Chapter 17: Setting Weaver

Two hours later, Bai Ge arrived home, not returning naked.

Possessing the Brain Hole, he only needed to provide real-world materials and pay some processing costs; creating clothes wasn’t difficult.

He threw the burnt piece of cloth in his hand into the Brain Hole. After a little design, when he took it out, it was a small robe.

The robe was short; after all, most of Bai Ge’s clothes had been burnt. The remaining material wasn’t enough to make a complete robe.

Nevertheless, it could make do for the night and cover up his nakedness.

‘I can’t waste Energy like this anymore; using superpowers for only a few seconds feels like a real loss…’

All this time, Bai Ge planned to make it permanent. He wouldn’t set a disappearance time, making it his standard trait.

It would be like a “natural law,” like humans eating and drinking.

This way, he wouldn’t need to calculate the trait’s expiration time anymore.

The electricity storage trait would become his permanent Anomalous Trait.

“Success!”

Having implanted the trait into his body and returned to reality, Bai Ge found the energy consumed. This meant Reality had acknowledged the trait.

“Eh? Only used forty percent?”

Less than half of the energy was consumed, which greatly surprised Bai Ge.

“It used energy equivalent to manifesting something for a hundred thousand days, and achieved permanence… The cost for permanent traits isn’t as high as I thought.”

“Then… let’s get Teleportation too…”

Bai Ge designed free-form Teleportation for himself, but it quickly failed.

He changed it to line-of-sight Teleportation, yet it still failed.

“Why is it still failing?”

“Are traits ranked? How is it measured?”

Bai Ge didn’t sleep that night. He pondered all night, contemplating “Reality’s perspective.”

Only after experimenting repeatedly with trait editing well past dawn and creating a bunch of minor traits did he finally have a revelation.

“So that’s how it is. I understand.”

The Anomalous Traits designed by the Brain Hole were essentially imposed upon Reality.

If brought out baselessly, Reality could refuse to acknowledge it. The trait would be as good as non-existent.

But if Bai Ge paid “Reality Energy,” “Real-world matter,” or other costs, then Reality had to acknowledge it.

Because Reality Energy and matter belonged to Reality and couldn’t be rejected. They couldn’t be “nullified;” they had to exist objectively.

In other words, Brain Hole creations with a “real-world foundation” almost forced Reality to adapt.

There was no need to worry about Reality’s adaptability; it could probably adapt to anything.

The strange flower Danmu had a material basis and was acknowledged.

The electricity storage trait had an energy basis and was acknowledged.

At this moment, Bai Ge was like a computer virus for Reality, forcibly implanting anomalous settings that it had to grudgingly accept.

He understood this because Bai Ge had discovered a pattern.

“Traits with real-world basis are more easily acknowledged. In other words, the cost is lower.”

“While purely absurd, or self-contradictory ones, have exorbitant costs.”

If a rough standard had to be sorted, Bai Ge tentatively thought of six levels, ranked highest to lowest cost:

Self-contradictory traits cost the most outrageously.

Those absolutely contradicting existing laws of Reality came next.

Contradictory but not absolute traits were next.

Traits not contradicting existing laws but extremely absolute had low cost.

Traits neither contradictory nor absolute had even lower cost.

And traits already existing in Reality had the cheapest cost.

These six levels also had the distinction of “universally applicable” (Universal Trait) and “individual anomaly” (Anomalous Trait).

According to Bai Ge’s experiments, the setting of the electricity storage trait belonged to the cheapest sixth level.

This trait existed in Reality; it wasn’t fictional.

At most, its manifestation was slightly anomalous. But in this vast Universe, some lifeform somewhere would definitely find “this realistic.”

“So the electricity storage trait actually exists in Reality… electric eels? No… different. Electric eels depend on muscle structure; mine is the cells themselves being special…”

“Nevermind. The Universe is vast, full of wonders. I’d believe you if you told me there were aliens whose cells naturally store huge amounts of electricity. I just made this biological trait anomalously appear on my Earthling body, an otherwise normal one… that’s the cheapest.”

Bai Ge understood well: Earth was Earth, Reality was Reality. The Real world extended far beyond Earth.

The Universe was unimaginably vast; incomprehensible, bizarre laws might exist in its remote depths.

Humans were too small; what they knew was insignificant.

Also, within this six-level standard, one factor was “absolute”.

This was discovered accidentally during experiments.

He had previously accidentally created a “Universal Unlocking” passphrase. Its setting emphasized unlocking “any” lock.

So during his research, Bai Ge tried adding qualifiers like “absolute,” “forcibly,” “any,” “all,” or “regardless”…

He added a trait to himself: “Absolute 100% Kill Two Birds With One Stone.”

And it actually manifested.

Using this ability, anything he threw would always hit two birds…

Whether it killed them was another matter… but it would always hit!

Even if there were no birds within miles, the stone in Bai Ge’s hand would forcibly fly far away, find two birds, and hit them…

It sounded utterly absurd, even violating Newton’s three laws of motion…

But so what? Bai Ge manifested this trait for thirty seconds. Within that time, he could hit two birds however he threw…

ything thrown, it never missed. He could kill birds with one stone in any way imaginable…

For that half-minute, one throw from Bai Ge would have blown Newton’s coffin lid sky-high.

This was similar in essence to the “Universal Unlocking” passphrase.

No matter what lock it was, if it was a lock, Bai Ge’s phrase would automatically open it.

Bai Ge termed such Anomalous Traits “Absolute Traits.”

And those universally applicable across the Universe, not limited to Bai Ge – traits where anyone uttering the phrase could achieve the effect, like an objective law – he called “Universal Traits.”

All night, Bai Ge exhausted his hard-earned stolen electricity, exchanging it for one permanent Absolute Trait and several temporary Absolute Traits.

He didn’t manifest a single Universal Trait…

The temporary traits disappeared quickly, leaving only the permanent Absolute Trait: the “Absolute Trait: Calm Command”.

This Calm Command meant that by silently reciting “calm,” his thoughts truly became supremely rational, exemplifying human composure, unaffected by external stimuli.

Basically, it was a state. This state actually existed for everyone, varying only in how long they could maintain it. As it was a very real trait, Bai Ge had sufficient Energy to permanently bestow it upon himself.

Using the command, Bai Ge could control this state. Unlike others easily influenced, he could turn it off at will, making it extremely convenient.

Without adding “absoluteness,” the Calm Command would certainly have been much cheaper than “safe cellular electricity storage.”

After all, in such a vast Universe, there must absolutely be beings capable of consciously controlling their emotions and mind state, even beings born “emotionless and heartless.”

Overall, this was more realistic than traits like “Absolute 100% Kill Two Birds With One Stone”, “Absolute 100% Kill Three Birds With One Stone”, “Forced Attack Through Barriers”, “Absolute Defense and Counterattack”, or “Get Anyone Pregnant by Staring”.

If such seemingly unscientific, unrealistic traits were possible…

A massive ambition for “Absolute Immortality” surged within Bai Ge’s heart.

“What I’m creating isn’t superpowers, but settings, rules, and the objective definitions themselves…”

“Perhaps one day, I can overturn the Universe with a single decree, rewrite Reality with a single thought.”

“And become Reality’s… Setting Weaver.”

…