Strongest Hammer God

Chapter 1162: Universe

As soon as the image appeared, Kyle could feel the joys and complexities of life.

Yet, something was still missing.

'Life is about change, and change happens when life moves through reality. Without time, life can't grow. Without space, life can't move. Without gravity, nothing will move.'

More Energy flowed into the image, but this time, it flowed into the spaces between the hammers. Time, space, and gravity started existing, and the hammers finally started to change and move. The hammers moved around, interacted with each other, and built small groups.

However, something was still missing.

'There is life, but if there's only life, there's no stability. There is no objectivity, only subjectivity. There's nothing to see or explore. There are no reference points, only individual experiences.'

As soon as he thought that, more Elemental Energies flowed towards the hammers, but this time, they didn't fuse with each other. This time, the Elemental Energies stayed separate and created physical representations. There was fire, wind, lightning, water, metal, earth, light, and darkness.

Every hammer was unique, but the Elements were always the same. They were unchanging representations of reality's building blocks.

Kyle watched the hammers interacting with the Elemental Energies, but at some point, they started to spread. They were exploring, but reality ended. There was just nothingness. If they kept spreading, they would lose each other and never find each other again.

'Life is not designed to interact with infinity. The concept of infinity exists, but no one has ever found infinity. Discovering true infinity in reality is impossible since it is infinite.'

'So, everything returns to this...'

More Energy gathered, but this time, the Energy turned into Death. The Death didn't flow towards the hammers but stopped around the group. The Death represented an end. Any Energy that interacted with it would be destroyed. There was nothing to discover past Death.

In the end, all of the hammers were contained within a barrier of Death, which had the shape of a large hammer.

As Kyle looked at the image, he felt a sense of belonging. From an outsider's perspective, the first image and the last image looked identical. Both of them just showed one big hammer.

Yet, inside the hammer, everything had changed. The hammer was no longer empty and lifeless. Instead, it was filled with life's complexities. The hammer still swung, but it swung with a purpose. The life inside it moved the hammer.

The individual hammers could fight, befriend, kill, betray, support, and love each other without limits. The insides of the big hammer were filled with change, movement, experiences, chaos, and order.

However, if anything outside of their world threatened them, they would act as a unit. Together, they would move their world, and their world would destroy the threat.

The big hammer moved via consensus. When the majority of hammers wanted it to move, it would. When the majority of hammers wanted it to stay put, it wouldn't move. When the hammer swung, but the majority changed its mind, it would stop swinging.

Just like a true hammer, moving it was difficult.

Just like a true hammer, it had incredible power.

Yet, unlike a true hammer, it could also be stopped.

'Sometimes, making the wrong choice is the right choice. Sometimes, making the right choice is the wrong choice. Objectivity might suffer as a result, but subjectivity takes precedence. When you have the best possible life imaginable, but you're still unhappy, what's the point? You want to be happy, and when you're unhappy, it doesn't matter what you have. You're unhappy.'

'A long life of unhappiness or a short life of happiness. I know what I would choose.'

'However, reality is not dictated by absolutes. You can have a long life of happiness and a short life of unhappiness. You can have a long life with some happiness and some unhappiness.'

Kyle looked at the black hammer, which looked simple on the surface but was actually filled with complexity on the inside.

'Yes,' he thought.

'This is me.'

The image of the hammer vanished, and Kyle's perception was pulled back towards his existence. He noticed that even more Energy was flowing into his existence, and the feeling of approaching some kind of limit intensified.

The amount of Energy Kyle absorbed was unreasonable. He was absorbing even more Energy than he had imagined.

Finally, he felt his Energy hitting a wall. The borders of his existence stopped more Energy from flowing into him. In response, the Energies around Kyle grew denser by multiple times. They kept pressing into him, and Kyle's body started to shake.

BANG!

The Energies exploded inside of Kyle's chest, turning into scattered Energies of all kinds. The Energies attracted each other, and after some time, they took on the shape of a hammer.

The hammer didn't have a solid form. The Energies were not orderly. The Energies were not dense. There were no small hammers. There was no reality.

Right now, there was just a cloud of splintered Energies that had the rough shape of a hammer. There was no complexity to it.

A moment later, Energy stopped flowing into Kyle, and the surroundings returned to normal.

His advancement had ended.

'I see,' Kyle thought as he looked at the ethereal hammer in his chest. 'That's what this is all about.'

'The first Nine Realms act as preparation for the Tenth Realm. During my journey, the world has given me different tasks. In one Realm, it asked me to refine my body, while in a different Realm, it wants me to gather as much Energy as possible.'

'The first two Realms are introductions to living on the path to power. The Third Realm introduces advancement bonuses and Laws. It shows you what's going to be important in the future. The Fourth Realm tests your ability to comprehend Pure Laws and create Complex Laws.'

'The Fifth Realm tests your physical capabilities and some other, general things. The Sixth Realm forces you to interact with the world. You can technically become a Crusher without ever interacting with others. You just need Energy and Laws. The Compression Realm requires you to kill and consume three powerful enemies. It teaches you that you can't get far without interacting with the world.'

'The Seventh Realm forces you to acknowledge how important Momentum and willpower are. The Eighth Realm forces you to learn all of the Major Laws of the Aspects and create a Domain. It also heavily incentivizes the creation and improvement of an Imposing Law. To become a Legendary Spirit Lord, the world even asks you to do the thing it asks New Immortals to do.'

'The Ninth Realm is a final test. You have to use everything that you've learned to get through it. Achieving Fusion is the hardest thing any Realm has asked of you up to this point. You have to prove that you have what it takes to join the elite.'

'Then, you get the opportunity to watch your life again. This is your one opportunity to look at yourself and reflect on who you are, and more importantly, on who you want to be.'

'By looking at your life once more, you can form an identity. You can see who you truly are.'

'And then, it asks you to introduce yourself. It wants you to make a picture that represents your existence.'

'This is your last chance. You've had plenty of opportunities to experience life and the path to power. You had enough time to define and actualize yourself.'

'Now, it's time to decide. Who are you? Who do you want to be?'

Kyle looked at the ethereal hammer.

'I've decided who I want to be. I made my choice.'

'All of the ingredients are here. The outline has been created.'

'Now, it's my duty to make it a reality. I know who I am, but my identity only exists in subjective reality. If I want my identity to become an objective reality, I need to fight for it.'

'I have imagined my universe, and the goal of the Universe Realm is to make this universe a reality.'

'And for that, I need Energy.'

'A lot of it.'

'After all, I need to create an entire universe.'

'My universe.'

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