"Didn't my body already get enhanced?"
Sherry sat cross-legged on a chair, holding a plate full of chicken bones on her lap as she slowly gnawed on a chicken wing with both hands.
Just as she finished the last piece of fried chicken and gently licked the oil from her fingers, Ethan suddenly returned.
"Huh?"
Sherry looked at Ethan and confirmed that he was alone.
"Where's Betty?"
Ethan shook his head, indicating that Betty would not be coming back.
He had not expected things to take such an unusual turn. Seeing Sherry's puzzled expression, Ethan roughly explained the situation to her.
When the Empire suddenly fell into civil war and began to fragment, Betty had fallen into a deep sleep. The Empire had no energy to spare on a mere cadet.
Moreover, the training ground had been displaced from its original location by a massive explosion. At the time, everyone believed that everything in that star system had been reduced to cosmic dust in that explosion.
Betty was naturally presumed dead. It was this incident that led Betty's parents to join the anti-Empire faction. They believed the explosion had been caused by the Empire in order to eliminate the resistance forces, while the Empire claimed it was the work of certain criminals.
After the civil war broke out, the resistance forces were fierce in the beginning, pushing the imperial forces back step by step.
It was not until the remnants of the Empire gathered all their die-hard loyalists, including the royalty and nobility, along with all their elite legions, that they managed to halt their decline.
Under normal circumstances, the surviving imperial forces would have resisted for a little longer before being completely wiped out.
Unfortunately, the resistance forces themselves were not united. Before they could completely eliminate the Empire, internal problems erupted, and they split apart again.
Now the situation had become interesting. Through years of continuous warfare, the vast Empire gradually split into multiple factions. After many more years of conflict, there were currently four major powers and several smaller ones.
The New Star Empire was formed by the remnants of the Empire. When Ethan heard this name, his first thought was the Nova Corps from the Marvel Universe, but there was no connection between the two.
The strongest power besides the New Star Empire was the Star River Federation.
There was also the Space Merchant Alliance, which had considerable influence in many fields and was extremely strong economically.
And finally, the Star Alliance, which did not seem to have any outstanding advantages.
These three forces had all splintered from the old anti-Empire factions. The reason for their separation was ideological differences.
For example, they had different attitudes toward the artificial life forms in countless training grounds.
The Star River Federation believed that artificial life was also life, but that they were "backward" and "fragile," and should not be accepted as federal citizens. Instead, they should be "protected," either by establishing protected areas on certain planets or by relocating them to a habitable planet.
The Space Merchant Alliance, on the other hand, considered them excellent cheap labor and believed their value should be reasonably exploited. Incidentally, the Space Merchant Alliance was also the only one of the three factions that permitted human trafficking and the slave trade.
The last faction, the Star Alliance, believed that all intelligent life should be treated equally and exist on equal footing.
The differences between these three factions were not limited to artificial life. They also extended to how they should treat the many "alien races" conquered and annexed during the Imperial era, and they had many disagreements on this matter as well.
Numerous disagreements led to the split, which gave the New Star Empire a chance to catch its breath. Now, the various factions restrained one another, while several smaller factions played both sides or stirred up trouble. In short, no one could easily wipe out the others.
Among them, the Star Alliance was the weakest of the major powers, but that was not the main point. The main point was that the current leader of the Star Alliance was Betty's father. Back then, he had only joined the anti-Empire faction out of anger over his daughter's innocent death, never imagining that he would one day become a regional overlord.
However, being an overlord was not easy. The Star Alliance faced a very difficult environment, and a single misstep could turn him into a criminal. This was also why Betty, after understanding the situation, did not return to the ship as she had initially decided.
She hoped to stay and help her father through these difficult times.
"What kind of trouble is that? We can just help Betty wipe out those three factions, and it'll be over."
Ethan spread his hands, and Sherry immediately understood what he meant. Betty had not asked for help, which meant she did not want Ethan and the others to intervene and solve her father's problems.
"I think she's staying just to face the difficulties with her father, or perhaps she wants to protect her parents up close."
Nebula offered her guess, and Ethan snapped his fingers, pointing at Nebula to indicate, "Exactly."
Betty did indeed think that way. She was not trying to help her father achieve dominance. She merely wanted to fulfill her duties as a daughter.
"Tsk, what a hassle."
Sherry continued to suck on her fingers a few more times, then instinctively tried to wipe them on Ethan, only for him to tap her on the head. Although he did not use much force, it still left Sherry dazed for quite a while before she recovered.
"But are we really just going to leave Betty alone?"
Nebula rarely spoke up, but that did not mean she did not care about her companions.
"How could we? Have you forgotten that everyone on the ship has a ton of equipment?"
As a "formal member" of the Venus, Betty had all sorts of equipment, including positioning and communication devices that allowed her to teleport back to the Venus at any time.
In other words, if she truly encountered trouble, Betty could return to the ship for help at any time.
For everyone on the Venus, Betty was just like them. She had "found a world where she could stay and play for a long time," rather than staying on the Venus long-term.
Only then did Sherry realize that Betty had not even come back to pack her things. If she were truly leaving, she would definitely take some of the belongings she was used to using.
Moreover, anyone who joined Ethan's team was "registered" with him. Regardless of what the future held, once their lifespan ended, their souls would report to Ethan's God Country.
Of course, if Betty, who had undergone enhancements, continued to work hard and improve herself, perhaps she could see her parents off and then live long enough to enter the God Country.
"If you miss Betty, you can also use the teleportation device to find her."
Betty had a positioning device on her. Ethan planned to modify the teleportation device so that it could also perform localized teleportation within this universe. Anyway, for Ethan, who had gradually mastered the rules of the multiverse, this was not a difficult task.
"By the way, if that's the case, we can play StarCraft in this world too."
Four factions, and joining the weakest one. Sherry began to imagine bringing over all sorts of black technology and then representing the Star Alliance to bully the other three factions. Wouldn't that be interesting?
"That's up to you."
The old Ethan would certainly have been interested in such things. At this moment, he was more focused on his God Country universe. Having resolved Betty's matter, he now needed to improve the teleportation device and then perfect his God Country universe.
He estimated that this might take several years.
"Oh, and I need to create a divine spark for Imhotep... What kind of divine spark should I make for him? God of Servants? God of Propaganda?"
Walking into the teleportation chamber, Ethan pondered what kind of divine spark he should create for Imhotep while improving the teleportation device. In the end, after further refining the teleportation device, he also added more functions to it. For example, the ability to randomly teleport to an unknown world based on one's deepest desires, just like when he had used the Chronos Compass back then.
After doing all this, he still had not thought of what kind of divine spark to create. He simply decided to create a blank divine spark for Imhotep. This blank divine spark would integrate the basics of various rule powers. As for which rule Imhotep would delve into and study, causing the divine spark to evolve accordingly, that would be up to Imhotep's own choice.
Strictly speaking, this divine spark was not complete. Its only function was to elevate Imhotep's "realm" to that of a deity. Since he was a subordinate deity who existed through Ethan, his power could be amplified in worlds where Ethan "could exert influence."
Considering this method feasible, Ethan decided to proceed. He then sent a message to everyone through Luna, informing them that he would be going to the God Country world for the final refinement work, which was expected to take several years. He told them to carry on as usual and message him if anything urgent came up.
Then he sought out Auriel and Shiro, taking the two little ones to the God Country Universe again. Compared to the environment on the spaceship, these two little ones still preferred the "wild" environment.
Upon arriving in the God Country Universe, Ethan first found Merlin, who was leisurely wandering around, and then handed Auriel and Shiro over to him so they could keep each other company.
"You're going to perfect this world in the core of the God Country?"
"Yes. They'd be bored with me, and there's nothing for them to do on the ship. It's better for them to walk around with you."
"Of course. I think that's a good idea too."
Merlin, of course, would not refuse, and he found that these two peculiar small animals were very intelligent. Having companions to travel with was much more interesting than being alone.
After saying his goodbyes, Ethan instantly teleported into the core of the God Country. Compared to last time, nothing had changed here. It was still a vast emptiness with a small glowing core.
To transform this vast core world into an ocean of energy would normally take many, many years. Ethan had come this time to accelerate the process. A core overflowing with abundant energy would raise the overall energy level of the entire God Country Universe, and such a high-energy environment was more suitable for beings like them to live in.
To achieve this, there were not many shortcuts. The simplest and fastest way was plunder.
"I suddenly feel like I've become some kind of villain or archdemon."
But it was impossible for Ethan to give up, so he could only do his best to find more "lifeless, high-energy universes." Such worlds were not easy to find, and most of them were only medium or even low-level small worlds.
Many similar small worlds, which even powerful human mages would not bother with, had now become Ethan's targets.
"Every little bit adds up. A tower is built from grains of sand, and even mosquito meat is still meat..."
After connecting the worlds he had found in a short time to the God Country, allowing the God Country's core to automatically extract their energy, Ethan turned and entered the Main God Universe, leaving only a clone behind to monitor the core.
(To be continued.)