I leaned back in my chair, letting the new sensation wash over me again—the subtle pull in the air whenever someone tried to lie. It wasn't something the system granted me. No, this one came from an anomalous object we recovered months ago, a relic whose original purpose was lost to time. But when I touched it, something awakened behind my eyes.
Now, all I need to do is lock gazes with someone… and I know. Whether their heartbeat stutters, whether their words twist, whether their intentions warp. It's all laid bare. The entire concept of deception is useless against me now.
Frankly? It's one of the most terrifyingly useful powers I've ever gained.
I flicked my thumb against the metallic casing of the portal gun resting on my desk. My portal gun. A perfected version. Rick's original design was brilliant—terrifyingly so—but it had flaws, inefficiencies, vulnerabilities that only someone with absolute mastery of physics, metaphysics, and several branches of multiversal theory could recognize.
Fortunately, that's me now.
I cracked open the casing, revealing the glowing chamber of the new portal fluid—my portal fluid. Rick's green stuff looks like battery acid compared to this. Mine shifts colors like a living aurora, the hues bending with quantum pressure waves. Stable, efficient, and capable of reaching realms neither Rick nor his variants have ever touched.
People call Rick Prime the smartest man in the multiverse. And honestly? I agree. He's still ahead in some very obscure categories. But with every upgrade, every anomalous artifact I study, every enhancement I add to myself… that gap shrinks.
I'm easily top ten. Probably top three. And if we're only counting mortals—not gods? Yeah. I'm sitting at number one.
A soft buzz echoed in my ear as the internal comm-line reconnected. Another meeting soon, another round of council decisions. Another round of shaping the future of this multiverse-spanning Foundation.
But right now?
Right now, I twisted the dial on my upgraded portal gun, listening to the hum of infinite pathways opening before me like threads waiting to be pulled.
A smarter man than me might feel afraid.Rick Prime certainly would.
But me?
I just smiled. The multiverse is wide, and I'm finally equipped to carve through all of it.