About five minutes later, under everyone's expectant gazes, Deathstroke, who sat cross-legged in the little rooftop garden, gradually stirred. The shimmering light around him also slowly receded into his body.
His closed eye opened as well, but his expression was somewhat conflicted, with none of the joy of success.
"How did it go, Slade?"
Barry flashed to Deathstroke's side and considerately draped the man's thick arm around his own neck.
"It worked, but not completely." Su Ming pulled a cigarette from his waist pouch, put it between his lips, and lit it. "The four great Origin Forces can indeed be used together, but they formed a relatively advanced composite energy that can't establish a connection with The Source."
"Uh, can you put that more simply?" Barry scratched his head. This was a new topic for him too; after all, no one had ever gathered all four forces before.
"Yes. Put simply, it's like I bought a shovel, but all I received was the handle, without the shovelhead."
Su Ming, who liked speaking in analogies, smiled and shook his head. He patted The Flash on the back to indicate that he did not need support.
"This stick in my hand is useful—pretty useful, even—but if I want to dig a drainage ditch now, this stick won't do the job."
That was the situation. After gathering the four great forces, Su Ming used Tenth Metal's ability to absorb energy, along with Quantum Concepts' conceptual means of creating things from nothing, to blend the four forces together within his body.
He had gained a new power with functions very similar to Quantum Concepts. If he wished, this power could even create intelligent beings that defied common sense out of thin air; alternatively, it granted him a tiny bit of "editing permission" to rewrite