Chapter 2303

2303 – The Mysterious Path

Seconds earlier—

"Damn it!!"

In a pitch-black location, its scope and size unknown, impossible to tell whether one stood in a tiny bubble or an endless, boundless universe… a place well known to everyone who had stood on the brink of the Nexus State's peak.

In that absolute darkness, there was only a single rope hanging from above, with only its extremely thick end visible, while the rest stretching upward was submerged in shadow. Its distinctive color shone in the gloom like a star, yet a star that seemed impossibly distant, unreachable no matter what—a star whose law or exact meaning could not be determined. It simply remained there in silence… watching.

Aside from that rope, there was a girl.

Renara screamed, "Damn it, damn it!" as she sat hugging her knees with her elbows, clutching her thick hair. "I know now… I know full well that you all are not from scattered paths, as everyone believes, and as I once believed. You are all from one path, all waiting for me to choose one of you to complete my breakthrough."

Then she looked upward. "But I have orders to break through with a major law—I can't do it!!"

Then she cried out and noticed the thick rope hanging alone above, "...And why is there only one rope appearing, for heaven's sake, when I can feel all nine of them? Why don't nine ropes appear for nine laws? Which one are you?!"

Silence.

The thick rope trembled gently, as if a light breeze had passed over it.

Renara's affinity toward the Nine Secondary Laws had witnessed a terrifying rise after she managed to absorb the blood of a nine-tailed beast of the Emperor Beast Rank. In fact, it could be said that her entire body had reached a stage of power and evolution it had never achieved before.

It could be said that she was exceptionally skilled in seven of them, and barely used two, but now all nine had reached a level of affinity beyond the ordinary for a single body—an equal level awaiting only the choice!

His Majesty's deal had secured a family of nine-tailed beasts for her, and she had not touched a single thing from them. All the extracts from that family went toward strengthening the Kiyomaji Bloodline as a whole, and indeed, over the past few decades, several Nexus States had emerged!!

As for her, she enjoyed the bottles of Emperor of Beasts' blood all by herself… but now, after finishing them, she has reached a terrifying level of affinity with the Nine Laws, enabling her to achieve a breakthrough to the rank of Law Dominator in any one of them, and she could fulfill her ancestors' long-held dream.

Yet she holds herself back…

She has orders to become stronger! To uncover their source!

The Major Law of Heat sent by His Majesty?

No, they are not from the Path of Heat. She tried many times to no avail, and through her high affinity with them, she felt that the Nine Laws were laughing at her.

"…" Renara calmed herself, then slowly looked down again, "Frost, Flame, Explosion, Vibration, Severing, Pressure, Friction, Thrust, Beam…"

"…What do you all have in common?" Then she continued in an even lower voice, "Please… I cannot stay here forever… They need me outside… I've started to forget my goals…"

Silence.

Whoosh!

"Ah!" Renara quickly looked up as a strange object appeared.

A Golden Sun.

A sun that suddenly emerged from nowhere, illuminating the darkness with a blazing light. The rope, of which only a small end had been visible, now revealed what lay above it, stretching as if for endless miles!

Renara stood up slowly, looking upward and opening her mouth slightly.

The section of the rope that appeared was covered in engravings extending along its length, and each part bore different engravings.

She recognized many of those engravings, since she used them all up to the Sixth Level, and that single rope carried the engravings of all Nine Laws. But after seeing it with her own eyes, she noticed something... there was much she had overlooked before, and there were certain Patterns connecting the nine together in ways she had never noticed previously.

And besides those connections... there were many Patterns she had never seen before!

"So that's it... so that's it..." Renara murmured.

In front of Renara's body—

Robin showed a big smile when he heard Renara murmuring those words.

He lowered the hand with which he intended to open a space-time Gate, took out a chair from his Ring, then sat down in front of Renara, keeping that smile.

"..." Glacion furrowed his brows slightly, wanting to hear if she would say something else, but he soon remembered that Richard was sick, so he also took out a chair for him and sat him down, then went to stand beside Robin.

They did not have to wait long after that, as Renara resumed speaking in an audible voice, “…So that’s it… This wasn’t just frost; it can only be described as the process of extracting thermal energy from materials. The flame wasn’t fire; it was the conversion of my body’s internal heat, using my energy, into something more visible. The explosion’s foundation is the transformation of stored energy within any material into sudden, violent expansion!”

“…..” Robin furrowed his brows tightly.

“…Slicing is the conversion of energy into extremely sharp lines that sever the bonds between material particles… Vibration is the conversion of energy in materials from stillness to motion in place, producing powerful oscillations… Friction is the conversion of energy’s properties from viscosity to elasticity as needed, so I can make objects slide or rub with immense force.”

“Ah… Thrust, that incredible speed I achieve or use to push things, it’s the conversion of potential energy into kinetic energy? And the rays… they are actually the release of stored energy in a thin thread, granting it the properties of a laser beam.”

“……?”

Renara continued, "All these years… I’ve been looking at the final result and trying to connect it, but I never examined the path leading to that result, nor did I consider that my manipulation of energy was what caused all this… and that it could lead to even more?!"

"All those laws that my people specialize in, the Laws of the Nine Halls, are not laws coming from different paths, but one single path that we used in nine different forms… one path that can affect the energy of everything… a path that can convert energy from one form to another, from one state to another, and influence it within living bodies or materials alike—this is… the Path of Energy Conversion!!"

Boom

Boom

Robin ignored the explosions in the sky above; it was clear that Renara’s breakthrough into the Law Dominator Realm had begun.

But he kept his gaze fixed on the girl’s face…

The Path of Energy Conversion? Isn’t this supposed to be a law subordinate to the Path of Energy in general? Why is there a separate path with this name?

And also… the name of the path is terrifying, but Renara’s words are even more terrifying.

Everything is composed of atoms, and every atom is filled with energy. Detonating a few atoms could cause a massive explosion that obliterates an entire planet… and the Creator of the universe used incalculable energy to make everything that exists, energy beyond the scope of thought and reckoning.

Renara can influence that energy within objects?

How powerful would this Path be if mastered?

Does the description “Fundamental” even apply to it?

What could one do with it?!

The applications… they are endless.