Seraphine discovered information regarding the hierarchical system of the God of Hunger species within the memories of the Gravitational Dragon elites. According to these records, the God of Hunger hierarchy bears some similarities to the Sage system, consisting of four distinct tiers:
Low-level God of Hunger: A black hole body with the mass of 1,000 suns.
Mid-level God of Hunger: A black hole body with the mass of 1,000,000 suns.
High-level God of Hunger: A black hole body with the mass of 1,000,000,000 suns.
Supreme Ultimate God of Hunger: A black hole body possessing the mass of a trillion suns, equivalent to an entire galaxy like the Milky Way.
Simultaneously, the God of Hunger species is born with a faster-than-light observation and manipulation field similar to the Houiste Federation's Divinity-Frame [Phantasm Field].
Its name is the Holographic Domain.
Much like the Phantasm Field, the Holographic Domain utilizes the power of the Realm of Phantasm. However, the difference lies in its mechanism: the God of Hunger's Holographic Domain uses the massive information foundation of its own black hole's event horizon as an "engine."
Through the phenomenon of [Real-Illusory Holographic Resonance], it "breaks" the heavy "membranes" between the material world and the Realm of Phantasm.
This allows its various senses and powers to bypass the shackles of the speed of light, spreading freely across vast regions of space.
The width, intensity, and precision of this Holographic Domain are directly tied to the God of Hunger's own magnitude:
Low-level: A Holographic Domain 100 light-years in diameter.
Mid-level: A Holographic Domain 1,000 light-years in diameter.
High-level: A Holographic Domain 10,000 light-years in diameter.
Supreme Ultimate: A Holographic Domain 100,000 light-years in diameter, nearly galactic in scale.
Within this domain, a God of Hunger can sense and manipulate all forms of space-time, matter, energy, and information, much like a Federation Frame Sage.
They become a "God" within their specific sphere of influence.
However, from the perspective of space-time manipulation range, Seraphine felt that an Ultimate God of Hunger was actually stronger than a Full-Frame Peak Sage—significantly so.
So, what kind of spectacle would the Great Attractor, home to the Ultimate God of Hunger named "Tu," actually be? Is "Tu" the only one there, or are there others?
"The Great Attractor..."
Seraphine began to calmly contemplate all the available information regarding the Great Attractor.
According to the cosmic inflation theory, the expansion of the universe in any direction should generally be uniform. Therefore, the velocities of distant galaxies moving away from each other should be consistent. Within such a frame of reference where "you move and I move too," the Milky Way should possess almost zero "net" motion.
In reality, however, a close examination of the cosmic microwave background radiation reveals that one side of the Milky Way is slightly warmer than the other. This minute temperature difference indicates that the Milky Way is moving through the universe at a high speed.
It is hurtling toward a specific point deep in the cosmos at approximately 600 kilometers per second. If the old Earth moved at this speed, it could complete an orbit around the Sun in just eighteen days.
This implies that the Milky Way is subject to an anomalous gravitational pull rather than just expansion.
The cause of this anomaly is the Great Attractor, located deep in space. As its name suggests, it is an unimaginably massive source of gravity. Under the influence of its immense mass, the vast expanse of space-time is stretched into a colossal "funnel."
Before the space age, astronomers of the Earth civilization had various theories about the Great Attractor. They speculated it might be a supermassive black hole of incredible mass.
However, if it truly were a single black hole, the conditions required to create such a magnitude of mass are far beyond what the current 13.7-billion-year-old "young" universe could provide.
Many mysteries regarding the Great Attractor remained.
Seraphine obtained the answers to these mysteries from the Galactic Core races—specifically, from the memories of a Low-tier Sage of the Arnel race named Gusheim.
This Sage had a remarkably colorful life.
In terms of cultivation and evolution, he wasn't particularly gifted, remaining at the Low-tier for millions of years and never reaching the Mid-tier.
Instead, he possessed a passion for travel and exploring secrets.
Shortly after attaining Sagehood millions of years ago, Gusheim piloted a warp-ship beyond the Milky Way, spending thousands of years traveling through billions of light-years of the vast cosmos.
He witnessed many miraculous and beautiful cosmic phenomena and encountered millions of top-tier galactic civilizations on par with the six races in both technology and evolution.
One of the wonders Gusheim encountered was the Great Attractor. However, in his understanding, that region of space wasn't called the "Great Attractor" but rather...
The Universal Absolute Abyss.
In truth, Gusheim had never actually been there; he had only gathered information about it from various top-tier civilizations.
The Universal Absolute Abyss had claimed the lives of thousands of Sages over countless eons. Among them were Low-tier, Mid-tier, and even rare High-tier Sages. Because so many had perished in that vast expanse, the surrounding civilizations were largely ignorant of the true dangers within.
Those who entered never returned.
All they knew was that the legendary God of Hunger supposedly resided there—though in what numbers was a mystery.
Upon reaching this point, Seraphine felt a sudden impulse. She activated the Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation to deduce any useful information.
HUM—
With the gathered data as "raw material," the Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation began their rapid computations. After about twenty seconds, an incredibly clear answer surfaced in Seraphine's mind:
[The Great Attractor is the ancestral home of the God of Hunger, harboring nearly 150,000 individuals.]
"150,000 Gods of Hunger? That many?"
A flicker of surprise crossed Seraphine's mind. She had considered the possibility of more than one God of Hunger existing in the Great Attractor—perhaps a hundred, a thousand, or even three thousand.
But she had never imagined there would be so many. This was somewhat extreme.
The fact that so many Sage-level cosmic monsters were packed together just 100 million light-years away was staggering. A group of Gods of Hunger on this scale could likely exterminate millions of galaxies in short order.
Seraphine felt that if they were to launch a massive, coordinated assault... it might be a bit troublesome.
"Perhaps the Material Facade wouldn't be able to withstand it."
While thinking, she reactivated the Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation to deduce the exact numbers for each hierarchical level of the God of Hunger species.
HUM! HUM! HUM!
Perhaps because the answer she sought was so detailed, the computation took an unusually long time. After five minutes, a precise breakdown appeared in Seraphine's mind:
[Detailed breakdown of the God of Hunger species in the Great Attractor: 139,557 Low-level; 9,733 Mid-level; 620 High-level; and 36 Ultimate Gods of Hunger.]
Looking at these figures, a thought struck Seraphine:
"Could it be that the combined mass of these Gods of Hunger generates such a colossal gravitational pull that millions of galaxies in the surrounding cosmic sectors are being 'dragged' toward them?"
She dismissed the question after a moment's thought. She'd find out for sure once she went there to see for herself.
Now, another query surfaced in her mind:
"The Houiste Federation's Phantasm Field and the God of Hunger's Holographic Domain seem remarkably similar. Is there a connection between the two?"
With this question in mind, Seraphine activated the Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation.
HUM—
Half a minute later, an answer manifested in her mind:
[The Divinity-Frame technology created by the Houiste Federation has a high probability that its initial design inspiration was derived from the God of Hunger species.]
"Design inspiration... from the God of Hunger?"
Seraphine immediately began scanning the vast, abyss-like data from the Galactic Core, while simultaneously analyzing the various components of the Divinity-Frame within her "body."
A short while later, having gained significant insights, she reactivated the Eye of True Revelation and Chaos Calculation. Since her data was now relatively abundant, it only took five or six seconds this time.
FLASH—
An answer emerged in Seraphine's mind:
[The construction of a Divinity-Frame by the Houiste Federation requires the conscious core and information framework of a God of Hunger as the primary processor, the physical form and soul of a Mythic-level existence from the Realm of Phantasm as the structural chassis, and relies upon Space-time Gems as well as vast quantities of Phantom Crystals.]
"Ah! So that's it. Truly a top-tier Technological Civilization, they utilize everything to its absolute limit."
Seraphine burst into laughter. "It seems not only is the Realm of Phantasm a hunting ground for the Houiste, but this material universe is their ranch as well."
Herding the phantom deities of imagination and devouring the cosmic beasts of countless stars. Both were merely prey for the Houiste Federation.
In a sense, this was the power of knowledge, the power of science. Even if they weren't born with the Holographic Domain of a God of Hunger, they could study, decipher, and master a similar power through research. And then use that power to hunt the Gods of Hunger themselves.
Truly spectacular.
Beyond the secrets of the Great Attractor and the God of Hunger, Seraphine discovered another revelation within Gusheim's memories: nearly every galaxy on par with the Milky Way's scale harbored remnants of an Otuben Network.
However, these faster-than-light transit grids across countless galaxies were, like the Milky Way's, in a state of shattered, fragmented ruin. This brought Seraphine to a chilling realization.
These galaxies had likely all been engulfed by that same "Great Tide" millions of years ago, leading to the systemic collapse of their respective Otuben Networks. This meant that the malevolent "Great Tide" unleashed by the mysterious Great Eye had affected a cosmic expanse spanning tens of billions of light-years.
Furthermore, this was only the space Gusheim had personally explored. If she delved deeper, it was possible that the Great Eye's tide of corruption had influenced the entire observable universe.
"Affecting a cosmic region of tens of billions of light-years, perhaps even the entire observable universe, by its power alone." Seraphine hesitated. "If that's true, this Great Eye is truly something else."
She felt no fear, only a profound curiosity toward this deep-space Evil God lurking in parts unknown. She was curious enough to want to capture the entity for some thorough research.
The Great Eye was undoubtedly formidable, but Seraphine remained undaunted. She had a powerful premonition: with every Dimensional Ascension, her strength would undergo an explosive, unfathomable increase.
"With so many enemies, it's time for me to ascend."
Having completely devoured the Galactic Continent and obtained such a wealth of information and the final surge of Spirituality, Seraphine's ascension threshold was finally met. There, sitting cross-legged in the boundless void, she began her Dimensional Ascension.
BOOM—
In a mere blink, an energy tide spanning hundreds or even thousands of light-years erupted from her body. With a momentum that could upend the universe, it surged outward, swallowing the vast, surrounding firmament.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
It was as if celestial fire were incinerating the heavens. Under the shroud of this "tide," all matter larger than a subatomic particle was reduced to pure light and heat, transforming into millions of super-high-energy particle beams, comparable to gamma-ray bursts, that shot into the dark corners of the void.
As this faster-than-light tide swept through the vast space, astronomical-scale geometric blocks of pure energy, measured in light-years, suddenly manifested. These energy blocks, twisted and eerie beyond the comprehension of three-dimensional life, writhed like gargantuan, terrifying beasts from another dimension. They "rolled" toward the boundaries of the infinite void at speeds millions of times faster than light.
If the Milky Way still existed, these thousands of energy blocks rolling in every direction would have pulverized everything in their path in short order. Yet, this titanic spectacle was merely the prelude to Seraphine's ascension, a minor aftereffect of her "shaking" her form.
At the epicenter of it all, Seraphine's image had shifted from a cosmic giant into a hyper-space-time vortex, an almost perfect sphere over eighty light-years in diameter.
HUM—
The surface of this massive spherical vortex, seemingly colorless and formless yet containing all matter and color, suddenly rippled with millions of waves. Amidst these high-frequency vibrations, countless points, lines, planes, and solids measured in light-years flickered in and out beneath the vortex's surface, as if something momentous were transpiring within.
Indeed, within Seraphine, numerous four-dimensional and three-dimensional unit cells were undergoing profound transformations in both "Quality" and "Quantity."
After only a few seconds, this gargantuan object occupying nearly a hundred light-years of space collapsed violently without warning, imploding at speeds far exceeding light. As the chaotic vortex shrank, the surrounding infinite void seemed stuck to it like glue, "following" the surface of the receding sphere in a rapid, faster-than-light retreat.
In an instant, the imploding vortex became a cosmic abyss, violently pulling the infinite surrounding void toward it at faster-than-light speeds.
WHIR—
Under these conditions, the deeper void of the universe from all directions was pulled along like a cascading tide, involuntarily surging toward the hyper-space-time vortex.
If the countless stars had still existed, thousands of star systems and their Civilizations would have been caught in this influence. They would have been passively "uprooted," traveling trillions of kilometers at faster-than-light speeds, only to arrive inexplicably at strange sectors surrounding the vortex.
But with the Milky Way gone and only infinite void remaining, such a thing would never happen. All had long since returned to stillness.
A dozen seconds later, the chaotic hyper-space-time vortex imploded into nothingness, vanishing entirely from the universe...
No, that wasn't right.
The chaotic vortex hadn't truly vanished. It had abruptly... transformed into a three-meter-tall, blurred humanoid figure, seemingly forged from an infinity of glorious, blazing light.
At this moment, Seraphine "shifted" the sixteen four-dimensional unit cells of her first-tier True Form, each with a side length of ten light-years, and the one hundred and twenty-eight three-dimensional unit cells of her second-tier Three-Dimensional Exterior, also ten light-years on each side, to the "periphery" of this colossal 『four-dimensional space-time / three-dimensional space』 universe.
In this state, nothing within the universe could inflict any substantial damage upon her. She was no longer of this "realm." And this state was the beginning of Seraphine's preparation for her fifth-dimensional ascension.
First, the [Energy Level] of her third-tier Material Facade had to be elevated to the "appropriate" tier.
HUM—
The light flared.
Across every inch and every millimeter of this silently standing, radiant humanoid form, more light flickered every second than the cumulative brilliance of ten million stars throughout their ten-billion-year lifespans.
Compared to this unfathomable luminosity, even SN 2016aps, the brightest supernova ever discovered, two trillion times brighter than the Sun, seemed dim and lifeless.
The brighter the light, the higher the temperature. Under this illumination that defied all logic, all ordinary matter instantly vaporized into a super-high-energy quark-gluon plasma, a state normally found only at the core of a neutron star.
Furthermore, the range of this light continued to expand into the vast void at light speed, incinerating everything in its path. This radiant figure was Seraphine's third-tier Material Facade.
Within this Facade, which condensed the physical strength of over 1.5 trillion suns, dwelled an endless, nearly unquantifiable number of "free" quarks, measurable only in units like decillions. These quarks continuously teleported and leaped within and around Seraphine's Facade.
It wasn't that they were here one moment and there the next. They existed deep within her body, within her limbs, and on the surface of the Facade all at once.
Why such oddity?
It was because these were not the "solid spheres" of common perception, but far more bizarre "entities." If one were to magnify the perspective to the subatomic level, they would discover that the quarks forming Seraphine's Facade had neither size nor volume.
They manifested as particles and waves simultaneously. Yet, they were neither simple waves nor simple particles. In a sense, they were clusters of quantum fluctuations carrying infinitesimal mass, existing in a ghostly state of discrete yet continuous diffusion and vibration. These fluctuations occupied a single point in space while simultaneously existing across every point in space.
It was as if they superimposed two states: being in one place and being everywhere. This was their essence—a "mist" composed of probability, describable only by quantum wave functions.
As time flowed, the luminosity of the Facade's surface escalated, and its temperature soared.
Three hundred trillion degrees Celsius...
Five quadrillion degrees Celsius...
One hundred quadrillion degrees Celsius...
Five quintillion degrees Celsius...
Two hundred quintillion degrees Celsius...
Every nanosecond, the unfathomable energy within Seraphine's body poured out as optical radiation, illuminating the boundless reaches of the universe.
Throughout this process, the [Infinite Attributes] system steadily maintained the terrifying energy output and transmission power, driving the internal and external temperatures of the Facade into a mad frenzy.
As time continued to pass, the skyrocketing temperature of the Material Facade finally began to plateau, steadying at...
Ten sextillion degrees Celsius.
In other words, a billion times the Facade's temperature before this ascension. This temperature would henceforth be the "normal body temperature" of Seraphine's five-dimensional Facade.
HUM—
Infinite, decillions of "free" quarks, resembling brilliant stars and flickering celestial clouds, surged and leaped throughout the ultra-high energy environment of Seraphine's body—a state nearing that of the Big Bang itself.
They were incredibly "active" and "ecstatic."
Perhaps nowhere else in the entire universe could provide an environment where these "adorable" quarks, trapped for eons within the deepest layers of all matter, could exist so freely.
At this very moment, Seraphine (Facade) slowly opened her eyes, which emitted streaks of ultimate, hallucinatory light.
The first step was complete.
It was time for the second: the unfolding of self-space.
This meant "dissolving" and unifying all three-dimensional and four-dimensional unit cells, undergoing a dimensional leap to condense a single five-dimensional unit cell.
HUM—
Suddenly, the radiant light-humanoid began to flash violently.
Beneath her fluctuating, blazing skin, in the deepest part of her searing body, a tiny speck of light—brighter than her ten-sextillion-degree body, as if concentrating all the light in the cosmos—trembled slightly.
CLANG—
The vast three-dimensional space for tens of thousands of light-years rippled simultaneously. It was as if a Creator Deity had gently plucked the strings of the universe from the "periphery" of space-time.
CLANG—
CLANG—
After two more pulses, the speck of light fell into silence. This stillness lasted for three seconds.
Suddenly!
BOOM!!!
It was as if the Big Bang had returned.
Like an ancient volcano erupting after eons of suppressed pressure, a world-shaking "wave" of space-time exploded around Seraphine, covering thousands of light-years as it surged toward the boundaries of the boundless dark universe.
Amidst this terrifying, heaven-turning spectacle, deep within the Facade's body, a self-space entity emerged. It was tiny but constantly rotating, contracting, and expanding—a geometric construct of infinite points, lines, planes, and solids, as beautiful and crystalline as a brilliant diamond unit cell. Accompanied by high-energy waves ten million times more terrifying than the simultaneous explosion of countless giant stars, it slowly bulged and spread outward.
During this outward expansion, the incredibly complex geometric structures within this self-space entity gradually blurred into a state of chaos, as if returning to the dawn of the universe. In the deepest depths of this tiny "universe," the geometric framework representing the fifth dimension began to solidify.
HUM—
The self-space entity slowly expanded until it completely enveloped Seraphine's ten-sextillion-degree body. Then, this multi-dimensional self-space "entity" suddenly replaced her physical manifestation, standing revealed amidst the boundless, hazy universe.
The next instant, this room-sized self-space entity—its form constantly shifting—flared with divine light. It expanded outward into the infinite void at speeds trillions of times faster than light. As its dimensions surged, any matter in its path, from dust to asteroids, was instantly sliced and shredded into subatomic particles.
The resulting massive release of light and heat was immediately devoured by the entity.
One millisecond later, having expanded to a scale of hundreds of trillions of kilometers, the previously blurred form of the self-space entity sharpened. It revealed itself as a hyper-space-time collective, twisting and spiraling within the void—a unified yet discrete structure of points, lines, planes, and solids arranged in strange angles and bizarre proportions.
Under the influence of this rapidly expanding chaotic hyper-space-time vortex, the subtle structure of the surrounding three-dimensional space fluctuated violently.
This caused the fabric of space across even vaster regions to warp and distort. It even made the Dirac Sea "behind" the hazy void boil, "vibrating" out millions of super-high-energy particle beams that shot into the infinite depths of space.
HUM! HUM! HUM!
Generally, a four-dimensional unit cell possesses sixteen vertices, thirty-two edges, and twenty-four faces. Uniquely, it consists of eight three-dimensional cubes connected face-to-face, with each face shared by two cubes. Its true form is a four-dimensional hypercube—a tesseract—composed of eight three-dimensional hexahedrons.
But a five-dimensional unit cell is different.
Geometrically, a five-dimensional hypercube is the five-dimensional analogue of a three-dimensional cube.
That is, a five-dimensional hypercube relates to a four-dimensional tesseract as a tesseract relates to a three-dimensional cube, and as a cube relates to a two-dimensional square.
Thus, a five-dimensional unit cell has thirty-two vertices, eighty edges, and eighty faces. Its true form is a five-dimensional hypercube composed of ten four-dimensional tesseracts.
BOOM—
Suddenly, a violent energy tide erupted from the surface of the self-space entity, sweeping across the infinite void. As the entity expanded, its incredibly complex five-dimensional structure had finally solidified.
This signified that the self-space entity, which unified numerous three-dimensional and four-dimensional unit cells, had officially leaped into becoming a five-dimensional unit cell.
HUM! HUM! HUM!
At the moment of the five-dimensional unit cell's birth, ten four-dimensional unit cells were simultaneously generated around its faces, surrounding it. And as those ten four-dimensional cells appeared, eighty three-dimensional unit cells were also instantly created around the faces of each four-dimensional cell.
At that exact moment, the five-dimensional unit cell vibrated slightly and abruptly split into a second five-dimensional unit cell.
Consequently, another ten four-dimensional and eighty three-dimensional unit cells were created.
Furthermore, as these five-dimensional, four-dimensional, and three-dimensional unit cells were born, their previous ten-light-year scale surged.
It wasn't a simple doubling or tripling; it was a cubic increase.