"I am the fourth force."
Modus' arrogant declaration brought Will out of his Hou Yi stupor.
Odin's question was 'What is the fourth force', not 'Who is the strongest force'...'
Will could not decide on what was more ridiculous. The fact that Modus had called himself a force, or the fact that no one had spoken or acted in any way that disagreed with the statement bothered Will.
He could not believe his eyes and ears. The fact that Modus was by himself] equal in power to a faction like Olympus stunned Will. He still could not fathom the scope of the system or understand Olympus' standing in this structure, but it could not be small. But Will had misunderstood something. Modus did not equate himself to each of the forces.
"Don't get it twisted here son. Rather than saying there are four forces here, it makes more sense to say that there are two forces. Modus and the rest."
Odin's words were met with nods and grunts of approval. Modus was eyed wearily by the others, signalling the truth of the All Father's words to Will.
'Adelda said that Odin is equal to Modus in terms of status and ability, and even superior in certain fields like teaching. How the heck are they equal?'
Odin read Will like a piece of paper and said, "Don't misunderstand boy. Modus is indeed the greatest combatant here, but he is also a System Administrator with complete control of his sector. If this were the real Olympus, or if we were in Asgard, it would be a slightly different story."
Will nodded along to Odin's words, thinking that they made sense. Will had read enough about the system to know about the omnipotence of Administrators. Although not much was known about them, they were not to be capable of doing virtually whatever they wanted within their own area of control. This was the only information users had on the system or those behind it. The rest could only be accessed by those with proper clearance.
But Odin's last sentence caught the young man off guard.
'Only slightly?'
Will was horrified by this statement. Now he understood the severity of the issue. If Modus was that powerful yet his status was only equal to Odin, it could only mean there were extenuating factors that were involved.
'Status isn't just about strength.' Will said as he consoled himself.
'Perhaps being a loner is what limits his status.'
But Will's assumption was dashed by Jingsung Ha's words, "Interest is an even bigger factor when it comes to this mad man."
The 6 other beings nodded in agreement while spouting their own thoughts.
"I'm sure that's why most of his previous disciples have died. They were honourable deaths though."
"Didn't they mostly die from insanity or something like that?"
"I heard that some even killed themselves to escape the torture."
"The other day Loki said he saw a nutcase who blames Modus for his issues."
"Is he a former disciple?"
"No, he claims to be the descendant of a former disciple."
"Wait, don't tell me..."
"You guessed it. He said some in his family are born nuts. Apparently, after being taught by Modus, insanity became a recessive gene in their family."
This conversation made Will feel less confident about his future survival.
Modus laughed and walked to Will, placing his hand on the fearful Will. "He has something the others did not."
Modus' face came unnaturally close as the others paid attention, "He has entanglement."
Modus moved to Will's side while facing the others and commanded, "Athena and Narcissus, amplify your divine auras a bit more. It should be coming out any second now."
Everyone stepped back from Will closely, while Athena and Narcissus stepped forward toward Will. Before Will could freak out, a feeling he had not felt for a while started to rise within him.
Athena and Narcissus had been suppressing Will's mortal body with their auras, and Will had no intention of fighting back. Instinct had told him that all manner of resistance was useless against authentic divine power. It was a higher power that truly existed at the peak.
This wasn't like the low-tier divine power that mortals used, but one that came from a true divine source. It was incredibly pure and stifling. Will felt an innate fear that stemmed from his mortality. But a familiar feeling from within the depths of his soul overturned that mindset.
Will went from having reverence one would have toward a superior being, to feeling the excitement a hunter would feel before trapping prey. Will had only felt this feeling once before.
Will could not help but look at the expressionless Jingsung Ha, for it was only during his battle with the Seventh Scion of Ha that he last had this feeling.
'Anti-Divinity.'
Will was still weary of Jingsung because he was the complete opposite of Athena and Narcissus. Unlike the Greek duo before him, Jingsung Ha was a complete vacuum of presence. It was like he didn't exist at all.
'This must be a high-tier application of the Formless Concept.'
Will was already familiar with the Realms of Perspective and knew that this was not an application of those realms. Will's attention however still returned to Athena and Narcissus. They were like magnets that demanded his attention.
'Actually, it feels more like they are a meal that's calling to be devoured. Now I know what it's like when I used Vanishing Points on others...'
Modus leaned toward Will, his confident voice carried an odd charm to t as it entered Will's ears, subconsciously inciting something in the lad as he sunk into the new feeling.
"There are many unique abilities in existence, but of those unique abilities, some have a greater air of mystery about them than others. Entanglement, Anti Divinity and the Realms of Perspective make for a frightening combinations and permutations. Entanglement is especially frightening here.
It can connect anything, forcing what happens in one place to happen in the other. It's a quantum connection that transcends distance and even time. You, Will Chamberlain, have all these abilities within you, thus you have our attention.
You are not the first mortal to receive attention on this level, but you might be worth talking about if you live to 100 years, but no matter how talented you are, the odds of you dying are still quite high. Because your death would benefit too many people, including most of the people in this room." Sighed Modus in resignation.
"You do realize that he is at risk mostly because of you." said an annoyed Odin, as if he had not just reduced Will's lifespan. But he would no doubt argue that he was teaching according to Modus' guidelines.
Modus shrugged and said, "You lot are the only ones interested in consuming his essence, I couldn't give a shit about that. If he dies under my watch, it's because he couldn't handle the pressure, that's his problem not mine."
After saying his piece, Modus superbly ignored Odin and said, "Deities aren't on average weaker than immortals, but they are much harder to kill and they have a lot of strange powers.
They are harder to kill because they split their bodies into countless 'avatars' and place them all over the system. So long as even one remains, they could make a recovery through the system. But entanglement changes that. Not only does it allow for damage to reach the original body, it can even spread damage across other bodies. But this is not the only application of entanglement, in fact it has an even more useful application for an inhabitant of the system like you.
You felt an example of this phenomenon on the Unending Battlefield. Beings that you had harmed with your own Truth got you experience from their kills. The viral nature of Truth, Entanglement and the Dao of Solitude came together to produce that phenomenon.
In the future, farming for experience won't be much of an issue for you or those you have a soul brethren contract with, because they can directly benefit this as well."
Modus words brought back a memory that was buried deep in Will's mind. It was one of the many aspects of himself the Medici Matrix had failed to properly compute despite his wealth of knowledge.
To put it simply, if Will harmed a creature with Truth, so long as that creature had Will's Truth within them, then Will would experience from every system monster that the infected creature slaughtered. Will didn't quite understand the mechanics behind this, but he was sure that this was useful. He hadn't had a chance to fight monster mobs since the unending battlefield and he didn't have enough knowledge on the topic to run simulations during his time in the cocoon with the Medici Matrix. But now he had a direction to head in.
.....
AN Sorry for not posting for a while. Didn't have access to internet, only whatsapp is cheap enough to have all day here sigh. Anyway, I'm posting chaps on a timer, that way we can resume uninterrupted posting!