Chapter 964: Order, Permissions, Firewalls, and Confrontation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 964: Order, Permissions, Firewalls, and Confrontation
The next day.
"It’s Xiao Han! Xiao Han is here!"
"Whoa—is Xiao Han finally here to take charge of the Nightmare Workshop?"
The moment Sister Bai and I showed up, we were spotted.
The ones greeting us were, naturally, the ten witches who had volunteered to stay behind.
Although I hadn't come by yesterday, I had seen their eager expressions through my clones. After all, the basic infrastructure of the Nightmare Workshop was already complete; only I could operate the most critical sections. Naturally, they wanted to get to work as soon as possible.
However, with these ten witches here, I could afford to be a bit more flexible with my original concepts.
For instance, regarding the capture of the raw material—"Nightmares"—I had initially planned to use soul crystals as consumables to construct dream labyrinths to trap incoming dream creatures. Now, with these witches helping, it would be much faster and more convenient to have them capture the Nightmares personally.
Even though this was large-scale preparation of Dream State Soul Essence, we couldn't consume a massive amount of Nightmares all at once.
Furthermore, at the moment, Transcendent Witches were the only beings capable of transporting Dream State Soul Essence with sufficient ease.
Since the Nightmare Workshop was located in the Expansion Realm, Dream State Soul Essence had to be stored and transported within a dream overlap environment, which was incredibly inconvenient. A witch’s soul dream, however, happened to be the perfect vessel.
When even the barrier to entry for a delivery person was "Transcendent Witch," one had to admit the situation was getting a bit ridiculous.
Of course, there was another way to look at it. It was like my Great Knowledge Seed—it had to at least bloom within a Sea of Consciousness. Later, the witch sisters developed "Consciousness Crystals," which not only allowed the Great Knowledge Seed to bloom outside of a living consciousness but also served as a carrier for storing large quantities of them.
In theory, the same should be possible for Dream State Soul Essence.
Giving Dream State Soul Essence a physical carrier in reality, or... letting it cross the boundary between dream and reality!
It wasn't impossible. After all, the stimulated Yulan and her companions were in exactly that situation. Although they were dream-state souls when they crossed back, soul essence itself wasn't necessarily barred.
Just as dream creatures could consume soul essence from reality, they possessed a very special ability—one they weren't even consciously aware of.
The ability to traverse between dream and reality!
This resulted from either the dream creature crossing the dream boundary itself, or the dream creature acting as a medium for soul essence to cross that boundary.
Suddenly, I realized that at the level of the Primitive Dream Realm, there were simply too many unknowns shrouding us.
Returning to the idea of a carrier for transporting Dream State Soul Essence—this wasn't just a pipe dream. Since a path existed, making it "convenient" was merely a matter of simplifying the method.
After greeting the enthusiastic witch sisters, I threw myself into the manufacturing of the equipment.
Breaking down the techniques involved in the Incubation Purification Method into their most basic steps and then running them through machinery was no simple task.
It was like a standard machine tool pursuing precision; what the preparation of Dream State Soul Essence required was the pursuit of the unique, non-replicable techniques derived from [Transcendent Knowledge].
When deconstructed, the core of the problem was this: the Incubation Purification Method couldn't function without me. But what specifically did it need from me?
My technique.
And what did that technique rely on?
Power.
Could that power be spread or replicated?
No.
So, what could be replicated? Or rather, what didn't require my subjective guidance?
Spell effects.
The logic was now clear.
I would use the permanent spell effects of [Transcendent Knowledge] to deconstruct the techniques involved in the Incubation Purification Method.
This wasn't the assembly line I had hoped for; it wasn't a technique that could be taught or spread.
To others, this might look like the "nobility" of a Great Spellbook!
The derived spells, techniques, and special effects originating from a Great Spellbook could only be used by the one who dominated that power. It was a natural form of anti-piracy.
However, when it came to mass promotion, this became a major hurdle.
If it were any other witch, this might never have bothered them. But everyone has different pursuits, and witches are no exception.
The remaining ten witches proactively acted as my assistants. After all, I was hand-crafting the core equipment!
I needed someone to hand me things or lend a hand at the right moment, even though... I could technically just pick things up with magic.
Some witches also volunteered to work on the dream overlap instruments for the stable dreams.
This was very familiar territory for them. Nine out of ten witches knew how to hand-craft such equipment. Before the controllable Primitive Dream Laboratory existed, they had relied almost entirely on these methods for their experiments.
Don't ask why they loved equipment so much—it was because equipment didn't get distracted. Using a spell required a witch to maintain it, which obviously wouldn't work for long-term automation.
Once they finished hand-crafting the dream overlap instruments, they began proactively luring and capturing dream creatures wandering in the shallow dreams.
After all, even Transcendent Witches had their little schemes~
Once my equipment was finished, it would definitely need full-scale testing. Wasn't this the perfect chance to show off their diligence?
At this stage, the witches researching purification methods and Dream State Soul Essence were starving for materials. But Dream State Soul Essence was so scarce that you couldn't buy it even if you had the money. They were desperate.
* * *
The Game World.
A bottom-layer player, immersed in the game, stared at an option labeled "World Bounty Mission."
This special game option seemed to be a legendary game type that only existed in rumors!
The person who saw this icon never expected to encounter something so legendary... were they about to witness history?
In this kind of game, the rewards didn't even matter; just being able to say you participated was enough to brag about for a lifetime.
When the curious player clicked into the game, they were stunned.
The game scene wasn't one of those hardcore, open-world exploration missions.
The very first thing they saw was a vast, simple space constructed from countless pixel blocks.
The overall tone was dark. Countless transparent, glowing virtual pixel clusters formed streams of data, falling straight from the infinitely extending sky like rain to the ground beneath their feet.
Before they could even get their bearings, the sounds of violent combat and explosions filled their ears.
Without any preparation, their in-game character was completely obliterated.
Immediately after, they were forcibly ejected from the game. A notification appeared, stating they had failed and, based on their performance rating, had lost the qualification to re-enter the game.
"Huh? What the—! What is Infinite Group doing with this crappy game? What kind of high-level boss fight was that?"
Meanwhile, similar scenes were playing out across various private spaces within the game.
Many players had just entered the game, and before they could even experience any "fun," they were instantly eliminated by extreme levels of power!
The Myriad Worlds Space, constructed of virtual pixels, did not welcome the weak.
Virtual pixels.
This was the original power of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, its most fundamental core permission.
The "terminal program" that constructed and operated the Terminal of Myriad Worlds was carried by virtual pixels.
The people of the game world had first discovered this power. They tested it, gradually came to understand it, mastered it, used it, rewrote it... and finally...
A genius figure deconstructed it, reconstructed it, and defined it.
Ultimately, the Terminal—the Virtual Space—was born.
This genius, whose name should have been etched into history, should have been a household name. But the reality was the opposite.
The person's name had completely vanished from history; no one remembered them.
But the Terminal of Myriad Worlds they left behind benefited the entire world.
Setting aside the order of this society and speaking only of the world itself: if there were no outside interference, this world would eventually have evolved into a large world. Under the power of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, the worlds harvested by the game would become part of a game world community.
At that point, as a world community, the Ley Line Shackles could be ignored. The game world’s harvesting of these small worlds would shift from merely harvesting soul essence to a comprehensive harvest!
The World Three Source Elements, resources, population, extraordinary techniques, power systems, culture, thought, history...
Everything would be unified by a single World Will.
But there are no "ifs" in reality.
Historically, the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, having initially mastered the power of virtual pixels, touched the threshold of Order, and the Virtual Space was born.
Later, Dungeon Spaces were born—a bold application of pixel Order.
Then, transcendent energy pixels were created. From that moment on, the power of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds to influence the real world was born!
As society developed, games built upon virtual pixels and transcendent energy pixels also emerged.
During the period when they didn't yet have the ability to invade other worlds, the Terminal of Myriad Worlds was only used for playing virtual games. Back then, it wasn't called by its current name; it was known as the "Game Terminal."
Then, through a "unintentional" coincidence driven by the World Will, Luck was discovered. At that time, the concept of Luck didn't exist; it was just a special concept without a formal name.
But because the discovery of Luck was combined with the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, from then on...
The Game Terminal became the "Terminal of Myriad Worlds."
World Luck became "Game Qualification."
[Transcendent Knowledge] became the "Core of Technology."
Inside the Virtual Space.
A single mission prompt popped up in front of tens of thousands of players.
Kill the simulated world boss: "Calamity Witch"!
This was a time-limited challenge dungeon. In the eyes of the players, it was just a virtual battlefield used by Infinite Group to test a new type of boss.
But what the vast majority of players here didn't know was that the "big shots" beside them, who were unleashing terrifying firepower, weren't players at all. They were Game Architects participating in the confrontation under the guise of players!
Because only they knew that this wasn't a game. The terrifying figure before them wasn't a world boss.
She was a total invader!
A virtual entity intercepted by this "firewall" during an intrusion into the Terminal of Myriad Worlds.
The so-called time limit was the final deadline generated by the Game Architects based on the intrusion data that hadn't been intercepted.
Once the time limit expired, or if the firewall's blockade was forcibly breached, it would mean their permissions had been completely lost!
The consequences of such an event... were incalculable.
At this moment, they could already foresee the Supreme Council's total disappointment in them. Their good days were officially over!
Now, shift the perspective to my point of view.
When I attempted to invade the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, I was already prepared for all sorts of unknown situations.
But when I used this special clone as an anchor to clash my own Domain Order against the Terminal of Myriad Worlds, my consciousness, carrying that Order, plunged headfirst into this miraculous space.
In just an instant, through the method of Order interference, I understood what this was.
This was a virtual space constructed with a different kind of Order—a very peculiar space that could interface with living consciousness.
At first, I wasn't quite sure what was happening, until I met my opponents. Only then did I realize what kind of... battle I was facing!
This was an abstract confrontation where consciousness was projected into a virtual space.
The Order I had expanded using only my clone as an anchor couldn't possibly compete with the Terminal of Myriad Worlds itself.
So, I didn't choose a head-on confrontation. Instead, I acted as an invader, conducting a surprise raid.
After "adapting" to the virtual environment, I instinctively began to feel a desire to explore this place.
The feeling excited me, much like the first time I experienced a dream overlap.
Once I confirmed that the opponent couldn't use root-level power to erase me from the virtual space, I knew... the confrontation had begun.
Facing the players who kept pouring in, I initially used the power of my own Order to construct simulated real-world transcendent rules within the virtual space, then used spells to fight back.
Clearly, this method worked.
But as the number of players rose to an absurd level, the sheer pressure of their numbers showed me a brand-new way.
This was a virtual space—the home field constructed by the Order of the Terminal of Myriad Worlds!
This power didn't belong to anyone.
In other words: what they possessed wasn't power, but permissions and home-field advantage.
What that meant was... while I didn't have permissions like the Game Architects, home-field advantage?
It wasn't necessarily their advantage~
When it came to the understanding of Order and rules, I wouldn't claim to be invincible, but against these ordinary people with a "gaming" mindset... I would win, hands down!
The Terminal of Myriad Worlds belonged to an "ownerless" Order. Even if it was driven by permissions, its reactions weren't as flexible as an individual's.
If they could use it, then so could I!
Isn't it just about discovering Order, recognizing Order, deconstructing Order, and applying Order? If the players could operate it, so could I!
And all I needed... was the most basic permission to leverage a small force into a great one.
Spells worked the same way: using knowledge combined with runes and spell frameworks to establish transcendent laws, turning disorder into order. Even the most basic Fireball Spell was a means of leveraging the transcendent.
And as for obtaining permissions for the Terminal of Myriad Worlds... the most basic permission was actually very simple.
Wasn't the game equipment itself the basic permission granted by the Terminal?
It was precisely because of this that the resistance forces in the game world could use such means to steal permissions and obtain the power of banned accounts.