Chapter 404: Entering the inverse world Ethan stood at the edge of the ancient forest. The air was still thick with the scent of ozone and ionized blood from the battle that had just occurred. Behind him, twenty shadow soldiers once proud Origin Paragons and Eternal Sovereigns stood like silent monuments to his power. They were ready to hunt, to grow his army, and to serve as his eyes in this vast world. But Ethan’s mind was already elsewhere. His primary goal remained the same. He needed to find powerful Inverse beings. These entities, born from the negative plane of existence, held the keys to a level of power that the positive world could not provide. However, searching for them by luck in the infinite expanse of the Origin World was a fool’s errand. It was inefficient, and Ethan valued efficiency above all else. He needed a way to cross the border. Ethan sat beneath the shade of a massive tree, his mind racing through the laws of physics and metaphysics. To reach the negative plane, one had to manipulate the Law of Entropy. In the positive world, entropy was a measure of disorder, a relentless march toward decay. In the negative world, it was the very fabric of reality. "If I can create a localized collapse of the Law of Entropy," Ethan mused, "I can force a bridge to manifest." He did not want a massive, stationary gate that would attract attention. He wanted something portable, something discreet. He needed a key that could fit in his pocket but unlock the door to another dimension. Before building such a device, he needed a quiet place to work. Even though he was powerful, the wild forests of the Origin World were unpredictable. He decided to find a human settlement. In this world, humans were often treated as lowly creatures, which made their cities the perfect place to hide in plain sight. No one expected a god to be hiding in a slum. After walking for several hours, he came upon a bustling town. It was a crude place compared to the high-tech worlds he had seen, but it had an inn. He paid for a room with a few spirit stones he had looted and locked the door. He sat on the creaky wooden bed and began to design. In his mind, complex blueprints formed. He combined the Law of Infinity with the principles of dimensional resonance. He realized quickly that the technology to invade the negative plane already existed among the top Original Races, but their machines were the size of planets. Ethan wanted something better. He waved his hand. "Creation," he whispered. The air shimmered. Particles of light gathered and solidified. A sleek, black device appeared in his palm. It looked remarkably like a mobile phone, but its surface was etched with glowing silver runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. This was more than a portal generator. It was a multi-tool of cosmic proportions. With it, he could scan the density of entropy in an area and tear open a rift whenever he pleased. "It’s time," Ethan said. He did not stay in the inn. He teleported instantly to a secluded cave near the forest he had recently left. The cave was deep, cold, and far from prying eyes. He held up the device and pressed a command on the glowing screen. "Open." The air in the cave did not just rip. It screamed. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞 A swirling vortex of grey and purple energy erupted in the center of the damp cavern. Instantly, a tremendous amount of entropy gushed out. It felt like a cold wind that did not just chill the skin, but tried to unravel the very soul. Ethan stepped through. When Ethan opened his eyes, he was met with a world that looked strangely familiar, yet fundamentally wrong. The trees were there, but they grew downward into the earth. The sky was a deep, bruised violet, and the sun was a black hole that radiated cold light. Everything here was inverted. In the positive world, energy had a physical form and entropy was just a concept. Here, entropy was physical. It drifted through the air like thick mist. Energy was the abstract concept. Ethan felt his cells vibrate. "I can use this," he realized. "By cultivating under this entropy, I can make my cells perfect." But there was a risk. This was his avatar. To achieve true perfection, his main body had to be here. But there was a catch. The Progenitor of the Vampire Race had a karmic link to Ethan because of the destruction of the Alucard seal. The moment Ethan’s true body entered the Origin World, the Progenitor would sense him. Ethan moved with surgical precision. The clone stepped back through the portal into the cave. It placed the Sword of Infinity on the ground as a marker. Then, the clone vanished into smoke. At that exact millisecond, Ethan’s main body appeared in the cave. He grabbed the sword and dived toward the portal. But as his shoulder crossed the threshold, a sudden, paralyzing chill gripped his spine. It was the feeling of a gaze from a higher dimension. A predator looking at an ant. The Progenitor had found him. "Close!" Ethan roared. He tumbled into the negative world just as a massive, pale hand made of pure killing intent tore through the space where he had just been standing. The portal snapped shut, severing the connection. In a grand, gothic castle within the territory of the Genesis Vampires, a handsome young man with blood-red eyes frowned. He looked at his hand, which had failed to grasp its prey. "A little bug has so much malicious karma with my race?" the Progenitor murmured. "I cannot allow this variable to exist." He turned to a tall, armored figure kneeling in the shadows. "Marco, order all the Eternal Sovereigns currently stationed in the negative world to eliminate this bug. His name is Ethan." Marco, the ruler of the Vampire race, bowed his head low. "As you wish, Progenitor." Within minutes, a command echoed through the psychic network of the vampire race. The reward for Ethan’s head was the ultimate prize. A single drop of the Progenitor’s original blood. Every vampire in the negative plane began to sharpen their fangs. Unaware of the scale of the hunt, Ethan found a quiet, hollowed-out mountain in the negative world to begin his seclusion. He could not touch the objects here yet. Their negative molecular structure would cause him to undergo cellular collapse if he was not careful. He sat cross-legged and drew in a breath. Instead of spiritual energy, raw entropy flooded his lungs. Suddenly, a voice echoed in his mind. It was the World Tree, which resided within his inner world. "Master... if you stay here, I can absorb this entropy to complete my evolution. I won’t even need to hunt powerhouses. But... it will take time." Ethan nodded. "Don’t worry. Do your work. I am cultivating as well." Ethan activated his Law of Entropy. He became a vacuum, a black hole for the grey mist of the negative plane. His cells began to absorb the physical entropy, and as they did, they transformed. In a normal human, there are roughly 30 to 40 trillion cells. But Ethan’s body, evolved by the Omni Bloodline, held a staggering 10^100 cells. A googol of cells, each a universe in its own right. He watched as his cells turned from red to a brilliant, indestructible gold. Cycle 1: 2 cells. Cycle 2: 4 cells. Cycle 3: 8 cells. The numbers doubled with every cycle of refining. To reach full evolution, he calculated he would need 335 cycles. Since each cycle took roughly one day to process the massive amount of entropy, he would need to stay hidden for nearly a year. "335 days," Ethan whispered, his eyes closed. But peace was a luxury he did not have. Even now, through the thick walls of the mountain, he could feel powerful, cold auras approaching.