After a night of rest, the group set out together the next morning, their destination being the Black and White Castle where Black Rock Shooter resided. Firstly, they had nowhere else to go; secondly, the Black and White Castle, as the core of this world, intrigued them all; and thirdly, Lin Luo vaguely felt this was a place he must visit.

Lin Luo had learned about Black Rock Shooter the previous evening from Mugino Shizuri. Black SABER and Black Rock Shooter—one a stoic, emotionless figure, the other naturally airheaded—it was best to conserve energy rather than try to pry information from their lips.

As for moving on to the next world, there was no immediate rush. Since there were no restrictions in this current world, it was better to rest properly, conserve strength. Moreover, Lin Luo still hadn't grasped the true meaning of being the World King, a matter that required time to understand.

Riding atop the White Horned Tigers, they traveled west. Some chatted along the way, some remained silent, some slept, and some even argued... In short, it was quite lively.

As a side note, the White Horned Tigers were native beasts of this world. Being "native," however, likely meant they were brought in during the God War, since no other creatures had ever been mentioned in the alternate world Black Rock Shooter inhabited. Black Rock Shooter confirmed this conclusion: this world had changed three months ago, precisely when she became possessed by the World Heart. The world grew larger, life forms increased, and then the God War began.

The White Horned Tigers, however, were not guardians like the Dragon race, but ordinary beasts. They resembled tigers, were entirely snow-white, possessed a horn on their forehead, had some control over wind and water, were fast runners, and possessed moderate combat capability. Naturally, their fighting strength was negligible compared to Lin Luo and his companions, making them perfect mounts.

It was Shokuhou Misaki who claimed the twelve White Horned Tigers as her mounts. Under her mental control, these twelve ferocious and aggressive beasts behaved as meekly as kittens and puppies. Everyone acquired one, except for Little SABER.

Why did Little SABER lack a mount? Because she had a special seat reserved just for her... Lin Luo’s head.

This fact deeply annoyed Lin Luo and filled Higanbana with envy and resentment. Higanbana maintained a high level of vigilance toward the Little SABER mascot.

This journey was a rare moment of ease, finally affording Lin Luo time to properly assess his current status and gather information on the others.

Since defeating Mo Xinming and forming a contract with Higanbana, Lin Luo had, as expected, advanced to LV3 Walker. However, this upgrade differed from his shift to LV2. Last time, he had leveled up at full health, peak condition, and with a comprehension of Rule Power. This time, not only had his abilities not improved, but even the benefit of being at full health and peak condition was gone. Was this due to the severe damage from Destruction, the shortcut taken by absorbing the Codex, or perhaps the jade pendant?

Lin Luo’s current status was: Contractor: Lin Luo (Walker) Condition: Normal Physical Strength (Overall Physical Aptitude): A Mental Strength (Overall Mental Aptitude): A Vitality: 5000 Current Contractors: Misaka Mikoto, Tohsaka Rin, Mugino Shizuri, Shokuhou Misaki, Leafa* Melzaris, Higanbana Pending Contracts: Evangeline, Black Rock Shooter Current Special Contractors: Little Saber, Red SABER, Black SABER Current Contractor Usable Abilities: Battle Esoterica: LV1, Mastery of Blades, passive boost to Melee Aptitude. Fixed-Point Teleportation: LV2, can arbitrarily teleport himself or any one person to a specific location within the current world, limited to three uses. Divine Healing: LV3, consumes a portion of Vitality to perform localized physical repair and modification. Mist Incarnation: LV2, uses mist to create an external avatar possessing 10% of the current Contractor's combat power without Rule Power. Abilities: Rule of Life Creation Domain, the power of secondary evolution of points and lines. Abilities: Inverse Rule Destruction Domain, the power of tertiary evolution of points and lines. Overall Strength: Spirit Rank Advanced Current Contract Book LV3, continuing to sign six more Contractors will allow advancement to LV4.

...

Even reaching LV3, he remained Spirit Rank Advanced, with no new intrinsic abilities, though three skills had seen an upgrade. "Fixed-Point Teleportation" meant Lin Luo could instantly send anyone to any location within a hundred-mile radius, usable only three times at LV3. "Divine Healing" for localized repair functioned similarly, no longer restricted to just repairing the system but capable of fixing individual targets. As for "Mist Incarnation," the 10% combat power excluded Rule Power; it was ten percent of his contracted state. While seemingly useful, in high-level combat, it could only serve as a meat shield at best.

Another benefit was the increase in his capacity. To use a simple analogy, if the "Source" from which Lin Luo drew Rule Power could fill one cup at LV2, it could now nearly fill two cups at LV3. In the context of Wuxia novels, this meant his internal energy had doubled.

Of course, Source and internal energy are fundamentally different. If internal energy doubled in a Wuxia novel, combat power usually doubled or increased even more. However, a doubling of the Source did not translate to a doubling of combat strength for Lin Luo; it merely allowed for slightly higher output and longer duration in battles, hence his continuing rank of Spirit Rank Advanced.

However, the greatest benefit of reaching LV3 was the deeper comprehension of Rule Power. Previously, although Lin Luo could utilize Rule Power and analyze world rules, he understood little of their essence beyond being an evolution of matter and force. Now, things were different. Take the "Source," for instance: it was an essential existence required to activate Rule Power, understandable as the origin of life, or perhaps, humanity’s... root.

The enhancement of the Source indeed strengthened one's Vitality and Mental Power, but no matter how large the Source became, the intensity of the Rule Power itself would not change. To enhance the intensity of Rule Power, one had to alter the very nature of the Source.

Every human possesses a Source, yet every individual's Source is unique. Setting aside those at the Rule level, even ordinary people have diverse Sources, merely undeveloped. Thus, once a Source is developed, it becomes Rule Power.

In Lin Luo’s estimation, among his current companions, Nero Claudius and Black SABER possessed the highest quality Sources, followed by himself and Evangeline. Lin Luo could understand this; the trio of Black, White, and Red were Heroic Spirits, fundamentally different from humans. Even Evangeline was a "living" entity.

The reason their combat prowess lagged behind Lin Luo and Evangeline was that a more mysterious power sealed their Sources, causing both the quality and concentration of their Sources to diminish significantly. This was precisely why Heroic Spirits became so weak when projected into the mortal realm. Only by unraveling that seal would the complete Heroic Spirit manifest. Realistically, achieving this now was impossible.

Beyond this, Lin Luo also carried two Codices: Taiga Kazama’s Tome of Demonic Arts and Mo Xinming’s Book of Nen. He had not absorbed these two Codices. It wasn't that he didn't want to; it was because after absorbing the Warrior's Codex, while he gained abilities, the prerequisite for leveling up—the reward tied to signing Contractors—remained unchanged. He suspected there was some limit to that reward, so there was no need to rush. It was better to wait until he understood things more thoroughly; no one could snatch them away anyway. Furthermore, having too many abilities wasn't always beneficial; quality over quantity was the rule. Before absorbing the remaining two Codices, Lin Luo intended to improve his foundational strength first.

Next, Lin Luo checked the status of the two newcomers: Higanbana and Black Rock Shooter.

Contractor: Higanbana (Doll) Condition: Normal Physical Strength: C Mental Strength: B World Heart: Heart of Hope (Number Nine, Form Moon) World Heart Level: Sealed Overall Strength Level: Spirit Rank Initial ... Pending Contractor: Black Rock Shooter (Phantom Race) Condition: Normal Physical Strength: B Mental Strength: C World Heart: Heart of Earth (Number Thirty-five, Form Thick) World Heart Level: Sealed Overall Strength Level: Spirit Rank Initial

Both women possessed similar strength levels. Though classified as Spirit Rank Initial, one possessed the N Domain, and the other was a World Fortune Body; both were capable of contending with Spirit Rank Intermediate experts.

Lin Luo then checked the status of the others, observing the Sources within them. Although their Sources remained undeveloped, subtle signs of activation were apparent—Rule Power was not far off for them.

The journey proceeded without incident. By noon the next day, the group finally reached the coast near the Black and White Castle. Seeing the colossal fortress towering in the middle of the ocean, everyone who hadn't seen it before was deeply astonished.

"A castle in the sea, how magnificent," Mikoto exclaimed.

"Hmph, this is nothing. My palace is far more splendid," Nero said dismissively, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of longing, as she too had never witnessed a castle over water.

"Stop bragging all day, Nero," Lily retorted, rolling her eyes.

At that moment, Shokuhou Misaki snapped her fingers. Suddenly, a massive whale, fully thirty meters long, surfaced and swiftly swam toward the shore.

"Whoa, that's a huge fish!" The others were stunned again.

"That must break some record," Lin Luo muttered, seeing such a large whale for the first time. He looked at Shokuhou. "You can even control creatures you haven't seen?"

"Of course," Shokuhou replied, tossing her hair confidently. "As long as my waves reach, I can control most living things. Though, something this immense takes a bit more effort."

I certainly don't see any effort, Lin Luo thought wryly.

The group then boarded the whale's back and proceeded toward the Black and White Castle.

About fifteen minutes later, they arrived. Shokuhou snapped her fingers again, releasing her control over the giant whale. Instantly, a colossal column of water jetted from the whale’s back, raining down under the clear sky. As the whale sank, a beautiful rainbow appeared overhead.

"..." The group was simultaneously amazed and speechless.

"Well, let's tour this castle first," Lin Luo suggested, a proposal unanimously accepted. Led by Black Rock Shooter, the owner, they began their exploration like tourists.

"Ding. World Core confirmation complete. World King function activating... World King function activation complete. Able to perform three modifications on this world. Each modification has a time limit of three hours. Only non-living entities (excluding plants) cannot be fabricated; all other things can be generated automatically..."

Less than half an hour into their tour, a cold prompt from the Contract Book suddenly echoed in Lin Luo's mind. This time, the notification lasted a full five minutes. Listening to the details of world modification, Lin Luo froze, an uncontrollable excitement surging within him.

Modifying the world... Was this the power possessed by the World King?

"What's wrong?" Seeing the change in Lin Luo's expression, Mikoto inquired, while the others looked at him strangely.

"Uh, well..." Lin Luo wasn't sure how to start. After thinking it over, he decided action would speak louder. He smiled. "Do you all want to see magic? The greatest magic in this world."

"The greatest magic?" The group looked utterly confused.

"Don't tell me you've comprehended a new ability," Evangeline frowned.

"I did gain a new capability, yes, though I didn't comprehend it myself. It's the true reward from the God War." Before anyone could ask, Lin Luo fixed his gaze on Black Rock Shooter. "I'd like to modify this castle, is that alright?"

"Yes," Black Rock Shooter nodded.

"It might look unrecognizable afterward."

"That's fine," Black Rock Shooter replied calmly.

"Good, then I shall begin. First..." Lin Luo gave a strange smile, causing the others to instinctively feel a premonition of dread, but before they could react, he said, "Disappear."

As the words fell, the massive Black and White Castle vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed. With the sea-borne castle gone, countless tons of seawater surged in from all directions. With a massive crash, a towering wave shot dozens of meters into the sky before beginning to fall, as if intending to swallow them whole.

"Damn, what happened?"

"Watch out, dodge!"

The moment the castle vanished, the women were slow to react. Only when the colossal wave, like a monstrous mouth, descended upon them did they realize they were suspended in empty space. They gasped, and while those who could fly immediately activated their powers, those who couldn't flailed in panic.

"Calm down, calm down, we are safe now," Lin Luo waved his hand, urging everyone to relax. Soon, the women realized that although they were suspended in the void, they weren't falling, and the immense waves slid past them, four or five meters away.

"This is..." Evangeline's expression shifted slightly, realizing the scene bore a striking resemblance to Mo Xinming's Void Domain. She looked at Lin Luo in astonishment. "Did you do this?"

The others were equally speechless.

Lin Luo nodded with a mysterious smile. "Didn't I say I would show you the greatest magic? This is only the beginning."

Black Rock Shooter stared blankly at the empty expanse of the sea. "My castle... is gone?"

"Don't worry, I'll give you a better one soon," Lin Luo smiled at her. Ignoring the reproachful and amazed gazes of the other girls, he pointed upward. "Create... an Aerial Castle."

Swish.

In an instant, more than a hundred meters above the sea surface, a colossal castle spanning several thousand square meters materialized from nothing. The structure was glittering and magnificent; viewed from below, it was utterly breathtaking.

"This..."

"My goodness..."

"..."

The girls were so shocked their jaws dropped. This wasn't magic; it was a miracle.

"Let's go up to the castle for a while," Lin Luo said cheerfully. With a wave of his hand, a cloud carried them upward, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the aerial citadel.

The solid ground beneath their feet instantly restored a sense of security to the women. Once they collected themselves, they found themselves standing on a platform hundreds of square meters wide. Before them stretched a vast pathway, carpeted with impossibly ornate rugs, lined on both sides by flourishing trees and flowers emitting a sweet fragrance. At the end of this hundred-meter-long passage stood the castle's main hall.

The main hall was even more majestic and dazzling, appearing as if constructed from countless jewels, far more dazzling than any ancient imperial palace. Adjacent to the main hall were various decorations and buildings, each exquisite, each dazzling. Except for Lin Luo, the creator, the others were simply dumbstruck.

"Next comes the composition of the finer details," Lin Luo remarked. The others looked to him as he waved his hand, and a seven-colored rainbow avenue appeared at one end of the platform, stretching down to the coastline a hundred meters below. When he raised his hand again, an even grander rainbow enveloped the entire castle, connecting the two sides of the sea. Such breathtaking and magnificent scenery left the girls utterly silent, capable only of watching.

In the next ten minutes, Lin Luo made several more detailed external modifications to the aerial castle. For instance, he added clusters of eternally blooming cherry trees around the platform, causing countless pink petals to drift on the wind. Or perhaps, he added a perpetually flowing fountain in one section, and areas experiencing an unending, gentle snowfall... In those brief ten minutes, the already grand castle gained even more beauty and allure.

It was only then that the women finally snapped out of their trance.

"What in the world is going on? How can you do things like this?" Mikoto and the others immediately bombarded him with questions.

Lin Luo smiled. "Didn't I say before? This is the true reward from the God War. The World King has the ability to modify this world—anything I desire, aside from living things, I can create..." As he continued with the detailed modifications, Lin Luo recited the information the Contract Book had provided to the women.

"Quick, quick, I want a Kero-chan..."

"I want a Gemstone Kingdom, build it now..."

"I want countless clothing stores..."

"Oh, and an arcade is a must-have..."

"I want a movie theater..."

"I want a palace where I can sing..."

"..."

After listening to Lin Luo's explanation, the women immediately voiced their demands. At this moment, no one was reserved; they asked for exactly what they wanted. They couldn't possibly miss such a rare opportunity.

"You are seriously a Creator!" Evangeline cursed, breaking her usual composure for the rare occasion.