Chapter 452 - 449: Maggots in the Canyon

Chapter 452: Chapter 449: Maggots in the Canyon

"You might find it hard to believe, but that’s what we used to look like," the Lego Bird said, sighing with emotion as if lost in a memory.

"Those shards?"

Li Luo glanced at the mountain of shards, then at the blocks beneath him, utterly astonished.

"They don’t look alike."

"Of course not. We were originally colorless..."

The Lego Bird circled above as it began to tell Li Luo the story of its past...

「...」

It didn’t know what they were.

Perhaps some kind of bacteria, or maybe a form of energy.

In the beginning, they were a race trapped within mirror shards.

But they didn’t know they were trapped. From their perspective, their world was vast—so vast it seemed to have no borders.

The space they occupied was encased in mirrors, allowing them to see into infinity through the endless reflections.

Within those reflections were other "clansmen" just like them. Though they were dull and couldn’t be communicated with, their presence meant they never felt lonely.

They saw themselves as gods who ruled over everything in that mirrored space, leading the countless "subjects" in the reflections. In that minuscule space, they were omnipotent.

"We were content back then, because we believed the world was only that big. We thought everything was already perfect. But..."

The arrival of an Outer God shattered everything.

That Outer God came from a cube-shaped mirror world. Upon arriving, it revealed the truth of their existence.

"We are merely pitiful, trapped beings. Those subjects are nothing but reflections. Everything is an illusion."

Once they learned the truth, they were no longer content with their tiny space. They wanted to get out, to see the real world with their own eyes.

An emotion called "curiosity" welled up within them. From that moment on, they made "transcendence" their goal.

To transcend this tiny space.

To transcend this false world.

To transcend this ignorant facade.

To transcend this predestined future.

「...」

They followed the Outer God, traversing one world after another, spreading the truth to more and more of their kind.

Most chose to leave the illusion behind. However, some of their kind were unable to move due to their form and remained trapped in those tiny spaces.

They journeyed ceaselessly until they finally broke through their world and burst into reality. But then, the Outer God vanished.

"It saved all of our kind, but its own energy was depleted..."

The Outer God could have transcended alone, but it insisted on bringing a multitude of its kind along, taking on a heavy burden.

"We saw the real world, but the one who led us to transcendence was gone forever."

They saw that the world that had once trapped them was nothing more than glass shards scattered in a mountain-like pile. They had expended countless energy merely traveling between those different shards.

Now, only by the sacrifice of the Outer God, did they finally stand in the real world.

But now, they couldn’t even move.

Their very existence was tied to those shards; if they left them, they would quickly fade away.

Even having seen reality, they were still bound by illusion.

Just then, some of them proposed a solution:

"Some of us will return to the shards to control them. The rest will stay outside to pass information, telling those inside how to maneuver. That way, we can make the shards move."

But if they did that, the ones who returned to the shards could never come out again.

Without the Outer God, they could no longer achieve transcendence.

This method would sacrifice the freedom of many, forcing them to return to that cramped space. For beings who had seen the real world, this was undoubtedly a terrible torment.

But they did not hesitate.

Countless members of their kind voluntarily returned to the shards, becoming "parts" to be controlled by others, combining to form a movable "machine."

As one after another re-entered the shards, this "machine," built with the painstaking effort of an entire race, took its first step in the canyon.

It was one small step for the "machine," but one giant leap for their race.

From that moment on, they strode toward a new future.

Through constant adjustments, they developed ways to make the "machine" move faster.

The creatures of the real world also gave them great inspiration.

They joined suitably shaped shards together, forming sturdier structures that mimicked the anatomy of real-world creatures. This allowed their "transcendence machine" to move with increasing agility.

Back then, they believed "reality" was just this endless mountain of shards.

But the will to transcend continued to guide them.

They delved into the deepest canyons and climbed the highest peaks, studying this world with their nascent understanding.

Finally, they reached a conclusion:

"This place is also an illusion." ℯℯ𝑙.

This endless mountain of shards was merely one corner of the world.

"Our transcendence is not yet complete."

They studied the timing of the shards’ appearances and discovered that when they appeared, a passage to the outside world would open.

They didn’t know then that this was the Sea of Creation dumping its "trash," but they knew it was an opportunity to escape.

Finally, during one of these "trash dumps," they seized the opportunity to climb the highest peak, leap into a mirrored rift, and escape.

"Only then did we see the Sea of Creation’s true form for the first time. We learned that the ground was smooth, the sky had color, and everything was whole. What we had thought was the peak of our world was merely the bottom of the real one."

They saw birds soaring in the sky and free-spirited glass creatures in the mirror-like surfaces. To them, the boundless Sea of Creation seemed incomparably alive.

"Could we fly into the sky, too?"

"Would flying into the sky mean true transcendence?"

They imitated the birds, clumsily flapping their newly assembled wings.

The parts, formed from their own kind, CREAKED and GROANED as the free wind slowly lifted the race that had been trapped in minuscule shards.

They wore shackles, yet their eyes were fixed on the sky. Countless tiny shards had now become feathers, glittering and glowing in the sunlight.

The great bird of transcendence soared into the air, only to crash back to the earth.

The great bird gathered the parts scattered on the ground, reattached them to its body, and once again beat its wings.

"Transcend!"

It was unknown who cried out first.

They were individual parts, and they were the building blocks of transcendence.

They were prisoners trapped in shards, never to leave, and yet they were also free souls already soaring through the heavens.

They were maggots struggling to crawl through a dump, and they were fledglings desperately beating their wings, attempting to break free from the earth...

"Transcend!"

Their voices passed from the surface into the shards within, finally resonating throughout their entire body.

The minuscule vibrations converged, and their yearning for transcendence tore through the air on a wave of sound.

This time, gravity could no longer restrain those free souls...