Master of the Stars

Chapter 305: Four Gears (Part 1/2)

Translator: Strivon

The Mutant devil ray moved back and forth, swimming to and fro within the Heavenly Ocean Lake. Its developed pectoral fins were like wings, and they set off wave after wave in the pool. It appeared a bit restless, mimicking Puppeteer's current mood. Puppeteer still had a smile on his face, but half his facial muscles were stiff.

At the same time, a dark and cold whisper came into his ear from the 'rear'. The direction of the sound was unknown. "You can't truly believe that you can rake up some things from the kid right now and obtain large merits for your service…. If so, your comprehension ability truly has problems."

Puppeteer's cheeks became a bit warm. He wanted to curse in his mind.

The thought was just formed, yet the 'rear' was still able to see through to even his inner organs. "If you have the time to curse inwardly, then you have the time to think about how to continue attracting their attention. Move your mouth!"

Puppeteer ground his teeth in secret, but that person had a point behind their rebuke. Puppeteer somewhat came to terms with the situation, and subtly moved the muscles of his cheeks. He did his best to respond calmly.

"Mr. Luo Nan can continue."

Puppeteer verified the time once more as he spoke, and he also confirmed that he had started recording. He settled on a plan. No matter what Luo Nan would say, he would let Luo Nan talk. He would have Luo Nan's words come in one ear and out the other for now. Later, he would carefully analyze them in detail.

Formatting Theory, eh? Whatever about your mother and father. When I get back, I will make you report even the colors of the underwear of your entire family.

Luo Nan seemed to truly believe in Puppeteer's words. His eyes remained closed as he spoke without expression, "Then I will continue explaining. I just finished talking about the Logic World. Next, I can briefly describe An Weng's situation."

Like hell you finished talking about the Logic World!

Behind the large diving goggles, Puppeteer's gaze cast downward. He did his best to retrieve information that was related to Luo Nan in his mind. However, Luo Nan's voice maintained its piercing quality. His voice was simply like the low whisper of a demon. It teased Puppeteer's emotions, layer by layer.

"I'm not too clear on what An Weng was doing. I'll just say what I observed and understood. You must first know that the level of the Heaven and Earth Format is extremely rich. The application of interference in the material plane with the mental plane can form countless types of 'order frames'. Oh, you certainly don't understand this topic...."

F***!

The devil ray in the Heavenly Ocean Lake echoed Puppeteer's emotions. It smacked with its wing-like pectoral fins, releasing the sound of a rumbling explosion. A spray of water filled the sky, splashing onto Tian Si and soaking most of her skirt and pantyhose. However, Tian Si already lacked all response whatsoever.

Puppeteer wanted to kill somebody.

He was now utterly convinced that Luo Nan was doing this on purpose. The kid had grasped the fact that he 'didn't understand' to obstruct and wear him down in ridicule. All right. Was Luo Nan truly taking him to be a Buddha who could never get angry?

Luo Nan stopped talking, but he didn't even open his eyes. He just calmly waited for the devil ray to stop making noise.

"Do you want to snap your safety line? Maybe the kid is waiting for you to do that. When that happens, my protective spell, which you said 'isn't worth shit', won't be able to protect you."

Luo Nan didn't talk while the 'rear' eerily warned Puppeteer. In the end, Snake Tongue finished with an order,

"Don't you make me expend mental energy for your sake!"

Puppeteer's emotions turned to ash after being rebuked once more. He suddenly came to, and he thought about what Luo Nan's objective could be in his series of mockery and provocation. It seemed like it was just as the 'rear' said. Luo Nan wanted Puppeteer to snap his own safety line. Puppeteer's thoughts ran deep.

Clearly, on the surface level, after these exchanges, Luo Nan should be able to see that the connection between Tian Si and Puppeteer in 'sharing mental attacks' was an unequal one. Tian Si was tortured to within an inch of her life, while Puppeteer had it quite easy.

In fact, even if Luo Nan launched a mental attack, Puppeteer was certain that he could block the first wave. He relied on none other than Tian Si, who remained in his grasp. She could act as a 'good conductor', ensuring that the damage to himself would fall to a minimum.

If Puppeteer were to make a mistake and have his escape path severed, then what would happen? Just look at Black Beetle ahead! He was a living example!

A myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind, and a thin layer of cold sweat formed on Puppeteer's back. He instantly relaxed a finger, and even infused some vital energy into her, to avoid constricting her even further while helping circulate her blood and energy. He feared that he would truly strangle his 'safety line' in a moment of excessive emotion, pushing the situation into irremediable circumstances.

He faced Luo Nan and explained, "Ahem, apologies. The Mutant is not easy to control. I didn't interrupt your thinking, did I?"

Luo Nan was silent for a moment, and when he spoke, his voice became deeper and lower, "I coined the term 'order frame'. It's normal for you to not understand what it means. So ask yourself, do you need further explanation?"

Puppeteer stared at Luo Nan's face. The more he looked, the more he felt that he escaped a disaster. Rather... why was Luo Nan explaining these things? Why was he going through with this exchange? In any case, a cover-up only made things more conspicuous.

Youngsters these days sure had ruthless hearts!

Puppeteer's mind relaxed, then was strung tight again. It looked like Luo Nan still harbored thoughts of a frontal conflict with them. The Society's reinforcements would probably arrive soon. Puppeteer needed to accept the many possibilities and do some more preparations.

Speaking of which, was the 'rear' still not finished preparing yet?

In any case, Puppeteer adjusted his mentality. He resigned himself to what might happen. Anyway, he wouldn't get screwed just by listening. What was he scared of? He adopted a radiant business smile and said, "Of course, it is best if you can explain. I want you to; how can I not?"

Luo Nan truly felt exhausted, having experienced so much. He spat out a breath of air, and gasped twice before continuing, "This term I came up with—it comes from an insight provided by Fairchild."

"Fairchild?" Puppeteer gradually lost his mind's prejudice, having adjusted his mentality. His thoughts were much nimbler, so his eyebrows shot up when he heard Luo Nan. "The Ears of Truth?"

Luo Nan didn't build upon this topic. He followed a prescribed order in explaining. "Fairchild once said that observation is order. According to my understanding, he's referring to combing through one's own logic. All the world's objects are observed and illuminated to erect a power of order that is understood and utilized by one's self.

"And our existences themselves are the products of some natural order. Here lie subjectiveness and objectiveness. Interference occurs between the orders of the mental and the material, like two gears meshing together. If the coupling structure is relatively stable, and has an efficient operation, then it becomes a gear set with relatively independent functions. Namely, it becomes an 'order frame'.

"Order frames can be big or small. In the case of small order frames, an example can be the cultivation methods of our bodies. This example can be divided even further. In the case of large order frames, the myriad of things within heaven and earth can all be incorporated within. Relationships can also occur among the various order frames."

The eyes behind the diving goggles blinked. Perhaps it was because he had calmed his mind. Or, perhaps it was because he had a clear reference. Puppeteer suddenly felt that Luo Nan had skimmed over the descriptions of 'gears' and 'formats', and substituted easier to understand vocabulary in their stead. Luo Nan rather made some sense.

That so-called 'order frame' was like the self-logic of an ability user. Oh, this was Ouyang Chen's concept. Puppeteer liked the more fantastical wordings like what Ouyang Chen used, like ‘domains’.

Powerful ability users also mentioned such things over at Headquarters. They wanted to impose a 'manifestation of rules' upon the material world, and use a perspective of pure and thoroughly extraordinary powers to reinterpret the entire cosmos, while giving the mental plane its own place.

Of course, when compared to the deep and complicated physical system made over thousands of years of development of the human race, the fifty years of high-speed development of the inner world was far too immature. The things mentioned by the powerful ability users could only act as a motion, to be tentatively heard.

Right now, this kid was contemplating these complex topics. Did this mean that Formatting Theory possessed quite a value?

He he, I'll have to go through a good digging when I get back!

"He's really chatting with him?"

Zhang Yingying's head felt dizzy, and her brain swelled from listening via their three-way communications. She couldn't refrain from grumbling, "Don't just do as you please to the point that you lose yourself. Puppeteer is an extremely dark fellow. Hey, I think I heard someone mention Snake Tongue. It's Snake Tongue, right?"

Luo Nan continued to spout away for Puppeteer. It seemed that he didn't hear Zhang Yingying. In the end, Xue Lei whispered in confirmation, "Yep they said Snake Tongue. There's also a Tank. They are currently at Gear. They threatened Nanster."

"That sinister woman is quite famous. She's a true-blooded mage.... Oh shit. I just looked it up. She isn't part of the investigation team at all. She just snuck over."

Zhang Yingying smacked her steering wheel. "Right now, the official vice leader of the investigation team is under control. But the people over there might not know about that variable, Snake Tongue. I need to let the reinforcements know; otherwise, they'll be sent to her belly."

Xue Lei's heart constricted a bit. "This person is very hard to deal with?"

"She's a character who has reached the Architect level early on, but she and Nanster are a bit alike. She doesn't have a good body, so she stays out of view most of the time, rarely showing herself. However, she specializes in hexes, and she knows interrogation and assassination techniques. She's sinister and vicious. When she really wants to hurt someone, she can stealthily travel over a thousand kilometers in an out-of-body state to a different city…. Oh my god!"

Zhang Yingying didn't smack the steering wheel this time. She smacked her large legs instead. "Be careful with this one. You must be careful. You've spoken a pile of nonsense there so far, but if she's in her out-of-body state, she can get to Ocean Sky Cloud City from Gear with just a thought!"

Xue Lei's scalp was going numb from just listening. He immediately opened his mouth to warn Luo Nan, "Nanster...."

Xue Lei's voice just left his mouth when Luo Nan pushed off against the protective glass wall with his back to stand up. He gently said, "Words spoken purely with the mouth may not be understood properly. In this case, I can perform a demonstration."

Puppeteer keenly observed the subtle changes occur over on Luo Nan's side, especially with Xue Lei. Xue Lei was clearly communicating with someone, and obtained some new information. His mind went alert, and his body rapidly transitioned into a battle-ready state, all while not changing the expression on his face at all.

"Demonstration? I feel you explained things quite well just now. The concept of the order frame, I already understand it. It's actually a domain, a small universe. A different way of talking about the power of heaven and earth. Am I right?"

"Wrong."

Luo Nan responded directly and efficiently, "The core of what I just said doesn't lie in order frames, but in coupling. The former has a myriad of names, but its origin still lies within the myriad of connections between each other…. My mother unified these connections into a classification called 'coupling'. I feel that it is a very appropriate name."

At the end, Luo Nan's blood red eye sockets opened up into small slits. A deep, dark desolation lurked within the color of blood, and they fell in front of the Heavenly Ocean Lake. Atop a collapsed figure.

"An excellent example can be seen upon the person who is playing dead."

Black Beetle, who hadn't moved for a while and whose face met with the ground, felt a shiver run through his body, as well as his scalp go numb. He felt Xue Lei in front, and Puppeteer in the back, all cut their gazes over like blades.

At the same time, he inexplicably felt an ice-cold sensation at the bottom of his heart. The coldness seeped out, cracking like the splitting of layers of ice. It was like the alien whisperings of a deep, dark hole. It lingered, not dispersing.