As Lana learned more about the infinite body, her curiosity deepened.
"If only I could talk to Rachel!" she sighed. Rachel hadn't answered her calls for a few billion years, which was very disappointing.
...
Somewhere in a deserted space, within an abandoned charge of reality, a pill container and a man were playing chess. The two players were Rachel and Luther. Time in this charge of reality passed far faster than typical. Here, Rachel and Luther have been playing chess for a few septillion years, yet they are still far from achieving the wisdom dao omniscient mastery level.
Nobody had ever mastered any omniscient-level mastery, and Rachel didn't expect to succeed anytime soon. To begin with, time is relative; there were certainly many other rank 14s, possibly even her own incarnations, who had been trying for googol years or longer, maybe even for infinite years, to reach omniscient-level mastery, yet they had all failed.
The reason for this failure was that omniscient-level mastery had infinite characteristics. This meant that once someone achieved it, they would be on equal footing with the creation itself. Theoretically, it was possible, but practically, since reaching omniscient-level mastery took infinite years, one would never actually reach the day they became an omniscient-level master.
This clearly showed that achieving omniscient-level mastery required something beyond simple calculation and study. However, Rachel had something that other rank 14s didn't—access to the Gray Realm. This infinite source, independent of creation, could help her overcome the infinite dilemma.
However, the problem was that Rachel didn't have full access to the Gray Realm. Even if she did, she was only one of many rank 14 incarnations. There were other versions of Rachel, in different charges of reality, who could interfere with her actions. To address this, Rachel had delegated part of her attention to communicating and negotiating with other rank 14 Rachel incarnations.
All versions of Rachel, regardless of their location, time, or position, shared the same paradoxical root. They were essentially one entity, divided into many pieces because she believed this strategy gave her the best chance of achieving rank 15. Over the endless years, many of these Rachel incarnations had come to believe that the quickest way to achieve rank 15 was through unity. They decided that all rank 14 Rachels should unite their silver energy allowances and push for total control over the Gray Realm, or, if that wasn't possible, at least work on a way to use the Gray Realm to achieve omnipotent mastery.
Even though many Rachel incarnations gradually came to believe in unity, there were still many who opposed it. Despite being the same entity with the same paradoxical source, the various Rachel incarnations had different personalities and experiences, which made it natural for them to disagree on such an important topic. After extensive negotiations, the proposal to unite ultimately failed. However, as a compromise, they agreed to collaborate on projects that would benefit all of them. After much hard work, they managed to build the Gray Body.
The Gray Body was the most remarkable achievement of the Rachel alliance. It had an infinite lifespan, indestructible characteristics, and could pass the barriers of rank 10 and rank 12 without needing complete or universal laws. Essentially, as long as it had enough energy, it had a clear path to rank 13. Even after reaching rank 13, with a channel of gray energy from the Rachels, it could advance to rank 14 without any complications.
The Gray Body was an experiment to materialize the Gray Realm's characteristics in the creation. The Rachels had spread it across their universes in various charges of reality to test it under different conditions, master it completely, and identify any flaws. Once the Gray Body was perfected, they could modify the technique slightly to extract some of the infinite characteristics from the Gray Realm and add it to their shared wisdom mastery, bypassing the infinity dilemma, and achieving wisdom dao omniscient mastery.
With wisdom dao omniscient mastery, everything else would become much easier. Right now, Rachels everywhere were training their wisdom mastery and making progress. The success of the Gray Body was partially due to recent advancements in wisdom mastery. However, without omniscient wisdom, it would be infinitely difficult to calculate anything related to rank 15. Only by achieving at least one omniscient mastery, preferably in wisdom dao, would Rachel be able to start calculating the other secrets about the creation and the Gray Realm.
Rachel's exclusive access to the Gray Realm was her absolute trump card. No one else had ever come so close to acquiring infinite characteristics and standing on equal ground with creation itself.
...
Rachel exited the chess game and looked in a specific direction.
"What is it?" Luther, who also emerged from the game, asked.
"The first rank 10 Gray Body has appeared in Lana's world!" Rachel said with a smile. Of course, as a pill container, her smile wasn't noticeable, but Luther could tell she was pleased.
"Lana? I'll visit her!" Luther said. As Rachel's original host, all rank 14 Rachels had a host in Luther. It could be said that they were essentially the same entity.
Initially, Rachel and Luther weren't the same entity. Luther was simply fortunate enough to have been present when the first Rachel appeared and became her first host. However, as a rank 14 entity, Rachel's moment of birth was shrouded in paradox and mystery, hidden from all. To protect this secret even further, long ago, all rank 14 Rachels collectively and unanimously decided to keep Luther as their true host. They even integrated him into their own will to some extent. After who knows how many years, Luther is no longer a distinct entity. He could be considered an outer part of Rachel, like her twin brother in the womb. Her disasters were his disasters, and her happiness was his happiness.
"Okay, let's continue," Rachel said, returning to the chess game.
Luther quickly created an incarnation and sent it to Lana's world before returning to the chess game. Luther was already rank 14; even his weakest incarnation retained the characteristics of a rank 14 being and could kill countless rank 13s. Luther didn't personally have access to the Gray Realm, but as someone bound to Rachel, he gradually shared in the Gray Realm's energy, which promoted him to rank 14 without needing to do anything.
...
Luther's incarnation blinked at a world bathed in pink light. In the next moment, he appeared in a palace, facing a charming woman dressed in pink.
"Lana!" he called.
"Who...? Oh, it's you, Luther!" Lana remembered the original Luther from long ago and still recalled him clearly.
"You should know why I'm here, right?" Luther asked. He didn't look down on Lana. She was aware of the Gray Body, and its breakthrough had likely been supported by many of her resources.
"It's about the infinite body, right? The one that relies on the creation?" Lana said in a serious tone.
"Well, you can think of it that way. You did a good job. Anyway, I'm going to check it out," Luther replied, then vanished.
Lana sighed in relief. She worried that Rachel might blame her for something, but fortunately, nothing terrible happened. In fact, Rachel was probably pleased with her support.
Lana wasn't surprised that Luther had broken into her world so quickly. After all, the other party was rank 14!
...
Mike's eyes were closed. After cultivating for ten thousand years, he had finally reached the Martial Immortal Realm. Martial Immortal practitioners were immensely powerful, much more so than other rank 10 immortals. Mike's current strength was countless times greater than the peak of the Big Demon Body. The difference was like heaven and earth. With one glance, he could kill countless quasi-rank 10s.
"I crossed from rank 9 to 10 without any complete law! This body is too powerful! As long as I have enough resources, I might even reach rank 12 without a universal law!" he thought with great excitement. He had never imagined his transmigration cheat would be so powerful.
...
He stood up but then stopped, freezing completely. His brain activity, soul, body, the space around him, the flow of time, movement of particles, and photons of light—everything in the world—froze.
A man appeared in front of him, observing with curious eyes. The man was Luther.
"Indeed, the first phase of the test succeeded as expected. There should be no issue up to rank 13. However, rank 14 will be difficult," Luther thought, then pulled out a strange container, extracted a few drops of Mike's blood, and left.
Everything resumed as if nothing had happened.
...
Mike thought, "The next martial arts realm should be named Immortal King, with power equal to rank 11 immortals. The realm after should be named Immortal Emperor, with power similar to rank 12 immortals. After that, Immortal Saint, with power equal to rank 13 immortals. And the final realm should be Immortal God, with power equal to rank 14!"
After reaching rank 10, Mike's ambitions exploded. He was even thinking about the time when he would break through to rank 14—something not even rank 13 immortals dared to think about too deeply.