Chapter 29: Variables and the Chinese Runestone

Philip rapidly flew towards the Breaker Essence in the distance. He was confused as to why the Breaker Essence will be here on Earth and he can see other Breaker Essences in the horizon.

"I have a bad feeling about this..."

Philip boosted once more to quickly arrive at the Breaker Essence. Then, Emily talked to him.

「 Oh yeah! I forgot, there were some changes in functionality of the variables. The system did a bad job at giving you their true value. Would you like me to tell you? 」

Philip pondered for a moment. Since it will be a little while before he reached the Breaker Essence, he decided to listen to Emily.

"Please do."

[Loading variables...]

[Loaded!]

「 Time. You view time as either fast or slow, you can rewind, forward, decelerate, or accelerate time using its item but only for yourself. Since you have unlock its passive ability, 「 Bullet Time 」, it will slow down your surroundings, which is a special case. 」

In other words, Philip can only control time on himself making the perception of time of others on him differ. If he accelerates time on himself, his perception of others will be slow but the perception of other on him will also be slow. But in reality, Philip will actually be fast.

「 Space. You can travel through space in short distances. You can even phase through objects. As long as there's space. You can also distort space around you to make yourself invisible or make your position hard to pinpoint. 」

Philip suddenly stopped flying as he heard the true ability of the space variable.

"Why didn't you say it earlier?! Now I wasted time while flying towards that huge Breaker Essence."

「 Hold your horses! You need to obtain its item first, the Space Amulet, remember! 」

This time, Philip was struck as if he forgot the most important thing in the world.

"Oh yeah!! That's right!! I must find Life's Sword first! The Space Amulet is also attached to its handle!"

「 And where would you find it here on Earth? 」

"Erm... I'm not sure... But I need to find it now!"

「 Geez, don't rush things. We should search for clues, maybe there is something on the location if that Breaker Essence? 」

"I guess you're right... Please continue with the variables."

Philip resumed on flying towards the Breaker Essence.

「 Life. You will understand the meaning of life and its importance. You can also dictate the life of a being below you. Please obtain Life's Sword to become the Life Itself. 」

Philip didn't care about being able to dictate the life of someone lower than him or being able to understand the meaning of Life. He just wanted the sword itself, it was like the sword is calling him.

「 Do you understand the meaning of life right now? 」

"Huh? Oh... I do understand it. Life itself is worthless, its worth will only show if death has released its grasp on you. In other words, immortality. You will have plenty of time to find your purpose by then, and you will strive to achieve that purpose until the end of time and space. In conclusion, you just have to obtain absolute happiness and satisfaction. Unless, achieve absolute neutrality."

「 ... 」

By this time, Emily was speechless. She didn't thought of the meaning of life that much, but her mind was opened when he heard Philip. Then, the 「 Shard of Consciousness 」 suddenly popped out of the system.

"What's this?"

The shard began to float on his left hand and spun rapidly while revolving around his hand. After a while, nothing was happening. Emily continued with the variables.

「 Death. Whoever or whatever you kill will not go to the Realm of Death. You took their life, therefore they are cut from the cycle of life and death. You can kill living beings lower than you with a tap of your scythe and you can also kill weaker objects. 」

"..."

It was Philip who was speechless this time. It was like he became the Grim Reaper himself, he can even kill weaker objects, whatever that means, even though they have no life.

「 Dimension. This is where the system became confused. Yes, you can teleport to places that you have been but there are a lot of conditions that have to be met before you can do that. So, in truth, it just protects you from external forces when you travel between dimensions. 」

'So that's how it is, huh?'

Philip just nodded on Emily's explanation about the variable if Dimension.

「 Energy. It's just about the same, you can control and manipulate all kinds of energy within the universe. 」

"Within the universe? I remember that there was still a realm, and a bigger one at that, outside of the universe. So, I can't control the energy outside of the universe?"

「 Yes, you can't. This is because you are not bound by the rules of the universe anymore. There are new rules outside of the universe. 」

"But I thought the universe, or the multiverse if the limit?"

「 Nope, there is still something out there that is bigger than the former and it probably has no end. 」

"I see..."

As Philip gained more knowledge about the universe itself and outside of it, the 「 Shard of Consciousness 」 that was spinning and floating around his left hand began to revolve and spin faster.

"What's up with this shard?"

「 Hmmm... It's probably resonating with you, the meaning of consciousness is self-awareness. Perhaps it's because you're being self-aware about everything right now? 」

"Hmmm... Perhaps. Anyways, please continue."

Philip commanded Emily to continue as nothing happened after the shard spun and revolved faster.

「 Matter. Seems like the system was also confused at this. You won't be able to identify all matter that you see, that's the system's job! In truth, you can form and reform objects in any shape you want with relation to its volume. 」

"I see, that seems pretty good. Hey, Emily, I have a question."

「 What is that? 」

"Why does time, space, life, and death have their exclusive items while the others don't?"

「 That's not true! All variables have their excusive items, you only need to find them or complete an achievement, requirement, or a condition to obtain it. 」

"What?! That's stupid! Then, I have 4 missing items?!"

「 Wha-?! You're stupid!! 」

"..."

Philip didn't realize his choice of words and he thought that Emily thought that it was directed to her.

"Hey, I didn't mean it for yo-"

「 Yeah, yeah! I know, onto the last variable. Teehee! 」

"..."

Before Philip can finish his sentence, Emily cut him and a vein formed on his forehead when he heard the 'Teehee' again. He forgot that this was Emily's personality. It will be a while before Philip will get used to Emily.

「 Reality. Wow! I didn't expect you to unlock this variable in that way! Hehehe. Anyways, reality is reality. You can differentiate what's real and what's not. You can also able to perceive the reality that you are in, in other words... Self-awareness. 」

As Emily paused before continuing her sentence, it prompt Philip to look at the revolving and spinning shard on his left hand. Emily also watched closely.

Then, as they have expected, something happened. The shard flashed and disappeared, it probably returned in the system.

"Huh? Nothing happened after that?"

「 Actually... Something did happened... 」

"What?"

[You have unlocked the variable of Universe!]

「 Universe. You can safely exit the universe whenever. You are not bound by the rules of the universe anymore. 」

"What?! And here we are talking about it a few minutes ago."

「 But there's just one problem... 」

"And what is that?"

[Countdown before you can obtain the variable of universe: (24:09:30:33)]

"What the? There's a countdown?!"

「 That's right. I'm also puzzled about the reason... 」

"Well, we have no choice but to wait for that cooldown. I have one final question."

「 Ask away! 」

"Seems like only the variable of Time has a passive ability. Does the other variables also have one?"

「 Yes, all of the variable also have a passive ability. 」

"And, I need to meet a conditin or requirement for that?"

「 Correct. 」

"I see..."

As they almost finished having a discussion about the variables, Philip looked forward to the Breaker Essence in front of him. The Breaker Essence just kept on getting bigger, even though he is still a few kilometers away from it.

"This rock is pretty big!"

「 It is. It's 3,000 kilometers and 300 meters wife afterall. 」

"You knew that?"

「 I just scanned it and provided you with the necessary information. 」

"Wow! You're pretty useful!"

「 Oh, stop it! Teehee. 」

"..."

Philip just sighed from the response coming from Emily. He flew for quite a while and he noticed something in one of his abilities that he forgot to ask about earlier.

"Hey Emily? Are you there?"

「 Yes, I'm always here. Why do you even ask that? 」

"I don't know, maybe you are resting or sleeping or something...

「 ... 」

For some reason, Emily didn't had any response from that as she kept quiet about it. Unknown to Philip or anyone else, if she had a physical form, she seemed to be blushing and eyes of sadness and loneliness.

"Anyways, this 「 Hotbar 」 ..."

「 Ah yes! When you died and resurrected, your 「 Inventory 」 was upgraded into 「 Hotbar 」. You can now access any items that are in you hotbar without having the time to access the inventory. Your hotbar has a capacity of 10 items. 」

"Ah, okay."

Philip was confused that Emily seemed to be agitated and was trying to compose herself as she talked fast.

Then, he panned his eyes down as he saw something. There was a hotbar, it was like Minecraft or other FPS gameplay. The first slot displayed 「 Shi-Kama Tamashī-Kiru 」, the second and third slot displayed the two shards of the five, and slots 4 to 8 displayed the Philippium crystal, Ylium Quartz, Agium Blade, Willium Block, and Kurtnium Needle respectively.

Before Philip can ask Emily about the materials, Emily warned him.

「 I recommend you shrink yourself now, you're still 30 meters in height. You will arrive on the Breaker Essence in about a minute at your speed. 」

Philip's speed was undoubtedly fast as he was going at the speed of sound. He also began to shrink himself to his original height of 6 feet as he didn't realized that he was still big. By this time, the huge rock that was still pretty big from a distance, was now a huge wall that almost reached the horizon as Philip neared it.

A minute has passed and Philip landed in front of the Breaker Essence. The surface of the rock had purple floating symbols, almost like runes.

"This rock sure is big. I wonder what's it doing here... What do you think Emily?"

「 Hmmm... I can't quite scan it directly and look in the inside. I suggest placing your hand on it concentrate on it. 」

"Like this?"

Philip stepped forward and placed his hand on the surface. He closed his eyes and concentrated his mind, so that Emily could scan the entirety of this Breaker Essence.

A few moments later, Emily's voice echoed in his mind.

「 Rune Language has been discovered. Would you like to learn? 」

'Yes'

Philip replied in his mind.

[Learning Rune Language...]

[Learned!]

「 Breaker Essence has been scanned. Would you like yo view information? 」

'Yes'

====================================

「 Breaker Essence (Runestone) 」

「 Chinese Runestone 」

「 Rank: 7th 」

====================================

「 Seems like this Breaker Essence, which is called a Runestone by the humans, has a purpose. Would you like to view? 」

'Hmmm... Runestone has a nice tone to it and rolls off the tongue better. Let's call it that from now on. Yes, I would like to view it.'

Before Emily could speak about the purpose of the Runestone, Philip saw a purple light in the middle of thoughts. This was impossible as he is clearly closing his eyes, light could not go through.

Moments later, the light expanded and turned into a purple dragon. The purple dragon stared at Philip for a few seconds. The dragon then roared as it flew straight for Philip with a gaping mouth.

*ROAR*

*TANG*

Philip was immediately awakened as a bright white light flashed and a loud sound echoed from where he placed his hand on. He was blown away for a few meters before he stopped.

"Ugh, what happened?!"

Philip asked Emily.

"Emily?"

Noticing that Emily is not responding, Philip felt a chill in his spine.

"Oh yeah!! I'm so stupid!! This is the Breaker Essence!! Why did I touch it?!!"

[9 Gates of Wrath: 2nd Gate opened]

Hearing the robotic voice, Philip was confused. If the system is still here, that means Emily is still safe.

"So, Emily is still there? That's good... Phew..."

「 ... 」

Emily decided to not speak as Philip showed concern for her. She was just struck by the Breaker Essence, along with the system, and they ceased to function. After a second of forced activation by the power of Alpha and Omega, the system went online once again.

Therefore, Emily heard all of Philip's frustration and the worried tone of voice on him. She was surprised that this user of the Omega System is showing concern for her, a tool, a fake being, a voice in his head.

*RUMBLE*

After Philip was relieved, the Runestone rumbled along the Earth beneath him.

*GRRR*

*SHING*

*TING*

*CLACK*

*FWOOSH*

*ROOOOOAAAAAR*