Chris silently pondered the Immortal World. What was this place? Why could he control it? Why could he just ignore the very laws of reality in here? Did it even have physical laws or did it just do things because he thought it should do things? He paused, going over everything he knew about how the Immortal World worked. It responded to his wishes, doing pretty much whatever he wanted it to, even things he didn't expect, such as analyzing objects or mutation. There were rules he couldn't break though… nothing died in the Immortal World, even if he wanted it to. Unless, subconsciously, he didn't actually want anything to die? Chris shook his head. He highly doubted that. He'd never felt particularly bothered when he killed creatures in the Maze. He paused. Maybe it wasn't that immortality was a rule, but an effect of the fact that there were no rules! What if the world needed rules for what happens when something dies? Maybe when he and his subordinates died in the real world, it wasn't the Immortal World calling them back, but the real world pushing them out! Then the Immortal World just fixed them up because it had to do something with them, right? Or maybe it was a function of them that did it… Chris sighed. He'd have to experiment with all that later.

The Immortal World's ability to mutate creatures was also a little weird. Everything else sort of made sense. The immortality was just returning beings back to their uninjured state, and analyzing was just breaking things down to see how they were made. However, mutation was something… creative. It took what was there and made something new out of it. That seemed… off to him. The Immortal World wasn't creative. It was… blank. A clean slate for him to build off of. A giant empty plain for him to fill. Mutation just didn't line up with that. Mutation was creation that he wasn't even involved in. The Immortal World just did it on its own. Where did that come from?

Chris considered the question with a deepening frown, before shaking his head. He felt he'd gotten a little off topic. He mentally tabled the weirdness of mutation, refocusing on the weirdness of the rules of the Immortal World, or more accurately, the lack of them. It fit with everything else. The Immortal World was blank. No matter, no rules, no nothing. Just him. He was the one who needed to bring matter in, to make things, to make the rules. Chris considered the opportunity before him. He could turn the Immortal World into whatever he wanted! But… What did he want? Honestly, the rules of his own world worked pretty well. Except… hmmm, maybe he could do something about the pollen issue? It was pretty annoying that plants wouldn't grow without help.

Chris thought about it. The plants still need some way to add genetic diversity. Otherwise they'd all just be copies of the original, which… Well, it wouldn't be a problem, but it would be a little boring. Chris frowned as he thought about it. Maybe he could have the plants pass pollen through their roots? Plant them near each other so their roots entangled and… Chris frowned. That would require changing how the plants themselves worked, wouldn't it? Plants didn't create pollen in their roots. They were designed to operate under the rules of his world, not whatever ideas he came up with. He needed rules that worked with how the plants were now, not how he wanted them to be. Unless he mutated them? Chris shook his head. Mutation worked based on experience. He'd need to create the rules first, then the plants would need to mutate to adjust to those rules. However, he wasn't sure how much the mutation would focus on reproduction… he'd probably just end up with a bunch of little plant creatures running around.

Chris refocused. Plants created pollen which needed to be spread to other plants. Originally, small insects did this, but he didn't have small insects, so he needed to find some other way to spread it. He supposed he could just have it spread through the air, but… that seemed messy. However, every other idea he had would require some change in the plant itself, or he'd need to create some form of life to do it. Chris sighed. "Fuck it, air it is." He wasn't just going to let it spread around though. It needed to stay around plants, not him. Maybe he could make pollen attracted to plants? Like a special form of gravity? Though he'd need it to ignore the plant the pollen came from… maybe he could make plants strongly attract pollen from any plant other than itself?

Chris nodded, creating a small field and populating it with several of the plants he'd purchased previously. "Alright, let's see. Plants attract pollen at a rate of… wait. It can't be the same for every plant, or the pollen would get stuck… or it'd just be flying everywhere and that would get annoying. Though… it needs to fly a little. If it always stayed in the same area, the plants would get a little inbred…" Chris frowned. "Fucking- why the hell is it so hard to do this without tiny fucking bugs?!?" Chris took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Okay, so… let's do this based on genetic similarity. The more similar the pollen is, the less the plant attracts it." Chris paused again. "Wait, it can't be too dissimilar though… Okay, we'll do a bell curve. Low for mostly similar, low if it's too different, and high in the middle." Chris nodded. He looked over the plants and pollen he'd analyzed, taking the midpoint of the variation range and making it the peak of the attraction curve. He then set the peak at twenty meters per second squared. "Now then… do I just decide that-" He paused as he felt something settle into the Immortal World, cocking his head. He created a cloud of pollen over the plants and watched as it began to stream towards the plants. "Outstanding." Chris muttered, grinning slightly. He just had to decide he wanted the rule, and boom, there it was!

Chris watched the plants for a moment, before grunting and turning away. "Well, that's a thing… what now?" He muttered to himself. Could he create more rules? To do what? Chris paused. Maybe automatic mutation? Though that would kind of screw over Jello… eh, that wasn't a big enough problem to make a rule over. Maybe he could just experiment with different rules, see how they felt? Change gravity, alter the way particles interact… Chris raised his eyebrows. Now that could be interesting. Messing with the weak force and strong force, or electromagnetism… plus gravity he supposed, though that was kinda boring. He then paused. He couldn't exactly do that here though, now could he? He didn't want his subordinates to suddenly explode because he did something funky to the rules. He needed somewhere else to experiment… could he divide the Immortal World? Keep one half the same, for his subordinates, while messing with the other?

Chris shrugged. "Fuck it, lets just try it." He mentally partitioned off the area with his subordinates, dividing the Immortal World and sort of… pushing. The Immortal World suddenly cracked, the part he'd pushed suddenly disappearing, yet… not. The Immortal World was still as infinite as ever, but now, there were two of them. He popped over to the other one, looking around. "Well, that was easy." He muttered, cracking his knuckles. "Now, let's break some physics."

"I don't think I know enough about physics to break it." Chris muttered with a frown, causing Beth to give him a weird look. The two had just finished their observation shift, relaxing in a corner of the camp before bed.

"Should I be concerned?" She asked.

Chris looked up, raising his eyebrows. "Hm? Oh, no, just… I learned I can mess with physics in my world, but… well, if I don't know why it works, it's hard to change it. Like, there are all these little particles but I don't know what they're supposed to do, and since I don't know… they don't actually do anything." He paused, frowning again. "I think I need to buy a physics textbook."

Beth blinked a few times. "Okay… actually, no, I'm going to need a minute to process all that." She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. After a minute, she looked back up. "Okay- nope, still not getting it. Why are you messing with physics?"

Chris shrugged. "Because I can?" He paused. "Well, I should be able to… once I know more."

"Why?!?" Beth asked incredulously.

"Oh, because my world has no rules. It just kinda works the way I think it should work, so it seems like our world, but… it isn't." Chris explained.

Beth frowned at him. "You just keep getting more and more ridiculous, don't you?"

"Indeed I do." Chris nodded. "Though, I honestly have no idea where I'd go from here… I literally control physics. In my world. Rather large caveat there." Chris frowned. "I have all this power in the one place I don't really need it."

Beth rolled her eyes. "How many of you are running around right now?"

Chris paused. "Uh, three… fair point. I'll stop complaining now."

Beth sighed, shaking her head. "You know, I used to be the powerful one in this relationship."

"You could still kick my ass." Chris pointed out.

"But for how long?" Beth asked, pouting slightly. "You'll keep mutating, subduing stronger creatures, growing your world, and I'll just stay… me."

Chris frowned. "So? It isn't like I love you because you're stronger than I am." He paused. "You don't like me because I'm weaker, do you?"

"Of course not!" Beth retorted, smacking his chest lightly. "It's just… Chris, your ability is so much. And it keeps getting bigger! I just- I-I know you love me, I do, but… you already have three different bodies running around, while I will only ever have one. Am- am I really going to be enough for you?" She asked nervously.

Chris froze. "Beth- I- okay, look. I will admit that as I have more and more other selves, I begin to… miss you, even when I'm already with you. But that just means I have to limit the amount of other selves I put out there, right?"

"But that's the problem!" Beth groaned. "I don't want to be someone who limits you! I want you to be free to grow as much as you want!"

Chris blinked a few times. "But… the only reason I want to grow is you. Without you, I wouldn't even be here. I don't care about power for myself. As long as I'm not bored, I couldn't care less what I do, and my world can provide more than enough to entertain me at this point. I could retreat in there and become a hermit, and I'd be perfectly content. However, if I want to be happy, I need you, and you wouldn't be happy living like that. You need to have a purpose, some way to help people. That's why I'm doing all this. So I can help you. You aren't limiting me, Beth. You're the only thing pushing me forward."

Beth paused for a moment, stunned, before a bright smile spread across her face. Her body stretched as she slithered into his lap, giving him a deep, passionate kiss. "Now that's how you make a girl feel special." She murmured as she pulled away, resting her head on his shoulder.

"I just told the truth." Chris replied, frowning slightly as he wondered why that was romantic and the other things he'd said weren't.

"It was a good truth." Beth smiled, snuggling closer to him. Chris considered that for a moment, before shrugging and pulling her closer. He still didn't quite get it, but he wasn't going to argue with results. "What about your physical needs?" Beth suddenly asked, flushing slightly. A certain member of Chris's anatomy had begun to poke her, reminding her that it wasn't just Chris's emotional needs she needed to worry about. "If there are that many of you running around, won't- won't you end up a little… pent up?"

Chris shook his head. "That isn't really how it works. All my needs sort of get… reset, every time I make a new body. I don't even really need to sleep or eat at the moment, I just like to." He paused. "Though, I do have to mention that reset does not mean set to zero. Some things are, like hunger and exhaustion, but… well, let's just say, I don't need it, but I'm very much ready to go." He elaborated with a slight cough.

"And that isn't going to be an issue for you?" Beth asked, sounding slightly concerned. "I know you can control yourself, but… let's face it, you're going to reach a point where women will literally be throwing themselves at you… How are you going to deal with that?"

"Ignore them?" Chris shrugged as he replied. "That's what I've been doing so far and it's been working fine. I honestly can't imagine anyone being more tempting than T'ka, so there shouldn't be any issues."

Beth blinked a few times, sitting up in his lap. "T'ka?"

Chris waved a hand dismissively. "She's this kobold I subdued who… mutated in an interesting way. It's like my world gave her the exact form necessary to hit all my buttons."

Beth's eyes widened. "You- your- a kobold turned into your ideal woman?!?"

"Well, ideal physically. You're miles ahead of her in every other way, plus you're still very attractive…" Chris replied, his gaze wandering for a moment before snapping back to her face.

"And she's just sitting in your world, available at any time?" Beth continued, hints of incredulity creeping into her voice.

"Well, not sitting. Fighting mostly. Plus I send her out to capture creatures every now and then." Chris answered. "But yeah, pretty much constantly available."

Beth hesitated. "And you haven't done anything with her?"

Chris paused. "I let her rub my feet… I sort of tortured her in the process of getting her to submit, and doing stuff for me helps her relax… I'd feel bad if I didn't let her do something."

Beth paused for a moment, taking it all in. "I want to meet her." She finally announced in a firm tone.

Chris gave her a weird look, before shrugging. "Alright." He waved a hand, opening a portal. "T'ka-" He froze, staring at the portal.

"Yes, Master?" T'ka asked, looking confused as she glanced between him and Beth, wondering what he wanted. She'd recently finished a fight, so her clothes were a bit damaged, leaving some unfortunate holes that revealed more of her body than entirely appropriate.

Beth looked T'ka up and down, comparing herself to her. "She isn't that attractive." She grumbled slightly, crossing her arms. She looked at Chris, noticing him frozen as he stared at the portal, directly at T'ka, with a stunned expression. "Chris!" She exclaimed, hitting him hard in the chest.

"Oof!" Chris grunted, turning back to her. "Why did you hit me?" He asked, rubbing his chest.

"I'm not going to just sit here while you drool over another woman!" Beth growled, raising a hand to hit him again.

"Drool- what are you talking about?!?" Chris asked, confused.

"You were leering at her!" Beth yelled, gesturing to T'ka.

"What- No! I was looking at the portal!" Chris retorted. "It's smaller!"

Beth froze. "The portal?" She asked, confused, looking between him and the portal. "It looks the same, doesn't it?"

Chris frowned at her. "It's point zero zero zero zero… lots of zeros and then a four, meters smaller." He replied.

Beth frowned. "That- that's a big deal?" She asked hesitantly.

"My portal doesn't change! It's always been two meters, exactly! But now- now it's smaller… which means I did something wrong." Chris explained, his thoughts spinning. He'd only done two things differently today: made a rule and split the Immortal World. Maybe somehow when he'd split the Immortal World, he'd split off a portion of the portal to it?

Chris closed the portal on a very confused T'ka as the Chris in the new section of the Immortal World went to open a portal to check, when he paused. None of the portal points would move to this section of the Immortal World… "That's strange." He frowned, before attempting to open a portal to one of the objects he owned in the City, but again, it refused to open. "What the-" He began as he just tried to open a portal, without any specific destination, like when he'd first discovered the Immortal World, and suddenly the portal opened as normal, a perfect two meters. However, Chris barely registered that as he looked out into a world of green and brown, not even blinking as he took in the sight of a massive, unkempt sprawl of trees and plants. Nothing like this would ever exist in the City! It was too wasteful of their limited space!

Chris cautiously stepped through the portal, squinting and raising a hand to protect his eyes from a weirdly bright light beaming down from above. "Why the fuck-" He began to curse the unnecessarily bright object when he froze as he took in the blue around it. "The fuck is that?!?" He exclaimed incredulously, before freezing again as he looked around. Ground, trees, plants… he narrowed his eyes as he saw tiny bugs. This- this wasn't the Maze, and it definitely wasn't the City. He was outside! All that blue was the sky!

Chris closed the portal, cautiously eyeing the wildlife he was seeing more and more of as he carefully crept his way through what could only be a forest. None of it seemed particularly aggressive, but who knew what abilities these creatures might have? Chris froze as he encountered a small cloud of tiny bugs, wings flashing in the light from… the sun? That's what that bright light had to be, right? Chris carefully moved through the underbrush to avoid the cloud as he continued on his way.

Meanwhile, the Chris with Beth was frowning. Disregarding the weird place his other self had found himself in, the portal he'd opened had been back at two meters. A perfect two meters… ever since Chris had begun placing portal points, his portals had never been a perfect two meters. They were always a bit smaller, though the total still added up to two meters. However, when the other Chris had opened that portal, the total had gone slightly over two meters! Chris pondered this for a moment, before opening a portal again. As he did, he made another Chris who went to the other section, and opened a portal there… "A little less than four meters…" Chris muttered in a numb tone. His portal capacity had doubled! Chris paused, frowning. That wasn't actually right. His portal here was still limited to slightly less than two meters, and his portal in the other section was still limited to two. It was more like each section had its own portal capacity… Was that why he couldn't move portal points over to the new section? Because they were part of the first section's portal capacity? But then… Why couldn't he open new portals to the City from there?

Chris shook his head. He'd let his other self explore that new place more before he began to make conclusions about what was going on in the new section. He had a feeling all his questions would be answered once he knew more about that place. The issue he had to deal with was the fact that if each section had an independent portal… then what had happened to the first section's portal? There was only one answer, wasn't there? Somehow, when he'd made the rule for plants to attract pollen, he'd shrunk his portal. Chris frowned as he thought about it. Would every rule he made shrink his portal? He shook his head. That didn't make any sense! Why would making rules close his portal?!? The Immortal World needed rules! The more he focused on the small particles in the Immortal World, the more he realized they didn't actually do anything. They needed rules, or at least some level of understanding on Chris's part, to tell them how they should interact with each other, and without them, they just kinda sat there, doing nothing. It was great for keeping things where they were supposed to be, but it wouldn't let anything actually develop that way. He supposed he didn't need anything to develop, but… what would be the point of a world that just sat there? Chris sighed. He was going to have to experiment with this. Once he knew more about what the rules were of course.

First things first though… Chris removed the pollen rule from the first section of the Immortal World, before checking the portal again. "Back to full…" Chris muttered to himself with a frown.

"Figure everything out?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Not at all." Chris grumbled. "If anything, all I have is more questions. The problem was apparently that I'd made a rule for plants to attract pollen, and that shrunk my portal for some reason."

Beth frowned. "Why would you make a rule like that?"

"So my plants will reproduce without needing outside intervention?" Chris replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Ah, yes, of course. Very natural." Beth nodded, rolling her eyes.

"It's more efficient!" Chris protested. "It's just dumb to depend on tiny bugs to reproduce."

Beth shook her head. "It's the way the world works, Chris."

"It's the way this world works." Chris retorted. "It doesn't have to be the way my world works."

Beth shook her head. "Don't you think that could be a problem? If your world is too different, then wouldn't people have trouble going in and out of it?"

Chris paused. "That… uh, huh… you may have a point." He frowned slightly. "Maybe that's the problem? Maybe the worlds naturally pull apart the more dissimilar they are? As a sort of protective mechanism or something."

"I guess." Beth shrugged. "That's your deal, not mine. I'm just stretchy."

"Fair." Chris sighed. "I guess this is just something else I need to experiment with." He paused. "After I read some physics books."