Chapter 352: Rule Distortion and the Dimension

If anyone else said they'd encountered a dungeon without a boss possessing Root Power, that would be perfectly normal.

After all, Root Power is the highest-tier force in the Wasteland Realm, accessible only to bosses in the most difficult dungeons.

But coming from He Ping, this statement felt off.

So far, all dungeons confirmed—or even suspected—to have been cleared by He Ping had absurdly high difficulty, with more than a few A-class dungeons bordering on total collapse.

If he didn't see Root Power on those bosses, then what did he see?

Divinity? How many dungeons in the Wasteland Realm even touch the domain of divinity?

Leng Shan thought He Ping's answer was ridiculous, but even more ridiculous was that Xiang Jianxing gave him no signal—meaning the man was telling the truth.

This left Leng Shan momentarily speechless.

Wu Chang didn't notice Leng Shan's anomaly; he was instead eagerly awaiting Leng Shan's intel.

He truly didn't know much about Root Power.

He'd seen Root Power on Fang Hui and Yu Siyi, and he himself wielded the Root Power of Esotericism.

But he'd never paid much attention to how to use this power.

When you've got Authority to use, who bothers studying Root Power?

The bosses he'd faced were all hidden masterminds buried deepest in the dimensions.

He'd slain demi-gods, slain native gods of the Wasteland Realm, slain divine projections, and even slain the Deep Sea Lord—a god with a divine realm's avatar.

But he'd never once encountered a boss whose primary weapon was Root Power.

After all, Root Power is still a mundane force; at equal strength, it cannot harm divinity.

Until today, Wu Chang had assumed he'd never met a boss with Root Power because Root Power was just weak and needed more training.

But Leng Shan's point was that every force has its own path—in the Wasteland Realm, for Wasteland Realm players, Root Power seemed especially troublesome.

Leng Shan fell silent for a moment, steadied his mindset, then said:

"All things have their rules—points form lines, lines form planes. If the world is a painting, then rules are the threads composing it."

"Like a painting, any pattern appearing on it must be outlined by lines. Rule Power works the same way—it's not necessarily natural laws; any phenomenon existing in the world has its underlying rule."

"Thunder and lightning have rules; joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness have rules—even eating and sleeping have rules."

Wu Chang listened and suddenly understood: so that's it—Rule Power isn't some grand, cinematic or game-like force.

It doesn't require manipulating earth, wind, water, or fire, or altering material structures to qualify as Root Power.

No wonder his Esotericism was Root Power, Fang Hui's bad luck with women was Root Power, and Yu Siyi's overwhelming affection was Root Power too.

Seeing Wu Chang grasped the earlier explanation, Leng Shan continued:

"The threads of rules are the essence; the patterns they outline are the surface. If you can trace the surface all the way back to the rule itself, and use some force to activate that rule—"

"Then that force is Root Power."

As the former #1 breaker of the Wasteland Realm, Leng Shan's knowledge was widely known, so he had no fear of revealing his own abilities now.

He pointed to his hand and said:

"For example, me—I've always been afraid of cold, always catching colds."

"As I kept getting colder, I realized I could make others feel cold too. Eventually, not just living beings—I could chill inanimate objects, even the air itself."

"Then I saw the rule named Coldness, and mastered its corresponding Root Power."

Wu Chang hissed: "You guys born with Root Power—do you just randomly awaken abilities?"

Being afraid of cold awakens Root Power, being adored by bad women awakens Root Power, being used by a jerk and then abandoned awakens Root Power.

But when he thought back to himself, his first awakened ability—Transcendence—came from staying up all night gaming, feeling his heart race, nearly dropping dead, then waking up able to see bloodstains others couldn't.

Maybe not just Root Power—maybe the world they lived in was just this arbitrary.

Leng Shan took a sip of wine and continued:

"As I said before, if the world is a painting outlined by rule-threads, harmony among the threads creates a harmonious image."

He glanced around, his gaze landing on an oil painting on the wall—he wanted to use it to illustrate, but suddenly remembered they were in a dungeon, and he couldn't afford to damage the wall art, so he retracted his hand and pulled a flyer from his coat pocket.

It was a job advertisement for a cold storage facility; Leng Shan carried it with him, and combined with the thick cotton coat he wore, he'd likely been working a part-time job there before coming.

Leng Shan pointed to the polar bear logo on the flyer and said:

"Look—when the threads are harmonious, you can tell it's a polar bear."

"But if someone manipulates Root Power to amplify one part of the structure, disrupting the painting's balance—"

As he spoke, the polar bear's black eyes expanded, swallowing the other lines; within a few breaths, the polar bear became a massive black sphere.

"Now—is this still a polar bear? Or an eye? Or just a blob of black?"

Wu Chang stared at the black mass on the flyer and said:

"You mean, if Rule Power becomes too strong, it can overwrite or devour other rules?"

Leng Shan nodded approvingly:

"No wonder you're Lord He Ping—you grasp things instantly."

"Take my rule as an example—if I became a dungeon boss and received the dimension's fate-blessing, then when my rule unfolds, everyone's actions must conform to my rule."

"At that point, only abilities related to temperature would function within my rule's domain."

He pointed at the black sphere on the flyer and said:

"All other abilities—their threads—have already been devoured by my threads, so their powers will fail."

"Xiang Jianxing's flying swords are razor-sharp—he has a Sword Art that turns his swords into countless blades, raining down like a storm."

"But that Sword Art has nothing to do with temperature. Within my rule's domain, he couldn't use it at all—even if he tried, its damage would drop by several times."

Wu Chang's brow lifted: Root Power spreading out could control rules and nullify others' abilities.

No wonder Yu Siyi was immediately taken away by the Bureau the moment her Root Power was detected, carefully nurtured—her Root Power let her play a crucial role even in a curse-ridden dungeon.

Yet Root Power renders weaker abilities useless, preventing others from harming you—but also makes your own attacks hard to defend against. Why does that sound so familiar?

Leng Shan guessed what Wu Chang was thinking and smiled:

"Lord Heping previously mentioned divinity and divine projections. You've surely faced opponents possessing divinity more than once and have some understanding of it—you likely believe divinity shares similarities with the Source Force."

"That's correct. The Source Force, at its core, is still borrowed. The true source of power lies in the rules that constitute the world itself."

"If, through some method, one claims the might of the rules for oneself and becomes the rules, that is divinity."

Before this, Wu Chang had always felt a divide between ordinary abilities and divinity.

Without inheriting external divinity, ordinary abilities—whether occult, magical, or thunder arts—struggled to evolve toward the level of divinity.

With Leng Shan's elaboration, he now finally understood what was missing between the two.

The transition between the extraordinary and divinity is precisely the Source Force.

At this moment, he felt that as a self-taught, though he advanced quickly and received excellent rewards, his combat power surpassed that of organization members.

But in terms of intelligence reserves and systematic understanding of the Abyss Game, he was still a greenhorn.

Fortunately, he still had a chance to catch up.

In the future, whenever he couldn't figure something out, he should talk more with the Omniscient Crystal.

Nothing suited the role of a search engine better than the Omniscient Crystal—no, it was the Abyss Teacher.

The Source Force, pushed further, becomes divinity. Leng Shan feared Wu Chang would underestimate the Source Force upon learning this inference, so he added:

"For players, in terms of energy level, the Source Force lags behind divinity. Against targets possessing divinity, the Source Force struggles to have any effect."

"But for players of the Wasteland Realm without divinity, the Source Force's lethality and effects can even surpass divinity."

Leng Shan paused, then said:

"You previously asked me what distinguishes a newly formed S-rank dungeon from a mature S-rank dungeon."

"The difference lies in whether a World Child has emerged—or whether the mutated Source Force has begun to erode other rules of the world."

"In the Wasteland Realm, divinity is repelled by the world barrier and can only affect the self; the Source Force is the opposite."

"The Source Force is, by nature, the highest-tier power in the Wasteland Realm. In S-rank dungeons, those who master the Source Force often gain the world's recognition and become World Children."

"A World Child who masters the Source Force, fighting within his own world, is entirely different from a player who masters the Source Force."

As he spoke, Leng Shan shuddered—not from cold, but from memories that still haunted him.

He poured himself a cup of wine, drank it, exhaled, and then said:

"I once commanded a team that cleared an S-rank dungeon—a mature S-rank dungeon."

"The dungeon was set in a world resembling ancient martial arts fiction. Its boss was a local warlord who obtained a celestial strange stone and could learn every martial art in the world."

"Within his controlled territory, all non-physical abilities could only function at thirty percent of their normal potency; only martial arts related to the body could reach full power."

"Moreover, martial artists in that world possessed destructive power beyond normal limits, capable of ignoring defensive items and skills."

"Under those conditions, our assassination of the warlord failed. We were hunted by hundreds of highly skilled martial artists who leapt across rooftops with astonishing speed—our mobility skills were nullified by the dungeon's rules."

Leng Shan sighed. "That was the closest I've ever come to death."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue, imagining the Steam Phantom dungeon: equivalent to being chased by hundreds of secret police in cars, while players could only dodge by running.

Just thinking about it was thrilling.

Leng Shan said:

"Just now, I heard Xiang Jianxing say that Lord Heping couldn't sense any special energy signature from the secret police's bullets."

"Ordinary industrially manufactured bullets, yet able to ignore extraordinary powers—this indicates the world's rules in the Steam Phantom dungeon have been distorted."

Wu Chang frowned, pondering Leng Shan's earlier remarks about the Source Force and its impact on dungeons.

After a moment, he reached a conclusion.

Bad. This might be targeting him.

To Leng Shan, the most troublesome aspect of the Source Force was its ability to alter the entire world's rules.

But to him, the most troublesome aspect was that it wasn't strong enough.

If it were divinity, even if the dungeon boss opened a divine realm and triggered the Heretic's Strike, landing a hit would still be direct, brutal contact.

He possessed the Source Force too, but his development of it was inadequate. And as Leng Shan said, a player's Source Force could never match that of a World Child.

If he were in Leng Shan's former S-rank dungeon, to kill the warlord, he'd have to rely solely on physical martial arts and nothing else.

But if he were to clear that dungeon, he'd find it far easier than Leng Shan did.

Strength overcomes technique. The power of the Sea Giant, combined with his Master of Combat skills—no martial art could withstand his elbow strike.

I hope the dungeon boss in Steam Phantom aligns with my ability system.

The private room fell into brief silence. Wu Chang was pondering how to clear the dungeon; Leng Shan and Xiang Jianxing waited for his response.

Minutes later, Wu Chang snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Leng Shan before him.

Leng Shan had detailed his S-rank dungeon intelligence so thoroughly—it clearly demonstrated his sincerity.

Since Leng Shan had shown his sincerity, it was now Wu Chang's turn to respond in kind.

He said:

"Lord Leng Shan, you are truly the Wasteland Realm's foremost breaker of deadlocks—your experience is unmatched. I'm certain the powerful figure behind me will also look forward to your joining."

"But…" Wu Chang shifted tone, a look of difficulty crossing his face.

"Words alone carry no weight. If I merely recommend you verbally, without tangible results, even if you join, you may still fail to gain serious attention."

Leng Shan nodded. "We understand. What must we do?"

To earn attention, one must first prove one's value.

Just as players fiercely compete for invitations to the Extraordinary Banquet, they use the invitation as proof of their strength.

Wu Chang lowered his voice, speaking mysteriously: "The organization I belong to is called the Arcane Knights. It has a long history in the Steam Phantom world."

"Centuries ago, it repelled a projection of an evil god and served as the Sword of King Stilran, the monarch's most trusted guard."

"The Arcane Knights had been disbanded, but with the Universal Industrial Exposition approaching and Grimlan seething with hidden currents, Queen Olivia granted the Lake Light Sacred Sword to Sir Xiao En, ordering him to rebuild the Arcane Knights."

Wu Chang paused for a moment, giving the other time to absorb the information, then said:

"The important figure behind me is Sir Xiao En, Grand Master of the Arcane Knights."

"The Queen has ordered us to investigate the anomalies in Grimlan and uncover the true culprit behind them."

As Wu Chang spoke, Xiang Jianxing listened with intense focus, subtly signaling Leng Shan throughout.

He signaled Leng Shan: Wu Chang was telling the truth—completely, utterly true.

Leng Shan's expression remained unchanged, but his eyes burned with intense heat.

They had not been in Steam Phantom for long, but through conversations with the realm's natives, they had gained a general understanding of the situation in Stilan and Grimlan.

In their view, the faction led by the Queen ranked among the top three of all factions.

Although the Queen was merely a spiritual symbol in Stilan, in the realm of the transcendent, a spiritual symbol was enough.

The Queen only needed to control the spiritual realm; these players could provide sufficient military force.

What difference is there between the faction behind Peace and the Queen's own power?

This is a direct collision!

Leng Shan said: "Lord Peace, could you give us some specific directions?"

Wu Chang recalled Olivia's words and recounted the Anti-Grain Law, worker protests, the Great Plague, and the Quiet Church.

"Choose any one of these. Try to uncover some leads before the gathering—it will impress Sir Xiao En."

Grimlan's chaos mostly stems from the lower and middle classes; investigations are difficult and time-consuming.

Such dirty, tedious work—he couldn't possibly do it himself. He must hand it to Leng Shan and the others, giving them a chance to prove themselves.

Leng Shan and Xiang Jianxing memorized Wu Chang's advice and said:

"Thank you, Lord Peace, for your guidance."

Look, they even have to thank us.

Seeing Leng Shan and Xiang Jianxing about to return the invitations, Wu Chang waved his hand:

"Keep these two invitations. Before the gathering, you have ample time to learn about Grimlan and the Arcane Knights."

"If you find the Arcane Knights offer no future, you may seek other paths at the gathering. If you wish to join the Arcane Knights, these invitations might help."

Wu Chang adopted a stance of no coercion, mutual choice—his openness immediately put Leng Shan and Xiang Jianxing at ease.

Next, both sides drank and exchanged information; before they knew it, dawn had broken.

When parting, Wu Chang gave them two hundred pounds as startup funds.

Meanwhile, at Sir Xiao En's manor.

Wu Chang had just woken and had not yet had breakfast with Eileen when the butler Rost told him a tall, thin man with short curly hair had come to call.

No need to guess—he was definitely Ravenston.

Arriving at this hour? He's clearly here to piggyback on the meal.

In Stilan, breakfast is a vital meal; nobles serve lavish spreads to display power and wealth.

Ravenston sliced through a large steak on his plate, chewing as he spoke:

"No wonder this is Lord Carlyle's villa—this chef was specially brought from Fran. His mastery far surpasses Stilan's cooks."

Wu Chang sliced his own large steak; enhanced by Master-level Cold Weaponry, his use of knife and fork was more elegant and composed than that of old nobles raised in aristocratic training.

"How did you find out we're staying here?"

Ravenston said matter-of-factly: "I'm a detective. Finding where you live is easier than investigating which nobles are having affairs."

He turned to the maid and said:

"Tell the chef his food is delicious. And bring me another portion. Thank you."

Wu Chang sighed:

"I thought you'd come looking for me in the afternoon. You're here this early—surely it's not just for breakfast."

Ravenston sipped his black tea with milk and sugar and said:

"Of course not. To solve Grimlan's troubles, you must first understand it."

"After breakfast, I'll be your guide—you'll see the center of this world."

(End of Chapter)