Chapter 106: Hidden Currents
Philip hadn't called the meeting just for formality.
He wasn't interested in handshakes or veiled respect.
He wanted confirmation.
He needed to be sure no one in the Supreme Families suspected the truth: that he was the Emperor Candidate.
Because if word spread, the world's balance would shift again and this time, it might not be in his favor. His power was still growing, his foundation not yet complete. For now, silence was his greatest defense.
And so far, the meeting had gone well.
Until Christopher Iwuchukwu spoke.
Introduced only briefly barely more than a nod from Chinedu Iwuchukwu, his father the young man had remained quiet through most of the discussions. He looked no older than thirty, his robes modest but tailored, his demeanor relaxed, almost bored.
But Philip noticed something odd.
It wasn't the way Christopher spoke.
It wasn't the measured cadence of his words or his confident posture.
It was the world itself.
As Christopher gave his analysis of leyline distortions in the Middle Belt, something stirred. Subtle. Deep.
The laws of nature bent just slightly.
Reality seemed to lean in, as if listening to him.
Philip blinked, narrowing his senses. Soul Sight flared. The mana in the air rippled around Christopher's form synchronizing with him.
That's not normal...
Then Philip saw it.
Not with his eyes, but with his soul.
Christopher's essence shimmered already in communion with the World Laws. Not forcibly. Not through domination. But as though the laws liked him. As though he belonged to them.
But he's only at the Sage level… how?!
Philip enjoyed the same with space laws but only space laws and that was after that being gave him something
But Christopher?
The laws flowed to him.
And the most terrifying part: it wasn't even deliberate. He noticed the same thing with chinedu but more suppressed. This intrigued him and he then wanted to meet the head who he suspected was much stronger than he let on.
When the meeting ended and the elders departed, Philip lingered at the window of the Sheraton's top floor suite, his hands in his pockets, mind racing.
He wasn't angry.
He was calculating.
So Athena didn't tell them...
Despite her earlier confrontation and dangerous curiosity about the Emperor Crown, she had kept silent. That meant one of two things: either she saw Philip as too dangerous to betray… or she had her own long game in play.
For a moment, Philip's killing intent rose a flicker of cold fury. If she had even hinted about his identity as the Emperor Candidate…
I should've erased her.
But he knew better. If Athena wanted to reveal him, she would have already done it. That silence intentional was a declaration of cooperation. Or leverage.
He exhaled slowly.
I'll work with her. For now. But if she crosses me...
The thought didn't need to finish.
His real concern now was The iwuchukwus how are they close to the laws was it something he could emulate or was it an artifact or a trait
Philip leaned against the window, eyes unfocused, reaching inward.
Within his soul realm, the World Tree pulsed. The roots shimmered with stolen divine essence, and its trunk glowed faintly with cosmic veins and his soul strengthened further and with it he could understand laws but even then he couldn't comprehend more than one law but he could see that major laws willing answering to a sage level character with a slightly stronger soul
The connection to the Laws was thinning around him felt something like what a domain would be but Philip hadn't experienced a domain before but he was sure that what it would be like
Where once he could tug gently at the threads of Space, of Force, and have them ripple in response, now they resisted slipping just beyond his grasp like threads dipped in oil.
He was now intrigued by the iwuchukwu how had these people not conquered Nigeria.
Scanning with his soul sense he could see that the communication with the laws was a natural communication like the laws wanted to communicate with him.
Seeing the laws usually hidden coming outside to communicate with Christopher, he decided to observe the laws he could start comphrending another law so he just watched and as he watched he noticed that compared to the laws he comprehended this was too easy. It was like college student look at a grade school work.
Now, he saw the truth.
I've been trying to comprehend the Universal Laws as a whole…
Not fragments. Not domains. But the skeleton beneath reality itself.
And that… was insane.
It was the kind of task that even ancient emperors took lifetimes to grasp. And yet, without realizing it, Philip had already taken the first steps.
But Christopher…
Christopher was doing something different.
His bond wasn't with the Universal Whole but with localized laws. Aspects of fire, growth, light, motion. He didn't dominate. He harmonized. Philip recognized it now a form of Law Communion.
It wasn't superior to Philip's own path… but it was faster. Easier. Safer.
I need to know how. And why.