Chapter 144: Brain in a Vat

Even dreams have their rules; a nightmare that is too absurd will only jolt a person awake instantly.

Similarly, even within the Meta-Quantum Space, if the manufactured phenomena are too abstract and fail to remain self-consistent, it is very easy to cause the entire world to collapse.

Unfortunately, all these phenomena can only be confined within this demi-plane and cannot affect reality. Even if objects from within are brought outside, should they fail to align with the physical laws of the conventional universe, they will directly disintegrate into the most basic quark particles and be reconfigured into fundamental matter such as hydrogen atoms.

Adonsa guessed that if it could construct a rigorous and complete set of laws for this demi-plane, continuously supplying it with energy to grow, it might even become another universe, and Adonsa itself would become a creator god.

However, all of this premise hinged upon having sufficient energy to operate this Meta-Quantum Space.

The spacetime within the Meta-Quantum Space was actually entirely controlled by Adonsa and completely severed from the outside world. Although it felt like a fierce battle lasting for the better part of a day had taken place inside, only a few minutes had actually passed in the outside world; otherwise, Adonsa would have long since been unable to withstand the backlash of sloth.

In just those few minutes of combat, Adonsa had exhausted all the magic crystal energy collected up to that point. According to Adonsa's estimations, all the magic crystal mines across the entire planet combined could probably only sustain the operation of the Meta-Quantum Space for a single month.

If one truly wished to transform the "Monad" into another real universe, the first problem to solve would be the energy conversion of magic crystals—developing the demi-plane's capability to convert other forms of energy into the special energy of magic crystals. If this problem could not be resolved, even this technique known as "Monad" would remain nothing more than a fleeting trump card, given that the magic crystals in this world were ultimately finite.

Secondly, Adonsa would likely have to sacrifice three or four universes just to acquire sufficient energy.

After all, the manufacturing process would involve massive losses and fault-tolerance consumption; the birth of an artificial universe did not mean that merely a single natural universe would suffice as raw material.

Finally, and only then, would come the task of filling this world with a logically self-consistent and perfect set of laws.

Yet, on second thought, who could guarantee that this so-called natural universe was not merely a toy created by another omniscient and omnipotent god?

Adonsa instantly cast this possibility to the back of its mind. Dwelling on problems that had escalated to a philosophical realm was entirely meaningless and would only breed unnecessary trouble.

Merely from Adonsa's current level, the consumption of this "Meta-Quantum Simulation Drive Space" remained far too massive.

Operating the "Meta-Quantum Simulation Drive Space" even once not only consumed a colossal amount of magic crystals, but also required Adonsa's entire body to remain completely motionless and cooperate with all its might to form a closed and stable internal space, which would reduce external defense capabilities to the absolute minimum.

Yet, despite such tremendous limitations, this "Meta-Quantum Simulation Drive Space" still possessed immense utility.

As the name suggested, simulation was its greatest function, while capturing and polluting enemies were merely auxiliary capabilities.

Given sufficient energy and computational power, Adonsa could simulate all phenomena of this universe. Every idea could be tested at a moment's notice—success or failure, high efficiency or low efficiency, clear at a glance.

A planetary-scale particle accelerator was an industrial behemoth that required an entire giant planet to be designated as a research base, consuming the labor of a Level 2 civilization over hundreds of years to build, and the energy consumed in a single operation would exceed all the energy produced by human society up to that point.

Yet, when transferred into the "Meta-Quantum Simulation Drive Space," recreating these wondrous spectacles of particle collisions was merely a matter of a snap of the fingers.

The more complex the simulated phenomenon and the larger its scale, the more computational power and energy it demanded.

At present, Adonsa could only simulate up to the level of a large-scale particle accelerator. Cosmic phenomena of a creation-level scale, such as supernova explosions or singularity genesis, were still aspirations too lofty to pursue prematurely.

Take the brief operation lasting just a few minutes ago: Adonsa had successfully mastered the manufacturing method of a controllable nuclear fusion reactor, finally enabling a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering upgrade to its own energy circulation system, granting its once ground-crawling, writhing body the basic propulsion to roam the stars.

Countless theories and technologies powerful enough to completely alter the world surged and ebbed within Adonsa's mind, but unfortunately, the time had finally arrived.

This time, Adonsa truly could no longer resist the sealing power of sloth. The laboratory of the "Meta-Quantum Simulation Drive Space," formed entirely from Adonsa's body, was swallowed by an invisible vortex and crammed back into Adonsa's human physical form.

Upon the mirror-smooth surface of the crater, only Adonsa and the Mother of Corpses remained.

Yet, upon the Mother of Corpses, several familiar faces were present.

Provence said, "Adonsa, thank you for helping us uncover the true face of 'humanity' and eliminating that Qunron sorcerer."

Adonsa looked at him with a strange gaze in its eyes, but remained silent.

Provence felt something was amiss; there were always bizarre distortions in his field of vision that hindered his sight.

Provence paused and said, "Our previous transgression was our fault. I can forge a contract with you; once we return, the entire war reserve of Prism will be yours to choose from—as long as you spare us!"

Provence's heart was bleeding. This mission might have completely collapsed right from the start, with Tier 6 monsters popping up like cheap cabbages two at a time. On a battlefield where immortals clashed like this, no matter how battle-hardened the Prism team was, they had become mere fish on a cutting board, waiting to be slaughtered.

Moreover, for reasons unknown, even though humanity had already been annihilated, they still failed to return to the Courtyard. The only possibility was that Adonsa had meddled somehow, leaving him with no choice but to humble himself, grovel for mercy from Adonsa, and resort to parting with precious war reserves.

This filled his mood with both tension and complexity.

However, apostles who faced nine deaths in every mission should never hesitate over trivial things like dignity. Wallowing in a cesspool and kneeling to call someone father—survival was the only absolute truth.

Provence anxiously said, "Do not underestimate the war reserves of a top-tier team from the Third District. We have been preparing for our promotion to the Aristocratic District, and even Tier 6 entities would drool over these reserves."

Adonsa blinked its eyes.

Provence seemed to have received some kind of signal and hastily urged, "Let me go. I hold the key to the war reserves; if you kill me, you will never be able to open them."

His words were tantamount to abandoning all his teammates entirely, solely to preserve himself. Once word got out, no one would ever be willing to become his subordinate again.

A leader could be foolish, reckless, or vicious, but could never lack accountability.

He had already discarded his entire future, all for the sake of survival.

Yet Adonsa suddenly spoke: "However, you are already dead."

After a momentary blankness, Provence was struck with a sudden terror. He snapped to his senses, abruptly realizing that he could no longer feel the existence of his body at all; he could not turn his neck, nor did he feel the presence of a mouth when speaking—he was merely thinking purely within his mind.

It was merely an inertial illusion that made him think he was speaking.

Kind-heartedly, Adonsa coated its palm with a layer of smooth and even silver amalgam, fashioning it into a mirror held before him. Provence widened his eyes in horror, suddenly discovering that he no longer even had eyelids.

Reflected in the mirror was a massive water tank containing a pink mass of flesh, crisscrossed with grooves resembling a walnut. A cluster of tentacles extended from its lower part, connecting to the bottom of the tank, while two distinct black-and-white spherical entities were attached to the flesh by a white tendon.

Those were his eyes, his brain; the terror and despair radiating from his two distinct green-and-white eyeballs matched his current state of mind precisely.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

His desperate screech transformed into feeble brainwaves rippling through the nutrient solution, audible to no one except Adonsa, whose nerves were connected to him.

Adonsa chuckled cheerfully, "I am merely extracting the memories from this brain. As for you, you died long ago."