Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2278 Fraud

”...?” Robinʼs expression darkened noticeably, and he stopped speaking altogether as a series of thoughts rapidly connected inside his mind, causing his attention to drift away from everything else in the room.

An extraordinarily powerful Soul Domain, durable both internally and externally, capable of enduring devastating explosions, direct attacks, corruption, and even overwhelming destructive forces without collapsing, while also possessing the ability to stretch, expand, and recover much like the Elastic Domain trait...

Wasnʼt that, in many ways, a description of his own Soul Domain?

The more he thought about it, the less comfortable the similarity became.

”Althera, where exactly did those threads come from?!” Robin asked quickly, his tone carrying far more urgency than before.

Glatheon released a long, frustrated sigh.

He had wanted the discussion regarding the lock to continue for much longer, and perhaps even become the primary focus of the conversation. To him, the lock was by far the most fascinating mystery present, especially since it appeared directly connected to the strange events surrounding Robin and now Althera.

As for those threads...

He could not even see them.

Trying to discuss something completely invisible to him while ignoring the giant golden lock only Robin could perceive felt deeply unsatisfying.

”They were Heavenly Law Threads... the threads that appear whenever someone breaks through to any level within the Dominator Realm and receives recognition from the laws of the universe.” Althera tried to maintain her composure as much as possible despite everything that had happened, though traces of lingering fear still remained in her voice. ”They were surrounding me because I was in the middle of advancing toward Mid Dominator. Every one of those threads was supposed to increase my affinity toward each law in the universe by an additional ten percent, raising them to twenty percent overall, while increasing my affinity toward the Fundamental Repetition Main Law by fifteen percent, bringing it to thirty percent... or at least, thatʼs what should have happened according to every piece of knowledge Iʼve ever learned.”

”....” Glatheon nodded slowly.

That was indeed how things normally worked.

Whenever a cultivator achieved a new breakthrough in the understanding of their personal law, they received additional support from the law itself.

At every new breakthrough within the Dominator Realm, the cultivatorʼs primary law granted an additional fifteen percent support, while every other law in existence increased its affinity by ten percent.

This process accumulated over time and became one of the greatest advantages of advancing through the higher realms.

Then, upon reaching High Dominator—the final level of the realm and the last step before ascending further—the understanding of the Main Law received another twenty percent increase, bringing the total support from that law to fifty percent, while all remaining laws gained another ten percent increase and reached thirty percent affinity.

Of course, those numbers represented only the accepted standard.

They described what happened to ordinary cultivators.

Exceptions had always existed.

It was said that certain individuals favored by their own laws received significantly greater support than normal, as though the laws themselves actively desired their success.

Some stories even claimed that particularly beloved cultivators could receive benefits several times greater than what should have been possible according to common theory.

And in extraordinarily rare cases, a Low Monarch might suddenly possess a support ratio of forty percent in a single leap without following the normal progression at all.

Such cases, however, were almost nonexistent throughout recorded history.

Anyone fortunate—or unfortunate—enough to receive blessings of that magnitude generally met one of only two fates.

Either the entire universe turned its attention toward them, attracting enemies from every direction until they were eventually hunted down and killed before reaching maturity...

Or they survived long enough to become one of the most terrifying Behemoths to ever exist.

The greatest and most famous example was Antiras.

Legend claimed that he possessed one hundred percent support from the entirety of the Space Path itself.

Not a portion.

Not a favored branch.

The entire path.

Many people believed this was merely an exaggeration born from fear and admiration, but even the most conservative versions of the story still described support ratios so absurd that they bordered on the impossible.

”What happened then?!” Robin asked impatiently, unwilling to allow the discussion to drift away from the crucial moment.

He was already familiar with Heavenly Law Threads from previous studies and historical records, of course.

What he needed was the specific detail.

The abnormality.

The moment where everything stopped following the expected path.

”...Something frightened them!” Althera began recalling the events as carefully as she could. ”I felt their fear. It wasnʼt my imagination, and it wasnʼt my own fear reflected onto them. The threads themselves became terrified. Suddenly all of them rushed toward me at once and began entering through my forehead before settling inside. There were too many of them, far too many, and everything happened so quickly that I couldnʼt even react properly. Had the Fundamental Repetition Law not protected me, I might have died right then and there...” She paused briefly as she remembered the overwhelming pain. ”After that, I opened my eyes while feeling intense pain throughout my entire being.”

”...?” Robinʼs brows furrowed deeply.

Fear?

Heavenly Law Threads becoming afraid?

That alone sounded absurd.

These were manifestations of universal laws.

What could possibly frighten them?

Altheraʼs awakening had coincided with the appearance of the Sovereign Law symbols.

More specifically...

Robin turned toward Glatheon.

”You were present. When Althera woke up, how many symbols were in the sky?”

”Five, without question.” Glatheon answered immediately without needing even a moment to think. ”I remember it clearly. Lady Althera fell to her knees alongside me when the sixth symbol appeared, and at that exact moment she also became enveloped within that golden sphere.”

”The fifth frightened the Heavenly Law Threads, and the sixth placed her inside the sphere?” Robin muttered while looking downward, his mind operating at double speed as countless possibilities, theories, and implications rapidly formed, collided, and collapsed within his thoughts. Every answer seemed to create two new questions, and every clue appeared connected to a larger mechanism hidden just beyond his grasp. The timing was too precise, the similarities too numerous, and the chain of events too strange to dismiss as coincidence.

”...Perhaps thereʼs something I should mention.” Althera spoke after a brief hesitation, carefully organizing her memories before continuing. ”When I opened my eyes, I felt a terrifying amount of power. Power that neither a Low Monarch nor even a High Monarch should possess under normal circumstances. It felt as though I had spent my entire life standing beneath an enormous waterfall that constantly pressed down on me, suppressing every movement and making even the simple act of standing upright difficult, and then suddenly I stepped out from beneath it and began moving freely for the first time in my life. My body felt lighter, my mind felt clearer, and every trace of resistance simply vanished... I canʼt really describe it any better than that.”

”I felt something like that as well.” Glatheon immediately confirmed her words with a nod. ”Even beneath the pressure of the Sovereign Symbols, which should have made it difficult to perceive anything else, I could sense an alarming amount of power radiating from Lady Althera. She destroyed the Glass House unintentionally without even understanding what she was doing, and Iʼm fully aware of how durable that structure was. That wasnʼt the sort of destruction a newly advanced cultivator should have been capable of producing accidentally.”

”...Thatʼs actually natural, and more or less what I would expect.” Robin began tapping lightly against the armrest of his chair as his thoughts continued moving along a new direction. ”The peak of the Connection State is the true peak of human power, at least from a biological and structural perspective. The Dominator Realm simply borrows power that does not physically belong to it, or more accurately...” He paused briefly while searching for the most precise wording. ”It opens doors that were already present from the very beginning and allows a cultivator to access a portion of what should have been theirs naturally.”

”What exactly do you mean by that, Lord Robin?” Glatheon asked, his curiosity immediately captured.

”I mean that the support you receive as Dominators is not additional power at all, despite what most people believe. In reality, those are capabilities you already possess that are merely being released back to you little by little.” Robin explained patiently. ”As one of the many restrictions imposed upon the inhabitants of the universe, Iʼve noticed that the Heavenly Laws suppress the maximum limit of oneʼs strength in a very deliberate and systematic manner. And through observing and interacting with all of you over the years, comparing different individuals and different levels of support, Iʼve gradually become convinced that the support you receive is nothing more than a fraction of your own true power being returned.”

Then he continued.

”The Internal Core Assembly of a World Catastrophe, capable of storing energy comparable to that contained within planets and stars, combined with the development of the bodyʼs energy transmission structure achieved in the Connection State, the refinement of flesh, blood, bones, soul, and spiritual circulation into a single complete system... that is humanityʼs ideal condition. It grants an overwhelming level of strength that should, theoretically, surpass nearly every conventional limitation. If you possess energy comparable to a sun and a body capable of releasing all of it at once without destroying itself, what more could you possibly need? What external assistance could even compare to that?”

Robin shook his head slowly.

”The Heavenly Laws resist this. They actively prevent that true power from manifesting in its entirety. The support you receive is merely the removal of a portion of the pressure imposed upon you by those laws. When people say the support ratio is ten percent, the reality is simply that the Heavenly Laws have begun allowing you to access an additional portion of the power that already belonged to you from the start. Nothing is being gifted to you. Nothing new is being created. A lock is simply being loosened.”

Then he pointed toward Althera.

”Her description of feeling as though she had stepped out from beneath a waterfall supports my theory perfectly. It confirms that she was being subjected to pressure and then suddenly freed from it. The sensation she described wasnʼt one of growth, empowerment, or receiving something new. It was the sensation of a burden being removed. She did not gain new power. What Althera experienced was what every Connection State cultivator should naturally possess from the beginning if no artificial suppression existed.”

”Lord Robin...” Glatheon revealed a hesitant smile, unsure whether he should be intrigued or horrified by the implications. ”Are you saying that Connection State cultivators are stronger than Dominators?”

”Iʼm saying there is no such thing as the Law Domination Realm.” Robin waved his hand with visible irritation, as though the very concept annoyed him. ”In my view, that realm is nothing more than deception and fraud, a carefully constructed illusion designed to disguise what is actually happening. Itʼs a mechanism created by the Rulemaker to limit humanityʼs progress, slow the natural growth of intelligent life, and prevent cultivators from reaching their full potential too quickly. Perhaps it was done for stability. Perhaps it was done for control. Perhaps it was done to regulate the growth rate of universes as the Executioner once suggested. Whatever the reason, the result remains the same: people celebrate receiving support from the Heavenly Laws without realizing that the laws are merely returning a fraction of what they took away in the first place.”