The Martial Unity

While the arakai prepared for an ambush, their target merrily continued his exploration of new potentials of power. Rui had become so absorbed in the limitless potential that came with Legislation and hyperdimensional reality that he had all but completely forgotten about his duties as Emperor and Chancellor. Thankfully, the manifold allowed him to be secluded for long periods of time without much time passing in the real world; otherwise, he would have been in a real pickle, struggling to grasp for time that he didn’t have.

He had already spent some time exploring hyperdimensional reality in the previous fourteen months within the manifold. However, this layer of reality was so obscure and unfathomable that he had yet to create any stable technique that consumed a reasonable amount of his Martialverse.

This was a domain that was more intrinsically beyond his reach than virtually any other field he had ever touched, aside from perhaps the Corporeal Realm, which had still taken him the entirety of Amare’s pregnancy, much of which he spent in the manifold, to explore.

However, the largest constraint was that he needed to use his Martialverse every single time to wash away the quantum vacuum flux that bound the Calabi-Yau manifolds of reality shut. The moment the Water stopped flowing, the quantum vacuum flux would return and shut the manifolds tightly. And while his conventional physical and mental stamina were virtually infinite, his phenomenological stamina was still limited.

That meant the gap between explorations was much larger. No longer could he spend literal months without a single break on one project. This was the most frustrating speed break that prevented him from generating too much momentum in this research and development project.

”I suppose this is what normal Martial Artists feel like,” he couldn’t help but grumble.

He had previously thought that mastering hyperdimensional reality would have taken a long time because of this... until Argenton shared with him the endless possibilities of Legislation.

Legislation was not a temporal change in reality, the way his Martialverse functioned, and it didn’t operate at the causal layer but rather at the layer of laws. The changes that were made to reality through the power of Legislation were permanent and self-sufficient. It didn’t drain him of stamina once the action was complete.

It perfectly suited his needs when it came to creating a more accessible way to master hyperdimensional reality.

”I need to find a way to Legislate reality to make my hyperdimensional ambitions more achievable.”

If he could alter the laws of his body to suit them, then perhaps it would take only half as much Water to open the Calabi-Yau manifolds.

”Or maybe even zero Water. Maybe I can alter the fabric of reality to have the Calabi-Yau manifold constantly open within my body all the time.” Rui’s eyes lit up.

Of course, this was extremely ambitious, especially for someone like him who wasn’t a Legislator. He had already seen before that the impact he could have on the layer of laws was minimal; it would take an enormous amount of accumulation over a lengthy period of time for him to reach a stage where he could alter the laws of his Martial Body to constantly have the Calabi-Yau manifold that was occupied by him to be opened.

However, time was not the only resource that this ambition would need.

”I’ll also have to figure out how to calibrate reality correctly. Altering laws requires great knowledge.”

After all, unlike the causal layer where he could simply impose his vision of reality upon the world, the layer of laws was the algorithms that dictated the rule set of the material universe. Changing it required editing the equations of physics that the universe adhered to.

That required a profound mastery of physics and mathematics, which Rui certainly had.

”But my mastery of these fields is entirely practical and utilitarian, not pure or theoretical.”

In practice, that meant that he relied a lot on mathematical shortcuts, approximations, identities, and rules of thumb, often prioritizing speed over precision or accuracy. He had already realized how different this was from pure theoretical physics when he studied String Theory under Professor Seonard Lusskind, who had helped him in the past month with understanding String Theory better.

This was unsuited for Legislation, which required a very pure understanding of the rules that governed reality.

Specifically, for his ambitions, he would need to find a way to reduce the quantum vacuum flux binding the Calabi-Yau manifold while his body overlapped them. This would reduce the amount of Water he needed to open the manifolds and access higher dimensions.

”Is that even possible?” Rui scratched his head. ”In the first place, my body overlapping the Calabi-Yau manifolds would mean that there isn’t a vacuum but rather the matter and energy of my body holding them all together.”

In other words, he would need to alter the laws of his body such that it didn’t exert a quantum flux on the Calabi-Yau manifolds. This was not the same as making his body immaterial, such as with Etherea Corpa, for that would still generate quantum flux nonetheless.

It was a rather absurd demand, so much so that even the professor laughed when Rui asked him about it.

”That’s impossible, Your Majesty,” the old man shook his head, reclining back on the chair in his office. He gazed at Rui with an amused expression at the question, his professional background as a scientist overwhelming his awe and reverence for the Emperor of Water.

The past month of interactions with the Emperor of Water had helped him feel a little bit more normal when meeting with the Emperor. It also helped that Rui did his best to hide his presence and avoid completely pressuring the poor man’s mind.

He sat opposite the professor, across the table, wearing his Martial attire rather than his royal attire.

”Why is it impossible?” Rui raised an eyebrow.

”Because the Calabi-Yau manifold is bound by quantum vacuum flux even when there’s nothing,” the man explained. ”Just the ever-present fluctuations in the quantum fields in our universe are enough to keep them shut, like a door submerged underwater, unable to open because of the pressure. And that’s vacuum. With actual matter and energy overlapping the quantum manifolds, opening it is literally impossible.”