Chapter 6: The Path of No Return (Extensive Worldbuilding)
The thoughts on the progression of civilization came to a temporary halt, and Joshua began to contemplate matters concerning his own strength.
In truth, this battle against the Black Mist Mother Entity had allowed Joshua to recognize his own power.
Yes, not weakness, but power.
Although, due to limitations in energy reserves and material resources, a warrior could not pose any substantial threat to the Black Mist Mother Entity, both energy and material reserves were merely matters of whether Joshua ‘wanted to or not.’
If he could steel his heart, find a few worlds, and on a large scale deploy Restorative Pillars, endlessly devouring matter and converting energy—consuming everything down to the last microscopic particle—then after a few decades, the Black Mist Mother Entity might no longer be a match for him. And when operating on the same scale, Joshua had the advantage of his internal world’s faster-than-light communication, allowing him to fully integrate all his power, unlike the Black Mist Mother Entity, which, when faced with a sudden battle, couldn’t even recall all its sub-bodies in time, suffering delays in power mobilization.
Although faster-than-light communication sounds simple, seemingly achievable through quantum entanglement, in reality, quantum entanglement cannot achieve faster-than-light communication, nor can it transmit any information. It is essentially a means of encryption, not communication.
Two quanta placed at opposite ends of the universe are connected regardless of distance, but relying solely on this, no information can be obtained, because you cannot know whether a quantum’s change is its natural fluctuation or the result of observation on the other side.
You must know what method was used to observe it on the other side to deduce the observation method from the corresponding quantum. Thus, this method of information transmission is absolutely secure, but the information itself—that is, how to know the observation method—cannot, at its fastest, exceed the speed of light.
But Joshua was different. The faster-than-light communication within him relied on his own nature as a world. Even if a warrior’s avatar was at the other end of the multiverse, their internal worlds remained connected. They appeared far apart, but in reality, they were extraordinarily tightly linked, thus ignoring distance. This was a peculiar effect of space-time warping, a result of the ‘special matter of the internal world’ acting as a faster-than-light medium.
Therefore, Joshua could find seventy or eighty lifeless alien worlds, simultaneously deploy his Restorative Pillars, activate full devouring mode, convert energy and mass, and transmit it back to his main body—as long as he was willing to abandon his self-will, he could grow stronger at an astonishing rate.
Of course, Joshua wouldn’t do that for now. He still wanted to maintain his self-will and didn’t want to die from overindulgence, turning into a malevolent entity that only knew how to devour.
“In this world, there exist beings like the Plague Evil God, monsters born from extreme evolution. If I were to go mad, creating an ultimate devouring and converting monster wouldn’t be surprising either.”
Thinking this, Joshua sighed softly: “The path to eradicating Chaos and the Evil Gods is long and arduous.”
In fact, after confirming that he could turn the entire world into a ‘Paradise of Bliss,’ a gamified world, Joshua also wondered if his traversal to the Mycroft World was a game played by some higher-dimensional existence, and the so-called wars between Evil Gods and civilizations were merely tools for amusement.
But after a moment of rational thought, he dismissed this speculation.
Because, similar to time, space, causality, and concepts, dimensions are merely tools in human hands; there are no such things as higher-dimensional beings.
How to put it? For example.
Light is just light, microscopic particles are just microscopic particles. The theory of wave-particle duality exists only because humans cannot observe their true form, so they must study and analyze them from the perspectives of waves and particles.
Wave and particle are both attributes and symbols forcibly imposed on light by humans.
The same goes for time and space. Space is a virtual coordinate system designed in the human mind to describe the position and motion of matter. Time is similarly a scale designed by humans to describe the changes in matter’s motion—another man-made symbol. They are merely means for humans to describe the real universe. In other words, they are tools humans created in the pursuit of truth, not truth itself.
And so-called dimensions, though somewhat more complex, are essentially the same in nature.
The concept of dimensions originates from string theory. Explaining it in detail is very complex, but essentially, it is also a tool created by humans to describe the real universe.
To explore the truth of the universe, humans have induced, summarized, and even guessed and inferred countless theorems and laws—electromagnetic equations, relativity, quantum theory, and so on—all theorems summarized by humans. But clearly, these theorems are not truth, because they contradict each other. Truth cannot be contradictory. Only a ‘Grand Unified Theory’ that can perfectly integrate all theories can barely be called a representative of truth, the ultimate equation.
How to unify electromagnetism and gravity? How to explain the contradictions between relativity and quantum theory, and then gradually complete the Grand Unified Theory? String theory emerged as a tool. By adding just one spatial dimension, electromagnetism and gravity can be explained uniformly. And humans were delighted to find that by adding more dimensions, more theories could be unified. Thus, the self-consistent dimensions of string theory are constantly increasing, with no sign of stopping.
But where are these dimensions? Since all current physical phenomena can be explained by length, width, height, and time, other dimensions serve no purpose other than unifying theories. They are tools created to explain truths humans do not understand—a set of numerical tools existing in linear algebra, various equations, and geometric theories. So, theories have curled them all up to avoid being an eyesore.
Therefore.
Can life be born from a set of equations? Can civilization be born from fanciful theories?
Of course, it can!
Humans are. Any living being can throw a punch that carries the strong and weak nuclear forces, maintain their body with electromagnetic force, their own mass generating gravity, and a single exhale can pierce twenty-six dimensions.
Higher-dimensional life does not exist.
Not only that, but time, space, causality, and concepts are all man-made cognitive tools.
If one insists, then all life is higher-dimensional life. Everyone possesses terrifying powers like an electromagnetic-driven fist, gravitational stomp attacks, and a body constrained by strong and weak nuclear forces—sounds cool, doesn’t it? Not only that, but as theories increase, the number of dimensions a single exhale can pierce also increases. Everyone, with a mere gesture, can pierce countless curled dimensions, grinding even the Great Dao to dust.
Maybe even polishing it to a shine.
Everyone can easily twist their own causality and change their own destiny. All they need to do is wake up on time every morning.
Joshua thought of Arcane Power, the Six Elements, Aether, Life Energy, Nature’s Force, Psionic Energy, Holy Light, and the newly emerged Shadow Realm. He couldn’t help but laugh, because to unify and explain all these strange supernatural forces, the required dimensions would likely number in the hundreds. If he also factored in some supernatural forces he didn’t yet know about, breaking a thousand dimensions probably wouldn’t be a problem.
Moreover, in this world, there exist beings like the Sage who can add new constants to the multiverse—who knows what this multiverse will look like tens of thousands of years from now.
“But it is precisely because generations of Sages have opened up new supernatural sources that this multiverse becomes more and more exciting.”
Joshua stood up, preparing to tidy up the Fourth Practice Room, storing away all the human original samples and Void Flesh Monster specimens to avoid scaring other researchers. To be honest, how could he not know why the researchers outside were so afraid? Joshua simply let them be, not bothering to explain, to keep them from disturbing his experiments.
“Sigh, that newly emerged Shadow World, whether it’s a natural phenomenon brought by the Great Magic Tide or a multiversal shift caused by a new Sage-level existence, is a huge headache.”
Transferring all the items into his internal world, Joshua sorted through his experimental notes while thinking somewhat idly: “New magic will appear, new battle qi will emerge in response, Nature’s Force will inevitably gain a shadow attribute, and Psionic Energy will certainly incorporate the concept of shadow.”
“No supernatural force can be an exception. This kind of change is like a wild bull charging into a neatly arranged room. Although the room’s owner gains the resources of a bull, reorganizing everything will take an enormous amount of effort.”
The warrior felt this deeply. If Joshua truly intended to be a shrinking turtle, sealing off the entire Mycroft World and living in an undisturbed Paradise of Bliss, then this change would create a flaw in his otherwise perfect seal, leading to information leakage and inviting attacks from Evil Gods. His control over the world would also be greatly diminished, because those who mastered shadow power could sneak into the Shadow Realm, beyond the reach of his Steel Force.
Unless Joshua himself fully mastered shadow and extended his power into the Shadow Realm, he would no longer be able to maintain his control over the Paradise of Bliss. All order would rapidly disintegrate and reconstruct.
Thinking this, Joshua suddenly exerted force with his hand, accidentally crushing the Steel Force containment shell he was holding, allowing a Void Flesh Monster to escape from its seal. But before this long-imprisoned yellow-skinned rat monster could unleash millions of volts of electricity, sensing some terrifying aura, it immediately curled up in the warrior’s palm, not daring to move, not even daring to squeak.
At the same time, Joshua did not immediately create a new containment shell to seal the monster.
He stopped in place, staring blankly at the World Star River model suspended on the experimental table not far away.
“What if there is one, or multiple beings, who want to completely control the entire multiverse… turning the whole multiverse into one person’s game, one person’s Paradise of Bliss… What if such beings exist?”
If they truly existed.
Then the emergence of new supernatural sources time and again—the Six Elements, Aether, Psionic Energy, Holy Light, and even the recently appeared Shadow—each new path of the supernatural, without a doubt, shattered the plans of such beings again and again.
How they must hate the development of civilization.
How they must detest these unceasing, uncompromising powerhouses.
Thus, they must destroy. Any civilization showing the slightest hint of development must be destroyed. It must be done, because even if it’s nearly impossible for a single civilization to nurture such powerful supernatural beings, there are two, three, thousands, millions, billions of civilizations. Countless world star rivers turn, infinite probabilities stack, and one day, such beings will be nurtured.
Endless wild bulls charging into a home that was finally put in order will mess everything up again and again.
Hence, the Evil Gods?
Hence, the endless cycle of order and chaos, the ring of sorrow with no end?
Joshua patted the head of the yellow-skinned rat in his hand, then resealed it into a silver cocoon. The warrior continued tidying the practice room, categorizing and storing away one dangerous or wondrous new creation after another.
Thinking too much is meaningless. Knowing the truth cannot change any situation, especially since everything is just speculation—just like all of humanity’s current theories are merely guesses about the truth of the world.
Moreover, even without knowing the truth of this speculation, even if Joshua knew nothing, he understood that one day, he would walk a path similar to the Sage’s, yet absolutely different.
Why?
Because he is a warrior who craves battle, a martial artist who anticipates unknown powerful enemies. Therefore, he does not fear.
Because he is an adventurer.
Therefore, he cannot remain in place forever.
He wants to see the scenery beyond the mountains, the continent across the sea, the brilliance of the starry sea at the other end of time and space. He wants to find interesting and powerful opponents and enjoy the meaning of battle.
Yes, that’s it. That is life.
Joshua finished tidying the Fourth Practice Room. Amidst the tense yet relieved expressions of all the researchers, he calmly left the underground cavity and arrived at the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground. He looked up, meeting the gaze of the Silver Sky Radiance hanging high in the sky—the main body of the Myriad Realms Sacrificial Ground’s Dominant Will.
“…What is it, Lord Radcliffe?”
The Dominant Will, which observes everything, asked with some confusion: “Energy reserve 99.82, sufficient to meet your teleportation needs.”
“Nothing much.”
Joshua said with a smile: “It’s just that seeing you, I feel as if I can see that path.”
Then, he lowered his head and calmly broke through the plane barrier.
The space-time turbulence was wild and tumultuous. Countless civilizations and powerhouses, upon first seeing the Void, felt as if they were looking at hell.
But even if it is hell.
Even if it is a path like hell.
Even knowing clearly that ahead of him lies a dead end a million, a billion times more perilous than hell, with absolutely no return.
Joshua walked slowly through the Void toward the Mycroft World, his expression calm, serene, even carrying a hint of a smile.
Even so.
Generation after generation of brave souls have resolutely set foot on this never-ending path of no return.