"I can't do powerful supernatural abilities. But for my plan. I need to create a system origin."

Anon planned on making his soul the processor of the system he would bring into reality. He hadn't just been mindlessly absorbing soul fragments during these thousands of years. He had been studying his consciousness. He didn't understand much about the universe. But in matters regarding soul and spirituality. He was three steps ahead.

He realized that he couldn't just brute force his way to his revival. He had been sharpening the axe. But it was now time to cut down the tree.

Anon felt as if he was presented with a beautful stone block. He had all the tools necessary to carve a legendary statue. But this was more then an art piece. It would affect his life for all of eternity.

"I must create a perfect soul!"

Anon continued to will a perfectly normal soul into existence. He watched again, again, and again as this foreign soul shattered.

He searched the memories he had accumulated for thousands of years in this space. He then came up with a ingenious use of soul. He developed what he called a 'seal' system.

Basically, instead of the soul having any supernatural powers in itself. He would have different stratums that he would need to unlock. Essentially, the soul would function just like a normal one. He would be entirely normal at the start. But as he unlocked his 'potential'.

He would unlock abilities. He designed ten different seals.

Seal 9: Concentration

Seal 8: True Vision

Seal 7: Extraordinary Sense

Seal 6: Deification

Seal 5: Divine Sense

Seal 4: Materializer

Seal 3: Virus

Seal 2: False/True

Seal 1: System Integration

Seal 0: Administrator

These seals were like hidden files. They would only show themselves when agitated by Anon. So how exactly does he 'open' a seal? He would need to unlock the potential of his soul.

Anon had no idea how hard this would be. Because he lacked a body at the moment. His perspective and personality was twisted. The seals weren't static either. Their power would improve exponentially when unlocking more of them. So 'Concentration' would be an entirely different experience when 'True Vision' was unlocked versus 'System Integration'.

Anon then saw something that made him theorize endless possibilities. The soul didn't shatter! But Anon was nowhere near close to done. He had spent centuries gaining wisdom from the deceased souls of that alternate universe. He had learned a few tricks that he wanted to apply.

One of the main ones was the artifact that carried his consciousness.

A colorful hourglass was floating in his sea of consciousness.

But Anon felt something weird. This foreign soul he created wasn't himself. He felt a desire coming from it. It was attracted to his artifact. It wanted to merge with it. This made Anon cautious. If all souls felt an attraction to his artifact. He would need to be careful.

What if he was like a beacon that attracted the supernatural to his universe? What if those gods that collapsed that alternate world found him? He needed to be prepared. But despite wracking his mind. He couldn't see how he could protect himself.

"This artifact was created from the collapse of a universe. It is the culmination of every soul in that universe. Yet, I have attached a simple declaration of 'timelessness' to it."

"What a waste of a heavenly treasure!"

Anon wanted more treasures. Perhaps his hourglass sensed this.

Anon could feel that this hourglass was very special. But when he probed and tried to observe it. It hid itself in his subconscious. It was 'alive'. He knew this from the joy it felt when he made his declaration.

"I should really name you."

"How about 'Captured Eternity'?"

The hourglass stopped hiding in his subconscious and appeared in full glory at the surface of his thoughts. It seemed slightly angry! It didn't seem very intelligent. Perhaps a spark of consciousness had been born from the explosion and its birth.

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"You... don't like the name?"

Anon came up with some random names, but each one was rejected by the hourglass.

"Alright then, why not tell me what you should be called?"

The hourglass froze and Anon felt a deep pain in his spirit.

Anon then found himself experiencing something unusual. He was EVERY person in existence in the alternate universe. He witnessed the aftermath of the dark energy explosion and the collapse from the invasion of 'gods'.

He saw the infinite resources creating a supreme artifact. But the artifact was alone in a abyss. It was like an abandoned child. It was quite pitiful. The artifact lacked an owner. Not only that, but it felt a danger approaching. Some entity was going to consume it!

At this time. The artifact wasn't in the shape of an hourglass. It was a colorful sphere of potential.

Like a virus. It tracked down the lone observer that Anon was in those moments, it wanted to save itself from getting consumed. It fused with his consciousness! It had lacked a database of experience. But when it fused with him. It started to gain innate abilities and became the hourglass it now was.

You could say that it and the domain he was in now was shaped by his subconscious desires.

Anon found himself no longer experiencing that weird state. He was no longer in pain and felt some random fragments of information at the top of his consciousness.

He even learned how to leave this space by exploiting the mechanic that trapped him here in the first place. If he never interacted with his hourglass and had this 'conversation'. He would have had to take more detours and risk. Leaving might've even been impossible!

"Perception of Time."

"Sovereign's Timekeeper."

The hourglass resonated in 'joy' once more. It then dipped into his subconscious hiding itself. Anon had experience unearthing this artifact, so he could force it out if he really needed to. But he had no reason to at the moment.

"What a lame name..."

"It doesn't even tell time!"

Anon felt he should've done this far sooner. Who knew merely naming 'it' could have such benefits?

Anon had a lot of experience in absorbing memories. So when he absorbed the birth process of his artifact. He learned how to create an artifact himself! This was huge! He looked at his foreign soul.

It had unknowningly been a few years that he had been 'sculpting' this soul.

Within the soul wasn't just his ten seals. But a seperate sea of consciousness. This consciousness felt a hunger for his artifact. Fortunately, Anon knew his journey required a fusion.

"I don't know what is out there. What if someone can steal, or destroy my artifact?"

"I need to have countermeasures..."

Now that Anon knew how to create an artifact. He would try to 'hide' the real artifact with a fake.

"I need to make a 'fake' artifact."

Anon realized that 'Sovereign's Timekeeper' had not only his 'timeless' declaration attached to it. But it also had some sort of innate ability that hadn't yet been triggered.

The artifact that Anon would create would lack an innate ability. But just like how his hourglass could have a declaration. He would be able to attach a rule to it.

Anon wasn't sure how these rules would function outside of his domain. It was entirely possible that he may need to activate them somehow. Anon thought this could prove to be a problem.

His entire domain started to boil. Before, he had barely consumed a drop in the ocean despite his centuries trapped here. But now, just to create a single artifact nearly drained all his resources. The seemingly infinite domain of souls dried up.

The domain was almost completely empty.

There was only his soul and the fake artifact he had created. This was his imitation of the process of his heavenly treasure. But because it was that. A 'imitation'. It lacked a spark of consciousness like his hourglass. It also lacked any innate abilities.

It did absolutely nothing at all! But it was useful in hiding the 'aura' of his hourglass.

It was like having another equipment slot in a game. That equipment being his declaration. If he made two declarations. The newest would overwrite his previous one.

But now that he had two artifacts. The soul stopped craving his real artifact and the waves of spiritual energy reached a sort of balance. Making both of them hidden.

He could attach a rule to this useless fake treasure.

"Well... I get to name you."

There was no response from this ball of potential. It was emotionless.

Right when Anon was about to make a declaration. He thought of something a bit interesting. He also realized it was impossible to create another declaration in his current state.

"Once I leave my domain. Everything will likely be 'locked' into the configuration I made. It will be almost impossible to make changes then."

"This means even if I want to overwrite my declaration on the hourglass. It will be useless!"

"But I used all the remaining soul fragments to make this sphere of potential..."

"Even if I make a declaration now. There isn't enough resources and power to make it a reality. So why not have a blank? A nameless artifact that does nothing but balance out the beacon. But has infinite potential in the future!"

"I'll make a declaration later!"

Anon remembered that when he tried to make himself 'immortal' through the declaration. He was almost assimilated by the soul fragments due to it requiring too many rules.

But what if he made the same declaration in reality when he was stronger? He could then use the energy from the real world and his stronger foundation to pull it off!

"It's a shame there is no innate ability to this fake..."

Anon fused the foreign soul with the fake artifact very carefully. He was now 'locked in'. He had used every resource available in this space.

There was nothing left but a single soul.

If he had a body. He would be sighing in relief.

This was his ultimate creation!

"Now for the dangerous part. It is time to leave!"

Anon had learned a thing or two from his artifact about 'tracking'. He felt there was some sort of connection between his spiritual body that was nearly omnipotent in this space and his real body.

He fused with his perfect creation and traced the new connection he felt.

He then woke up.