Lord of the Truth

Chapter 1961 paralysis

Inside Robinʼs soul domain-

Baaam

”Hm...” The manifestation of Robinʼs First Consciousness appeared and instinctively turned toward the source of the explosion. Fortunately, it came from the Great Battle Arena, so it posed no real problem to the domain itself. He smiled.

Instead of the random battles that used to break out in the past-battles that damaged the environment of the soul domain-Neri had asked Robin to construct that circular arena. There, soul creatures could constantly test their strength, help one another advance, and fight freely, while Evergreenʼs ability allowed them to rapidly recover their power so they could continue battling. At the same time, the arena was filled with weaker soul creatures who watched from the sidelines, observing and learning new techniques.

Yes-learning.

The purple matter originating from seven different Royal Stars had refined the intelligence of Robinʼs soul creatures to a level surpassing that of most humans. It also filled the gaps in their memories in a way that made them feel as though their lives had truly begun within this spiritual domain.

...But why were there fights in the first place?

Since Neri began evolving from a planetary spirit into a galactic spirit, all her abilities had grown stronger. One of those abilities was increasing the absorption capacity of soul creatures.

Take Tree Father Hovenheim, for example. He once had a maximum capacity of one thousand units. For most Soul Masters, that number was fixed and could never be increased. Yet Neri managed to break that limit and raise it to nearly one hundred thousand at one point-making Hovenheim, a creature from the Young Belt when he was alive, powerful enough to crush World Cataclysms even after death.

And although Neriʼs ability did have limits, those limits continued to expand with every new planet that joined the galaxy. As a result, Robin received new readings of his soul creaturesʼ power on a daily basis.

How incredible was that?

Well, it meant Robin no longer needed to search every day for new soul creatures to suit his combat style. He no longer had to hunt powerful beings or purchase them at absurd prices. They were being created here, day and night. Robin shifted his gaze slightly away from the arena-where Neri, Evergreen, and most of the soul creatures were occupied-and focused instead on his Third and Fourth Consciousnesses. They were still using soul force to slowly reinforce the structure of the soul domain, proceeding with extreme caution to avoid any instability.

Not far from them, the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Consciousnesses sat with their eyes closed, each assigned a different long-term task.

”Heh- everythingʼs running smoothly here.” Robin nodded, then walked steadily toward the Soul Sapling. After passing through the seven barriers, whoosh, he gently waved his hand to activate it.

Oooom

The mirror at the center of the sapling activated, displaying an intensely white image-but nothing else happened.

”...” Robin waited a few seconds for Temari to appear as usual, but to no avail. ”Whatʼs going on here?” He began clapping lightly. ”Temari, did you oversleep today? Is anyone in there?!”

Silence.

”...Strange.” For the first time since planting the sapling, Robin extended his hand and began searching through the menus himself. ”Balance... balance...”

After a bit of searching, Robin found what he was looking for-and immediately furrowed his brows.

”Whatʼs going on here?”

The balance showed just under four billion.

That part made sense. He had transferred almost everything to Theo about six months ago, and afterward he had received a gift of three billion from Lord Saher.

But where were the profits from the four projects he had handed over to Temari?!

It was simply inconceivable that those mere hundreds of millions represented the profits from those projects over a span of six full months. No matter how he looked at it, that amount could only correspond to his routine income-the steady, predictable profits generated by the Youth Restoration Device and the Colonization Array, nothing more.

”Did they put the projects up in the store, but no one managed to understand or use them properly?” Robin muttered to himself. With that thought in mind, he exited his current interface and began navigating through the system menus, moving quickly and with growing unease until he reached the store. From there, he headed straight toward the Most Important Products section... only to find that he couldnʼt access it at all.

Under normal circumstances, this section was overflowing with products of countless varieties-different prices, different purposes, different levels of influence. Anything with wide circulation was placed here, and anything the Soul Society actively wished to promote was showcased here as well. The Youth Restoration Device and the Colonization Array were always present, positioned alongside space portals imported from the Interas Galaxy, as well as several newly released products originating from the Sands of Time Galaxy. ”What is going on here?” Robinʼs brows sank deeply, his expression darkening. ”The Most Important Products section... is locked?” He raised his voice sharply and shouted, ”Temari! Anyone! I want an explanation-now!!”

There was no response.

”Tsk~” Robin exited the store interface with his brows tightly knit together. He rested his chin against his hand for several seconds, his thoughts racing. ”A malfunction within the Soul Society?” He shook his head almost immediately. ”Impossible. That colossal entity has been operating continuously for tens of millions of years, without interruption, overseeing and managing the entirety of the Middle Belt.” Lowering his hand, he resumed navigating through the available options. ”Fine. Iʼll find someone directly and ask them.”

After only a few seconds of scrolling, Robin selected the Grand Hall option and activated it-swoosh. His manifestation vanished instantly from within his

spiritual domain.

swoosh Robin reappeared in a completely new location-inside a hall of unfathomable scale, so vast that its boundaries were nowhere to be seen.

His brows immediately furrowed. ”This...?” The sheer number of people visible in every direction was suffocating. Tens of millions of individuals filled the space as far as his perception could reach-and there were clearly far more beyond that limit.

This was the place where the wealthy elites of the universe paid one thousand pearls per visit for the sole purpose of meeting others like themselves. Even so, it was exceedingly rare for the Grand Hall to be crowded to this extent. After all, the hall itself offered little in terms of tangible content. There were no displays, no events, no attractions-only opportunity. Opportunities to encounter beings from distant civilizations and foreign sectors, to establish connections, negotiate alliances, and finalize massive deals. Specialists in diplomacy and external relations from every major empire or powerful clan inevitably spent at least a few days here every single year.

But at the very least-Robin finally began hearing the information he had come for.

”Hey, what happened to the store?”

”What, have you been sleeping under a rock? The storeʼs been closed for an entire month.”

”Huh? Closed? Because of a malfunction? Has something like that ever happened before?”

”Never. Not once. But from what Iʼve heard, every single production line belonging to the Soul Society has stopped and been redirected toward manufacturing something completely new”

”At the moment, the only services still operating are delivery services-moving already-finished products directly from sellers to buyers. Anything that requires the Soul Societyʼs direct involvement in production has been completely halted.”

”Even delivery capacity itself has dropped to barely twenty percent of what it used to be. Most delivery teams were reassigned to gather specific raw materials for that new project.”

”Everything stopped? Damn it... what in the world are they making? The Soul Society has never invested in anything on this scale before.” ”Donʼt tell me theyʼre creating a brand-new generation of humans-to replace all of us?!”

”.....”