By logic, this kind of phenomenon should never actively appear, and even burning oneself as an offering should not trigger any response, yet those old acquaintances he had beaten earlier could somehow summon it.
It was absurd. Even if a contestant committed suicide on the spot, there was no reason for the finish line to rush over. By all logic, The End was very strict. If things were not completely dead, it would never appear. Yet only a handful had died, barely more than a dozen old acquaintances, and it rushed out as if afraid its prey would be stolen.
After finally finding him as a host that could vent endlessly, it clung on stubbornly, no matter how many times it was beaten. "There is no logic to this." Precisely because he now understood and respected universal mechanisms, Belial felt this was illogical, though he admitted it was possible the universe really was built this way.
Still, its persistent entanglement convinced him that there must be some hidden detail he had overlooked. This kind of active behavior should not exist, just like apples do not punch people to teach them what gravity is. He was not yet fully familiar with this special mechanism and might need more direct interaction, but after being tangled with The End for so long, beaten again and again through erosion and regeneration, his understanding had already improved a great deal.
There were several points he could now be certain of. The End itself was a kind of predetermined recycling or termination mechanism of the universe, as Ham had said, essentially a phenomenon. Its active desire to destroy or end everything was itself abnormal, whether it was actively fighting him before or being used by him.
As for the cause, could it be those old acquaintances who tore the universe into Shard pieces, or other beings that ripped and Rended universal rules? No, that did not fit. At most they were related, not the truth. Even if all other rules in the universe failed, as long as there was any trace of existence left, The End should not appear, since it was more a definition of the ending.
So why did this result appear? Why would it erase everything in advance, force it into an early finale, and then turn into a monster? He had not understood before, but now Belial found it incomprehensible. A vivid analogy would be a leaf just touching the ground, with nothing around it and no influence at all, instantly turning into a weapon-covered form and starting to wreak havoc.
After a brief silence, he shook his head. "Why am I worrying about this? Once I ascend in dimension, I can just pull the entire universe apart and look at it inside and out." He tapped his head and temporarily blamed it on idle thoughts, since when people had free time, all kinds of nonsense came up.
Wake up. Time to get back to construction. After another pause, he said, "This should settle it, right?" Inspector Ham nodded after receiving confirmation from Belial.
"Yes, it is settled. The payment has already been placed directly in your laboratory. Do you need me to send you back now?" "Before I go, should you not also settle the other part of the payment, like answering a few small questions?" Vera did not forget what Ham had promised earlier.
Ham smiled, with clear interest in his eyes. "Oh? You really want to hear it? You have guts. I can talk, but are you sure?" "Pick the ones that will not cause me trouble." "Fine. Which ones? But not too many."
Ham sat where he was. Even though things were fine now, he would rather sit on the ground than take that cursed seat. Vera rubbed her fingers together, thinking carefully.
Should she ask about her transmigration or another World? No, that was risky, and she did not want to gamble, since there would be time in the future. Should she ask about secrets related to God? No, those would not help her directly and might even cause problems, so she needed information with real benefits.
She was practical, or perhaps confident. The secrets she was curious about could still be pursued later, so after looking around and thinking it through, she asked directly, "Why are the physical rules here different from my original World? I saw some traces earlier. The two can actually coexist, or rather be generally compatible, right? How can they be used in the Otherworld?"
"As expected of you. You really do ask questions like this." Ham was not surprised. This question could clear up doubts, yield more information, and even let her quietly learn how to use her original physical laws in the Otherworld, which was quite clever. "So you will answer?" "Of course. I keep my promises."
When she heard that, Vera could not help smiling. If she could use the original physical rules, many branches of her technology tree could be reactivated. She had already discovered that the technologies in her mind could not be directly applied here, since they relied on the physical rules of her old World and were not compatible with the Otherworld.
Instead, she had to extract knowledge and rack her brain to localize and adapt it. Otherwise, with the Otherworld's Magic and the technology tree bonuses, she would have long since launched herself into Space with overwhelming weapons. That was why building a single Gundam took her so much effort.
"It is simple," Ham said. "Something went wrong in the World. The original physical rules were dismantled into pieces and are still being repaired, not finished yet." "And you call that a small issue?" "The God did it. Not my problem."
She wiped sweat from her temple. All right, that was indeed serious. So the God could directly dismantle the physical rules of the World. Thinking about it, though, it was not that shocking. From Gold up to the Ascendant Hall level, rules could already be rewritten within a certain range, so true God affecting an entire World was not strange.
"As for why you can use them, it is because those things are mixed with the power of another God. Satisfied?" "That counts as a method? Fine." Her excitement faded at once. Power at the God level was not something she could rely on, and she might as well focus on climbing her own technology tree.
After all, they were gods. Even with her cheat, why would they value a tiny ant like her? Then she glanced at Ham. This guy had latched onto a God, and a thought suddenly formed.
She might not be able to obtain that power herself, but no one said she could not take a back door. She could commission him to secretly get some, just a little. She did not ask for much, just a fairly even share within her laboratory range.
"Um, do you have any extra portions of that kind of power? I mean, the price is negotiable." "If not, I can even give up this relocation payment. I only need it to cover my laboratory." Vera started calculating again.
If she could just cover her original laboratory, she could recreate those precision instruments. Once she analyzed the composition of Ancient Steel, she could use her cheat to mass produce such rare metals. It would be like using nothing to gain a White Wolf.
She truly was a genius.
With a laboratory that had its own complete physical rules, Vera could quickly finish analyzing Ancient Steel and immediately start mass production. After that, the details before and after did not matter, because once she stepped into Space, she could switch straight to the Heaven-Scorching Divine Armament. She could then activate a reality stability anchor, expand the range of rule application, and start stacking gains while climbing the technology tree at full speed.
On top of that, she could field super robots that talked about Magic and physics at the same time and beat others head on. With her own strength, she could crush the entire World, conquer this small planet, build a fleet, and immediately begin a grand expedition. The future looked so clear that it almost hurt to stop thinking about it.
While Vera was still debating what kind of machine to pilot next, whether Getter Emperor, King Jim, or even Gurren Lagann fighting the Anti-Spiral, Ham suddenly jumped up and kicked those dreams apart. "Stop daydreaming. That kind of power cannot be used the way you think."
Restoring physical rules was not what she imagined at all. It meant using the rules carried by Belial to overwrite the original rules of the World. That might have been possible before, but now, with Belial sitting at the top of the World Red List, it was completely unrealistic.
"The price can be discussed." Vera was still unwilling to give up. Even if she could not open a control panel directly, this was still a huge leap forward, and she did not want to miss it.
Ham cursed under her breath and waved it off. "In short, no. This power comes with a price."
"If you can bear miracles that expand infinitely around you, all tied to you, then maybe I could consider it. Do you dare?" "I do not. Forget it."