Louis had never seen anyone—human or cat—walk the path of cultivation, so he had no idea what forming a Golden Core actually meant in terms of level.
But after Hastur explained it (with Louis transforming into a cat to translate), Louis finally understood that Hastur had taken a shortcut.
That glasslike Golden Core wasn't a proper cultivator's Golden Core at all—
It was something Hastur devoured from outside and then refined using its own racial talent.
Nothing like orthodox cultivation.
(Not that Louis had any idea what was orthodox to begin with.)
But no matter what level Hastur reached, Louis didn't really care.
He was focused on checking his mission rewards.
---
You have caused the death of two important beings: the Basilisk and the Acromantula.
The Basilisk's body has been completely destroyed. The Acromantula died prematurely.
The Sword of Gryffindor can no longer gain its anti–Horcrux effect.
Fate disturbance detected. Disturbance intensity: STRONG.
You gain 30 Fate Points. Current total: 61 points.
---
Challenge Mission: Qualified Trickster.
[Mission Description: A true trickster never relies solely on brute force. Use deception and external tools to eliminate the Basilisk.]
[Mission Requirement: Kill the Basilisk without using any direct attack methods.]
[Mission Reward: 1× Root-Level Lottery, 1× Basilisk Fang Weapon Set]
(T/N: Changed from Prime-tier Lottery to Root-Level)
Since the Acromantula-triggered scroll delivered the final blow—not Louis—the mission counted as complete.
Thus the rewards were instantly deposited:
• A Basilisk Fang weapon set (function unknown)
• And the far more important Root-Level Lottery
Louis had no idea what tier "Root-Level" represented, but it was without question above Legendary.
He couldn't care less about the weapon set.
His eyes were glued to that Root-Level lottery.
"System, start the lottery."
Louis used it without hesitation.
---
The next moment, Louis felt everything blur.
A tremendous force dragged him upward—toward infinity.
This lottery was completely different from all the others!
Louis steadied his racing heart, wanting to see where he was being taken…
But everything around him was too fuzzy, enveloped in mist.
Until—
He saw it.
A door.
Under a star-drenched sky, surrounded by nebulae, stood a door whose edges stretched beyond all possible sight.
It had no height, no width, no concept of size.
It simply was.
A concept made manifest—
Door.
The instant he saw it, Louis felt fear.
Not fear of the door.
Not fear because it was too big.
Not fear of some unknown thing.
He feared because his body instinctively told him:
You must fear what stands behind the Door.
And just as Louis was overwhelmed by this inexplicable sensation—
The Door.
Opened.
A thin crack of light split across the impossible structure.
The Door opened?
Unexpectedly, the moment it opened, Louis' fear evaporated.
Instead…
His right eye seemed to forge a strange link with something inside that Door.
What was it?
What existed beyond that threshold?
Louis tried to move closer—
But he realized he had no body.
He was here as pure consciousness, dragged by the system.
Just as he tried to approach the Door—
Something struck his head.
A sudden impact.
Then—
He fell.
---
When he regained awareness, he was back in the Room of Requirement.
Sitting exactly where he had been.
Everything before felt like a dream.
Louis inhaled deeply, steadying his thoughts, and looked at the system prompt.
---
[You have reached the Root of All Things — the Gate of Origin.]
[Lottery Initiating… ERROR. Suspected Rule-Type Power Detected.]
[No living being may possess two or more Rule-Type Powers.]
[Lottery cancelled. You will be directly granted an upper-tier Origin Law of similar nature.]
[You have obtained the Root–Law: Distortion.]
[Root–Law: Distortion:]
[A Root-level enhancement of the Mystic Eye of Distortion.]
[Allows you to freely distort any concept or object below Root level.]
---
"Distort anything below Root level… concepts included?"
Louis was puzzled.
He had no idea what exactly counted as "Root level."
"Root-level items shouldn't exist at all, or at most be ridiculously rare," Louis muttered, stroking his smooth chin.
"But what's the difference between this and my old Mystic Eye of Distortion?"
The original Mystic Eye could twist space, letting a person who tried to enter a room accidentally run back out.
So what could the Root-enhanced version do?
Louis thought for a moment and pulled a long balloon from his sleeve.
He blew it up, twisted it into the shape of a balloon dog, then activated the Distortion Law with a flash of his right eye.
The balloon dog instantly turned into a real, living dog, barking in Louis' hands.
"…Seriously? Just this?"
Louis tilted his head at the dog.
He could've done something similar with his fully integrated runic magic.
"No, something's off. This is a Root-level ability. How can a Legendary-tier effect replace it? That'd make it pointless."
Louis scratched his head.
"Distort… replace… maybe I'm using it wrong?"
He stared at the puppy in his hands.
Then he gently squeezed—
And snapped its neck.
The palm-sized dog twitched, then died instantly.
Louis felt the body grow cold.
It was dead. Completely dead.
And yet…
It didn't revert to a balloon.
That was odd.
Anything created by magic or runes would revert after the creature died—the death of the "form" breaks the spell.
But Distortion didn't revert.
It had truly turned the balloon dog into a real dog, dying as an actual dog.
But Louis wasn't done.
Looking at the stiff little corpse, he invoked the Distortion Law again.
This time, he distorted the concept of "life and death."
A second later—
The crushed bones repaired themselves.
The lifeless dog suddenly sprang up, wagging its tail, alive and energetic again.
Only this time, it glared at Louis with hostility and barked furiously.
"It… actually worked!"
Louis was stunned.
The Root-strengthened Distortion could distort life and death.
It could toy with the Grim Reaper himself.
He snapped his fingers—
And the vicious barking dog instantly turned back into a balloon animal with a soft poof.
In truth, Louis didn't even need to snap.
A single thought was enough to change or undo any distortion of matter or concept.
"Life and death are just the crudest applications.
This thing should have many more profound uses…"
Louis pondered it further—
Only to realize…
This ability… might not be that useful for him.
Not because it wasn't powerful.
But because Louis was already absurdly powerful.
When you already have nukes, turning them into hydrogen bombs doesn't change your day-to-day needs.
And for everyday troublemaking, the effect was limited.
It was terrifying and unrestricted—no preparation, no cost, distort anything at will.
But Louis rarely needed something so extreme to decide someone's life or death.
For example, those Voldemort fragments he was going to throw out soon—
Louis already had plans to deal with them.
He didn't need rule-level power for that.
So practically, the ability was… not huge.
Strategically? Massive.
"…Hmm?
Wait a second—"
Louis suddenly had a very strange idea.
---
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