"Well, for now, you do not need to think too much about it," Grey said, shaking his head gently. "Just focus on getting stronger and fully awakening your powers."

"Okay," Alissa nodded.

"Alright, then I will go meet Alan Benson." Grey patted Alissa’s head gently as he spoke.

"Y-You... what are you doing?" Alissa asked with a flustered glare, her shoulders tensing. "Why did you pat my head?"

"Am I not allowed to?" Grey asked with a teasing grin.

"No! Stay away, you bad guy," Alissa exclaimed as she hurriedly stormed out of the room.

Why is he always trying to do embarrassing things? Alissa’s face was entirely red as she walked down the hall. She felt deeply conflicted. She neither hated nor particularly liked him patting her head, but her immediate defensive reaction was always to glare at him.

Mom is right. He will never truly look my way if I do not stop being so harsh.

Then, just as quickly as the thought flashed in her mind, Alissa paused in her tracks.

"W-Why am I even thinking about him?" Alissa snorted to herself as she resumed running away.

Off to the side, Little Hong sat comfortably in a chair while happily licking an ice cream cone. She was incredibly laid back these days, just lounging around and hanging out in the vibrant shops and street food areas of her dad’s newly crafted planet.

"Interesting," Little Hong mumbled, her bright eyes keenly tracking Alissa’s retreating figure.

"Sorry for the wait," Grey greeted Alan Benson, who was calmly sitting and sipping on a cup of tea.

However, he wasn’t merely enjoying the tea. He was actively spreading his vast mind perception across the entire planet to secretly observe the domain. He was incredibly curious about his new master’s world.

"Liking the planet so far?" Grey inquired with a knowing smile.

"Yes, Master. It is truly magnificent."

"But I did notice several massive deposits leading straight to the core of the planet, and from there, many refined metals and other complex components are continuously flowing out. Is there some sort of hidden factory down there? I cannot sense any actual machinery."

"Well, you could call it a factory, I guess," Grey replied, taking a seat. "Except that this particular factory completely outclasses even the most advanced ones capable of refining materials directly out of passing asteroids."

"Materials out of asteroids?" Alan Benson appeared mildly confused.

"Yes. You could even say I am actively bending reality to do it."

"Reality bending?" Alan Benson nodded understandingly. "Fair enough. Did you utilize the information layer to automatically feed in structural data, using the asteroids as a raw medium to effortlessly forge them into usable materials?"

"Pretty much. Very good insight," Grey said with a smile.

Grey knew fundamental reality bending was not a novel concept for Alan Benson. His own Esper abilities had long reached a terrifying level where localized reality manipulation was entirely possible.

Of course, it would not be as sophisticated as Grey’s method due to Alan lacking direct access to the deeper information layer. However, Alan Benson could still perform miracles like transmutating ordinary grass into solid gold. That was a rather easy feat for someone of his caliber.

"By the way, Alan, what exact Esper ability do you possess? Every Esper naturally awakens to some sort of unique ability, ranging from the manipulation of basic elements to even controlling gravity."

"Well..." Alan Benson sat there completely calmly, taking another slow sip of his tea. "I have all of the Esper abilities."

"What?" Grey’s eyes slightly widened in surprise. "You mean you possess all the potential Esper abilities in existence?"

"Yes," Alan replied matter-of-factly. "No matter who it is, as long as they officially follow my path or use my specific technique to initially awaken their mind, I will automatically gain a perfect copy of the exact Esper ability they awaken."

"That is exactly how the foundation of the Esper Path was built."

"That must mean you have a truly terrifying variety of powers at your direct disposal, huh?" Grey was genuinely surprised. "And you just mentioned you gain the ability if they used your technique, right? I did technically use your manual to originally awaken my mind. Does that mean you possess my ability as well?"

"I should have it. Can you physically show me your ability?" Alan was incredibly curious about Grey’s unique power. He knew Grey had his mind awakened, and having now confirmed that it was directly related to his own technique, he was eager to find out the result.

Compared to all others, he couldn’t passively see through Grey’s Esper ability. He didn’t know why. He was the absolute author of the path, yet he still couldn’t read Grey’s mind space. He just naturally assumed it had something to do with the Heavenly Dao’s interference, since the Heavenly Dao and Grey were so closely intertwined.

But once Grey actively unleashed his powers, Alan’s Creator Invocation should seamlessly pick up the exact signature.

"Hm." Grey readily nodded and casually unleashed his Esper abilities.

"So... did you unleash it yet?" Alan Benson did feel a massive mental fluctuation, but he couldn’t figure out its actual properties.

"I did. It is completely active right now," Grey nodded.

"How come I cannot sense or see anything?" Alan was thoroughly baffled. That was not all; his Creator Invocation had completely failed to pick up any resonant copy!

"Well, I do not know if you have successfully copied it or not, but this power specifically allows me to shape something completely out of absolute nothingness."

"What?" Alan Benson abruptly stood up from his chair with an utterly stunned look on his face. "What did you just say?"

"I said, I can shape things out of nothing."

Grey immediately demonstrated. With his mind having reached a substantially higher dimension of power, he could effortlessly manifest thousands and thousands of Mimis all at once, and so could he create completely independent, complex entities.

He calmly waved his hand. Several vibrant birds with absolutely precise biological structures and the raw power of a 4th rank expert instantly appeared out of thin air within the room and casually began flying around the ceiling.

"This..." Alan’s eyes widened to the extreme. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I will be completely honest with you, Master Grey. The Esper abilities were actually birthed from the raw Ascendancy Valor of a mysterious corpse I found floating in the deep starry sky. That corpse possessed the absolute pinnacle power of the mind and had the terrifying ability to physically influence reality."

"I directly infused that remnant power into my Creator Invocation. That is exactly how Esper abilities were born into this universe, and it is also the core reason why I can perfectly use all of them."

"But the power to create something out of pure nothingness... not even that transcendental being possessed this capability. I am afraid this unique power of yours does not originate from my path at all, Master Grey."

"That power... it is not normal. Something can be logically transmuted into something else, but nothing absolutely cannot be turned into something. That is the fundamental iron law of the cosmos."

Alan stared at the flying birds. "How exactly do your powers work?"

"Well, initially it heavily required a massive amount of mental power. But at my current evolved state, it does not seem to require any direct energy for the creation process itself."

As he spoke, he casually flexed his telekinesis and instantly destroyed the manifested birds.

Immediately, a massive chunk of mental power disappeared directly from Grey’s reserves.

"However, if the creations are killed or destroyed, my stored mental power will vanish along with them. Furthermore, they will not operate beyond the absolute limits of my mind perception; if they cross that boundary, they will directly crumble into dust."

Alan took a deep, shaky breath. "Is your power... the absolute concept of Creation, Master?"