Chapter 565: Encountering a Four-Dimensional Being
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Luo Yuan continued to stay at the Glassian Star System for another half day before deciding to return.
Due to the witnessing Glassian's lack of a sense of crisis, Luo Yuan had even stopped killing the Glassian survivors. In the end, some Glassians that had a deep hatred towards Mankind had finally managed to escape Mankind's onslaught. To Mankind' long-term development, it was a stimulant for their survival instincts in the sense that there will always be an enemy.
Whether this act would end coming back to haunt the Mankind later, Luo Yuan thought the probability of that happening would be next to impossible. Not every race could be like Humans and rapidly produce super-intelligent individuals. Another factor to take in was the plummeting population of the Glassian; the only thing awaiting the survivors was the de-evolution of technology and the regression of their previous civilization.
Luo Yuan's body then went invisible as to avoid the Human's space fighter jet's detection range that had spread to every corner of the stellar system. With his small figure compared to this star system, it was as if he was a droplet in the sea. He then proceeded to silently leave the star system as silently as he entered. From the beginning to the end, no human space fighter jets had noticed anything amiss.
Luo Yuan had waited after leaving the star system for 6 days. Afterward, he activated his Space-Time Bubble and headed in the direction of Barnard star system.
However, after a few days of traveling, Luo Yuan suddenly felt like he was being observed.
At first, he thought it was just his intuition and continued flying for another hour until he noticed that the nearby gravitational pull in space had some minor changes. It was then that he instantly knew something was amiss.
Luo Yuan's face had become solemn and proceeded to slowly disengage the Space-Time Bubble. After coming to a stop, he began to vigilantly observe his surroundings.
Currently, he could reach a shocking speed of 1,200 light-days each day. However, even with this terrifying speed, an unknown entity was monitoring him in the dark unexpectedly. It was frightening for him.
His instinct drew him to look at a corner, however the nearby space remained quiet. From the overview of the area, there was nothing. Even with Luo Yuan's heightened senses, he was unable to detect any traces of any beings in that location.
Luo Yuan's powerful Will had thoroughly scanned the surroundings. Whether it was the local cosmic radiation, neutrinos, photons or even electrons; nothing could escape his senses. As for the nearby microscopic dust particles and the thin gaseous bodies, he had thoroughly memorized their exact locations.
However, there was nothing.
Normal. Everything was perfectly normal, but this precisely was the biggest anomaly.
The gravitational pull here was drastically increasing. At first, the increase was minuscule to the point it was nearly undetectable, barely equivalent to a gravitational pull given out by an object of a billion tons. However, the pull was now comparable to the moon's gravity and its force was still rising.
Luo Yuan remembered clearly that this area did not have any records of a black hole. Moreover, even if there was a black hole, the gravitational pull would not be increasing in such a drastic manner.
A few seconds later, the gravitational force was approaching 10G and within a minute, it had already reached 1,000G. Space-time had clearly begun warping as if there was a black hole rushing towards him at light speed.
The fact of the matter was that the effect of whatever was happening was almost the same.
Even in the vast universe, this was an incredibly rare situation. And although Luo Yuan was shocked, he was not afraid. His Will had quietly wiped out the spatial distortions and when the strong attraction force in space had finally affected his mass, it had begun to show signs of weakening.
In theoretical physics, gravitational force will always occur where there was mass, resulting in universal gravitation. The bigger the mass, the stronger the gravitational force. If it one was to further research this matter, it was possible to discover that mass could equally emit a type of graviton or gravitational field by artificially enhancing the gravitons' energy. Using this theory, it was possible to create artificial gravity; resulting in the possible birth of a strong and more efficient Reactionless Drive engine.
However, this was only gravity's behavior under a microscope. When taking into consideration the fourth dimension's macro perspective, the gravitational force of an object translated to the strength of its fourth-dimensional properties. The larger the mass of the object, the larger the object's fourth-dimensional properties, which was directly proportional to the impact it had on space. This leads to a form of spatial distortion and from that, forming an artificial gravitational force.
Due to this concept, Luo Yuan would not be affected by any objects with a strong gravitational force unless he encountered celestial bodies that had an extreme gravitational force like a black hole.
He stared in the direction of the source of gravitational force. Luo Yuan did not need to wait for long. About an hour later, his 'vision' had finally spotted a black spot.
The moment he spotted the source, Luo Yuan's body began to tremble. His mood was slightly disturbed and in his shock, he discovered this black spot didn't exist in the third dimension. It existed in the fourth dimension, his mouth was left gaping as if he was facing a final boss.
Under his observation, the fourth dimension was just an empty and dead space excluding the infinite amount of dark energy tides. It was difficult to see other things within that dimension. In that context, his body could be considered fourth-dimensional. From that, he could theorize the existences of fourth-dimensional creatures.
Although these type of beings would definitely have a low population, it was impossible to spot even a single of these being within 100 light-years. Because of this, people have doubted if such a creature existed at all.
Luo Yuan's fourth dimension vision's scope to a normal creature was totally unimaginable. Normally speaking, he could perfectly see within a radius of 100 light years to the point that he would notice a small planet which had a radius of a 100 kilometers floating in the dark. If the distances were about 50 light years, he could clearly see whether that planet's surface had an undulating terrain.
Even though this black spot was only as small as a meteorite, the distance was at least a few light years or even few dozen light years away and its speed had completely exceeded Luo Yuan's imagination. This shadow was constantly expanding after every passing second.
At first, it was as small as a speck of dust. However, minutes later, it had become as big as a sesame seed.
Concurrently, the gravitational force had become stronger, reaching a staggering 10,000G. Nearby, endless amounts of space debris had been pulled in by the gravitational force resembling a stream of water flowing in the shadow's direction. This was not just the aftershock from a few light years away. Even the celestial bodies nearby had appeared to slightly shift in its direction.
This was Luo Yuan's first time witnessing such a mysterious and terrifying occurrence within the fourth dimension. The shadow could likely be absolute proof of the existence of a fourth-dimensional creature.
His instincts told him that he had to flee immediately but his curiosity took over and he stubbornly remained at the same location.
Even if he was to flee, he clearly knew that with this horrifying speed, there was no way that he could escape from it. He had already been targeted. Aside from staying at the same place, there was nothing else he could do.
To be cautious, Luo Yuan's body collapsed instantaneously, every atom had been crushed by him. The cores of the atoms had been forcefully held and squeezed together by his Will. His original two-meter-high body shrunk to around twenty centimeters.
In this state, every molecule in his body had disappeared following the separation of the molecular bonds. The entirety of his mass has solidified into a clump without intermolecular spacing.
However, his consciousness remained unaffected was due to his quantum brain, computing simulation that already exceeded the shackles of having mortal flesh. Just like the quantum computation device, the calculation of energy all came from the dimensionally reduced atomic cubits, not the cerebral cortex. To a being like him, a brain was just a type of decoration, inessential for life. Even if his brain was gone, it would not affect his ability to think.
Under the state of transcendence, energy came from the fourth-dimension, so that he wouldn't need to worry about his body's energy requirements.
As of now, his body was emitting a high amount of radiation. In this state, his whole body was seemingly unbreakable, comparable to a white dwarf. Even if he was to be bombarded with Mankind's most powerful heavy artillery, it would be just like a wind blowing onto his face.
Of course, there were disadvantages when staying in this form. Because his body had been thoroughly solidified, it was as he was a mannequin that stays put. Even with his godlike powers, there was nothing he could do in that state.
Luckily this had nothing to do with it as his strength had reached the level of a fourth-dimensional being. The main concern would be the struggle of Will. When faced with such an opponent, even if his power was a magnified a hundred times, there was nothing he could do.
However, as they say — Curiosity killed the cat.
In the end, Luo Yuan only had a glimpse of the fourth dimension. When faced with the true powers of the fourth dimension, he was full of terror.
Time slowly passed and this shadow had grown larger. About 3 hours later, this shadow had reached up to 1,000 meters in radius. Finally, Luo Yuan could take a look at its true form.
This was a type of creature which was impossible to be described in the third dimension. Even Luo Yuan was unable to describe it when he saw it. It had no eyes, no limbs, and not ever a clear distinction regarding its interior or exterior. It was the subversion of the concept of biology, If you didn't witness it, you would never believe it was a living creature.
Its body was adhering to the surface of the fourth-dimensional universe (third dimension world) at a boggling speed of tens of thousands of light-years per second. Although its body did not forcefully squeeze into the third dimension, it had already caused space-time in the nearby third-dimensional world to distort, causing massive ripple effects.
Half an hour passed and just as Luo Yuan began to panic, this unknown origin fourth-dimensional creature suddenly stopped at 0.1 light years away.
A single star system's average diameter was just about a few light days. A tenth of a light day, regardless if it was for mankind or Luo Yuan, was still a distance away. However, to this fourth dimension beast, it was already facing Luo Yuan.
The next moment, Luo Yuan had felt a strong movement in quantum wavelengths. He then closely scanned his body and noticed the wavelength's energy and his body had collided causing sparks.
Both of them remained stationary, the fourth dimension beast had intentionally stopped but Luo Yuan was afraid to move when faced with an unstoppable force. Luo Yuan was determined to cover up his powers, even the power that he used to maintain the balance of space-time had been withdrawn, letting the terrifying gravitational force rip at his body to avoid the opposite party's hostility and to gain a slight sense of security.
In his heart, he felt as if he was being exposed to a super-efficient spotlight, being stared by many people, causing him immense discomfort.
Through common sense, this type of fourth dimension creature had long abandoned the standard living needs. It no longer needed to consume food but relied on a type of primitive energy harvesting form. However, no one could confirm it was not interested in a semi fourth-dimensional creature like him.
It never tried to forcefully enter the third dimension, or maybe it knew it could never fit in. Even if it did not enter the third dimension, it's projected third-dimensional body had already formed a type of black hole-esque source of gravity. Space-time around it had formed a semi fourth-dimensional cycle seal. The lights that passed through that area had never came back, as if it was swallowed and formed a pitch black screen. Even the nearby stars, under the influence of the terrifying gravitational pull had changed their course and slowly began orbiting around it.
Luckily both the Glassian system and the Barnard system was at least at a distance of seven to eight lights years away. Else, who knew how many disasters it would bring to mankind.
Luo Yuan could slightly feel its quantum wavelength disruption, almost as if it's carried a form of curiosity and exploration. However, this was not enough for him to relax, rather it alerted him.
He could not help but think that this was like the scene where a kid was playing with ants.
The next moment may usher the moment where the kid would "pour hot water on it", "burn it with fire," or even "just step onto it and kill it!"
Facing a true fourth-dimensional creature, he was in the same position as the ants.
Luckily, this fourth dimension creature was far gentler. Both parties had remained frozen for over a few minutes. Put another way, this four-dimensional beast was filled with a degree of curiosity. As Luo Yuan was being extra cautious, it slightly moved its body, causing part of the dark energy to fly off from the fourth dimensional surface and ascend toward an even higher dimension.
That newly formed black hole continued to exist for a few more minutes before it instantaneously exploded, giving off bright lights as it lost the support of gravity. Perhaps in a few hundred years, this location would give birth to an asteroid belt.
Luo Yuan was relieved but still had some lingering fear. When faced with such godlike being, that type of pressure was like a mountain crushing you. It reminded him of the first time he faced the mutated snake.
Luckily it was never too close and didn't harbor any evil intention. Otherwise, all it needed was to project that body onto the fourth dimension, creating a black hole to easily crush him.
No matter how strong and powerful Luo Yuan's Will was, he didn't have the confidence to ensure his safety within a black hole.
He stayed at the same location, looking at this fearsome creature fly further and further away until a few hours had passed. When he could no longer see it, he could finally relax. He then returned to his original body from his white-dwarf state.
The next moment, he then activated the Space-Time Bubble once again and quickly flew back towards the direction of the Barnard star system.
The scenery that he had witnessed today had left a deep impression on him to the point of feeling a genuine shock. Originally, he had some expansion plans in mind but after witnessing this scene, his thoughts quickly returned to normal. Faced with a true four-dimensional creature, he was still as weak as an ant.