Aleph felt refreshed upon seeing Mobius' reaction.
'I can still beat her.'
When it comes to the unofficial teasing rankings, the only people he could not move were Mei and Kurumi. The rest is not a problem at all.
It took twelve entire hours for the changes to halt. Judging by the time, Aleph knew they could not proceed for today's itinerary. Meeting the Genius Society members will be left tomorrow.
By then, he has a scheduled meeting with the Stellaron Hunters. The time spent inside the Sanctum ate up the planned time they had.
"Hm…"
Aleph stared at the projection with suspicion. It contained the typical physical phenomena, including but not limited to supernovae, expansion of the universe, birth of stars, collision of black and white holes, and so on.
These were the superficial things. What he paid attention to was the 'concepts' it held. The disruptions Aleph caused within the physical universe before were time phantoms and the likes. It represented his authority over 'time'.
The most prominent concept he saw, however, stunned him.
'It's a World.'
For some reason, all these thoughts halted. His eyes flickered momentarily as he regained his lost 'thoughts'. Everything he speculated about Terminus having the power of an entire World came back.
'...No shit.'
Han Xiao is currently undergoing another transformation. This time, he was literally turning himself into the World. Everything present in his world now lives inside his body.
It reminded him of another thing.
'The Great Dao should be the manifestation of a World itself. The sixth realm…'
He recalled the things related to the sixth chapter of the [God Chapter], Returning to Void.
Back then, people used to interpret it as them having the need to 'take' a part of the world's 'space' into themselves.
The seventh realm, Cave Heaven Dao, involves the creation of a small universe.
The eight realm, Hedao (lit. Dao Unity), involves the forceful takeover of the world's authority over a concept and imposing it onto a world.
Later on, these methods proved to have harmed the world too much. They were made obsolete. The entire seventh realm was rewritten while the eighth realm was adjusted.
As for the people who reached the eighth realm using that method…
They are the ones who implemented these changes. It remains unknown whether or not they were sincere or plotting something else.
Nevertheless, the revised methods are still related to creating a world.
The revised seventh realm, Ensoulment, elevates the level of existence to be able to house extremely complex information. It is the preliminary phase before the absolute control of a concept.
The revised eighth realm, Hedao, involves the total control of a concept. Through this method, the practitioner effectively becomes a conscious phenomena of the world. Being a concept's controller imbues them the power to further their cultivation to the final realm. It was surmised to be the world's "gratitude" for the revisions made in the entire cultivation system.
With three different power systems telling the same thing, Aleph believed it to be the right path.
At the very least, ninety percent of it.
While he was thinking about it, Aleph noticed it was about to end.
He readied himself to deploy Infinity. It was his most powerful authority, capable enough to defend against Finality's tricks.
'He shouldn't be on the stronger side.'
Buzz-!
A man appeared inside the Sanctum out of nowhere. It was none other than Han Xiao who wore his typical full-black attire.
Both Mobius and Metatron gave zero reactions to his sudden arrival.
"Congratulations."
"Thanks."
"So, how does it feel to become the controller of a World?"
Han Xiao's eyes slightly widened. He did not expect Aleph to be this knowledgeable.
"It's not bad… I think. It's like a super-sized mobile base."
Aleph began hearing things similar to his expectations. The simplest analogy was a warship. If the World is akin to a huge warship, Han Xiao is its captain. Only, he could literally order the World to do anything he requires.
Although left unsaid, Aleph felt that Han Xiao could order the World to self-destruct.
Fortunately, the World is the equivalent of his body. Self-destruction would cause his strength to plummet to the nine pits of hell.
That's right, Han Xiao won't die anymore. This part was told by him personally. Whether it was to show off or to deter Aleph, it did not matter.
'I understand.'
Han Xiao's existence gave him the answer he needed.
Why did Terminus impose their test?
It took a while for their talks to end. Metatron watched expressionlessly while Mobius listened with relish. Sitting atop Aleph's head for half a day was a complete rollercoaster ride. From the creation of Spirit World down to meeting another world's God, it was something she would not imagine.
'I will have to remove this memory of ours when we leave.'
Aleph's voice rang in her mind. She did not mind and nodded to him.
"Then, we'll be leaving first."
Snap-!
Along with his snap, these 'memories' were stolen and sealed inside the glove box known as Infinity.
*****
"Grr…"
Silverwolf was biting her right thumb in frustration. From the moment she was thrashed on the game up to her continuous hacking failures, she was dominated by that man. Even if their leader, Elio, agreed on this meeting, her frustrations continued to grow.
"Um… We'll bring back your stolen accounts."
One of her companions patted her on the shoulder. The girl wore a steampunk-esque half-cloak. Underneath it was a black and white dress. The skirt portion extended up to her ankles.
Without knowing how to comfort Silverwolf, Firefly did what she thought.
Silverwolf was slightly startled. Her 'older sister' personality nearly fell off. This feeling was then converted into shame—shame that she had to call out everyone just to gang up on one guy she could not deal with.
Silverwolf was left sitting alone on one table. Everyone else was scattered around the cafe they chose. Their meeting place, Punklorde, was a place where Silverwolf can exert her full power.
It is important to note that Aleph chose it himself. One reason as to why stood out:
He is confident to deal with them.
As for Elio, the black cat remained silent. Its acquiesce to their plan meant that it had seen a 'script'. Non-interference is the best choice for everything to proceed normally.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
It took some time for Silverwolf's guest to arrive. He wore a pair of black coat and red long sleeves. A magenta-colored camera was hung on his neck.
'A Kamen Rider. This toy is quite interesting.'
Aleph was musing about the Kamen Rider Belt he got as one of the rewards. With his current strength, it was meaningless to use it. The Drive gathered dust on his inventory (i.e., storehouse on Spirit World) until today.
While he was deep in thought, Silverwolf also scanned his appearance from head to toe.