Anyway, via the satellite system, I can attach a magic marker to anyone and track them in real-time with no structures as a limit. Tracking includes both visual and sound types of data. However, I didn't only save that data. I made an algorithm that analyses and labels information. And based on its importance, it can even notify me.
Because both Marcus and Dark are marked individuals of high priority, their conversation was labeled as important and sent to me immediately. And don't even ask me how I connected the Ring System, Satellites and The System of mine together. Athena helped me with that. I can't even imagine, how would I survive without her knowledge and advice. But anyway, back to the topic.
This move from Order's hunters was already expected. Not by me, though. By Sabrina, or one of her identities. No clue, which specifically. She came up with a plan of swift neutralization of the whole structure and both of their leaders.
Speaking of leaders. They are not your random nobodies. These guys are elite of the Order. Or at least they were until their home Universes have fallen.
You see, apparently, both of them are coming from Artificial Universes or Solo Universes, depending on your whereabouts in the endless Creation. Athena previously mentioned a little bit about such worlds, but it was hectic at that time and she couldn't go into details. But during this very long 'power-up time', I learned quite a few things about Worlds, Creation, the Creator, the Order, the Counsel and so much more. Although my level still limits me in terms of how much I can learn, I stopped being absolutely clueless about the Forces around me.
Back to Artificial Universes or to be precise, what makes them 'Artificial'. A unique point of such Worlds is the fact that they have no saving mechanisms. Most of the Universes in one way or another have something serving as Power Source. It's their core. And also it's Hardrive. That core saves all possible versions of reality.
Confusing? Okay, let me put it this way. Whenever there is a possibility that one choice may drastically change history, both choices will be saved as parallel realities. Moreover, core tracks progress on all realities at the same time. Whenever it sees that 2 parallel Universes came to the same result and changes of the past don't affect it anymore, it will merge these 2 timelines into one. That's why Core is sometimes called 'the Time of the Universe'.
However, what happens when the change is so drastic that it changes Universe, making it unrecognizable from its original version. The core is incapable of supporting two drastically different Universes at the same time, so it severs the changed version.
Of course, it's not happening instantly, but the more time passes, the bigger divide between parallels is becoming, thus speeding up the split.
'So what?' you may ask. But just please, stay patient. It should make sense in a minute.
Because Artificial Universe has no core and no saving mechanism, it literally has only one chance. If it's destroyed, it's destroyed. As for time travel... In such Universes, it's impossible because World's Mind(which is a topic for another evening on itself) will not allow any changes to its timeline.
And both Marcus's and Dark's homeworlds have been destroyed. Strangely though, Athena has no information on how exactly they were destroyed. But I digress.
For normal people, the destruction of the Universe means death. Why? Well, you see all Worlds works with their own laws. Physics in one Universe is different from physics in the other. Some don't even have physics. Some exist in 20 dimensions. And some exist in only one, in which no typical life is possible.
However, despite that, most creatures can travel to other Universes, because we always keep a piece of our own World inside. It's an inborn trait if you want. Point is, that such connection allows people to travel across the Multiverse and even Creation.
And the stronger creature becomes, the stronger connection to the Universe becomes and the more power you are allowed to borrow from your mother world. And that's where the problem lies.
Artificial worlds don't have a core. Hence, the only way for them to produce energy, oh so required to continue existence, is the population of the world itself. Both living and dead parts of the population. Just by existing, everything in the Creation produces some sort of energy or another type of resource, similar to how in my current Universe everything produces Mana. And in normal worlds, this energy is collected by the Core and properly controlled by World's Minds, but Solo Worlds lack a core.
This means, that this resource is continuously produced. Unmanaged, it increases its own density of in that World. This, in turn, increases the probability of stronger creatures appearing. And the stronger something is in the Creation, the more energy it produces.
All these interesting facts created a situation where Artificial Worlds became places labeled as 'High-Risk-High-Reward'.
And if you understood the 'High-Reward' part, let me explain to you 'High-Risk' one. The strength you gather in one Universe works properly only in borders of that specific Universe. To put it simpler. A strong cultivator, from Xianxia world, will be a weakling in the Harry Potter's one, simply because his power comes from another Universe.
Fortunately, most Universes(their consciousness to be precise) are smart and sly. They let strong people borrow the resource produced by them as a... sort of investment.
If they become stronger, they will produce more of the resource/energy/Mana/Prana/etc. Furthermore, because the Universe is connected to every one of her creations anyway, it's getting its dividends back, no matter where her child's located. Even in other Universes.
So it becomes a win-win situation for all. Or so you may think.
Laws don't just cover strength. It covers everything. From complicated dimensional interactions to simple acts of breathing. A weak human being, outside of his Universe, will die in a few seconds if not supported by his mother world.
Now, imagine, what happens if you kill or destroy everything in the Artificial world. It will run out of energy. Even if pebble can produce energy the same way an animal does, the difference in quantity is huge. Pebble is barely covering its price of existence with the energy it produces.
So, if such a world dies, 99% of its inhabitants dies with it.
Of course, for creatures on the level of Marcus or Dark, it wasn't hard to survive. Nonetheless, the consequences were dire. They lost a substantial part of their strength. But before going into the details, let me explain the background of these two and their respective Universes. And trust me. It's not boring. Plus, I have nothing better to do, while waiting for System's notification. Knowing, Dark's character, he will take his time getting to Shanghai.
And we will start with Marcus, the Great Centurion and his homeworld. Roman Universe.