"Welcome, newly advanced companion!"
A scorching ray of light suddenly emerged from the darkness of the void, and Leilin seemed to see a blazing core flame.
"This is the Mother of the Core! She is the strongest among us!" Enoside introduced from the side.
Along with her voice, several other powerful wills descended abruptly.
"This is the Necromancer Knight! This is the Abyss Lord!"
Numerous Tier 8 existences—some directly inhabiting ancient legends and myths, others Leilin had never heard of before—began to reveal their forms.
"Greetings, everyone!"
Leilin returned the salutation. A massive phantom of the Tagilian Winged Serpent materialized behind him, the power of Devouring constantly swirling around him.
"An interesting fellow! He actually commands the power of Devouring!"
"Such a path is exceedingly difficult. Do you remember that Bubble Teapot from three hundred and twenty thousand years ago? He seemed to walk the same path..."
"A blood descendant of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents, yet he broke through his shackles? Congratulations!"
The numerous existences either chatted among themselves or actively expressed goodwill. The mere transmission of their wills was enough to cause any Tier 6 Dawn Sun to directly explode and die.
"Silence!"
At the Mother of the Core's voice, the numerous wills fell silent at once.
"First, let us welcome Leilin Farell! Our newest companion!" It was clear that the Mother of the Core was indeed the strongest here, with all the Rule-level existences implicitly deferring to her.
"The contract has been prepared! Take a look!"
A plain clay tablet flew out from the earth's core, landing before Leilin's eyes. A contract was inscribed upon it in Rule script.
Leilin read through it. The conditions were quite broad, stipulating only that as a member of the
In return, he would have the opportunity to spend several years per century comprehending the power of Rules here, as well as absorbing World Origin Energy.
"The World Origin Energy is finite. Even Rule-level existences cannot make unlimited demands of the world, or it will inevitably lead to the destruction of everything... Even we cannot draw upon the world's power without limit. There must be restrictions!"
The Mother of the Core explained to Leilin.
"I have no objections!" Leilin naturally understood these principles. He nodded, and a black Tagilian Winged Serpent mark appeared at the end of the clay tablet.
Crack! The clay tablet shattered at once. It seemed to attract the attention of the World
"With the great Wizard Will as witness, I declare! The contract is complete!"
The Mother of the Core's voice carried solemn gravitas, while the surrounding existences joined in with their cheers: "Welcome, kid! It's been a long time since new blood joined us, ever since the Ancient War!"
It was clear that only after the contract was signed did these beings truly consider Leilin one of their own.
After some further exchange, Leilin first took the time to contemplate the World Rules displayed by the earth's core and absorbed a portion of Origin Energy. Only then did he leave under Enoside's guidance.
"Rest assured, my friend!"
As they parted, Enoside appeared quite hospitable and gentle. "Regarding methods to solve the control problems after splitting the True Spirit into two—I will help you search for solutions!"
"Then I'll have to trouble you!"
Leilin nodded gratefully.
Such advanced soul technology. Even with his research capabilities and the Chip's assistance, there was no telling when he could successfully develop it. The only option was to have other Rule-level existences help search for it.
"Actually... ordinary soul clones are already sufficient for our use. Why attempt the far more dangerous True Spirit split?"
Enoside bit her lip and began to counsel him.
"I know! Clones are indeed very useful, but you must ensure the connection with the main body is never severed. There are still significant flaws..."
Leilin replied.
Clones like the Eye of Judgment and the Filth Bird—Leilin could certainly create such things right now.
Perhaps those couldn't truly be called clones at all, but were merely projections of power.
As a Rule-level existence, Leilin understood the weaknesses of such projections all too well: "Once the connection is severed, such projections are completely useless! They can't be manipulated again at all..."
"Very well! I will see this done. Through the Wisdom Library passed down in my family's lineage, I'm certain we'll have results within three hundred years!"
Enoside gave Leilin a deep look, her sharp gaze seemingly penetrating straight through to his inner intentions.
"Then I shall take my leave! Sir!"
Leilin gave a slight bow, then his entire body dissolved into a streak of black light and dispersed, leaving only the contemplative Enoside standing in place.
"True Spirit division, is it? This kind of technology... even the Mother of the Core probably wouldn't dare attempt it rashly. How interesting..."
Enoside murmured to herself, a strange smile playing at the corner of her lips. Her entire body suddenly transformed into a massive cloud of mist, seemingly merging slowly with the world itself until she vanished without a trace.
The speed of Rule-level existences was nothing short of miraculous. In barely any time at all, Leilin returned to his laboratory.
Reclining on his sofa, Leilin didn't begin any new experiments. Instead, he touched his temples.
"Chip! Pull up my current physical data!"
[Leilin Farell, Warlock, Tier 6 Bloodline: Tagilian Winged Serpent (Tier 6) Strength: 173.21 Agility: 126.07 Constitution: 255.37 Spirit: 450.12 Soul Status: Dawn Sun Peak Rule Comprehension: Devouring 99%!]
The Chip reported faithfully, bringing a hint of satisfaction to Leilin's eyes.
"Just absorbing a bit of World Origin Energy, and my physical attributes have grown this much!"
Every tiny improvement after reaching the Rule level was an incredibly troublesome affair. After several slaughters, the energy Leilin had devoured couldn't even raise his Constitution by a single point, yet now all his stats had comprehensively improved.
"World Origin Energy truly is the best nourishment for Rule-level existences!" Leilin stroked his chin.
He thought of the Wizard World before the Great Ancient War. The reason so many of the Wizard World's upper echelons had been keen on invading other worlds and plundering their World Origin was likely related to this as well.
"Unfortunately... for the current me, ordinary World Origin Energy no longer has any effect... Only massive worlds of a higher order, like the Inferno World, would be of benefit to me now..."
Leilin's eyes darkened thoughtfully. Of worlds as powerful as the Inferno, he currently knew of only a few: the mightiest among them were the Wizard World and the
No wonder those ancient wizards refused to give up their invasion of the Gods' World, ultimately leading to catastrophe. The Origin Energy of the only world that could rival the Wizard World was absolutely a deadly poison in its allure to Rule-level existences...
Because he had signed the contract and was now considered one of their own, these Rule-level existences—while not exactly sharing everything with Leilin—did teach him quite a bit of common knowledge.
Among this knowledge were the realm classifications and power paths beyond Tier 7.
Through his own prior comprehension of Rules and the Chip's simulated analysis, Leilin was able to verify the authenticity of this information.
"A wizard's progression from Tier 6 to Tier 7 is a sublimation of Rules, the beginning of a qualitative transformation, and an elevation of life form!"
Leilin recalled the content he had received.
"A Tier 6 wizard possesses a substantialized soul and has already reached the end of their path, achieving the peak. The only thing left to break through is the Rules!"
"Once a wizard fully masters a power of Rules, they enter the Tier 7 realm, undergoing a qualitative transformation in all aspects. In the ancient era, they were directly worshipped as deities or totems..."
"The path of Tier 7 is to thoroughly master a certain type of Rule. The path of Tier 8 requires mastering multiple Rules and finding one's own path, using some medium to fuse the mastered Rules and manifest one's own path..."
In an instant, Leilin thought of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents.
"For example, the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents surely commanded more than one type of Rule, and the medium she chose to fuse her Rules was likely the Power of Shadow—the very origin of the Shadow World!"
Once she used the Power of Shadow as a vessel to completely fuse all her Rule powers, the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents could likely immediately advance to the peak of Tier 8 and even glimpse the Tier 9 realm!
Thus, her desperate desire to fully control the Shadow World—to the point of waging war to seize it—was perfectly understandable.
Of course, as far as Leilin knew, her final efforts ended in a humiliating failure, forcing her to lead her kind in an inglorious retreat to the Inferno World.
However, in the ancient Wizard World, such powerhouses who had truly fused multiple Rules and found their own path really did exist!
Leilin even suspected that the Mother of the Core was precisely this level of existence.
Moreover, according to these beings' perceptions, the final breakthrough to Tier 9 lay within the Gods' World!
"According to these beings' thinking, if they could completely seize the Rules and World Origin Energy of the Gods' World and combine it with the Wizard World's own origin, the fusion of these two most powerful worlds' forces would be enough to completely break through the Tier 9 barrier and reach the realm of Eternity!"
Leilin's eyes held both admiration and a chill of retrospective fear: "What a mad notion! Truly..."
Madmen weren't frightening in themselves, but madmen who wielded tremendous power were existences capable of destroying worlds.
What followed was the Great Terminal War of antiquity.
Neither the Wizard World nor the Gods' World gained any advantage. Instead, both sides were devastated. Countless Rule-level existences fell, ultimately leading to the decline of both factions, leaving them barely clinging to survival to this day.
"To completely seize a world's Origin Energy, one must first eliminate the other side's Rule-level existences—namely, the Gods—and then destroy the World Will itself..."
Leilin only had to think about it briefly before a chill ran down his spine.