The Ultimate One

Silence.

The three stared blankly at Thor, their pupils trembling slightly, as if they had even forgotten how to breathe.

Lefiya's lips trembled faintly, her voice barely audible.

"Lord Thor, what you said... that you became the observable universe constant itself, the vessel and incarnation of the laws of creation... what exactly does that mean?"

Thor chuckled softly and picked up the bottle condensed from Stardust.

"Take this bottle, for example. Its existence has many definitions and descriptions. For instance, it [has an inside and an outside], [has boundaries], and it's [very fragile]. If you drop it on the ground, it'll break easily."

"Now, suppose the definition that this bottle [has an inside and an outside] suddenly vanished. What do you think would happen to it?"

Lefiya knitted her brows tightly.

She felt her thoughts being torn apart by some concept beyond her comprehension.

If the concept of the bottle having an inside and an outside suddenly vanished... what would happen to it?

She racked her brains for a long while before asking uncertainly, "Would... would it become unable to hold drinks? Would the drink inside spill out of the bottle?"

That was the only answer her meager imagination could come up with.

Thor merely chuckled.

He gently blew on the bottle—

Whoosh.

The crystal-clear container vanished in an instant, turning into a sky full of stardust that shimmered in the dim space.

"No. This bottle never existed in the first place."

"Whether creating stars or creating a universe, neither can escape the duality of [creator and creation]. But when I completely mastered that ultimate knowledge..."

"I transcended all dualities and became the ultimate [One]."

Lefiya felt an invisible hand clench around her heart.

She tried desperately to understand what Thor meant, but all she felt was a wave of dizziness.

"I was no longer a writer. I became the grammar of narrative itself."

"I was no longer a painter, either. I became the rules of color and perspective themselves."

"The [bottles] you know, no matter who created them or how they were made..."

The stardust in the air shifted again, this time becoming countless containers of different shapes.

"They're all made from a fundamental substance and set of rules called [Aurelion Sol]."

The last fleck of Stardust went dark in his palm.

"And I became the concrete vessel for the part of the universe's laws known as [the creation and destruction of stars]."

Lefiya felt her legs grow weak.

She instinctively held her forehead, only to find her hand clammy with cold sweat.

She finally understood why Loki had been so terrified. Even the gods couldn't explain Thor's existence.

All they could do was describe him with crude words like [phenomenon], [concept], and [greatness itself].

Lefiya's thoughts struggled to turn under the immense shock.

Soon, a thought surfaced in her mind.

She abruptly raised her head and gazed at Thor in confusion, asking in a timid voice,

"Lord Thor... if you're already so... so great... then why are you still trying to regain your power?"

The air seemed to freeze.

That was right.

If Thor was already so great, why was he still trying to regain his power?

If he was the rules themselves, then wouldn't the concept of regaining power have ceased to exist from the very beginning?

But Thor's answer once again exceeded the three of them's expectations.

"I don't know."

Lefiya's breath caught at his answer.

Thor's voice was soft, yet carried a weight that seemed to transcend time and space. "The instant I became that ultimate [One], the personality known as Aurelion Sol disappeared."

"Why am I here? Why did I suddenly recall the knowledge of creating the Starry Heavens?" He shook his head. "I don't know the answers to those questions myself."

After a brief pause, his voice became clear and certain once more.

"But I know that I am Aurelion Sol."

"I am the [creation and destruction of stars] laws themselves."

His gaze refocused on Lefiya.

"And now, what I need is to obtain one million pieces of [Stardust]."

He slowly curled his fingers, clasping the Shimmering light in his palm.

"Only then will I understand everything."

The three suddenly felt their hearts grow heavy.

A sense of emptiness, as if they had witnessed a great being, spread through them.

Lefiya unconsciously rubbed the edge of the bento box with her fingertips, Thor's words still echoing in her mind.

His descriptions of the universe's true nature made her feel as though she stood at the edge of an bottomless abyss, glimpsing some truth beyond her comprehension.

She instinctively looked at Ais and saw a similar shock shimmering in her eyes.

Thor suddenly smiled with ease, breaking the impasse.

"Of course, I only have eighty-five pieces of Stardust right now. I'm still a very, very long way from getting a million. For now, let's aim to recover one hundred pieces of Stardust."

His casual words were a lifeline, pulling the three of them back to reality from that near-suffocating sense of emptiness.

Bell quietly breathed a sigh of relief, only then realizing that cold sweat had soaked his back.

As he spoke, Thor stood up and brushed the dust off his pants. "Now that we've all rested, we should continue exploring the Dungeon."

Only then did the three realize that they had somehow eaten all of Syr's awful bento.

Lefiya looked at the empty bento box and cried out in surprise, "Oh, amazing. I actually finished it all..."

When Ais saw Thor get up, she quickly rose to pack away the bento box.

Her movements were a little faster than usual, as if she hoped that keeping busy would dispel the shock in her heart.

Thor instructed them, "Don't forget to take the trash with you. Protecting the Dungeon's environment starts with me!"

Though the three were still somewhat dazed, they gradually emerged from that sense of emptiness.

That was right. What was the point of thinking about things so great and distant? They were far beyond their reach.

For now, they had to focus on the present.

Still, Thor's words had not left them entirely unaffected.

Perhaps wanting to work harder so that their patron god could regain his strength sooner, Bell threw himself into the Dungeon exploration that afternoon with even greater effort.

The red glow around his body was brighter than it had been that morning, and every charge carried an unstoppable momentum.

But when Bell attacked a Killer Ant, the dagger in his hand, worth 9,300 Valis, snapped in two!

If Ais hadn't been quick enough to rescue him, Bell might have been swallowed by the monster by now.

After being rescued, Bell stood frozen in place. He stared at the remaining hilt in his hand, at a loss, like a child who had done something wrong.

"Hmm..." Seeing this, Thor murmured, "Looks like we'll have to get Bell a weapon that suits him."

He could forge one himself, but what he lacked was money and a forge capable of containing his power.

Thor quickly thought over who might be able to help.

Soon, he thought of that [North Street Calamity], the twin-tailed goddess who had nearly killed him and made him recall the Starry Heavens.

She was probably the only one who could help, right?