With everything handled, Ethan was ready to pick up Yoruichi and Bulma.
Although it seemed like a simple task, Ethan's goal was not just to bring them back from that world. He also needed to detach the Dragon Ball world and the Bleach world he had visited from their current universe, then connect them to his own God Country universe and turn them into subordinate worlds under his God Country.
He did this because the worlds where the two of them lived were located within the Main God universe, and anyone who had read a few web novels could imagine what fate awaited subordinate worlds in such a universe.
Ethan did not want to lose track of those worlds and have them ruined by a group of reincarnators, or have some Main God in the Main God universe "capture" them and casually carry out a major purge or even destroy them outright.
The two worlds Ethan had experienced were still within Eugene's Tower of Babel, and it was difficult to determine the exact nature of these two universes. Perhaps they were just ordinary instance worlds, the kind that could be discarded and reset at any time.
"Oh, and the Naruto world..."
He had lived quite comfortably in that world, so in return, he would bring the entire Naruto world, including its template core and numerous parallel universes, out with him.
Returning to the Main God universe, he quickly found the Naruto world he had experienced.
This Naruto world originally belonged to that mischievous child. After that mischievous Main God died, all of his subordinate worlds either collapsed and dissipated, were picked up by other Main Gods before they collapsed, or drifted in the void in small numbers.
The Naruto world Ethan had experienced was not so lucky. It was collapsing from the outside in. The outermost layers were instance universes for countless reincarnators to train in, further in were numerous parallel worlds, and at the center was the template itself.
Madeline's excuse for sending Ethan to the Type-Moon universe back then was to protect the template world from contamination. Usually, after a Main God gained control of a complete template, they would protect it layer by layer with parallel universes and instance worlds.
It was precisely because of this habit of the Main Gods that although most of the outer worlds of the Naruto world Ethan had experienced had already collapsed and dissipated, the parallel world he had visited and the central core template remained intact.
He directly claimed this world. With a sufficiently powerful god claiming it, the world slowly stopped collapsing and stabilized in the void again.
He stretched out his hand and grabbed the world from afar. The entire Naruto world seemed to instantly transform into a glass bead emitting a faint glow, which he held directly between his fingers.
He tossed it around a couple of times. No matter how he fiddled with it, as long as the internal world functioned normally, there would be no impact, and his casual movements would not cause all kinds of terrifying natural disasters within the world.
"After I finish this trip, maybe I can consider visiting Konoha?"
With a flip of his hand, he put away the glass bead. Then, with another step, Ethan arrived at the core of the Source Sea.
The Bleach world and Dragon Ball world he had experienced were connected by the Tower of Babel. Although Eugene was dead, the Tower of Babel he created still existed.
As his realm improved, he had long since seen through what the so-called Tower of Babel actually was.
This thing had not been created specifically to trick him. The Tower of Babel itself was similar to the Main God Space, or rather, it was Eugene's own Main God world. It could indeed allow gods to reach higher levels.
For example, ordinary gods were advanced life forms with long lifespans and powerful abilities, like Thor, Diana, and other powerful beings.
Gods who came out of the Tower of Babel, however, were powerful beings who had comprehended the rules of the universe and mastered various rule powers. If they went a step further, they would integrate those rule powers into themselves.
At that level, destruction was only a matter of thought.
However, there were still some specific differences.
For instance, if Eugene had successfully mastered the rules of the various Main God worlds in the Source Sea, then he could become a supreme being in the Main God universe. But if he traveled to other unfamiliar worlds, his strength would be greatly reduced, because the rule power comprehended in one world might not be suitable for other worlds. Even if they were both space rules, the differences between the rules in different worlds might be very small, but that tiny difference could render the rule power unusable.
Ethan's situation was somewhat different. From the beginning, he had considered the issue of whether rules could be used universally. As he visited more and more worlds, his understanding of rule power continuously increased. For example, the space rule was constantly being perfected and improved, allowing him to preserve his strength to the greatest extent when he traveled to unfamiliar worlds.
Once his God Country universe was further perfected, the core of the God Country universe would continuously explore unfamiliar universes, which would also help Ethan continuously perfect his rule power.
However, worlds were endless, which also meant that Ethan could never achieve a perfect state where his rule power could traverse all worlds. At most, he could infinitely approach perfection.
"I'm thinking too far ahead..."
Standing in the Source Sea, Ethan thought about these things mainly because the Tower of Babel, a unique training space specifically meant for gods to improve their realms, had piqued his interest.
His original plan was to use this unique space to find those two worlds, then package them up and take them away like the Naruto world.
Now his idea had changed. He planned to package up the Tower of Babel as well.
He himself did not need this thing, but his companions could still use it.
Leaving others aside, Diana could undergo a trial to further improve her realm. Ethan estimated that Diana's strength was also nearing a bottleneck, and he could let her train in the Tower of Babel when the time came.
"But those mischievous settings Eugene added must be deleted!"
Eugene's Tower of Babel contained a lot of personal bias, such as making the gods undergoing trials abandon their emotions. Those settings definitely could not be kept. He did not want to train a group of emotionless beings.
"Let's go find them first!"
Ethan sensed for a moment, quickly pinpointed the Dragon Ball world, then waved his hand to open a portal and gently floated in.
The scenery changed, and what greeted his eyes was an artificial lake reflecting shimmering light. He looked around and immediately confirmed that this was the artificial lake in his own backyard.
He quickly sensed everyone's presence nearby. After briefly distinguishing them, he found that Yamcha and the others were at the martial arts dojo, while Yoruichi and Bulma were in the laboratory.
"How strange. Yoruichi actually went to the laboratory?"
It was not strange for Bulma to be in the lab, but with Yoruichi's active personality, she rarely went to such places, unless she wanted Bulma to help her create something.
He had intended to teleport over, but after thinking about it, he decided to walk and check things out along the way.
He also confirmed one thing. The time he had arrived at was not as accurate as he had initially estimated. Several years had passed since he left.
"Oh dear, will they scold me?"
He had said he would be back soon, but he had disappeared for several years before returning. Bulma and Yoruichi had every reason to be angry.
As he was starting to get a headache, he sensed someone ahead. He looked up and saw someone who greatly surprised him.
"Huh? Gohan?"
It was not that Ethan still remembered Gohan's aura, but rather that this Gohan looked exactly like the grown-up Gohan he remembered, the Gohan from the time of the battle with Buu.
"Ah! You are..." Gohan was stunned for a moment, then carefully examined him before recognizing him. "Uncle Ethan? You're back!"
"Oh dear, you don't recognize me anymore?"
"Ah, no, it's just that your appearance has changed a bit, and your aura..."
Currently, Ethan had no strong aura about him. He felt almost like an ordinary person, and his appearance had also changed subtly, which was why Gohan had not recognized him immediately.
"Have I become more handsome? That's normal."
He struck a rather shameless pose. Then Ethan turned his head and saw a girl looking at him with great curiosity.
"This is..."
"This is Videl. She's my classmate."
Ethan noticed that when Gohan said she was his classmate, the little girl with pigtails looked a bit unhappy. It seemed these two would still end up together. But did Hercule not live in West City? How could these two be classmates?
"Haha, I'm afraid it's not as simple as just classmates!"
Gohan's face also turned red. Seeing the reactions of these two, Ethan knew they would eventually get married.
"You two chat. I won't disturb you young people."
"Ah, should I tell Dad and the others that you're back?"
"No need. I'll go find them myself."
Gohan watched Ethan slowly walk away, then felt Videl tugging at his clothes.
"What's wrong?"
"Who was that person?" Videl was very curious. That person did not look much older than herself and Gohan, yet Gohan had called him "uncle." Was it because of seniority?
"He's one of my dad's companions. You haven't seen him because he's been away for the past few years."
"Ethan... Ethan..."
Videl felt like she had heard that name somewhere before. As soon as Gohan said he was Goku's companion, Videl, being a martial arts enthusiast, immediately remembered.
"Ah, is he the Ethan who once won the World Martial Arts Tournament?"
"Yes. He won the Martial Arts Tournament before my dad. My dad said that if Uncle Ethan hadn't been too lazy to keep participating, he wouldn't have won the championship."
Videl was not concerned about that, though. What she cared about was why Ethan still looked so young despite being quite old.
"Well... maybe it's a matter of physique? Uncle Ethan isn't from Earth."
"..."
Alright. She had known Gohan for a while now, and she already knew that Gohan was actually an alien, so seeing other aliens was not surprising.
"Is he a Saiyan too?"
"No!" Gohan suddenly tilted his head. He had never actually thought about that question. "Come to think of it, I really don't know what race Uncle Ethan and Aunt Yoruichi are."
(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.)