Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix-Chapter 1334: Moving on

"Well, this is pretty good..." Rain thought. "Crossing one hundred kilometers in an instant. The weird thing is the fact that I feel sucked by the spell."

Each level increased the amount of mana Rain could use per cast, and that was multiplied by the distance. It was a very overpowered skill, but it followed some very specific rules that made sense as well. Portal Conjuration consumed more mana, but the spell could remain active for as long as Rain wanted. At the same time, Rain felt like he could literally connect two places with a single portal, and it was identical to the portals that the prison had created to make people travel across.

"They can use space magic... I am not surprised," Rain thought. "They never used that, though... they used a bunch of times blood sacrifice to summon their soldiers and monsters."

After a few more tests, Rain went to share the results with the others, and soon, they decided to put the plan into action. While Rain didn’t have enough mana to make the plan feasible yet, and the skill still could level up a lot more, the others decided to give their mana to him and bring everyone else to the castle town.

Once that happened, the place began to get quite crowded... it took several hours, but eventually, all of their allies were there, and their numbers reached almost three hundred thousand.

"How far away was that planet?" Terra asked after she crossed her arms.

"It was around... 225 million kilometers away," Rain said when he realized that it was the average distance between Earth and Mars. "Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering if we can stop at home for a moment by using that technique," Terra explained.

"That is impossible for now," Rain said. "Perhaps once the skill reaches level five hundred or something. "We are pretty far away from home, after all. Anyway, it is time to take the second step of our plan." freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

The second step of the plan involved a move to compel the people of the castle town to join their cause. Despite no longer being under the control of the system, a large portion of the populace remained hesitant to rebel against the machine gods. However, Rain understood the necessity of their cooperation and was prepared to take firm action to secure their help.

Rain resolved to enlist every available individual, recognizing the importance of pooling their collective knowledge and abilities in their struggle against the machine gods. While persuasion and diplomacy were preferable, Rain understood that coercion might be necessary.

Should resistance persist, Rain was prepared to resort to drastic measures, including transforming reluctant individuals into cores to extract vital knowledge and abilities. He recognized that their survival and success depended on harnessing every available resource, regardless of the means necessary to attain them. Besides, there was no point in being merciful to those who would side with the machine gods... they would die anyway, but they might have a chance in the future if the machine gods were defeated.

"Should we split that job?" Sealyn asked. "Those who have the relics can turn them into cores, right?"

"I will do this. From now on, you should avoid dealing with blood as much as possible," Rain said.

Sealyn felt like sighing... while her belly was growing thanks to her child, she didn’t feel like she should already move out from the frontlines, but since Rain wanted to deal with the matter alone and take on his shoulders alone the hate of the enemies that didn’t want to work with them, she realized that he wasn’t underestimating her. He was just being mindful of everyone.

"Focus on unlocking the new paths. We all will need, at the very least, the chimera’s path," Rain said.

"Rain. Sakaki wants to talk with you," Sealyn said and then tossed the spear at him. "We will be here if you need help. Although it is easier to rain gold than you asking for help."

"I guess it is..." Rain said and then chuckled. "... What is it?"

"I need to work on the chart considering the king in the shadows knowledge to plan how we should move out," Sakaki said. "I can’t do it when he isn’t around. At the same time, we need to prepare for this as soon as possible."

Even if they could create portals using the king in the shadow’s knowledge, making that many people cross it would take hours... unless Rain keeps all of them inside a pocket dimension and then he moves himself to the destination and unleashes all of them there... that seemed like a pretty interesting way to surprise the enemies... it also seemed like something from a book Rain read a long time ago.

"With this much power and skills at my fingertips... I can imagine why people would become unhinged and decide to conquer the universe," Rain thought. "Machines would be particularly interested in that, even more so if their main goal is to obtain as much knowledge as possible."

If the machine gods functioned akin to advanced artificial intelligence, their actions would be governed by programmed parameters and algorithms, limiting their behavior to predetermined patterns. In such a scenario, the extinction of life in the cosmos would be contrary to their objectives, as their primary goal would likely revolve around obtaining knowledge and power beyond their current understanding.

Unlike organic beings, AI entities like the machine gods would lack the capacity for spontaneous discovery or creative innovation. Their actions would be based solely on existing knowledge and data, precluding the possibility of making discoveries through trial and error or accidental experimentation.

Furthermore, AI entities operate within the confines of their programming, adhering strictly to predefined rules and protocols. They are incapable of deviating from these parameters or exhibiting traits such as curiosity or intuition. As a result, their actions are predictable and deterministic, guided solely by the information available to them at any given time.