5065 Strength Tester
Not all universes were created equal.
According to the body cultivation method that his mother originally showed to him, it was impossible to create an entirely new internal space in one's body just by wishing for it really hard.
If imagination enabled any cultivator to become inextinguishable and all-power, then the cosmos would have been crawling with trillions of True Gods by this time!
Everything had a price. Even cultivation could not escape this fundamental rule.
Most life forms did not possess powerful minds and spirits from the start.
Their mental and spiritual energies could not possibly support the creation of a construct as absurd as a miniature internal space!
The creation of exceptionally powerful and reality-defying artistic conceptions imposed such high demands that cultivators needed to borrow external assistance.
It was actually quite simple to understand. If the cultivator's own ability to manipulate the power of heaven and earth was not enough to produce the desired result, then he could leverage the condensed spiritual attributes of powerful objects in order to meet the massive energy demand!
Ves thought it was no different from a mech pilot defeating a powerful opponent by hopping into the cockpit of a mech.
The key here was that not every resource that was rich with high quality energies fit a specific cultivation method.
A cultivator trying to become the ultimate flame that could burn the heavens or whatever would likely not be able to gain as much if he obtained a chunk of exotic ice.
Unless the cultivation method was sophisticated enough to deal with opposing or incompatible elements in an internally consistent manner, the use of inappropriate resources would only contaminate the practitioner's spirituality and ruin his artistic conception!
Fortunately, the body cultivation method that Ves took a lot of inspiration from took all of this messy stuff into account.
It was flexible and versatile enough to be able to work with nearly any sort of potent resource!
The only demand was that it possessed a large enough quantity of high-grade energies.
The overall element and nature of the exotic resource largely influenced what kind of universe could be born with its energies.
A purple flame might cause most of the stars in the universe to burn purple.
A piece of ore with an unusual high density might cause all of the stellar objects to be 10 times heavier than normal.
A bottle of mystical water could cause most planets in the internal universe to be covered by water!
All sorts of odd phenomena might occur. The key takeaway from these possibilities was that the laws of nature of the new internal universe could be substantially different from the main universe.
This was why Ves possessed a certain amount of confidence that it was possible to have Blinky form a completely imaginary universe.
He did not forget that it was best to double-check his work with his mother before he started to cultivate his own work.
In any case, Ves first needed to get his hands on a high-energy material or object to open up the new internal universe!
This was why he descended from the mountain top until he reached the clearing where the Wishing Fountain awaited his arrival.
He already held a radiant lottery ticket in his hand.
The function of the Wishing Fountain gave him a bit of confidence in his upcoming lottery draw.
Unlike the completely random lottery draws from the past, Ves had the option of specifying the category of possible prizes in the pool!
While the Wishing Fountain did not permit Ves to be too specific in his demands, he could at least ensure his ticket did not produce anything irrelevant such as a random mech or a useless alien sculpture.
As Ves raised the ticket to his face and thought hard on his desired wish.
"Please give me an object or material that is extremely dense and packed with high-grade energies. It needs to possess enough powerful energies to support the birth of a new universe."
He could feel the Wishing Fountain responding to his demand. His wish had primed it in the right direction, or at least Ves assumed this was the case.
After he firmly settled his mind on what kind of prize he wanted to obtain, he decisively tossed the ticket into the fountain!
The water contained in the pool began to light up in rainbow colors as the radiant lottery ticket dissolved in an instant.
Waves of energy escaped from the Wishing Fountain as it became more and more active.
Once the light show had reached its peak, a tall pillar rose from the chromatic pool of water!
The pillar made out of a golden material continued to rise and rise until it had reached a height of approximately 200 meters!
Ves widened his eyes in astonishment as his head tilted further and further upwards.
His evolved vision enabled him to detect small markings that were evenly spread along the length of the golden pillar.
He figured that each of them represented a different prize.
"Let me guess. The most valuable prizes are at the top, am I correct?"
How was he supposed to draw his prize?
It wasn't until a square platform emerged in front of the pillar that Ves had a good idea what the Wishing Fountain came up with this time.
"You want me... to hit this giant button?"
The entire imagery of this spectacle reminded him of those old-fashioned strength tester attractions that were common in fairs and amusement parks.
No matter the era, there were always people out there that wanted to test their might in public and boast about their prodigious strength in front of their family and friends!
Ves looked confused. These gadgets were primarily a test of strength and skill. Chance had little to do with the results. It made little sense to use this to draw a specific prize.
"That is unless the best and most desirable prizes are situated at specific heights."
Ves had no idea how much force he needed to deliver in order to make this strength tester reach a certain height.
He could only judge according to his intuition.
Right now, he could vaguely guess that his physical strength was far from enough to reach the top.
"I feel my limit should be around 160 to 180 meters." He vaguely guessed.
Ever since his recent sublimation that somehow turned him into a phase lord, his physical strength had increased by a significant margin. Phasewater shenanigans somehow increased the real size of his body by a modest margin, but kept his physical dimensions constant.
In fact, Veronica had grown a lot larger and thicker than her original cat-sized form due to her substantially higher phasewater concentration!
"It's not enough to have more strength. I also need to exert more control." Ves furrowed his brows.
If he assumed that the strength scale of this golden pillar scaled with impact force on a linear basis, then there was a possibility that he could accurately nail the right prize!
"No. That's a bit too uncertain. I should look at groupings of possible prizes in order to make sure that I will at least win a useful consolation prize if I have missed the mark."
Ves patiently studied the markings that were stacked on top of each other. They all resembled carvings that depicted all manner of strange and unusual objects.
Although the images were a little crude and stylized, he could still deduce the overall nature of every prize.
"A pear-shaped fruit... a straight sword... a rotted tree... a clump of soil... a disk with a broken side..."
He had the impression that each of these objects possessed their own special characteristics.
The problem was that Ves could not decipher their precise properties and energy values at all! The markings on the pillar simply conveyed too little information for him to make any solid judgments!
When Ves compared the bottom markings to the upper markings, he did notice a vague increase in quality.
The objects at the top looked significantly more impressive and high class than the apparent pieces of junk at the bottom of the pillar!
This was why he directed more attention at the markings at the upper half of the golden pillar.
He eventually identified a number of promising objects.
"That shadow figure looks really promising."
If he could embed Blinky's internal universe with the power of shadow, then he could potentially produce all sorts of shadow-themed objects!
From shadow weapons to shadow mechs, the possibilities to engage in dirty and covert warfare were limitless!
However, Ves did not like the prizes that were stacked above and below this particular prize. If Ves did not hit the platform with the exact amount of force, he would end up with a much less interesting gain!
This was why he moved on and considered several more alternatives before setting his sights on the markings situated at a height of around 133 meters.
He saw a big ball of plasma.
To be more precise, it was a star!
Energy formed the foundation of everything. Both the imaginary and material realms could not sustain themselves if they ran out of juice one day.
What better way to promote the growth of Blinky's internal universe and accelerate the conversion of energy to matter than to promote the growth of more energy sources?
The best part about this prize was that the ones situated above and below this prize did not look too shabby either.
Just above was a planet that bore a surprisingly large resemblance to Old Earth. It conveyed a sense of mass and solidity that made it seem as if it could grow to an endless size!
Just below lay an ancient stone obelisk that had apparently been used to regulate powerful energies. Its surface contained markings as well and depicted vague instances converting heat into electricity and using energy to form intangible walls and weapons.
Ves actually found it difficult to decide which one he preferred the most. He had a strong feeling that each of them could give Blinky's internal universe a strong set of traits that conveyed distinct and useful advantages.
"The ball of plasma should increase the average energy level of my universe by a great extent. Everything Blinky can do will become more powerful as a result. Securing the book on energy manipulation will probably increase the versatility and applicability of spiritual energy in Blinky's imaginary universe. Obtaining a model of an Earth-like planet might allow the internal universe to contain a real physical landmass in advance."
The only concern he had was that the prizes at this height were a bit weaker compared to the ones situated above.
He shook his head. "It doesn't matter if these prizes aren't as strong. What is important is that they impart the properties that I need."
He no longer hesitated and drew out his Hammer of Brilliance. This was the only hammer-like object in his possession, and he had practiced swinging with it plenty of times in order to ensure he tapped people's heads with the flat end without crushing any skulls.
Of course, trying to apply minimum force was substantially different from exerting a lot more strength!
He took his time to make a number of practice swings. He adjusted his posture and tweaked his muscle exertion.
It wasn't until the pillar started to shake a bit that Ves no longer stalled any further.
"Alright, alright, I'm starting!"
He slowly raised his hammer and held its grip with both of his hands.
He waited for the right moment before he lowered the heirloom with a mighty but slightly constrained blow!
BANG!
A rainbow corona immediately lit up from the bottom and rapidly rose towards the sky!
30 meters... 60 meters... 90 meters...
It was not until it reached 110 meters that the rainbow lightshow significantly lost speed as if it was affected by gravity.
120 meters... 125 meters... 130 meters...
"C'mon c'mon c'mon!"
Ves grew intensely nervous at this time. If his strike had caused the rainbow shaft to end up just above or just below his target group, then he would regret this failure for the rest of his life!
131 meters... 132 meters... 133 meters...
134 meters.
Ves widened his eyes as the markings at this height began to glow as well.
"Yes!"
Although Ves did not obtain the prize he desired the most, he was more than happy with the one he ended up obtaining.
A real obelisk that was twice as tall as his own height materialized next to the Wishing Fountain!
Ves could immediately feel that the seemingly ancient relic contained a lot of power.
It had been used to produce great results in the past, and had undergone profound changes as a result!
All of the energies that used to be challenged by this obelisk in a distant age had altered its structure and properties forever.
This gave Ves a much greater chance to enable Blinky to form a completely imaginary universe that could function properly despite the lack of physical matter in the early stages!
Blinky also had a much higher chance of mastering new techniques that enabled the design spirit to produce spiritual energies of different elements!
