Chapter 62: "Like you wouldn't believe!"
16th of May, 2011
Brockton Bay, Bonesaw Alice's hidden lab
Like every day since her sleep schedule got completely upended by her vigilantism, Aisha slowly wakes up with a soulful groan. And, just like usual, it takes her a solid minute to start parsing whatever the hell is happening in her surroundings as she stretches this way and that under the bed sheets, a sequence of events that eventually comes to an end as she straightens while wiping the gunk out of her eyes.
Stifling a yawn, Aisha starts to sit herself in the bed properly while distractedly scratching at her sides, eyes roaming around Boney's lab–
The stranger freezes.
–only for said eyes to land on the Wet Tinker as she lays mostly bare and with her stomach open on the surgical bed, four of her little helpers surrounding her as they pry at her internal organs, the blonde's Big Sister overlooking the processus with a critical eye.
"What the fuck?!" The spectacle is, of course, just what Aisha's sleepiness needed to die a swift death as she finally starts registering the wet and squelchy sounds and the heavy metallic tang of blood in the air.
"Oh? You're awake!" her crazy friend fucking perks up from her position, and it's only because the cat eared woman next to her stops her from doing so that she doesn't wave, "Hi Aisha!"
Aisha's mouth flaps open and close a few times until reason finally overrides the ickiness she feels at knowing she's less than five meters away from someone undergoing surgery and she expresses her concern.
In her own way.
"Again: what the fuck, Boney?!" she scrambles out of the bed while simultaneously dragging the comforter around her mostly nude form to preserve what little modesty she still has left after crashing under the roof of Bet's most lethal naturist for the better part of a month, "Are you hurt? Did someone try to have a go at you?"
"Language," the other girl tuts, a little frown on her face while her guardian does her now standard chuckle-purr thing, "And no! Nothing of the sort! It's just that I had to do some maintenance on something a little sensitive, so I couldn't really wait until you were gone like usual, then I got a bout of inspiration and may or may not have fugued a little and I just couldn't wait to install it!" the word-vomit eventually comes to an end with her friend beaming a smile her way.
Aisha's jaws click shut as she lets the explanation fully sink in, then promptly starts thinking about how she feels about the whole thing.
She settles on 'mildly pissed'.
"You– Don't scare me like that, you dumbass!" she feels her eyebrow twitching as she glares at the blonde, "Do you have any idea how it looked like to me to see all of that–" she gestures vaguely at the still-ongoing processus, pliers-tipped metallic legs keeping her friend's stomach open as the skull-shaped bots chitter to themselves, "–first thing in the morning?!"
Boney head-tilts from her position on the surgical bed, before looking back at her guardian in very visible confusion.
"... It's surprising?" she hazards while locking eyes with Aisha once again.
The Stranger's expression turns a little deadpan at that.
"Yes, yes it is," she drawls, before sighing, "And also mildly concerning for the people who care about you, fucking hell!"
"Ah," the other girl nods in understanding, all solemn-like, before turning a bit contrite, "My bad, then. But I got excited!"
Thinking about it, it must be some kind of miracle that this is the first time it happened, Aisha inwardly sighs, one hand coming to comb her hair out of the way as she looks back at the squirming Wet Tinker.
"S'fine, I guess," she sighs aloud as her hand drops back alongside her body, "Just… put a partition or something next time, please?"
"I'll do that!" the blonde happily chirps.
Aisha carefully does not comment on the fact that Boney's sis signs 'she forgets, I do' outside of her field of view, though her lips twitch a little.
"What was so urgent anyway?" she ends up asking after a beat, her curiosity rising to the forefront now that the initial fright – and disgust, though an undercurrent of it remains – has left.
The Stranger watches as the Wet Tinker blinks owlishly a couple of times, before darting a slightly distressed look her Big Sister's way. The nudists looks back at Aisha over the surgical bed, one clawed digit tapping at her bottom lip for a moment as she seems to mentally deliberate over something, before eventually shrugging and signing 'fine' to the both of them, prompting Boney to slump a little in what Aisha is pretty sure is relief.
"I had to take care of Sibby's body," her friend eventually says as she angles her head back in her direction.
Once more, Aisha takes a hot second to let her words register, before alternatively looking between the strongest brute in the world – looking perfectly pristine and untouched – and her very much still ongoing surgery, considerably squishier friend.
Bet's most famous streaker chuckle-purrs a little at that before starting to sign something once again.
'This not real real,' she explains while pointing at herself, before adding, 'this real real' while pointing at something inside Boney's open stomach.
Aisha tries to understand what the woman just told her, fails, asks herself if her curiosity is worth looking at the insides of someone else's body and very understandably ends up waffling about it for a beat.
Knowing about Boney's whole deal didn't mean that she was willing to embrace it fully, after all.
"I'll explain, but you can't tell anyone, alright?" fortunately, the blonde starts talking before Aisha tries to take a peek and she can only solemnly nod back under the hard look she's giving her.
"Sibby's body, what she shows to the world, is a projection," the Wet Tinker elaborates once she's certain that Aisha will keep her mouth shut, "And this–" she points to a table with a half-opened metallic sphere on it, "–is where her true body, which is mostly her brain nowadays, was before I updated her casing!"
"That's…," the Stranger starts, eyes wide as she alternatively looks between the grinning cat woman and the table, "A lot to take in, gotta admit."
She pauses, before adding.
"But please explain to me why you're stuffing her into your guts?" she pointedly and a little fretfully asks.
'Safety child' the woman signs quickly, somehow managing to convey gruffness with gestures alone as her slitted electric blue eyes lock intensely with Aisha's.
"So she's always with me of course!" Boney explains further with a little scoff, "I mean, the last time we got separated, she almost died, sooo…"
The Stranger blinks, before realizing aloud.
"The backpack," she says, "The thing she wore on her back against Leviathan, that's where her 'body' used to be, which means…," she lets the events of that fateful day replay in her mind before gasping, "That's why you took a break when she came back!"
"Uh huh," the blonde nods back, "She took a lot of damage when the sea meanie hit her during the fight, and since someone–" she throws the cat eared woman a pointed glare, "–thought that she had the time to kill him before getting fixed up, I had no time to waste once she finally made her way back to me!"
Which is when Aisha is treated to the vision of the lethal killing machine in the shape of a fluffy woman shuffling on her feet in visible discomfort, ears flat on her head and tail batting lamely at her back.
Damn, I should have taken a picture! she mentally bemoans while drinking the view with flummoxed fascination, I feel like it was a one-time thing!
"Anyway…" the blonde drawls a little while squinting at her Big Sister, before locking eyes with Aisha once again, "Her range is way bigger than it used to be now, so it makes sense to keep her braincase as close to me as possible, which means…" she trails off meaningfully.
"Which means inside of you," the Stranger groans, "God I hate that it makes so much sense."
"Why?" comes the innocently asked question, complete with a head tilt and echoed non-verbally shortly after by an equally puzzled gesture from the Brute.
"Nevermind," she huffs while crossing her arms under her bust, "So, you upgraded it?"
"I did!" the blonde perks up once again, "See, having to update the casing from the hodgepodge fix I made got me thinking. Sibby's brain–" she jerks her head a little toward her guardian, "–is in my body," she tilts her chin downward as much as she could considering her position, "but she doesn't share my senses. So I went ahead and fixed that! I mean, all I needed was to add a few nervous outputs to the casing and then–"
"Boney, please, use small words, I just woke up," Aisha low-key begs while slowly rubbing one of her temples, "So, you're sharing senses now?"
"Not now now, but we will once I'm finished!" she beams back, "She'll be able to see and hear what happens next to me when she needs to or is just plain worried because she's a bit of a mother hen like that, and occasionally taste and smell what I'm eating when she feels like it!"
That sounds like one hell of an invasion of privacy to me, but whatever rocks their boat I guess, the Stranger muses while outwardly slowly nodding.
"By the way, the truce ends Sunday night," the blonde suddenly says out of the blue.
"No shit?" Aisha blinks in surprise while inwardly feeling relieved that they've drifted away from the previous topic, "That soon?"
"You're aware that the standard truce is only seventy-two hours long?" her friend quirks an amused eyebrow her way.
"I mean, yeah," she wasn't and doesn't have the impression that she successfully fooled the two if their amused expressions are anything to go by, "But I thought it was going to drag on, what with all the rebuilding effort currently going on!"
"... You're getting bored, aren't you?" Boney amusedly remarks.
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Aisha groans out-loud, wrenching a chuckle-purr and a girlish laugh out of the duo, "Nobody tried anything after most of the heroes – and yours truly – fell on them like a ton of bricks wednesday night, and I'm not even allowed to kick Nazis' asses! I just… mindlessly roam around, occasionally scare the crap out of a mugger or beat the hell out of a rapist, but that's it!"
"Again, you're aware that this is supposed to be a good thing, right?" the blonde points out, the corner of her lips trembling as she struggles to repress her laughter.
"But it's so boring!" the Stranger does not whine, no, she merely puts some emphasis on her opinion, "I'm a kick-ass vigilante wearing a power suit! I have my needs! I want some action dammit!"
A flicker of white and blue light and a too-strong and too-solid hand is suddenly patting Aisha on her head in a textbook 'there, there' manner.
She very maturely scowls at the naked Brute while petulantly crossing her arms under her bust once again.
"Well, you should be happy that you'll be able to go back to your usual schedule on Sunday, then." Boney comments, "And I admit I was starting to get bored too anyway."
"Really?" Aisha asks while futilely attempting to bat away a hand that won't move if her owner doesn't want it to, "Isn't the hospital still kinda full? I know it looks like it each time I go near it at night."
"Oh, it is." the blonde nods, before adding, "Full of normies in any case. And most of them aren't desperate enough to let Bonesaw take a look at their booboos as it turns out. Since I've already dealt with all the very complicated cases that Panacea wouldn't look at, I've been getting freer and freer with my time. I spent most of the afternoon talking shop with Armsmaster and Doctor Foreman, but we honestly did very little else."
"So you'll be back to holling yourself here soon enough too, then," the Stranger slowly nods.
"Yup," her friend chirps, "Which is a good thing since I have some very important projects on the backburner!" she pauses before adding with a little frown, "I'm going to miss speaking with the good doctor though. The man is a smart cookie and he nearly gets it!"
Once again, she pauses as she seems to consider something.
"Boney?" Aisha probes, an eyebrow raised.
"It's probably nothing," she ends up saying after a beat, "But he made a funny face when we got the news earlier. I guess I'm just wondering why?"
"Uh-huh," the Stranger hums, before jerking her head toward the cloning vats, "Speaking of projects, what about those?"
"Hmm?" her friend answers in kind, her attention drifting toward the wall where the two containers stand, "Oh! Left is done, right isn't! I have to get it just right and I have the feeling that it's going to take a while. Plus, I'm still missing a critical piece!"
"A piece?" Aisha blinks, "Like what?"
"It's a surprise!" the Wet Tinker answers, eyes all crinkled up in amusement, the dark glee she seems to positively radiate wrenching a shiver out of the Stranger, "But I got a good feeling about it!"
"... Right," she answers, not really knowing what else to say when her friend gets in a mood.
She looks at the vats once again, before asking aloud.
"So you're giving them to her when?"
A quick gesture from the nearby Brute answers the question.
'tonight'
Well, Aisha mentally snorts, I guess someone is going to have one hell of a scare when they open their door tonight.
Creating Heavenly Laws
Lin Yuan's mindscape held a "renewed" Gate of Myriad Realms.
Compared to before his advancement to the 12th rank, the Gate itself had not changed in overall size. Yet its details were now much richer, ancient mottled patterns emerging, exuding an endlessly mysterious aura that transcended all timelines.
"Now, this Gate of Myriad Realms probably resembles the true one more closely."
A ripple stirred in Lin Yuan's thoughts. He sensed that the Gate gave off a feeling of supremacy over everything, transcending all constraints.
The reason for this transformation was that Lin Yuan's previous life essence had been too low; the projection of the Gate he could bear at that time was incomplete. Now, with his breakthrough into the 12th rank, his life essence had likewise evolved, enabling him to accept more information about the true Gate of Myriad Realms.
"The Gate of Myriad Realms lies outside the timeline. Even those 13th-rank Time Beings peering into countless past and future timelines wouldn't spot it."
Such was Lin Yuan's silent musing.
A 13th-rank Time Being already possesses some features of a perfect Time Lifeform and can observe myriad timelines. To them, there are almost no secrets. Anything they want to know, they can trace through the timeline's origin.
But as for the Gate of Myriad Realms? It transcends all timelines, so even if 13th-rank Time Beings stood right here in Lin Yuan's mind, facing this very Gate, they would remain unable to detect it in the slightest.
Lin Yuan alone could perceive the Gate and sense its aura, solely because he was the owner of the Gate of Myriad Realms. Aside from him, even those Time Beings could not glimpse the Gate at all.
"Let's see what's changed."
Lin Yuan sent a wisp of consciousness into the Gate, receiving anew the information within.
He wasn't too concerned with the Gate's finer details. Rather, he wanted to know what new functions it now possessed.
Buzz.
Vast streams of information poured into his mind.
Because Lin Yuan's life essence had ascended, he was capable of containing more of the true Gate's being. Naturally, that meant he could wield more of its abilities.
A while later.
Lin Yuan slowly opened his eyes, seeming deep in thought.
"So that's how it is."
A smile lit his face.
By accepting the Gate's new information, Lin Yuan roughly understood its updated capabilities.
First, for all those many worlds Lin Yuan had visited by traveling through the Gate, their coordinate channels were now entirely locked in place. Henceforth, if Lin Yuan wanted to descend once more, he would pay no price in Source Power; he could simply do so.
Furthermore, descending in the future would only require a small fraction of his mind, rather than his entire will and consciousness.
In simple terms, whenever Lin Yuan journeyed to some other dimensional world through the Gate, he no longer had to settle his true body first or transfer his consciousness in full. Instead, he could use an avatar-like form to traverse, allowing his real self to act simultaneously.
"That's a pretty good perk."
Lin Yuan nodded slightly, thinking there would be no more abrupt interruptions of his travels.
Prior to breaking through to the 12th rank, he had not dared attempt any dimensional journeys because of the possibility that trouble might arise on his true body's side during the trip and he would need to return instantly.
The flow of time often varies drastically between the primary universe and a visited world, which could lead to unforeseen complications.
"Source Worlds…"
Lin Yuan looked toward the 33 world coordinates deep within the Gate.
Upon reaching the 12th rank, he now saw over a dozen more of those 33 coordinates more clearly.
"Boundary-breaking source energy!"
Another of the Gate's newly revealed abilities sprang to his mind.
It involved the use of Boundary-breaking source energy.
Previously, Lin Yuan had only a few ways to harness it: one was traveling between worlds, and another was taking objects from the main universe into a visited world, or vice versa.
Now, though, it held many more possibilities.
For instance, if Lin Yuan once again chose to traverse a Source World in the form of a consciousness descent, while initially weak, he could tap into Boundary-breaking source energy to rapidly recover his strength. Theoretically, so long as the Boundary-breaking source energy was sufficient, he could instantly regain his full power, perfectly replicating the body he possessed in the main universe.
Bear in mind that Lin Yuan's physique contains a nearly immeasurable foundation, so replicating it would normally not be a matter of resources alone.
Yet the Gate's Boundary-breaking source energy can replicate it flawlessly.
In truth, this does not apply solely to Lin Yuan's physical body. Any item—be it a weapon or a treasure—could be duplicated exactly by Lin Yuan so long as he fully comprehended it.
All that matters is the quantity of Boundary-breaking source energy required.
"This ability is terrifying," Lin Yuan marveled in his heart.
Duplicating all tangible or intangible things in existence? What sort of outrageous technique is that?
If one day Lin Yuan truly comprehended the Chaos Void, would he then be able to replicate an entire Chaos Void using Boundary-breaking source energy?
Beyond replication, Boundary-breaking source energy also offers means of escape, offense, and so forth—a genuinely multipurpose power source.
"At my body's current level, if I wanted to replicate it perfectly using Boundary-breaking source energy, I'd need around 2,730,000 strands of Boundary-breaking source energy."
Lin Yuan did a brief assessment of himself, lips twitching slightly.
2,730,000 strands isn't actually enormous. Going by the accumulation rate of one strand every ninety days, that would be about 700,000 years.
"There's no need to replicate my entire body."
He shook his head. Going to other worlds by dimensional travel mainly served to study the unique laws of those realms and to follow their cultivation paths. If he replicated his entire body from the main universe, most of those new cultivation paths would effectively be set in stone. The greatest benefit of traveling via the Gate would be lost.
Right now, the key advantage of Boundary-breaking source energy for Lin Yuan is that it dramatically boosts his survival in the early stages of descending into a realm.
At least in the beginning, if he encountered a crisis beyond his power to handle, he could rely on Boundary-breaking source energy to flee or buy time to develop. With his Unrivaled Insight, so long as he's given enough time, he can easily reach that world's upper limit.
"Now I can even use the Gate here in the main universe," Lin Yuan mused.
Whether in the primary universe or in the Chaos Void, so long as he invests some Boundary-breaking source energy, he can briefly activate the Gate and travel anywhere he wishes.
In theory, no one can bar the Gate of Myriad Realms.
"But unless it's absolutely necessary, I'd rather not use it," Lin Yuan reflected.
This Gate stands outside every timeline, so those 13th-rank Time Beings have no way to observe it directly.
But if he actively unleashes the Gate in the Chaos Void, even for an instant, it would leave subtle traces.
Those traces exist in the past, and once a Time Being peeks into that past, they might detect them.
Then they could trace the present and future, and even if they still couldn't locate the Gate precisely, they could probably deduce Lin Yuan's approximate whereabouts.
That might create real trouble.
Lin Yuan's dimensional travels rely on the Gate along the timeline, producing no visible ripple in the Chaos Void itself; actively invoking it, however, is effectively bringing the Gate's aura into the Chaos Void.
Those are two entirely different scenarios.
Having reached the 12th rank, the Gate of Myriad Realms had awakened numerous abilities, but the main three are enough to note.
"This is an enormous help," Lin Yuan thought in satisfaction.
"From any angle, the Gate has become much more powerful."
In particular, the deeper applications of Boundary-breaking source energy gave him an additional trump card.
"My total Boundary-breaking source energy is too small right now," Lin Yuan sighed.
He currently has fewer than 3,000 strands in total, mostly because he hasn't existed very long. If he'd had hundreds of billions or trillions of years like many 12th-rank beings in the universe, he'd have far more Boundary-breaking source energy stocked up.
Moreover, thanks to the Gate's new capabilities, if he ever had an ample supply of Boundary-breaking source energy, he could replicate numerous resources for cultivation. Of course, replicating resources with it is extremely extravagant. Except for a few crucial items, Lin Yuan wouldn't bother.
Human civilization, Third Core Stronghold.
Inside a grand palace, nine great thrones were occupied by nine figures, the nine Strongest ones.
At the center of those thrones, a new seat had formed: the Tenth Great Throne.
Suddenly.
Lin Yuan appeared, seating himself on that newly formed throne.
"Milky Way Star Lord, you've arrived."
Xuanyuan, the Strongest one, smiled, and the other eight Strongest ones turned their attention to Lin Yuan.
Though Lin Yuan had only just become a Strongest one, he was already, beyond any doubt, the greatest among them, possessing power at the Path-Clearing peak—unbeatable in this universe.
"Yes," Lin Yuan replied quietly from his seat, feeling a tinge of emotion.
He had visited this Third Core Stronghold before. Back then, he could only stand below, looking up in awe at the nine Strongest ones. In their eyes, he was just a tiny figure.
"Since the Milky Way Star Lord is here, let's get to the main topic." Xuanyuan's face turned serious.
"The main topic?" Lin Yuan understood.
Anything that required a Strongest one's input—especially all of them together—had to be a significant matter for human civilization. Usually, trivial issues were handled by the Three Goddesses alone.
"Ever since the Milky Way Star Lord advanced to the 12th rank, those peak-level species have begun shrinking their territories."
Xuanyuan explained.
The other Strongest ones nodded.
They had all noticed how the eleven peak species were reacting. With an invincible Milky Way Star Lord on humanity's side, it made sense for those species to do so.
"As they pull back, all those 12th-rank individuals are getting in touch with me, seeking peaceful coexistence with our civilization—and willing to pay a certain price," Xuanyuan continued.
"Peaceful coexistence?" The Strongest ones chuckled among themselves.
Realizing they couldn't match the Milky Way Star Lord, they wished to make peace. It seemed a reasonable choice.
"Furthermore, many powerful civilizations, ordinary civilizations, and solitary ancient gods wish to pledge allegiance to us," Xuanyuan added.
Lin Yuan's presence exerted terrifying pressure. If even a race with a 12th-rank champion shrank away, it was only natural that lesser powers or lone gods would be nervous.
"Milky Way Star Lord, this matter is in your hands," Xuanyuan said, looking toward Lin Yuan.
Those powerful races and 12th-rank experts were reacting entirely because of Lin Yuan, so it was his opinion that mattered most.
"Accept the powerful races, ordinary races, and ancient gods who have no major grudge against human civilization," Lin Yuan said after a moment's thought.
Yes, the starry sky is said to house countless races, but in practice, the battlefield belongs to the twelve peak-level forces. Countless other powerful or ordinary races can only flow with the tide, with hardly any power over their fate.
The same goes for lone ancient gods.
"As for those peak-level forces? Apart from the Calamity Race, if they wish to reconcile with us, that's fine, but they must surrender ninety percent of their 12th-rank weapons and 12-star-tier treasures and afterward live within the region we designate. If they don't accept, let's just annihilate them."
Lin Yuan spoke easily.
He specifically excluded the Calamity Race because human civilization had rarely clashed with them, so there was little animosity. Moreover, the two Calamity Race 12th-rank experts had given him warnings.
Even if those warnings weren't actually necessary—since, without them, those 12th-rank beings could do nothing to Lin Yuan—at least the Calamity Race had shown good will.
Plus, the Calamity Race's background was deeper than expected, and that wooden hut of Chaos-level was not something Lin Yuan was certain he could deal with.
"Ninety percent of their 12th-rank weapons and 12th-rank treasures?" Xuanyuan and the other eight exchanged glances.
It was domineering indeed.
Lin Yuan's demand included the weapons and treasures personally wielded by those 12th-rank beings.
It was basically carving the flesh right off them.
"They may not accept that..." Xuanyuan hesitated.
"No matter," Lin Yuan said calmly.
"They'll accept."
"Alright, I'll pass your demands along," Xuanyuan nodded, preparing to contact the 12th-rank experts of the great peak races.
"Exclude the Calamity Race," Lin Yuan reminded him.
"Understood," Xuanyuan replied.
"The Calamity Race requires caution," the other Strongest ones concurred.
"The Calamity Race likely hails from the Chaos Void," Lin Yuan remarked.
"The Chaos Void?" All the Strongest ones were taken aback; they had assumed the Calamity Race came from the previous cosmic epoch, never suspecting this.
"That's right," Lin Yuan confirmed, now able to see more hidden truths upon reaching the 12th rank. That included details about the Calamity Race.
"One of my avatars has already arrived at their domain," Lin Yuan said with a slight smile.
Deep within the Calamity Race's territory.
A mysterious, unknowable place.
Here stood only a simple wooden hut, floating in the depths of space like an eternal fixture.
All at once.
An invisible force gathered, coalescing into a figure—Lin Yuan.
"We greet the Milky Way Star Lord."
The moment Lin Yuan appeared, the wooden door opened on its own, and two figures emerged, bowing lightly before him.
...