I Am Also An Extraordinary Creature-Chapter 1778 - 1245: What Is the Price?
Flipping a table is easy; after it’s flipped, at most you miss a meal, but the table itself is still intact and can be set up again. However, dismantling a table is not so simple.
The world itself can be viewed as a titanium table. Even if you want to flip it, you need a lot of strength, let alone dismantle it, and that’s even if you try to do it barehanded.
"I’m heading back first." Zheng Yichen reached out in front of him, showcasing the power of the Infinite Space Gem.
Without much interference from the World’s Will, using infinite refraction of space, after knowing the coordinates of Dusk, Zheng Yichen could return directly without a Stabilizing Column.
The reason Zheng Yichen dared to do this now is not because he feared the Boundary Breaking Organization would cause destruction; it’s just that not long ago, he hadn’t cleared the field yet.
Once he openly left the battlefield, those Boundary Breakers could directly and forcibly remove the Stabilizing Column, coupled with the interference of the World’s Will, making it hard for him to return quickly. By that time, all Proxy Agents here would die.
Escape? How could they run under the blockade of the World’s Will?
However, now that the field is cleared and the fallen Proxy Agents have returned, they can hold down the Stabilizing Column no matter what. Under the interference of the Column, the monitoring of the World’s Will is not strong, and with Zheng Yichen intentionally blocking it, his return can be done without a sound.
Even if there were an attack here, with so many Proxy Agents, even using a Heaven-Slaying Weapon would take some time, enough for Zheng Yichen to come back.
Returning to the Dusk Territory, the first thing Zheng Yichen did was to find Tia and retrieve his plug-and-play God’s Core: "I want to strengthen."
"Follow me," Tia calmly looked at Zheng Yichen, knowing his purpose, and led him to another place, somewhere Zheng Yichen had never been before.
"Boss, I suggest you ask about the consequences." Lilith’s voice echoed in Zheng Yichen’s ear.
He sensed a trace of unease in her voice, but Zheng Yichen didn’t know where it came from. Anyway, he felt the surroundings were quite normal.
It was merely the tunnel turning from dusk color to darkness. Men like darkness... ahem, not that; this darkness gave Zheng Yichen a familiar feeling, like the kind after the World’s Oblivion.
"Can I ask where we’re going?" Zheng Yichen slowed his pace, preparing to make a swift exit.
"To the right place."
"Is it life-threatening?"
"No."
Since the Dusk Nun wouldn’t hide the truth, Zheng Yichen took her word for it, though there were still things that concerned him: "What serious consequences will this strengthening have?"
Tia, walking ahead, slowed her pace and turned back; her dusky eyes seemed also to be tainted with darkness, possibly affected by the tunnel’s color.
"There are consequences. Once strengthening occurs, it means your life will have limits."
"Is that so?" Zheng Yichen was taken aback: "Without strengthening, there are no limits?"
"None, at least until the Collective World completely perishes. You won’t die of natural decay; the shackles of longevity won’t affect you, and the Celestial Being’s 5 Decays will never touch you."
Tia calmly spoke of something that left Zheng Yichen slightly joyful yet somewhat worried.
So, he had inexplicably attained Eternal Life?
No, this was even higher than Eternal Life. There are many worlds, but Tia spoke of the ’Collective World,’ meaning that in this ’Collective World’ he could live until the last world perished.
As for whether he would die after the world’s demise... well, that would depend on the environment then.
"If I maintain my current state until the world’s demise? Will I perish with it?"
"No." Tia shook her head: "After the Collective World’s demise, everything returns to the void. In the void, there can be no increase or decrease, so eventually, you’ll be annihilated by self-loss."
"Sounds terrifying." Zheng Yichen clicked his tongue; Tia’s description sounded slightly better than Twilight Freeze, perhaps?
In Twilight Freeze, one cannot feel the passage of time, thoughts freeze at that moment, and when the world ends, those frozen will bear the world’s demise’s negative effects.
Thinking of the Frozen Land once seen, it was filled with something similar to the aura of destruction; the frozen individuals are likely enduring it now.
Existence post-world’s demise resides in a void, capable of maintaining normal thought processes, but in an utterly empty environment.
Within the void, nothing increases nor decreases, whereas Zheng Yichen himself is not constant and energy-loss-free; he can’t gain in the void but will decrease due to life’s activities.
This decrease could sustain him for a long time, but eventually, he would utterly vanish.
"So, what’s your decision?"
Zheng Yichen said: "I decide to continue."
Without continuing, the Extermination Order can’t be dealt with; by continuing, he aims to find new opportunities, at least enabling him to dismantle the table.
Thus, from ’Eternity’ to being demoted within the Collective World, he could accept it. As for future life issues, he’d address those later. Tia’s description is terrifying, but it doesn’t mean after this strengthening, further elevation is impossible.
What once gave him a tremendous headache, where using Oblivion Force once cost half his life, now he gradually adapts?
Not to mention the recent battles where the magnitude of using Oblivion Force would have killed him countless times before.
So, nobody can say for certain about future events; predicting the future and such... Oblivion can reduce even the world to emptiness and silence, and destiny within the world can also be destroyed.
Calculating his future is already an impossible task; how he proceeds depends entirely on himself.
"Alright."
Tia said no more and continued walking forward.
"Boss, you should know the time remaining."
"Lilith."
"Here."
"You’re not speaking well—I’ve already made my decision."
"... It’s me speaking out of turn."
"Hahaha, don’t worry, I won’t let you be lonely."
In the control room of the Firmament Wheel, Lilith looked at the completely black screen before her and said: "I won’t be lonely."
From the moment Zheng Yichen entered this passage, she couldn’t see anything, only sensing information from the outside world through Zheng Yichen. But that information was shrouded by darkness, causing her, as an AI, to feel uneasy.
In the past, when Zheng Yichen wasn’t around, she couldn’t feel any information from the outside world at all, as if the entire mechanism was forced into dormancy.
Continuing forward, Zheng Yichen saw a scene of ’Dusk.’
"This isn’t considered Dusk, is it?" Zheng Yichen looked around at the scenery. Although this place was filled with a serene and beautiful feeling, with hues close to dusk, it seemed more like morning.
Yet, the morning here appeared somewhat blurry.
"No, this is just a fictional scene." Tia waved her hand before her, a ball of flame emerged. As the flame burned, the place illuminated didn’t become brighter; instead, it revealed the real scene.
It was darkness, just like inside the passage.
The flame here keeps burning as though the world itself was ablaze.
Zheng Yichen watched, feeling a bit fervent, but then he suddenly shook his head; he wasn’t a moth.
The Dusk nun seemed to make equipment in a place like this? Looking around, the place was big enough, and he hadn’t seen any other Dusk nun here.
"What should I do?"
Tia, holding Zheng Yichen’s God’s Core, said, "You go in."
"...This is somewhat forcing the issue." Zheng Yichen said as he willingly approached the ball of flame; now he possessed immunity to fire.
However, there’s no absolute in elemental immunity. If taken seriously, it must be ranked; Level 10 elemental immunity can protect from any elemental damage below Level 10, but if such damage reaches Level 11, the immunity won’t work, only reduce the damage.
Of course, compared to resistance, the greatest advantage of immunity is its relative absoluteness; resistance can be weakened in various ways, allowing some attacks to be effective.
With immunity, even if the party’s related elemental resistance is negative, they won’t suffer damage from corresponding elemental attacks unless the attack’s intensity exceeds the immunity level.
But since the related elemental resistance is negative, if the corresponding elemental attack slightly exceeds the immunity level, it could result in the party being instantly killed due to their negative resistance.
After all, negative resistance can also be understood as enhanced damage.
Zheng Yichen, having extremely high resistance and elemental immunity, counted as standard configuration for a strong person.
In simpler terms, he’s invulnerable to all laws.
Once becoming strong, without such a standard configuration, what else isn’t it but a fraud?
Yet the flame before him made Zheng Yichen feel that his immunity and resistance were useless.
Even this thing just looked like fire; actually, it was something else expressed in the form of fire. Perhaps in Zheng Yichen’s understanding, if unrelated to fire and forging, it might further manifest in another form.
Zheng Yichen examined the flame carefully; his Delusion-Breaking Vision slightly came into play. After staring at the flame for a long time, it seemed to transform into something more chaotic and void.
"...Is this reliable?"
"God’s Core cannot bear the strengthening of the Annihilation Crystal; your role is to share this strengthening. However, because of sharing, your connection with God’s Core will become more intimate."
"Oh." Zheng Yichen reached out toward the flame before him; the sensation upon touch wasn’t scorching but rather a feeling hard to express, akin to losing his sense of pain.
This flame... is it not the void Tia spoke of?
The flame wasn’t large; even as Zheng Yichen completely stepped in, it didn’t envelop him, but its touch evoked countless indescribable feelings, neither uncomfortable nor comfortable.
