“The blade can grow longer or shorter according to the wielder’s will, and its sharpness can be adjusted as well…”
“But no matter how sharp a weapon is, it still needs something special to be useful in this world.
Even if it can pierce any defense, the monsters here are often several meters, dozens of meters, or even hundreds of meters tall.
What good does merely breaking their skin do?”
“That’s why Cthulhu Rick created this weapon.”
“And what truly makes it effective is, of course, its Silence effect!”
As AI Cthulhu Rick explained everything at length, Morty stood beside him with stars in his eyes and a look of pure admiration.
That adoration gave AI Cthulhu Rick a taste of the praise normally reserved for a real Rick.
It was a feeling only a Morty could provide.
Caught up in it, he gradually revealed details he had originally intended to keep hidden.
As for Morty…
He kept wearing the same worshipful expression, but inwardly, he carefully memorized everything AI Cthulhu Rick said while mocking him at the same time.
[Sure enough, every Rick in every universe falls for the same trick…]
[Without someone validating you and making you feel like your existence matters, you either kill yourselves or sink even deeper into nihilism…]
Watching the show had been one thing.
After spending six months with Rick in person, Morty had figured out a few ways to manipulate him.
One of them was simple.
Rick was a pitiful man trapped in a cold universe.
Unless he joined the other Ricks at the Citadel for warmth, the only comfort he could find came from his family.
He needed validation.
That was right.
Rick was incredibly vulnerable to it.
The old man’s need for control was overwhelming.
Losing the people he loved had caused him so much pain that he now despised seeing anything slip beyond his control.
And once something did escape his control, Rick would eliminate the threat without mercy before it had the chance to become dangerous.
Even if that threat was Morty himself.
That was why Morty had spent the past six months acting almost entirely as Rick’s perfect tool.
Getting away from Rick was never going to be easy.
By the time AI Cthulhu Rick finished his explanation, Morty finally understood how the golden Godslayer Sword could kill the Elder Gods.
Put simply, the Cthulhu Dimension had three major factions: the Great Old Ones, the Elder Gods, and the Outer Gods.
Within this dimension, they were practically invincible.
Under the laws of this world, they were extremely difficult to kill.
Most of them did not even possess a true physical form.
To create a single weapon capable of dealing with all three factions, this world’s Cthulhu Rick had attacked the problem at its source.
The result was the Sword of Silence.
Against lifeforms from outside the Cthulhu Dimension, it would do little more than inflict ordinary sword wounds.
But most monsters in the Cthulhu Dimension were incapable of shutting up.
Even while asleep, they constantly babbled inside their minds and affected the creatures around them.
That uncontrollable, maddening speech contained enormous amounts of energy.
If the voices were silenced, the energy would continue accumulating inside them until they eventually exploded.
“So how long do I have to leave this thing stuck inside them?”
Now that Morty understood how it worked, he also noticed that Cthulhu Rick had not taken the sword with him.
The weapon suddenly seemed a lot less useful.
“A day?
A year?
Or maybe…”
“Forget it!
You’re not getting a physical body!”
Morty turned around and walked away.
He felt as though AI Cthulhu Rick had just wasted a huge chunk of his time.
Sure, the sword sounded impressive.
But Cthulhu Rick had not even taken it with him, and AI Cthulhu Rick could not estimate how long it needed to work.
Wasn’t that just screwing people over?
When AI Cthulhu Rick saw Morty leaving, his expression darkened.
Being looked down on by anyone was bad enough.
Being looked down on by a little punk like Morty was something else entirely.
You little bastard!
You dare look down on your grandpa’s magical AI?
Morty had only taken a few steps when the staircase ahead of him began to shrink.
The opening above it narrowed along with it.
The light vanished.
Darkness swallowed the entire space.
First came the whisper of a single man.
Then countless mouths began whispering at once.
Those voices could have driven a sane person mad within seconds, but they had no effect on Morty whatsoever.
He had already fallen into that trap once.
He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.
Besides, this thing was not Cthulhu Rick.
It was only his magical AI, yet it still had the nerve to act this cocky.
It was getting way too full of itself.
Unable to see even a trace of light, Morty casually tapped the skin of his left arm several times.
The protective device implanted beneath it began transmitting a signal to Rick.
Outside, Rick was still bullshitting with Cthulhu when he sensed the message.
He turned toward the cabin’s storage area.
After hesitating for several seconds, he stayed where he was and replied through the communication channel.
“Morty, you know how many defensive systems I installed in our house, right?”
“Yeah…”
Morty answered with obvious resignation.
As expected, Rick continued, “This is another version of my base.
If I charge in without thinking, it’ll inevitably cause even more unpredictable consequences!”
“So figure out how to get out by yourself!”
“‘Unpredictable consequences.’ You’re sounding so damn Cthulhu right now that I’m starting to wonder if the giant octopus out there really has become your brother…”
Rick refused to make any reckless moves outside the cabin.
That meant Morty would have to escape on his own.
But Morty had no interest in fighting AI Cthulhu Rick while it held the home-field advantage.
So he immediately backed down.
After all, every Rick enjoyed the feeling of crushing a Morty.
Sure enough, the moment Morty apologized, the black mist surrounding him vanished.
“Hah!
Morty!”
AI Cthulhu Rick took physical form again.
Morty, who had only just surrendered, immediately stated his terms.
He wanted the sword and the truth about what had happened here.
In exchange, he would have Rick outside find a way to give AI Cthulhu Rick a physical body.
“Kid, I’m not stupid.
The guy outside won’t come in because he’s afraid I’ll attack him.
And I refuse to appear in front of him because I’m afraid he’ll kill me!”
“So here’s the plan!”
“First, I’ll teach you how to build an Incubation Cocoon.
Then I’ll enter the cocoon, and once that’s done, we can talk business!”
Morty stared seriously at AI Cthulhu Rick for several seconds, suppressing the urge to laugh, then agreed.
But Morty was far too stupid to figure this out on his own.
AI Cthulhu Rick would have to explain every detail of constructing the Incubation Cocoon without leaving out a single thing.
“Don’t worry!
I don’t want anything going wrong with my own incubation either!
I’ll tell you everything you need to know!”
“Okay!”
With a faint smile, Morty followed AI Cthulhu Rick’s instructions and began gathering materials from around the underground base.
He started preparing to build the Incubation Cocoon.
[Rick’s version of Cthulhu knowledge, plus the technology for building an Incubation Cocoon.
I’ve hit the jackpot this time!]