Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2387 Simulation

Step Step

”So...” Holak slowly walked toward the edge of the cliff while keeping his eyes fixed on the infant in Altheraʼs arms, studying the tiny child for a moment before asking with genuine curiosity, ”What are we going to call him?”

”He already has a name, and his name is Asir!” Althera immediately kicked Holak hard in the leg as though the question itself had offended her, then hugged the infant securely against herself and leaped straight off the cliff.

”Ouch, you bit—” Holak abruptly stopped himself before finishing the insult, apparently remembering who was still standing behind him, then slowly turned his head back toward Robin and Jabba with an awkward smile. ”Ahaha, please, carry on.” Without waiting for either of them to respond, he quickly jumped after Althera.

”Wow...” Jabba finally managed to get a sound out of his mouth after the two disappeared from sight along with the infant, still visibly processing everything he had just witnessed. ”That was...” He slowly turned toward Robin, his expression filled with amazement. ”Amazing!”

”Whatʼs so amazing about it?” Robin showed a small smile, seemingly finding Jabbaʼs reaction somewhat excessive. ”Itʼs just a body.”

”Alright, now youʼre talking as though creating a complete body from nothing is something perfectly ordinary.” Jabba reached out and nudged Robin on the shoulder, looking at him as if waiting for him to admit how ridiculous that statement sounded.

”It really is ordinary.” Robin casually waved his hand. ”All material things are fundamentally similar. No matter how different their appearances or functions might seem, they all share the same origin; from that perspective, a human body and a handful of soil are no different.” Robin shook his head slightly before continuing, ”If you eat a radish or simply chew on some grass, your body will break it down and transform it into nutrients that eventually make your body grow larger. Technically speaking, what you eat is transformed into new pieces of your own body... Isnʼt that one of the clearest proofs that all material things are fundamentally the same?”

Then Robin shifted his gaze toward the distant horizon as he continued explaining in a calm tone, ”Thatʼs the Master Law of Creation in a nutshell. After studying Death and Destruction, Reshaping and Life deeply enough, you eventually discover that everything is similar in essence, that everything has a beginning and an end, and that anything can ultimately be transformed into anything else as long as you possess the specific method required to make that transformation happen... Once you reach that level of awareness and possess enough knowledge about the exact process of transformation, you can tear down whatever you wish into its origin and then rebuild it into whatever form you wish.”

Then he turned toward Jabba with a small smile. ”You can compare the entire process to the building blocks children play with. You can take a pile of those blocks and use them to construct an enormous castle, then dismantle that castle completely back into individual blocks and use those exact same pieces to build the shape of a cat instead... The important part isnʼt the final shape you see before you, but knowing precisely how to dismantle the first structure and how to rebuild those same components into the second.”

”But in that example, the blocks themselves remain unchanged throughout the entire process.” Jabba furrowed his brows slightly as he immediately noticed the apparent flaw in Robinʼs comparison.

”And in this case, Primal Chaos energy is what remains unchanged throughout the process.” Robin showed another small smile. ”Everything material has an origin beneath its final shape. Some call that origin Primal Chaos because laws emerge from it while those same laws cannot affect it, but you could just as easily call it building material, or primordial water... Whatever name you choose to give it doesnʼt really matter; what matters is that itʼs the origin from which everything else comes. All you need to do is return matter to that original state through the Law of Primal Chaos, then use Creation to reconstruct that same material into an entirely new form according to what you want.” Robin chuckled lightly when he saw Jabbaʼs expression. ”Am I making the whole thing sound easy? My apologies.”

”Youʼre making it sound far too easy.” Jabba scratched his head, still thinking through everything Robin had just explained. ”The creation codes within the human body alone are incredibly complicated, yet you still managed to replicate all of them well enough to construct an entire functioning body.”

”Thatʼs the key word right there: replication.” Robin immediately pointed toward Jabba, emphasizing the word he had just used. ”Humans take medicine to replicate and assist the bodyʼs natural healing process, they use fertility treatments for those who canʼt reproduce naturally, and they transplant functioning internal organs taken from other people when their own organs fail... All of these things are ultimately attempts to replicate what theyʼve observed happening in other bodies over countless years, taking something they witnessed and understood and then finding a way to reproduce the same result. At its foundation, itʼs merely observation followed by replication.”

Then a small, somewhat thoughtful smile appeared on Robinʼs face as he finished, ”Thatʼs all I can do. No, rather, thatʼs all any of us can ever do regardless of how far our knowledge eventually reaches... replicate.”

”With all the experience youʼve accumulated, everything youʼve witnessed throughout your life, and all the laws you can currently use, surely you can do more than merely replicate things that already exist.” Jabba winked at him, clearly unwilling to accept Robinʼs explanation so easily. ”Couldnʼt you, for example, make Asir with four arms instead of two and create something different from an ordinary human?”

”Heh~” Robin let out a small laugh at the example. ”The arms themselves would still be replicas of something that already exists. Even if I gave him a hundred arms instead of four, Iʼve already seen arms before, studied their structure, and understood how they function, so I would still merely be repeating something I already know.” Robin explained calmly, ”What do you imagine when I tell you to picture a monster? Huge fangs and sharp claws? Massive limbs, perhaps an enormous tail? What about bulging eyes or some other strange facial features? Or better yet... regardless of how bizarre you make it, they all still have a belly, donʼt they?”

Robin shook his head slightly. ”All of those things already exist and have already been created somewhere in one form or another. Theyʼre creations just like us, things our eyes have already seen and grown accustomed to recognizing, so rearranging them or changing their numbers doesnʼt make them truly new. If you really want to play around with the idea and completely avoid replication, then create something that doesnʼt exist at all, something with no previous example for you to draw from. For instance...” He snapped his fingers lightly. ”Create a color that youʼve never seen and canʼt even imagine.”

”Huh?” Jabba showed a strange smile, clearly caught off guard by an example that sounded simple until he actually tried to imagine what Robin was asking for.

”Hehe, when you manage to do that, then we can sit down and talk more seriously about creation codes.” Robinʼs smile widened slightly, and it was obvious that the worries weighing on him earlier had gradually begun fading into the background after spending some time talking about his own knowledge and experience. ”Hmm...” After a moment, his gaze drifted toward the distant horizon as another thought occurred to him. ”I wonder whether users of Identity could actually accomplish something like that.”

”Do you really think they might be capable of creating something that has absolutely no previous example?” Jabba rested his chin on his hand, giving the possibility some genuine thought.

”I donʼt know anything concrete about the Master Law of Identity.” Robin shook his head. ”From what Iʼve managed to uncover while researching history, there are incomplete traces suggesting that quite a few users of Identity appeared throughout different periods, but for some reason they always ended up dying young. I used to wonder constantly why the same thing kept happening to all of them, but frankly, after everything I witnessed during this latest journey, I finally understand the reason.”

Robin shook his head again, a trace of regret appearing in his expression. ”I wouldʼve liked to meet one of them personally and ask a few questions about Identity. Perhaps hearing the answers directly from an actual user wouldʼve finally given me some tiny breakthrough that allowed me to take my first step onto that path.” Then he sighed and immediately reconsidered his own words. ”But then I ask myself, even if I somehow found one of them, would they actually answer those questions for me? Of course not. No one would willingly and honestly reveal the deepest secrets behind their own power to someone else.”

”Master,” Jabba spoke with unusual seriousness as he looked directly at Robin, ”Iʼve already lost count of how many Master Laws you possess now, and every one of them shouldʼve seemed impossible before you obtained it. Just as you managed to acquire all of those laws, youʼll eventually obtain Identity as well, without a doubt. Have a little more faith in yourself; you donʼt need anyone else to show you the way!”

”Hmm, when it comes to this one specifically, Iʼm genuinely not so certain.” Robin tapped his fingers against his knee while considering the matter. ”Iʼve always felt that Identity is extremely distant from me, almost as though there were something fundamentally separating me from that path. Itʼs Truthʼs rival and its opposite; if Truth explores reality and reveals what already exists, then Identity changes that reality, and this contradiction affects me in particular more strongly because Iʼm someone who has taken Truth itself as the purpose of his life... Even though I havenʼt touched Will yet either, I still believe I have a greater chance of eventually understanding Will than I do Identity.”

”Hoooh~” Robin released a breath and showed a small smile, apparently deciding that there was little point in dwelling on the matter any longer. ”Alright, I wonʼt keep bothering you with my personal problems.” Then he pointed toward Jabba as he finally returned to the reason they were gathered there. ”I summoned Sakar because I need him for something important... What exactly are you doing here?”

”Something important as well.” Jabba replied immediately, as though he had merely been waiting for Robin to finally ask, then quickly produced a thick book and passed it toward him. ”I think Iʼve solved the problems with the Second Cultivation Path!!”

”...?” Robinʼs brows immediately furrowed deeply as he accepted the thick book, then without wasting another moment began rapidly scanning through its contents with his soul, passing over page after page at tremendous speed until his expression gradually changed. ”This...”