Novel Full Chapter 4713: Archai I
Chapter 4713: Archai I
Imperialism.
It was a word that carried weight across every corner of Observable Existence, even if most entities never consciously recognized it for what it was.
At its core, imperialism was simple. It was the extension of power beyond one’s original boundaries. The reaching out of influence to encompass that which did not originally belong to you. The transformation of the foreign into the familiar, the independent into the dependent, the free into the claimed.
Many viewed imperialism through a narrow lens of morality, as if it were simply good or evil, justified or unjustified. But existence itself didn’t operate on such clean distinctions. The truth was far more uncomfortable.
Nearly every force of power utilized imperialism.
If you had power, you were a colonizer.
The first apocalypse Noah had gone through was due in some form to imperialism. The Beast World, or really, the Demon World had stretched out their hands to encompass a tiny blue planet that had never asked for their attention. They had looked upon this planet and seen something to be claimed, to be conquered, to be absorbed into their greater sphere of influence. The lives lost, the civilizations disrupted, the entire trajectory of humanity altered, all of it stemmed from that fundamental impulse to expand.
And it wasn’t unique to those particular invaders.
Every Civilization that had ever risen to prominence had done so through expansion. Every Way that had ever achieved THE classification had grown by encompassing more and more of reality within its framework. Every entity that had ever attained Absolute Depth had done so by making their truth so pervasive, so all-encompassing, that existence itself bent to accommodate them.
THE Creature embodied existence itself. Was that not the ultimate act of imperialism? To claim the very concept of being as your own domain?
THE Living Paradox had consumed THE Primordial Paradox. Was that not conquest at the most fundamental level?
THE Primordial Chaos spread entropy and disorder wherever he touched. Was that not the expansion of influence by another name?
Imperialism covered the vastness of existence like a blanket that most entities never noticed because they were already wrapped within it. If there was a Way to expand, if there was a method to grow one’s influence and claim more of reality as one’s own, then perhaps Imperialism itself would be the grandest Way of all.
Because in the end, existence rewarded those who reached.
And it consumed those who didn’t.
---
Across his existence, Noah could also be considered to have utilized imperialism over the last months and years.
He had conquered many lands and expanded his influence across existence. He had claimed territories, absorbed authorities, and extended the reach of his Civilization into domains that had never heard his name before. Each victory, each acquisition, each new connection forged was another thread in the grand expansion he was weaving.
And the latest act of imperialism was THE Infiniverse executing a partial Embodiment and beginning to claim Muspelheim.
Now, Noah had to go through with it.
He had to get things ready, because even though he had just obtained a Fragment of an Axiom and held THE Formless Depth, he couldn’t just rush in without a plan. The main question remained, and it was a heavy one.
How could he take care of Fundamental Depth entities and even half-a-step Absolute Depth entities?
He had his means, yes. The Fragment of THE Axiom of Mayhem could lower their Depth temporarily. His Formless Depth meant he existed outside conventional power comparisons. His mastery of The First Tongue gave him tools that most entities couldn’t even comprehend.
But their quantifiable immensity and weight was still greater than his.
The answer, of course, was in his Formless Depth.
"Are things ready?"
He asked Ruination lightly, and her reply came soon after.
|Integration Status - Final Phase|
|The 9 newly forged Phonemes are finishing their integration with core Philologies.|
|Perpetual Harvest: Integration at 97%. Philological structure adapting to incorporate new linguistic elements.|
|Undifferentiated Mana: Integration at 94%. Core framework being restructured at fundamental level.|
|Cheating Architect: Integration at 91%. Novel pathways forming between existing and new Phonemes.|
|Result: All integrated Principles are beginning to transform into something else. Classification pending.|
|First Tongue Proficiency Update|
|Continued advancement as a Perfect Speaker with newly forged Phonemes has unlocked additional capabilities.|
|New Capability: Information extraction from complex, corrupted, or ancient domains.|
|The First Tongue has been utilized to study the Stoa of Dogmata and THE Corrupted Vault of Ginnungagap.|
|Purpose: To uncover the Weavings of power used by entities in higher stages before differentiation.|
|Discovery: Ancient expressions of power predate modern methodology.|
|Ancient Expression Identified: Aletheia|
|Classification: THE Surface Depth equivalent (Pre-Differentiation Era)|
|Modern Equivalent: Assertion|
|Meaning: "Unconcealment" or "Truth revealed"|
|Core Principle: Aletheia is the act of revealing a truth that was always present but hidden from perception. Unlike modern Assertion which requests Existence’s acknowledgment, Aletheia operates on the understanding that truth is not created but uncovered.|
|Key Distinction: The speaker does not declare something to be true. They unveil what has always been true but was concealed.|
|Philosophical Foundation: Truth exists independently of observation. The skilled practitioner simply removes the veil that hides it from others.|
...!
Noah’s eyes sharpened.
Right.
Most THE Entities at this time used Assertion, Imposition, Declaration, and Embodiment for THE Surface Depth, Intermediate, Fundamental, and Absolute respectively. These were the modern expressions of power, the methods that entities in the current era utilized to exert their authority over reality.
But the enemies he might face from times of or before differentiation were different.
They utilized Dogma, a more powerful form of Imposition that he had already encountered. And now, Ruination had uncovered the equivalent of what methods the truly powerful utilized for THE Fundamental and Absolute stages.
THE Surface Depth ancient expression was deemed to be Aletheia.
But the ancient expressions of power above Intermediate were something else entirely.
|Ancient Expression Identified: Thesis|
|Classification: THE Fundamental Depth equivalent (Pre-Differentiation Era)|
|Modern Equivalent: Declaration|
|Meaning: "A placing" or "A proposition set forth"|
|Core Principle: Thesis is the act of placing a new truth into Existence that did not exist before and having it function as if it always had. It operates through philosophical proposition rather than raw authority.|
|Characteristics:|
|- Creates temporary new Principles by proposing them into existence.|
|- The proposition must be logically coherent within its own framework.|
|- Other entities can challenge a Thesis through dialectic debate.|
|- A successfully challenged Thesis collapses entirely.|
|- An unchallenged Thesis becomes increasingly real over time, eventually solidifying into permanent truth.|
|Philosophical Foundation: Thesis draws from the tradition of dialectic, where truth is arrived at through proposition and challenge. A Thesis is not a declaration of power but an invitation to debate. If the proposition survives scrutiny, it earns its place in reality.|
|Example Application: "I propose that within this space, strength is determined by wisdom" creates a temporary Principle where physical power scales with intellectual understanding. If no entity can successfully argue against this proposition, it solidifies into local truth.|
...!
Oh!
|Ancient Expression Identified: Apophasis|
|Classification: THE Absolute Depth equivalent (Pre-Differentiation Era)|
|Modern Equivalent: Embodiment|
|Meaning: "Denial" or "Negative declaration"|
|Core Principle: Apophasis is the most profound and paradoxical of the ancient expressions. It operates through negation, defining what something is by declaring what it is not. At its highest level, an entity using Apophasis becomes so thoroughly defined by what they are not that they transcend normal limitation.|
|Characteristics:|
|- Operates through systematic negation rather than positive declaration.|
|- "I am not mortal" is stronger than "I am immortal" because it eliminates the concept rather than opposing it.|
|- At its peak, an entity can negate the very concepts that could harm them.|
|- Can only be countered by an Apophasis that negates the negation, creating paradox.|
|Philosophical Foundation: Apophasis comes from the tradition of negative theology, where many understood not by what it is but by what it is not. This approach recognizes that positive definitions always limit, while negation liberates. To say "I am strong" binds you to a concept of strength. To say "I am not weak" removes weakness without binding you to any particular definition of its opposite.|
|Example Application: "I am not bound by causality. I am not subject to time. I am not limited by space." Each negation removes a fundamental constraint until the entity exists outside normal parameters entirely. They have not declared themselves free; they have simply removed the chains.|
|Combat Application: Apophasis at its highest level is nearly unbeatable because there is nothing to attack. An entity who has negated enough of their definable qualities becomes something that cannot be targeted by conventional means. The only counter is to negate their negations, but this creates paradoxes that can destabilize local reality.|
...!
Noah looked at the prompts with bright eyes.
They were....ridiculously heavy!