"Let me use my own Rules as an example. If I became the BOSS of an instance, and obtained the Plane’s Mandate blessing, then once my Rules unfolded, everyone’s actions would have to conform to my Rules."

"At that time, only Abilities related to temperature would be able to take effect within the world under the influence of my Rules."

He pointed at the black mass on the advertisement and said:

"Other types of Abilities—the lines that make them up—have already been devoured by my lines, so their Abilities will all become invalid."

"Sword Star’s Flying Sword is extremely sharp. He has a Flying Sword Technique that can turn his Flying Sword into countless copies, attacking his opponent like a rainstorm."

"But this Sword Technique has nothing to do with temperature. Within a space under the control of my Rules, this move cannot be executed; even if it’s used, its destructive Power will be reduced several times over."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. The Power of Root spread outward; it could actually control Rules and render other people’s Abilities invalid.

No wonder that once Yu Siyi was discovered to possess the Power of Root, the Management Bureau immediately took her away and carefully cultivated her. Relying on the Power of Root, she was even able to play a key role in the Cursed Dungeon.

It was just that the Power of Root could nullify Abilities inferior to it, preventing the opponent from wounding oneself, and making it hard for them to defend against one’s own attacks—why did that sound so familiar.

Cold Mountain guessed what Wu Chang was thinking and said with a smile:

"Lord Peace mentioned Divinity before, and also mentioned God projections. You must have faced opponents with Divinity more than once and have some understanding of it, so you would think Divinity and the Power of Root are partly similar."

"That’s right. The Power of Root is, in essence, still borrowed. The true source of its Power is the Rules that constitute the world itself."

"If, through some method, you return the great might of the Rules to yourself and make yourself into the Rules, that is Divinity."

Previously, Wu Chang had always felt that there was a disconnect between ordinary Abilities and Divinity.

Without inheriting external Divinity, relying only on ordinary Abilities—whether Mysticism, Magic, or Thunder Technique—it was very difficult to deduce one’s way up to the level of Divinity.

With Cold Mountain’s additions, he finally understood what transitional piece was missing between the two.

The transition between Extraordinary and Divinity is precisely the Power of Root.

At this moment, he felt that as a wild, self-taught type, although he surpassed members of big organizations in combat strength by leveling up quickly and receiving better rewards,

when it came to intelligence reserves and a systematic understanding of the Abyssal Game, he was still just a raw recruit.

Still, fortunately, he had the chance to catch up.

In the future, whenever there was something he couldn’t figure out, he had to chat more with the All-Knowing Crystal.

Nothing was more suitable than the All-Knowing Crystal to serve as a search engine—no, a teacher of the Abyss.

The Power of Root refined one step further is Divinity. Cold Mountain was afraid that if Wu Chang knew this inference, he would look down on the Power of Root, so he added:

"For Players, in terms of Energy Level, the Power of Root is inferior to Divinity. When facing a target with Divinity, the Power of Root has difficulty taking effect."

"But for Desolate Realm Players without Divinity, the lethality and effectiveness of the Power of Root can even surpass Divinity."

Cold Mountain paused for a moment, then said:

"You asked me earlier what the difference is between a newborn S-Level instance and a mature S-Level instance."

"The difference lies in whether a Plane Son has emerged within the instance, or in other words, whether the mutated Power of Root has begun to erode the other Rules of the Plane."

"In the Desolate Realm, Divinity is repelled by the Plane barrier; it can only act on the self and cannot affect the outside world. But the Power of Root is the opposite."

"The Power of Root is originally the highest-grade Power in the Desolate Realm. In an S-Level instance, existences who grasp the Power of Root often may gain the Plane’s recognition and become a Plane Son."

"A Plane Son who has mastered the Power of Root and fights within their own Plane is a completely different concept from a Player who has mastered the Power of Root."

At this point, Cold Mountain shivered. This was not because of the cold, but because he had recalled some memories that left him still shaken.

He poured himself a glass of liquor, drank it, exhaled a breath, and then said:

"I once served as commander in attacking an S-Level instance. That instance was a mature S-Level instance."

"The instance took place in a world similar to an ancient Martial World. The BOSS of the instance was a local strongman who had obtained an Extraterrestrial Wondrous Stone and could learn all the martial arts under heaven."

"Within the sphere of influence under his control, all non–Body Techniques Abilities could only exert thirty percent of their original effect. Only Powers related to Body Techniques could be fully unleashed."

"Not only that, the martial practitioners of that Plane possessed destructive Power beyond ordinary people and could ignore Body-Protecting Items and Skills."

"Under those circumstances, when we failed to Assassinate the Village Chief, we were chased by hundreds of Martial World experts with superb martial arts. They were flying over eaves and walking on walls, their speed incredibly fast, while our movement Skills were nullified under the instance Rules."

Cold Mountain sighed and said, "That was the time I came closest to Death."

After hearing this, Wu Chang clicked his tongue. Substituting it into the Steam Phantom instance, it would be akin to being chased by hundreds of Secret Police riding in cars, while Players could only dodge and hide at the pace of running on foot.

Just thinking about it felt thrilling.

Cold Mountain said:

"Just now I heard Sword Star say that Lord Peace also couldn’t sense the aura of Special Energy from the bullets used by the Secret Police."

"Ordinary industrially manufactured bullets that can ignore Extraordinary Power—this shows that the world Rules of the Steam Phantom Dungeon have already undergone distortion."