A man of action, Lawson didn't hesitate.
He strode across the factory and retrieved the black crystal, wrapped in its protective layers.
"Alright, little darling. Tonight's the night we reveal your true face!"
He unleashed the surging energy within him. The dense golden light transformed into jumping streams of data—a golden tide crashing into the bottomless abyss of the black crystal.
The crystal reacted as if a forbidden switch had been flipped.
It vibrated violently, emitting a hum so sharp it threatened to shatter eardrums.
Then, defying gravity, it wobbled into the air.
Under Lawson's stunned gaze, the faint light inside the crystal exploded.
Its rigid texture turned fluid, warping and expanding until it tore open a pitch-black vortex in the center of the workshop—a void that led to nowhere.
"Holy—! Is this for real?!"
Lawson's heart skipped a beat. Cold sweat drenched his back.
Esther's words flashed through his mind—this was the culprit that had dragged all the assets and laws of the game world into reality.
"Dammit, STOP!"
He let out a low growl, forcibly severing the flow of golden energy.
Without the fuel of [Reconstruction], the expanding vortex stuttered like a dying engine.
It shrank violently before stabilizing into a jet-black ring about a meter in diameter, rotating with an eerie, rhythmic pulse.
It was an absolute blackness, radiating a deathly silence that felt chillingly seductive. In the midnight Factory, it sat like the eye of a dormant beast peering through a crack in dimensions.
Then, a malevolent yet divine voice echoed from the depths of the void.
It was bone-chillingly cold, yet carried an unquestionable authority.
Below the vortex, countless golden specks gathered, weaving themselves into a human form.
"This is not a toy for you to play with," the figure said, his voice flat and ripple-less. "You almost drew 'Him' here.
A being of that caliber is not something you 'mortals' can handle."
"System Master" fully materialized. With a casual flick of his wrist, the terrifying black vortex collapsed into itself like a startled mimosa plant, vanishing without a trace.
"Heh, quick move. You're not trying to destroy the evidence, are you?" Lawson recovered, his voice dripping with sarcasm. In his eyes, this "System" was the source of all calamity—the one who had engineered this living hell.
"Don't think I don't know. This broken world is your masterpiece, isn't it? System Master?"
Faced with the barbed question, the System did not retort.
He remained silent, his long fingers slowly gripping the edges of his silver mask. Then, before Lawson's shrinking pupils, he unveiled the mystery for the very first time.
As the mask slid away, a flood of buried memories crashed into Lawson's mind.
The man before him possessed a silhouette nearly identical to his own, yet he carried a heavy, divine aura of someone who had survived the baptism of godhood.
"You... you are..." Lawson's voice trembled with pure, unadulterated shock.
"The character I created... the one I beat the 'True Ending' with... 'Lawson No. 1'?!"
"That is why I said the {Sword of System Authority} belonged to you from the start. This power... it has always flowed in your blood."
The System's icy facade finally thawed.
He shed his untouchable majesty, and the corners of his mouth quirked upward into a slightly smug, knowing grin—the exact same grin Lawson often wore.
It was the most familiar face in the world.
Lawson's suppressed emotions finally broke.
The joy of reunion washed away all logic and barriers.
To Lawson, the man before him wasn't just a string of cold data; he was the companion who had spent countless lonely nights with him, conquering armies, crushing Shadow Generals, and sharing every triumph and tragedy.
To hell with the "Supreme System"! To hell with the "Creator"!
"You bastard... there's a limit to how much you should show off!"
Lawson lunged forward, throwing his arms around the man like a child reunited with a lost friend.
This hug transcended the boundary between fiction and reality.
It was the ultimate solace Lawson had leaned on whenever he failed in the game or felt lost in life.
"...Alright, my Master."
Feeling the warmth of the embrace, Lawson No. 1 gently patted his back, his tone filled with a long-lost helplessness and affection. He tapped the air, and a gateway of soft golden light bloomed, making the humble Factory look like a holy site.
"This is no place for a reunion. Come. I will take you to a domain that truly belongs to us."
He gave an elegant bow of invitation and stepped through the golden veil.
Lawson took a deep breath and, without a shred of fear, followed him into the unknown.
Stepping through that golden portal, the oppressive gloom of the wasteland evaporated instantly.
Before Lawson's eyes stretched a magnificent temple, seemingly hewn from pure dawn.
Along the grand corridor, countless shimmering frames hovered in the air, each image pulsing with life.
It was a "Memorial Gallery"—a record of every stage Lawson had conquered and every wilderness he had leveled over the years.
"Woah... this setup... it's like I've walked straight into a max-level account's trophy room!"
Like a child returning home, Lawson scurried between the artworks, his eyes blazing.
"Look! This is the screenshot from when we first took down the 'Shadow General,' right? I remember we were dirt poor back then, grinding it out with that S-grade armor made of scrap metal. And this one! The moment we tore through the 'Shadow King' to reach the True Ending! Only five people on the entire server managed to craft that SSS-grade set, and we were one of them!"
Lawson's fingertips brushed the rows of cold yet burning images, his voice thick with pride.
"My Master," Lawson No. 1 began, his eyelids drooping with a rare touch of desolation.
"It was because of your every meticulous choice and dedicated nurturing that I obtained the authority to interfere with causality. I invited you here today because I must reveal the 'Underlying Logic' of this world. The future... and the warriors fighting by your side... I'm afraid I must entrust them all to you."
"Hey, hey, what's with that look again?" Lawson sensed the shift in tone, trying to play it off with a smirk.
"You had that exact same face when we finished that hellish liberation quest. Now you're doing it again? You sound like you're writing a will. Don't tell me your database is 'expiring' and you're heading for a factory reset?"