〖 Bed Realm? 〗 Negary's eyes glowed slightly. Following his analysis of the world's data, he found that outside of numerous regular worlds - or rather, lesser worlds - there also existed greater worlds.
These worlds continuously radiated their influence simply by existing, causing all sorts of change towards other worlds.
For example, if one were to conduct an in-depth observation of this current SCR world, they would find that the majority of its celestial bodies were actually fake. Only the Solar System itself was real, while everything that existed outside of the Solar System were projections of greater worlds.
Negary had studied the compass hidden within A-2-15, the Lonely Armor. The compass was actually pointing towards a greater world, and he needed the guidance of celestial bodies in each world in order to find the way forward.
Negary had also hoped that he would be able to analyze a greater world's coordinates through the projected celestial bodies, only to find that this method of projection far surpassed what he could understand. Even if he could solve the compass, there was no way for him to actually obtain the corresponding information.
Whenever Negary studied the greater world corresponding to the compass, he would obtain a bit of information; but as soon as he put the compass down, that information would turn into regular astrological data pointing towards a star that was a few hundred thousand lightyears away from Earth.
With Negary's current capabilities, it was extremely simple for him to head into space, he could even manifest a body directly at the destination. However, that location in space had nothing but an illusory star system, a mere projection of a place that existed elsewhere, so there was nothing to be gained there.
This meant that all greater worlds had a certain unique property, their existence required a catalyst in order to observe; inversely, not having a catalyst meant that one would find it impossible to observe this data.
For example, the compass inside the Lonely Armor was one such catalyst, a certain entity had used this catalyst to forge a compass and implanted it inside the armor, hoping that the armor would be able to return to that greater world.
Furthermore, that entity's measures were extremely advanced. Even though Negary had thoroughly grasped how the compass worked, he currently found it impossible to extract from the armor. As soon as the time limit was reached and the path to the greater world had been determined, the armor would simply be transported to the next world. At most, Negary would only be able to hitch a ride.
Since Dim Silence Envoy claimed that he held the coordinates of a greater world in his hand, that meant he had at least one such catalyst.
〖 So Bed Realm is what you call these greater worlds? 〗 Negary didn't bother hiding his lack of knowledge. Negary currently held the absolute advantage, so he wouldn't lose anything by admitting this fact, on the other hand, trying to act prideful like he already knew what it meant would cost him an opportunity to gain more knowledge.
"Indeed, the region of this world we're currently in is called the Sand Star Stream. You can imagine it being similar to the sandbanks on the side of a river; to that end, we call our world a Sand Realm, meaning a grain of sand or dirt" Dim Silence Envoy honestly explained.
"A Bed Realm can be understood as the river bed, which is usually made up of a large number of Sand Realms. Compared to a Sand Realm, the rules of Bed Realms are stricter, their Source Energy also more abundant compared to a Sand Realm. Of course, you could also view them as hotbeds that nurture Sand Realms"
"There are also those who call our worlds Plankton Worlds and Bed Realms to be Fish Worlds; comparing lesser worlds to floating planktons and those greater worlds to be bigger fishes" Dim Silence Envoy continued: "And I just happen to know the existence of one such 'fish'"
〖 If that's the case, you should have also discovered a certain fact. Due to the strict rules of Bed Realms, their information is under severe regulation, tightly bound together with those worlds' material substances. Without material substance to use as a catalyst, it is impossible to accurately understand those worlds' information 〗
"What do you say I use that world's coordinates to exchange for my freedom?" Dim Silence smiled, then actively revealed a piece of information from his mind as proof that he did indeed have the greater world's catalyst.
〖 We have a deal 〗 Negary happily accepted. This was a simple exchange of benefits, as well as a gamble. Dim Silence had bargaining chips, so he used those chips to exchange for a certain level of rights. If his measures were sufficient, he might be able to turn things on their heads, if not, he would be consumed by Negary.
The existence of contracts only mattered when there was a way to enforce them. When both sides of the contract were equal, it could be properly enforced without issues; but as soon as the scales were tilted, contracts would be no different from empty words that could be dismissed at any moment. Even so-called binding covenants were contracts that used the power of a third party to even the scales.
As their deal was made, Dim Silence openly used the world's power to transmigrate himself and headed to another world, saying that he left the Bed Realm's catalyst there. Negary only let him go because he couldn't guarantee being able to fish out the clues of the greater world from Dim Silence's head.
Naturally, Negary had also set up various measures on Dim Silence's body before he left. This so-called transaction between them was merely a gamble to see whether or not Dim Silence would be able to escape from Negary's measures or gain enough strength to enforce the contract.
If he couldn't escape, then his only choice would be to honestly give the greater world's catalyst to Negary; if he failed to gain enough strength, then Negary would immediately dismiss their deal and consume Dim Silence right after he obtained the catalyst.
Or rather, if Dim Silence hadn't mentioned greater worlds right away, Negary would have immediately consumed him and made him 'join' Negary.
〖 This world has basically fallen into my grasp 〗 Negary's body turned into golden beads and flew away, but none of the people in the bar even noticed anything unusual.
The parallel world structure had already been optimized by Negary so that it would be able to operate perfectly without Negary's maintenance.
〖 I will probably need to reform this world well, both as a way of retreat and a culturing ground for talented individuals 〗
…
If one was able to observe the SCR world as a whole, they would find that there was a single central axis among the numerous parallel worlds, with all the parallel worlds gathering around the axis into a single point, constantly pushing that point forward.
That point was the outermost layer of the SCR world, as well as where the modern SCR Foundation resided. They were currently managing the vast number of anomalies, taking any and all of them into containment as per usual.
The difference was that the majority of anomalies were outlier products from each parallel world, and each anomaly they contained was them helping Negary trim the parallel world structure.
Inside the zone of darkness, the E5 council had gathered once more, a certain member of the council with a lame leg made a suggestion.
"The threat posed by the anomalies are becoming increasingly greater. This timeline alternation almost overturned the world completely. I suggest we form a special Mobile Task Force (MTF) who specifically acts in secret, granting them access to anomalies during combat with top-level authority"
The SCR Foundation had always had various armed forces under their command, but none of them had the right to hold onto any anomalies for a prolonged period of time; nor did they have a particularly high level of authority, always under constant supervision during their usage of such anomalies. Furthermore, they were not allowed to form groups under normal circumstances, for example, the Ultra Space-Time Squad was also a temporary squad that would be disbanded after they returned from their mission.
"What about the selection of personnel?" another E5 council member asked. For an organization in power like them, the thing they were afraid of the most would be for there to be issues with their members.
"Activate the unique anomaly S-2-4: Valhalla to summon heroes from the parallel worlds"
"I concur…"
…
Very quickly, the unique MTF was formed, gathering members from each parallel world.
"Is this the place?" as the golden light subsided, a lady wearing a veil appeared inside a large hall.
[Miss Katherine, if you please, leave the great hall through the main gate, thank you for your cooperation. You have been recruited by Valhalla] a voice announced from a nearby loudspeaker.
I really must say, the Hermit Order has given me quite a pleasant surprise.
Katherine smiled brightly in her heart, as a Mysticism maniac, what could bring her more pleasure than a completely new world?
I heard that quite a few members of the Hermit Order had been summoned here; it seems like this place will soon become the nurturing ground for the Hermit Order's talents.
Katherine was easily able to see through this.
