Chương 111: 95-100
Chapter 95: Mad
Zagronan: He is a rank 10 demon and grandmaster of illusions. He is inherently evil, enjoying slaughter and destruction for no apparent reason.
Savior: Zagronan and Lana's son, who uses pure energy for meditation. Also rank of 10, he was once married to Martha but no longer is. He is currently searching for a partner to love. He is a generally good person, inclined to help others.
Lee: A mage and the founder of the Humanoids Academy. She is rank 10 and has mastery of various concepts. Her complete law is related to dreams. While not good, she is not particularly evil either.
Doris: A transmigrator who reached rank 10, but her complete law was stolen by Rachel. Well, technically, from the beginning, her complete law was not hers, so Rachel technically didn't steal anything. Doris now resides in heaven. She doesn't harm or destroy without reason but lacks concern for evil and has no specific moral code.
Pig Head: A transmigrator born with a pig's head. Captured and taken to the Great Dream for experimentation, he was once evil as a demon. However, his nature is not inherently bad. He died saving someone from being hit by a truck.
Bertha: A wood elf deeply committed to elven culture, she is rank 9 and resides in heaven. While not evil, she can turn evil if grieving. For instance, she once attacked humans without killing them, but when humans destroyed wood elves, she retaliated by attacking and destroying many human cities.
Emma: Bertha's daughter in heaven. She is very naïve and pure, born in heaven, unaware of the notion of evil.
Alex: A child made of Carl's dream. Lee wants to make him real as a favor to Carl, whose masteries she possesses.
Carl: A host of Rachel with a mysterious origin. Formerly rank 13, his masteries transferred to Lee. He dreamed of having a child, a dream he never realized.
Lewis: A mage, and co-founder of the Seven Lights Academy. he was in a relationship with Dyer, but he left him and now resides in a snow elf world in peace. Holding the rank of 10, he lacks the drive to advance further and, if not for Dyer, wouldn't have reached rank 10. Alistair is with him in the elf world. While not inherently bad, he is numb to evil like most high ranks and barely cares about others' pain.
Dyer: A rank 10 mage working as a contractor with Great Dream. He helped Lewis reach rank 10, but Lewis left him. Lacking morals, he cares only about Lewis and himself. He doesn't enjoy harming others without reason but won't hesitate to destroy a world if it benefits him or Lewis.
Alistair: Ancestor of Rachel#1's first host. He was a rank 4 mage then, taken as a 'disciple' by Lewis. Lewis brought him to heaven and then to the elf world. Considering himself a scientist, he is highly driven to advance, doing anything that helps him without enjoying evil.
Lin Ming: A rank 13 cultivator and leader of the Clear Water Sect, known as the strongest in the universe. Collaborating with Rachel, he has acquired knowledge on reaching rank 14. Currently, his clone is usually in the Anti-Rachel Alliance. Like most high ranks, he does whatever helps him.
Lana: A rank 9 demon with the particular talent of childbearing. She is with Zagronan and is exceptionally evil, deriving pleasure from others' suffering.
Lazy George: A rank 13 former host of Rachel who killed her for unknown reasons. He possesses a troublesome universal law, even for Rachel. Not much is known about his personality.
------------------------------------------------------------------
After a million years, Zagronan is finally on the verge of reaching rank 11.
It isn't easy to discover good, new complete laws that are not in Rachel's database every time. Number illusions like 'illusion x' are nearly useless in reverse engineering universal laws.
He had already tried many times; almost all the good illusion complete laws he found were already known by Rachel. As a result, she allowed him to start creating complete laws she already knew.
Zagronan quickly concluded that he would make 'Illusion Strike' and 'Illusion Shield' complete laws.
He can create as many as he wants, but it will take work.
The first time, he was helped by the universal laws of the universe, but now, he will no longer be helped; he may try 1,000 times and fail all of them; fortunately, he no longer needs to risk his life to do it.
Illusion Strike and Illusion Shield are two powerful laws that complement each other. With them, he will be slightly stronger.
Only slightly, because he is already as strong as top-rank 11s; He tested his infinite illusion complete law long ago.
Infinite illusion is tricky to work with because, unlike Illusion Shield and Illusion Strike, the illusions it creates are raw, without any attack or defense properties. It takes careful spells and formations to use it properly. But once one manages to do it, then they become very powerful.
Zagronan, as a grandmaster, succeeded quickly. For example, he has the spell 'Illusion Armor' based on the 'infinite illusion complete law.
Infinite illusions from the complete law come out and form the spell. The spell completely covers him, and nobody can damage him unless they first break through the armor or crack the spell in other ways; as almost nobody in rank 11 is as good as him in illusions, nearly no one can crack his spells.
The strength of spells such as 'Illusion Armor' comes from what they are based on: infinite illusions. Because it's infinite, even most rank 11s don't have enough firepower to break through the spell. The only way to break through it is to destroy it faster than it can recover; the law can provide endless illusions, but Zagronan's output is limited; still, it's enough that very few in rank 11 can do it.
It goes the same with offensive spells, like 'Trap,' which covers the target in illusions. This spell is deadly even for strong rank 11s because Zagronan can infinitely draw illusions, and most cannot break through them.
For Zagronan, new complete laws don't improve his output. He already has a rank 11 body, which increased his output.
...
Zagronan is in the endless space.
He has come to try out his hand and vent a bit. Although Rachel doesn't allow him to slaughter, he must do it.
So, he takes missions occasionally to gain contribution points while venting. Sure, there are some dangers, but he needs to vent somewhere.
Of course, he does not know that he is always being watched.
His tasks aren't risky; if anything goes wrong, Rachel will save him.
This time, the task is visiting a rank 11 world. It is independent, not owned by any big civilization; his mission is to act as an emissary.
Of course, he hates these jobs; his real reason for taking this mission is to participate in the matches.
This rank-11 world is big! It is made up of 10,000,000 complete laws!
One must recognize the difficulty of reverse-engineering universal laws. For example, if one wants to uncover the universal law of water, one must have complete laws related to water.
Complete laws related to rain, rivers, ice, and vapor will be helpful. But when considering broad terms like 'relating to rain,' one must know millions relate to rain. 'Rain strike,' 'summon rain,' 'one raindrop,' 'two raindrops,' 'rain erode,' 'rain shield,' 'rain umbrella,' etc.
One must have many, many complete laws all related to the subject of universal law that is sought. Complete laws related to fire are unhelpful to reverse-engineer the universal law of water.
And for civilizations that appeared later, it's much more difficult. Most common and broad universal laws have already been discovered. General universal laws are far easier to reverse engineer.
For example, nearly all complete laws can be used to reverse engineer the 'universal law of existence .'But when trying to reverse engineer the 'universal law of time limited to five seconds,' only complete laws that limit time to 5 seconds can be used to reverse engineer it.
General time-related complete laws are not helpful because the function is specific, not general. One has to resort to complete laws such as 'five-second deadline,' 'trigger in 5 seconds', a duration of 5 seconds, and such complete laws.
Clearly, it's tough to discover millions of complete laws based on a time of five seconds. It doesn't need to be millions; the number can be less if the civilization has better computing ability.
Situations of civilizations with millions of complete laws and no universal law are not uncommon.
This rank 11 civilization is called 'Arena,' and it is mainly known for facilitating fights. It has a big area fortified and coded to resist anything below rank 12. Many participate and watch. Of course, killing is prohibited, and everyone fights to gain experience.
...
Zagronan reached a world in the shape of a giant glowing ball.
"This is it!" He smiled.
He is used to seeing worlds from the outside. From the outside, they are usually shaped like glowing balls.
"Yeah, now knock!" Rachel joked.
"I am going to knock!" Zagronan took the joke seriously.
He cast the spell 'Illusion Knock'!
The world shook a tiny, tiny bit; after all, it's made of millions of complete laws, so shaking it is no easy task.
A man with no head came out. The man looked unsatisfied.
He knew of Zagronan's identity as a rank 13 civilizations emissary but still was dissatisfied with his rude manners. There are ways to enter the world peacefully; what Zagronan just did could have caused damage to the code.
Still, he talked respectfully, "Honorable emissary, please follow me!" he said.
Zagronan nodded and followed in.
They flew, and a door appeared on the ball's surface; both entered from it.
They reached an isolated area.
Because of the chaos energy, everyone who enters must be washed cleanly so no chaos energy enters; chaos energy in the world can cause disaster.
Zagronan got naked and threw away his clothes; he then took another set of clothes and wore them.
His previous clothes were rank 9 material. Rank 9 materials won't be able to resist chaos, so they should have been eroded, but he took advantage of his infinite law and shielded them with illusions.
Rank 9 materials are worthless for him now, so he doesn't care what they do with his old clothes.
"This way," the headless man said respectfully.
After a bit of a walk, they reached an office.
"Honorable emissary, may I know your esteemed name?" the man asked.
"Zagronan," he answered.
"Honorable Zagronan, I hope you enjoy your stay here; we will notify you when the time comes." Then he teleported away.
"Is this where I am supposed to stay?" he looked unsatisfied.
He went by the window and looked out.
It was a big palace. It looked beautiful by human standards, but Zagronan could only sigh.
"Why does nobody care about demons' tastes? It's discrimination based on species!" he grumbled.
"You mean they should have lined up a few people for you to torture?" Rachel asked.
"I mean more fire and lava, make it hotter, redder, and yeah, it won't hurt to have a few to play with," Zagronan said.
For some reason, she speaks contemptuously about demons's habits, like when she stopped him from sharpening his edges. By now, he feels his edges are rusted so much that he might need a transplant to fix them.
"Why is everyone looking down on demon culture? Just wait until I get to rank 13; I'm going to drill demon culture into their bones," he smiled evilly.
"The world is mostly human-dominated, so of course, they look down," Rachel answered.
"Why is the world human-dominated?" he asked.
"That's a long story," answered Rachel.
"Please, I really am curious how such a weak creature took over," he insisted.
He doesn't get why not demons; demons are better fighters, see things for what they are, and are more benefit-oriented. They should have taken over.
He still is a bit dissatisfied about the lack of demons around. He misses hell so much now; if given the choice, he prefers to go to hell for a while for fun. It's a pity he found no hell like the one he was born to.
In his current main world, there is a hell, but that hell is a joke; every demon there has a Rachel incarnation, and everyone is striving to suck up to Rachel as much as possible; it's a far cry from the chaotic hell he misses.
"In short, it's the 'office'. They are the first rank 14 civilization and the ones who caused humans to dominate the universe. At a time, they only allowed humans to register universal laws. This gave humans a headstart. This headstart is still why humans usually lead the most powerful civilizations." She said.
"The office began allowing others to register universal laws later, but humans were far ahead by then. Today, there are many rank 13 civilizations of non-humans, but the leaders are still usually humans. Of course, for rank 13s, species are irrelevant!" she said.
"One day, I am going to make the whole universe a giant hell," Zagronan said with expectation.
"Good, you seem to have the drive to advance." she nodded.
After a few decades, the matches finally started.
Zagronan was the spectator in the first few matches but then volunteered to fight. Just as he was about to fight, an edict came from Rachel.
"You can't reveal your infinite complete law!" she said.
"What? How am I supposed to fight?" he said.
"Don't ask me," she shrugged. It was the main body's order.
"But I already exposed it many times? What is the difference this time?" he asked.
"Some who are not supposed to know it are in the spectators," she said.
"Sigh," Zagronan was disappointed.
He cannot win without the universal law.
"Rachel?" he thought of something.
"What?" she answered.
"What if nobody lives? What if I kill everyone?" he asked as if he found the way.
"No! That is not going to happen!" she refused.
Zagronan felt as if his edges were wholly cut off; he got extremely disappointed and angry, and left the arena in a rage.
He feels he wants to destroy a few worlds, but Rachel limits him so much that he is about to explode.
"Rachel, my edges need sharpening; otherwise, I'm going to die!" he said while feeling suffocated.
He needs slaughter!
Rachel sighed. If Zag were human, then he would have been a sick psychopath who should be kept somewhere far, but as a demon, it's understandable. Still, she doesn't allow it; the more he does it, the worse this desire to destroy gets.
"No," she said firmly.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed madly and attacked around.
Fortunately, it was chaos, so nothing was around to be destroyed.
After a few days of mad attacking, he got a bit calmer and managed to return.
Rachel is going to have to think of a solution for this.
Chapter 96: The Meeting
Black Snow City is located in the Black Snow Continent, which, in turn, is part of the Black Snow Corporation.
The term 'black snow' is coined due to the presence of a peculiar phenomenon involving black snowfall.
In this continent, black snow falls every winter. It's not harmful, but it creates a surreal scene when outsiders visit.
Black Snow Continent serves as the main base of the Black Snow Corporation, and though it was once its only base, the corporation is now expansive, with control over many continents.
A Rank 12 Leader leads the Black Snow Corporation.
There are fifty corporations worldwide with leaders of this rank. However, it's worth noting that despite their Rank 12 status, they do not truly own any universal laws; Rachel holds all universal laws.
Nevertheless, their combat power is genuine rank 12.
These fifty corporations are unaware of the true owner and wisely refrain from investigating this mystery. After all, Rachel does not want anyone to know her secrets.
As one of the prominent fifty, Black Snow is a member of the World Corporate Board.
This board possesses the authority to tweak the world's codes to some extent. Meetings are convened in various locations annually, usually in one of the board members' headquarters. In this instance, the conference is taking place on the Black Snow Continent."
Black Snow City is not expansive horizontally; instead, it extends vertically. Nearly all buildings are tens of kilometers long.
Of course, with mortal technology, constructing such a city is challenging, if not impossible. However, the city relies on magic formations to protect all buildings, preventing any earthquake from causing damage; moreover, Black Snow ensures that earthquakes do not occur.
...
Savior sat on a chair in a spacious hall in a towering building exceeding 1,000 kilometers in height.
When he became the CEO of Hype, he uncovered many secrets, including those of the world corporate board. The meeting includes the 50 major corporations, but others are also invited.
The final decisions, however, rest with the big 50.
Savior is taking a significant gamble this time. He is going to throw some harsh words in front of rank 12s.
His ultimate goal is to help people, but despite his best efforts, he can only impact his local area with his power. This world corporate board meeting is crucial to influence the whole world.
After years of contemplation, Savior compiled a list of suggestions, and now, he has finally been invited to present his proposals at the meeting.
These tweaks are aimed at benefiting the people. Savior identifies many flaws in the current system, particularly the weak involvement of ordinary individuals.
Most shares in all corporations are owned by other corporations, creating a cycle that dilutes the votes of ordinary people. Essentially, very few corporations have majority control by the people who reside in those continents, and Savior sees this as a travesty of justice.
Therefore, he aims to completely ban the practice of corporations owning each other's shares.
Another of his recommendations is ensuring minimum ownership by mortals. He advocates for every corporation to have at least 50% ordinary people as board members, who are chosen through direct elections by the people.
He also proposes additional requirements, such as including members of all species, genders, races, etc., on the board.
Achieving this necessitates an increase in the number of board members.
These changes are currently impractical due to the existing laws being highly capitalistic and unrestricted. According to the world's rules, shareholders can choose whoever they want as board members, and nobody can interfere with that.
Savior believes that the current system is a kind of rector. The mines that grow all drive their energy from the realization of energy produced by mortals.
However, the mines only use up part of the energy; most of the energy will be looted by various corporations.
Savior know how cruel reactors are.
Reactors are entire worlds with many mortals in them; the mortals would experience all kinds of emotions just to produce realization energy.
Realization energy is based on the power of the soul, and the souls are based on the creation; therefore, realization points are indirectly derived from the creation.
The original souls that people are born with are based on the creation.
That's why realization energy is so powerful.
But to produce realization energy by torturing people? Savior is disgusted.
Even if one collects the realization energy mortals produce, most of it should be used to benefit mortals.
As it is now, corporations gobble up all of the energy.
However, if Savior manages to convince the world corporate board of his ideas and embed them in the world's laws, then nobody would be able to disobey.
Convincing them might be challenging, but he remains hopeful.
...
Allen Short is a rank 12 Coprelatist.
As the sole shareholder of Black Snow Corporation, he selects every board member and wields absolute power.
He is even stronger than a general rank 12.
Coprelatists are more powerful than most other professions, although, in rank 12, the boost given by the corporation weakens.
Allen is just a bit stronger than a rank 12 mage, and in the end, the result depends on whose universal law is more specific and who can suppress whom.
Coprelatists have more energy, more brain power, faster reactions, etc, but these don't mean much in rank 12.
This year, Allen will take on the role of hosting the World Corporate Board Meeting.
As is customary, they invite 100 promising CEOs from various corporations worldwide to hear suggestions. This often resembles a show, with attendees usually discussing matters that have no real impact on the board's decisions.
With this in mind, Allen yawned and teleported to the conference room, taking his seat.
Other rank 12s arrived shortly thereafter. Below, one hundred people, all rank 10s and 11s, were seated.
Allen announced, "Let's start the board meeting for this year, Mr. Michael."
One of the hundred attendees stood up and replied, "Mr. Short."
He then proceeded to the podium and began his presentation.
Most of what he discussed revolved around profits from the mines and their slow growth rate.
In this world, mines are akin to trees—they grow, but the world corporate board dictates the growth rate.
Allen listened attentively and remained silent.
After half an hour, Mr. Michael finally concluded.
Allen then said, "Mr. Conway."
Another older man stood up and initiated his discussion.
He delved into the loosening of laws regarding the extraction of magic crystals.
Despite the general lack of environmental regulations, there are some laws that protect the environment, especially in sensitive areas such as magic crystal extraction.
The extraction of magic crystals virtually destroys the land around it for tens of thousands of years. Therefore, any magic crystal mine located near populated areas will be sealed and not extracted.
Allen resisted yawning and kept his eyes open.
After nearly two hours, Mr. Conway finally finished.
Allen then said, "Mr. Greenlong."
Savior, dressed in a black robe as is customary, stood up.
"Mr. Short," he began, adhering to custom.
"Let me begin by saying this: we have failed!" Savior declared firmly.
Allen, who was on the verge of falling asleep from the previous speech, suddenly became alert. He had never heard any CEO boldly state such a thing in front of rank 12s.
Intrigued, he checked Savior's luck.
"What? Main protagonist luck?" he exclaimed in astonishment.
The main protagonist's luck is so terrifying that it might even bring misfortune to rank 12s.
"How is it possible? The world's rules disallow the appearance of main protagonists. So, this Greenlong must be from outside this world. But how could I not know of such a person?" he pondered.
Entrances to the world are monitored, so he should have been aware of the entrance of such a person.
"Unless... is it that man?" he felt a wave of terror.
That mysterious man is the only one who can bring people in without him knowing—the man who has a blurred face and a chaotic appearance.
As Allen thought about this, he began to take Savior seriously and listened carefully.
Savior continued, "Our purpose should be helping people, not making a profit."
Allen listened while feeling confused. What does that even mean? Of course, corporations are meant to make profits. They are not charities, after all.
"Helping people? Why? There is no reason to help people because, even at its best, mortal technology can't even rival rank 4 mages, let alone immortals. No matter how much mortals progress, their profits are not much."
Allen activated a spell and accelerated his thinking hundreds of times. He thought of every scenario and looked at every angle but failed to find any benefit to helping the people.
"Does he see something I don't?" he started to doubt.
Savior continued, "I have a few suggestions; first, we should reserve 50% of the board of every corporation for mortals..."
Allen frowned. He activated an even stronger spell and started thinking.
No matter how much he thought, there was no way this would bring more benefits than it cost. Mortals are too unproductive, so no matter how hardworking they are, they never produce much for the corporations.
Mortal robots are useless, so automation is a non-starter. Mortal art is garbage, so this is also a non-starter. Mortal labor is ... let's just say worthless.
Mortals on the board? How can mortals, with their little minds, make wide decisions about big corporations controlling continents? How can they help bring in more profits?
"What does he see that I don't?" Allen started racking his brain. As a main character, Mr. Greenlong should see something he doesn't. He secretly messaged other rank 12s and informed them."
Other rank 12s looks changed when they noticed Greenlong is a main character.
As Savior was talking, the rank 12s were busy debating among themselves.
"This Greenlong was brought in mysteriously; it can only be that man!" someone said.
"Definitely." another affirmed.
So it became the consensus that the faceless man was the one who brought in Greenllong.
"As someone who is personally brought in by such a powerful existence, he must see something we don't,"' said a rank 12 with glasses and long white hair.
Nearly all of them nodded. They are all afraid of that faceless man and don't dare to look down on the man who he brought in.
Savior continued, "We should set quotas for various genders, species, and races on the board."
Every one of the rank 12s took Savior seriously, so they analyzed his every word.
Allen thought, "Again, I don't see any benefit to this! Why am I so blind?" He started blaming himself.
No matter from which perspective, he failed to see even one benefit to this. The best people to be on the board are the smartest individuals who can maximize profits. Their gender or race is irrelevant.
Of course, bringing in people with all kinds of life stories might be useful, but that has nothing to do with species, race, and gender.
"Greenlong mentioned race, gender, and species, so something must be specifically beneficial about those." he thought.
"I can't see it," Allen was astonished.
He, a rank 12, can't see something a rank 11 can see. He began to be afraid of Greenlong's foresight.
After some debate among the other rank 12s, they all decided to do all Greenlong said.
They are all curious about precisely what benefits those bring. They cannot see it, but after they implement it, they might be able to find clues.
Savior finished after half an hour, after which Allen came down personally and shook his hand.
He was astonished, "Maybe because I spoke passionately, they got impressed?" he doubted.
"Maybe it's because of your main protagonist's luck!" Rachel suggested. Savior shook his head and sat down.
The rest also got up one by one and spoke.
...
After a few days, the meeting concluded.
A few weeks later, the new changes to the code were announced.
Savior was absolutely astonished and delighted! Every one of his suggestions was adopted, and they will be added to the code.
It went far better than his wildest imagination. After all, the world corporate board is comprised of ultimate corporatists who only care about profits. Many of his suggestions directly hit their bottom line.
So, he expected them to, at most, accept some of his less intrusive suggestions. But they took it all!
He couldn't be happier.
Chapter 97: Black Hole Exploding
Fixing Zagronan would be easy for Rachel; she can modify his code.
However, it's important to note that, technically speaking, living beings don't have a 'code.' The term 'code' refers to instructions or rules artificially set.
These instructions can be established by various mediums, such as universal energy—a refined form of chaos energy—or realization energy, derived from the soul.
Regardless of the medium, codes typically cannot instruct actions disallowed by universal laws, which serve as the constitution of the universe.
Although universal laws are supreme and cannot be opposed, there are ways to suppress them temporarily. Realization energy, for instance, can achieve this, allowing the creation of codes that temporarily permit actions otherwise restricted by universal laws—at a significant cost. Only individuals with high mastery of concepts like formations, order, integrity, continuity, etc., can code at this level.
As a supreme grandmaster of many concepts, Rachel can code nearly as proficiently as rank 14 individuals. Her only limitation lies in her inability to code directly with creation.
She can treat living beings and souls as codes and alter them as she pleases. However, this ability is exclusive to her main body; incarnations lack this capability. To fix Zagronan, Rachel #1 must send him to her main body.
Nevertheless, there are concerns. Altering Zagronan will inevitably affect his soul, which is usually not a problem. Still, because he possesses an infinite complete law, Rachel wants to avoid even the slightest chance that a problem occurs.
Consequently, changing Zagronan's 'codes' is ruled out.
Rachel has access to many pills that can alter behavior, but Zagronan is unlikely to use them willingly. Rachel may need to resort to force eventually, but she decided to test normal methods for now.
Therefore, she called the main body.
...
Jack looked at the black hole in front of him.
"Hmm. Too weak," he thought.
He is Savior's child, a transmigrator born with a system that increases his strength when he gets hurt. After this long, he has become as strong as rank 11.
What's most strange is he doesn't have any complete law, yet he is as strong as rank 11.
But it's not strange; after all, he has an original system that is more precious than a universal law.
Lately, he has been looking for things that can hurt him, but there are few. In theory, he should be able to easily get stronger limitlessly, but this is not the case. Today, he is so tough that nothing below rank 12, not even himself, can hurt him.
He tilted his head and walked into the black hole.
This world is a void planet world with a million complete laws. If any rank 11 sees him doing this, they would scream. Walking into a black hole is a dead end. One must move faster than light to get out of black holes.
Space near a black hole is in chaos, so teleportation is not possible.
In most worlds, rank 10s and above can suspend world rules and move faster than light. But not in this world; Rachel's incarnation has coded the laws of this world in a way that they can't be suspended.
This means even rank 10s and 11s will be trapped in a black hole. And being trapped is the best-case scenario; the worst case is being spaghettified.
Jack calmly passed the event horizon.
Time is greatly slowed near the black hole, and past the event horizon, time will be countless times slower than outside. But time won't truly stop; only in the singularity is time truly stop.
Therefore, Jack looked back calmly and saw the world whizzing by. His time is now much slower than outside, so what happens outside is countless times faster in his view.
At this moment, Jack cannot get out of the black hole anymore; the max speed in most worlds is lightspeed, which means nothing can go faster. One must move faster than light to get out of a black hole.
There are some worlds where light has mass, in which light is not the maximum speed. It's more accurate to say the massless speed limit—the speed at which particles with no mass move—is the maximum speed.
Nothing can reduce the speed of massless particles; their speed is constant at one speed, the massless speed. Some scientists consider the massless speed the world's default speed because it differs in different worlds, and knowing the exact speed can help them calculate many problems.
Reaching the massless speed itself is impossible, but there are many ways to reach close to it. When one gets close to the massless speed, time will slow.
Imagine this: someone is moving at 99% of the speed of light in a train. Then, they decide to turn on a flashlight and point it right in front of them in the direction the train is moving. At what speed does the light come out of the flashlight?
From the perspective of the people on the train, the light has a constant massless speed, say 300,000 km/s.
From the perspective of those who are observing from outside the train? The speed is still the same, 300,000 km/s.
But how can it be? People in the train are already moving at 99% of the speed of light, so why does the light still move at the same speed? Because light cannot move at any other speed.
This is a conflict.
The world is stable; no conflict can go unresolved.
As an example, for a moment, think the time in your house is 10 times slower than everywhere else.
Then, move to the window and observe the streets. What do you see? Of course, you see cars moving at unbelievable speeds! It's not that the cars are moving faster; it's that your time is slower, so you experience everything faster.
In the world, most things are explainable by science, but some things are just without explanation.
Why is some world's massless speed 300,000, while others are 400,000 or 1,000,000? The answer is that the setting and coding are different; these things are the foundation of codes and are set artificially by the coder.
There is an inherent conflict about the consistency of the massless speed; the world is coded to slow down the observer's time to resolve this inconsistency.
Therefore, the time of the one who is in the train will be slowed enough to allow the massless speed to remain constant; from their perspective, the light moves exactly at the speed of the massless—nothing less, nothing more. They will not notice anything abnormal, but from an outside perspective, they move slower or even completely stop, depending on your speed.
The closer they are to the speed of Massless, the more time slows, but it never truly stops; it only slows.
Now, with Jack in a black hole, he can't move out; as explained, he can't go faster than light. He continued falling toward the singularity of the black hole.
Singularity is a spot with infinite density; it's an endlessly deep hole in the fabric of the world. It's a bug, to be honest. It's patched up in most worlds, but Rachel coded it anyway.
Jack looked and saw nothing; singularity is infinitely small; it's not possible to be observed. But Jack did manage to see its surroundings and the messy space and time near it. He moved and reached it.
Anything falling into the singularity will endlessly fall with no ending. However, everything must be shredded into smaller particles, even beyond atoms, first. But how can Jack, someone who even rank 12s must put in a bit of effort to kill, be shredded by the force of some complete laws?
Therefore, he hit the singularity and felt a tickling! He sneered! "It can't harm me at all!" he smiled bitterly.
These days, without Rachel's help, he has trouble finding things that can actually harm him. Of course, rank 12s will be able to do it, but knocking on rank 12s is dangerous; in any case, Rachel won't allow it.
He wants first to get strong enough to resist rank 12s completely, then get permission to try rank 12s. As it is now, the rank 12s will find his problem and seal him. He is afraid of being sealed.
The singularity continued trying to crunch him, but it failed.
Jack placed his palm around the singularity and clenched his fist. The singularity was in his palm, but it was still unable to do anything.
What's more, because of his fist, the singularity cannot swallow anything else coming its way.
All kinds of radiations and planets' worth of mass were entering every moment, but Jack didn't care; anything that hit him got crushed.
Things started to gather around the singularity, and soon, a huge ball formed, which was made of energy.
They fall close to the speed of light but cannot enter the singularity.
"Sigh! Let's patch this hole!" Jack thought.
He moved his hand deep into the singularity! The hole is infinitely small, but he is as strong as rank 11 peak; he can do this much.
His hand moved and moved.
Jack couldn't reach anything, no matter how deep he went. But he has means beyond sense.
"Infinite grab!" he cast.
This spell grabs anything in an area.
The spell caught something!
"Oh! I got it," he started playing with it! It was soft, like a ball, very warm and comfortable! Of course, that is comfortable for him! For anyone else, even looking at it would disintegrate them.
He started pulling it out!
But it's impossible to truly pull it out unless …
"Space reinforcement!" he cast another spell.
With this spell, the space around got much stronger.
The singularity gradually disappeared, and his hand and a shiny ball appeared.
"Stabilize," he cast to prevent the inevitable explosion.
"I hope this can at least scratch me!" he thought.
He placed the ball right before his eyes and cast many "magnify" and 'concentrate' formations around himself. The force of the explosion would be mostly on him.
Then, he deactivated his stabilize spell!
...
Blue Soil is a planet recently taken by three-legged humans. They are a strong civilization living in this world and a few more civilizations. Of course, all are under Rachel.
The planet was blue and beautiful, with seven moons and two rings. It was only 10 light-years away from a black hole.
They exploited this and developed technology to make energy out of the black hole.
The next moment, with no sound, in complete silence, everything disappeared. No big explosion, no fire, nothing.
Everything was just blown away, disintegrating.
...
Jack felt like an eyelash had fallen into his eye.
"Disappointing!" he thought.
He expected that at least his eyes would redden.
He looked around.
The explosion was big.
The bit that leaked out wiped out everything as far as 100 light-years. A big black hole's explosion must not be underestimated.
But it still was a rank 11 explosion, so Jack remained unharmed.
As he thought of this, everything around him changed.
He saw a familiar demon.
"Where did I see him?" he racked his brain.
"Oh, right, my grandfather, Zagronan!"
chapter 98: Zagronan v Jack
Before Jack could say anything, he saw a punch coming.
"Isn't this a bit strong for rank 10?" he wondered, surprised.
The punch connected, and he got sent flying.
However, not even a scratch appeared on him.
Zagtonan continued attacking. Another punch came and hit him in the face. He got thrown farther away, yet he felt nothing.
"I feel like a certain bald person from a manga on Earth! The monster hits, and I just get thrown around," Jack sighed, feeling no threat.
But then, he felt something strange. A terrifying aura emanated from Zagronan.
"Illusion?" he thought.
Jack's surroundings changed, becoming exactly as they were on Earth.
"Illusion that creates a world based on my memories? Now I'm on Earth, so does this mean I can't use any supernatural power?" He tested it and nodded.
He is now like an average mortal, trapped in an illusion; if he died here, he would truly die.
"Then, let's break it," he thought.
Killing him, of course, is not this easy. Although he is on 'Earth,' the system is still with him.
He activated the system. The cooldown of the system is now so short that he could continuously use it.
He is on Earth now, where all supernatural powers are suppressed out of existence; he will die if he takes the hit without the cheat being active.
Zagronan appeared before him, grinned, and threw a punch.
Jack couldn't even see it, let alone defend against it.
"You only know how to punch?" Jack becomes speechless.
Strong enough to wipe out the entire Earth, the punch fell and shot him far away! The impact was so powerful that he got thrown far, reaching the moon and breaking it into pieces!
He continued moving faster than light; this is an illusion, so customary laws don't apply. He collided with the sun and began to burn.
However, with the system active, these only made him much stronger.
His cheat is unbelievably powerful, even among those who have original systems.
It not only makes him invincible, but it even strengthens him the harder he gets beat up.
The only way against him is sealing him; anything else would only make him stronger.
Of course, this is illosion, so his strength here should also be illosion. At least, this is what he thinks.
"I'm fighting on his ground; that's why I'm in this embarrassing situation. Let me get him to my playground!" Jack smiled.
He is losing, of course, because he is in the illusion Zagronan made. Here, whatever Zagronan wants will come true. Fighting here is, at most, a tie, thanks to his system.
For anyone else, falling into Zagronan's illusion is a death sentence.
He closed his eyes and connected to his body outside the illusion.
This illusion never truly cut off his connection with his body outside; he is too strong for that to happen. Still, his connection is limited, and the illusion cannot be completely nullified. Zagronan specifically left his body outside and only brought his mind in because he knew he could break the illusion if his body were in.
Jack's defense is beyond rank 11; even rank 12s must spend a bit of effort to kill him while his system is not active; nobody can scratch him when his system is active.
But it would take a long time for his strength to break through rank 12, even if a rank 12 attacks him directly for years.
No rank 12 is dumb enough to do it; they would quickly notice the problem, stop attacking, and then seal him up.
His strength now is below rank 12, but far above rank 11; he can kill rank 11s with one spell, punch, or even touch.
He is rank 11.5, one can say.
The difference between rank 11 and twelve is many times more than that of an ordinary mortal with rank 11. no number of rank 11s can damage rank 12
Jack has no universal or complete laws, but he doesn't need them; his power comes from the system, not anything in this universe.
Jack's body outside, with closed eyes, clenched his fist and punched! The illusion world shook, and many parts fell apart.
Jack frowned.
The punch could have destroyed a rank 11 world, but the illusion world only shook. Even more, the damaged parts were repaired rapidly.
"What? Do you want to make an attrition fight with me? Ok, let's do it!" he continued punching, and Zagronan continued repairing.
After a few years, Jack was exhausted! In the war of stamina, he lost to Zagronan!
"It looks like I should get serious!" he thought.
He had already reached rank 8 in the illusion world.
But no matter what, Zagronan is far stronger; after all, he is the world's creator.
"Nullify!" Jack cast his spell.
This one can nullify another spell or formation; there are more specific spells about nullifying formations, but Jack cannot cast them. He is not good at spell casting.
Many parts of the illusion world got nullified, but the core remained stable. Jack failed.
"Troublesome!" he muttered.
He allowed Zagronan to draw him into the illusion; otherwise, it would not have been so easy. Who would have thought his grandfather was so skilled in illusions?
"I'm going to kill you!" Zagronan shouted.
Jack was surprised!
"Why does he look like he hates me so much? Do we have an enmity?" he shook his head.
Zagronan continued to hit him with rank 11 attacks.
Fortunately for him, these attacks only strengthened him and didn't kill him.
He might get as strong as rank 11 in less than a century at this rate.
He wouldn't have been able to do this before because the cooldown time was much longer, but now, his system has leveled up enough that his cooldown is less than the duration of the skill, so he can use it continuously without limit.
A few more years passed.
After too many attacks to count, Zagronan finally managed to hit Jack enough for him to reach rank 10.
Zagronan was exhausted! Not physically, but mentally! He never thought there was such a tough person in the universe that even he would tire of beating!
"A good punching bag!" he grinned.
He felt his Rage was depleting as he beat Jack harder and harder!
On the other hand, Jack was also extremely frustrated!
He is stuck here!
No matter his method, this illusion is way too powerful; it looks endless. No matter how much he damages and erodes the illosion, more will appear and fix all damaged parts.
"I need a concentrated attack!" he thought. To win, he must destroy the formation at once without giving it the chance to recover.
"I don't want to use that trump card!" he is reluctant. He has one spell formation with him all the time. The spell formation saves 1% of all damages done to him; then, when he wants, it releases all of it together. It cannot hold more energy than an average rank 12 attack. But an ordinary rank 12 attack is far more than required to wipe away this illusion.
"Let me save that for an emergency! Let's use 'Future Punch Ultimate' for now!" he thought.
The rank 12 attack is for when he is about to be sealed by a rank 12.
If he uses it now, it would take millions to recharge it.
The Future Punch Ultimate, on the other hand, is much easier to recharge. It is a 'time' spell.
He can use his future punches along with his current ones. For example, if he uses his future punch for one year, all his punches in the next year will be used up. For the next year, he can no longer punch! If he does, it would be a paradox.
How can he punch when he has already used up all of them for the year? That would be a paradox based on a universal law; his ending would not be good. Therefore, he never dares to cheat on the Future Punch.
Still, being unable to punch one year is no big deal; after all, his most powerful attacks are spells. And, in emergencies, he can always use Future Punch Ultimate again, Punch again, and take his punches from 2 years later.
So, he cast "Future Punch Ultimate!"
He drew his punches from the next 10 years! This attack is still rank 11 peak, so it can't harm himself! Zagronan, on the other hand ...
The punch hit the illusion and shattered it! It didn't have time to recover at all! Like a domino, the entire illusion world was destroyed, and Jack's mind managed to return to his body!
Jack felt his body.
All the physical strengthening he got inside the formation was gone; his body was not there after all. But to his surprise, his mental strength returned.
"Maybe this is a way for me to improve my mind?" he thought.
He, of course, had already tried illusions to strengthen himself before, but none of the strengthening remained; Zagronan's illusion was the first that allowed his strength in the illusion to return to reality and remain.
He looked at where Zagronan was.
Zagronan was covered in endless illusions, and more and more illusions were coming out!
"How does this guy have so much illusion?" Jack started thinking of fleeing.
Illusions are not his strong point; if Zagronan were only rank 11, it would be fine, but he is far stronger than an ordinary peak rank 11. Moreover, he specializes in illusions, a weak point of Jack; fleeing is the logical choice in these situations.
Jack attempted to teleport away but found the space to be locked. He looked around and realized it should be a semi-world, possibly a semi-world made by Rachel!
"No way out!" Jack shook his head.
If Rachel wants him to stay, there is no way he can run away.
The endless illusions around Zagronan moved and covered the entire semi-world!
"Again," Jack sighed.
This time, though, he was careful, so the illusion took him and his body!
They again returned to the illusion of Earth.
Jack snapped, and Earth disintegrated.
Not only the Earth but the entire solar system and many galaxies.
All disintegrated with one snap.
For rank 11s, a planet like Earth could be destroyed with a glance.
"Come out! Let us fight," Jack exclaimed.
He wanted to test whether he could get stronger by being injured here. He had already tried various ways, like illusions, dreams, etc., but none worked. This is the first time that improvement in illusions actually transferred to his mind.
"Why is this? What does my grandfather have that others don't? Why did I get stronger in these illusions and not in others?" he wondered.
He could only try because he didn't have the answer to this.
Zagronan came while grinning.
He spewed endless illusions again and started transforming the world.
"Again! So much illusion? Are you really rank 10?" Jack doubted that his grandfather might have a universal law related to illusions. Although, if that were the case, Jack would have no chance at all. Illusions created by a universal law are not comparable to these.
The world was transformed and soon turned into a chaotic world. The sky was red, with nine moons in the sky. Countless rank 10 and rank 11 demons moved around!
"Creating this many rank 10 and 11s, even if they are nothing more than illusions, takes an unimaginable quantity of illusions!" Jack was astonished.
The rank 10 and 11 demons all attacked! He was like a soccer ball, thrown from one place to another. Still, he remained unharmed.
After a while, Zagronan shook his head and used his trump card!
Suddenly, a terrifying aura spread!
All rank 11 and rank 10 demons disappeared and got absorbed by Zagronan. His body got inflated by millions and millions of times.
Two massive black, curved horns, each light-years long, appeared on his head. His pupils were red, shining like suns.
His height at this moment could only be measured by light years!
"Rank 12?" Jack almost fainted.
"How is it possible? Rank 12 is not this easy!" he screamed in his mind.
"Even if it's just an illusion, the illusion of rank 12 is no simple matter!" he thought.
Rank 12s can't kill him, but they can seal him. If Zagronan wants, he can seal him in this illusion for trillions of years!
Zagronan punched with his palm, which was bigger than a million suns! Jack punched back!
When the two collided, a massive explosion spread but was suppressed quickly because Zagronan's punch didn't really slow down. In terms of power, they were like an ant and an elephant!
The system protected Jack all the way, and his strength increased a lot in turn.
"I feel like my mental power is very close to rank 12?" he thought.
He was like a cosmic cannonball, hitting stars after stars and disintegrating them. He was moving countless times faster than light. As for being unable to move faster than light and all this nonsense, none applied. One, because it's all an illusion, and two, even if it wasn't an illusion, all laws would be suppressed when the energy involved is too much. Even universal laws, let alone a world's complete laws.
Jack was thrown to the edges and hit the boundary of the semi-world.
The semi-world shock was on the verge of destruction.
Or, it wasn't.
After all, Zagronan is not a true rank 12; he is an illusion, not real.
The semi-world can even take hits from true rank 12s, so this much is nothing.
Jack was bounced back, but Zagronan moved faster and punched him head-on again!
Jack again hit the boundary and bounced back!
Zagronan took him in one hand and started pounding him with the other!
Bam Bam bam!
In space, sound will not move due to lack of air.
But, this law was suppressed, and the sound of pounding spread in the empty void!
Even planets collapse from the BAM sound!
But, no matter what Zagronan did, the system didn't let a scratch appear on Jack! All of this, instead, was helping his mind reach the boundary of rank 12!
They continued fighting, or well, Jack continued to be beaten. Both enjoyed it from the bottom of their hearts.
Zagronan enjoyed having a punching bag, and Jack from keep getting stronger.
Rachel witnessed and smiled. She found a good match.
Chapter 99: Mortal's Jobs Aren't So Bad Afterall
After more than 50 years of battle, or to say more accurately, Zagtonan beating Jack, they finally stopped.
"Good, I'm drained now!" Zagronan said with a smile.
The pressure is now completely off him. He no longer feels an urge to slaughter. As for his edges, they still are amputated, but this battle acts as a distraction for him not to feel the pain of his loss.
"What? Why did you stop?" Jack asked with annoyance. Even after this long, his mind is still not in rank 12. It's getting closer and closer but has yet to reach it truly.
"Hmm? You liked it?" Zagronan had a weird look. He had seen many demons who liked suffering, but this Jack is on another level.
He beat this guy for decades, and he wants more?
"Yes, I did! Continue!" Jack said.
Zagronan shrugged and took Jack, then started again!
...
Two centuries later, Zagronan had a calm smile. His mind was now as serene without the slightest trace of murderous intent.
He gently put Jack down.
"Continue!" Jack said with closed eyes
Zagronan's calm mind began to have waves; he was a bit annoyed.
"Are you still not tired?" he asked with astonishment.
"No," Jack replied, frustrated. He is only half a hair away from rank 12, but this half a hair seemed like a great river.
Zagronan frowned and continued hitting Jack.
...
60,000 years later,
Zagronan stopped."We're done!" he said.
He was truly tired of beating Jack; he wanted peace now.
"Please, continue!" Jack said. He still hadn't reached rank 12 in mental condition. He never imagined it would be so difficult.
That half of a hair is now like 0.0001 of a hair, still not there.
This time, Zagronan did not continue. He had other things to do. Lana must be missing him! Just kidding, she probably long forgotten he ever existed!
Still, he couldn't just forever pound on Jack.
"No, sorry," Zagronan declared.
Rachel smiled and, before Jack could say anything, teleported Zagronan away.
The illusion world, now without its support, started slowly disintegrating.
"Sigh! Rank 12 is too difficult!" Jack thought. His mental strength was already many times stronger than rank 11, but the rift between rank 11 and 12 was too big.
Jack was trapped in the illusion with his real body, and Zagtonan, as an illusion rank 12, did manage to damage him.
As a result, Jack's body also got stronger with each pound, but after only 10,000 years, it got strong enough that the illusion rank 12 Zagronan could no longer damage him.
A true rank 12 can easily do it because they control a universal law, but Zagronan only had the illusion of the physical power of a rank 12. Even in the illusion, his real power was only quasi-rank 12 in the physical body of rank 12s; it was not truly rank 12.
Jack's body reached a point where it could no longer be injured; therefore, Jack voluntarily put it away and controlled a mortal body.
Because with his main body, Zagronan could not damage him, and therefore, his mental condition could not improve. It is a rare opportunity he must use. No other illusion he had ever seen had this ability.
As a result, only Jack's mental condition improved. As for the soul and talent, etc., the main body must be damaged for them to improve, too. For example, when Zagronan punched him in another body, the talent and soul of that body improved, not his real body.
In this whole process, Jack never moved his soul out of his body. Transferring mental condition is like possession; he possesses others as a whole. He just takes over the soul of the body he is possessing.
Raking his soul out is dangerous; he would never do it.
Now that Zagronan left, he started thinking about the future.
"It's best if I find him!" He decided to contact Rachel. He also has a Rachel, but it is not on him now; still, this place is made by Rachel, so he should be able to find his way back easily.
...
This is a rank 11 world with around 10,000 complete laws.
Rachel has a share of 16% in this world. The rest of it is part of other civilizations, mostly corporate types.
The corporate types love investment, shared ownership, complicating things with convoluted laws, etc.
This world is named after the initials of a few founders: ELSTWHLOETC.
The name is a complete mess. The "EL" at the beginning is named after Rachel, the biggest shareholder. She didn't use her initials to remain anonymous.
She tells others that her name is Eleven Link. It's nonsense, but everyone believed it. After all, civilizations have all sorts of bizarre names.
The "ST" is named after Street civilization, a rank 12, independent, and ancient civilization. They control 8%.
"WH" is named after Whiteboard Civilization, another rank 12. They control 6%.
The "LO" is named after Loving civilization, another rank 12. Loving controls 5%.
Loving is a hardcore corporate type that squeezes profit out of everything, so the name is very ironic.
"ETC" represents the rest, consisting of some other rank 12s and many small rank 11 and 10s who invested in the creation of this world.
This same group of civilizations teamed up and created many other worlds, too.
ELSTWHLOETC is a world with a unified, kind of democratic system.
People get to vote and elect their leaders, who can even order immortals; here, immortals are also bound by the laws.
But not everyone's vote is equal, nor is it the usual, where nobles get more votes.
The voting power of each person is based on one's achievements. A doctor starts with 100 votes, a nurse with 60, a farmer with 5, a building engineer with 110, a driver with 10, a jobless person with 3, and a child with 1.
Older people close to their passing will have their voting rights halved. The logic is that they will die soon, so they shouldn't have as much voice about the future, which they won't see anyway.
These are default votes; one doctor can increase their votes by, for example, finding a new cure for some disease. A farmer can increase their vote share by inventing something. A jobless person can make a company that makes a lot of money, and their votes increase significantly in the process.
Like ever, the question is who decides? The answer is 'voting committee'.
There are many voting committee branches everywhere; they decide based on what they perceive as merit; of course, the federal parliament passed many laws about this, so there are defined criteria,' and it's even possible to appeal it; the committee does not have that much autonomy.
The committee almost always downgrades the votes of people who commit crimes; for example, if a doctor is sent to prison, the committee, on its initiative, would downgrade them all the way to 1. The courts that sentence people can also do it, but usually don't and leave it to the committee.
A rank 0 gets 5 votes in addition, a rank 2 gets 20 votes, rank 3 gets 60 votes, rank 4 gets 120 votes, rank 5 gets 300 votes, rank 6 gets 700 votes, rank 7 gets 3,000 votes, rank 8 gets 10,000 votes, rank 9 gets 50,000 votes, rank 10s get 1,000,000 votes, and rank 11s get 100,000,000 votes!
However, there are relatively few high-ranking mages, and the world population is in the twenty-digit range, so super votes, the term referring to votes cast by mages, cultivators, etc, may affect local elections. In national elections, though, it has little impact.
There are two types of elections: federal elections and local elections.
In federal elections, voters vote for a parliament, and the parliament chooses a prime minister for a fifteen-year term. The voters can oust the prime minister by a referendum that is held each year. If they oust the prime minister, then the parliament must choose another prime minister in 3 months; if they fail, new elections would be called.
If voters oust two prime ministers consecutively, the parliament will be automatically dissolved, and new elections will be called.
In local elections, the voters choose state/provincial parliaments, city councils, mayors, governors, police chiefs, judges, etc.
Local laws differ, so in some places, voters elect much of the government, and in others, they only vote for the state/provincial parliaments.
States/provinces have a lot of autonomy; most decisions directly affecting people's lives are decided at the state level.
...
John is the provincial Minister of Justice.
His job is different from that of the Attorney General. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcer, defending criminal convictions, clamping down on crime, etc.
The Minister of Justice, on the other hand, runs the justice system.
John is the sole person responsible for appointing all lower court judges. He is the one budgeting courts, managing the courts and the public defenders, and has many representatives in many committees.
His most prestigious role is choosing judges.
He usually chooses very accomplished people. However, today is different.
He looked at the strange man before him.
He has golden-orange eyes and is very muscular, barely fitting in his body.
The provincial first minister 'ordered' him to appoint this man to a judgeship. This request was extremely inappropriate; still, the first minister must have a good reason. As a good friend of the first minister, John agreed.
John smiled at the man and handed over the paperwork. The man, Zagronan, took them and left the room.
"Rude!" John shook his head.
...
"Why are we doing this?" Zagronan asked.
"We're working on your mental condition! Your mission is to act like a judge! Go and try to be fair," she said.
"Are you seriously expecting a demon like me to be 'fair'?" he was doubtful.
"Yes! You should be able to do things like this to succeed! Do you want to succeed or not?" she asked.
"Yeah, but..." he said.
"No buts!" she cut him off.
He sighed and moved to the designated location.
...
Sam was sitting in the court, waiting.
He was charged with murder, but he argued it was self-defense.
As his attorneys were debating, someone said, "All rise."
Then, the judge entered.
He was tall and muscular, with golden eyes! He was very atypical of judges.
The judge sat down and said, "Begin!"
Everyone looked around confusedly. They expected some speech, case numbers, etc.
Just 'begin' seems ... not judge like.
The prosecutor started, "Your Honor, this case is straightforward; the defendant murdered his brother, Dean, in cold blood for a little money." He went on to detail the horrific things Sam did to Dean.
The defense attorney stood up, "Sam had no choice! His brother was threatening him not to say anything about the money. Sam disagreed, and Dean attacked him." He continued by talking for a few more minutes, basically repeating the same lines in different manners.
"Your Honor, those are all allegations! There is no evidence of any of that!" the prosecutor said. He continued talking for minutes more. Lawyers are good at speaking for a long time.
Zagronan yawned and said, "What is the maximum punishment?"
Everyone looked in confusion.
Is it appropriate for the judge to ask them these questions?
The prosecutor said, "Execution!"
The defense attorney said, "Fine of 100 EL."
Zagronan scratched his head and said, "I thought you guys have a code of laws? How can you disagree on the punishment?"
The prosecutor said, "It's first-degree murder! There are aggravating circumstances such as..." he continued for five more minutes.
The defense attorney said, "Your Honor, this is simple damage to public property! There is no murder here! We intend to sue the government for abuse of discretion later!"
Zagronan straightened his back and said, "I found him guilty!
Execute him!"
Everyone was shocked, even the prosecution.
These things take work; the wheels of justice spin slowly. What this 'judge' did here is like taking out the wheel of justice and eating it.
"Your Honor..." Before the defense attorney could say anything, Zagronan waved his hand and said, "Next!"
"But, Your Honor!" the prosecution also spoke up.
"Someone, throw these two in jail!" he shouted.
The bailiffs, who were also confused, came and obeyed. Their job is only to follow, not to think.
The defense attorney and prosecutor were sent to jail while the next group of people came in.
...
"These kinds of jobs are hard," Zagronan said as he sat at his desk, feeling tired.
He had worked a lot today, giving death sentences to more than 10 people.
Surprisingly, he looked forward to the next day. The looks on those people's faces were funny! He smiled.
"Maybe ordinary mortal's jobs are not that bad after all."
...
Many reports about a particular judge started pouring into the Minister of Justice's office.
"Only after one day on the job?" he was astonished.
How can one do this much damage after just one day?
He took out a pen and paper, wrote something, stamped it, and sent it to the clerk's office.
He recommended suspension for the new judge.
He is a friend of the First Minister, but friendship also has limits. John is sure that if the first minister sees the mess, he will agree.
John cannot fire judges by himself. After all, any country in which a single person can fire judges is a banana republic.
Here, to fire a judge, the process is lengthy.
First, the Minister of Justice must recommend suspension. Then, it would be reviewed by a team of 11 randomly selected judges.
If they unanimously vote to suspend, then the judge would be suspended indefinitely until the matter is sorted.
The matter would then go to the state/province Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court can remove judges; if they rule that there is no way to discipline, they will fire the judge.
But this is not the end. If the judge in question still thinks he/she doesn't deserve suspension, he/she can take the matter to the state/provincial parliament. If two-thirds vote to reinstate him, then he would be reinstated.
If the legislature doesn't take it up, then the Supreme Court's order sticks, and the judge would be removed, and he can never again hold any government position.
...
The letter went to the clerk's office, and a team of 11 judges was quickly formed. They all unanimously voted to suspend Zagronan.
It was so outrageous that no matter who looked at it, suspension was the only option.
...
Zagronan looked at the letter.
"Hey, look, Rachel! They suspended me!" he was half happy and sad.
"I'll fix it. You get ready for the next hearing!" she said.
"Let's go back! I don't want to be here," he pleaded.
"Get ready for the next case," she said.
...
A few hours after the suspension, the federal attorney general sued the state minister of justice in federal court. Less than an hour later, the federal court issued an order reinstating Zagronan!
...
Zagronan sat in his courtroom and said, "Next!"
Chapter 100: Evil
Zagronan remained a judge for ten thousand years!
At first, he acted willfully, doing whatever he wanted. Then, he began opening the law books when Rachel pressured him.
Then, he started sentencing some people primarily according to the guidelines. Eventually, he began sentencing everyone exactly according to the laws.
He hated it from the bottom of his heart and found it unbearably dull, but he tolerated it and managed to hold his nose and do it.
Once he learned this skill, Rachel ended this educational experience and sent him back to Lana.
...
Zagronan returned to Progress World.
Rachel named it Progress because it's one of the places where she cultivates her high-ranking incarnations.
It has a total of 78 different sections, each operating under different rules.
Section 12 is the Badge Section, where everyone has to collect badges to live long.
Section 1 is another unique system where everyone has to invent pill formulas to earn points, with which they can buy lifespan. A skilled pill refiner can live forever, even if they fail to reach rank 10.
There are other interesting sections, such as Section 50, a big gladiator arena where one must participate and win to gain longevity.
In Section 61, everyone has to discover moral science; the better it is, the more points one can get to buy longevity.
Section 66 is a world mainly inhabited by demons, where new torture methods can earn contribution points.
Section 69 can't be discussed here.
Section 78 has million-year cycles. In each cycle, a limited number of people would be dropped there, and those people could not have children. At the end of the cycle, only one remains, receiving a massive quantity of contribution points.
Rachel had fun writing all of these codes.
This time, Zagronan moved to Section 15, where Lana was staying and where Zagronan had been before he went on his mission.
Section 15 is an exception to most other sections. While other sections have specific goals, such as improving understanding of mortal technology or finding new torture methods, Section 15 is just a big hotel.
Anyone can enter with enough contribution points, and it has everything one can desire. There are themes like hell, haven, cultivation, etc.
For big shots, they can rent entire sub-worlds.
Zagronan and Lana got one of the sub-worlds with a hell-earth theme.
It's a work in Progress; it's still not as good as the wild hell, but it's getting close to it slowly.
Zagronan looks forward to how much better it has gotten since he was absent.
...
Baby demons are everywhere one looks. Among them, some rank 0 demons were preying on baby demons and getting stronger bit by bit.
Zagronan smiled at this beautiful sight.
"This place is becoming like true hell!" he said.
"Yeah, the cruelty is getting more brutal," Rachel nodded.
Some baby demons came running at him while a rank 0 demon chased them. Zagronan smiled and snapped his fingers.
The baby demons exploded into a mist of blood.
The rank 0 demon chasing them was so scared that it ran at least twice as fast as it came.
"Aren't these baby demons beautiful?" Zagronan said lovingly while catching a few and eating them to get a taste.
"Yeah," Rachel replied, used to all of it.
"Delicious, too! But they don't give the sulfur taste of the hell in my world. Remind me to add a bit more sulfur," he said.
"Okay," Rachel said, though she had no intention of reminding him.
In a good mood, Zagronan moved toward the place where Lana was. His mental condition is excellent; he doesn't want to destroy anything or anyone despite his edges being in shambles.
To be able to hold on when his edges are in bad condition shows how much he has progressed.
...
Lana is at the peak of rank 9.
She invented the 'food taste' game and loved it. However, for her, that alone wasn't satisfying enough.
So, she created other 'programs,' such as 'body taste.'
She set up grand events where people competed for untold great rewards, and when they won, she would come and consume them. Eating these people was especially appealing to her. They expected a prize but met their demise in terror instead. What could be more delicious?
They were even more delicious than baby demons!
This sub-world is rented to her and her past partner, whom she no longer remembers, so she can do whatever she wants.
This round is more fun.
Lana took the shape of a beautiful elf princess and organized a contest about finding a husband or wife. Lana didn't want to exclude women, so she set the backstory as the princess being open to both men and women.
More men joined the contest, but many women also participated. Not because they all preferred the same sex but because of the benefits of being the wife of a princess.
Of course, some women loved the same sex, but they were in the minority. For men, on the other hand, most joined because of the princess's looks.
The appearance Lana took was beautiful from the overwhelming majority's perspective.
The contest is about to be finished, with 3 men and 1 woman as finalists.
The final match is about who would cook the best food for the princess. The games were not deadly; there hasn't been one casualty until now. Aside from those that Lana ate, that is.
She wants to maintain her reputation because the next time, fewer might join, or only bloodthirsty people might participate.
That would ruin the taste.
The four made their food and served it one by one. Lana tried them and smiled at the girl.
Her food was the best, and in other games, too, she was the best.
However, there is one problem.
The girl does not like women, so she doesn't expect as much as the three boys.
She joined for benefits, but the boys expect Lana to be with them at the end.
So, Lana turned his eyes and chose one of the boys.
...
The boy had a gray, beautiful eye and short hair, looking innocent at around 20 years old.
He was very talented and came near the top in every contest.
Lana smiled and closed in on him.
The boy's heartbeat went up. He knew what would happen next. It's not his first time, but how can other girls compare to the princess? He had never imagined anyone could be this perfect.
He looked at Lana's naked body and almost fainted. He couldn't wait at all.
Lana got close enough to give a kiss.
Then, the boy screamed!
He felt blood gushing from his lips.
"Whaar?" he tried to say, but without lips, it was difficult.
He tried to get away but felt immobilized.
He could only watch as the 'princess' moved and started eating him. Literally!
...
Lana came out in her original appearance, feeling refreshed.
The boy tasted excellent! It's a pity she can't save some for later. Because she enjoys the panicked and confused emotions, saving for later is impossible; the original taste will disappear by then.
She went back and saw a demon that looked familiar.
"Who were you again?" she thought.
"Ah, demon Envy#5," she nodded.
The man looked stunned and then said, "I'm Zag! You forgot me?" He wasn't really surprised.
He expected it to be like this.
"Zagronan? That bastard that went missing a long time ago?" she looked confused.
"Something is wrong with your memory!" Zagronan said, a bit worried.
He did expect her not to remember at first, but after this much mentioning, she should remember.
"Ah, yeah, what do you want? I'm having fun here, so if you want to say anything, don't say it, just leave!" she said.
"We were together! I helped you all the way, and I will not leave you," he said the most romantic thing he could think of.
Then, he jumped on Lana, and the two began to engage in activities.
...
Zagronan is thankful for his strong body; otherwise, he would have been seriously damaged.
You know, Lana bites, and bites hard.
The difference in rank, however, is too great. Zagronan was mindful of this, so he softened his parts so her teeth wouldn't break when she bit. It's a form of art to keep it hard enough not to be cut by her bites and not too hard that it breaks Lana's teeth. Zagronan excels in this art.
"Okay, now, let's make this place as close as a true hell as possible!" he said.
There are two parts to this sub-world. One is the human part, and the other is the demon part.
He has been to the demon part to check it and is satisfied. This human part, however, disgusts him. Still, Lana likes the human part, so Zag won't touch it.
He only focuses on the hell part.
"Hell needs demon kings! I should choose from among talented demons a few demon kings!" he said.
"I should set up a system where people who do bad things in life would be sent to hell. This way, hell's population would grow much faster."
"What an original idea," said Rachel.
Zagronan continued, "As for people who do good deeds ... let's send them to hell, too."
"Lana would not be against it. We can say good people would be sent to heaven, and then when they die, we send them to hell as worms! It would be funny! I'm sure she likes the idea." He started to plan.
...
An explosive announcement came!
It was whispered in everyone's mind that after death, good people would go to some place where they would enjoy for eternity, while bad people would be sent to where they would suffer for eternity.
As for what is good and what is bad… The list was huge, as much as a few big books, with an astonishing amount of details.
Many things were so ridiculous that normally, one would think of them as a joke.
Like: walking into a neighbor's house who recently returned from a trip with the left leg first is a good deed, while walking with the right is a bad deed.
Scratching the head shortly after bathing with the index finger of the right hand is a good deed, while with any other finger, it is a bad deed.
Excruciating details about everything, nonsense instructions that anybody with a clear mind will know is a joke.
It was a joke that Lana and Zagronan laughed when they secretly watched people actually doing them.
There was nothing close to logic behind any of the instructions.
But, mortals heard about this voice in their minds. This is a world where most mortals never saw anything supernatural. So, most believed and started reading the books carefully and started following them.
The books would just appear if anyone wants to read them.
...
Joe had closely followed the instruction manual for nearly one hundred years.
He finally died!
He felt the world spinning, then saw the smiling faces of a man and a woman! The woman was huge, a few meters tall, and the man had horns!
"Demons?" he recalled from the book's instructions.
In the book, demons were considered holy and worthy of respect.
He tried to bow but felt like he had no head.
He looked around and felt horror!
He looked white and long, like a snake, or... a worm?!
The woman laughed, picked him up, and threw him into her mouth. He screamed, but nobody heard him.
...
Lana chewed and enjoyed!
"Zag, you were right; this is very fun! They are delicious too!" she said.
Zagronan smiled from the bottom of his heart. He is happy to make Lana, his love, happy!
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực