novelraw #161 - Section 161
#161 - Section 161
Old Joseph's words, translated into Earthling terms, would be: each plane is an independent planet or star system, including smaller satellites like demi-planes, which are also celestial bodies.
Moving between different celestial bodies might seem like direct teleportation, but it still requires traversing the Astral Plane or the Ethereal Plane.
Even man-made constructs as seemingly magical as divine kingdoms can be understood as space stations.
Just incredibly large space stations the size of ringworlds.
Ignoring the technical difficulties, it's merely a difference in scale, not in essence.
To reach a divine kingdom, one must still go through plane transitions.
But the Interstice of All Worlds is different; it's directly connected to countless material planes, allowing for immediate travel.
This is something no other divine kingdom can achieve, and it violates the laws of magic.
It's as if everyone else is dutifully using stargates and warp drives, while he's folded space, creating a bizarre connection point.
The Eternal Night Empress suspects that the limited area of the Interstice of All Worlds is related to this special point.
However, the magical principles applied here defy her understanding of common sense.
In this multiverse, the known difference between gods and humans is akin to the difference between space stations and ringworlds: higher energy output and vastly superior technology, but without achieving dimensional transcendence.
Divinity grants them greater power, even the ability to locally warp laws in the outer planes, but not to the extent of arbitrarily commanding 'Let there be light'.
In other words, gods must still abide by the fundamental principles of magic.
Therefore, the anomaly of the Interstice of All Worlds can be speculated in two directions:
First, the God of Knowledge has transcended the constraints of the current universe.
Second, he hasn't transcended the constraints of the current universe but possesses a deeper understanding of the multiverse's spatial structure than most gods, and the Interstice of All Worlds is a transit hub he created using special means to connect different planes.
Based on the God of Knowledge's current behavior, the first possibility is negligible.
If the enemy had truly transcended the current world's dimensions, they wouldn't have the opportunity to analyze and discuss it here.
Speculating about the God of Knowledge, even the act of offense might be detected by the opponent, who could retaliate with a similar two-dimensional foil divine spell, directly ending their thoughts.
So, it's clear that the God of Knowledge belongs to the second possibility.
Roger followed this line of thought: "Could the Seven Gods have created the void planes to construct the Interstice of All Worlds, completing this ingenious connection to replace the Astral Plane's transit mechanism? The benefits don't seem proportional to the effort of creating the void..."
"The benefits are severely disproportionate, so thank you for eliminating an incorrect option," said the Eternal Night Empress. "However, if we interpret it in reverse, the Interstice of All Worlds is a byproduct of them achieving their true goal, that makes much more sense."
None of the three spoke immediately, pondering what that true goal might be.
Roger asked, "Since he's the God of Knowledge, he should have great curiosity. Could it be that evaporating multiple worlds into void planes to observe the wonders of the world is actually him conducting an experiment?"
Like Earth scientists building particle accelerators, which is destructive to microscopic particles.
For existences at the level of the Seven Gods, destroying a plane might be no different from colliding a pair of particles in annihilation.
Old Joseph thought for a moment and shook his head, rejecting Roger's idea: "It can be basically ruled out. If the goal is observation, the specifications of each void are completely identical, which doesn't align with experimental design."
Eternal Night Empress: "I agree."
If they were exploring some kind of law, they should repeatedly experiment using the controlled variable method. Even if the resulting void planes looked the same, there should be subtle differences.
So, they successfully eliminated another incorrect option. The Seven Gods' true goal remains hidden in the mist.
In fact, they were close to the truth. From a certain perspective, God-King Amyrras was indeed conducting an experiment.
However, the target of this experiment wasn't a single plane, nor several planes, but the multiverse itself, upon which they depended for survival.
This destructive experiment, which gambled their lives and was irreversible, could be called madness.
But because of the gods' consistent display of greed for faith—greed being a manifestation of the desire for eternal existence—everyone subconsciously didn't believe that the Seven Gods would conduct self-destructive experiments.
This led to their train of thought being quickly blocked again.
Helpless, the three could only continue staring at Xiaty, hoping to glean more clues from her.
Unfortunately, this round of the Mind Demon Domain ended with her being crushed by the God of Knowledge's debt, with Nalinair draining even her last drop of value. Xiaty's mental state collapsed again.
Until the nineteenth reconstruction of the Mind Demon Domain, Xiaty was completely broken by the eternal torment constructed by the Eris Worms, becoming a fallen soul.
Her self-preservation had completely collapsed, and all her memories were directly opened. However, they didn't find more information.
A vacant-eyed, subdued Xiaty Veronica appeared before the three.
Unable to withstand the Mind Demon Domain's assault, her "self" had been completely controlled by A'fu, becoming a slave who, even without physical restraints, would permanently obey the Eris Worms.
She still had complete memories and a complete consciousness, and under A'fu's control, she could present the same personality as before. But she could also, under the Eris Worms' orders, play any NPC in the Mind Demon Domain.
Subjugation is a torment more eternal than death.
Moreover, subjugation in the Mind Demon Domain would forever endure endless self-judgment, making it even more agonizing.
Seeing Xiaty's appearance, even the Eternal Night Empress was triggered by her own mental shadows, imagining how terrible it would be if she failed and ended up in such a state...
However, how could I possibly fail?
Then it's fine!
She led Roger and Old Joseph in relentlessly searching Xiaty's memories.
As a result, they learned a great deal of unspeakable secrets of the Veronica Dynasty, but very little useful information about the Seven Gods.
It seemed that Xiaty was able to enter the Interstice of All Worlds, but after all, she was just a pawn, and couldn't have access to very confidential matters.
This pawn, in fact, was reading 'salvation', but writing 'leek'. Before her actions in the Eternal Night World had even begun, she had already been harvested for a huge amount of faith by the God of Knowledge.
Roger also learned for the first time that Mentor Tianming had fallen into such a terrible debt cycle.
Looking at the complex contract terms, which were incredibly protective of the God of Knowledge's rights, and the desperate environment that forced Xiaty to sign, he could only admire that the strongest of the Seven Gods truly had something special.
While other gods' management of believers was still stuck in the tribal era of faith totems, the God of Knowledge had already sprinted into capitalism, starting to play with various financial leverages and venture investments.
That this guy could become the strongest of the Seven Gods was not just because of the God-King's favoritism; he truly had brains.
But if the enemy is too clever, wouldn't it be even more difficult for mortals like them who were trying to guess the enemy's goals?
There were very few existences that could touch the God of Knowledge's core interests.
"Or, Lord Joseph, should we have A'fu help you recall some things?" The Eternal Night Empress asked Old Joseph with a smile.
"Your Majesty, you know me. I only know what the Goddess of War knows, and she's too terrible!" Old Joseph took a step back, utterly terrified.
The Seven Gods' true purpose was probably only clear to the God-King and the God of Knowledge; the other six gods were in the dark.
They were just parasites sucking faith, several levels below in terms of overall perspective.
Old Joseph figured that if he went in, besides revealing a bunch of embarrassing memories, he really couldn't contribute much helpful information.
The Eternal Night Empress pondered slightly and looked at Roger: "I remember that Courtier Roger also knows a lot about the Seven Gods' secrets..."
"Your Majesty, you know me. I can't even figure out interplanar teleportation. Do you think I can deeply understand and see through the God of Knowledge's layout?" Roger retreated three steps.
Damn it, if I entered the Mind Demon Domain, wouldn't I completely expose Earth?
And then incidentally present various doujin of Your Majesty, the Eternal Night Empress, and then be bombarded into quarks by a furious meteor shower for five hours?
He didn't know that the Eternal Night Empress had already seen some of the selected ones... emmm...
"Is this the difference between mortals and gods? We don't even know what the Seven Gods are doing, and can only wait for them to come to our door and be passively beaten..."
The Eternal Night Empress sighed softly, thinking of the shock of seeing the void for the first time.
The Astral Plane was also empty, but the Astral Plane strengthened magic and strengthened the spirit. After entering, the Empress could sense the mental fluctuations emitted by countless powerful existences.
Although those mental energies might be the aftershocks of hundreds of millions of years ago, at least it was evidence that this world was "alive."
Even if you couldn't see anything in front of you, there was an incredibly noisy "background noise," knowing that if you continued forward, you would encounter interesting changes.
But entering the void plane was different.
There was no matter, no magic, no spirit.
It was utter emptiness, truly genuine emptiness.
So, just being there for a short time would make you feel lonely, isolated, and even terrified.
This also showed the enemy's strength and unpredictability. The unknown always makes people irritable.
Roger comforted, "Actually, it's not that passive. Isn't there soon going to be a six-winged angel coming to demand debt? Let's dig a pit and have A'fu help her strengthen her memory..."
In Xiaty's memory, everyone had seen the betting agreement.
Knowing that in three days, Xiaty would have to lose her body to Nalinair because she failed to capture Roger alive.
At that time, the Empire could take advantage of the situation to carry out a trap plan.
"It's time for another round of classic replication," the Eternal Night Empress nodded lightly. "Then Courtier Roger, arrange this matter. I will fully cooperate."
Tired, no more love, let's destroy it. I just want to be a quiet and beautiful girl copying homework.
Old Joseph looked terrified: "No, really, no. I sincerely advise you not to touch that Time Shepherd. She's known as the strongest existence below the gods... Maybe she's already the eighth god!"
Chapter 141: He Doesn't Yet Know He Holds the Future
Old Joseph's overly panicked reaction startled both of them.
Especially the Eternal Night Empress, who asked back teasingly: "Oh? Old Joseph, you're someone who dares to gossip about the Goddess of War's scandalous secrets. Even if she really became the eighth god, would she scare you?"
Old Joseph didn't care about the Empress's sarcasm, but said very sincerely and earnestly:
"Tyberia is just a little b****, at most playing with emotions; but that woman plays with contracts, the most terrifying vampire in the multiverse, who can easily make people fall into the abyss and be doomed..."
"Oh, a vampire. I have a targeted disposal method here that's thicker than a dictionary. In the end, we can always hang them on lampposts," Roger understood Old Joseph's worries and continued to express great confidence.
Old Joseph's meaning was nothing more than saying that Nalinair's race was angels, and her profession was angel investor.
And she was the most shrewd and cunning kind, good at painting the most beautiful pie and then hiding the biggest pit for people to jump into.
She used capital advantages, was proficient in financial law, contracts, and agreements, seemingly opening up gambling games to give others a chance to turn over or get rich overnight.
But in reality, she would never lose, and would even profit greatly.
This was the house, the most outstanding capitalist under the God of Knowledge.
But in the era Roger lived in, these vampires were everywhere, with all kinds of cleverness and insidiousness.
The vampires had even become so numerous that they had entered the red sea era, and there weren't enough fools left, so they could only harm each other, using all means to achieve their goals.
Even Roger, an outsider, was familiar with countless classic cases.
Capital wars, compared to celebrity gossip, one was a high-quality game between immortals, and the other was a heart-wrenching dinner game between b*****s and dogs. Roger still quite liked watching the former to relieve boredom.
At least there weren't so many forced intelligence-reducing scenes.
In this world, Nalinair had no opponents, but with her gambling addiction, she probably wouldn't even need to go to Wall Street in Earth; she would crash and sink in the A-share market.
Maybe in less than three days, she would be played until she lost even her underwear, and then debut as a VTuber, relying on pleasing two-dimensional otaku to pay off her debts... Tsk, tsk, tsk!
If it were a supermodel powerhouse, Roger might not know how to deal with it.
But looking at Nalinair's setting, it was clear that after going around in a big circle, she had returned to the familiar track of us Earthlings.
Since you dare to come, then don't blame me for dimensionality reduction.
We're not afraid of enemies being too clever; we're only afraid of enemies not being greedy!
Old Joseph might have suffered losses, or might have seen others suffer losses and then be doomed, so he had a severe psychological shadow regarding Nalinair, and always felt that Roger was bragging.
Looking at Xiaty, who was vacant-eyed on the side, he knew that after a few betting agreements, she really had to sell herself to Nalinair.
Aren't you afraid of the mastermind behind the scenes?
But at this moment, the one who really had to make the decision wasn't them, but the Eternal Night Empress.
She naturally appreciated the confidence Roger showed, and also preferred proactive strategies: "I support Courtier Roger's trap plan. After all, this Empire is still my home turf."
As native creatures of this world, although they were restricted by this world, being on home turf still gave them a huge advantage: the power of a single entity that this world could accommodate had an upper limit.
Powerhouses exceeding a certain limit simply couldn't enter. Forcing entry would directly lead to the world's rejection or even collapse.
Before, when Nalinair wanted to descend upon the Eternal Night World, she needed to hold a sacrifice in advance to strengthen the spatial barriers before attempting to capture the Eternal Night Empress.
Gods, in their normal state, couldn't even enter the material plane in their true bodies, and used means such as projections or avatars, which could only exert limited strength.
Naline Nelson meticulously planned her gamble with Shady because she wasn't yet proficient in using projections or avatars. To establish a permanent presence in the Eternal Night World and gather information, a sufficiently powerful native body was a necessity.
Moreover, the Eternal Night Empress herself was nearing the upper limit of this world's capacity for power.
Each time she crossed over to other worlds and returned to the Eternal Night World, she could feel the world's subtle rejection of her.