The Path of a
A seventh-level Wizard needed to fully master the power of one Rule, an eighth-level Wizard needed to command the power of multiple Rules, and at the peak of the eighth level, one could fuse all of one's Rules into a unified whole, expressing them in the form of a "Path."
As for ninth-level Wizards — they had to use their own Path to bear the power of space-time!
"Choosing the Origin Power to fuse with one's Rules was the foundation — and the most critical step of all!"
A smile played at the corners of Rayden's lips. "In theory, this power not only needed to encompass all of one's Rules to form a Path, but it also had to be powerful enough and carry the attributes of space-time, so it could serve as the foundation for bearing space-time's power and ascending to the ninth level! Dreamforce met this requirement perfectly — its compatibility even exceeded what I had imagined…"
Many Rule-existences had gone astray simply because they didn't know the pitfalls and shortcomings of the Path ahead. What made it truly tragic was that once they had gone too far, there was no turning back — they could only see their chosen road through to the bitter end.
Rayden strongly suspected that the Earth Mother at the peak of the eighth level, along with many of the ancient Wizards, had all been tripped up by exactly this — which was why they had remained stagnant for so long.
Compared to them, Rayden was incredibly fortunate. Not only did he have the Chip to simulate and calculate for him, allowing him to compare the merits and flaws of many different Rules, but he was also privy to numerous ancient secrets. With such a broad perspective, he had always walked the most correct Path!
Rayden now understood profoundly that hard work alone was useless. Only by finding the right direction, then applying tireless effort — and perhaps a stroke of luck — could one truly succeed!
"The Path has already been chosen — only minor adjustments can be made, nothing drastic. That means some of the Rules I don't need should be cleared out in time…"
Rayden gave the command: "Chip, display my current attributes!"
[Ding! Rayden Fairer — Warlock, Seventh-Level | Bloodline: Tagallian Winged Serpent (Seventh Level) | Strength: 257.71 | Agility: 200.01 | Constitution: 350.98 | Spirit: 611.27 | Soul State: Rule True Spirit | Rule Comprehension: Devour (100%), Slaughter (58%), Disaster (27%), Decay (15%), Curse (1%) | World Origin Power Saturation: 27.99%] The Chip reported back faithfully.
Rayden gazed at the Rule Comprehension bars displayed after his attribute panel. A dark light flickered in his eyes.
"Devour and Slaughter are both essential components of my Path, but Disaster, Decay, and Curse — those Rules can be stripped from my Rule True Spirit. Fortunately, the depth of comprehension for each is still shallow. With my level of soul mastery and the Chip's fine-tuned operations, I should be able to extract them without any loss…"
For a Rule-existence, these kinds of Rule insights were highly valuable commodities — even if they had no personal use for them, the ability to separate and extract them was extremely worthwhile.
Other seventh-level and eighth-level Wizards would absolutely pay an astronomical price for them!
However, Rayden already had a better plan in mind.
"Chip! Activate the Mander's Disc's cross-dimensional power and connect to my clone in the
The Mander's Disc, inscribed with strange and intricate patterns, materialized from Rayden's hand. A pitch-black passage instantly formed.
Meanwhile, in the World of Gods, Rayden's demigod clone opened its eyes, a flash of golden light sweeping through its pupils.
As spatial light flickered, a piece of dark beast hide appeared out of thin air. It bore faint, abstruse patterns that rippled with an aura both ancient and mysterious.
This was something Rayden had obtained in a small town in the Western Desert — Narvik. At the time, he had only noticed the peculiar ward-locks on it, figuring it must conceal a great deal of information, and on a whim had purchased it.
*Ding!* Two bolts of golden lightning erupted from Rayden's eyes and struck the beast hide directly. The dark hide floated into midair, and dense streams of information began pouring forth.
"Chip! Activate synchronous data transfer!"
The demigod Rayden issued the command, then slowly closed his eyes…
And now, through the passage formed by the Mander's Disc and the link between the Chip and its subsidiary system, Rayden's main body and clone completed their exchange in an instant.
[Ding! File received from subsidiary system — progress 100%! Decompression in progress…]
Wizard World. The Chip projected an enormous screen in front of Rayden, with vast quantities of information flickering across it.
Embedded within that strange beast hide was clearly an extraordinarily massive database — one that contained the entire accumulated knowledge of a civilization.
The actual decryption work had already been completed by the demigod clone in the World of Gods, so Rayden simply read the contents that the Chip had transferred to his memory zone.
"Thoughts on the Crafting Philosophy of Transcendent Artifacts…"
"Primal Energy Sensing and Tempering Tutorial!"
"Communicating with the Four Elemental Planes — The Foundation of Tempering Transcendent Artifacts!"
The entire folder was enormous, containing a vast ocean of content, but the overwhelming majority of the information centered on how to forge [Transcendent Artifacts].
"From the self-descriptions, this short-lived civilization also emerged during the dark age after Ragnarok, and was partly inspired by the concepts of certain arcanists. More importantly, this civilization was exceptionally skilled at forging all manner of extraordinary weapons… and [Transcendent Artifacts] were their ultimate vision. Unfortunately, even by pooling the strength of their entire civilization, they never managed to complete one…"
Rayden's gaze burned with intensity as he studied the materials.
[Transcendent Artifacts]!! A concept native to the World of Gods — the master smiths of that civilization had aspired to forge instruments powerful enough to surpass even [Divine Artifacts], tools mighty enough to slay gods!
In Rayden's view, this category of[Transcendent Weapon]had yet another name — Origin Force Weapons!!! Terrifying weapons forged on the basis of the World Origin Force, tailored specifically for rule-level existences!
Now that Rayden had advanced to the seventh level of Warlock, he had also begun to notice the differences at this stage.
The clashes between rule-level existences had already broken free from simple magic, transforming into contests between one's own rules and the World Origin Force!
Only a very few bloodline talents could play even a minor role.
Therefore, his combat methods would need to change accordingly, and a powerful Origin Force Weapon would surely amplify his strength even further.
"When gods forge[Divine Artifacts], they often incorporate their own flesh and soul, which is what grants those artifacts their extraordinary divine power! But the creation of[Transcendent Artifacts]is grounded directly in the World Origin Force, making both the difficulty and the power far beyond ordinary[Divine Artifacts]!"
Reading this passage, Rayden found himself nodding.
In terms of comprehending and utilizing the World Origin Force, the master smiths of this civilization had already achieved a remarkably deep understanding.
"I just wonder whether their downfall was also related to venturing into the realm of the Origin Force... after all, this is taboo among the gods..."
Rayden thought it over, but ultimately found little to work with — there were simply too few clues. Still, based on his own speculation, if the gods ever learned that "lowly" mortals had been peering into the domain of the Origin Force, and were even delusional enough to attempt forging weapons capable of slaying gods, they would certainly not hesitate to bring destruction upon those mortals! To let those wretched ants know that the wrath of the gods could annihilate all things! And that the will of the gods brooked no defiance!
"No wonder they were ultimately unable to forge a[Transcendent Artifact]..."
The power of his soul skimmed through the text at breathtaking speed, and having read through this forging compendium titled the[Wuji Scripture]in its entirety, Rayden shook his head.
"With a mortal body, how much Origin Force could one possibly attract? For the forging of an Origin Force Weapon, that amount would be a mere drop in the bucket — not even enough to meet the requirements for a single weapon blank..."
"Let alone the fact that... even for gods, the World Origin Force is infinitely precious. How could they waste it on something like this?"
"The most basic prerequisite for forging an Origin Force Weapon is reaching the threshold of a seventh-level Wizard!"
Rayden shook his head, no longer finding their failure at all surprising.
"Still, this[Wuji Scripture]is quite useful to me — at the very least, it provides me with a template for forging an Origin Force Weapon, saving the Chip a great deal of computational resources..."
For Rayden, the scarcity of World Origin Force — the very resource needed to forge an Origin Force Weapon — was not actually a problem at all.
With his authority in the Dream World, he should have more than enough to forge this weapon.
After all, he still didn't dare absorb the Dream Origin Force at this stage, so he might as well put all of it to use for his weapon.
A true Transcendent Artifact, forged with Origin Force as its foundation and tempered through countless iterations, would be incomparable in power to the mere shapes Rayden had casually formed from Origin Force before.
At the very least, when it came to the application and offensive use of Origin Force, having an Origin Force Weapon and not having one were two entirely different concepts.
Moreover, Rayden harbored an even grander plan in his heart!
He intended to inscribe every strand of Rule Force that was useless to him directly onto this weapon, forging the most terrifying Origin Force Weapon possible!
With the Devouring Rule at his disposal, Rayden would surely go on to slay countless Rule Existences in the future, harvesting their insights into the Rules and their power.
Any Rule Force that did not benefit his own path, Rayden would transfer directly onto this weapon, augmenting its might.
With such a massive infusion of Rule Force, Rayden could easily imagine that the weapon would ultimately evolve to a power so terrifying it defied comprehension.
Someday, the name of this weapon would spread throughout the entire Star Domain, making countless Rule Existences tremble at its mention!
……
The theoretical knowledge required to forge an Origin Force Weapon represented the pinnacle of an entire civilization's accumulated wisdom. Even with Rayden's intellect and the Chip's assistance, he still needed considerable time to fully digest it, internalize it as his own, and then innovate upon it—optimizing and refining the entire process.
The time that followed passed silently as Rayden attempted to control the Dream Force and forge his Origin Force Weapon.
During this period, he did not rashly venture into the Dream World to hunt Calamity Lords. Instead, he occasionally came out to spend time with his family, enjoying a leisurely and comfortable stretch of days.
Until one day…