Lin Chuan held his breath and focused, carefully mobilizing that unnamed Sefirah.
This feeling was like someone doing micro-carving; the most difficult part was not whether one had enough strength, but whether one could control that strength to use only a tiny, minuscule fraction of it.
He was not very skilled yet and could only graze the edges of the symbolism, absolutely forbidden from going inside to avoid overexerting himself and plunging right in.
If he accidentally overused it, although it wouldn’t be like using the Nothingness Pathway as the main path to advance to an Great Old One—becoming nothing and sleeping until The Original completely awakened—he would probably still end up as an invisible person for several centuries.
No one would be able to see you, no physical matter could be touched by you, and no sound could convey your will.
In short, in that state, although Lin Chuan would still objectively exist in this universe in both physical and mystical senses, the world would recognize him as non-existent and refuse to interact with him in any form.
After applying a layer of protection formed by mobilizing the symbolism to himself, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and reached out to push open the wooden bedroom door he had previously conjured within the Sefirah space.
Using this action to reinforce the impression of leaving, along with the illusory sound of the door hinges turning, the boundless and deathly silent void around him rapidly receded like a low tide in the deep sea.
The world began to redraw its familiar and mundane appearance in his senses.
Lin Chuan opened his eyes, his vision refocusing, and he saw his bedroom once again.
Because the curtains were tightly drawn and the door was firmly shut, the only light source in the entire room was the eye-protection desk lamp on the desk, which emitted a warm yellow glow.
This was not enough to determine the transition of day and night outside.
He did not immediately reach for his phone to check the time, but instead waited silently in the center of the room.
“Since I have landed, then, if I guessed correctly…
One, two, three.
Okay, here it comes.”
He could feel the effect of a Beyonder power enveloping the area, but this authority ignored Lin Chuan, acting as if he did not exist.
“Hmm…
As expected.”
Lin Chuan could clearly perceive that it was a constant authority, spanning the entire Earth and even the near-Earth Cosmos.
Its content included Blind Stupidity, and it seemed to be extremely covertly mixed with psychological suggestion methods similar to the Spectator’s memory blocking and cognitive barriers.
Currently, Lin Chuan did not possess authority abilities related to ‘Analysis’ or ‘Knowledge’.
He could only rely on intuition to see some of the most superficial and surface-level mystical information, such as the range of effect and direct consequences of this power.
So, this must be the doing of that Celestial Worthy of Heaven and Earth for Blessings, right?
Who exactly is this targeted at?
Is it the Outer Gods beyond the Cosmos?
No, that doesn’t make sense.
Right now, The Original is still sleeping on Earth and is about to wake up.
With no torn Sefirah here, who would come to this place?
Besides, when I first came to Earth in my true body, it was possible I might have run into it.
But this time, the Sefirah is already on Earth, so it can’t be considered external, can it?
Lin Chuan’s gaze drifted towards the ‘secret records of qin and han esoteric arts’ on the desk beside him.
He had guessed what was going on.
Since it had nothing to do with the outside, this must be the Celestial Worthy laying down a layer of Blind Stupidity while pulling people onto Sefirah Castle, to prevent too many sudden death cases like this from being discovered and causing panic and suspicion, which might then be noticed by God Almighty and result in being elbow-struck early.
As for Lin Chuan himself, he probably hadn’t realized this issue before coming.
After quietly arriving on Earth, as soon as he was deployed, he took a solid hit from the intelligence-lowering aura and the memory-blocking cognitive barrier.
Recalling his actions some time ago, when he foolishly thought he was just an ordinary person who had recently transmigrated and was playing at plagiarism and investing on Earth, Lin Chuan painfully covered his forehead.
Why were there so many boomerangs?
Now, he could truly sit at the same table as the Genie…
As for why the Celestial Worthy could simultaneously employ His own authority of Fooling and psychological suggestions similar to the Spectator, this was very easy to understand.
At the current time, the Celestial Worthy and God Almighty hadn’t split up yet.
What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is still mine.
What’s wrong with using it a bit?
This also explained why Lin Chuan, despite having a very high status, still fell for it directly while completely off guard, without even having time to react.
On one hand, it was because he was a newcomer and lacked preparation; on the other hand, the Celestial Worthy at this time could still be regarded, to some extent, as one of the primary personalities of The Original.
When He used His authority, He might have borrowed a portion of The Original’s status.
Before landing again this time, Lin Chuan learned his lesson and used the Sefirah to wrap himself in a layer of protection beforehand, thus avoiding the Celestial Worthy’s disgusting intelligence-lowering aura and cognitive barrier.
However, if he followed this logic and delved deeper, just how high was his own status…?
“Forget it, those are all matters for the future.” Lin Chuan shook his head, forcefully cutting off the unrealistic curiosity in his mind.
Right now, there was only one most important, most urgent, and only matter that required immediate action before him:
Running away.
Who knew when The Original would wake up, or how long He would stay awake?
In case at some point The Original’s left brain, which wanted to do something, elbow-struck and won over the right brain, which wanted to ignore everything, Lin Chuan could happily welcome the ending of being captured by The Original to become a ( ).
Besides, this possibility was extremely high.
After all, Cuttlefish had explicitly stated that although The Original was a collection of contradictions and the ultimate psychopath, it didn’t mean He would forever self-oppose, self-cancel, and fall into a crash; He would still act occasionally.
For example, the creation of the world, or leaving behind the contingency of the Mirror Creator in the City of Calamity.
Despite the Uniqueness of Lin Chuan’s own symbolism, under normal circumstances, even fellow Outer Deities would find it extremely difficult to discover him; and as a Sefirah coming from outside The Original, it also ensured that he wouldn’t be pulled over by convergence.
But knowing full well that The Original was about to wake up and still lingering right under His nose, wasn’t that just seeking death?
So, run away, run away immediately!
Earth was absolutely no place to stay.
At this moment, Lin Chuan’s feelings perfectly resonated with those Outer Deities in the universe who stayed far away from Earth.
As an ordinary person, he hadn’t felt much, but in the eyes of the Outer Gods, Earth was truly a wretched land harboring unruly people.
Having clarified the direction of his next actions, Lin Chuan finally had the peace of mind to pick up the phone on the desk and light up the screen to check the time.
The ticking time displayed on the phone was about the same as what he felt—a one-to-one time flow rate, just like on Sefirah Castle.
This proved that his Sefirah indeed existed within this universe right now, interfacing with the normal world.
However, Lin Chuan had a faint intuition that he could forcefully adjust this time flow rate.
Whether it was slowing down the time within the Sefirah to an extreme crawl, or accelerating it to ten thousand years in an instant, he could do both.
This was an instinct; he only knew he could do it.
But if one had to ask him: how exactly should he fine-tune it?
What impact would it have after adjustment?
Which authorities were actually used behind this?
And what was its operating principle?
Lin Chuan’s answer could only be: he didn’t know.
This was like a naturally powerful warrior who could easily lift a thousand-pound boulder, but absolutely did not understand what muscle fiber exertion was, or what the principle of leverage was.
Just as he, even now, did not know how to use an accurate mystical term to refer to his unnamed Sefirah.
Similarly, he did not know what the abilities from Sequence 9 to Sequence 1 of the Pathway he represented, named ‘Nothingness’, actually were.
He only had some vague, instinctive understanding of them.
For a transmigrator deeply influenced by modern logical education, this illiterate state of ‘knowing the how but not the why’ was clearly unsatisfying.
In fact, from a pure survival standpoint, it didn’t matter at all if Lin Chuan didn’t understand these things.
As long as he was willing to completely let loose, even if he knew absolutely nothing about his abilities, it wouldn’t affect the normal performance of that symbolic power in the slightest.
In the final analysis, the Beyonder abilities from Sequence 9 to Sequence 1, and even the Uniqueness, were all differentiations and downgrades of the symbolism within the Sefirah.
Just like other Outer Deities, they weren’t required to possess the authority of knowledge to analyze themselves before they could use their symbolism.
So here came the question: why didn’t Lin Chuan just completely activate his Sefirah and become an Great Old One?
Wouldn’t that save him from worrying about what his Sequence abilities were?
Oh, stop making your Lord Symbol of Nothingness laugh.
Lin Chuan leaned back against the chair, stared at the ceiling, and sighed deeply.
Relying solely on instinct to use part of the Sefirah’s power wasn’t impossible.
After all, although symbols like Nothingness, Division, and Ending generally couldn’t exist, once they did, they were incredibly strong.
Even with debuffs like returning to nothingness if he fought with all his might, and not being skilled with his own authority abilities, he could still be considered one of the top Outer Deities in the entire universe, comparable to the Mother Goddess of Depravity, who had a portion of her Sefirah, the Brood Hive, torn away after The Original awakened.
But this was still very illiterate.
Besides, human wisdom lies in cognition: one must first understand the underlying principles of a thing to know how to conquer and control it.
This was for survival, for preservation, and to protect the core interest of ‘self’ in the vast universe.
At the same time, a more realistic dilemma lay before him.
If Lin Chuan only relied on symbolism for passive self-preservation, that would be absolutely fine.
However, if he wanted to take the initiative to strike, he couldn’t.
An Great Old One who couldn’t exert full power and could only protect himself couldn’t achieve much.
Lin Chuan sat in his chair with his eyes closed, constantly pondering and questioning himself in his heart:
If it were solely for survival, my current situation would actually be complete.
As a will equivalent to a natural Great Old One, even if I am wiped out, I can still return from the Sefirah.
Moreover, my Sefirah itself is my concretization, unlike other Sefirahs, which might still be accommodated or generate a new will.
Because for this Sefirah, any existence related to The Original cannot accommodate or utilize it.
In a sense, my pre-transmigration body and my spirit together support the symbolism outside The Original, and it is the symbolism outside The Original that allows the Sefirah, which originally could not exist, to stably appear.
But if it’s just for self-preservation, then even if I were just an ordinary person, I could still go up to Sefirah Castle, shamelessly hug the future ‘Fool’s’ thigh, and live out my life peacefully.
If so, what would be the difference between my coming to this world and not coming?
So, I will save my friends, I will find a way to return to my hometown, and I will do everything I want to do and want to change, simply because I want to.
Besides, who would like this world full of despair, the symbolism of everything turning bad, and the ending where Outer Deities will eventually awaken and divinity completely replaces humanity?
If possible, I also want to change those future tragedies, the tragedies of others, and the tragedies of the era.
I want to give everything a sliver of hope, so that there are always better possibilities in the world.
“But what should be defined as getting better?
Different existences have different
perspectives, and one person’s happiness is always another’s source of pain.”
“And how can you define depravity?
Indulging one’s own nature has no right or wrong.
How do you dare assert whether those depraved people are simply acting according to their true hearts?”
“And what does the variable you seek actually mean for this universe?”
“Even The Original Himself has no way of knowing what lies outside The Original, and chaotic variables are impossible to predict.
If the outcome under the variable is worse than the original, would you regret your existence?”
“None of that matters,” Lin Chuan answered without hesitation.
He wasn’t sure if his mind was playing tricks on him, actually hearing himself deny himself, but he still answered seriously.
He had a premonition that this would determine how he would face this familiar yet strange world in the future.
Perhaps, it might also determine some other things?
“Because I don’t care.”
“Because I don’t care, I will judge what normal human happiness is based on my simple moral values.”
“Because I don’t care, for those who truly view destruction and depravity as their nature, I will only let them torment each other or simply destroy them.”
“Because I don’t care, I certainly cannot be absolutely correct; there is no such thing as an unchanging truth in this world.
But what the variables are and what the hope is, I will define them myself.
Why should I care about others’ opinions?”
“Even if my existence might lead to a worse outcome, so what?
Should we accept an unchanging ending just to avoid the risks that variables might bring?”
“I will still do it.
I firmly believe I can bring a happy ending to everyone, because I am just that self-righteous.”
“Heh.”
In the empty room, a soft chuckle from out of nowhere suddenly echoed clearly:
“Perhaps, if you truly think so…”
The chuckle was ancient and deep, yet carried a hint of hair-raising amusement.
Immediately after, the voice slowly dissipated by his ear.
“Then go do it.
Do what you want to do.
Farewell, Lin Chuan.
May we never meet again.
But you must be careful, and pray to everything that you do not meet my other thousand faces.
For I am Nyarlathotep, I am the Crawling Chaos.”