Chapter 227: Enlightenment 2

A distillation apparatus takes in a substance and extracts from it numerous new substances that make up the original material. But the Law of Derivation went deeper than this — it wasn't merely about breaking things down or separating them from one another. It extracted their very deepest properties, even things that couldn't be broken down, even if that thing was a material, a concept, or an idea!

If you fed it a single thing, the Law of Derivation would keep replicating and breaking that thing down, drawing out its properties until nothing remained left to derive... and this was something that depended on the strength of the user.

And if you fed it two things, it would replicate and extract for you the combined result of both those things together, and the more things you fed into it, the more powerful the results it gave you — results that could even surpass the original thing on its own!

But this wasn't because the Law of Derivation simply produced things stronger than the original for no reason — it was because the result of fusing all those things together was stronger than any single thing alone.

The Law of Derivation was like a machine — you fed materials into it, and it produced for you a new material carrying several compatible properties drawn from all those materials!

And here we arrive at the second important piece of information — why were the Trees of Abyss so powerful in terms of combat strength, when the true advantage of the Law of Derivation didn't actually lie in combat?

And here Vaelor realized something extremely important. It was true that the advantage of the Law of Derivation didn't lie specifically in combat, but it was like a vessel — you could fill it with whatever you wished... and this was the true advantage that set it apart from all other laws... and, likewise, its most terrifying advantage as well!

If you looked closely at the bodies of the Trees of Abyss and pondered them deeply, you'd find that their bodies were among the most complex bodies in the entire universe — starting with their ability to transform into a giant Treant, to their bodies containing the greatest number of diverse cell types in the universe. In addition to possessing one of the most intricate digestive systems among all creatures... and the more powerful rocks and ores they consumed, the stronger and more resilient their bodies became... and from this arose one of their bloodline's most famous abilities... the Armament technique!

All of these things made the bodies of the Trees of Abyss the perfect vessel for the Law of Derivation... but unfortunately, there is no perfect creature in this universe!

The bodies of the Trees of Abyss were perfect for the Law of Derivation, but they were only perfect for the combat aspect of it!

The Trees of Abyss possessing that massive, complex body, that staggering diversity of cell types, that digestive system capable of breaking down materials and energy in an extraordinarily complex manner, that body capable of absorbing the strength, resilience, and certain properties of the materials its digestive system processed... and on top of all that, their possession of the mighty Abyss energy.

All of these things came together in a single creature. Every one of them, alone, could turn any creature into a top-tier combat monster.... and when all of them were placed together into the vessel of Derivation... out came one of the most formidable combat creatures in the entire universe... a creature that carved out a place for itself by sheer force, against everyone's will, within the Abyss... the place known as the most powerful, most violent, and most bloodthirsty place in the entire universe... to ultimately become one of the four great races of the Abyss... standing at the very same rank as the demons who wield the Law of Destruction!

As for the third thing Vaelor learned from that information, it was only a single piece of information — one whose full details Vaelor never obtained... and it concerned the human users of this law.

Back when Rios had been in control of this body, and when he had first entered the world of the Eternal Path and seen the Gate of the Law of Derivation, he had asked the golden assistant Lily at the time why this particular law had no other gate among its secondary laws, and a conversation had taken place between him and Lily on the matter back then.

Among the pieces of information Rios had obtained from her at the time was that human users of the Law of Derivation were among the rarest people in the entire universe, and ninety-nine percent of them never surpassed the level of Sage-6... and at that point, Rios's eligibility for obtaining free information had run out.

But now, Vaelor had obtained further information regarding this matter.

That remaining one percent who surpassed Sage-6 using the Law of Derivation mostly came to a halt at Calamity-8 and were unable to surpass it!

No one had ever surpassed this level throughout history and reached the Immortal realm except for seven people alone, placing Immortals who used the Law of Derivation, with this meager number, in second place in terms of the rarest laws to have produced Immortals, after the Law of Death, which held first place, having produced five people who reached the Immortal realm.

And when Vaelor wanted to obtain information regarding these seven people who had reached the Immortal realm using the Law of Derivation, he found that the required sum would exceed hundreds of millions of Prime — an amount Vaelor didn't possess — so he was forced to abandon his search.

But there was one additional piece of information Vaelor managed to obtain from his dream assistant Dalia... namely, that humans' use of the Law of Derivation was entirely different from the way monsters and the Trees of Abyss used this law... for humans had never fundamentally used it for combat!

In addition, each and every one of the nine humans who had managed to reach the Immortal realm using the Law of Derivation had left a powerful mark on the history of the universe!

With all this information gathered together, along with the sudden realization that had struck him at the Red Lotus Palace, Vaelor decided to conduct another experiment.

This time, he decided to learn a new law and enter the Veil World with every law he understood, as usual, but the difference this time was that he wouldn't use the Law of Derivation among them!

And indeed, this time he entered with every law except the Law of Derivation... but he didn't obtain the enlightenment he had obtained every previous time!

He only felt, faintly and as though in a dream, that he had become one with the laws as usual, but he gained no enlightenment whatsoever.