John left the tomb of Viv and appeared in a random town. Thanks to the hourglass he had received from John Hell. He could act a bit mysteriously and not have to worry about consequences of his actions.
What consequences? What action was he planning?
John had gotten an idea. The moment Astor broke through into an acolyte. John felt a very small almost impossible change in the inheritance left by the aspect of time.
John had used eyes of time in a more extreme way earlier. He had named such a technique 'Eyes of Infinity'.
He could pull every single mortal into his paradise. He was also capable of watching the experience from their consciousness. This was an insane way to gather information.
This was how John had selected Astor after all. He had summoned every mortal that wasn't resistant to his eyes of time into his paradise.
He had pulled in over a billion people for this test and Astor was the last person standing. This was all due to his luck.
But John saw luck as a sort of skill as well. Destiny was a real thing after all.
So what was John planning?
That's where things get interesting.
John has gotten to his level of existence from his exploits and losses. John realizes he may not be following the best 'path'. But it is a path he has carved himself.
John doesn't ascend ranks. He transcends them.
John was talking to himself while operating a shop in a random mortal town.
"Generally... I would watch Astor climb the ranks and through osmosis upgrade my technique."
"But when I have I ever been one to follow the rules?"
John was extremely curious about how Astor's ability worked. His 'Aspect' transformation was truly magical.
But John wasn't one to put all his eggs in one basket. He started to operate 'Eyes of Infinity' again. His mind was flowing with the sensory information of over a billion souls.
John in the past had done 100 billion operations in a second without relying on Infinite Mind.
John obviously used 'Infinite Mind' here as a single soul in this world was incomprehensible in terms of sensory information.
But to handle over a billion people. Every touch, taste, sight, hearing, and pain. It was a burden unfathomable.
But John wasn't a normal person.
This was now nothing to him.
As he observed all of this information. He felt a bit emotional at how far he had come.
"Search!"
He didn't let the technique collapse. He stretched this 'instant' into a long duration. Seconds passed... minutes... hours...
John's consciousness was actually constricting and expanding. Every second. There were deaths and births in the world.
John experienced every death in this world.
John was also experiencing every birth!
Even an eldritch being could be assimilated by his experience!
But John's will was firm. His foundation was unshakable!
"If I can upgrade the inheritance through Astor's progress..."
"Who said I couldn't upgrade it forcefully by searching the entire world?"
What was John doing exactly?
Basically... John was abusing the hell out of his eyes core ability. Think about it. Within a range of his body. He is able to 'observe' the consciousness of a person.
This range is based on his mental strength.
How strong was John mentally?
His mental strength was infinite now.
His range covered this entire universe. If it wasn't for the limits of the universe itself. His range would extend beyond it! The very act of using 'Eyes of Infinity' was actually stressing reality!
That's right. It wasn't John who was stressed mentally... The universe was struggling to support his view of the world!
His brain was overflowing the universe.
But that wasn't even part of his goal.
Every second.
Every minute.
Every hour.
Every tick.
He was searching through every experience of every human. He was searching for something rare. But it became common when looking at infinity.
Every picosecond. The amount of information he was going through was comparable to millions of years of experience.
He was essentially 'refreshing' and overclocking his mind.
He had achieved not a new ability from this. He had unlocked something insane.
He was calculating and comparing different human experiences. He didn't pull any of these people into his paradise. They had no idea he was observing them.
Every instance. He was comparing the normal humans and those with resistance to his prying.
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You see... John had a rather interesting idea. He may not be able to use his eyes on a wizard. But he has already proved with Astor that if he is using the ability on the person when they breakthrough. He is able to 'upgrade' his ability.
The amount of wizards becomes smaller and smaller the higher up the ladder you go.
There is only a handful of rank 7 wizards.
There are more rank 6 then 7.
More rank 5 then 6.
More 4 then 5.
More rank 3 then 4.
More rank 2 then 3.
There are more rank 1 then 2.
And obviously far more acolytes then official wizards.
Viv was a 'rank 9' monster. But in reality. That was just John's bullshitting ability.
John saw ranks as a joke. He didn't take them seriously. What he cared about wasn't simple structured power.
It was him mastering the rules of reality.
He felt that was 'true power'.
John felt a warm feeling in his brain. The hourglass above his avatar in his paradise started to crack.
"I see... the inheritance can't handle it. A normal person would probably take a step back upon seeing the stress reaching these levels."
John smiled.
"Do you really think I don't dare blow you up? Do you not know who I am?"
John was talking about the inheritance he got from John Hell. John valued this inheritance. But it was an object he didn't fully understand. How could he fully trust something so powerful in his consciousness?
It wasn't like the 'yin and yang'. He was the original creator of that. John Hell created the hourglass as a gift.
John was doing something insane as usual.
"I don't like using borrowed power."
Time started to rewind. Not by much. Just by a few milliseconds. But John was doing this while keeping 'Eyes of Infinity' active.
John had no limits. But that wasn't the case for the inheritance left by John Hell.
It started to crack more and more.
"I've honed my power..."
"I don't believe I can't master this power!"
It was about 80% progressed towards destruction when all of a sudden John spoke to Astor.
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Astor Nelius's POV:
"Ahhhhh!"
Astor was bombarded with but a fraction of the information John was processing. John had no time to filter it. He hadn't even realized that Astor would feel everything he was feeling.
This was due to 'Aspect'. He was the aspect of soul. His 'Aspect' had consumed his own soul which had the brand of 'Viv' and the fake inheritance John had given him.
When John tried to communicate with Astor. He accidentally sent too much information. John was currently doing something insane.
From this brief instant.
Astor's eyes dilated.
He smiled...
His brain then exploded!
John was quite confused.
But it was as if the heavens were on Astor's side.
He transformed into his 'Aspect' form on the verge of death.
His healing factor regenerated his head.
His self-resurrection revived him after all.
His eyes were glowing white along with his hair as he roared to the sky.
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John focused on the feral Astor. He replayed his transformation.
"I may not have mastered light energy yet. But the hourglass in my paradise is the craftmanship of a time entity..."
John was still using multiple instances of 'Infinite Mind' at a time. He was experiencing every life of every mortal in this universe.
Naturally, some of these mortals broke through into acolytes.
His 'eyes' were upgraded through collecting this experience.
But his hourglass was 90% finished towards destruction.
"My technique can be quickly upgraded through this method. But..."
John had a crazy look on his face as his eyes became bloodshot.
He kept focusing his intent on Astor.
Astor smiled and had his brain exploded.
His body collapsed to the ground as the white light surrounding his body faded.
But he transformed into an 'Aspect' again.
John watched this.
"I refuse to believe that I can't grasp this power!"
John focused on Astor.
Astor died.
He revived.
Died.
Revived.
John closed his bloodshot eyes. The concentration of formations in his eyes had increased to unsafe levels... but he didn't care!
He was John Destinatus!
Astor died many times.
John was trying to not only upgrade his 'eyes' at the same time. He was also trying to grasp the 'trick' to turning spirituality into physical reality.
Astor was the key.
You must understand John's location at this moment. He was managing a random shop in a random town. His customers were just shopping casually when he started to look crazy and shout things like 'I refuse to believe that I can't grasp this power!'
Some left the shop a bit scared. Others were attracted.
John opened his eyes and they looked black as the abyss. This was due to his blood being formations. The capillaries in his eyes had gone through some shit. His blood looked black due to the formations.
Everyone in his shop collapsed to the ground from the 'intent' of his soul.
John went into a daze as he started to hold out his hands.
John made his body look like a T pose as he waved his arms. It was as if reality was being warped in real time. The buildings around him were crunched into rubble as the light energy in the environment started to create a disaster.
John had actually lost consciousness! It has been a long time since he pushed himself to such a state.
He was doing perfect action through his subconscious!
There was a massive crater with a single platform of wood. It looked as if a meteor the size of a few football fields crashed into the town.
Everyone within a kilometer had gone insane. They were then crushed into paste as he waved his arms.
Before John lost consciousness. He had replayed Astor's feat of transformation many times.
John had a weird smile on his face. His eyes were completely black.
He looked like a demon as he didn't stop twisting his arms. They were twisted in a way that look unnatural. It looked as if they had been dislocated.
John started to twist his head at the same time. It looked like his neck was broken. His legs twisted as well. It was as if an invisible force was distorting him.
John mumbled.
"Light energy is energy particles."
"Energy particles have multiple states just like dark energy. Except instead of neutral, positive, and negative states. Light energy has states such as darkness, light, water, fire, energy, air, and earth."
"These two things are quite different..."
John frowned as his twisted limbs started to crunch together until he was a ball of flesh.
This ball of flesh kept shrinking. It was getting crushed!
The hourglass shattered completely!
But the exact moment it broke. John had finally comprehended in that moment. The secret of soul!
The cracked hourglass appeared in reality!
But it was a bit scary looking. It looked white.
But inside of the hourglass was a ball of flesh that was originally John.
His black blood stained the sand. Just like how his limbs had twisted and distorted. The hourglass started to flip.
As soon as it flipped. John who was inside of it started to be drained.
But, John's use of eyes of infinity had cracked it beyond repair.
The hourglass shattered!
The sand that was stained with formations that was originally John's blood fell to the ground. But before it reached the ground.
It started to fly towards a chunk of meat floating in the sky.
Inside of the ball of flesh. There was an eyeball. This was in the center of the mass.
It opened up its eye.
Data started to be broadcast from this location.
"What exactly is soul?"
The sand covered the ball of flesh and consumed it.
John had regained consciousness!
"Shit!"
John had great control over dark energy. His consciousness was imprinted on it. So he couldn't die so easily. But his body had been destroyed.
But the sand was doing something amazing.
It was as if it was dancing like a fallen leaf.
"The inheritance has fused with my formations? Incredible..."
The sand flew into 'nowhere'.
It appeared in random places all around the world.
It was as if it could travel through an invisible portal.
John used the dark energy he had left to reconstruct his body. The sand danced around him as if it had intelligence.
"A mortal relies on the brain for soul."
"A supreme being relies on existence for soul."
"A god relies on divinity for soul."
"An eldritch horror relies on its comprehension for soul."
"What does I? The Origin of Calamity rely on?"
John smiled as he floated on his back in the sky.
"Dark energy..? No."
John was feeling ecstasy as the sand snaked around his body. He was still feeling every sense of every human in this universe. Those that weren't resistant at least.
"This formation infused sand..."
"It is neither matter or soul."
All of the sand from the hourglass was sucked into his nose.
John felt a coolness in the mind of his avatar.
"The disconnect from my paradise and reality..."
John clapped both of his hands together. He then put both of his hands together and started to stretch.
"I've seen aspects master time. I've seen aspects master soul."
"Time realm. Otz room."
"In the past... I've had my own realm."
"When fiction and reality connect..."
"That is a true origin of calamity!"
John waved his hand and a portal opened up to his paradise.
"Interesting..."