Infinite Mana In The Apocalypse

Chapter 4336: KNEEL III

"This all works in concert with your new ’Harvest Field’ and your passive defenses. It’s a truly beautiful, synergistic system."

|Harvest Field Projection|

|Creates zones where all effort flows toward you. Radius: Fold-wide, depending on complexity. Within this field, all work, struggle, and effort becomes your resource. Even metabolic processes, thought, existence itself... feeds you.|

|Effort Redirection Shield|

|A new passive defensive manifestation. All force used against you redirects to strengthen you. Physical, conceptual, existential attacks all count as "effort." The shield grows stronger with each attack absorbed, eventually becoming impermeable to anyone who has tried to breach it.|

|Harvest of Intent|

|Even the intention to harm you is now harvestable. Thoughts of violence directed toward you will actively drain the thinker’s energy and feed your own. Planning your defeat weakens the planner. Conspiracy against you will automatically fail as the conspirators are drained of the very will to act.|

RUIN/EDEN paused, letting the weight of these new laws settle.

"And now, Master... the ’Ultimate Expressions of Perpetual Harvest.’ These are the true, civilization-level applications of your Way. The first of which, you have already unlocked."

|Existential Taxation|

|You can now impose a "tax" on existence itself within your domain of influence. All beings must pay a portion of their daily effort simply to maintain their existence. This tax compounds for those who resist or oppose your will. You can, theoretically, bankrupt an entire Fold of its energy through accumulated, unpaid taxes.|

"The others in this category," she continued, her holographic form gesturing to a series of locked, golden icons, "are... future goals. They are currently locked, but they show us the path to true, conceptual Harvest."

|The Infinite Farm|(Currently Locked)

|Can cultivate conflicts that perpetually generate harvestable effort. Set up situations where beings must struggle eternally. Their eternal struggle becomes your eternal empowerment. Creates recursive loops of effort that feed into themselves.|

|The Reaper’s Due|(Currently Locked)

|Death itself becomes a form of harvest. Those who die opposing you add their entire existence to your harvest. Their concepts, memories, and abilities integrate into your growing power. Death in your service grants them continuation within your existence.|

|Apocalypse Harvest|(Currently Locked)

|Can designate an entire conflict as "one harvest cycle." All effort expended by all parties throughout the conflict becomes yours. Wars fought in your name grant you their total energy expenditure. The larger the conflict, the greater the final harvest.|

|The Final Harvest|(Currently Locked)

|When fully manifested, can harvest "potential effort." Takes not just what was done but what could have been done. Harvests all possible timelines where effort was expended. Retroactively harvests effort from futures that now will not occur.|

|Principle Recursion: Harvesting Harvest|(Currently Locked)

|Can harvest from the act of harvesting itself. Each use of the Principle strengthens the Principle. Creates an exponential growth spiral limited only by the available effort to harvest. Eventually reaches a point where existence itself is one vast harvest field.|

...!

Oh!

RUIN/EDEN let the final, terrible prompt fade. "Of course," she concluded, her expression turning analytical, "such power is not without its cost. A Principle of this magnitude is not a free lunch. It has... an appetite."

|The Hunger of Success|

|This Principle now demands constant, exponential growth. Periods without conflict, without a "harvest," will cause your power to degrade. You must actively create or seek out challenges to harvest from, or you will weaken.|

|Isolation of the Reaper|

|As your power grows, fewer and fewer beings can provide a meaningful harvest. Eventually, only entities of equal or greater power will be worth the effort of reaping. The stronger you become, the stronger the opposition existence must, and will, create to feed your Way.|

"This is what you command now," she finished, her crimson-blue form bowing deeply. "You are not just a harvester, Master. You are on the path to becoming Harvest itself. Now...how do you wish to begin?"

How did he wish to begin?

Noah’s consciousness, floating at the base of the magnificent, verdant-gold World Tree that was his new Principle, smiled. It was a smile of profound, almost melancholy, understanding.

"Before the apocalypse on that tiny blue planet," he began, his voice a quiet, internal murmur, "I remember the tax man. I hated the tax man. The hard-earned money my mother used to make... it was taken. So much of it, just... taken. All that was left behind were scraps, barely enough for us to feed ourselves."

He looked up, his gaze traveling up the infinite, glowing branches of the Principle. "I want to know how it feels to be the one to collect. So... activate Existential Taxation."

...!

BOOM!

His eyes snapped open. He was back in the molten sea of crimson-blue, the colossal, hazy illusion of THE Creature looming over him, its golden Goad raised. Tatiana’s sadistic smile was still locked in place, a mask of absolute, dreaming certainty.

But that certainty was about to be shattered.

A new light, a new law, a new truth, erupted from Noah’s being.

It was not the chaotic fire of his Mana, but a calm, absolute, and undeniable wave of verdant-gold. It pulsed outwards, a ripple of pure, conceptual authority, washing over everything.

It saturated the molten slags of the Dead Existential Armors, it passed through the struggling forms of the Prime Dead, it enveloped Tatiana, and it even washed over the illusion of THE Creature itself!

The light continued, unfathomdly fast, spreading to cover the entire region of Collapse, and further still, until it had blanketed 25% of the nearby Transcendent Law Folds.

|The Principle of Perpetual Harvest has been invoked.|

|The Ultimate Expression [Existential Taxation] is now active.|

|Domain of Influence: Current Region of Collapse, 25% of the Transcendent Law Folds.|

|Effect: All existences within this Domain of Influence must now pay a tax of ’Effort’ to maintain their very existence. This tax compounds for any who oppose your will.|

The moment the new weaving settled, the effect was immediate and devastating.

Tatiana’s sadistic smile wavered. She and the dozens of Prime Dead Early Creatures behind her suddenly felt... lighter. Weaker. A vast, significant portion of their power, their authority, their very complexity, was simply... gone.

Leaked away like water from a sieve!

Oh!