After shaking off the weight of that pressure, Ron didn't immediately continue the simulation. Instead, he looked back at the log, from the moment his simulated self entered the Simulated Universe to the moment he was forcibly ejected, carefully analyzing the intelligence within the records.
He had to admit, his choice had been correct. Choosing to accompany Herta in the attempt to create an Aeon and uncover the deepest secrets of this sea of stars had indeed brought him enormous benefits.
After his simulated self entered the Simulated Universe and became the [Salvation] Aeon, Ron, he immediately obtained an extremely rich trove of information...
Though it appeared as just a few lines of text, the sheer volume of intelligence they contained surpassed all of Ron's efforts throughout the entire simulation—
[You look down upon the sea of stars, and everything within the Simulated Universe is revealed to you in perfect detail. You see a boundless, pitch-black web enveloping all existence, forming the most fundamental background of this sea of stars, controlling everything with extreme order, forcing it to proceed along a predetermined path.]
This was the universe as seen through the eyes of the [Salvation] Aeon, Ron, completely exposing the true face of this sea of stars... It could now be confirmed that "Fate" was the underlying mechanism of this realm, holding absolute control over the past and future of all existence within it.
Nothing that happened in this sea of stars was a coincidence; the underlying fate of this cosmos controlled the occurrence of all things.
[You look up and see through this universe. You see that outside the cosmos, the calamity of [Destruction] is steadily approaching, bound by fate. You hear the shrieking of stars, see the dark tide surging, and see the blazing calamity fire about to ignite, destined to burn you to ashes.]
This was [Salvation] Ron seeing through the Simulated Universe to the simulated reality, where the calamity of [Destruction] was approaching him, bound by fate. This meant that the vision of Aeons was not confined to the current world; they could gaze upward, see past the world's constraints, and look upon a higher plane of existence.
If that was the case, the behavior of many Aeons became quite intriguing.
For instance, [The Elation] Aha had ascended to the top of the Tree of Existence. The moment before He saw a baby's cry and laughed, He saw that the vacuum was cold and detestable, the stars moved mechanically, and the meaning of all things gave way to nothingness... Ron had originally thought Aha had seen [The Nihility] IX, the opposite of His own Path.
But now, it seemed it might not have been because of the completely harmless IX. Rather, upon ascending to godhood, He saw this sea of stars shackled by the mechanical equation of fate. Looking up, He saw an even more terrifying higher plane, which is why His first reaction was that all meaning was non-existent, nothing but cold emptiness.
[You look at yourself, and the endless deep-black web has become heavy chains that bind you. All Aeons are severely restricted by this universe's most fundamental fate, preventing them from breaking through this false world to a higher, freer plane...]
This was what [Salvation] Ron saw in himself. He had only just become an Aeon in the Simulated Universe and was already severely bound by an even heavier fate. All Aeons were trapped in this false world, prevented from escaping to a higher and freer plane.
Clearly, if there was a mechanism to prevent it, then an attempt must have happened before... Otherwise, the "Fate" of this sea of stars would not have a special reason to bind the Aeons and prevent their escape.
So who had tried to leave before... [The Trailblaze] Akivili?
Ron stroked his chin, quickly forming a plausible theory.
Based on his experience of becoming an Aeon this time, he now understood just how severe the constraints of a Path's Source Driving Force were.
Perhaps, because Akivili's Path itself was [Trailblaze], he couldn't control his desire to "pioneer." While forging a path forward, he touched upon the unknowable boundary set by "Fate"—that is, he tried to open a path to a higher plane, to break through this false sea of stars. This drew the gaze of "Fate," which brought down a Fated Calamity to stop him at the unknowable border, and thus, an Aeon fell...
There were also other phrases from the simulation, such as "the self-purging protocol of this sea of stars is activating" and "malice from the entire sea of stars." These all proved that this realm was controlled by a single entity, and the enemy this self-purging protocol sought to eliminate were beings like Ron, who sought the truth of the universe...
The moment one obtained even a sliver of truth from beneath the false veil, the moment one triggered a small miracle to break through fate's obstruction, Fate would inevitably target those who dared to resist it, completely cleansing them from this sea of stars.
It felt as if the so-called fate of this universe was like a fixed computer program. All beings who discovered secrets and triggered miracles to break through fate were bugs. And this fixed computer program was an automatic debugger, constantly monitoring all bugs in the system. When one appeared, it would try to eliminate the bug's influence and attempt to patch it.
However, the fate of this sea of stars possessed no tangible power; it couldn't just jump out and fight Ron directly. It could only manipulate and pull the strings of destiny from the shadows, relying on the power of others to resolve the bug that was Ron.
For example, right now, the simulated Ron was not directly killed by some avatar of fate, but was instead about to face a Fated Calamity—the tide from [Destruction].
Honestly, Ron found this situation hard to comprehend... because all the Aeons could see the truth of this sea of stars and knew its false nature. Theoretically, they should all be resisting fate.
After all, no one would willingly be bound so tightly by something as ethereal as fate, especially not the Aeons who had reached the apex of their Paths.
Yet the attitudes of the Aeons Ron had encountered in this simulation were all extremely ambiguous. [The Enigmata] Mythus prevented him from seeking the truth; it was hard to say if this was a form of help, but it certainly couldn't be called resistance against fate.
[The Erudition] Nous guided him to seek the truth, took an answer It already knew from him, and left Ron with no power to resist the coming calamity...
Ron suspected Nous was using his quest for truth to trigger fate's self-purging mechanism, all while studying the process from the shadows, attempting to research fate itself...
This, too, could not be called fierce resistance, merely an ambiguous attempt.
And the attitude of the impending [Destruction] Nanook was even more abstract. Although Ron didn't know if Nanook himself would come for this Fated Calamity, just dispatching his minions was a clear statement.
He had submitted to the guidance of fate, acting as its pawn, becoming Ron's Fated Calamity... What on earth was He thinking?
Thinking it over carefully, it seemed only one Aeon had offered clear help in Ron's resistance against fate—
[The Elation] Aha.
Remembering the end of the last simulation, Ron couldn't help but feel a sliver of admiration for this Aeon who hid his true face under a magician's top hat and concealed his expressions with various masks.
He saw through the falsehood of the Life Simulation Game, which was something all Aeons could do, so it wasn't particularly surprising.
But He had bestowed a blessing upon Ron, scheming for him to trigger a miracle in the next simulation, slowly pushing Ron down the path of exploring the universe's truth...
He was a powerful Aeon who clearly resisted fate... And hadn't He fought with [Destruction] Nanook once before?
Ron thought for a moment, digging through his memories.
[The Elation] Aha had once sliced open Nanook's chest with a rapier and then departed gracefully, leaving a wound that would not heal, from which golden divine blood flowed eternally. The Masked Fools treated this as proof of their god's power, but now, when viewed through the lens of their different stances on fate, their battle became rather thought-provoking...
Could it be that there were factions among the Aeons? Some wished to maintain the current state, preserve the order of the universe, and avoid triggering fate's large-scale self-purging protocol.
Some wished to resist fate, trying by any means possible to laugh mockingly at it from under its heavy shackles.
And some had completely surrendered to fate, becoming its loyal dogs, igniting fires of calamity across the stars under its guidance, burning all worlds that fate had determined must be destroyed...
It all fit. It all fit perfectly!
Ron finally managed to sort through the massive amount of information and understand the current situation. If there were different factions among the Aeons, then he was by no means at a dead end, nor was Herta his only ally.
He might be able to borrow the power of other Aeons to... bare his teeth at the predetermined fate of this sea of stars!
With this thought, Ron calmed his slightly turbulent emotions and opened the event completion notification that had just popped up on the screen.
He hadn't noticed it before, but upon carefully reviewing the previous simulation log, he realized that because he had become the [Salvation] Aeon, all the intelligence he gained was the kind that would have required multiple miracle-level research events to obtain. He had completely torn open a corner of the universe's hazy veil and glimpsed its reality. This had maxed out the completion of the "Truth is Hard to Find" event, causing the "Quest for Truth" trait to change.
Now, the original trait "Quest for Truth (Red)" had become "The Secret Glimpser (Red)"—
[The Secret Glimpser: Your unquenchable passion for the truth has torn open a corner of this sea of stars' false veil, allowing you to successfully glimpse the reality within.
As an uninvited glimpser of secrets in this universe, its master is now burning with anger toward you. The loyal hound has begun its chase, and its hunting rifle is aimed at your head—
But what does it matter? Prometheus once stole fire from Olympus, and you have glimpsed the secrets in the depths of this sea of stars. What you have done is not a vile theft, but a good deed worthy of being sung aloud.
This cold secret is the manifestation of this universe's sin. All living beings are shackled by fate, and you are dragging your chains, laughing loudly at fate in its own hunting ground...
You laugh at death, and you laugh at the vileness of fate. You will be completely immune to the inherent mental influence of fate and gain a special defense against the "Fate" faction. Damage taken by you and the civilization you lead from this faction is reduced by 30%.
You and the civilization you lead gain a special attack bonus against the "Fate" faction. When facing a "Fated Calamity," your damage and that of your civilization is increased by 50%.]
Looking at the trait on the screen, the corners of Ron's mouth curled up slightly, and another bit of pressure lifted from his heart.
All the effects of this trait perfectly suited his current needs. The special defense and offense against the Fated Calamity directly and significantly boosted his combat power. From now on, any increase in strength would be amplified by about half under this trait's bonus, which was more than a worthwhile investment...
All the intelligence was sorted out, and he now had a rough plan for how to proceed.
Now, it was time to consider how to face the fiery tide of [Destruction], to face this so-called Fated Calamity.
Ron thought pensively, closed the notification box, and clicked on the screen to continue the simulation...
---o---
The text on the light screen faded, and a new scene appeared:
Ron shook his head in response to Herta's question. After a moment's thought, he sighed helplessly and spoke to her in vague terms.
"Some things... well, those who get it, get it. For those who don't, explaining it won't help... If you get it, you'll understand what I'm saying just from that. If you don't get my meaning, then I really can't spell it out for you..."
"...I had a feeling [The Enigmata] Mythus was acting strangely toward you. Have you finally become one of Its followers?"
Herta was thoroughly shocked. For a moment, she wanted to lock Ron in her lab and use her Emanator's authority to give him a thorough check-up, to see if he had suddenly become a disciple of Mythus, a riddle-man who had walked far down his Path...
But seeing the helpless look on Ron's face, she ultimately stopped herself.
She could clearly see his helplessness and knew that he must have learned something upon becoming an Aeon that prevented him from telling her...
Others might not understand the dangers of knowledge, but as an Emanator of [The Erudition] Nous, no one understood danger more profoundly than Herta, who dealt with the universe's secrets daily.
She said nothing more and gave up on pressing him further. Instead, she beckoned him over to the Simulated Universe's data terminal. She tapped lightly on the photon keyboard, bringing up several windows on the massive screen.
These windows showed simple code pages, containing a meaningless string of bytes repeated over and over, each one extremely short.
"What... does this mean?"
Ron was completely baffled, not understanding why Herta would show him this.
But Herta just shook her head and spread her hands innocently.
"I don't know what it means either, but... it's this."
With that, she snapped her fingers. The code pages on the screen all overlapped, transforming into a lifelike image.
"This?"
Ron looked at the screen in confusion. The image seemed to be a corner of the Herta Space Station, probably a block within the Simulated Universe. The area was unremarkable, with nothing special about it—
Except, in the very center of this block, a silver-white longsword was thrust deep into the ground, shimmering with a golden-white brilliance.
That was His sword.
The sword of an Aeon.