I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

Zhui Feng squatted on the ground, holding his head in both hands.

"So you mean all the leveling up, monster-hunting, city-building, and fighting we've done in the game over the years was just training arranged by Erlin?"

"Pretty much." Gu Yuan walked back to the stone pillar and sat down. "The class system, level system, skill tree, and equipment mechanism of the Origin Realm—the essence of these things is a simplified teaching of the power of laws."

"Simplify the teaching?" Zhui Feng looked up.

"Do you think an ordinary person can directly understand what a law is?" Gu Yuan asked rhetorically.

Zhui Feng thought for a moment and said, "No."

"Therefore, Erlin packaged the power of the laws into skills in the game. The warrior's block is essentially a preliminary application of the Law of the Rock."

"A mage's fireball is essentially a simple release of the Law of Fire. A priest's healing is the basic form of the Law of Life."

"However, the control panel system automates all of these things."

"You only need to click the skill icon, and the system will complete all the law calculations for you. You don't actually need to understand anything."

"So the control panel is the key," Hua Zitong suddenly said.

"Go on," Gu Yuan said, looking at her.

"Those who retain the panel derive their power from the system. The system helps them calculate the laws and unleash skills. But they themselves do not truly understand the laws."

Hua Zitong's thoughts became clearer and clearer.

"Those who remove the panel lose the system's assistance but gain the opportunity to directly access the laws."

"Yes." Gu Yuan nodded. "The control panel is a training wheel. The kind of training wheels you wear on a bicycle. With it, you won't fall, but you'll never learn true balance."

"Remove the training wheels. You'll fall at first, but once you learn to balance, you'll be able to do things you could never do with the training wheels on."

Upon hearing this, many of Li Wu's doubts were instantly resolved.

No wonder.

No wonder he felt stronger after removing the panel.

Because the panel has been restricting him.

The panel simplifies the rules into fixed skill templates, making them easy to use, but also limiting their potential.

The combinations of arrows and ciphers he created before, although far beyond those of ordinary players, were essentially still operating within the framework of the panel system.

Now the panel is gone, and the frame is gone too.

He can directly touch the laws themselves.

"What about the people who kept the panels?" Chasing Wind asked. "Are they useless now?"

"It's not useless," Gu Yuan said. "The panel still allows them to use the laws, in the form of skills."

"But their potential is capped. The highest output that the panel can provide is the limit at level 150, and it cannot be exceeded."

"Unless they also remove the panel?"

"The choice has been made." Gu Yuan shook his head. "They chose to bind, and that's it. At least under the current rules, there's no way they can make a second choice."

A commotion broke out on the platform.

Those who chose to remove the panel looked at each other with varying expressions.

Some were relieved, some were bewildered, and some were filled with lingering fear.

Fortunately, I guessed right.

I'm at a loss, not knowing what to do next.

What I fear is, what if I had chosen the first option?

"I have a question."

A deep voice came from the edge of the crowd.

It is the Iron-Blooded Emperor.

The burly berserker sat cross-legged on the edge of the platform, his thick arms resting on his knees. He looked unusually quiet, a stark contrast to his previous volatile temper, when he would curse and chop at the drop of a hat.

"Ask away," Gu Yuan said.

"You said the Realm of Origin is for training, then what about the Tower of Despair? What are those hundred floors for? An exam?"

"Graduation exam," Gu Yuan said. "The Realm of Origin is the school, leveling up and fighting monsters is like attending classes, and the Tower of Despair is like the final exam."

"If you pass, you'll be qualified to leave school and enter the real battlefield."

"Is this the real battlefield?" The Iron-Blooded Emperor pointed to the platform beneath his feet.

"No," Gu Yuan said, "this is just a rest area; the real battlefield..."

He raised his hand and pointed to the depths of the starry sky.

"Outside."

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

Endless darkness, punctuated by scattered glimmers of light.

"However, before you go to the battlefield, there's one thing you need to understand." Gu Yuan withdrew his hand.

"What is it?" Li Wu asked.

"What exactly are you fighting?"

Gu Yuan walked to the center of the platform and raised one hand.

A beam of light rose from his palm, unfolded in the air, and formed a huge three-dimensional image.

The image shows a blue planet—Blue Star.

"This is our home," Gu Yuan said.

Then he waved his hand, and the image shrank, turning the blue planet into a tiny dot of light. The camera zoomed out, and the moon appeared.

The surface of the moon is no longer the grayish-white color that people remember.

Half of it was covered by a layer of black substance, which was slowly wriggling as if it were alive.

"These are the Starbreakers," Gu Yuan said. "They've already covered half the surface of the moon."

"Are those black things alive?" Night Wind's voice was a little tense.

“They’re not alive,” Gu Yuan said. “The Starbreakers aren’t living beings. They’re more like…programs. A pre-programmed, automated system designed to plunder resources.”

"Program?" Li Wu frowned.

"Yes, the Starbreakers don't think, they don't communicate, they don't negotiate. They only execute one command: devour."

"Land on a planet, convert everything usable into your own energy, and then move on to the next target."

"Who wrote them?" Hua Zitong asked.

Gu Yuan glanced at her.

"The One Who Returns to Oneness".

Another new word.

"The One Who Returns to One is the creator of the Starbreakers," Gu Yuan said. "Or rather, the Starbreakers are the tools of the One Who Returns to One. The One Who Returns to One never does anything personally; it simply releases the Starbreakers and lets them do the work."

"What is a Unity Person?"

"An existence on par with Erling."

This statement carries a very heavy meaning.

Erling, the one who created the entire Origin Realm.

At the same level as him?

"You mean," Li Wu said slowly, "that the Ones Who Reach the Unity are also the Weavers of Laws?"

"Higher than the Weaver of the Laws." Gu Yuan's tone changed, a hint of solemnity appearing for the first time. "Erlin is the creator of the laws, but the Unifier, it is the definer of the laws."

What's the difference between creation and definition?

"Creation is creating something new within an existing framework; definition is having the framework itself dictate what is created."

Li Wu's fingers tightened slightly.

He spent six months learning the cryptic grammar in the Arcane Wasteland and mastering the higher language in the Tower of Despair, eventually becoming a Law Weaver.

He thought he was at the top of the world.

But now someone is telling him that there is a higher peak above the peak.

And that being higher up was leading an army capable of devouring planets, marching towards them.