Chapter "394"
The two of them withdrew their thoughts, and the illusion dissolved.
Adam asked, “Why not forge them into illusion weapons?”
Wendy spread her hands. “Because it can’t be done. They don’t obey.”
“This may be the only thing mages have discovered in all these years that seems to come with an innate attribute of goodness,” Wendy said. “Whether actively or passively, they refuse to harm. The illusions they produce are simply illusions—pure phantoms. They never inflict damage on living beings.”
“We tried to forcibly drive them as amplifiers to boost illusionary power. But their residual willpower resisted violently—resisting even to the point of collapse. So we gave up. It wasn’t worth it anyway. We already have plenty of amplifiers to choose from.”
“And honestly, the energy of the Second Epoch is different from the Third or Fourth. Using them causes massive energy leakage. The gain isn’t worth the loss. Instead of forcibly remodeling them, we might as well store them as specimens.”
Innately good… Such an evaluation was truly unique. Mages had their principles, but goodness was never one of them. Creatures of other planes were no different. Every moment of their existence was consumed by the struggle to survive, to seize resources by any means necessary.
Whatever the motive, their methods were never about goodness.
Adam couldn’t imagine what kind of world the Second Epoch must have been, if beings like this truly existed.
He let the matter drop. Wendy then asked:“The engine is found. What will you do with it?”
Naturally, the next step was to test its ability to create a world.
This task consumed an immense amount of time for Adam and the other researchers. The deeper they delved, the more they marveled at this core of origin.
Every other world-origin, no matter how its lifeforms developed or what laws arose, was still bounded within certain universal parameters.
But this one was different. It could almost achieve wish-fulfillment—every thought could be realized as an illusion indistinguishable from reality.
Adam requisitioned a blank plane and transferred the origin there, embedding a personal-chip connection program into its outer layer.
Dozens of researchers positioned themselves across the plane. Through their chips, they linked their thoughts into the origin. Instantly, the plane blossomed into a myriad of bizarre and wondrous visions. None clashed with another; whatever the mages imagined, it could replicate.
Even when Adam attempted to simulate the might of a True Spirit, it obeyed.
That was a tremendous surprise.
A game engine consists of prebuilt, editable systems and real-time interactive graphical cores, tools that allow designers to craft programs swiftly without starting from zero.
This relic-origin eliminated the need for starting from scratch, saving untold amounts of time and effort.
In Adam’s original plan, the project team first needed to perfect the M-language, and then use it to construct, within a blank origin, a rendering engine, physics engine, collision detection, audio, scripting, AI, network engine, and scene management system.
But now, aside from the physics engine and collision detection, the relic-origin already contained nearly all these functions—intricate and complete. Far more convenient than building everything from version 0.0 and gradually upgrading.
Even more astonishing was its built-in time system. It could simultaneously run countless branch timelines, which was invaluable for supporting relative time in virtual worlds.
Yet despite its convenience, one problem could not be bypassed.
An origin can be thought of as a sophisticated system. Through wars, sacrifices, and plunder, mages had obtained origin samples and studied them. Fourth Epoch origins all shared a similar structure—like having the same “source code.”
Mage research into this was already deep. The ever-evolving origin of the Mage World itself testified to that.
But the relic-origin’s code was utterly alien to the Fourth Epoch’s. The researchers couldn’t even find an entry point to crack it.
Though it was laid bare and open before them, its completely different form of expression was like a dense, impenetrable fog.
The only reason they could even use it roughly now, or overlay chip algorithms onto its surface, was because it was so “kind”—allowing itself to be manipulated without resistance.
But without cracking it, it could never be truly viable. First, its functions, though vast, were still insufficient to build a large-scale virtual world. Second, no mage would risk uploading their soul into an unknown platform—entrusting their safety to a stranger. The True Spirits would never allow it.
Seeing Adam’s frustration, Wendy said, “Don’t ask me. I’ve no solution either. We studied it before, ran into the same wall. We can’t understand how it does what it does. And even if we did, so what? The illusion system is already mature. So all these years, it’s been nothing but a curiosity.”
Adam asked, “The Mage World must have teams specialized in origins, right?”
Wendy nodded. “Of course. The World Guardians are the true experts.”
“Can we invite them to assist in the research?”
“Apply through His Excellency Croft. But don’t expect too much. The Guardians are complete origin-lifeforms. Their entire being is a reflection of the Mage World’s origin. Asking them to study a Second Epoch origin…”
Wendy wasn’t optimistic. But Adam still believed it worthwhile. No field of research should stand in total isolation. At the highest levels, connections emerge naturally.
Still, preparations were needed on multiple fronts.
“Joel,” Adam called softly.
At once, a Super Dimensional Mage approached respectfully. “Lord Adam.”
Adam divided the researchers into two teams: one to focus entirely on cracking the “source code,” and the other to attempt building a new engine within a blank origin, modeled after the relic-origin’s functions.
That way, success in cracking would be ideal, but even if they failed, their efforts wouldn’t be wasted.
His Excellency Croft seemed to dwell constantly within the origin space. Every time Adam submitted a request, he was received almost immediately. This time was no exception.
Croft was perusing fresh data collected from lower-level mages through his chip. When he saw Adam, he gestured for him to sit, and said:
“Within a day, a Guardian team that once studied the relic-origin will head to your lab. But truthfully, their research ability is inferior to your own researchers.”