Lord of the Truth - Chapter 2178 Breaking the constants

“…I know it’s laziness on my part.”

“…” Theo stared into his father’s eyes with a mix of confusion and disbelief for several long seconds, as if trying to confirm whether he had truly heard that correctly, then finally let out a soft breath and showed a gentle smile. “You’ve earned the right to brag today however you like. I won’t say a thing.”

“Haha, me? Bragging? Not at all.” Robin Burton shook his head repeatedly, clearly entertained, though the faint curve of his lips betrayed his satisfaction. “Anyway, once my consciousness is free again, I’ll use it to complete the rest of the minor laws the empire possesses and hand them over to you.”

“Mhm.” Theo nodded, his expression settling into seriousness again. “What are your orders now? Should my brothers and I, along with the rest of the first row leaders, begin modifying our foundations starting today, or should we wait a bit longer before taking action?”

“I’ll leave that decision to you.” Robin waved his hand casually, as if the matter was minor. “Based on my overall estimates, after modifying the eleventh foundation, the one above it will take around a month or slightly less to adjust automatically. Then the next will adapt to match it, and so on~” He lifted his head slightly, his tone turning more precise. “Until you reach the forty-first foundation, where the process becomes significantly heavier. Each one of those will take between three to six months to fully transform and stabilize.”

Then he waved his hand twice, dismissing any rigidity in the numbers. “These are only rough estimates, but you understand the idea… a complete transformation for someone at level fifty would take, on average, between five to ten years. Since we have ninety-five years before Niahari’s promotion, you can plan the timing based on that window.”

“…” Theo nodded again, his brows drawing together slightly as calculations began forming in his mind. He would need to create a precise schedule, rotating each major leader’s leave carefully so that no battlefield weakened all at once. Even a small imbalance could ripple across multiple fronts.

“Take this as well.”

Cling

“Hm?” Theo snapped out of his deep concentration at the sound of his father’s voice, followed by the faint metallic impact on the table. “What’s this?”

His eyes caught sight of a small metal plate resting beside the growing tower of booklets. Without hesitation, he reached out, picked it up, and immediately sent his soul sense into it.

At first, his expression tightened in confusion. Then his brows slowly lifted. Moments passed… then more…

A few minutes later, his eyes opened wide, his breathing subtly disturbed as he turned to look at his father. “Is this… even possible?!”

“What do you think?” Robin casually gestured toward the plate, watching him with quiet amusement.

“I mean…” Theo tried to steady his breathing, his voice lowering as the implications sank in, “of course, I know that some of the sons of Behemoths and the most promising heirs of rulers of Millennium Empires sometimes use nascent space beast crystals to break through to World Cataclysm… but the success rate has never been high. Only the absolute elite among them are even granted the chance to attempt it…”

Then his gaze dropped back to the plate, as if it held something dangerous. “With this array… will my brothers and I all be able to succeed in breaking through using a nascent space beast crystal? What if one of us fails? The backlash from the crystal would be catastrophic… it could destroy the body and soul entirely…”

“…?!” Robin looked genuinely puzzled for a brief moment, clearly not expecting that line of thought.

Then, without warning, he pushed his chair back, stood up in one smooth motion, and extended his hand forward—bam—striking Theo lightly on the side of the head before returning to his seat as if nothing had happened.

“Why did you do that?!” Theo asked, stunned, his hand instinctively rising to the spot, still processing what had just occurred.

“What about showing a little confidence here?!” Robin raised his voice slightly, his gaze sharp. “What more do I have to present before you raise your expectations of me even a little?”

“…This has nothing to do with confidence,” Theo exhaled slowly, shaking his head as he tried to compose himself. “You’re the one playing with the constants…”

“You are damn right, And as long as there is still breath left in this body, I will keep playing with them until I forge my own constants.” Robin Burton said, lifting his head with a quiet yet overwhelming confidence, as if the very idea of limits did not apply to him. “Let me tell you something… not all sons of Behemoths use nascent space beast crystals to break through, and there are two main reasons for that. The first, of course, is that they are extremely rare, to the point where even overwhelming wealth cannot guarantee obtaining one.” Then he gestured toward the far side of the planet with a casual motion. “As for that problem… we’ve already solved it here.”

“…” Theo nodded slowly, fully understanding what that implied.

After all these years of opening the gate and hunting nascent space beasts, they had accumulated a massive stockpile of their crystals. The number had quietly risen into the hundreds without most of the empire even realizing it.

Hundreds of nascent space beast cores.

Just that alone was enough to enrich the True Beginning Empire’s treasury for millions upon millions of years… and yet, despite their unimaginable value, it was clear his father had no intention of selling even a single one of them.

“And the second reason is the method.” Robin raised two fingers, his tone becoming more instructive. “Trying to use something this chaotic is nothing short of a nightmare. It requires a very specific approach, a refined method built on countless failures. That’s why every Behemoth, every Centennial Emperor, every major organization… each one possesses their own inherited technique, passed down through generations of trial and error, and never shared with outsiders under any circumstances.”

Then he lowered his fingers and spoke with clear seriousness, his eyes sharpening. “The only one who truly mastered and perfected this method is the Savage Zavaros. That’s why all his descendants succeeded in breaking through using nascent space beast crystals. It’s also why they possess the strength to fight individuals like Hedrick… even though, in the end, they remain nothing more than a lineage of beasts.”

Then he pointed again toward Theo’s hand, emphasizing the object he held. “What you’re holding is a design for an array where the crystal is placed at the center. The array absorbs the chaotic, violent energy and cycles it internally at extreme speeds until it stabilizes into something usable. During that time, the user safely refines the empty crystal without exposing themselves to direct backlash. Once that process is complete, they begin absorbing the now-stabilized energy slowly… carefully… like drinking from an ocean through a narrow straw.”

He continued, his tone carrying unmistakable certainty, “I dare say this method is safer than even using those trivial elemental Pearls as stabilizers, and its success rate is significantly higher.” Then he waved his hand lightly, as if brushing aside any doubt. “Of course, that’s assuming the array is constructed properly and the user follows every instruction without deviation.”

Theo couldn’t help but smile faintly at that last remark…

His father’s confidence in the array bordered on absolute certainty. To the point where any potential failure would never be blamed on the design itself, but rather on poor construction… or the incompetence of the one using it.

“And how much would an array capable of cycling the energy of a nascent space beast crystal actually cost?” Theo asked with a light, almost amused chuckle.

Robin had just declared his creation unmatched… but something told him the price would be just as extraordinary.

“I don’t know the exact figure, but a lot, obviously.” Robin shrugged, completely unfazed. “The core component alone requires five additional nascent crystals acting as cores for the array, each one pulling and redistributing the energy from the central crystal. Fortunately, we have plenty of those. As for the remaining materials… I’d estimate around thirty billion Pearl per array, give or take. It’s fairly cheap.”

“Cheap indeed.” Theo let out a relaxed laugh, though there was a trace of disbelief hidden within it.

Thirty billion… for a single array.

Then he placed the metal plate carefully aside and lifted his gaze, looking directly into his father’s eyes with a deeper expression this time. “You’ve just handed me things that the entire universe has struggled to achieve for decades, maybe even longer, Father… methods that countless forces failed to perfect… so tell me honestly… where do you even find the time to do all of this?”