What happened was quite the opposite.
The amount of merit consumed far exceeded any estimation. Hundreds of Awakened Souls instantly dropped an entire Hasyara level all at once. The answer they received consisted of only three sentences:
"By time. Verily, man is in loss. Except for those who believe and do righteous deeds, and advise each other to truth and advise each other to patience."
No more than twenty-eight words. Yet the cost drained the merit of hundreds of Awakened Souls.
That event became a harsh lesson. If a single soul had asked that question, they would likely have vanished instantly due to extreme negative merit. Mujun still remembered the panic of that moment. The soul who first proposed the idea became the target of everyone else's fury. Since then, no one dared to use merit to seek direct answers again. They preferred to fail repeatedly in their next lives rather than risk losing a Hasyara level.
"Heh… perhaps only he still dares to think about it."
There was one Awakened Soul who was equal to him in age of consciousness. That soul hypothesized that knowledge has levels. The answer they received back then likely resided at a very high level of knowledge, perhaps nearing the peak. Therefore, the price to be paid was astronomical.
The hypothesis made sense. The higher the level of knowledge requested, the more expensive the price. Mujun shuddered remembering the worst-case scenario from that time. They had nearly touched total erasure.
Now, the question was different. If he used merit to seek a solution to his current problem—how high a level of knowledge would he have to pay for?
Despite lacking a strong theoretical foundation, Mujun's intuition told him that the answer to this question did not reside at the same level of knowledge as those three previous sentences. Not only was it unequal, it was likely far lower. Still, it was a massive gamble.
If he was wrong, all the merit he possessed could vanish in an instant. Worse, if the cost of knowledge exceeded his limits, his own soul could be pushed into the negative and risk being erased.
But this time, Mujun chose to trust his intuition.
"How do you make the world perceive two different souls as a single unit?"
He did not specify the context. There was no need. The system would analyze the deepest intent of his question and determine the most appropriate answer. As soon as that will was released, the merit numbers on his panel changed.
Decreasing. Fast. Too fast.
Mujun didn't have time to react as all the merit he had gained from Crocus was exhausted until nothing remained. For a moment, he could only stare at the declining numbers, waiting to see if he would hit the danger limit.
Then, the numbers stopped. They dropped no further.
"Hoooo~"
He only realized he had been holding his breath since the beginning. Before any text appeared on the panel, the answer had already formed within his mind. It was as if he had actually known the answer for a long time.
"Marriage."
The further information organized itself within his understanding.
With the world acting as the guardian, two just witnesses, and a vow spoken consciously and voluntarily, two souls would be bound by Fate. That bond is recorded by the world in which the contract takes place. Because the world acts as the guardian, the binding is not local. Other worlds recognize the contract as valid. From that moment on, the system no longer reads two completely parallel paths of fate, but rather a single branched path with a shared center.
Their Fates become interconnected. Consequently, in the process of reincarnation, the system possesses a strong tendency to place both in the same world to maintain the consistency of the recorded Fate.
Mujun was transfixed.
"That's it?"
His reaction was not because he didn't understand, but because it was too simple. The solution he had been seeking all this time apparently required no high-level system manipulation, no alteration to the structure of Fate, and no impossible amount of merit. It was merely an institution that had existed for ages.
For a moment, he felt as if he had missed something obvious. But he quickly calmed his mind. The system was fair. He might not understand how the system calculated merit or determined levels of knowledge. However, the consensus of all Awakened Souls had always been the same: the system is fair. If it weren't, the balance of the universe would not survive.
The price he paid was large, but it did not destroy him. This meant the level of knowledge for this question was indeed below the three previous sentences. Mujun remembered the last Awakened Soul who had left him. That soul chose to erase their memories and ambitions for the sake of someone they loved.
"Was he right and I was wrong?"
The question appeared briefly, then he brushed it aside. He had no intention of following the same path. Based on this answer, new possibilities began to open in his mind. He organized them one by one. Some were too nonsensical. Some required an inefficient amount of merit. Some conflicted with the world's mechanisms.
He analyzed, filtered, and deleted. Until one idea remained.
Simple. Practical. And it did not violate the system.
A thin smile appeared on his face. "Ah, I can use that."
Despite his incredibly long life—nearly approaching eternity—Mujun was not the type to delay action. Once a decision and a framework for a plan were formed, he wouldn't spend too much time perfecting them. In his view, a plan that was too detailed was fragile. Reality on the ground always presented unexpected variables. Therefore, what mattered most was not the perfection of the plan, but the ability to adapt when something went against expectations.
The decision was made. With a single act of will, his consciousness shifted toward a new realm.
Just as souls have an end, so do worlds. A world persists as long as it possesses enough Fate to draw souls to be born within it. If that Fate thins beyond a certain limit, the world loses its attraction. Reincarnation stops. Cycles weaken. Eventually, that world collapses. For the beings living within it, that is the true apocalypse.
However, before truly vanishing, a world is given one final chance. Worlds on the brink of destruction are moved to a lower realm that the Awakened Souls named the Realm of Mitsal.
The Realm of Mitsal contains worlds whose Fate is nearly exhausted. Their chances of stabilizing again are very small. The souls born there generally possess merit near zero, or are souls capable of surviving only one more purification cycle before risking erasure.
The consequence was clear.