“Initially, when I was doing the analysis, I was working with numbers. Charts. Data,” said Nexus. “However — and since you dislike numbers and math with a passion — I decided to go with a more visual approach instead.”

“Yeah, right. What, you couldn’t make sense of the numbers?” Gaius asked.

The sculpture froze, and then turned to Gaius jerkily. “W-what? No-no, of course not!”

Gaius rolled his eyes. “You’re stuttering, and you expect me to believe your words? Tut tut. Out with it, little guy.”

“Alright.” Nexus rolled around on the bed for a few moments, which drew some raised eyebrows from Isabelle. “Ahem. Well, I was looking through the data gathered, while matching it to your previous records. However, they made no sense numerically, so I decided to plot them on a 2D graph.”

A piece of paper fell from the ceiling. On it was a graph that Gaius didn’t fully comprehend; two horizontal lines curved downwards into an ever-straighter trajectory.

“When it comes to modelling energy, we usually talk about frequency and wavelength,” said Nexus. “The 2D representation is a passable view of what the energy structured within your body looks like, but I could not account for the oddly-shaped individual points. Therefore, it was natural that a 3D model was needed. Take a look.”

At those words, an odd structure made of grey light appeared, one that reminded Gaius of water swirling down a small drain or a whirlpool.

“This, at least, does fully account for your odd twenty-metre constitution,” said Nexus. “Remember that twenty-metre limitation of yours? Even before the Human God’s inheritance activated, the energy within you had gathered in such a structure. Knights and beyond have such a structure, but from what I know, they’re supposed to be in a ball. You’re an odd one.”

“Okay, but how did this constitution come about in the first place?” Gaius asked, despite the fact that his question was slightly off-topic. “And why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“Probably when you started on your journey to integrate Engines,” said Nexus. “Now, as I recall, someone did destroy a certain Divine Ladder all too long ago, and even enjoyed some benefits to boot, no?”

The artificial intelligence paused. “And to answer the second question…well, you never really got around to asking, and I never really saw the need to talk about these things.”

“True,” Gaius acknowledged.”

“So your ability to consume Engines came from the Divine Ladder?” Isabelle rubbed her nose. “Pity.”

“That does seem like it,” said Nexus. “It seems that the second injection of the Human God’s power just made it so that you probably can control energy in an area around you now. That’s the true inheritance left behind.”

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“Control energy around me?” Gaius asked. “Isn’t that like a Dominion?”

“Slightly different, but yes. I suspect that you should have absolute control of all ambient energy within twenty metres,” said Nexus. “Try it out. Your imagination should work here.”

Gaius frowned. For some reason, a grey cube came to mind, and a heartbeat later, a grey cube did indeed appear.

“As I suspected. Try to move it around,” said Nexus.

The grey cube tilted over and began to spin. It moved to wherever Gaius wanted it to go, and with another touch of his will, even more grey cubes appeared.

“Wow,” Gaius muttered, dismissing the constructs with a single thought. “That’s impressive.”

“You…should be able to do many things by now,” said Nexus. “With a thought, this place is yours. You no longer have — or need — Abilities, or an Engine. So long as you desire it, almost anything is possible.”

“‘Omnipotence in transcendence’. Is that what the Human God meant?” Isabelle murmured.

“What’s that about?” Nexus asked.

While Isabelle handled the explanation, Gaius continued to explore his true abilities. As expected, the area twenty metres around him was his own world. In it, the feeling of being omnipotent, of being able to do anything, was incredibly intense. Gaius’ intuition was telling him that while his Domain stood, he could create objects on the spot…or rather, all things would go according to his will.

A limited omnipotence, reserved for the twenty metres around him.

He was beginning to feel that Isabelle’s sudden epiphany was right on the money.

“Doesn’t this feel like I’m making something out of nothing?” Gaius asked. “I can create anything I want to here, for no cost. That has got to violate a law of physics or two.”

“You’re just gathering energy to create a transient structure. It’ll fade away after some time,” said Nexus. “Don’t go deluding yourself into thinking you can defy logic and physics. Besides, this is Orb. What might not work on your old world might work here…as an illustration, don’t we have artefacts and sigils?”

“Point taken.” Gaius created a small pillow, one the size of his hand, and set it on his bed. It was as soft as the real deal, which was probably the finer parts of this new ability of his.

“What are you going to call it?” Isabelle asked. “This…weird Dominion of yours.”

“Weird?”

“Uh, unique?” Isabelle patted his head. “This is really special, though. Can you make food? How does that work? We need to spend some time to explore this thing.”

“Let’s just…call it a Domain,” said Gaius. “It’s like a Dominion anyway, so…”

“Alright. A Domain. So, what can you create?” Isabelle asked. “Weapons? Armour? Does that mean you won’t need your Formless Pauldrons anymore? How about the colour?”

“Alright, alright. Slow down over here,” said Gaius. “We can start experimenting, but somehow, I don’t think making food is a good idea. But…don’t you want to read your books?”

“No worries,” said Isabelle. “I’ve already packed them up in my backpack. There’s going to be free time over at the Heaven-cleaving Fortress, right? I’ll read them slowly there. This is more exciting. You can create all sorts of things!”

“Do you have anything you want?” Gaius asked, curious.

“Hmm…no, not really.”

“Then why are you this excited?”

“Why can’t I?” Isabelle asked. “You’re able to do something fun. I don’t see why I shouldn’t be interested.”

“We should take it outside, though,” said Gaius. “Twenty metres is rather big, depending on what we’re doing. How far can I take it, though?”

“That’s what we’re going to find out,” said Isabelle.

“Right, since you two are heading out, do you mind finding some snowpyres?” Nexus asked. “Two teleportations have placed a strain on my reserves.”

“Got it.” Gaius got up and stretched his limbs. “C’mon, let’s go get some fresh air.”