What he had just witnessed was not an illusion.

For a brief interval of time, Ves had subjected the Destroyer particle to so much spatial disturbances that it had actually split, at least in part!

Though Ves became momentarily shocked at what he just witnessed, what happened next significantly dampened his enthusiasm.

The mirage faded quickly once the particle or particles completely wore away the small quantity of low-grade superdimensional matter.

The pressure on the original Destroyer particle dropped, causing it to return to a semblance of normalcy.

Ves grew distracted at this point. His attention still remained stuck on what he witnessed earlier.

During the critical moment of the latest experiment, the Destroyer particle or rather the projection of one actually doubled in quantity!

Ves did not think this was a purely optical illusion because his senses could feel that they both contained the exact same power.

Of course, he could not entirely rule out that the phenomena completely managed to fool his senses, but he did not ascribe to this theory.

The way the Destroyer particles devoured the miniscule piece of superdimensional matter had shifted once the doubling occurred!

This meant that the second Destroyer particle happened to be real enough to materially influence reality!

Unfortunately, the doubling effect ended as soon as there was no more superdimensional matter.

Although it was only the low-grade variant, Ves still felt a little pained by sacrificing superdimensional matter.

If this was the only way to produce the temporary doubling effect, then superdimensional matter would turn into a more advanced version of phasewater.

The latter resource was already growing scarcer and scarcer due to the growing demand from large groups due to the increased upkeep of all of the high-tech devices that devoured phasewater to fuel their elevated performance.

Letting the same happen to superdimensional matter sounded unthinkable, especially in the current stage.

This resource was too scarce to be used as a consumable!

Still... if Ves gained the option to convert superdimensional matter into Destroyer particles, could he truly say no to this proposition?

"I can't resist."

Although Destroyer weapons did not penetrate obstacles as fantastically as superdimensional blades, both had their advantages.

The potential of combining the two and fusing their strengths also made the possibility of synthesizing Destroyer particles valuable!

As Ves continued to immerse himself in all of the possibilities opened up by this new discovery, he knew he had to verify his earlier result.

It became extremely important for him to know whether the doubling effect was a coincidence or whether it was a systematic response to a very specific set of circumstances.

He also needed to know whether he could turn this temporary phenomenon into a permanent outcome.

Though he saw a lot of potential in temporarily increasing the amount of Destroyer particles, the applications were ultimately limited compared to true production.

If he could break the Terran monopoly on Destroyer particles, he could definitely turn this highly strategic capability into his latest trump card!

As far as he knew, no one was able to produce Destroyer particles on this side of the cosmos.

Whether that would remain valid in the future remained to be seen.

"After all, I can't be the only person who tried to expose Destroyer particles to superdimensional matter." He muttered to himself.

Still, the circumstances that caused the duplication effect were highly coincidental. Ves not only used a variety of spatial manipulation effects, he also cobbled together a crude but fairly effective spatial distortion engine that destabilized and bent the fabric of space into an ever-changing pretzel.

Ves seriously doubted that anyone else could replicate these exact compound spatial effects. They relied on both his rare capabilities as a phase lord, his understanding of human theoretical physics, his basic understanding and possession of Destroyer particles as well as his access and understanding of superdimensional matter.

Of course, he could not rule out that an ingenious Star Designer or an inquisitive phase whale might be able to replicate this experiment, but the probability of that happening was low.

"Even if others have managed to crack the code, what is important is that I control my own output."

The Terrans were the most likely to figure out a way to duplicate Destroyer particles given their deep and profound understanding of its properties and

secrets.

If that ever happened, then the Terrans would continue to maintain their control over Destroyer weapons.

Ves would be different. Though he did not dare to expose this capability to the public, he could still use it as a trump card as well as an opportunity to sell

contraband.

Of course, if he ever resorted to the latter, he would make damn sure to utilize

a different identity!

"I am getting ahead of myself."

He was already making plans around a single outcome.

He needed to exercise more scientific rigor.

Ves regained his focus and began to conduct a series of tests.

He first attempted to feed raw low-grade superdimensional matter to a single

Destroyer particle.

The doubling effect did not occur. The particle simply annihilated the very small chunk of superdimensional matter at a sedate pace.

When he once again utilized his power as a phase lord and combined it with

the output of his spatial disturbance engine, the doubling effect appeared just

like last time.

Though there were noticeable differences in the frequency of vibrations and

the opacity of the mirrored particles, this test at least proved that he was able

to reproduce the same result!

However, when Ves tried to apply more pressure and solidify the two particles, he failed to accomplish his goal.

As soon as the Destroyer particle completely consumed the piece of superdimensional matter, the excessively high spatial activity noticeably dipped

in intensity.

The doubling effect disappeared instantly after that, causing his expression to

drop.

Duplicating the projections of Destroyer particles wouldn't be that easy, it

seemed.

"Maybe I need more."

He began to conduct further tests.

He recognized that the superdimensional matter served as a key variable in this experiment, so he varied its parameters in every iteration.

He first focused on altering the quantity.

Ves cut off pieces of low-grade superdimensional matter of different sizes and

fed them to the Destroyer particles one by one.

Sadly, feeding a much larger chunk to a particle did not increase the intensity

of the doubling effect!

It remained fairly low, signifying that low-grade matter did not contain enough 'spatial energies' or whatever to destabilize the immediate area of space to a sufficient degree.

This result remained true even when he brought the two original Destroyer particles together, causing them to grow stronger in an effort to repulse each

other.

The only meaningful change that happened as a result of this series of experiments was that the duration of the doubling effect varied at a linear

relationship.

Twice as much low-grade matter meant that the doubling effect lasted roughly

twice as long.

Simple.

Boring,

That was not what Ves was looking for at the moment.

"What about upping the quality?"

His anticipation grew considerably when he put away the low-grade stuff and

replaced it with the medium-grade equivalents.

The difference between the two was significant.

Low-grade superdimensional matter was most suited to be used for the production of premium bulk products such as high-value kinetic projectiles or

central fortifications.

Yet it was the higher-grade matter that the big players truly valued. Even in its rawest and unprocessed form, medium-grade superdimensional matter already possessed a level of resilience and hidden mass that enabled them to outperform the best phasewater alloys by far!

Now, Ves banked on those same strengths to produce a different outcome!

The spatial activity jumped at a much higher level than before!

"It's working!" The much more extreme conditions not only prompted the arrival of the doubling effect, but also caused it to manifest differently!

The definition of the twin particles had become a lot more solid. They were no

longer as see-through as before and truly gained a measure of physicality. Ves could feel their literal and metaphorical weight on reality a lot better than

before!

Yet when he tried his best to seal this outcome and make the doubling effect permanent, he found himself unable to accomplish his goal.

The twin particles turned back into a singular existence as soon as the tiny chunk of medium-grade superdimensional matter disappeared completely.

It lasted a lot longer than an equivalent volume of low-grade matter, but that

did not change the fact that the final outcome was identical.

"Bummer."

Ves repeated the experiment with mid-grade matter of different sizes. Just like

before, the only meaningful change was how long the doubling effect lasted. The intensity of the effect remained nearly identical.

As always, the doubled particle never managed to stick around.

He still had hope, though he grew worried whether he would be met with

disappointment once again.

Both armor-grade and weapon-grade superdimensional matter existed a cut

above the rest.

This especially applied to the latter!

Ves knew that the following experiments would definitely trigger much stronger spatial phenomena and other unpredictable effects. He double-checked his devices and instruments and made sure to employ greater

caution this time.

When he carefully caused a much smaller and more precisely cut piece of armor-grade superdimensional matter to come into contact with a lone Destroyer particle, the spatial activity immediately spiked!

A powerful spatial storm erupted inside the experimental chamber that threatened to break the azure energy shields and rupture the housing! Ves scrambled to impose order, but the explosion of spatial energies happened

so quickly that he almost failed to suspend the experiment in a safe manner! Fortunately, he was quick enough in his response that he managed to withdraw the partially-chewed piece of very precious superdimensional matter in time. Though the event came and went in a matter of seconds, it still lasted long enough to produce the doubling effect.

Ves had kept his eyes on the doubled particles throughout the entire sequence.

Though the interval was terribly short, he was still able to perceive that the twin particles had grown nearly solid at this time! Yet the second particle ultimately disappeared like the rest. He did not think that the very short time interval deserved any blame. The

intensity of spatial turbulence had been higher than before, but had not reached the point where it could produce a qualitatively better outcome.

He finally turned to the very tiny piece of weapon-grade superdimensional matter.

Out of safety's sake, he did not immediately commence his ultimate

experiment.

He picked up his specially reinforced precision instruments and reduced the

size of the chunk of weapon-grade matter even further.

This way, even if the experiment produced an uncontrollable storm, it

shouldn't last too long.

The moment had come.

Ves carefully pressed the almost microscopic piece of superior high-grade superdimensional matter with the isolated Destroyer particle. An even greater spatial storm erupted!

Despite the extra precautions, the surrounding azure energy shields

immediately broke! The rapidly-expanding storm did not stop at that and continued to eat away at the solid alloy housing of the experimental chamber!

If Ves had not especially strengthened it with a superdimensional alloy in advance, he had no doubt that it would have torn apart in short order! Even so, the outburst of uncontrolled spatial power was so violent that the

refined alloys began to warp at a distressingly fast pace! Suddenly, the storm faded away.

Ves relaxed as he knew his earlier precaution had worked. He hadn't fed enough weapon-grade superdimensional matter to the Destroyer

particle to sustain the activity for long.

"Did it work this time?"

Ves ignored all of the damage and the diagnostic alarms and paid close

attention to the state of the Destroyer particle.

Had it been joined by a twin?

As much as Ves hoped that this was the case, his hopes quickly faded into

bitterness.

"It didn't work."

Ves hadn't been able to observe the doubling effect as clearly as the previous

times due to the violent spatial activity, but he was pretty sure it occurred. It just hadn't persisted.