Chapter 431 - 66: Games of the Same Origin? Fusion Compensation?

"Me? What do I know?!"

"Samantha and All Machines know this too. This ’Cosmos’ of ours... its predecessor was just a strange fragment I happened to pick up."

"Without your help, there’s no way I could’ve managed to tinker with it and get it activated all by myself!"

"See? And now, as you’ve all surely seen for yourselves..."

"Look! The thing this gentleman here controls, the one so similar in nature to ’Cosmos,’ is very likely from the same source."

At this, the teasing fellow chuckled and continued:

"Besides, I’m sure you’ve all felt it by now."

"If we’re willing to make some sort of contract with it, Cosmos and this other thing can merge into one."

"The Authority over Cosmos is split three ways. Samantha, All Machines, and I each hold a share."

"And this gentleman before us is clearly one of the Controllers of that thing... or perhaps the only one. After all, all this time, we haven’t seen any other beings, have we?"

"..."

The fellow, who clearly enjoyed the drama and didn’t mind fanning the flames, spoke with an extremely flippant tone.

However, Lince didn’t sense any malice from him.

After the guy rattled on about a bunch of things Lince only vaguely understood...

At that moment, even the hostility radiating from the God of All Machines, who had manifested in the Void Space, began to fade.

Naturally, Lince withdrew his Sea of Fire Domain as well.

A moment of silence fell over the Void Space.

Finally, the God of All Machines was the first to speak, his voice booming:

"I must admit, you do indeed possess the strength to stand with us as an equal."

The God of All Machines glanced at Lince’s Giant Dragon form. His tone then shifted, turning somewhat hostile as he addressed the so-called God of Thousand Faces.

"If I am not mistaken, Thousand Faces, you made a fool of me. Did you use me as a pawn to test this newcomer?"

"Made a fool of? A pawn?"

"Oh, come now, you can’t say that."

"We’re all Controllers of Cosmos, after all. When something like this happens, even if you hadn’t come forward, All Machines, either Samantha or I would have had to."

"Besides, I wasn’t the one who woke you. It was just a random selection by the rules and mechanisms of Cosmos."

The God of Thousand Faces replied flippantly, his tone practically begging to be punched.

From start to finish, he didn’t seem to treat the conflict as anything serious.

"Hmph! You’d better hope so!"

"If I find out you were behind this, I will wage war upon your domain once more!"

Hearing this, the God of Thousand Faces remained unfazed.

But he said no more, as if he, too, was afraid that further provocation would truly complicate matters.

Just then, the Mother of All Things, Samantha, who had been silent for some time, spoke softly.

"Alright, that’s enough from both of you."

"Let’s not make a spectacle of ourselves in front of our guest."

"By the way, sir, how should we address you?"

Lince considered for a moment before replying calmly.

"The Fiery Sun and Space Dragon, Nidhogg."

"A dragon? You do resemble some dragons I know. However, none of them possessed your level of strength, Sir Nidhogg."

At this, the Mother of All Things, Samantha, continued, "You’ve been listening to our conversation for a while, sir. As an Authority User yourself, you must have some understanding of what Thousand Faces was talking about, yes?"

"Therefore, I believe there’s no need for us to waste any more words."

"The three of us are interested in having you join our ’Cosmos’ Pantheon. Of course, should you join us, you would certainly not be our subordinate. Now, if you would please wait a moment, sir."

Lince had no objection.

And so, the entire Void Space fell silent once more.

Evidently, the God of All Machines, the Mother of All Things, and the God of Thousand Faces had begun to discuss something among themselves.

Meanwhile, Lince was not idle either.

He was receiving a great deal of feedback from the True Game.

[Contact with Exotic Realm Law. Homologous information detected.]

[The scale of ’Cosmos’ is considerable, but the True Game is by no means ’small.’ Scale does not determine everything. Given the Chief Administrator’s strength, the risks are indeed numerous, but there should be no immediate danger.]

[In light of the current situation, the Chief Administrator is now presented with three options.]

[1. Continue to resist in the hope that the rules of the ’True Game’ will overwrite the rules of the ’Cosmic Game.’ Risk: High. Outcome: Unknown.]

[2. Master-Servant Contract. The True Game and the Cosmic Game establish a master-servant relationship for one side, leading to a merger. However, regardless of which becomes the master and which the servant, arguments and even conflict will be inevitable. Risk: Unknown.]

[3. Equal Contract. The True Game and the Cosmic Game enter an equal contract. The rules of both sides will interact and merge into one. The Chief Administrator will retain all rights and benefits acquired during the True Game, while also obtaining power within the ’Cosmic Game’ comparable to that of the current ’Three Gods.’]

(Note: For both options 2 and 3, once a contract is established, the Unity of the ’Games’ will result in a qualitative leap in power.)

’At first, Lince truly hadn’t expected this.’

’The mysterious True Game wasn’t the only one of its kind.’

’And the Cosmic Game and the True Game were from the same source?’

Thanks to the information revealed by the God of Thousand Faces, Lince was finally beginning to understand some things about the True Game.

’A Divine Fragment?’

’Was it really a fragment?’

’Those Three Gods activated the Cosmic Game together?’

’Then why was the Blue Star’s True Game activated?’

’Were there other powerful beings behind it?’

’Impossible!’

’After all, if there were, they would have shown themselves by now.’

’So, the reason for the True Game’s activation remained unknown.’

But there was one thing Lince now knew for certain.

The True Game was, in fact, a product of the very same source as the Cosmic Game.