Chapter 726: 26. The Ship of Theseus
After Hamon Hamon spoke up, Gouwen narrowed his eyes and silently stepped back, first scanning the surroundings from top to bottom. At the same time, a golden Fluid Sword, identical to Fisher’s, silently slipped into his palm.
As soon as it fell into his hand, Gouwen immediately sensed a tickling sensation in his palm. He looked down and saw that the surface of the Fluid Sword had begun to mutate, sprouting tender green buds.
His heart sank, and the voice of Hamon Hamon came slowly,
“There is no need to be nervous. I bear no malice towards you or any living beings within this facility. Rationally, if Infinite Authority does not participate in the battle, your chances of defeating me in direct combat are almost zero. Therefore, I ask you to place more trust in me. It needs to be reiterated that I bear no malice towards you.”
Gouwen glanced at Fisher next to Renee, only to find him entirely focused on examining the massive fungal networks formed above, seemingly lost in thought.
Could it be that he truly understood the thought process of this Hamon Hamon deity?
After all, Gouwen was starting to feel increasingly unclear about their current purpose here.
The powerful ocean, the enigmatic Hamon Hamon, and the looming threat of pollution outside the sanctuary.
But for some reason, seeing Fisher’s back at this moment reminded him of that wild guy from years ago, calming him down a bit, especially since even Infinite Authority seemed to trust him this much.
If it’s that guy who likes Subhumans, he would definitely understand the deity’s line of thought, because she is indeed a quintessential lunatic.
People often say that there’s a fine line between genius and madness, so perhaps there is some overlap between madness and the vast thoughts of deities?
“.”
With this thought, Gouwen silently retracted the Fluid Sword in his hand, but the green buds growing on its surface showed no sign of fading; he had no choice but to manually pluck off the extra green shoots.
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Hamon Hamon said sincerely to Gouwen, but in fact, this was not only directed at Gouwen but also at David, who was already showing signs of losing control.
“Ziziz. Ziziz.”
“Father. Mother.”
At this moment, Fisher, who had withdrawn his gaze from the fungal network above, suddenly asked Hamon Hamon,
“They have become like this because you attacked them, right?”
“Indeed.”
“Why?”
“To fulfill my pact with Dream, I indiscriminately executed all living beings within the barrier. They sealed all my creations here; consequently, I first took measures to eliminate the beings within this sanctuary.”
Fisher furrowed his brows slightly but soon relaxed a bit,
“Then, what has happened over these thousands of years in the sanctuary? If nothing has changed, then there is no reason for you to invite us here as guests, let alone kill the Incarnation of the Ocean.”
Hamon Hamon flicked its tongue, then suddenly reached out to touch Fisher’s shoulder. Renee pouted and was about to take action, but Fisher grabbed Hamon Hamon’s wrist. Hamon Hamon simply said,
“Please rest assured, this is merely to demonstrate what I need to explain, nothing more.”
“.”
After a moment of thought, Fisher let go of Hamon Hamon’s hand, letting that pale arm slowly descend onto the fabric of Fisher’s clothing.
“Whew.”
In an instant of contact, Fisher’s clothing began to undergo a wondrous transformation.
Like a chemical reaction, the originally soft fabric gradually became hard and revealed a dazzling array of colors. In just a second, the properties of Fisher’s clothing had been completely altered.
Fisher had already witnessed this remarkable technique when he encountered Gouwen; this was Hamon Hamon’s signature power.
“Non-I.”
“Yes, Mr. Fisher, this is my authority, my power, my nature.”
After completing this, Hamon Hamon withdrew its hand and immediately looked at Fisher and asked,
“How much do you know about deities?”
“This lady beside me is a deity.”
“I mean, a true deity, not a hybrid like her.” Hamon Hamon glanced at Renee behind Fisher and shook its head, saying, “She is a product formed from the combination of the Soul of the Sea of Souls and the Ocean’s authority within the barrier. If the nature of the Ocean’s authority were not stronger than the traces of humanity left on that soul, even her original form would resemble that of the Subhumans of this world.”
Subhuman form?
Could it be such a good thing?
Fisher’s attention suddenly sharpened; if Hamon Hamon said so, then Renee’s original form must lean more towards displaying the Infinite Authority, right?
What would that actually look like?
Hearing Hamon Hamon’s words, Renee let out a cold snort at it and said,
“Indeed, I am not a true deity in the traditional sense, but I am familiar with Ramastia. In my view, there is actually no difference between you and them; you are equally obstinate and bizarre.”
Hamon Hamon remained noncommittal but continued speaking to Fisher,
“Mr. Fisher, authority is both a deity’s power and their nature. Ramastia, possessing the main authority related to life, cares greatly for the fragile lives and civilizations in the universe; Dream, in pursuit of transcending consciousness and reality, seeks higher-dimensional truths, chasing treasures like you that it cannot reach. As for me, ‘Non-I’ flows within me as well, constantly altering all my properties.
“Within these thousands of years sealed in this sanctuary, my original form has completely undergone a mutation, just as your clothing turned into an entirely different crystal. I have undergone a complete transformation in nature, power, and thought. Except for the authority I still possess, I have no connection to my former self. Yet I am still Hamon Hamon.”
Gouwen and Renee were both slightly taken aback, as they almost felt a resonance with Hamon Hamon’s words simultaneously, as they had both experienced something similar.
For Renee, she possessed a predecessor with the same authority but a different soul, the Mother Goddess.
As a new consciousness that replaced the Mother Goddess’s authority, she still retained many traces related to that predecessor.
Curiosity about her origins, fear of solitude, and the promise made by her close friend that particularly cared for humanity.
Yet Renee felt all along that she and the Mother Goddess were completely different beings, that they were truly two independent entities.
But for Gouwen, the perspective seemed to shift in an entirely different direction.
His daughter, Jasmine, was in stark contrast to Renee; Jasmine and Tang Zeming Asuka shared the exact same soul, yet that soul resided in entirely different bodies.
One was an external Trans who would not age, polluted by the crimson Dream; the other was a young Whale Folk girl born from Xu and Gouwen himself.
So, are Jasmine and Tang Zeming Asuka the same existence?
Gouwen was momentarily stunned and did not immediately speak, but rather, Renee furrowed her brow after hearing Hamon Hamon’s words and said,
“Why do you still think you are the old Hamon Hamon? Just because your authority has not changed?”
Hamon Hamon looked at Renee and countered,
“Why do you think I am not the old Hamon Hamon? Just because my nature has completely changed, just because my thoughts and consciousness have completely transformed?”
“.”
Fisher looked at the emotionless deity before him, but a paradox that seemed related to the situation arose in his mind.
Assume that in the past, Nali used a large wooden ship named the “Fisher” for exploration, and due to the prolonged adventurous sailing, the ship must have experienced wear and tear. Therefore, after each return to the port, the Ladies would use new wood to replace the aging parts of this “Fisher.”
Now, based on this context, if one day every part of this wooden ship was repaired, then it would mean that all the wood that made up this massive vessel had been replaced by the Ladies, and now the materials composing the “Fisher” were entirely new.
Although every time it set sail, both the crew and the officials inspecting the exits believed it was the “Fisher,” in reality, is the current “Fisher” really still the old “Fisher”?
Suppose those clever Ladies who mended the “Fisher” collected all the aging parts that had been replaced, and miraculously recreated the entire assembly process of the “Fisher” down to the smallest detail, forming an identical wooden ship.
Then, which one is the true “Fisher,” the one currently drifting at sea or the one assembled later by the Ladies using the original materials?
Just like the issue described by “one can never step in the same river twice,” the paradox Fisher faced was even more specific.
“He is certainly the old Hamon Hamon, at least should be considered as such.”
Gouwen stepped forward, looking at Hamon Hamon and the chaos filled with black and white fungal networks outside the sanctuary.
Moreover, the white fungal mass formed by the “friend’s corpse” was still before their eyes, prompting Gouwen’s voice to turn slightly heavy,
“Or should we be glad that he thinks of himself as such? Otherwise, who will bear the blood debt for so many lives? Or should he think that just because he believes he is not the old Hamon Hamon, all the sins he committed during previous invasions can be erased?”
“Indeed.” Hamon Hamon nodded in agreement but could not help but glance towards the place where the white fungal mass lay, “Under the influence of my authority, any existence other than the authority will completely change its nature, leaving no trace of its former self. But objectively, the matter that composes these fungal networks is also the matter that composed their original bodies, without any increase or decrease.”
Yes, for Hamon Hamon, the question was more comparable to a group of Ladies dismembering the “Fisher” and then using Hamon Hamon’s authority to completely alter the nature of all the separated pieces, piecing together a bizarre object.
So, can the object now composed of the “Fisher” corpses still be called “Fisher”?
“Not anymore, right?”
Hamon Hamon inquired, giving voice to what Fisher and the others might have already had in their hearts.
But all the previous assumptions were about inanimate objects; comparing ships and parts seemed to easily yield corresponding answers.
So, what if the “Fisher” that the Ladies had divided was not a ship but the real Fisher himself?
Supposing one day, Fisher’s misdeeds were exposed, and the Ladies could no longer endure it, rising up with axes to settle accounts for his past actions, they surrounded him and, in a frenzy, killed Fisher. Yet after they had done so and each Lady received their portion of him, they suddenly calmed down, each feeling regret.
It would be better if Fisher were still alive.
So, they discussed piecing together the different portions they had received. The Ladies who were seemingly related to Fisher had poor craftsmanship, while only Emhart, who could offer some guidance, was so frightened during the battle that he couldn’t articulate, and without hands, he couldn’t piece Fisher back together, leading to the final product being an exceedingly abstract material.
Perhaps it resembled a hundred or a thousand times weirder than what the original Fisher Chaos Race would have been.
Afterwards, when the Ladies meticulously pieced together Fisher into this bizarre thing without missing a single atom, that strange thing suddenly opened its eyes facing down and its mouth facing the sky, saying to all the Ladies,
“I have reformed.”
“I have reformed.”
“.”
Hamon Hamon recounted the events that occurred after he killed Michael and Mikhail, while Emhart hid within Fisher’s embrace, constructing such a scene in his mind like a translator.
The process of Hamon Hamon transforming Michael and Mikhail into fungal masses was akin to the Ladies dividing Fisher, and the assembly of those pieces represented Hamon Hamon’s own complete mutation, transforming into a Hamon Hamon that is entirely different from before, afterwards no longer continuing to destroy and burn these fungal masses.
And that “suspected Fisher” would say, “I have reformed,” just as Hamon Hamon now saw the still clearly visible shadows of Michael and Mikhail embracing.
Oh my, the great Sir Book is truly one of the few geniuses in this world, even Hamon Hamon, a deity who speaks in convoluted ways, can be completely understood by Emhart’s clever brain!
I’m really something!
What Emhart thought, Fisher was unaware. After listening to Hamon Hamon’s recounting, he paused for a moment, while Hamon Hamon now turned around and said to him,
“There is an element within them that cannot be altered by my authority. Ever since I awakened in the past, over these thousand years, I have been continuously searching for the non-authority factors among them that could resist my alterations, but I have not succeeded no matter what.
“I am ashamed to say that, as a deity with the ‘Non-I’ authority, I am unable to find the thing that will not be consumed by ‘Non-I.’”
“But I have a feeling, Mr. Fisher, that you can find it for me. And this is the true purpose of my invitation for you to come here, for which I am willing to pay any cost.”
Please vote, tip, and support; it is very important to me!
Thank you very much for your support!
()
(End of this chapter)
