Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 403 Rational Selfishness

Deep within the land abandoned by God, atop a mountain peak stands a colossal cross that exists between reality and illusion.

There hung a blurry figure upside down, with several ancient wooden stakes piercing its body, stained with blood that was still flowing but not dripping, nailed to the frame.

At the base of the cross, Ulrich, the "Angel of Fate," dressed in a simple linen robe and with silver hair reaching his waist, sat slumped there, his eyes closed in a gentle and devout prayer.

After an unknown amount of time, the upside-down figure on the giant cross suddenly faded, spreading into a curtain of shadow that stretched from the sky to the earth. Behind the curtain, it seemed, lay a pair of indifferent eyes that watched over the entire world.

If anyone could see this scene, they would be frightened by the cold gaze of those eyes, thus overlooking what is truly important—in that shadowy veil, lies a strange stone, its surface vaguely visible, mottled and weathered, inscribed with some kind of script that the individual has never studied but can understand at a glance.

This script appears to be the origin of all current languages, including but not limited to Giants, Hermes, Ancient Fussak, and the Southern Continent's Dutan.

That was the first blasphemous stone tablet!

Beneath the shadows, a viscous but illusory black liquid surged and spread out, revealing an endless sea that seemed to encompass all colors and all possibilities. It appeared within reach, faintly echoing with the sound of illusory tides.

This means that the "True Creator" has achieved initial control over the first blasphemous tablet and the Chaos Sea.

Although it is still far from being able to completely contain the Chaos Sea, it is enough for the 'True Creator' to possess power surpassing that of a dual-path True God under the blessing of the first blasphemous tablet.

Such strength was enough for Him to be on par with Adam in the competition.

In addition, He possesses the natural advantage of primordial matter, which is enough to give Him a clear advantage over Adam in the competition.

If they wished to unite, both He and Adam would inevitably have to make sacrifices:

Either one party's sense of self completely disappears, or both parties give up some aspects of their sense of self.

Therefore, both Adam and the true Creator have been competing for dominance after the 'merger'.

Adam hoped to use the "chaotic sea" as a source and himself as a pillar to "imagine" three uniquenesses and incorporate them into this system!

Under these circumstances, the newly born beings will transcend the limitations of the sequence and become half of the Old Ones. At that time, they will be able to crush gods such as the Lord of Storms with their own power and reclaim their authority one by one.

The pie is beautifully drawn, but the 'true creator' won't eat it.

Because He doesn't need to rely on "fantasy" as a pillar; He can achieve the same result by relying on "the Hanged Man."

Rather, using the "Hanged Man" as the "support" is actually the optimal solution.

Because the Old Days corresponding to the 'Chaotic Sea' are God, the Creator, the Creator, the Omniscient and Omnipotent One, and the Lord of the Stars.

The key point here is "omniscience and omnipotence". Only the omniscience and omnipotence is God, the creator, the maker and the lord of the stars!

In other words, from the very beginning, 'omniscience and omnipotence' were destined to be the best foundation—the 'White Tower' corresponds to omniscience, while the 'Hanged Man' corresponds to omnipotence. Moreover, these two paths inherently have a certain correspondence: omniscience leads to omnipotence, and omnipotence leads to omniscience.

Whether it's the 'Sun,' the 'Tyrant,' or the 'Dreamer,' they are all merely supplements to omniscience and omnipotence!

Just like the former "God", He is based on "omniscience" and supplemented by "omnipotence".

Therefore, when the Ancient Sun God fell, His plan was to use the Dark Angel Sasriel as a foundation to re-incorporate other pathways. In comparison, although the Imaginary Angel Adam was also part of the resurrection plan, in this world he was merely a side move arranged by the Ancient Sun God.

For thousands of years, the struggle between the "True Creator" and Adam has focused on the first "Desecrating Tablet." Whoever obtains the first "Desecrating Tablet" will gain control of the "Chaotic Sea" and seize the initiative.

In other words, the competition was already over when the "True Creator" obtained the first blasphemous tablet.

Since the initiative is already in the hands of the 'True Creator,' it is undoubtedly most appropriate for Him to take the lead in the fusion.

But Adam did not want to admit defeat so easily. So after becoming a "Dreamer", he did not immediately seek to merge with the "True Creator". Instead, he went to hunt the "Eternal Sun" on his own and seized his authority to become a dual-path true god.

In this way, Adam would have enough power to continue to stand up to the true Creator, instead of actively offering himself up for 'merging'.

Because Adam represents the pure divinity of the 'Ancient Sun God,' while the 'True Creator' is the embodiment of negative personality and extreme emotions. Although this also allows the 'True Creator' to inherit humanity, in Adam's eyes, this is precisely the fact that the 'True Creator' has gone mad.

Divinity often implies absolute rationality, and under this rational thinking, Adam was actually indifferent to his own existence or demise. Therefore, he did not care who would be in control after the fusion, and it didn't matter even if the merged "Adam" perished as a result.

However, Adam's reason kept telling Him that the true Creator had gone mad, and allowing a mad "true Creator" to gain dominance was definitely not a good thing. In the merging of the two, only allowing the absolutely rational Him to take the lead was the most perfect choice.

That's why, even knowing that "omniscience and omnipotence" is the best foundation, He still insists that using "dreamers" as the foundation is the optimal solution. Because "omniscience" is not in their hands, and "omnipotence" has gone mad; only the absolutely rational "dreamers" are qualified to inherit everything.

From the perspective of the true Creator, Adam's behavior was somewhat of a sore loser; He was unwilling to admit His failure.

But in Adam's eyes, He had not failed yet, and the way He obtained the "sun" was the best proof—He was still competitive enough.

But the more He does this, the more the true Creator feels that He cannot afford to lose.

The ancient sun god had already figured out one thing long ago—

That is to become the old days without rituals, because no ritual can change the awakening of the original will.

However, prioritizing can, to some extent, enhance self-awareness and increase the success rate of things!

The optimal order is to first become sequence 0 of a pathway, then control and merge the source matter, and finally accommodate another uniqueness.

Becoming a dual-path true god, controlling the fusion source matter, and then accommodating the remaining uniqueness is a sequence that is neither good nor bad.

fusing the source substance only at the very last step is the worst choice.

The 'True Creator' represents the optimal solution; He is Sequence 0 of the 'Hanged Man' pathway and has also achieved control over the Source. Under these circumstances, He can easily merge with pathways such as the 'Dreamer' and return to the 'Old Days'.

Adam, being a dual-path true god, could only take the second path.

Since neither He nor the true Creator is willing to back down, He may choose to take a third path—first find a way to accommodate the 'tyrant' approach, and then use the power of the three paths of the true God to force the true Creator to compromise.

However, the true Creator represents humanity, even the "fallen" and "mad" human form that Adam perceived. Therefore, He cannot engage in the same rational thinking as Adam, nor can He relinquish His own self and willingly serve Adam when He holds the advantage.

Therefore, the more "rational" Adam was, the more angry the true Creator became, and the less acceptable it was for Adam to be in charge.

That's why He disregarded the initial erosion and repeatedly strengthened His control over the source matter, thereby completely overwhelming Adam in the future.

This is an unsolvable infinite loop.

And Adam, of course, knew this too.

Furthermore, He was well aware that although He had managed to obtain the 'Sun' pathway by sheer luck, it was because the 'Eternal Sun' was too foolish. He didn't even know which side He should stand on—the God of War and the Lord of Steam were on the same side because Adam was acting as a go-between.

Adam promised to help the "God of War" hunt the "Goddess of Night" and the "Lord of Steam" hunt the "Hidden Sage".

Regardless of whether He fulfilled His promise or not, at least He kept His word, and both the God of War and the Lord of Steam believed in His promise.

The only exception was the "Eternal Sun," who naively believed he held the reins in the divine war and that the "Lord of Steam" would help him hunt down the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom." But he never considered that his perceived ally was actually his enemy, which is why he perished at Adam's hands.

Compared to the "Eternal Sun," both the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom" and the "Lord of Storms" share a common backer. And this backer is so formidable that even if Adam merged with the true Creator, he wouldn't be entirely confident he could kill the "Lord of Storms" under that protection, even if they had corresponding allies.

Therefore, this is almost the limit.

Adam's own limit is the dual-path true god; there is no possibility of going any further.

Therefore, if He wants to gain an advantage in the future competition with the "true creator," He must start from other directions.

For example--

flame.

Beneath the enormous cross, Ouroboros suddenly raised his head and looked into the distance.

Due to the divine war that once broke out, the Forsaken Land was almost reduced to scorched earth, shrouded in perpetual darkness, with only the occasional flash of lightning bringing a sliver of light to this world. The people of the Forsaken Land considered the periods of frequent lightning to be daytime.

In such a situation, not even the true creator, let alone Ulorus, could solve it.

It's not that I don't want to, but that I can't.

For the true Creator, who has been rejected by the Seven Gods, the number of believers is of paramount importance.

The vast area of ​​the Forsaken Land is undoubtedly a blue ocean for developing believers, but the prerequisite is to first transform the Forsaken Land back into the 'Eastern Continent'.

However, the current situation in the Forsaken Land is entirely caused by the combined efforts of six of the seven gods. Therefore, to resolve this predicament, it is necessary for all six of them to personally intervene.

But since the seven gods joined forces to seal the true creator in the land of the forsaken gods, how could they possibly leave Him a prosperous eastern continent?

This continent, shrouded in the pollution of the Six Gods' power, has no value for development no matter how vast it may be. The number of living people on it is extremely small; Silver City and Moon City combined number only tens of thousands.

The true Creator wouldn't bother with such a small number of people. Rather than developing a pitifully small number of believers in the Land of Kanzaki, He'd rather have organizations like the Aurora Society secretly proselytize in the Northern Continent. Moreover, if the opportunity arises, He can also reap a huge demographic dividend through the Painting World—for example, during the war, He used various unknown means to add hundreds of thousands of permanent residents to the Painting World.

But now, the situation has changed.

Because Ouroboros saw the sun!

A sun rose slowly over the land abandoned by the gods, its intense light illuminating almost the entire magical land.

That thick, unyielding darkness was also burned and evaporated invisibly, and countless monsters conceived in the darkness died miserably under the radiance of the 'sun'!

"host!"

Ouroboros's expression was indifferent, but his eyes became serious.

The "Sun" pathway has already been obtained by Adam; did He conquer it?

"That's not the sun, it's fire."

The same indifferent voice echoed in Urolius's mind, and the tall, phantom figure staring at the cross also looked up at the sky. But it saw more than Urolius; that 'sun' was actually a radiant 'flame'.

That was not embers, but the "First Flame" created in collaboration with Adam.

The question is, what did He want to do in the land of God's forsaken?

Surely it couldn't be specifically designed to purify the defilement of God's forsaken land?

This is of course of great benefit to the true Creator. As long as the pollution of the Eastern Continent is removed, He can use this to develop hundreds of millions of believers, and His state will be further stabilized.

However, the true Creator did not believe that Adam would be so kind.

"First Flame" must have some other purpose in coming here...

Suddenly, the eyes beneath the shadows seemed to realize something, and their eyelids lowered slightly:

"The Western Continent!"

The direction where 'First Flame' is located is the easternmost part of the continent, where there is an area shrouded in gray fog. Whether in the sky or on the ground, it is shrouded in a gray fog so thick that it cannot be dissolved. Even at its peak, it could not break through the barrier of that gray fog.

Just as the barrier outside the world was set up by the "Original" for his resurrection, the gray fog that shrouded the "Western Continent" was also set up by the "Celestial Venerable" for his resurrection.

In the beginning, the nine elemental substances were attracted to Earth, with the aim of using them to return to the Oneness.

In order to eliminate any influence, He excluded the other Old Days from the earth.

To ensure his resurrection wouldn't be affected, the Celestial Venerable sealed the other source materials in the Western Continent, leaving only the Source Castle and the Chaos Sea. The former was the foundation for the Celestial Venerable's resurrection, while the latter was because the Chaos Sea was also one of the symbols of the pillars, which the Celestial Venerable couldn't seal away.

The purpose of the 'First Flame' appearing there is thus revealed—it wants to release the sealed source matter!

(End of this chapter)