Chapter 78: Scale 0

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Scale 0

"Who am I?"

"Where is this?"

"Why am I here?"

"I remember now. I’m Chen Qi, and I saw that Awakening ritual!"

In the endless void and darkness, Chen Qi slowly opened his eyes.

His state was quite strange. His entire being was enveloped in a shimmering white radiance, constantly shifting.

Beneath his feet was an array formed by three intersecting rings.

Chen Qi stood at the center where the three rings intersected.

Chen Qi casually looked at one of the rings and saw his own life within it.

Inside the ring, a movie starring him as the protagonist was playing out.

Infancy, childhood, adolescence, young adulthood—Chen Qis from different periods of his life appeared one after another, reenacting his life experiences and psychological changes.

As a child, he yearned to fight monsters with his Steel Warrior. In his youth, he experienced the "collapse of his world." As a teenager, he was incredibly lonely and rebellious. As a young man, he had everything worn away until he became a player in the King’s Game.

’This ring represents my philosophy on life—that is, my perception of myself.’

Understanding dawned on Chen Qi, but what he found interesting was that the life in the ring did not include the [Bronze Dice].

His encounter with Jomoya Chris was just a whim, a spur-of-the-moment thing.

Chen Qi looked at the next ring, where the myriad states of human life and the vicissitudes of the world were playing out.

’These are my values, representing my perception of human society and others.’

Chen Qi understood and turned his gaze to the final ring.

In that ring, the sun rose and the moon fell, wind blew and rain fell, lightning struck and thunder rolled, magnetic fields operated, and space-time shifted!

This was his [Worldview], representing Chen Qi’s perception of the World.

The three views intertwined, and these three perceptions constructed Chen Qi’s Spirituality.

’So this white radiance is my Spirituality?’

’What has appeared here is a mixture of my Spirituality and Consciousness.’

Standing in the center of the ritual, Chen Qi carefully perceived his own existence, lost in thought.

The experiment designed by the founder of the Wisdom Sect was called the [Spiritual Transcendence Experiment].

The principle was simple. It used the high-dimensional nature of the Soul to pull on one’s Spirituality. This allowed it to align infinitely with the World and approach [Scale 0] indefinitely.

In the Wisdom School’s definition, [Scale 0] is a very mysterious existence.

It is regarded as a superposition of the high-dimensional and the three-dimensional, where endless high-dimensional points are annihilated, releasing infinite Energy.

This Energy is completely different from the energy of the three-dimensional World, yet it possesses the ability to interfere with it.

In some schools of thought, it is even considered the "primordial driving force" behind the emergence of life.

They believe that life could only be born because this Energy permeated the three-dimensional World and had a radiative effect on certain microscopic particles.

If one could directly master this Energy, they would surely be able to do as they please, becoming omnipotent.

However, this is a nearly impossible task.

Whether it’s Consciousness or Spirituality, both are born in the three-dimensional World. They can only get infinitely close to [Scale 0] but can never actually touch it.

Humans can only capture this Energy when it leaks into the three-dimensional World.

But the moment this Energy appears in the three-dimensional World, it is constantly decaying.

Or rather, it is because of this decay that it appears in the three-dimensional World.

The decayed Energy is countless Energy Levels lower than before. It can no longer alter the three-dimensional World, only barely influence it.

This decayed Energy is called [Spiritual Energy].

It can be merged with and controlled by human Spirituality, and it is the cornerstone of the Extraordinary.

For humans to master Spiritual Energy, the first problem to solve is to be able to control their own Spirituality at will.

This is the truth of Spirit Awakening: human Consciousness taking complete control of one’s own Spirituality.

For Chen Qi, what he had to do was make the three rings merge completely.

The parts of the rings that had not yet merged represented the parts of his Spirituality he could not yet control at will.

This portion was simply too large. It would be difficult to make the three rings merge completely through willpower alone.

This was also the hurdle that all apprentices would face.

Before the promulgation of the *Human Spiritual Awakening Bill*, other Extraordinary systems might have had their own Secret Techniques.

But now, all apprentices could only choose the *Spirit Realm Declaration*.

While in the ritual, Chen Qi finally saw the true content of the *Spirit Realm Declaration*.

NO. 1: Worlds with a Spirituality frequency between -110 and 1700 shall be human territory.

NO. 2: This World is the center of the universe.

NO. 3: The World does not have extra spatiotemporal dimensions (Parallel Worlds).

NO. 4: The Spirit Realm does not exist.

NO. 5: I will never betray human civilization.

NO. 6: I will obey all laws enacted by the World Government.

NO. 7: I will accept the World Government’s definition and classification of humanity.

NO. 8: I will set three binding oaths for myself and never break them.

NO. 9: I will never trust outsiders.

NO. 10: I will never contact the [Ancient Ten].

[Note: Those who break their promise shall forever remain a Mortal.]

...

’This is the Spirit Realm Declaration?’

’I only need to choose two of these to successfully achieve Awakening.’

’There seems to be a lot more to this than meets the eye!’

Before the ritual began, Chen Qi already knew he would have to make a choice.

But he never expected the [Options] to be so strange.

Fortunately, he was lucky; he only had to choose two. If they had been mandatory selections, it would have been tragic.

He wondered how many promises other apprentices had to make.

’Never mind the first three options, but the fourth one is too strange!’

’The *Spirit Realm Declaration* actually has a clause stating that the Spirit Realm doesn’t exist.’

’What exactly is this so-called Spirit Realm? Could it be a typo? Shouldn’t it be the [Zero Realm Declaration]?’

Chen Qi had thought the target of the [Spiritual Transcendence Experiment] was [Scale 0], and that [Scale 0] was the Spirit Realm.

But now it seemed the Spirit Realm was not referring to [Scale 0].

It made sense when he thought about it. How could a mere ordinary human make a promise to such an existence? They couldn’t even come into contact with it.

The object targeted by the [Spiritual Transcendence Experiment] could only be the [Spirit Realm].

The [Spirit Realm]’s existence must be infinitely close to [Scale 0], but It still exists within the three-dimensional World.

Only then would it be possible for Chen Qi to come into contact with it.

’What on earth is the Spirit Realm? The answer must be hidden in the thesis. The most likely possibility is the part that said [Involves the Chaos School, Not Displayed].’

Chen Qi mulled it over; this was the only answer.

Fortunately, he hadn’t planned on choosing NO. 4 anyway, so there was no need to dwell on it now.

’I definitely can’t choose something I might not be able to do.’

’For example, those options involving the World Government.’

’I also can’t choose things I don’t fully understand.’

’Like NO. 9 and NO. 10. There’s no need to put shackles on myself.’

’By the same token, choosing NO. 8 would be even more foolish. I don’t want to set precepts for myself.’

’In that case, choosing NO. 1 and NO. 5 is the most suitable for me.’

’As a human, thinking for humanity and taking humanity’s side shouldn’t cause any problems.’

"I declare that worlds with a Spirituality frequency between -110 and 1700 shall be human territory."

"I promise to never betray human civilization!"

Standing at the center of the three intersecting rings, Chen Qi let out his declaration.

In the next instant, he felt himself connect with some magnificent existence.

RUMBLE!

With Chen Qi at the center, the three rings began to slowly rotate, overlapping with one another.

And at the very moment they overlapped, the Chen Qi in reality snapped his eyes open, breaking free from that place of endless darkness and void.