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"Gustave? Who are they?"
Shuddering as he tried to shake off the unsettling emotions in his body, and setting the vampire children's toys on the table, Gustave finally managed to push the feeling away. After a couple of seconds, returning to normal, he answered Cerys, "They are Higher Vampires."
"What do they want from ye?"
"No, they don't want anything. Probably just wanted to say hi to me—and to see a new kind of vampire."
"Oh… so it's like the elders wanting to see the isle lads from time to time, yeah?"
"Something like that."
"Then… that's a relief."
Turning to Cerys, now utterly exhausted and feeling as if his body had been squeezed dry—with hunger creeping in—Gustave asked, "Cerys… I'm thirsty. Can I drink your blood?"
"Ah… now…? Is water and normal food not enough? Like when ye were sleeping back then? Does it… does it have to be blood?"
"Although I still need to drink and eat like a normal human, yes—now that I've become a Dawnwalker, I also need to drink blood so I don't go rabid while awake."
Pausing, he continued, "When I wake, my spirit—my Quintessence—isn't aligned properly, so I need the Fifth Element, the spirit from someone else, to stabilize my own. Since most of the Ether Element flows within blood, that's why I need to drink someone else's blood. And it's also why, back then, normal food was enough for me."
"Quinblasense? Ather? Gustave… I don't understand."
"It's okay, I'll teach you slowly. Oh—before I forget. Cerys, because I don't want my betrothed to be ordinary, I want you to wield mystical power. So—Cerys—do you want to be like Ermion? Or maybe like the sorceress Yennefer?"
"Nay! I want to be a Flaminika… like Madam Bertr!"
Rubbing his chin, thinking of a beastmaster—like Rexxar in Hearthstone, commanding countless beasts and monsters—and imagining her leading an army of Fiends stampeding across a battlefield, Gustave nodded.
"So Beastmaster it is. It's possible. I just need to reverse-engineer how Regis's DNA in my blood lets him talk to ravens, add a little spiked drink and a few cigars for Master Fritjof, then I can… Anyway—yes, I'll teach you to become a Flaminika, Cerys."
"Yey! I can be like Flaminika Bertr! Here, Gustave! Drink my blood, so ye can stay stable!"
Sinking his fangs into Cerys's tantalizing, delicate, and warmly desirable neck, Gustave carefully controlled his saliva—since it naturally flowed when he drank blood—so she wouldn't become addicted and start craving more like a crackhead.
After drinking Cerys's blood, he suddenly had an epiphany—a spark of understanding that deepened his grasp of the Ether Element that flowed within his own blood and others'.
Or, as he liked to phrase it in more scientific terms, he realized it was information carried by bouncing particles or vibrating strings produced by someone's mind whenever they were thinking and forming conscious thoughts—information which, taken as a whole, became what was known as the soul.
And this realization also made him understand why, back then, with just a single thought of Gaunter O'Dimm, O'Dimm could pinpoint his location across countless timelines and parallel universes.
It was because, quite literally, his soul—his Quintessence, or the term he preferred, the quantum-particle wave of data—had been too simple and naïve at the time.
Every "electron of thought" he produced in his brain radiated outward like a beacon, easily readable to someone with deep intuitive knowledge of quantum mechanics—someone like O'Dimm, who lived in the Ethereal Plane.
And now, because his Elder Blood [Recall] ability essentially blurred his mind's electrons of data—his soul's vibrating-string information—into superposition across many branching timelines, at countless zero-point seconds in both future and past, his thoughts could no longer be pinpointed.
Or, in other words, his soul's symphony of vibrating strings now appeared as unintelligible, automatically encrypted data—unable to be traced because it no longer existed at a single point in time.
And this revelation—this epiphany that a soul is merely a collective cluster of information made of bouncing particles or vibrating strings—also helped him understand why there were stories and rumors among the members of the House of Raver claiming that even the heavens themselves feared the possibility of him having this ability.
Because the complication of such a possibility was not just the erasure of his existence, at first it only put him at a disadvantage, leaving him puzzled and wondering why this god was suddenly fearful of a mortal who could barely kill a chicken at the time.
But now he knew for certain… oh, he knew with absolute certainty why they were all afraid.
They were not afraid simply because of his ability to erase history, but because they realized that his power to erase history implied he possessed a deep, fundamental understanding of the creation of everything.
And that, in turn, allowed him to wield a potent lethality capable of destroying the entire board in its entirety, creating mutual annihilation across the whole Witcher world, with just a trickle of Elder Blood—enough to act as a key to the Ethereal Plane, where they had thought themselves immortal. That… was what truly terrified them in the first place.
Coupled with the fact that the trickle of knowledge about recent major breakthroughs in science had flowed into his ancient grandmother, reviving her to the point where she could now be categorized as a major deity, thus prompting him to have a guardian angel in the first place, it also added to the growing unease of these devils and demons.
Thankfully, his bloodline came from Lara Dorren, who treated him like one of her children, allowing him to have independent thought.
If it had been anyone else, Gustave probably would not even be alive—or, worse, he might have become a slave to whoever found him first. He knew that his knowledge would have been squeezed dry by the first person to discover him, a normal, weak mortal stumbling upon a treasure of knowledge capable of turning a dead, weak spirit into an instant deity.
So now, seeing that even his ancient grandmother could no longer read his thoughts—since she had only done so originally to shield him from someone like O'Dimm—he realized he finally had room to think freely on his own.
Not only that. Recognizing that the knowledge he had brought from Earth was merely an early starter pack, he now knew for certain that this was not the case with the very newest scientific discoveries—those already delving deep into the theory of quantum mechanics or the new string theory, which would become his lethal weapon from now on.
So, he began deducing just how much knowledge these gods and people actually possessed, and he found that the people of this world had only discovered knowledge up to the early 20th century.
That meant that from General Relativity, which the people of this world were already somewhat aware of, to the latest Nobel Prize–winning discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunneling—these became literally his unique and signature cheat codes, requiring time for others to replicate due to how difficult they were to copy.
And not only that. It also made him realize that back on Earth, before he was reincarnated into this Witcher world, having read about the theory of the Quantum Memory Matrix—which proposed that spacetime itself acts as a quantum "memory"—he had been able to survive back then in Kaer Morhen.
It became his lifeline three years ago, when he instinctively used the same principle through his Elder Blood [Recall] ability by combining it with a simple time-dependent Schrödinger equation.
So, with maniacal laughter—now that he finally knew he had been holding a big motherfucking gun all along, just like the phenomenal research on Elder Blood that the Aen Elle, or more accurately the Aen Ghele, had created—Gustave flipped off into the sky.
"Fuck you, bitchy Gaunter motherfucking O'Dimm! Ptui! So you treat me like a fucking chess piece and not the player, huh?! Hohohoho! You made a big mistake, albino baldy! You want entertainment? Then I'll give you fucking entertainment, motherfucker!"
Thinking about how to get back at that motherfucking devil, Gustave began going through every theory of physics he had ever learned, choosing one that wouldn't give the enemy any inspiration but would still sting the devil for using him—using him as a chess piece to rearrange the board of the great game of destiny.
And because he knew Elder Blood research was basically just an extension of a crude way of doing General Relativity, he decided to follow that line of physics.
But because he knew for certain that what the Aen Ghele had created was closer to Special Relativity than General Relativity, he decided to show the devil, his own first ancestor Winter Queen, and the elves as a whole how to wield this physics properly.
Essentially, what they had created didn't account for gravity parameters. They had built a system of magic that resulted in the White Frost as an after-effect, simply because they didn't want to deal with the enormous mass and could thus avoid handling the gravity parameter.
This created a situation where the White Frost needed to spread into all corners of the multiverse. Otherwise, the worlds would collapse under their own mass, forming black holes that could reset the universe—or even the multiverse—back to the early Big Bang era.
As for why the Aen Ghele, when using this relativity, didn't create something extremely hot—since bending space normally generates a highly energetic state of mass under extreme curvature, following Einstein's E=MC²—Gustave, though not fully understanding the elves' science back then, knew one thing.
What they did was essentially reverse the Planck hot scale of that massive energy and mass. This created an absolute zero cosmic phenomenon that spread in multiple directions instead of collapsing into a single point, which is why the White Frost behaves the way it does, freezing and spreading outward instead of converging.
That's why the White Frost needed to spread into all corners of the Witcher multiverse. Otherwise, the worlds would collapse under their own gravity and reset the universe back into a Big Bang state whenever an Elder Blood wielder bent space and time.
Now, awakened to the full knowledge of how every Elder Blood user affected planets or even entire universes, turning these worlds into lands of ice and killing all inhabitants in the process, he began thinking both about how to be able to somewhat help these innocent by standard and how to get back at O'Dimm at the same time.
And because he knew he was a descendant of the White Queen, and from the report that Alvin had given to Calanthe—that the White Frost's starting point was in the female elf's skeleton, the Winter Queen's mortal body—Gustave realized that simply sending back the mass-energy he produced with his own trickle of Elder Blood into O'Dimm's territory would be enough.
He knew it could create many branching timelines, one of which might strike the White Frost in its entirety upon the albino baldy's head, simply because when the White Frost spread, it would eventually find its way to the baldy's territory due to his subtle hint, thus pitting the two godly enemies against each other.
Knowing this would allow him to help and briefly slow down the spreading of the White Frost in other people's timelines, Gustave compiled the information he had on the baldy and his own Elder Blood into a binary matrix energy-momentum tensor.
This time, he took the gravity parameter into account to essentially reverse the White Frost's spread into convergence, creating a firework-like explosion of black holes at the initial point of destruction.
Not only that, but while doing this, he was suddenly moved to tears and silently thanked the baldy for existing in the Ethereal Plane, a place of jumbled Quintessence, spirit, and imagination.
If the baldy's home were in the real world, or if he were a creature of mortal flesh and blood, Gustave might not have been able to do it. He would have needed to follow the orderly laws of physical science or require a large amount of Power, as he had back then when erasing history.
As for why he knew with absolute certainty that O'Dimm was a god—or a demon—it was because, to search for him across an infinite number of timelines, one would first need some kind of rubbish, wishwash "omniscient" ability.
It is basically impossible for a mortal to search an infinite number of timelines and locate him precisely amid the jumbled, automatically superposed quantum information, even when the mortal's mind is still in a state of naivety, unable to hide the residue of electrons.
Now, realizing that becoming a god was not so much fun—because someone with just deep, fundamental knowledge of creation could essentially turn the Ethereal Plane upside down from afar—Gustave decided to remain only at an Angel-level sequence in the future.
He knew the Ethereal Plane was just a dream space filled with jumbled, chaotic Quintessence knowledge that even mortals could explore, so there was no point in putting in extra effort when he now knew that mortals could affect the godly plane just as gods could manipulate the physical plane.
Deciding there was no point in killing himself just to become a god, since he deduced he could trick the Order magic of the place with his Artificial Life Creation from afar, he pushed that thought to the back of his mind and focused on creating a simple ritual to amplify this effect, intending to subtly manipulate the Ethereal Plane timeline with just a little information.
This way, he wouldn't have to wait too long for the cacophony of chaotic madness Up There to unfold.
He then activated his Elder Blood Recall ability to send back his memory of the compiled binary matrix energy-momentum tensor to Geralt's [Knowledge] ability during his encounter with O'Dimm in Witcher 3, ensuring it could not be traced back to him.
But he paused, choosing instead to redirect it to the [Knowledge] ability from the point of view of Olgierd von Everec when the bandit met O'Dimm, because he didn't want to implicate Geralt, no matter the timeline.
While waiting for this quantum information to be sent, he began observing the bracelet that Regis had given him, as his maids and Cerys left him alone in his thoughts while busy buying food and beverages for everyone to enjoy. He was now in a state of epiphany, and it felt disrespectful to be disturbed.
He did not focus on the bracelet itself, but rather on the madness that had been sent by the Winter Queen over the past three years—a force that had evolved him into a higher state of being, except only on New Year's.
Not only that, he now knew for certain that his earlier conjecture—calling it madness rather than enlightenment or residual power from a higher sequence—was essentially correct.
Unlike Klein, who lived only in the LOTM universe and lacked knowledge of many universes and sagas, he—the one who came from the real Earth—was able to categorize this as madness. Essentially, it was just the Cthulhu-universe way of doing things, sending someone an amalgamation of knowledge beyond mortal limits.
And because the Cthulhu way of doing things—sending enlightenment—triggers the evolution of someone into monstrosity, it is exactly the same as how the first molecules carried some form of enlightenment or new behavior: random information that allowed them to replicate, eventually forming the first cells in the universe and enabling abiogenesis and later evolution.
Gustave understood that this random knowledge, filled with Quintessence and chaotic ideas, could be considered madness, since at its core it is simply a mind unable to organize or process the information its senses receive—or, in this case, knowledge so advanced and unaligned with the rest of his consciousness that it triggered collapse on its own.
Considering that, back then, his senses and mind were unable to organize this higher level of knowledge—because his being was not ready for that kind of amalgamation of information—he did not evolve into a higher level of existence. Instead, it triggered his evolution into a monstrosity.
These evolutions became rejected and random, not suited to form a new stage of life. It was much like many failed attempts when the first cells were created, where neighboring cells failed to become proper first cells, essentially dying in the process and becoming mere things or inanimate objects.
Coupled with the fact that he had only received a basic framework from magic back on Earth—since in this world there was no Creator providing step-by-step guidance to divinity—he had to rely on his intuitive consciousness to figure out how to evolve.
He simply accepted that the path of advancement for him and for Klein in Lord of Mysteries was exceedingly different.
Sometimes it made him envy how easy it was for Klein, who only needed to drink the potions and have enough willpower to cleanse the residual spirit of the previous owner—or the higher being that had sent that residual spirit power—automatically triggering evolution into a higher state of being.
Not only that, unlike Klein, in this world Gustave had to take extra steps just to digest the Beyonder Characteristic—or, more accurately, to recreate the Power himself from the basic framework of the Paragon Beyonder Characteristic he possessed, because the magic of the LOTM and Witcher worlds works differently.
This was a fact he only now realized after deducing everything about Quintessence and the nature of spirit ideas, and at the same time, it explained why he was so slow to advance into the new Sequence compared to a normal Beyonder.
Beyond merely acting and digesting, Gustave now realized that he also needed to truly embody the Sequence he wanted to attempt—to the point that it would be recorded in history and acknowledged by many consciousnesses as the Sequence he intended.
At the end of the day, he was the first to carve this path so that the spirit and Quintessence ideas could be imprinted, effectively creating a new branch of magic in this world.
Perhaps those who follow the Paragon Pathway after him would advance more easily, but as the pioneer, he had no choice but to endure, relying on his intuitive or awakened consciousness to become the Sequence he desired—to truly become a Savant in a world full of suspicions that could endanger his life simply for existing.
Not only that, while embodying his Sequence, he also needed to endure the constant risk of collapse, since the evolution of every quantum particle in his entire being had to be maintained in a coherent state, as there was essentially no Pathway written in this world that he could simply copy from a predecessor who had already walked the path.
And that does not even consider the many gods and demons of this world, which he deduced were essentially different civilizations on the Ethereal Plane, housing thousands or even hundreds of thousands of deities, most of whom were made up of dead heroic spirits.
Entities hindered his advancement in transforming enlightenment and knowledge into real, tangible power simply by existing, because when creating spirit power as a Beyonder, he needed to carve it into Quintessence ideas that might or might not hoard power from the gods' and demons' territory on the Ethereal Plane.
He knew that, although the territory up there in the Ethereal Plane was extremely vast, considering the Witcher world—being a meeting point of many universes because of the Conjunction—he also knew it would eventually run out of space, since many dead souls and jumbled ideas from mortals eventually passed through the Ethereal Plane.
Or perhaps it was a matter of simple selfishness. Some deities, like the Eternal Fire, did not want to see competitors.
Knowing that both the Eternal Fire and he himself understood that magic was an easy tool to spy on gods and demons, he understood why the Eternal Fire wanted a Continent free of magic—the only things that could potentially harm them, especially when the science of it was not yet mature.
Coupled with the fact that he also understood many gods and demons simply wanted to be lazy, manipulating the naïve minds of scholars to maintain exclusive control over scientific advancements that mortals had to work hard to discover and develop, he realized this was why many of them agreed to and carried out the Witch Hunt in the first place.
Shaking his head, seeing that it was already late and time for dinner, Gustave emerged from his epiphany.
Having absorbed deep knowledge about the Fifth Element, its connection to spirit information, and what it took to become a pioneer Beyonder in this world—so that he could recreate this Power from a different universe—he had simplified the process into five steps:
First, acting; then digesting, embodying, maintaining, and finally turning it into tangible, real Power, which up to this point he had been doing instinctively.
After all of that was done, Gustave turned to Cerys and his maids, who had patiently waited for him.
"So, what are we eating tonight, Cerys? Oh yes, before that—congratulations on your full recovery, Rosemary Hammer, Delilah Loach, Brenna Est Est, and Mira Sailor."
Cerys: "Tch… you should've said it sooner. The moment for feelings… it's already passed. They're spent, all of them, from crying so much… took hours for their eyes to dry. And the food… eh… not much. Just your fancy Continental things, really."
Rosemary: "Pheasant and Chestnut Terrine, Stuffed Quail Eggs, and Roasted Mushroom Tartlets, Your Majest— I mean, Your Highness."
Brenna: "For drinks, I managed to sneak out Cintrian Plum Brandy, Prince Gustave. By whoreson, this stuff has a kick."
Delilah: "Your Highness… ehm, can you not call me Delilah Loach? I don't want my last name, given by that bastard of a father, used."
Mira: "Your Highness, you can just call me Mira. Is this another ritual? For whom? Is there a new Coin Club member?"
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References may break immersion. Just go ahead to the next chapter.
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References
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I'll look for the exact reference later when I have some free time, because I'm on holiday.
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Ether, as it is called in the fandom, also goes by: Quintessence, Fifth Element, Mixed Element, Idea, Spirit, and Pure Magic. Anything with the prefix "Tele-" in magic, which is controlled by the mind, also uses Ether.
I used this concept to allow Gustave to affect the Ethereal Plane—a world essentially filled with the spirit of ideas and the collective mind of all beings—just as gods can act physically, creating all kinds of storms and disasters in the physical plane.
So don't treat it like the Chinese cultivation idea of "the bigger fist wins." I just don't like the notion of immortals who essentially claim that all science is useless in favor of raw strength. It's far too simplistic.
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