Chapter 224: Altering and Tearing the Book
Chapter 224: Altering and Tearing the Book
The first story world Caelum discovered was completely ordinary.
It possessed no mysticism or extraordinary power whatsoever.
It was purely a world of technology.
Cars moved between towering buildings of the information age.
The World Cup final played across a giant screen in the plaza as fans cheered at the top of their lungs.
Planes passed overhead while travelers carrying bags of every size streamed out of the airport.
Caelum could not remember the last time he had seen such a peaceful and tranquil scene.
A trace of surprise entered his expression.
He opened the game terminal in his hand and checked it.
It still had a signal.
Caelum immediately understood.
The device was not connected to cellular towers or computer servers.
It was connected to the game system itself, an enormous network linking countless story worlds.
This story world remained within the game system’s range.
That meant Caelum could still choose to enter a game world from here.
What people called game worlds were, in essence, merely other story worlds.
Players from Earth might even have visited the very world Caelum now stood in.
Unfortunately, arriving in this story world had not triggered the selection of his special ability.
If the game system was the management system for story worlds, then his special ability system was like an extension added to the library management system.
Every time a game began, he received the chance to choose a different extension.
"It seems that reaching another story world on my own is different from entering one through the game system."
"Only the game system can trigger the selection of a special ability."
Caelum understood.
Grasping the true nature of the game system and his special ability system was one thing.
Breaking into them was another matter entirely.
At present, even Caelum could not do it.
Both systems existed on an extremely high level.
More precisely, the special ability system stood above the game system.
After all, it completely destroyed game balance.
At the beginning of every game, the game system forbade players from bringing their real world strength into the game world.
That proved the game system possessed an extremely powerful balancing mechanism.
Yet Caelum’s special abilities were never affected.
The only possible explanation was that the balancing mechanism could do nothing against his special ability system.
"This is..."
Caelum sensed something unusual.
This story world seemed to have been altered more than once.
Its setting and power system had been rewritten repeatedly.
The traces left behind were extremely obvious.
It was as though someone had revised the book of this story world again and again.
Its chaotic setting had been dismantled.
Its endlessly layered power system had also been erased.
Only after all those changes had the world become what it was now.
A place completely devoid of mystical power.
Caelum could do the same thing.
He simply disliked interfering in that manner.
He had never excessively altered the course of Earth’s story world.
As long as no one destroyed Earth, he almost never intervened.
One did not need to enter Infinite Concept Transcendence to possess this kind of power.
The greater Transcendence Realm was already enough.
With a single thought, all paths could arise.
The myriad paths of heaven and earth, along with the source of the Dao itself, were nothing more than objects held within one’s palm.
The appearance of the Secret War had already shown Caelum that extraordinary beings similar to him truly existed among the infinite story worlds.
The mystics who created that extraordinary ritual and the person who had altered this story world both proved it.
Scenes from the endless river of time passed through Caelum’s gaze.
The power of Infinite Concept Transcendence peeled away the surface of this story world layer by layer, like removing the skin of an onion.
At last, the world’s source appeared before him.
The traces left behind by the one who had altered this story world could not escape Caelum’s eyes.
It was not because the other party had been careless.
Caelum’s methods were simply superior.
Through those remaining traces, Caelum easily learned everything about the person who had rewritten this world.
Even their origins and background became perfectly clear.
As expected.
"A Realm between greater Transcendence and Infinite Concept Transcendence."
Their Realm was roughly comparable to that of the mystics who had constructed the Secret War.
Their level of existence remained far below Caelum’s.
The difference appeared to be only half a step.
In reality, it was as vast as heaven and earth.
It was similar to the difference between Aurelius at half a step into greater Transcendence and Caelum after truly reaching greater Transcendence.
The two could barely be compared.
The threat posed by the person who altered this world was infinitely close to zero.
Afterward, Caelum randomly visited several other story worlds.
Each possessed its own distinctive traits.
Their settings and power systems differed greatly.
One world even contained more than ten nested layers.
Above the mortal world stood a divine world.
Above the divine world stood a primordial world.
Above the primordial world stood yet another realm.
The structure was astonishing.
Its power system continued stacking one layer upon another.
When counted carefully, it contained more than a hundred Realms.
The sight alone was enough to leave anyone speechless.
Even Caelum felt that his horizons had broadened.
However, those nested Realms merely increased in scale.
Even if another ten thousand Realms were added, it would all remain an illusion unless the fundamental nature changed.
If one could not escape the constraints of the story world, then everything else was meaningless.
Forget conceptual beings like Caelum.
Even the person who had altered the world could tear apart the book of that story world in moments.
Destroying a story world was commonly known as tearing the book.
The infinite story worlds came in every possible form.
After seeing enough of them, nothing seemed strange anymore.
Once Caelum grew tired of wandering, he followed his original path back to Earth’s story universe.
He could not lock onto a new world before visiting it.
But once he had entered a story world, he could remember its location.
Returning by the same route posed no problem.
New Kirk.
Inside the apartment, Fluffball’s company had finally returned to normal operations.
Recently, the company had hired a highly professional sales team.
Business volume surged.
Fluffball personally reviewed everything and became so busy that it barely had time to breathe.
"Every contract signature and approval must be checked again and again."
"Also, make the new accountant sign a contract."
"We absolutely cannot allow the last incident to happen again."
Outside the apartment, Van repeatedly prepared himself.
He took a deep breath and knocked on Caelum’s door.
Returning here again, his state of mind was completely different from last time.
Caelum was a player beyond SSS rank.
Destroying a planet was as easy for him as setting off fireworks.
A single bad mood might cause him to turn Earth itself into a cosmic display.
How could Van not feel nervous when facing such a person?
He knew Caelum disliked dealing with the DMB.
But he had no choice but to come.
With such a terrifying figure living here, the DMB at least had to show some sincerity.
Otherwise, they had no way to understand Caelum’s thoughts or attitude.
The uncertainty left them constantly uneasy.
They were afraid Earth might simply vanish one day.
Caelum opened the door.
Van immediately spoke in the most sincere tone he could manage.
"Caelum..."
Before he could finish, Caelum kicked him away again.
Van traced a perfect arc through the air before landing in the street and rolling several times.
Van lay on the ground, utterly helpless.
It happened again.
Still, the weather was quite pleasant today.
Compared with traveling to other story worlds on his own, Caelum preferred entering them through the game system.
There was no complicated reason.
Using special abilities was simply enjoyable.
He loved the process of becoming stronger.
After two games from the ordinary series, the special series had finally finished cooling down.