Chapter 352: Rule Distortion and the Child of the Plane

If it were anyone else saying that the instances they encountered lacked a boss possessing Origin Power, it would be perfectly normal.

After all, Origin Power is the highest-tier force in the Desolate Realm, and only bosses in the most difficult instances are capable of wielding it.

But coming from Heping, this statement feels a bit off.

Currently, the instances that can be confirmed or are suspected to have been cleared by Heping are all of absurd difficulty; there is more than one A-rank instance that was on the verge of spiraling out of control.

If he didn't see Origin Power in the bosses of these instances, then what did he see?

Divinity? How could there be so many instances in the Desolate Realm that involve the domain of divinity?

Leng Shan feels Heping’s answer is preposterous, but what is even more preposterous is that Jianxing did not give him a look, which means the other party is telling the truth.

This leaves Leng Shan momentarily unsure of how to continue.

Wu Chang, however, does not notice Leng Shan’s abnormality and is instead looking forward to the intelligence from Leng Shan.

His understanding of Origin Power is truly not much.

He has seen Origin Power in Fang Hui and Yu Siyi, and he himself possesses the Origin Power of Occultism.

But he has never paid much attention to the use of this power.

When you have Authorities to use, who would bother studying Origin Power?

The instance bosses he has encountered have all been masterminds hidden in the deepest parts of the planes.

He has killed demigods, native gods of the Desolate Realm, projections of gods, and even a divine avatar of the Lord of the Deep Sea who possessed a divine kingdom.

Yet he has never seen a boss whose primary means of attack was Origin Power.

After all, Origin Power also belongs to the category of mortal power; at equal intensity, it cannot cause damage to divinity.

Before today, Wu Chang thought he hadn't encountered a boss with Origin Power because Origin Power was too weak and needed more practice.

But according to Leng Shan, every type of power has its own suitable track; in the Desolate Realm, for Desolate Realm players, Origin Power seems to be even more troublesome.

Leng Shan is silent for a moment, adjusts his mindset, and says:

"Everything has its rules. Points form lines, and lines form planes. If the world is a painting, then rules are the threads that compose this painting."

"Just like a painting, any pattern appearing on it needs to be outlined with lines. The power of rules is the same; it doesn't necessarily have to be a natural rule. As long as it is something that appears in the world, there are rules behind it."

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

Upon hearing this, Wu Chang has a moment of realization. So that’s how it is; the power of rules is not like in movies or games, where it is always a macroscopic force.

It is not that one must control earth, wind, water, and fire, or change the structure of matter, to count as Origin Power.

No wonder his Occultism is Origin Power, and Fang Hui’s Rotten Peach Blossoms and Yu Siyi’s Overflowing Love are also Origin Power.

Seeing that Wu Chang understands the preceding setup, Leng Shan continues:

"The threads of rules are the origin, and the patterns depicted by the threads are the appearance. If one can follow the appearance, see all the way to the rule itself corresponding to the appearance, and rely on some kind of power to trigger the power of the rule."

"Then this power is Origin Power."

As the former number one breaker of the Desolate Realm, Leng Shan’s information is known by many, so he is not afraid of exposing his own abilities at this moment.

He points to his hand and says:

"Take me, for example. I have been afraid of the cold since I was a child and often catch colds."

"As I kept getting cold, I discovered that I could make others as cold as I was. Later on, not just living creatures, I could make inanimate objects and even the air turn cold."

"Then I saw the rule named Cold, and mastered the corresponding Origin Power."

Wu Chang gasps after hearing this. Are you guys who are born with Origin Power all so casual when awakening your abilities?

Being afraid of the cold can awaken Origin Power, being popular with bad women can awaken Origin Power, and being toyed with by a scumbag can also awaken Origin Power.

However, he recalls himself; his initial Transcending talent was awakened because he felt flustered from staying up late playing games and nearly died of sudden cardiac death, and when he woke up, he could see bloodstains others couldn't.

Perhaps it is not just Origin Power; the world they are in itself is just that casual.

Leng Shan takes a sip of wine and continues:

"Just like my previous metaphor, if the world is a painting outlined by rule lines, the lines must be harmonious with each other to make the picture harmonious."

He looks around and his gaze falls on an oil painting hanging on the wall. He wants to use the oil painting to explain, but suddenly remembers this is an instance, and he cannot afford to pay for the painting if he ruins it, so he can only withdraw his hand and pull a flyer out of his coat pocket.

It is a recruitment advertisement for a cold storage facility. Leng Shan carries it with him, and coupled with the thick cotton coat he is wearing, it is very likely he was working part-time at a cold storage before coming here.

Leng Shan points to the polar bear logo on the recruitment advertisement and says:

"Look, when the lines are harmonious, you can tell this is a polar bear."

"But if someone controls Origin Power to enlarge the structure of a certain part, it destroys the balance of the picture itself."

Following his voice, the polar bear’s dot-like eyeball continuously expands, swallowing the other lines on the picture. Within a few breaths, the polar bear turns into a huge black sphere.

"Now, is this a polar bear, or is it an eye, or rather, is it a blob of black?"

Wu Chang looks at the black blob on the picture and says:

"You mean, if the power of rules is too strong, this rule will cover or swallow other rules?"

Leng Shan nods with satisfaction and says:

"As expected of Lord Heping, you catch on instantly."

"Take my rule as an example. If I become a boss of an instance and gain the blessing of the plane's destiny, then when my rule unfolds, everyone's actions must comply with my rule."

"At that time, only abilities related to temperature will be able to take effect in the world under the influence of my rule."

He points his finger at the black blob on the advertisement and says:

"Other types of abilities, the lines that compose them, have already been swallowed by my lines, so their abilities will also become invalid."

"Jianxing’s flying sword is very sharp. He possesses a Flying Sword Art that can turn his flying sword into countless blades, attacking his opponent like a rainstorm."

"But this sword art has nothing to do with temperature. If it were in a space controlled by my rule, this move could not be executed, and even if it were used, its lethality would be reduced several times over."

Wu Chang raises an eyebrow. Origin Power spreading out can actually control rules and render others' abilities ineffective.

No wonder Yu Siyi was immediately taken away by the Administration once it was discovered she possessed Origin Power, and was carefully cultivated; relying on Origin Power, she was even able to play a key role in the Bad Luck instance.

It’s just that the effect of Origin Power being able to invalidate inferior abilities, making the opponent unable to injure oneself and making it difficult to defend against one's own attacks, sounds so familiar.

Leng Shan guesses what Wu Chang is thinking and says with a smile:

"Lord Heping mentioned divinity earlier, and also mentioned projections of gods. You must have faced opponents with divinity more than once. Having a certain understanding of divinity, you would think that divinity and Origin Power have some similarities."

"That’s right. Origin Power is essentially still borrowing; the true source of the power is the rules themselves that constitute the world."

"If one can attribute the great power of the rules to oneself through some method, making oneself the rule, that is divinity."

Before this, Wu Chang always felt there was a disconnect between ordinary abilities and divinity.

Without inheriting external divinity, relying solely on ordinary abilities—whether it is Occultism, magic, or Lightning Method—it is very difficult to deduce them to the level of divinity.

After Leng Shan’s supplementation, he finally knows what the missing transition between the two is.

The transition between the extraordinary and divinity is precisely Origin Power.

At this moment, he feels that as a wild card, although he has surpassed members of large organizations in combat power by leveling up quickly and obtaining good rewards.

But in terms of information reserves and a systematic understanding of the Abyss Game, he is still a rookie.

But fortunately, he still has a chance to catch up.

In the future, if there is anything he doesn't understand, he should talk more with the All-Knowing Crystal.

There is nothing more suitable as a search engine—no, a teacher of the Abyss—than the All-Knowing Crystal.

Origin Power must go further to become divinity. Leng Shan is afraid that Wu Chang will develop contempt for Origin Power after knowing this deduction, so he adds:

"For players, in terms of energy level, Origin Power lags behind divinity. When facing targets with divinity, Origin Power is difficult to be effective."

"But for Desolate Realm players without divinity, the lethality and effects of Origin Power are even stronger than divinity."

Leng Shan pauses and says:

"You asked me earlier what the difference is between a newborn S-rank instance and a mature S-rank instance."

"The difference lies in whether a Child of the Plane has been produced in the instance, or whether the mutated Origin Power has begun to erode other rules of the plane."

"In the Desolate Realm, divinity is repelled by the plane barrier and can only act on itself, unable to affect the outside world, but Origin Power is the opposite."

"Origin Power is the highest-level power in the Desolate Realm. In an S-rank instance, an existence that masters Origin Power may often be recognized by the plane and become a Child of the Plane."

"A Child of the Plane who masters Origin Power fighting in their own plane is a completely different concept from a player who masters Origin Power."

Speaking of this, Leng Shan shivers. This is not because of the cold, but because he remembers some memories that still make him feel lingering fear.

He pours himself a glass of wine, drinks it, exhales, and then says:

"I once served as a commander and raided an S-rank instance. That instance was a mature S-rank instance."

"The instance was located in a world similar to ancient martial arts. The boss of the instance was a local tycoon who had obtained an otherworldly stone and could learn all the martial arts in the world."

"Within the sphere of influence he controlled, all non-physical abilities could only exert thirty percent of their original effect. Only power related to physical arts could exert full force."

"Not only that, the martial artists of that plane possessed destructive power exceeding that of ordinary people and could ignore protective items and skills."

"Under those circumstances, our assassination of the village chief failed, and we were hunted down by hundreds of highly skilled martial artists. They could leap over roofs and vault over walls, their speed was incredibly fast, and our displacement skills were invalidated under the instance rules."

Leng Shan sighs and says: "That was the closest I have ever been to death."

Wu Chang clicks his tongue after hearing this. Substituting it into the Steam Phantom instance, it would be equivalent to being chased by hundreds of secret police in cars, while the players could only hide and dodge at a running pace.

Just thinking about it feels exciting.

Leng Shan says:

"I just heard Jianxing say that Lord Heping also could not sense the aura of special energy from the bullets used by the secret police."

"Bullets made by ordinary industry, yet they can ignore extraordinary power, which shows that the world rules of the Steam Phantom instance have already been distorted."

Wu Chang frowns, pondering the Origin Power Leng Shan mentioned just now and the influence of Origin Power on instances.

A moment later, he reaches a conclusion.

Oh no, this might be aimed at him.

In Leng Shan’s view, the most troublesome point of Origin Power is that it affects the rules of the entire plane.

But in his view, the most troublesome part of Origin Power is that it is not strong enough.

If it is divinity, even if a dungeon boss unleashes a divine kingdom and a God-Slayer triggers it, hitting the opponent will still be a solid, physical blow.

Although he also possesses the power of the source, his development of it is not yet sufficient, and as Leng Shan said, the power of the source used by players is completely unable to contend with the power of the source of a Child of the Plane.

If it were an S-rank dungeon that Leng Shan had cleared before, if he wanted to kill the village chief inside the dungeon at this moment, he would have to follow the rules and use only martial arts, nothing else.

It is just that if he were the one to clear that dungeon, it would certainly be much easier than it was for Leng Shan.

One force overcomes ten techniques; the strength of a Sea Giant, combined with his combat ability as a Fighting Master, means any cultivation technique before him would be finished off by one of his elbows.

I hope the dungeon boss in Steam Phantom also fits his ability system.

The private room fell into a brief silence; Wu Chang was thinking about how to clear the dungeon, while Leng Shan and Jianxing were waiting for his reply.

A few minutes later, Wu Chang came back to his senses from his thoughts and looked at Leng Shan before him with a smile.

The fact that the other party shared the S-rank dungeon intelligence in such detail was enough to demonstrate his sincerity.

Since the other party's sincerity had arrived, it was naturally his turn to show something in return.

He said:

"Lord Leng Shan is truly the number one breaker of situations in the Desolate Realm; your experience is indeed rich. I believe that the great figure behind me will also look forward to your joining."

"However..." Wu Chang changed his tone, a look of difficulty appearing on his face.

"Empty words carry no weight. If I only recommend you by mouth without any substantive results, even if you all join, I fear it will be difficult to attract attention."

Leng Shan nodded and said, "We understand. What do we need to do?"

To gain attention, one must naturally first demonstrate one's own value.

Just as players struggle to snatch invitations to the Extraordinary Banquet, they are using the invitations to prove their strength.

Wu Chang lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "The organization I belong to is called the Arcane Knights, and it has a long history in the Steam Phantom plane."

"Hundreds of years ago, it repelled the projection of an evil god; it is the Sword of King Stilan, the personal guard most valued by the King."

"The Arcane Knights had originally disbanded, but because the World Industrial Expo is imminent and the undercurrents in Grimland are surging, Queen Olivia bestowed the Holy Sword of the Lake upon Sir Xiao En and ordered Sir Xiao En to rebuild the Arcane Knights."

Wu Chang paused for a moment to give the other party time to digest the information, then said:

"The great figure behind me is the commander of the Arcane Knights, Sir Xiao En."

"The Queen requires us to investigate the anomalies in Grimland and catch the true culprit behind the mischief."

While Wu Chang was speaking, Jianxing listened with extra care, and during the process, he kept giving signals to Leng Shan covertly.

Telling Leng Shan that what Wu Chang said was true, ten out of ten parts true.

Leng Shan's expression remained unchanged after hearing this, but the light in his eyes was exceptionally fervent.

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

In their view, the faction where the Queen resided could rank in the top three among all factions.

Although the Queen was only a spiritual symbol in Stilan, in the extraordinary world, a spiritual symbol was enough.

The Queen only needed to control the spirit; they, as players, could provide sufficient military force.

The force behind the peace is the Queen's most trusted personal guard; what difference is there between that and the Queen's own force?

Isn't this a perfect match!

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

Wu Chang recalled what Olivia had said at the time and recounted the Anti-Grain Law, the workers' protests, the Great Cholera, the Church of Tranquility, and other matters.

"You may choose any one of these; it would be best if you could uncover some clues before the gathering so that you can perform well in front of Sir Xiao En."

The chaos in Grimland mostly involved the lower and middle classes of society; the investigation was difficult and time-consuming.

How could he do such dirty and tiring work himself? Naturally, he had to throw it to Leng Shan and the others, giving them a chance to perform.

Leng Shan and Jianxing kept Wu Chang's reminder firmly in mind and said:

"Many thanks for your guidance, Lord Heping."

Look at that, they even have to thank us.

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

"Keep these two invitations. Before the gathering begins, you have enough time to understand Grimland and the Arcane Knights."

"If you feel the Arcane Knights have no future, you can seek another path at the gathering. If you want to join the Arcane Knights, then these two invitations might also be of some help."

Wu Chang adopted an attitude of not forcing anyone and allowing for mutual choice; his conduct was so open and honest that it immediately made Leng Shan and Jianxing feel more at ease.

Next, both sides drank and exchanged information, and before they knew it, the sky had already brightened.

When they parted, Wu Chang even left them two hundred pounds as their startup capital.

On the other side, Sir Xiao En's mansion.

Wu Chang had just woken up and hadn't had time to eat breakfast with Yu Ailin when the butler, Luo Sete, told Wu Chang that a tall, thin man with short curly hair had come to visit.

Without needing to guess, he knew the other party must be Lei Wendun.

Coming at this time, he must be prepared to sponge a meal.

In Stilan, breakfast is a very important main meal; to demonstrate power and wealth, the breakfast of nobles is exceptionally sumptuous.

Lei Wendun cut a large piece of steak on his plate, chewing as he said:

"As expected of Baron Carlyle's villa; the chef here was specially invited by him from Fulan, and his control of the heat is far better than the chefs in Stilan."

Wu Chang cut the large piece of steak on his plate; the bonus from his Master-level Cold Weapon Usage made him use his knife and fork with more elegance and composure than an old noble trained since childhood.

"How did you know we were staying here?"

Lei Wendun said as a matter of course, "I am a master detective, after all. Finding where you live is much easier than investigating which noble is having an affair with whom."

He turned his head and said to the maid:

"Please tell the chef that the food he made is delicious, and please add another portion for me, thank you."

Wu Chang said helplessly:

"I thought you wouldn't come to find me until the afternoon. Since you came so early, it shouldn't just be to sponge a meal."

Lei Wendun drank his black tea with milk and sugar added, saying:

"Of course not. To solve the trouble in Grimland, you must first understand it."

"After breakfast, I will act as your tour guide and take you to get to know the center of this world."

(End of chapter)