Chapter 327 The Flaw In The Plan

"Alright, here's our catch for today," Dante stated as he emptied his quantum space into a barren grassland full of decaying grass.

Immediately, a loud quake erupted, and a huge Mount Everest worth of monster corpses appeared before them, blocking the horizon and startling all living beings within hundreds of kilometers in all directions.

Beatrice whistled in appreciation. "You know, when we were brutally beating them to death, I didn't really think there were that many." Dante rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Neither did I, to be honest. I still don't know how big my quantum space is exactly, but given the power of the one hosting it, I'd say it could fit an entire universe within."

Dante then glanced at her with a perverted expression. "Which equates to about half of your ass in terms of total size."

Beatrice blushed but didnt know how to refute. She couldn't be bothered to anyway since Dante liked it as it was anyway.

"Hmm, you won't be smiling much when you become a deity in terms of stats, probably surpassing my mom after absorbing all these corpses. Get to it!" Beatrice could only prod Dante like this when she saw him glancing at her backside and reaching a hand out.

"You can't run forever. We have to, lest the effect of the Libido Seed on you, and see how long we can clash for." Dante harrumphed and turned away.

Beatrice rolled her eyes. "It's precisely because I know that our battle will be legendary that I don't dare to start until we've fulfilled all our short-term objectives and secured Antonia."

"True enough." Dante responded casually as he took out Mutation Cores of the quantum variety and increased his Absorption from the F rank right up to the EX rank.

This meant that he gained a total of 5120% of each stat of the target. The moment he placed his hands on the mountain of corpses, Dante took a deep breath and fortified his mind and soul with his various powers and abilities.

"Begin!" he muttered as he activated the quantum superpower, and immediately, an explosion of power no weaker than that of a nuclear bomb erupted.

The moment Dante began, Beatrice could immediately tell something was wrong and entered subspace using spatial magic, but she was still blasted away - while within subspace!! - as the very fabric of space itself seemed to crack.

The entire quantum world shook like it was about to collapse, causing all natives and students to wail in fear. Even Lara, who was coldly monitoring, was greatly shocked and was not able to disconnect herself in time, suffering the majority of the blow.

Immediately, her clone used all its power to save itself and burned every bit of reserve energy. However, the clone in the Eternal Universe was still blasted out of her room, coughing blood and innards the entirety of the way.

The headmistress's body crashed onto the ground, covered in blood, and her eyes were unfocused. She tried to push herself up but could not muster the strength, fainting within the school ground and causing a medium-sized panic as various paramedic androids came to cart her away for treatment.

However, due to her presence in 'blocking the feedback, the remnant was not large enough to disturb the main body of Lara nor Etz Chaim, who were at the top of the food chain. Etz simply manifested from the trunk in Dante's soul with a curious look.

"Eh? What's going on?" She exclaimed in shock, seeing the tumultuous situation.

Etz then saw the situation with the Apocalypse World and diverted some power to stabilize it, causing the quaking quantum world to quieten down and the various beings within to feel like they had been saved.

She then glanced at Dante as she floated within his soul space, shaking her head with lament. "Ah, it's my fault for not explaining well. Besides, I didn't think he would try something as excessive as this given his personality."

Etz then glanced at the still shocked Beatrice who had stabilized herself and was rushing over to check on Dante. 'Well, it must be because of outside influence he would do such a thing. Might as well inform them right away so that this doesnt happen again."

Even as Etz muttered to herself, she glanced at Dante, who was glowing with the energy that was surging into him, and hesitated. "No, let's not stop it. This would serve as a lesson so that he wouldn't rush things again, not to mention that it also had a slight chance of helping."

In the end, Etz simply folded her arms and floated there until Dante stopped his absorption, his body going limp as he fell to his knees. Beatrice rushed over but was forced to step back when she touched his body and he was surging with heat that could surpass even the surface of the sun.

Dante coughed and sucked in a deep breath before pushing himself to his feet, his body naked due to the fact that his attire could not bear the sheer power of the previous event. In fact, if his various Bionics, Psionics, and A1 chip had not been renewed and reinforced by the Ex Rank Nanite Resonance, they would also have been fried within Dante.

However, if you asked the current Dante how he felt, he would boldly tell you that it was all worth it! Even without checking the numbers, he could feel the difference from an atomic level, that he had sublimated into something more!

He did not bother to check his SDI because his A1 chip could no longer calculate numbers of such levels. Suffice to say, the current Dante, if he was to give himself a rough estimate of where he stood, even a billion in all stats would be a joke.

However, the next moment, Dante's face changed greatly as a giant storm appeared around him, energies of all kinds being funneled from the corners of this quantum world towards himself with his Concoction of Absorption in order to sustain his existence.

This energy was no longer limited to one type and was extremely voracious. Quantum energy, elemental energy, conceptual energy, law energy, and even life energy from all living beings in this world were dragged towards him.

Even Beatrice, who stood beside him with a worried expression, rapidly began to age as her life force was drained to sustain his existence. Before Dante could respond, he found himself and Beatrice suddenly carted away from the Apocalypse World and right into the Wasteland of Death, the first territory that Dante had ever landed in within the First Gate.

Immediately, the storm deescalated, as the ambient Zero Energy was more than enough to sustain him, only causing minor winds around him. Beatrice, who had been dying so fast she couldn't even realize it, suddenly noticed her terrible state but her body's Concoction of Absorption also worked to restore her back to her peak state.

The two simply stood there in stupefaction, not understanding what was happening and what was going on when they were suddenly pulled into Dante's soul space. There, both Dante and Beatrice saw Etz Chaim, who was glancing at them with exasperation.

"I'm not going to chastise you. From your point of view, what you did was correct, given that you lack certain information, so I will first share that information with you and let you comprehend the mess you've made for yourself," Etz Chaim began, making Dante and Beatrice go silent with focus.

"Firstly, IWe told you the kind of being that Lara and I are, Eternals. However, I have not told you the grade of species below Eternals, and that is usually not important, since your path was to be different, but here's the hierarchy."

"Firstly, there are the Mortals. These are basically people like you before I chose you, beings without powers or average civilians. This rings true whether you are in higher dimensional or lower dimensional space, though it has to be noted that the average civilian in the higher dimensional earth is about as strong as you when you had 2,000 in all stats if they descend down here."

"Secondly, the Awakened. Previously, your lower-dimensional space could only support mortals before Lara shared a portion of my power down in creating both the Zero and First Gates, allowing for the birth of superpowered individuals. This category of being has a chance to absorb the power you call Zero Energy and advance their affiliated superpower until one of the Origin or Eternal lifeforms in higher-dimensional space sees fit to 'sponsor them,' as you say."

"Thirdly, the Master tier. These are those who have raised their superpower to the EX Rank. Upon reaching this level, one would reach the bottleneck of advancement in the lower universe and once sponsored by an Origin or Eternal, that being could take them to higher dimensional space and allow them to evolve into a Grandmaster."

"Fourthly, there's obviously the Grandmaster. This person is no different from what you would call the peak of mortal power. They have condensed their superpower from a universal concept into their own personal law and power system. Having transformed into a higher dimensional being, or really, a pseudo-higher dimensional being, they can exist both in higher dimensional and lower dimensional space. They usually become the workers and lackeys of the Origin or Eternal beings that sponsored them to do things in lower dimensional space."

Etz Chaim paused here for a bit. "At best, you are something like a Grandmaster due to your quantum body and the various powers I have equipped you with. The Grandmaster is the peak of mortaldom and can never ascend higher than that, assuming they started from the mortal stage like the two of you."

Etz Chaim folded her hands behind her back. "At least, that's usually the case. The next stage is a huge divider between all beings and denotes entities that you would think of as Gods, all-powerful, ever-lasting, able to create and manipulate entire worlds at will and generate resources for all things freely. This is an Origin God."

"An Origin God is not something I can easily put to words, but thanks to Lord Draco, Lady Eva, and Lady Shuangtian, a proper explanation has come for how Origin Gods achieve their power and exist."

"An Origin God is split into two things, their Origin Power and their Origin Energy. Origin power is a transcendent power that they possess, far beyond mere superpowers and being around slightly higher than universal laws. Meanwhile, Origin Energy is a special and unique energy to every Origin God that involves the power of existence and creation."

"Do you understand?" Etz Chaim finished and folded her arms.

Dante and Beatrice were speechless. Understand what? This information was surely great and helped clarify many things, but it did not highlight anything about their current situation, at least not on the surface. n(0)vel(b)(j)(n) was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B(j)n.

"Let me guess, It's the fact that I lack Origin Energy?" Dante surmised given how Etz Chaim had been speaking.

"Exactly. What separates an Origin Being from a Grandmaster is not only the nature of their power, but their energy. From grandmaster right down to a mortal, you require energy from external sources to sustain yourself. Origin beings though, produce their own energy that can be used to sustain others, and even entire universes from absolutely nothing." Etz Chaim causally unleashed a bombshell that caused Dante and Beatrice's minds to explode.

"Impossible! Energy from nothing But how?" Beatrice exclaimed. Etz Chaim glanced at her askance. "Your science can deduce everything up to the grandmaster level, but from Origin beings going forth, it enters the realm of divinity in a sense. No amount of common logic can deduce it."

Etz then focused on Dante who was pensive. "Your idea to raise your power using stats is good on paper, but you are not an Origin being nor an Eternal who stands above Origin beings. You don't produce your own energy, you rely on energy from external sources to sustain yourself. Trying to increase your power without a source of energy, and more importantly, without a source of control, was reckless."