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Even though fifteen minutes had already passed, for Kai, they equated to only a few moments.
Still, in those moments, he had already begun forming a basic understanding of the Blind Domain.
Mang Jian's Bankai — Thousand Paths, Realm Without Eyes — did one thing exceptionally well.
It removed access without removing existence.
Abilities still existed, but in Kai's perception, they didn't.
The same was true for his Skills and Items as well, as he couldn't even access his Inventory.
And, if Kai was right about it, then it wasn't that he couldn't access them, but that the act of accessing them was either delayed or twisted by the spacetime continuum.
It was like the Blind Domain was connecting the generation of Kai's thoughts related to accessing his Skills and Items to the point of time after he had already used them, bypassing everything in between.
And that's exactly why Standalone Titles still worked, Kai believed.
Because, unlike regular Skills, the Skills attached to the Standalone Titles always remained activated.
Activating a Skill and letting the Skill consume a set amount of MP, SP, and HP were two very different things, requiring separate mental commands.
It became even clearer from the fact that some Skills didn't even need Mana, Breath, or Life. So, theoretically, if such Skills belonged to Standalone Titles, they could remain active as long as the Contestant himself remained alive.
Fiend was such a Skill, attached to the Standalone Title — Fiend.
Kai didn't need to pour any fuel into it. The moment his HP fell below 10, it would automatically boost it to 200% of its maximum value, as it always remained active.
Another Skill of the same nature was Biokinesis.
…
[
Skill: Biokinesis
Grade: C+
Specification: Intricate control and manipulation over one's own biological processes, physiology, and anatomy
Requirement:
— Correspondence >25
— Stamina >20
— Perception >20
Attributes:
— Law of Conservation of Mass is strictly followed
— Mana Consumption - 0.0005 MP/gram of body mass restructuring
Effect:
— Anatomy Restructure
— Hormonal Manipulation
— Cellular Regeneration (+500% HP Regeneration Rate)
Warning:
— Contestant himself must keep track of all transformations
— Calorific energy stored in Contestant's body, or acquired from an external source, can be used to accelerate Cellular Regeneration
— Using one's own Calorific energy can result in severe fatigue and loss of HP Regeneration Rate
]
…
Of the three effects of Biokinesis, Kai could freely use Anatomy Restructure and Hormonal Manipulation, just like Fiend.
However, unlike Fiend, Cellular Regeneration consumed MP to keep boosting his HP Regeneration Rate.
To not let it impede him, Kai had dedicated an Echo of Ad Infinitum specifically to this task. It had no other function but to let Biokinesis access his MP reserves freely. That's why, no matter if Kai was knocked unconscious or lost all his organs, Biokinesis always activated on its own.
That was also the reason he was still alive at this point.
Fortunately, Kai had dedicated an Echo not only to Biokinesis but also to another Skill that belonged to his Standalone Title. Along with letting this particular Skill access his reserves, this Echo had only one other task - In the worst-case scenario, it would create a Room around Kai, protecting him with arbitrary Rules that would increase his survival chances the most!
So, the prime question was —
Was there a Room around him at this moment or not?
Taking inspiration from the continuous functioning of Biokinesis, Kai had concluded that there were two scenarios possible regarding My House, My Rules.
First, the Echo dedicated to it had failed to meet the Skill's condition of the presence of a room to create a House Common Room
If that was the case, then it was already over for him.
Second, the Echo created the Room, but as Kai neither had lost his faculties nor had he given any specific command, it didn't impose or reject any Rule.
The two scenarios wouldn't have mattered in any other place, as he could have confirmed the presence of a Room by just stating the Rules. If they worked, then there was a Room. If they didn't, then there wasn't. Simple.
However, this was no simple place, but the Blind Domain.
Any Rule that went in favor of Kai would make him lose access to it, the spacetime combining the intention with its end, erasing all the effects in between.
So, before imposing or rejecting a Rule, he needed to be absolutely sure that there was a Room around him in the first place.
And that's why Kai asked the question of whether the Blind Domain had a Boundary.
A room was nothing but a bounded agreement of space.
Simply put, a room was a space with rules.
It was just like Hogwarts' Room of Requirement. It did not always exist. It had no fixed location, appeared only when someone needed it, and its interior could be anything. Yet it was still called a room, because — Hogwarts recognized this as a space with bounded magical agreement.
And if that was true, then it didn't matter if the Blind Domain was still within the Cursed Vault of Fear or in... Null.
As long as it had a Boundary, given that it was following a set of rules, it was a Room.
The moment Kai received Mang Jian's answer, he had already gambled on this series of thoughts.
Subtle… he reminded himself, as the Blind Executioner fell into a curious silence. I must be subtle…
"The Blind Domain is denying me access to Skills," Kai rejected the Rule, hiding it within a casual conversation. "What if… this wasn't absolute?"
The moment those words were uttered, a magnificent change occurred.
All of Kai's thoughts, controlled by the Ad Infinitum, were being delayed or denied by the Blind Domain.
Now, a few of them began brushing against the Skills, and the Blind Domain's absolute denial became a matter of how fast it could prevent the AI from accessing the Skills, instead.
On the other hand, a dying Mang Jian frowned. Something's wrong…
It was already too late, though.
No matter if the Blind Domain was manipulating the spacetime continuum itself, it couldn't keep up with Ad Infinitum's blatant, brute attack.
Like billions of flashes appearing and disappearing, one of the AI's commands seeped through the Blind Domain's authority, successfully activating a Skill.
In the very moment, a figure appeared next to Kai, holding otherworldly beauty.
Noble Phantasm —
Colors exploded within the Blind Domain out of nowhere, a whiteness replacing all blackness.
With several loud CRACKS, the entire reality shattered.
Kai and Mang Jian, both barely holding onto their single-digit HP, fell with a deafening BOOM, rocking the entire Vault.
And in between them stood a black-robed witch, wielding a zig-zag dagger.
— Rule Breaker!
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