Lord of the Truth

(Don't go into details?! You might as well just—argh!)

Neri dropped her head onto her palm in frustration, her expression exasperated, her tongue seemingly tied by disbelief..

According to Robin's so-called revolutionary theory everything revolved around three unlikely and jarring elements:

First, his obsessive research into the infamous Red Plague, a disease so volatile and lethal that should to be exterminated on sight. Second, a peculiar fascination with dancers of mixed races.

And third, a mortal hunter who had died slowly and painfully under torture.

Had any of the ancient scholars, those brilliant minds of the past, been present to hear this absurd combination, they would've hurled their pens across the room in contempt and stormed out of their libraries and laboratories.

"Go on, Chief! Don't stop now! What does the final solution look like?"

Evergreen, ever excitable and brimming with childlike energy, bounced up and down with gleaming eyes and unrestrained enthusiasm.

Robin raised his hand, signaling for quiet, "Alright, listen closely. This is important…"

He began in a tone more solemn than before.

"When preparing to forge Solid Foundation Number Forty-One, the cultivator must first implement a unique technique I've developed. Using this method, they will be able to generate what I refer to as fixed particles — these will be created precisely at the outer edge of the energy gathering center within their body. As soon as a particle is formed, the bloodstream will absorb it and treat it as if it were a natural component of the body's internal systems."

He paused for effect before continuing.

"Based on my calculations and current understanding, someone who's achieved level forty should need no more than a single day, at most, to successfully double the count of these particles in their bloodstream."

"Then what happens?" Evergreen asked, eyes wide with anticipation.

"Once the cultivator has produced enough fixed particles — enough that their blood physically resists further integration — they will begin the process of constructing Solid Foundation No. 41. During this delicate stage, they'll channel an energy beam and use it to etch a complex, predetermined pattern into the foundation — a tattoo. This mark acts as a key. Once drawn, it will automatically generate a specific law pattern whenever the user merely thinks of releasing energy — for any purpose, no matter how minor."

"Fascinating…" Neri murmured without meaning to.

Robin's voice grew more animated, fueled by his own passion.

"From that point onward, the law pattern will guide the energy through the cultivator's veins. But these aren't ordinary veins anymore — we would have already infused them with fixed particles to prepare for this exact moment. Their job is to stabilize and support the law pattern as it moves. This allows the pattern, now charged with energy, to travel seamlessly through the body and exit with precision and control. That's the full picture!"

He clapped his hands together with theatrical enthusiasm.

"And the beauty of this method is… we're not modifying the human body on a biological level. Even if it proves inadequate for ascension into realms high than the World Cataclysm Realm, the fixed particles we use are easily dismantled. If needed, they revert to their raw form — clean, pure energy, safely absorbed by the bloodstream. No explosions. No backfires. No disasters. And if the tattoos embedded on the foundations are no longer needed, they can be erased just as easily."

He leaned forward, his voice now low, as if sharing a final secret.

"And there's more… As a Martial Emperor accumulates experience and grows in strength, there's a very real possibility they could increase the number of fixed particles in their system. That would significantly expand the scope, density, and destructive capability of any attack they unleash. I can't say for sure whether anyone could ever reach the natural density of someone like Aro… but this, right here, is a brand-new path for the warriors in my army to grow stronger — stronger than ever before!"

---------------

A heavy silence followed.

Neri, still within the quiet confines of the soul domain, wanted to say something — anything — to shake him from his lofty dreams, to bring him back to reality and remind him that this very challenge had defeated thousands of researchers before him. All of them brilliant. All of them failed.

And yet…

After hearing the clarity and simplicity in his explanation — and remembering that their owner had already tested a portion of the theory on that unfortunate hunter — she hesitated.

Could he… really do it?

Even Evergreen sighed softly, her voice almost reverent.

"That golden eye of his… it's truly something incredible."

SMAAACK!

The sound echoed as Neri slapped her.

"What was that for?! I didn't even say anything wrong this time!"

Evergreen stomped her foot, her face flushed with indignation and confusion.

"You idiot! You never appreciate your owner the way you should. It's a miracle you didn't send those thoughts out loud this time — otherwise, he might have been furious with you!"

Neri raised her voice slightly, her tone sharp.

"Yes, the Eye of Truth is an amazing artifact, and the golden augmentation makes it even sharper and deeper in perception… but what good is the Eye of Truth, really? At the end of the day, its only purpose is to perceive the laws of nature. That's all it does."

"…You're saying?!"

Evergreen's eyes widened as the weight of Neri's words began to settle in, the sting of the slap already forgotten.

"The Owner delivered to the research and development division a set of optical discs contains the priceless records of law patterns, observed and captured through his Eye of Truth, presented to them as if on a golden platter. These were not scraps of information or rough sketches, but detailed, precise 3D blueprints of heavenly laws. And yet, tell me, has a single one among them managed to synthesize even a single brand new technique or invention from that treasure trove of insight? Will they ever craft a merged law or a martial art based on those revelations? Not even close. It's utterly impossible."

Neri's tone was heavy with disbelief, tinged with quiet scorn. Then she extended her hand toward the unfolding vision, drawing attention to the steep mountain slope ahead, where patterns that would change the world lie on ground.

"A century ago," she continued, her voice rising slightly, "he entrusted them with every single law pattern recorded by the Second Heaven chosen — thousands upon thousands of scrolls and tomes, each bursting with revelation. Shouldn't that alone qualify them as 'Chosen'? Aren't they now perceiving what only the truth chosen could see? But tell me — even if the owner gave them all the raw truths he observes in the world, every curve and ripple and whisper of the laws he witnesses daily... could any of them produce something like this?"

"Hmm... So you're saying the Eye of Truth is... worthless?"

Evergreen tilted her head, puzzled, her tone half-joking, half-serious.

"No," Neri replied immediately, shaking her head with firm finality.

"What I'm saying is that the Truth is the only heavenly law that chooses its wielder for a reason. What matters isn't simply owning the Eye and using it to passively observe. What matters — what defines a Truth Chosen — is what that person does with what they see. What they create from those patterns."

She pointed again toward the intricate display being seen through Robin's perspective.

"Many individuals have possessed the eyes of truth throughout history. An uncountable number of researchers have acquired patterns of laws through alternate, even artificial, methods. But how many among them were capable of producing something even remotely like this? A fusion pattern of such vast scale and density that not even two adjacent lines within it can be found anywhere in nature? Something entirely new — a structure born not from mimicry, but from pure genius."

There was a long pause, and Neri's voice grew quiet.

Her eyes returned to the view seen through Robin's golden lens, and something within her shifted — the hardness faded, replaced by something softer. Awe. Respect. Maybe even a growing sense of veneration.

-------------------

"Maybe this… maybe this is it."

Robin's voice echoed faintly across the connection. He slowly made his way toward the area that held the infamous flaw in the system. His steps were measured, not with hesitation but with care. When he reached the precise spot, he crouched low, brushing aside the dirt and dust with his hand before drawing delicate symbols on the ground with a finger.

"…Tsk. No. This one won't do either."

He wiped it away almost immediately.

(Owner… What is stopping you now? You explained the whole process so clearly. Shouldn't everything already be in place?)

Neri's voice emerged in his mind, curious and quietly anxious. But it was the anxiety of a scholar — the worry that what they were witnessing might end as another glorious failure in a long chain of such attempts.

She knew. Of course she knew. Solving a problem of this magnitude might take more than a lifetime — it might take countless ages. Perhaps the same flaw Robin was trying to correct now had baffled generations of researchers before him — for millions of years — leaving nothing behind but dust and unread scrolls. Perhaps this colossal, elegant fusion pattern he was working on would eventually be forgotten as well, buried beneath the endless layers of time, like all the others.

"Mmm… Everything holds up — in theory," Robin murmured, sweeping away the drawing and beginning to sketch again.

"There's no structural flaw that I can detect through scientific or magical logic. But whenever I run real experiments… something always goes wrong. And it always happens at the exact same point."

He paused, his eyes narrowing with focus.

"It's right at the moment the pattern exits the energy gathering center and tries to enter the bloodstream. In eight out of ten cases… it simply vanishes. Dissolves. The pattern collapses and loses its cohesion, like it was never real to begin with."

(…Wait… Are you saying it works in two out of ten cases?)

Neri asked, stunned.

"Of course it does," Robin answered, as though it were obvious.

"Especially when I apply one of the alternate approaches I've developed. I've run over a hundred internal simulations, Twenty-seven of those trials were successful!"

He gestured dismissively, as though this should have ended all argument.

"Why else do you think I've continued this line of research for so many years? I'm not some idealistic fool chasing fantasies. I have results."

(…So many years…)

Neri muttered under her breath, her thoughts reeling.

(Even if only two out of ten attempts are successful… doesn't that mean—doesn't it mean you've already discovered the Fifth Path of Cultivation?!)