Chapter 119: Part．12—10［Great Work］

Part．12—10［Great Work］

One foot stepped down, feeling solid; on the path forged by the black hole's devouring, the two seemed to walk on empty air.

Looking at the completely empty void beneath their feet, Wuming felt a déjà vu, like running into an invisible wall in a game.

Just as the Time Worm had said, when they reached about two or three kilometers, the 'repulsion' appeared.

A kind of malice that had almost become substance filled the place beyond the limit, permeating and eroding both body and spirit.

If one had to liken this unpleasant feeling, it was the original world's reluctance, and another world's repulsion—this is what the Time Worm meant by 'repulsion'.

The girl suppressing her power noticed her skin suffering damage, unlike any enemy or environmental harm; her outermost skin aged rapidly, then was replaced by new tissue, cycling over and over.

Meanwhile, Mina beside her showed no outward sign, but her twitching brows indicated that, although she resisted the repulsion with source substance, her spirit felt far worse than Wuming's.

"Relax, this is the first time, but it won't be the last." After a brief experience, Wuming eased her own limits and simultaneously covered her companion with spiritual power.

Silently calculating the consumption, after walking another roughly two kilometers, the pressure on them suddenly eased.

After passing the initial obstacle, to avoid possible internal damage later, even the world would not violently block them.

Hmm, not implying anything.

Hummm!

Again, several black holes shot out at a speed far surpassing Wuming and the others, and a wind blew from behind toward the opened unknown world.

"Hmm, wind—originally there was none. Not long after, did the sun gain its influence over the world?"

There, the two saw another western snowscape.

Another world, another familiar scene. This is this world's own parallel world.

Then, the same holy mountain, the same obtainable different world corrections—since the two worlds were linked, the previous world's correction could take effect here, and this world's correction could also take effect. Apart from unique corrections like being able to infinitely cast limited spells, stackable world corrections such as raging creatures (enemies become more aggressive, even attacking each other) would reappear.

Except for a few places that differ, such as the three‑eyed leg in the pyramid, which exists only in the original world.

The vast majority of places are the same.

Moreover, since it was like updating a brand‑new map, resources such as wand magic also doubled in a cycle. With an exploratory spirit, the two turned this parallel world upside down, then, carrying a freshly prepared wand combination, they dug repeatedly in one direction like a super tunnel‑boring machine.

The result proved that, using only conventional means, no matter how they dug they would only enter the next parallel world and could not truly bore through here until they left.

"Mmm..." Seeing this, Wuming unconsciously felt something rise in her heart, but it vanished quickly just as she was about to examine it closely.

"Ah, well, if that's the case, the other side must be similar; next we'll go back and create the second sun."

The girl, unaware she had spoken with regret, turned and left holding her wand. Only Mina beside her, looking bewildered, hurriedly chased after her.

Thump! Thump!

Another newborn sun pulsed deep underground.

Then, the two again followed the steps, injecting the corresponding elemental essences, and the sun grew to fullness once more.

But.....

"Huh, it seems, it seems a bit off."

Wuming, who possessed spiritual sense, was the first to feel the strangeness; the second sun had been successfully created and hovered steadily where the original dark moon had been underground, but this time nature conveyed a dangerous signal.

【Run】

"Ah?"

She explained to Mina what she had just heard, and Mina also let out a doubtful sound.

"Wait, isn't it supposed to be balanced top and bottom? Why, with two suns already, does it tell us to run? Where could we run to?" Mina looked left and right, muttering to herself as she questioned the omnipresent nature.

【Imbalance, power, need for balance.】

It seemed that, with two suns providing power for all things, nature's force had grown much stronger, and its second 'speech' contained more words.

Hearing this, Wuming's face suddenly changed; she realized the crux of the problem.

But it was too late.

"Gah!", "Gaga!", "Gurulu~~~"

Monster howls echoed above them; looking up, they saw numerous creatures bursting from the ground far from their underground structure.

Indeed, as if appearing out of nowhere, even a small rock or a handful of dirt now teemed with life; one organism after another emerged, then devoured each other and grew.

Merely a few glances from Wuming's focused mind showed that the nearest monsters had already grown to the size of several people and were approaching her.

Because of their size, those sufficiently large creatures, lacking claws and fangs, deemed the two easy nutrition and abandoned the other creatures they were devouring to charge forward.

"Oh no, oh no. I just realized that, according to balance theory, there should be both a beginning and an end. You can't have only power; you need an end too. The two suns now are like the yin‑yang symbol with only the yang fish and no yin fish. Since the moon corresponds to the dark moon, the sun should correspond to a dark sun!! I previously thought the underground dark moon was just blood‑stained, never imagining it should be like this!! Oh no, oh no. I must immediately start a new cycle!"

Wuming's mind quickly flashed with the new deduction, and she promptly spoke.

"Little Mina! Quick! Take the source substance and go to the temple above, where to start a new cycle!! My earlier judgment was wrong! The world's vitality has begun to lose balance, hurry!" Wuming said, firing upward with a wand in each hand.

A barrage of spell projectiles bearing various corrections flashed with dazzling multicolored light, trailing different tails, instantly covering the hideous monsters and then surging back with greater force.

Boom boom boom!!!!!!

However, soon part of the monsters evolved the ability to resist magic, bearing the barrage and charging at them.

"The power of nature... truly lives up to being the elder brother (sister)." Wuming marveled, quickly controlling crystal dust to inlay new spell shards, transforming the wand that originally projected magic barrages into a hybrid wand that mass‑produces various explosives.

Relying on the computational ability of her half‑magical‑girl state, she precisely calculated where each explosion should detonate upon firing.

However, changing the attack style only delayed the monsters' pace; as Mina drifted farther from Wuming, she even had to spare part of her attention to watch for enemies on that side.

Pok—zizi——

The wand in her hand, damaged from prolonged heavy spellcasting, was almost instantly discarded and she pulled a new one from her pack to keep firing.

Fortunately, having passed through enough parallel worlds gave them sufficient resources to cope with this level of consumption.

Meanwhile, Mina, under Wuming's cover, swiftly transported the source substance to the 'Great Work' room by almost a blink‑like teleport.

Then, after who knows how many cycles of world‑goldening, it appeared again.

The power of the source substance remained as strong as ever.

Even when, under the sun's influence, natural creations had become nearly uncontrollable, they could not resist the change to gold.

Buzz—buzz—bang!

Until the end, although the Sun relied on its own 'power' to desperately resist the power of Gold Touch, it ultimately still could not withstand the combined effort of the two gods and also turned into gold together.

"What is that?!!" Wumiao keenly noticed the several different specks of light that burst out when the Sun shattered at the instant it turned to gold, and hurried over to reach out and grab them.

Before they could see what they had grabbed, everything underwent a regressing change.

The world returned once again to its original state.

Because they failed to create a true balance, all previous successes were nullified.

"Ahhh. We have to start over again!!! So frustrating!!!"

Looking at the cheese-like moon in the sky, Wumiao shouted out in near-collapse.

"Damn it, Dad!!!!"

Smack!

They threw the sheet-like objects they were pinching in their hands onto the ground, producing a certain classic shout.

"Eh, this is... Gold Touch? And also, this is Water Touch; these spells we haven't seen before? And we haven't seen them in the parallel world either?"

Mina stepped forward to pick up what Wumiao had thrown away, and discovered that a completely new, unseen spell was etched onto it.

"Ah? At the time I saw the thing that burst out of the Sun, since it could resist the Gold Touch force for a fairly long time, I instinctively grabbed it back."

The girl, after venting a little, quickly recovered her composure and then went over to examine it together.

"Well, if you don't understand it, just try out this new spell." Saying that, Wumiao casually took a slice from the wand inserted in her hand.

Zzz—

An embarrassing thing happened: the wand's strength was insufficient, so it could not release.

Then they spent a while longer.

"All right! This way we should be able to use this spell."

Fungal Cave.

Mina crossed over piles of corpses, picked up the 'wild' staff on the table, examined it, and happily said.

Soon, the effect of the new spell was experimentally completed.

To some extent, as an important creation of nature, the Sun's power is indeed strong, strong enough to resist the source substance.

If it weren't for nature itself also needing to control the runaway power, this time would really have allowed the two Suns to resist the Gold Touch force and then evolve into a new golden ecosystem.

Friend and foe share the same origin.

Recalling the previous events, Wumiao still felt a little afraid. It felt like encountering the insect swarm from novels—an enemy that can infinitely evolve to resist attacks. Moreover, it unreasonably can burst out from every nook and cranny to mutually devour and grow, ignoring conservation.

As for Spell Touch, Wumiao tentatively named it thus; its power is probably the Sun's counterstrike against magic in its final moments.

This is pure magical power, and also signifies the manifestation of magical authority.

Its usage manifests as transmuting the effective portion of matter into the substance corresponding to Spell Touch.

For example, Gold Touch turns the effective area into gold; recalling the earlier creation myth, the way Spell Touch takes effect is conjectured to be forcibly endowing matter with a spell's soul, thereby transmuting that matter's soul into the substance corresponding to the spell, after which nature's corrective force must alter the transmuted matter to achieve unity of matter and soul.

Perhaps the original matter's soul, as a price, transmutes the matter endowed with a new soul, thereby completing a new unity.

However, regardless of which, this power is also extremely terrifying. In testing, no enemy or material along the way could resist being directly transmuted by this power, except for the source substance used to restart the cycle.

After recording the information, the two of them put aside this little interlude and continued gathering materials to prepare for the second creation of solar balance.

Because they knew of the parallel world's existence, this time was undoubtedly much simpler; after all, as long as they could open a passage, the rest was just continually seeking the needed things.

Fifteen hours later.

They returned once again to the original location of the Dark Moon.

According to the original notes, this time they brought along an elemental essence called Alcohol Essence—feces stone.

Although called Alcohol Essence, in fact, according to Mina's father's analysis, it should be the artificial elemental essence of decay extracted by those practicing alchemy in this world.

"This time, we must succeed!"

Wumiao clenched her fists tightly in secret.

Boom!!

After the four elemental essences were input, Wumiao intended to continue inputting the final decay essence, but the strong light emitted by the Sun, which had already grown enough from the essences, prevented the last essence from even approaching, burning it to ash.

"Damn!"

At the instant they saw the result, Wumiao knew they had failed again in this cycle.

"Ahh... why??!!" Mina let out a somewhat collapsing wail.

"Hiss—hah—, calm, calm. We're almost done; solve this point and we can go back. Let me think...." Wumiao took a deep breath in and out, suppressing her nearly spiking blood pressure, and thought carefully.

"Since inputting the four elemental essences makes the Sun directly grow to completion, that means the Alcohol Essence must be input before the four essences. In other words, we still need to experiment about four or five times."

Wumiao was the first to think of this, and then, holding the idea of combining theory with practice, she restarted the cycle.

There's no way around it; the other essences and Sun seeds can be found in the parallel world, but there is no second copy of the decay essence.

In a sense, ending is more important than rebirth.

First trial: they first input the decay essence, then waited for the growing Sun to turn into scattered light points that vanished into the environment.

Second trial: having a base of four elemental essences, this time Wumiao chose the most inclusive Water Essence, yet the Sun still shattered into light points.

Third trial: considering the differences among elemental essences, this time she input the more stable Earth Essence, yet the result showed no change.

Fourth and fifth trials: a single elemental essence could not resist decay.

Then came the sixth, seventh trials....

Up to the fourteenth trial.

"No way—whether any two or three essences, we can't find a balance point. With fewer than four essences, the Sun would be completely corrupted back to the world; with all four essences input, the Sun's power would be too strong, leaving no chance for corruption to enter. What the heck, what the heck should we do?!"

The girl frowned, constantly flipping through the newly recorded notes, her distressed mood almost spilling over her face.

"Little Wumiao, there's another method/possibility you haven't considered."

Mina's somewhat muffled voice sounded from beside.

Huh?

She turned her head.

"There is another way to send all the essence into the sun at the same time." She said, word by word.

"This works too; my reaction is fast enough to let me change...." Wu Miao said instinctively.

"No, I mean, at the same time, this isn't a matter of reaction speed. Even if you enter that superhuman state, your reaction will still have delay; to truly do it completely, you can only...." Mina shook her head and continued explaining.

"No! Don't say it! Let me try first, then we'll talk, please." Wu Miao, realizing what the other intended to do, firmly interrupted Mina.

"What then? If it doesn't succeed, won't you want to try a second time, a third time, or even more? We've already been here for nearly a hundred cycles, right? If my feeling is still normal, we've probably gone through nearly half a year. You're alive in each cycle, so your time is only longer than mine. We can't drag this out any longer."

"It will definitely succeed." The girl said softly.

"Even if it ultimately fails, I will still take you out."

This is another sentence that Wu Miao did not say.

"No, great creation requires great sacrifice, haven't you forgotten?" Mina said, her tone full of determination.

"...." Wu Miao turned her head, staring intently at Mina's eyes. From that she saw a kind of enlightened perseverance.

The girl suddenly realized that, at this moment, Mina had entered a certain flow state; through the continual accumulation of cycles and the impetus from herself and her father, Mina had become bound to something like a mission—a state that she could not change no matter how she tried to obstruct it.

To stop it, the only way is to halt her life.

Or, destroy this world.

A dangerous light flashed in Wu Miao's eyes, but she immediately suppressed it herself.

This is only the beginning; if every time we face such a choice we use destruction to protect those around us, then not only would the contract we made with the Soviet Union be meaningless, but we would eventually encounter a world we cannot contend with and suffer the consequences.

From the fact that her spiritual energy could influence this world's sun, and from being able to somewhat resist this world's primordial force, Wu Miao knew that her desire to deal with this world was not a fantasy.

Just as even a tiny piece of radioactive material can be deadly.

".... Will you really die?" After a silence, Wu Miao asked weakly.

"I don't know; perhaps after a restart, I will reappear beside you." Mina's voice had a barely perceptible hesitation.

"... If you have already made up your mind...."

"I must do this. Because this world only has you and me; my father laid the foundation, you found the path, and then I will use myself to carry out the final step." She said softly.

"Putting it that way, it sounds like you've taken the results for yourself."

"Yeah, letting a newcomer who just started an internship participate in this event and even gain the biggest results—am I being selfish?"

"Yeah, why must one use their own life?"

"Great creation requires great sacrifice; if I die like this, wouldn't I also be great? Besides, it's not like there's no chance to meet again. Thinking this way, aren't I also gaining?" Mina repeated, then embraced Wu Miao and said.

"Mm... mm—, alright, I believe you. Go, go do it. May you have no regrets, may you succeed. If you die, I will remember everything."

Wu Miao choked up slightly, closed her eyes and ground her teeth, then reluctantly handed over the rotting essence in her hand to Mina, stepped aside, and remade a platform to stand on.

"From now on, it's up to me!! Let the world move again! As above, so below; below enters above—only then can we attain the Great One, the miracle of the Great One, which can create all things and move the world."

She recited the contents of the Jadeite Record to cheer herself, then, under Wu Miao's gaze, threw all her magic wands at her feet, clasped the five elemental essences in both hands, glanced back at Wu Miao once more, and then jumped unreservedly into the sun beneath her feet.

Boom—boom—boom————!!!!!!

After a violent burst of flash, a pure black celestial body—no, essentially an object with no light at all—appeared before Wu Miao's eyes, like a black hole as scientists speculate, it remained silently in the place where the dark moon once was.

Silent, yet as dangerous as the sun.

This is the dark sun.

【Up and down in unison, the new world's heart is encompassing decaying growth; within decay, new life emerges, cycles repeat, never ceasing.】

After the successful creation of the Dark Sun, a rumble arising from all over the world accompanied a piece of information transmitted into Wuming's heart, she knew, Mina's judgment was correct.

She succeeded.

And next, one must take responsibility for carrying out the final cleanup work—return the source substance back.