Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4232: Magisterial! I

The choice was a precipice.

Noah stood at the edge of it, his consciousness not in the Radiant Shore, but deep within the internal weavings of his Early Atlas of the Folds.

Before him, the Lemniscate of Potential pulsed, a glorious, multicolored infinity symbol woven from the combined light of one hundred Vital Lighthouses!

It was a blank page, a silent instrument, a block of uncarved marble waiting for the sculptor’s hand.

His gaze drifted to the figure of Khor, who was observing the scene with a serene, ancient amusement.

”You seem quiet, Outsider,” her voice was a soft, musical note in the symphony of his thoughts. ”Why did you ask me about Principles? You already have thst green gold one that seems to be helping you a great deal...”

Noah’s expression remained calm, but he allowed a flicker of his own tyrannical amusement to show.

”I have the option to nurture the Seed of a Second Principle right now.”

The effect of his words was immediate and profound. Khor’s playful demeanor vanished, replaced by a look of surprise.

Her tiny form, which had been floating with a casual grace, went perfectly still. Her mouth opened slightly, then closed, as if the words had failed to form.

”Mmm...a second one?” she finally whispered, her voice stripped of its usual confidence. ”Now?”

She began to pace. ”Outsider, do you have any idea what you are saying? In the Earliest Folds, for an Early Creature to even begin to have the potential to nurture a single Seed of a Principle, their existence had to exceed one hundred Quadrillion in complexity. It was a threshold, a sign that their being had become dense enough, stable enough, to bear the weight of a fundamental weaving. And most looked towards THE Living Existences or THE Creature on what Principles to nurture.”

She stopped. ”And to form another Seed, a second one... they would need ten, perhaps a hundred times as much complexity as their initial starting point. That is why The First Farmer was so ridiculous, so utterly outside of all known rules to try and plant Principles”

Her gaze returned to Noah, and in it, he saw a new level of awe. ”For you to be able to freely nurture a second Seed of a Principle, now, at your current level...you are interesting, Outsider!”

Noah simply smiled. He had to be different, didn’t he? That was the very essence of his existence. And so, he made his choice.

”I choose...The Principle of the Cheating Architect,” he declared, his voice a quiet, yet absolute, command that resonated through the core of his being.

HUUM!

He felt Khor’s shining eyes, but his focus was on the Lemniscate!

”The other paths are magnificent,” his thoughts were a cold, clear river of logic. ”To be a Tyrant of Stories, an Infinite Bastion, a Wandering Harvester... they are all paths to immense power. But they are paths that still exist within the game. They are ways to become the best player. But I...”

His eyes blazed with a light that was pure, unadulterated...Him!

”I have never been content to simply play the game. My very nature, from the moment I gained Infinite Mana, has been to find the exploit, to break the system, to cheat. This Principle... it is not just a tool. It is a reflection of my Existence.”

WAA!

The one hundred Vital Lighthouses within his Atlas blazed as one. Their beams, a torrent of a hundred different colors and authorities, converged on the Lemniscate. It was a forge of glory, and he was its master.

|[Blank Template Seed of a Principle] is being forged.|

|Chosen Crucibles: Cheats + Many Others.|

|Analysis: An audacious, almost heretical choice. You are choosing to build your fundamental weaving on the very concept of breaking fundamental weavings of existence. The existential ramifications are... fascinatingly unpredictable.|

|Forging...|

HUUM!

As the seed began to form, a pulsating sphere of pure, chaotic potential, Noah looked upon it and made his grand proclamation.

”Since this is the Principle most aligned with me, it needs to truly stand for what it says. Since it is the Seed of the Principle of the Cheating Architect, its first cheat...its first rejection of the structure of existence itself and what should be possible or not possible- is that under it... it shall also display the authorities of the Principles I did not choose!”

BOOM!

...!

What?

What?!

HUUM!

His entire existence buzzed, a violent, protesting vibration as he made this impossible demand!

The light of his Early Atlas flickered, threatening to extinguish under the strain of a command that bordered on existential suicide!

|CRITICAL ALERT: Paradoxical Command Detected.|

|Analysis: You are demanding that a singular Principle simultaneously be itself and three other, mutually exclusive Principles. This is unfathomably ambitious and should not be possible. Even a Principle dedicated to cheating must adhere to certain baseline realities. It cannot be both a square and a circle.|

|Processing...|

|Re-evaluating...|

|Conclusion: Ah. It seems it can, in fact, be a square and a circle if it simply decides that the definitions of ’square’ and ’circle’ are flexible.|

|Addendum: True to its nature, the budding [Principle of the Cheating Architect] has found a way.|

...!

The prompts flickered, the system’s tone now tinged with something that sounded suspiciously like awe.

|While the full authorities of the Principles of the Tyrannical Sovereign, Infinite Bastion, and Wandering Harvester cannot be directly expressed, the [Cheating Architect] has altered its own foundational code to allow for the creation of ’Agent Architects’ under its shadow.|

|Agent Architect System: The Weavings of the three unchosen Principles will bloom under the [Cheating Architect] as subordinate, specialized authorities.|

|Limitations:|

| - Agent Architects can only express 50% of their potential power.|

| - They are unable to form their own Glyphs.|

| - Their authorities can only be expressed through the Seed Glyph of the Principle of the Cheating Architect.|

|Analysis: A brilliant, if conceptually unstable, workaround. Your Principle has cheated its own creation.|

...!

With that final, impossible hurdle cleared, the seed solidified.

It was a thing of terrible, beautiful complexity, a sphere of swirling, multicolored light that seemed to contain every color and no color at once.

|[The Seed of the Principle of the Cheating Architect] has been completed. It is now being nurtured in your Early Atlas of the Folds.|

|The Seed, in its first act of existence, has exploited a loophole in the standard maturation process of Principles.|

|It has broken the normal weavings of existence and is beginning not at 1% maturity, but at 10%.|

The seed flared, its light now a steady, confident glow.

|At 10% Maturity, 10 Seed Glyphs of the Cheating Architect can now be forged.|

|Cost per Glyph: Due to the terrifying and multifaceted capabilities of this Principle and its three Agent Architects, the cost is... considerable.|

|1 Quadrillion in Complexity and Purity is required per Glyph.|

Noah looked at the prompts, at the new, impossible seed pulsing at the heart of his being, and he laughed.

A deep, resonant, and utterly tyrannical laugh!

The cost was staggering, a price that would have made even the mightiest Dukes pale.

But he had just been shown the path to a power that could break the very game of existence.

And he was more than willing to pay the price!

He knew which one he wanted to enact, and he had done so. Now, the real work, the real cheating, could begin!