Before setting off, Ethan went around one last time to each location, said his goodbyes to everyone, and finally took another look at the Divine Kingdom, which had completed its initial transformation.
This small space, originally intended to provide a relaxing and pleasant environment during long and monotonous space voyages, had now become a new world.
Even though it was still just a prototype, it already held infinite possibilities.
The sun hanging high in the sky radiated vitality. This sun was also the Heaven of this world. As more and more 'believers' entered Heaven after death, the sun would emit even stronger life force, influencing the entire Divine Kingdom.
Looking at the grassland beneath his feet, the land had already changed. Watching Auriel darting around wildly, Ethan knew without checking that the Magic Stone Mine had evolved as well.
In the distance, the ocean had returned to its 'normal' color. It no longer looked like orange juice. He could sense that the young of various aquatic creatures had already appeared in the ocean. Who knew how many years it would take before some of them grew strong, or perhaps perished in fierce competition?
In contrast, life born on the island was much luckier. Whether unicorns, pegasi, or even phoenixes, they had no natural predators here.
The strongest beings on the island were actually Auriel and Illya's pet bear, Shiro. As long as those two didn't suddenly decide to catch a unicorn or pegasus for a snack, the creatures here could grow in peace.
For Ethan, those things were secondary. The key was that the initial formation of the Divine Kingdom had once again caused a qualitative leap in his strength.
Although he had stepped into the realm of a god, he had only just crossed the threshold. His realm and power were neither stable nor strong enough.
The formation of the Divine Kingdom allowed him to stabilize both. More importantly, observing the creation of a world gave him deeper insight into the rules of the universe.
These insights constantly strengthened his body and spirit. His body, which had previously been forcibly matured through potions, became purified. His mental universe, which had always existed as a single point, finally began to change.
That constantly expanding and contracting point began to release vast amounts of magic energy. It was slightly different from the "big bang" he had imagined before, where a single explosion would form a complete magic universe. Each time the point expanded, his mental universe would grow a bit. Then it would contract, then expand again, expanding the space a little more each time.
This process repeated endlessly. Ethan didn't know how many times this strange "explosion" would occur before it finally ended.
But regardless of when it ended, after the mutation of Ethan's mental universe, his nearly depleted magic power had returned. Previously, he had relied on divine power to cast spells.
Now, this regenerated magic began to affect the divine power within his body, eventually converting it into energy of the same nature.
Ethan could feel it. Rather than calling it magic power, it would be more accurate to simply call it "energy." It contained almost all the properties and rules he had learned and understood. Using this power to cast spells was as natural as walking or lifting a hand.
"Create all things?"
With a wave of his hand, a sofa appeared in front of him. Ethan was certain that this was indeed a sofa. The energy he released had completely transformed into the nature of a sofa and would not revert to energy simply because he stopped supplying power.
"What about living things?"
After making the sofa vanish, Ethan tried to create a living creature. He found that it wasn't that he couldn't create them, but that what he created were only shells, lacking a "soul."
Of course, the creatures were alive. Given enough time, perhaps they could form their own souls and become real beings.
After testing a bit more and confirming his current condition, Ethan packed up and prepared to leave.
With the Divine Kingdom as his backup and the ability to summon allies at any time, he felt confident in his safety. He had already said his goodbyes to everyone, so there was no need to go through that again.
Ethan took out the scroll he had seized earlier. Now he had two options.
One was to pretend to be a Reincarnator and use the scroll to enter the other side's territory.
The other was to forcefully break through the barrier and travel there using the spatial coordinates exposed by the enemy.
The second option would likely be detected. If he were going to openly invade, this would be the method to choose.
But this time was different, so he chose the first method. He would use the Main God Space's scroll as cover to infiltrate their territory without alerting them.
Just as he was about to tear open the scroll, he thought of something.
Would going there directly like this expose the location of his Divine Kingdom?
Although the scroll provided cover, there was no guarantee the enemy couldn't track the teleportation record or similar data.
He couldn't be certain, so to be cautious, Ethan chose to go to the Nasuverse first. That world was already known to the enemy, so even if the Main God checked the records, it wouldn't matter.
There, in the Nasuverse, he tore open the scroll. As the scroll turned into a ball of soft light and enveloped him, he felt the energy and the information within. He first used his magic to protect himself, then allowed the energy to pull him out of this universe.
Teleporting through the scroll was an uncomfortable experience. Without his vast teleportation experience and the protection of magic, Ethan would have been violently sick.
It felt like being tossed into a tumble dryer, then spun around on a rollercoaster. A normal person wouldn't die, but they'd lose half their life. Even an enhanced Reincarnator would need time to recover.
Ethan stood still for a few seconds to recover, while surveying his surroundings.
"Hmm?"
He had imagined many possibilities: arriving in a team's rest area, surrounded by room doors and a giant glowing sphere in the center.
Or maybe appearing on a crowded street or in a bustling market, with Reincarnators selling or browsing goods.
He had even considered being thrown directly into a mission world, beginning his task immediately like other newcomers.
What he hadn't expected was to appear in a plain, ordinary room, face-to-face with another man standing across from him.
"Uh... hello."
Ethan waved and also checked to see if this Main God Space had marked him as a Reincarnator.
The man across from him twitched his mouth, then finally returned the greeting. Just as he was about to operate a device beside him with a strange look, several beams of light flashed next to Ethan, and several men and women appeared in the room.
Seeing this, the man stopped his actions and wore an expression like, "Ah, now that feels more like it." He waited until the emotions of the newcomers had calmed down a bit, then began explaining the situation.
Only then did Ethan understand that this Main God Space operated differently. Newcomers weren't immediately thrown into a mission world or placed directly into the Main God Space. Instead, they were sent to this "Newcomer Classroom," where veteran Reincarnators would explain everything.
It wasn't mandatory to become a Reincarnator just because you were sent here. After the explanation of all the required terms, newcomers had the choice to either accept and become Reincarnators or to return to their original lives.
"That's surprisingly humane."
If they chose to become Reincarnators, they would receive a wristband. Besides being durable, this wristband acted as a personal identifier. All Main God missions and access to the space's various systems required its use.
Of course, some people didn't like wristbands, so the Main God Space offered alternatives like armbands, tattoos, necklaces, earrings, glasses, even implanted microcomputers. However, those had to be purchased and replaced by the Reincarnators themselves.
Ethan didn't mind. After receiving a wristband, he didn't put it on immediately. Instead, he looked over at the others who chose not to become Reincarnators. They left through a door on the opposite side.
Although the Main God Space had countless benefits, obtaining them required taking tremendous risks. Even those unfamiliar with the "infinite flow" genre understood the dangers after the explanation.
Knowing just how risky it was, it was only natural that some chose to back out. Not everyone wanted to bet their life.
In the end, only three people, including Ethan, chose to stay.
After seeing Ethan put on the wristband, the veteran glanced at his own, then nodded in satisfaction.
"The wristband has navigation and a map. If you get lost, use the navigation function... One last tip. Don't rush to start a mission or join a team. Use the day before your first mission to carefully read the newcomer's manual stored in the wristband, and explore the public areas."
After that, he waved and left.
Once the veteran was gone, Ethan turned his head to look across the room. He saw that the door from earlier was now covered by a layer of energy. To the other two newcomers, it looked as though the door had completely disappeared.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)