The ancient emperors had gathered together for a single purpose.
To pool their resources and develop together.
Ever since arriving in this world, nearly every emperor's first action had been the same—
Learn the fate of their own dynasty.
And after learning the course of history, none of them looked particularly pleased.
From Qin to Han, Jin, Sui, Tang, Wu Zhou, Song, Yuan, and Ming—
The rulers of countless dynasties had assembled in one place.
Well… although something rather strange had mixed itself into the gathering.
After all, among a crowd of old men in imperial robes sat a single woman.
The atmosphere was undeniably bizarre.
Looking around at the gathered rulers, Ying Zheng spoke first.
"All of us here come from different worlds."
"So there are no direct conflicts between us."
Even as he said that, however, he still found a certain Liu emperor extremely irritating to look at.
A certain Yang emperor also looked at a certain Li emperor with obvious displeasure.
That Li emperor, meanwhile, seemed eager to punch another Li emperor.
And that other Li emperor kept sneaking glances toward Wu Zetian.
In short—
The atmosphere among the group was incredibly strange.
They were not exactly enemies, but they were alternate versions of historical rivals.
Who wouldn't want to beat up the other side?
Even Ying Zheng felt the same way.
He simply didn't say it aloud.
At that moment, Li Shimin withdrew his gaze and looked toward the First Emperor.
"Your Majesty, just say what you want already."
"You didn't gather us here just to watch a comedy show, did you?"
The others nodded in agreement.
Ying Zheng gave a slow nod.
"Correct."
"I do indeed have something important to discuss."
A dangerous grin spread across his face.
"Let's attack the world of those barbarian boar-skins."
The room instantly fell silent.
Everyone present was intelligent enough to understand what he meant immediately.
Thinking of that detestable dynasty, their eyes began to shine.
"You mean…"
"To wage war against another world?"
A certain Zhu emperor slapped his thigh excitedly.
"This is excellent!"
The other emperors quickly nodded as well.
Each contributing some troops—
Then beating the hell out of that world together.
Seeing their reactions, Ying Zheng became even more enthusiastic.
"That's right!"
"Let's crush them!"
"I cannot stand those people."
"So how about it?"
"We form an alliance and launch a war against that world together."
"I'll spend some points to hire a few powerful experts as support."
"When the war is over, we divide the world's resources among ourselves."
"That world is close to the modern era. Its technology and knowledge should be extremely useful for developing our own worlds."
His intentions were simple.
Invade a technologically advanced world.
Plunder its knowledge and resources.
Then use them to strengthen their own civilizations.
After all, although many things could be purchased in Izumi's world—
They were expensive.
Painfully expensive.
There were knowledge databases below the city where technology and information could be exchanged for points, but the costs were astronomical.
Most of these emperors simply couldn't afford them.
Gold, silver, jewels—
None of those held much value here.
For rulers from martial arts worlds, things were slightly better.
But for ordinary historical worlds with nothing supernatural?
It was pure suffering.
Aside from selling knowledge, they had almost no way to earn points.
Selling people was apparently prohibited too.
Which completely cut off another potential source of income.
And thus—
Ying Zheng had set his sights on other worlds.
Start with weaker ones.
Plunder them.
Develop their own civilizations.
Grow stronger little by little.
Then move on to worlds of higher levels.
And earn even more points.
Besides—
They had also heard that Izumi's world accepted the "integration" of worlds.
Which meant there were massive rewards involved.
And some people had already begun launching wars against other worlds.
Ying Zheng's proposal quickly gained widespread approval.
With their combined military strength, conquering a barbarian world would be incredibly easy.
Especially since Ying Zheng's own world possessed numerous powerful martial experts.
Perhaps they were not invincible against modern firearms—
But against a semi-modern empire?
They could crush it effortlessly.
And if they hired a few powerful outsiders with points?
They could conquer the entire planet in no time at all.
Soon, the emperors enthusiastically discussed the finer details.
In the end, they reached an agreement.
An alliance of emperors.
A united invasion force.
A coalition dedicated to conquering other worlds.
Perhaps even Izumi himself would never have imagined—
That after his departure, such a terrifying organization would emerge within his world.
...
Meanwhile, Izumi had already traveled an immeasurable distance away from his own world.
Around him—
There was nothing.
No stars.
No worlds.
No traces of life whatsoever.
After confirming there were no nearby worlds that could be affected, Izumi finally nodded in satisfaction.
Then—
He released the full extent of his power.
BOOOOOOM!!
A terrifying pressure exploded outward in all directions.
Had there been any ordinary worlds nearby, they likely would have been destroyed instantly by the shockwave of his aura alone.
And as Izumi's power erupted—
Several unknown existences deep within the dimensional void suddenly opened their eyes.
"Oh?"
"Has another one reached this level?"
"How impressive."
"What an unusual presence."
"His aura feels strange."
"But he's merely a newly advanced Two-Digit existence."
Voices echoed throughout unknown realms.
Many incomprehensible beings began discussing him.
After all—
Two-Digit existences were exceedingly rare within the dimensional cosmos.
Not only those mysterious beings sensed it.
Even Nyarlathotep, back in Izumi's world, noticed the disturbance.
"Fufu~ So it's begun."
"I wonder whether you'll be shocked by the truth you're about to learn."
A mischievous smile spread across her face.
Still, she chose not to interfere.
Some things had to be discovered personally.
...
As for Izumi—
The moment his power fully synchronized with the dimensional world, vast streams of knowledge suddenly poured into his mind.
And what he learned left him stunned.
"The dimensional world… was originally a single complete world?"
"It only split into countless separate worlds because of some unknown event?"
"And my world…"
"…is actually the core of the entire dimensional world?"
"That's why it can absorb and fuse other worlds."
"That's why it attracts them naturally."
The revelations shook him deeply.
Then—
What exactly was his System?
His world had originally been granted by the System.
Was it the will of the dimensional world itself?
Or perhaps—
Something even higher than the dimensional world?
Question after question surfaced endlessly within Izumi's mind.
Feeling the constant flood of information entering his consciousness, Izumi slowly closed his eyes.
Then silently continued receiving the knowledge.
Because this was something he had wondered about for a very long time.
Just what kind of existence…
…was the System inside him?