Chapter 1871: The Source of Rules Rowan was not shocked by this outcome. During his lifetime, he had observed that the nature of power was like a pyramid. At the base were a vast number of individuals who controlled lesser powers, and it was almost impossible to know every single person who was with you at the base of that pyramid. Still, the closer you get to the summit of the pyramid, the number of individuals you meet begins to fall off. At the height of the pyramid, there could only be a few individuals to claim that spot. So, when Rowan was a mortal and a Dominator, the number of people in the same rank as him was nearly infinite, and as he grew stronger, his circles became smaller. Now that he was nearing the peak of existence, there were only a few names that could call his attention. He had long expected that anyone or anything he would encounter in this journey would be someone familiar; it was only a pity that those who surrounded him were enemies, with the best option he could ever find being cutthroat competition. It was said that no plan survives first contact with the enemy, and Rowan was very much aware of this fact. If he was going to be encountering beings of this power level, the only thing he could do was his best to avoid situations where he had no response or no agency. There was a time when Rowan placed great faith in his plans. At the height of his power, he was untouchable, but he could not deny that part of him was now broken, and the only thing keeping him together was his sense of duty to all those who had placed their fate with him. The flames burning inside his being were a testament to that faith, and he would not be breaking it. He could not fight Enoch; maybe with his main body, there could be a possibility of putting up a certain level of resistance, but Rowan was aware that his role here was different. The power of End was greater than he could have ever imagined, but like the boy said, the rules of End were strict and unbreakable. Rowan knew that he had hijacked the power of Enoch, and presently, he was in great danger, but it could also be the source of his most incredible opportunity, eclipsing anything he had ever come across before. Although this realm where he found himself was strange, Rowan had discovered certain peculiarities that made it even more special. The first was the nature of this space and the elements surrounding it, such as the light that suffused the infinite realm, even when there was no visible source, and even this cave was something special. Rowan had the opportunity of seeing the depths of Origin, meaning he was able to peer through to the deepest layer of existence. Where a man would see a grain of sand, and a god would see its soul, Rowan could peer much deeper, seeing the fundamental nature of that grain of sand. With his Will, he could tweak and change that nature because he understood it completely. When Rowan was here, the lights, the sounds of his heartbeat, even the cold air that filled this cave, to his senses, were not truly light, sound, or even temperature; instead, they were something much deeper than that. It was as if he was looking at the source code of existence itself, the proto-light before the concept of light existed, the sound before sound was born. Rowan felt it when he began to cook for the boy, but at that time, he had not entirely placed a full thought to what he was experiencing. Every meal he made for the boy existed in his memory, and yet had never existed in this time period in the past. His act of creating them meant that, in a weird manner, Rowan became the true creator of those meals, and every ingredient he used in making them would only exist because he was the one who created them. There were great opportunities here, and they teased the edges of his senses, and anytime he tried to reach out for them, they fled from him, and he knew that this was happening because he had not gathered enough information to make an informed decision. Rowan smiled, and he muttered, "So, that’s what it means when you become the first." Enoch had claimed to be the first of everything. The first king, the first god, the first killer, the first lover, the first child, the first father, the first mother, the first weapon, the first madness, the first pain, the first loss, the first... Rowan had thought this was impossible, but only when he stood here did he begin to understand how he was able to do all of that. If he did not allow it, then everything in existence would not exist; was that the price that Enoch paid to change existence in his image? If that was the case, then how did everything go wrong? Rowan recalled that the boy said that although the power of End could not be broken, it could be manipulated, "I can tell you that Enoch was much like you; in fact, the similarities between the two of you are striking, and like you, he believed himself to be invincible, so much so that when he wielded the power of End, he did not care about the consequences... until it became too late." Rowan knew he had the habit of deliberating deeply into the matters that fascinated him. Still, he also acknowledged the fact that he was in a bad shape, and to prevent the boy from coming back and killing him with a flick of his fingers, and to finish the task he had given to himself, he needed to reach the thirteenth level of the nameless techniques. However, he found himself hesitating for the barest of moments before he began to cycle the techniques inside him to ascend it to the next level. The anticipation of the pain, suffering, and the increasing weight he had to bear was enough to make even someone like him hesitate. In the past, Rowan would have cursed at his weakness, but now he was learning to be much gentler to his mind. ’Perhaps this old dog can still learn new tricks,’ he mused internally. The weight he had to carry was heavy, and acknowledging the pain it brought was not weakness; it was simply the clarity he needed. In this place, cultivation was much faster, and to reach the thirteenth level outside of here should take maybe a hundred thousand years, but he felt he could trim down that time to maybe a tenth. Rowan’s eyes widened a bit when one of the intuitions about the power of this place that had been dancing across the edge of his mind took shape, and he closed his eyes to consider it. When he created these 108 nameless techniques, he did so in accordance with the laws of existence that had already shaped all of Reality. He had created them to reach the peak of Origin in such a way that the manner of their operation appeared to be breaking the rules. However, he knew they still fell into the rules of existence, but if he was here, a place that existed before rules were created... what could he make of these techniques?