The Martial Unity

Argenton’s expression grew uncomfortable as the two Transcendents looked at him with puzzled eyes. [...Ever since I broke through, I feel this profound sense of fear in the depths of my heart. But it doesn’t make sense because there’s no threat around. Furthermore, it seems omnipresent, which is also just absurd. I believe that I have made some fundamental error when calibrating the medium of consciousness in my prismatic lattice brain.]

Argenton’s ’voice’ betrayed his deep concern about this apparent error. Even at that moment, he was skimming through his prismatic lattice blueprints and the theoretical models and empirical data that he had collected, trying to see where he might have made the mistake. The fact that he wasn’t able to find it was even more concerning.

Dwight frowned at his words. ”That’s odd. I was actually facing a similar problem. When I created God’s Hammer, and it became conscious, the mech actually experienced a deep terror in the depths of its metaphorical heart. I thought I made a mistake as well when calibrating its consciousness.”

Both Transcendents thought they had made a mistake when their creations experienced deep fear.

”I have to admit, I’m surprised.”

Rui’s voice drew their attention. He spoke with a knowing tone, making it clear that he was aware of something that they weren’t. He turned towards the tekvore Transcendent with a curious expression.

”I thought you would be like Dwight, to be honest. Which is why I didn’t ask you about it.”

Neither Transcendent understood what he was saying.

”Let me explain,” Rui remarked before they could ask him a single question. He immediately told the story of the Transcendent Fear, about how he learned of the Fear and how it affected Transcendent beings as well as other extremely powerful beings, and how it was related to the virus’s presence in the universe and the threat that it posed to all life.

The two Transcendents grew astonished as they listened to his tale.

”You mean to say that the cosmic virus that infected Gaia is so powerful and dangerous that it can cause a passive omnipresent sense of fear in Transcendents?” Dwight frowned. ”If that’s the case, why don’t I fear it?”

”It’s because your Verse is not attuned to the necessary scope and scale, not to mention danger sensing at all,” Rui remarked. ”Generally, most Martial Transcendents can sense it. Mother Maeria could sense it. Jormungandr could sense it. Even the Divine Doctor, to a limited extent, could sense it. I was also able to sense it when using Gigabrain as a Sage. The fact that you’ve created a living mech with the power to sense the Fear shows that God’s Hammer is undoubtedly extremely powerful.”

This explanation made both Transcendents relieved. Although it was still horrifying to learn that the cosmic virus was so dangerous that it passively plagued their hearts full of fear, they could still rest easy about having made some grave error in their creation processes.

”These Transcendents of human civilization,” Dwight turned towards Rui with a curious expression. ”You said they disappeared shortly before the Unfolding. Any idea when they will return?”

Rui shrugged. ”They said it would be them in a century, but it’s hard to say. These things can’t be estimated perfectly. However, they did expend a lot of power to prevent the complete destruction of human civilization and the solar system, ensuring that not a single person died because of the Unfolding. That is not something that one could simply walk off.”

He respected the previous Martial Transcendents of human civilization a lot for their sacrifice. Whenever they returned, he would definitely share the secret of overcoming the price of Transcendence.

”The cosmic virus...” the dwarf muttered with a grim tone. ”I don’t understand how it is dangerous.”

”It’s because the virus is threatening to take over the Universalis Mensis,” Rui remarked. ”The mind of the universe.”

Both of them looked at him with a stunned expression. ”The universe has a mind?”

Rui nodded. ”Integrated information can and does occur at all scales. Not only does the universe have a consciousness, but it also has phenomenological uniformity. It is the most powerful administrator in the entire, well, universe.”

This especially shocked both Transcendents. They couldn’t even imagine how powerful a Transcendent the universe was if it possessed phenomenological uniformity. Rui studied their expressions carefully. He decided to keep Ria’s state a secret. He didn’t trust Argenton. He liked Dwight and didn’t think he was a bad person, but it was still better to keep it a secret. There was no telling what would happen if people found out that Ria was the key to the mind of the universe.

Eventually, their little talk came to an end.

[I must leave now. I will return when I have amassed enough power. Thankfully, I have so many ideas that it shouldn’t take that long.]

Saying that, Argenton simply disappeared.

Dwight nodded. ”This talk has been extremely enlightening; I believe I can upgrade God’s Hammer with the insights I have gained. I shall also return to complete that right away.”

WHOOSH

Rui also wordlessly returned to the Kandrian Empire, falling into thought.

He too had learned a lot from Argenton’s breakthrough. The more Transcendent breakthroughs he came across, the more he learned about the means through which one broke through.

The fundamental condition hadn’t changed. Phenomenological Uniformity was absolutely necessary. It was even a law of information, as far as he could tell. But his understanding of how that condition could be fulfilled had certainly expanded. Accumulating enlightenments wasn’t the only way, and that alone was a great surprise to him.

He shook his head, putting the matter aside. ”I need to figure out Legislation immediately.”

He was too excited to think about anything else. He didn’t even care that the war had restarted on three battle fronts in the Arima III System. The best he could do for human civilization at this moment was to get stronger. Central Human Command was filled with enough competent people to manage the war in his absence.