alliance of total trust.

The world within Bologue’s perception gradually turned absurd and bizarre, like a newborn seeing the world in its entirety for the first time.

"You don’t have to decide immediately," the Astronaut looked at Bologue, "I’m looking forward to it, Bologue."

"I anticipate the arrival of that moment, as well as your choice at that moment."