Chapter 1645 — 1645: The facade of balance

1645  The facade of balance

Jack resisted the urge to twitch his lips at Bob's constant use of perchance, and instead focused on the content of what he was saying.

He hadn't said it out right, but it was definitely what he heavily insinuated. He also heavily insinuated that the appearance of this ore might result in a number of universal wars, but Jack didn't think it would be so easy to destabilise the universe. Sure, Deities were impressive, but the hard lock on their cultivation meant that they would never become the peak powers of the universe.

That did, however, mean they were the perfect members for countless powerful organizations. Nearly invincible, unkillable beings near the Dao realm used to fill in numbers and do their bidding sounded like a mighty good deal.

In that case, these organizations might engineer situations where the Deities within their own organizations grew a larger following across the realms. Sure, that might cause some friction between organizations, but Jack did not think it would extend to the level of universal war.

The chances of wars, invasions or crusades in smaller realms was a lot more likely though.

Jack personally found such a possibility highly annoying, not only because it put the Midnight realm at greater risk, but because his personal enemy was likely to become even harder to kill.

The last thing Bob said though…

"Will that allow Deities to leave their realms?" Jack asked. He didn't care if it broke his image as an all knowing captain. This was too important to not ask about.

But he should have known better. Instead of thinking that Jack didn't know the answer, Bob felt like Jack asked so that his crewmates would be enlightened.

Bob's legs quivered as tears welled up in his eyes.

"Such a noble heart… such noble intentions… oh lawd, what did we do to deserve so much care? What did we do!?!"

The tears started to stream down his face as he shut his eyes tight, unable to behold the benevolence of the captain.

Seeing that Bob was unable to speak, Tiny-Sparkles spoke up.

"The universe likes balance. Or at least, the appearance of balance," he said, his voice deep and reverberating as normal. "Deities were made as near unkillable as a thing could get, but in exchange a heavy restriction was placed on them. They could never achieve the Dao, and they were forever stuck within their realm. That means that if their realm doesn't mature, they won't even be able to reach the peak of what the divine path allows."

For a moment, Tiny-Sparkles stopped speaking, as if struggling. Eventually, though, he sighed, and spoke.

"Take me, for example. The universe made me small, and gave the unicorns, a race born near perfection, never suffering from sickness or ailments, their first ever instance of dwarfism. In exchange for my smaller, stunted size, as compensation, I grew an incredibly powerful and potent horn - so much so that I was able to pack more energy into my body than any other unicorn in existence.

"So what was originally a system of balance, where I gained one flaw in exchange for one benefit, became a broken system where I attained unimaginable power. The restriction on Deities seems very much like the same thing. At a glance, the restrictions seem like flaws in exchange for extremely potent abilities, but as the universe grows, and more possibilities come into existence, those restrictions can become invalid.

"It's very likely that if a Deity can make another body using this ore, they really will be able to leave their realms sooner or later. After all, this ore seems to generate its own divine energy. If that's the case, it will solve the crippling issue that deities face once they leave their realms."

Jack pursed his lips, then turned towards Bob.

"Can you sense the location of the ore?" he asked.

"Verily, I can find it even with my eyes closed," Bob said, pointing in a certain direction.

"Excellent. In that case, while we cannot do tax fraud, it doesn't prevent us from war profiteering. We need to get our hands on as much of this ore as possible. This is going to be big. Oh, and we should also get some to add to the Jolly Rancher. That'll be our first order of business."

While the crew immediately set out, approaching the ore at breakneck speeds, certain beings had already come to understand the effectiveness of this ore. The Artica race seemed uninterested in the ore at first very much because they knew that Deities could not approach the Dao realm.

But soon, even the Artica race learned about the influence of the largest collection of Demi-Dao Lords in the universe.

Pride, of course, only watched all of this in silence. How interesting it was that this happened right after they arrived in this realm. It was as if Jack's purpose of causing a universal stir was a lot more thorough than even Pride realized. Or he was just lucky - which was also just as fascinating a possibility considering his horrendous karma.

He closed his eyes and summoned a small piece of the very ore that Jack and the rest were on the hunt for. He studied it with great intrigue.

There already existed within this universe divine stones, which were similar to spirit stones except they contained divine energy. But this ore, which revealed within itself the ability to replenish its divine energy, was new.

It was interesting, but as a being at the very peak of the Dao Lord himself, interesting is all it was. Instead, he turned his attention back to Jack. Secrets that could be hidden from even him, and his brothers, were far from simple.

He was too prideful to forcefully reveal them, but he didn't mind testing things every now and then. Pride channeled a hint of his power into the ore in his hand, and then flicked it away, immediately causing it to leave his level, and enter Jacks. What happened next, he would watch with great interest.