"If using the Gravity Ball consumes physical strength, then… what kind of energy does it take to use the Book of Wisdom?" Xia Chuan asked, tilting his head slightly, his eyes reflecting curiosity and calculation.
"Brain power," the Book of Wisdom answered matter-of-factly.
"Of course," it continued, "every time the Book of Wisdom is activated, it consumes an enormous amount of mental energy and computational capacity. For ordinary humans, the effort is unbearable. Even minimal activation could cause their heads to feel like they are about to explode, and there is a hard limit on how many times they can access my knowledge before exhaustion sets in."
The tiny humans of the miniature world had struggled, even died, from overusing the Book of Wisdom. Exhaustion of the brain was their downfall, their limitation.
"But you, Master… are different."
Xia Chuan raised an eyebrow.
"I have never encountered a creature with such immense cerebral power, such tremendous computing ability," the Book of Wisdom explained. "Your mental capacity surpasses even the greatest minds of those miniature humans by millions of times. Activating my functions is effortless for you. Your potential… is infinite."
It had been the curse of all previous users—they reached their limit, their minds collapsing, their bodies succumbing—but not Xia Chuan. His vast body, his unimaginable scale, made the limitations of miniature humans irrelevant. Every use of a world prop cost him almost nothing.
"I see," Xia Chuan murmured, understanding dawning. Compared to those tiny humans, his enormous size gave him a clear advantage. Their world items drained their vitality quickly, sometimes fatally. But he… he could wield these artifacts without worry. A hundred times the effort for them? For him, negligible.
At that moment, the Book of Wisdom seemed to sense something. "Master… someone is nearby."
"Then let's see," Xia Chuan replied calmly.
In a flash, he manipulated the Gravity Ball again. With a single light jump, he soared hundreds of kilometers in an instant, arriving effortlessly at a remote cave high above Bailong Mountain. The wind whistled around him as he landed silently, his eyes scanning the surroundings.
...
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Not long after Xia Chuan departed, a group of people was rushing toward the mountain. Their movements were precise, urgent, trained.
"Team Qin Changqing," called a young man dressed in white. "The earthquake we detected earlier—its epicenter is right here."
"What happened here? This area seems… completely destroyed by an unknown force," a woman in red said, stepping cautiously closer. She squinted at the scene. Her eyes widened in disbelief. "What kind of power… could flatten everything like this?"
A radius of one hundred meters had been reduced to dust. Rocks, trees, even the earth itself had been pulverized into powder. The scale of destruction was unimaginable.
A bald man shook his head. "If this were a bomb, it wouldn't leave the ground so flat. Too… precise."
"Perhaps… a space shock," a middle-aged man said gravely. His eyes scanned the destroyed zone with the calculating gaze of a commander. He was the leader of this group, the head of the Daxia Special Affairs Bureau team responsible for investigating extraordinary phenomena in the region.
"Space shock?" the others echoed, disbelief mixing with fear.
"Yes," the leader, Qin Changqing, confirmed. "A space shock occurs when a passage from another world connects to ours. Before the connection stabilizes, the spatial aftershocks can erupt, releasing immense destructive power. Entire cities… could be razed."
He glanced around at his team. "Now, the radius affected is small, barely a hundred meters. But even this is catastrophic."
A junior officer asked hesitantly, "Team Leader… are you saying there could really be someone… from another world?"
"Of course," Qin Changqing said solemnly. "For the past ten years, our world has experienced spatial aftershocks intermittently. Void passages linking to the Otherworld appear randomly. And creatures… creatures from other worlds occasionally cross over."
He paused, letting the weight of his words settle on the team. "The power of these alien beings is terrifying. Some possess extraordinary abilities. Firearms, explosives—even advanced weaponry—may not stop them. Their presence alone can wreak havoc on our world. We are fortunate that the frequency of these intrusions is low. Our bureau's mission is to monitor, contain, and prevent exposure of these phenomena to the public."
He ran a hand over his face. "These incidents have occurred globally over the past decade. Governments everywhere know, silently, how to control the damage. But… with time, the situation worsens. More spatial tunnels, more creatures crossing over. Sooner or later, it may become uncontrollable."
One of the team members frowned. "Team Leader… is that why you instructed us to monitor Bailong Mountain continuously? Could there be a tunnel here as well?"
Qin Changqing's eyes turned icy, sharp with calculation. "Exactly. Every spatial aftershock leaves signs, small tremors, minor anomalies. Observing these allows us to predict where a tunnel might appear. Once identified, we can deploy units to contain the breach, neutralize any otherworldly intruders, leaving no survivors… ensuring our world remains unharmed."
The words carried an unmistakable coldness, a latent threat. Every syllable underlined the severity of the danger, the ruthless efficiency of their organization. There was no room for hesitation, no tolerance for error.
Xia Chuan, hidden above in the cave, observed quietly. From here, he could see them scanning the destroyed landscape, calculating, discussing, unaware of his presence. Their training, their technology, their methods… impressive, but irrelevant. They could only guess, react, never truly challenge him.
He flexed his fingers, feeling the Gravity Ball thrumming with latent potential beneath his skin. In a battle between worlds, physical strength, mental acuity, and artifacts were all useless against true mastery. His power—his scale—was incomprehensible to them.
The team of the Daxia Special Affairs Bureau, led by Qin Changqing, were formidable. Extraordinary in their own right. But Xia Chuan… he was no longer bound by ordinary measures. Another world had already shaped him, his body and mind tuned to a scale impossible for them to comprehend.
He exhaled slowly, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips. They did not know it yet… that the world they called normal was now just a stage. And he—Xia Chuan—was about to become its unseen, untouchable force.
Above Bailong Mountain, the wind whistled. The Gravity Ball pulsed faintly with raw energy, the cave hummed with untapped potential, and Xia Chuan, calm and composed, prepared to take the next step.
The extraordinary road… had just begun.