Time, cause and effect, life and death, fate...

The two top-tier extraordinary individuals were caught in an eerie silence, wordlessly gazing at each other in the lamplight.

"Heh,"

A raspy chuckle came from beneath the cowl of the Truth-Side, "But these are all just my guesses. After all, if my theory is true, then players from the future should be appearing in our current era. Wouldn't that be a mess?"

"Or maybe humanity has ceased to exist in the future?"

Li Ang chuckled casually, "Or maybe, to avoid the Killing Game, humans are vying with each other to live luxuriously, a trend of extravagant competition."

"Huh?"

The Truth-Side was stunned, unable to resist asking, "What's the connection between extravagant competition and avoiding the Killing Game?"

"It's simple,"

Li Ang stated matter-of-factly, "If everyone is competing, then everyone is looking down on each other. When that contempt reaches its peak, everyone can achieve dimensional reduction, become two-dimensional, and thereby escape the Killing Game."

...Why don't you say that everyone is collectively ascending dimensions and becoming four-dimensional new humans because they overestimate themselves?

The Truth-Side suppressed the urge to retort, clearing his throat awkwardly as he retrieved the giant sword from the table.

He brought these things up to Li Ang partly to communicate with a fellow Calamity-level extraordinary, alleviating the deep-seated fear in his heart, and partly to extend goodwill. After all, there were only a handful of supreme beings on this planet who could influence the world's balance. Whether it was the interdimensional war behind the Door, or the awakening gods and demons, they would be the first to be impacted, their lives endangered.

More friends meant more escape routes.

"Back to the original topic,"

The Truth-Side cleared his throat, saying, "The method of directly controlling souls to produce the power of faith is probably unworkable. Only souls with real memories, true feelings, souls whose shapes are constantly changing over time, can act as converters, continuously transforming the surrounding free-floating soul energy into the power of faith.

"But, there might be a way to bypass this limitation."

"Oh?"

Li Ang raised an eyebrow. "If we're not tampering with the soul itself, then we're changing the vessel for the soul, the believers?"

"That's right."

The Truth-Side nodded, "Like Heracles undergoing the Twelve Labors, Jason venturing to Colchis for the Golden Fleece, Perseus slaying Medusa and Poseidon's sea monster. These demigods and mortals need to undergo arduous trials to become heroes. And in the process, when they are at their wits' end, they always receive help, enlightenment, or guidance from the gods, either overtly or covertly.

"I believe that although gods cannot directly twist souls to efficiently produce the power of faith, they can subject believers to difficult and arduous fates, allowing the believers to make the most devout pleas to them, thereby collecting high-quality, pure faith power. And after completing the trials, these believers will become the most loyal prayer warriors."

Li Ang thought for a moment and said, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?"

"More or less."

The Truth-Side nodded, "It's not just Greek mythology. Ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient India... Almost all mythological systems around the world have stories of believers praying devoutly in desperation and ultimately receiving help from the gods. Extraordinary individuals of our level, in the eyes of mortals, are no different from gods. Deliberately creating obstacles, manipulating the fate of mortals, is all too simple. Or rather, as long as there are enough potential believers, a large enough sample size, then even if we don't deliberately manipulate mortals, we can still reap a large number of loyal believers simply by intervening and harvesting at the right time."

"..."

Li Ang closed his eyes and pondered for a while before opening them and nodding to the Truth-Side. "Thanks. This theory is very enlightening to me."

"It's nothing,"

The Truth-Side smiled slightly, "If you can gain something from it and go further on the Godhood Ascension Ladder, then for me, faith-based godhood is also a viable path to emulate. Mutual benefit, that's all."

The two then talked for a while, discussing the connection between souls and spirit energy.

In the Truth-Side's view, spirit energy originates from the mind, and the mind is carried by the soul. Spirit energy users, despite their bodies being weak and aging, can foresee the future, create objects, change themselves, and twist the minds of others.

So, where does the energy to achieve these effects come from? Other power systems, such as internal energy, chakra, and spiritual power, all have some material basis.

Internal energy comes from qi and blood, chakra comes from cellular energy, and spiritual power comes from the free-floating energy between heaven and earth. Only spirit energy is different, originating from the power of the mind, invisible, intangible, and even difficult to observe.

Spirit energy users need to constantly discover the potential of their minds and construct their own mental palaces in order to wield conscious energy. When spirit energy users overuse their psychic abilities, their rationality will decline, their minds will mutate, the shape of their souls will be distorted, and even their own appearance will change, turning them into deformed monsters.

To some extent, spirit energy users, like other types of extraordinary individuals, must also abide by the law of conservation of energy.

"...Everything must follow the law of conservation of energy, and extraordinary individuals are no exception. However, through some special means, extraordinary individuals can temporarily 'borrow' energy."

The Truth-Side said, "Like the water element giant from the Special Affairs Bureau, Mr. Xiahou. As an实体化 (shiti hua) water element, he can open the door to the water element plane when necessary, borrowing endless elemental power from it for a short period of time. The same goes for other innate elements, or elemental mages. So, do spirit energy users have similar methods?"

The Truth-Side paused, slowly saying, "I believe they do. A month ago, when I was summoning demons from another world, I accidentally summoned a very strange demon. It looked no different from a common Tanar'ri Marilith, but it was equipped with exceptionally well-made power armor, and the energy used by the armor was actually spirit energy."

The Truth-Side shook his head. Demons in armor were not uncommon, and demons using spirit energy were not unheard of, but a demon wearing advanced spirit energy power armor was a first for him.

"When that demon was summoned, it was already severely injured, its body covered in pustules. It didn't even have time to attack me before it was killed by the bursting pustules on its body. Its corpse and power armor were quickly corroded by the pus. I didn't even have time to encase it in a stellar cocoon."

The Truth-Side spread his hands, "The demon itself didn't have spirit energy, which means that the armor it was wearing was driven by the spirit energy leaking from the surrounding space. In other words, that demon's homeland is a plane where spirit energy is exceptionally abundant, almost as ubiquitous as air. If we can open up that plane, we spirit energy users can obtain a reliable source of energy."

"Oh?"

Li Ang frowned upon hearing this. Just as he was about to say something, his friend communication panel vibrated again.