The Martial Unity

Rui had no intention of keeping the secret to overcoming the limitations of the Transcendent Realm to himself. After all, if he did that, human civilization would be much weaker, and he wouldn’t have any rivals to help stimulate him as a Martial Artist. He would also finally be able to stop holding back with human civilization once enough Transcendents could meaningfully resist him.

More importantly, it would be too much of a loss for human civilization at a time when they needed as much power as they could possibly get. Elder Sage Dwight accepted Rui’s instructions, impatiently waiting for him to finish what he was doing.

The dwarf, however, couldn’t control his surprise when Rui created a clone body identical to his own body. ”What is this?”

”This is the vessel that you’re going to transfer an identical copy of your consciousness into before destroying your own,” Rui told him calmly.

The dwarf’s expression tightened. ”…So this is the means by which you continuously evade the consequences of the Transcendent Realm.”

Rui nodded. ”Identity is not founded in matter or energy; it’s founded in information. As long as the information is preserved, then identity is preserved.”

”…that would mean clones with the same information would all have the same identity?” the dwarf raised an eyebrow.

”Yes, which is why multiple identical clones lead to civil wars,” Rui remarked. ”Trust me, I’ve tried. It doesn’t work. Identity must be unique, which is why you must destroy your mind before you transmit the information.”

The dwarf remained silent for a few moments, before nodding. ”Very well… Now that I am a Transcendent myself, I am able to accept what I wouldn’t ever have before.”

Now that he became a Transcendent, he was able to see the relationship between information and reality. It was indeed true that information was the source of everything, and identity was certainly among those.

Rui made the necessary preparations before nodding at the dwarf. ”Alright, go ahead. Just make sure not to deactivate your Creationverse, that is the actual trigger for the cost of the Transcendent Realm.”

”Doesn’t that mean that anybody who doesn’t get exhausted would never need to disappear?” The dwarf raised an eyebrow. ”You have limitless stamina, do you not?”

”The Martialverse’s stamina is not material in nature. It’s a metaphysical stamina related to the integrated information of your consciousness,” Rui explained. ”So even if my body and brain don’t ever get tired, there is still a limit to how much I can manipulate the Transcendent Realm. I suspect it has something to do with phenomenological uniformity itself having limited stamina or something like that.”

If not for that, Rui would have been able to maintain Transcendence basically permanently across the entire day, save for the few seconds he needed to spend shifting bodies. But alas, not even Rui was able to overcome this limitation easily.

”Alright, go ahead, I’ve kept you waiting long enough,” Rui told him, coaxing him to try his power out.

The dwarf nodded. ”Here goes.”

RUMBLE

The very fabric of reality quivered as the dwarf expanded his Craftverse across the information dimension. Like all Verses, the Craftverse was merely consciousness in a state of phenomenological uniformity, which meant that the mind of the dwarf itself was sweeping across the information that defined reality.

Rui could feel the Transcendent dominion that held supreme over the laws of reality that began loosening at the will of the elder sage. Laws that were otherwise absolute were merely suggestions to the dwarf.

He was above them.

He stood in the realm of gods right beside Rui.

Rui watched with bated breath as the dwarf began to alter reality. He could distinctly feel that reality itself had become more harmonious with itself. Matter seemed to move in harmony, so much so that heat became sound.

VMMM…

The discordant vibrations of heat grew harmonious, becoming sound waves that were audible to the ear. It was the melody of kinetic harmony, and something that undoubtedly violated the second law of thermodynamics, yet the law was a humble suggestion, as far as the dwarf was concerned.

Beyond that, however, the changes were limited.

”Can you move the world?” Rui asked with a curious expression. ”Do you feel like you wipe out all of Gaia with a single misstep?”

The dwarf shook his head. ”Not at all. I don’t think my combat power has increased one bit.”

That confirmed a hypothesis that Rui had had for quite some time. ”So verses are still part of the Path, and not beyond it.”

Dwarves were non-combatants. Dwarven craftsmen followed a path of non-combat. They used their potentials to create, not to fight.

And, as he suspected, this applied even to the Creationverse.

”My power does not exist to attack the way that yours does, nor would I want it to,” the dwarf spoke with certainty. ”I am a craftsman. I craft products that do the fighting on my behalf.”

He immediately walked to his quantum crafting fabricator, immediately activating it and rushing to fabricate a product. Rui followed him, observing the dwarf doing his work. This was the first time he had ever seen a dwarf in the midst of their craftsmanship, for they were extremely secretive about how they worked.

The dwarf entered a control panel that was unlike anything Rui had ever seen. He donned a black suit with electromagnetic sensors across the entirety of the interior, being able to measure the current from his nerves, while the man’s hands were placed firmly on two spheres with similar sensors of even higher resolution.

’He’s using a sensory apparatus to control countless quantum gravitational tweezers with his highly advanced nervous system,’ Rui realized with great interest.

Dwarves as a species were, by far, the most dexterous and precise. This was thanks to an extremely advanced nervous system that, when mastered, allowed them control over every cell in their body, as if they had a Martial Soul from birth that was dedicated towards creation.

He held his breath as he watched the dwarf apply his Creationverse as he began crafting a new product spontaneously.