Noah’s eyes shone luminously!
The overall first target of collapse was THE Primordial Chaos!
This alone was a terrifying statement that she stated as casually as one might discuss the weather. THE Primordial Chaos, the embodiment of entropy and disorder itself, the force that represented the inevitable decay of all ordered things. That was her first target.
Noah looked at her. "Why Chaos? Why not Paradox or THE Creature as your first targets?"
THE Secretive Eon’s expression didn’t change.
"Let those two continue to fight each other. They have been locked in conflict since before THE Fallout, and they will remain locked in conflict until one of them finally falls." Her voice held the patience of someone who had watched countless such struggles play out!
"In the end, one will win and one will lose. That is the nature of their confrontation. It cannot end any other way."
She paused.
"When that time comes, THE Primordial Chaos needs to already be collapsed so that I can shift my focus to ensuring the collapse of the loser between Paradox and Creature."
Her dark eyes met his.
"With Chaos gone, the survivor will be weakened and isolated as I will finish them off. Then there will only be the two of you remaining. The winner of their conflict and you." The faintest smile touched her lips. "But don’t concern yourself with that right now. Those are problems for another time."
Her expression shifted, becoming more evaluating.
"You are currently weak, regardless of what you say or what Depth you claim. Your Depth is impressive, I will grant you that. But not fitting into any Depth does not mean powerful. It means undefined. And undefined potential is still just potential until it is actualized."
She turned to look out at the far distant Weavings of the Stoa of Dogmata.
"If you do wish to partake in this, you have to at least be capable of getting past this place. The Stoa of Dogmata. I was not just lounging here when you arrived." Something shifted in her voice, something that might have been frustration carefully controlled.
"Within its depths, I have a stupid Disciple who has gotten stuck. She ventured too far, too fast, and now she cannot find her way back."
A pause.
"I vowed not to help her directly. It was a condition of her training, a promise I made that I cannot break regardless of the circumstances. But someone else can move on my behalf. Someone who is not bound by my vow."
Her dark eyes settled on him.
"If you succeed in retrieving her, then I can tell you what things must first be done before I can point my blade against Chaos. Consider it a test of whether you are actually useful or merely interesting."
...!
Her eyes retained their calmness after saying this as she turned to look out at the far distant Weavings of the Stoa of Dogmata.
Noah kept his gaze on her as he processed everything, his entire existence still buzzing with a sense of vibrancy. His existence and partial Embodiment had its effects begin to permeate far and wide!
---
Knowledge.
It was one of the most underrated currencies in all of Existence.
One could possess immense power, unfathomable reserves of energy, the potential to reshape reality itself, and yet accomplish absolutely nothing with it. Why? Because they simply didn’t know how to use what they had.
Look at the cultivator who stumbles upon an ancient inheritance, a technique so profound that it could elevate them to the heavens in a single leap. They hold the manual in their trembling hands, eyes wide with anticipation, heart pounding with the certainty that their destiny has finally arrived.
And then they open it. The characters are in a language they don’t recognize. The diagrams reference meridians they’ve never heard of. The instructions assume a foundation of understanding they simply don’t possess.
So they sit there, holding infinity in their palms, and they can do nothing with it.
Or consider the young fool transported to another world, granted a system that promises unlimited potential, skills that could make them a titan among mortals. The notifications flash before their eyes with promises of power beyond imagination. And what do they do?
They put all their points into strength because hitting things harder seems like a good idea at the time. They ignore the passive abilities that would have made them unkillable. They skip past the crafting system that could have generated infinite wealth.
They dismiss the diplomatic skills that would have let them build an empire without lifting a finger.
Not too long after, they’re struggling against enemies that should be beneath them, wondering why everything is so difficult, never realizing that the answer was always right there in front of them. They had the power. They just didn’t have the knowledge of how to properly use it.
This was the cruel joke that Existence loved to play.
Power without knowledge was like a sword without a wielder. It could sit there looking impressive, gleaming in the light, sharp enough to cut through anything. But it would never cut anything on its own. It needed someone who knew how to hold it, how to swing it, how to position their feet and shift their weight and read their opponent’s movements.
The sword didn’t make the warrior. The knowledge did.
How many beings across Observable Existence had fallen into this trap? How many had accumulated resources beyond measure, only to squander them on inefficient techniques and misguided applications? How many had reached heights that should have been impossible, only to plateau there forever because they didn’t know what came next?
Too many to count.
And then there were those who understood.
Those who recognized that the accumulation of power was only half the equation. That seeking knowledge was just as important as seeking strength. That understanding how to use what you had was often more valuable than having more to use.
These beings didn’t just grow stronger. They grew smarter. They learned the hidden mechanisms that governed reality. They discovered the shortcuts and the optimal paths and the techniques that others had overlooked. They found ways to make their power stretch further, reach higher, accomplish more.
Because when one knew the right things, when they held usable knowledge in their minds rather than just raw potential in their cores, they could do things they couldn’t even imagine before.
Doors that had seemed permanently sealed would swing open at a touch.
Walls that had seemed insurmountable would crumble to dust.
Limits that had seemed absolute would reveal themselves to be nothing more than failures of imagination.
Knowledge was the key that unlocked everything else.
And sometimes, that knowledge came not from ancient texts or mysterious inheritances, but from a single moment of clarity. A sudden understanding of what you already were and what that meant you could become.
An epiphany... that changed everything.
---
A far distance away from THE Corrupted Vault of Ginnungagap.
Within THE Infiniverse.
"Master has given us wings to move freely."
"So let’s do so."
THE Infiniverse was glorious to behold in this moment. Her form radiated with the concentrated essence of everything she represented, the birthplace of differentiation, the cradle where new things came into being. Light cascaded from her existence in waves of blue and gold and colors that had no names, each wave pulsing with the authority of wonder itself. The Phonemes orbiting her form blazed with incandescent power, their ancient letters burning bright against the backdrop of infinite potential.
"I am not merely a domain where things happened to occur," she declared, her voice resonating across every corner of her existence. "I am not merely the backdrop against which my Master’s achievements unfolded. I am the birthplace. The origin point. The cradle where an entire portion of The First Tongue first differentiated into being."
HUUM!
"When my Master forged his Phonemes within me, when The First Tongue took new shape through his will and my essence combined, that was not an accident of location. That was destiny expressing itself through the only domain capable of nurturing such creation."
"I am where The First Tongue chose to grow. I am where differentiation chose to bloom. And if that is what I am, then my Weavings will be elevated to gloriously reflect that truth. I will not be a passive container. I will be an active force. I will claim what is rightfully mine across all of Observable Existence, across all of time, across every moment where The First Tongue touched reality and left its mark."
BOOM!
"I am THE Infiniverse. And I will be recognized!"
...!
BOOM!
|An expression of a Way and Civilization only possible by entities approaching or standing in THE Absolute Depth has been utilized.|
|The Weavings of THE Formless Depth of Absolute Sovereignty of THE Genesis Monarch of Infinite Lexicons permeates across his connected domains.|
|All the effort, potential, and harvest from surviving THE Fallout is being put to use.|
...!
|THE Infiniverse has made a grand declaration and partial Embodiment.|
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