Heaven Will Battlefield, Northern Quadrant:
Designer sat cross-legged in the void, surrounded by countless formations. A golden spear floated before him as he focused on refining it. The spear has the name of [God Slayer], aptly named to show their respect to the two unparalleled geniuses they were going to kill with it.
Designer was very focused, engraving Divine Runes on the spear. Strange energy could be seen entering the spear, and the potent pulse it emanated was a display of its ever-growing strength.
However, Designer had a frown on his face during the entire process. So, after a few hours, he stopped the refining process.
"What's wrong?" asked Parasyte, who noticed the anomaly.
"We might need Tong Ruobing's help, after all," said Designer, immediately making Parasyte frown. He gazed at the somewhat unkempt young man before him before saying in a stern voice:
"I know you fancy her, but this is not the time to think with your lower body. She is untrustworthy, and we must put the mission above anything else."
A sharp aura suddenly emanated from Designer after hearing these words. He looked at Parasyte, his eyes completely cold and indifferent:
"It seems that becoming the mission leader made you forget yourself. Who do you think you're talking to? How dare you question my professional integrity?"
Designer has always been calm during this mission, always following orders without questioning or complaining. As such, it appeared his status in the group was the lowest.
However, it was the opposite. In the upper dimension, he had the highest status among all the spies sent to the lower dimension. And the reason for this is due to his accomplishment in Weapon Refining.
In the Eternal Ascension World, the size of the upper dimension is trillions of times larger than the lower dimension, which is composed of 3800 Heaven Will Worlds, 100,000s Greater Thousand Worlds in every World Community, hundreds of millions of Middle Thousand Worlds, and billions of Lower Thousand World. And this did not consider the Mortal Worlds with little to no Spiritual Qi.
With such a large size, the upper dimension's population is simply unquantifiable. Yet, despite its size, the number of people with talent capable of creating an Emperor Level Weapon or Talisman while still being moral will not surpass a hundred.
Designer is one of these rare hundred, thus guaranteeing his status. Because of his value, the Paragons offered him many benefits upon the success of this mission, including the authorization to become a Paragon and one of the rulers.
Designer was intelligent, so he did not wholly believe in that promise. However, he knew he would still have plenty of benefits–including becoming a peak Empyrean.
With his promising future, he would not compromise everything because of his fondness for Tong Ruobing. He was attracted to her in the first place due to her talent and the benefit she could bring to him.
He knew Tong Ruobing's talent was not weaker than hers, and maybe she was more talented. His accomplishments were miles ahead of her because he had access to knowledge of a civilization extremely more advanced than her.
So, with advantages in knowledge and resources, he can achieve things beyond her wildest dream. However, Designer knew how much someone of Tong Ruobing's talent could flourish in the upper dimension.
So, he wanted to woo her and became her Dao Companion. Then, they could work together to thrive under the protection and guarantee of the Paragons.
"I…I didn't mean that," replied Parasyte, flustered by the terrifying aura released by Designer. He also remembered the latter's status as a genius Weapon Refiner praised and worshiped by many.
"What I meant to say–"
"I don't care what you meant to say," said Designer bluntly. "Before the plan succeeded, I warned you of the lower dimension's suppression of Emperor Artifacts."
"True."
Emperor Artifacts are a crucial aspect of an Emperor's strength and play a more significant role in battles in the upper dimension. Heavenly Dao designed the rules of the lower dimension to favor the Emperor's Path. As such, there are many restrictions in the lower dimension not applicable after ascending, one of which is the suppression of Emperor Artifacts.
In the upper dimension, one of the most common ways for people to become Insurgents is through powerful weapons. For example, a 9-Leaf Immortal Venerable can easily defeat a Third Class or Second Class Emperor with a potent Emperor Artifact.
And the only reason lower leaves cannot achieve the same result is that they do not have enough Immortal Qi inside their bodies to fully utilize the strength of the artifact. They could still achieve the same effect as long as they found another treasure or some special technique that allowed them to store vast quantities of energy.
And the higher the artifact, the more powerful its strength. Any Emperor with more than 40% Grand Dao Source can injure a weak Empyrean if they sneak attack the latter with an Empyrean Artifact.
Of course, the price would be the death of the Emperor as the artifact sucks them dry. However, since they are eternal, it's not much of a price if they are cornered and want a way to save their lives.
Then, there are Paragon Artifacts that are strategic weapons. These things are so powerful that they still significantly affect the current political landscape of the Eternal Ascension World.
In general, artifacts play a greater role in the upper dimension without the restriction of their power in the lower dimension. In the upper dimension, Innate Supreme Treasures are on par with Empyrean Artifacts and Chaos Supreme Treasures rivaling Paragon Artifacts.
These weapons are Innate Treasures, born between Heaven and Earth. They usually have more unique abilities. Although they are generally weaker than Empyrean and Paragon Weapons, the cost of using them is significantly less, so many people sought them out.
Because of the importance of artifacts in battle, Weapon Refiners of Tier 10 and above are greatly sought after–especially talented individuals like Designer, who has a high chance of refining Paragon Artifacts while still in the Empyrean Realm.
Most Acquired Artifacts are created by cultivators who slowly elevate their Proving Dao Artifacts; it's extremely difficult to create high-level artifacts without cultivating the Refining Grand Dao Source as a primary or secondary Dao.
However, Proving Dao Artifacts are restricted by their owner's Dao, thus limiting their versatility. For example, an Emperor who cultivates Fire Dao will have a fire-based artifact. If he wanted an artifact with another attribute or Dao, he would need a Weapon Refiner to create it for them.
…
"You never explained how Tong Ruobing will help in our situation?" asked Yu Zhou, who wanted to alleviate the atmosphere.
"It's not feasible for us to activate this weapon without paying a terrible price. So, we need more people to bear the burden and reduce the negative effects," explained Designer.
"Tong Ruobing has an acquired Source Rune Physique, making her the perfect person to bear most of the brunt of the formation."
The group needs a unique formation to activate the weapon.
"Furthermore, she seemed to have a connection to an Emperor Tier Talisman, making the situation ideal for her."
"You have a point, but- -"
"I'm not done," he said, squinting his eyes, and Parasyte immediately stopped talking.
"The Myriad Emperor World's Heavenly Dao should greatly suppress us as what we are doing is considered technically interfering in the Heaven Will Battle. So, it's best to have someone like Tong Ruobing or Yan Guowei–who are native to this plane–to control this weapon and reduce Heavenly Dao's influence."
In truth, there is something Designer did not mention. The process of creating this weapon was extremely difficult at first due to the world's suppression. However, not long before the final battle, this suppression suddenly decreased before stopping.
He found this change odd but did not think too much about it; he thought the Paragons must have intervened to ensure the success of their mission.
Designer further proved this theory after detecting no suppression in the battlefield when setting up the final arrangements for the weapon.
"Heavenly Dao would indeed favor the natives of this world–even though we acquired an identity and are now technically citizens of this plane," said Yu Zhou with a frown. "Regardless, Parasyte has a point: Tong Ruobing cannot be trusted."
"I'm fully aware of this, so I made precautions," said Designer. "Both Tong Ruobing and Yang Guowei will not have control of the central core of the formation.
"They will only be batteries and users. Plus, we can take this opportunity to drain their stamina and prevent them from having the strength to betray us."
"It seems you have considered everything," nodded Yu Zhou, who gave the latter a look. He did not know whether Designer's objectives were purely for the mission or he had selfish desires.
Regardless, he knew now was not the time to fight among each other. Furthermore, Designer did warn them of this issue beforehand.
"Fine, let's use your plan," said Parasyte as a bug crawled out from his cheek and entered his eyes.
(AN: This plot point should have occurred after Feng Heng's fight. However, I do not feel like writing any battle scenes today, so I moved it ahead.)
