Chapter 1080: Chapter 79: Dimensional Reduction

Time, causality, life and death, fate...

Two apex Transcendents from the first echelon found themselves enveloped in an eerie silence, gazing at the light emanating from the lamp on the table without uttering a word.

"Haha,"

A hoarse chuckle emanated from beneath the hood of Side Truth, "But these are merely my conjectures. If my theory holds,

then players from the future should already be appearing in our current era.

Wouldn’t that cause chaos?"

"Perhaps humanity no longer exists in the future?"

Li Ang chuckled casually, "Or maybe humanity is indulging in lavish daily life, competing relentlessly to avoid the battleground game."

"Huh?"

Side Truth was taken aback and couldn’t help but ask, "What’s the connection between rampant competition and avoiding the battleground game?"

"It’s simple,"

Li Ang replied matter-of-factly, "When everyone is competing, they all look down on and disdain others.

Once disdain reaches its peak, everyone can achieve dimensional reduction, becoming two-dimensional beings, thereby escaping the battleground game."

... Why don’t you say that everyone esteems themselves so highly that they collectively ascend to become four-dimensional new humans?

Side Truth tried to suppress the urge to retort, awkwardly cleared his throat, and put away the Giant’s Sword from the table.

He mentioned these theories to Li Ang partly to communicate with a fellow Transcendent and alleviate his own deep-seated fears,

and partly to extend goodwill—currently, on this planet, only a select few can influence the world’s power dynamics,

be it the wars in the Different World behind the portal or the awakening of Gods and Demons,

they would first impact their positions and threaten their safety.

More friends mean more escape routes.

"Returning to the original topic,"

Side Truth cleared his throat and said, "Directly controlling souls to produce Power of Faith is likely infeasible.

Because only souls with authentic memories and genuine feelings, changing shape over time, can continuously convert surrounding Soul Energy into Power of Faith, like a converter.

However, there might be ways to bypass this limit."

"Oh?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow, "If not manipulating the soul itself, then changing the soul’s vessel,

meaning the followers, right?"

"Precisely."

Side Truth nodded, "Just like Hercules undergoing twelve trials, Jason seeking the Golden Fleece in Colchis, Perseus killing Medusa and Poseidon’s sea beast.

These Demigods and mortals had to endure arduous trials to become heroes.

During these trials, when pushed to the brink, they often receive divine help, enlightenment, or guidance.

I believe that although deities can’t directly distort souls to efficiently produce Power of Faith,

they can throw followers into harsh destinies,

prompting them to offer the most devout prayers,

thus collecting high-quality, pure Power of Faith.

And after completing the trials, these followers become the most loyal Petitioners."

Li Ang pondered a moment and said, "Hardships cultivate success?"

"That’s essentially it."

Side Truth nodded, "Not only in Greek mythology.

Ancient Egypt, Ancient Babylon, Ancient India...

Almost all world mythologies have stories of followers praying devoutly in dire situations, eventually receiving aid from deities.

For Transcendents at our level, in the eyes of mortals, we are no different from deities,

setting obstacles and manipulating mortal destinies is straightforward.

Or, as long as there are enough potential followers, and the sample size is large enough,

even without deliberately manipulating mortals,

timely intervention can harvest countless loyal followers."

"..."

Li Ang closed his eyes and reflected for a while, then opened them and nodded towards Side Truth, "Thanks. This theory offers me substantial insight."

"It’s nothing,"

Side Truth smiled slightly, "If you gain further advancement along the God Sealing Staircase,

faith-based deification could be a viable path for me too.

It’s mutually beneficial."

They continued to chat for a while, discussing the connection between the soul and Spiritual Energy.

According to Side Truth, Spiritual Energy originates from the mind, which is carried by the soul.

Psychics, despite physical deterioration,

can project future scenarios, create objects, change themselves, and distort others’ minds through their mind.

So, from where does the energy that achieves these effects come?

Other power systems, like Inner Strength, Chakra, Spiritual Power, have some material basis.

Inner Strength stems from blood and qi,

Chakra originates from cellular energy,

Spiritual Power comes from free energy in the world.

Only Spiritual Energy differs,

being a force from the mind, unseen, intangible, and challenging to observe.

Psychics must continuously discover their psychic potential, constructing their unique palace of thoughts to wield Consciousness Energy,

and overusing their psychic abilities leads to cognitive decline, mental mutation, soul distortion, even transforming their appearance into a Deformed Monster.

In a way, Psychics, like other Transcendents, abide by the conservation of energy.

"... Everything must abide by energy conservation, and Transcendents are no exception.

However, through certain special means, Transcendents can temporarily ’borrow’ energy."

Side Truth said, "Like Mr. Xiao Hou from the Special Affairs Bureau, the Water Elemental Giant.

As an entity of water elements, he can open a portal to the water element plane when needed, borrowing an endless supply of elemental power for a short period.

Other Innate Elements or Elemental Mages abide by the same principle.

So, do Psychics have a similar method?"

Side Truth paused, then slowly said, "I think they might.

A month ago, during a summoning of demons from another world, I accidentally called forth a peculiar demon.

It appeared no different from common Thanari Berserk Demons, yet it was clad in an exceptionally excellent Kinetic Plate,

and the armor’s energy was Spiritual Energy."

Side Truth shook his head; it wasn’t rare for demons to wear armor, nor was it unheard of for demons to use Spiritual Energy,

but a demon in advanced Spiritual Energy Kinetic Plate was his first encounter.

"That demon, heavily injured upon summoning, had pus-filled sores covering its body,

and before it could attack me, it was killed by its own rupturing sores.

Its corpse and Kinetic Plate were rapidly corroded by the pus,

and I couldn’t even wrap and seal it with an Ectoplasm Cocoon."

Side Truth spread his hands, "That demon didn’t possess Spiritual Energy, meaning the armor it wore was driven by the surrounding scattered Spiritual Energy.

In other words, the demon’s homeland was a plane saturated with Spiritual Energy, almost as ubiquitous as air.

If we could access that plane, Psychics would gain a reliable energy source."

"Oh? A plane filled with Spiritual Energy?"

Upon hearing this, Li Ang frowned and was about to speak when the friend communication line shook again.