Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1157: Self-Reflection

When Kyle saw the Red Witch, his eyes narrowed.

'It's extremely difficult to read her aura, but that's not surprising. She knows the Law of Karmic Causality, which means she can hide her aura just like me. Her aura seems pretty intense, but I can also tell that this is not her true aura.'

While inspecting her aura, Kyle felt like he was talking to a person who told an obvious lie. Both of them knew that it was a lie, and both of them knew that the other one knew that it was a lie. Yet, they lied anyway.

Sadly, that didn't give Kyle any new information. The Red Witch's true aura could be more intense, but it could also be weaker. Her current aura was already very intense, but Kyle didn't have a point of reference. Just based on the Energy he could feel around her, he could tell that she was not a New Immortal. The Energy around her was several times higher than the Energy around Abyssal Depths.

'At the very least, she's a Level Seven Immortal, an Ascending Immortal. She could also be a Zenith Immortal or Half-Step Lord.'

Kyle watched the exchange between his younger self and the Red Witch. Sadly, the Red Witch's Karmic Lines were obscured, making it impossible for him to read her Karma. She also had exceptional control over her tone and mannerisms.

Even though he watched the entire exchange, he didn't learn anything new about her.

He watched the Red Witch gathering Energy around his younger self a couple of days later, and this time, he could see what she was doing.

The Red Witch had frozen him in time, and moments later, she infused Kyle with Elemental Energies. His body absorbed the Energy by itself, and within moments, his physical composition returned to "normal". One had to remember that the people on the different Earths had unnatural compositions. The vast majority of humans lived in the different worlds and the Supreme World, which meant that their compositions were the norm.

Kyle had thought that the Red Witch needed to manipulate the Laws, but she actually didn't need to do anything.

'It seems like the Laws already have a function that allows this conversion. Most likely, the owner of this Cosmos expects Immortals to take people from the Earths. It might even be encouraged.'

After Kyle's younger self had been reformed, the Red Witch simply put his frozen body into a semi-complicated Formation Array. The Formation Array gathered Energy and infused his existence with Energies that mimicked the fluctuation of an advancing Transcendent. This was how she had given Kyle his Predator's Being, which was just the advancement bonus when someone became a Primal.

Finally, she put Kyle on top of a hill and restarted his time.

'It's surprisingly easy. I could easily break into the worlds with the Primordial Force Laws, and I can gather all of the Minor Elements. The Formation Array also isn't complicated. The Tertiary Worlds don't even reject weaker Mortals.'

Kyle remembered how mysterious and magical the Red Witch had seemed to him back then.

How could she travel to different worlds?

How did that work?

How could she just snap people out of existence?

How could she grant him new abilities and powers?

How could she transport someone else into a new world?

How could she just appear and disappear without noticing?

How could she freeze time?

How could she kill people from kilometers away?

All of these things had been mysteries to Kyle. Even in the Tertiary World, he still hadn't known how the Red Witch could accomplish any of these things.

Well, except for the killing people from kilometers away bit.

But now, her powers were no longer mysterious. Divine Consciousness, Elemental Laws, Primordial Force Laws, Formation Arrays. All of her powers could be explained by these four things. None of the things the Red Witch did seemed even remotely difficult or complicated to Kyle.

At that moment, Kyle realized how much he had actually learned.

'Everything seemed so alien, magical, and godlike back then, but now, everything makes sense. It's kind of crazy that I can just look at all of this and shrug like it's nothing special.'

'I've really gone through a lot.'

Kyle watched his younger self committing dumb mistakes and being a general dumbass.

'I've also changed a lot.'

When Kyle saw Theodor's Inheritance Sphere, he once more realized that Theodor had never truly been there. The Formation Arrays on the sphere were pretty advanced for Mortal standards, but even the worst Formation Array Engineer would scoff at them.

The Inheritance Sphere simply collected information, ran it through a predetermined query, and created a short-term goal. In order to achieve that goal, the Inheritance Sphere accessed its memories and looked for the best way. The best way was broken into steps, and the steps were forwarded to a personality matrix, which communicated with Kyle via voice transmission.

Eventually, Kyle's younger self met Selene Forthing again, and Kyle realized that he had completely forgotten about her.

'Right! I remember her! I think I wanted to have a relationship with her at some point, but it never really developed. I believe I forgot about her since I wasn't truly emotionally invested. I still kept people at a considerable distance back then. Friendships and a relationship were not about feelings but about actions. I believed I had friends, which was why I had to act like we were friends. I acted like a friend was supposed to act, but I didn't really feel anything. It was all just empty.'

'I guess that's similar to how Lindsay lived her life.'

As Kyle looked at Selene, he thought of someone else, and his Divine Consciousness focused on the east of the world.

'Lara...'

The Twilight Duchess was sitting on her throne, managing the world as the Overseer.

This version of Lara was very different from her future self, but Kyle could see familiar aspects in her.

As he saw Lara again, he sighed. He felt a deep sense of yearning and pain inside his heart.

'That's why I didn't feel anything for so long. I was just running from the pain. I was acting like nothing was wrong, and I kept telling myself that everything's fine.'

'But it wasn't. I seemed energetic and excited, but I was just empty inside.'

When Kyle saw the Stark Brotherhood again, he smiled a bit. He remembered his time with the Stark Brotherhood fondly.

The Dwarves and Team Sandstorm were created, and as Kyle saw the teams, he sighed once again.

'The others felt deep companionship. They were fully invested in the team. Meanwhile, I just acted like I was supposed to act. I was happy that I had friends and a team, but I didn't feel any companionship.'

Eventually, Kyle saw Sebastian again, and when he saw him, he had to smile.

'He's surprisingly similar yet different. He was quite melancholic then, and similar to me, he tried to cope by acting all excited and energetic. The difference is that he could actually feel things, while I couldn't.'

And then...

Kyle became the Overseer.

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