Chapter 43: The Power of the Mountain, in the Palm of My Hand!

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Haru felt his head being gently lifted and rested against something soft. Slowly, he opened his eyes.

"You're awake?" Sora sat on the floor, covered by a cool tatami mat. She had used her lap as a pillow for Haru's head and was looking at him with a worried expression. 

Haru's entire body was covered in a dark brown layer of dried blood, but his injuries had already healed under the influence of his Authority, the Power of Life. Only his outward appearance remained disheveled.

"Yeah, I'm awake," Haru replied, sighing in relief. If Sora had seen the immediate aftermath of the bloody battle, she wouldn't be looking at him with such concern.

"I don't want to see you hurt, not even a little bit." 

His perfectly healed body had successfully deceived Sora, but the dried bloodstains served as a subtle reminder that the battle with the Heretic God, the Heavenly Emperor, had been far more brutal than she could imagine.

"Hmm..." Haru wisely agreed. He wouldn't be so foolish as to engage in such a reckless, head-on battle again. It had been excruciating. 

He had experienced near-death states hundreds of times over the past three days. If not for the Power of Life and his tenfold amplified Campione magical energy, he wouldn't have been able to drag the Heavenly Emperor to his demise.

At that moment, as he relaxed, a sticky, uncomfortable sensation spread throughout his body. When Campiones entered a battle state, their senses dulled, allowing them to ignore pain and fight more effectively. 

However, this came with a consequence. Once they exited the battle state, the accumulated discomfort would come rushing back.

Haru quickly got up and began rubbing his body. Pieces of dried blood fell to the floor. In just a short while, he had rubbed off a full two kilograms. "Sora, where's the water? I want to wash…"

Seeing Sora backing away from him, her face contorted in disgust, Haru felt tears welling up in his eyes. "You didn't mind using your lap as a pillow before. What's wrong now?"

"You're so dirty!!" Sora frowned, looking at her clothes in disgust. Some of the dried blood had gotten on her.

"Go home! Take a bath! Scrub ten times! No, scrub a hundred times!"

"Yes! Yes! I was going to do that anyway!" 

Okukozome, the Kasugano residence.

*Gulp, gulp!* "Ahh." Having just finished his bath, Haru took a carton of fresh milk from the refrigerator and chugged it down.

"That's refreshing!" He lay down on the sofa, naked and relaxed, a contented expression on his face. It was already 10:00 am. 

While he was showering, Sayanomiya Kaoru had taken Sora out to buy groceries. He was alone in the house, which was why he dared to be nude.

Sinking into the sofa, he focused his mind on the center of his Golden Core, where a vibrant green light pulsed. Haru's mood brightened even further. "Amazing!"

During the three days and nights of bloody battle with the Heretic God, the Heavenly Emperor, his Power of Life had been constantly controlling, resonating with, and utilizing the energy of the Earth Veins. 

Through countless uses and refinements, a tiny portion of the rules governing the Power of Life – roughly one ten-billionth – had merged with his Golden Core.

With this spark of insight, Haru had directly bypassed the first step to becoming a sage: energy micro-manipulation. 

He had taken the second step: rule fusion. When the rules of the Power of Life completely fused with his Golden Core, he would face the final step: the tribulation of the heart demon. Once he overcame his heart demon, he would achieve true sagehood.

The heart demon referred to the evil thoughts that existed in everyone's subconscious. When the rules fully integrated with his Golden Core, an invisible force would enhance his body. 

Because this enhancement was comprehensive, his evil thoughts would also be amplified, assaulting his conscious mind. Resisting these thoughts and not being controlled by them was what it meant to overcome the heart demon.

The ever-reckless Haru thought, Heart demon? That's nothing. I survived a bloody battle. I can overcome this in a heartbeat.

After relaxing for a while, Haru adopted a comfortable, reclined position and focused his mind on his soul space, intending to examine the spoils of war that the egg had processed.

Inside the soul space…

Haru's figure materialized and plopped down on the egg, treating it like a sofa, as his mind sank into its depths.

An endless sea of negative energy constantly simulated the divine power of the Heavenly Emperor, which had been infused by the Usurping Ritual, and then clashed with it. 

Equal amounts of negative and positive energy violently collided, annihilating each other. As they vanished, the information contained within the divine power was revealed, and the egg devoured it, using it to deduce the laws of the Campione world and then pulling them out.

Haru's face darkened, and his lips twitched uncontrollably. This was the first time he had witnessed the egg deducing rules in its entirety, and he regretted it. 

Were the rules in his mind just the egg's excrement? Did that mean his head was full of crap? Damn it! 

Below, on the Steel Earth, Gram shot up into the air and flew into Haru's hand.

Clang! Bang! Boom! Crack! Haru slashed at the egg furiously. The rampage continued for twenty minutes, until Gram couldn't withstand the recoil and shattered. Only then did Haru stop, calming himself down. Suppressing his disgust, he once again focused his mind on the egg.

The divine power information of the Heavenly Emperor had been successfully deduced. Death, mountains, earth, sky, judgment, life, resurrection – countless rules, some complete, some fragmented, appeared before him. 

In the end, the rules of death, earth, life, and resurrection were absorbed into the Power of Life and the Power of Earth below, completing and enhancing them. At the same time, a massive landform shaped like A Mountain slowly took shape amidst deafening tremors.

The unabsorbed rules sank into the egg. The rule of the sky was absorbed by the Tempestuous Fury, while the remaining rules formed three Authority crystals: the Great Cocytus, Death Aura, and Judgment of the Underworld.

Haru ignored the Authority crystals. These crystals had fixed powers and fixed consumption rates and were incapable of micro-manipulation. These three limitations made them essentially useless, except for showing off.

Haru was more interested in the rule-infused landform below – the Power of the Mountain, an Authority that granted the user the strength of A Mountain. 

This Authority had left a deep impression on him. It was with this power that the Heavenly Emperor had been able to clash with Haru's enhanced physique, ten times stronger than a normal Campione and augmented by the Steel Undying Body, resulting in a mutual stalemate.

Imagining his Steel Undying Body combined with the earth-shattering power of the Mountain, Haru drooled slightly. 

The Power of Life, having fused with the rules of death, life, and resurrection, had not only gained enhanced healing capabilities but, more importantly, the ability to resurrect. Upon death, his soul would sink into the earth and draw upon the Power of Life to return to life. Although there was a three-hour cooldown, it was a small price to pay for resurrection – an extra life, infinitely renewable.

After examining the changes in his Authorities, Haru turned his attention to a peculiar droplet emanating divine power within the egg.

*What is this?* 

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