(3rd Person POV)
Who were the powers of this world? The human domain was ruled by three empires that had come together generations ago to form the United Kingdom of Humanity. These three empires were the United Empire, the Chinese Dynasty, and the Immortals' Union. Each one governed its own territories and people, but together, they presented a united front against the other races.
The planet Ethan found himself on was Earth, though it barely resembled the Earth of his past life. Millions of years ago, perhaps even longer, humans had been nothing more than cavemen on this world, struggling to survive on a planet that was overflowing with predators far beyond their ability to fight. Dragons ruled the skies, sea monsters claimed the oceans, and even the insects were the size of buses, capable of tearing through a human settlement in minutes.
But humanity developed cultivation, and that single discovery changed the course of history forever. It allowed them to not only stand against those lifeforms but to actively hunt them down, claim their power, and pass it on through bloodlines. Years passed—centuries, then millennia—and the humans who had once cowered in caves rose to become the dominant force on the planet.
Powers like China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, and others emerged as civilization took shape around cultivation. But they didn't have modern technology—not yet. That came much later when Ethan came around, but the first step happened back then, when human cultivation reached the stage known as Demi-God.
A cultivator at that level had cut through the sky itself and stepped beyond the boundaries of Earth for the first time, setting foot in the void of space with nothing but their own power carrying them.
That moment sparked the era of space exploration. Once humanity realized there were other planets out there—rich with resources, untouched and ripe for the taking—they needed a way to get there in numbers.
So spaceships were built before cars ever were, and wars over planets began.
Powers united when the benefits outweighed the rivalry. More Demi Gods were born at an accelerating pace as resources poured in from conquered worlds, and before anyone fully realized how fast things were shifting, nations began merging.
The United States and the United Kingdom fused their governments, their militaries, and their royal bloodlines to birth the United Empire—a superpower that spanned not just continents, but entire solar systems.
China fused with Russia in a similar fashion, birthing the Chinese Dynasty. As for the remaining powers that were left standing, they banded together out of necessity rather than choice, forming the Immortals' Union to avoid being swallowed whole by the two juggernauts on either side of them.
Over time, humanity pushed deeper and deeper into outer space, colonizing worlds, stripping planets of their resources, and building an empire that stretched across star systems. And it didn't take long before they reached something they weren't prepared for—alien races.
Civilizations that had existed for far longer than humanity, with cultivation systems and technologies that made Earth's strongest look like children swinging sticks. Humanity was overwhelmed almost immediately, beaten back world by world, forced into retreat after retreat.
It was that near-extinction event that finally forced the three empires to set aside their differences. The Demi Gods of humanity stepped forward together for the first time, combining their strength to push back the races that sought to enslave them, and in doing so, they birthed the United Kingdom of Humanity.
Under this new banner, it was forbidden for humans to wage war against one another. Any king or ruler who even entertained the thought risked drawing the wrath of a Demi-God—and that was not an idle threat.
A former King of the United Empire had once believed he was immune to those laws, confident that no one would dare touch him since both his father and mother were Demi Gods themselves.
That king found himself being skinned alive before the entire world as both a message and a warning. No one was above the law. Not when humanity's survival depended on staying united.
As of today, Earth and the surrounding solar systems fell under the domain of the Human Empire. Rosa's flight home wasn't to another country or even another continent—it was to an entirely different solar system. Yeah, Ethan flew in girls from other planets. That was just the kind of life he lived.
Raven was a noble of the United Empire, and her family was powerful enough that she could kidnap Ethan—a prince of the United Empire—in broad daylight without having to fear much in the way of consequences. It helped that she was a cultivation genius with the kind of potential that had people whispering she could one day reach Demi God, a feat that would make her untouchable in every sense of the word.
(The same day, Ethan awakened the system.)
Within the capital of Earth, at the very heart of the United Empire, stood a massive palace that looked like someone had taken three entire schools and fused them into a single sprawling structure of marble, steel, and reinforced stone.
Inside, past the endless corridors and guarded halls, one would find the throne room—vast, imposing, and designed to make anyone who entered feel small. And there, seated upon the throne, the current king and Ethan's father could be seen looking down at the princess of the Immortals' Union, who stood before him with her hands clasped and her chin held high.
"What brings you here?" The king asked with a raised eyebrow. This princess was no stranger to him—she was Ethan's ex-fiancée, the one who had broken their engagement the moment it was discovered that Ethan was a cripple.
She had the full right to want a man capable of cultivating alongside her; no one had blamed her for that decision. And both sides had agreed on the matter, how cruel was it to force someone to carry a cripple? No one wanted to put her through that. Instead, they had looked into her marrying someone else.
The throne room was far from empty. Dozens of officials and advisors stood along the walls, and even the king's daughter—next in line for the throne—sat beside him on a smaller seat. She was there to learn, to observe, and to gain the kind of experience that couldn't be taught in a classroom. She was expected to stay by his side through every meeting, every negotiation, every political move, absorbing it all.
"I wanted to arrange a marriage with Ethan." The princess said with a respectful smile, and the king went completely still for a moment, speechless. Then something clicked in the back of his mind—a memory from a few years back. Ethan had flown out to the region under the Immortals' Union on one of his business trips, and the king had received reports that his son and the very princess standing before him had crossed paths during that visit.
"He got to you too?" He asked with a tired sigh, and the princess blushed lightly, her composure cracking just enough to show a hint of color on her cheeks as she recalled the day Ethan had set foot in her land.
***
"They don't have these where I'm from," Ethan said, looking down at the magic carpet beneath his feet with genuine curiosity. The Immortals' Union operated differently from the United Empire in almost every way.
They disdained the use of cars, machines, and anything that relied on complex engineering. Anything other than puppets—which were already complicated enough to build and a nightmare to repair—was looked down upon as unnecessarily cumbersome and inelegant.
Instead, they relied entirely on magical tools for transportation, communication, and daily life. It had its advantages—everything was powered by cultivation energy, which meant no fuel, no maintenance, and no breakdowns as long as the user had enough Qi. But it also meant that only cultivators could enjoy any of it. If you couldn't cultivate, you walked.
Then again, the same had been true in the United Empire for most of its history, until Ethan found a way to convert Qi into electricity. By all means, Ethan wasn't a genius when it came to cultivation or science—but the conversion process turned out to be far simpler than anyone had expected, and once he cracked that one problem, rebuilding modern technology from his past life's memories was easy going from there. It had changed the United Empire overnight, giving non-cultivators access to comforts and tools that had previously been reserved for the powerful.
"Do you want to buy one?" Behind Ethan stood his butler, who also served as his personal guard. Flanking them were dozens of additional guards, armed and alert, since after all, Ethan was a prince walking through another empire's territory. Protection wasn't optional.
"Naw, why buy something I don't have the means to use?" Ethan asked with a smile—a particular kind of smile that the butler had come to recognize over the years. It was his business idea smile, the one that appeared right before Ethan turned something ordinary into a profit.
"I want to try the food…" Ethan started, but his words trailed off as a carriage appeared in the distance, moving toward them at a steady pace before coming to a stop directly in front of him. The doors opened, and a beautiful Indian princess stepped out, her posture rigid with authority as she fixed him with a sharp, unwelcoming look.
"Why have you come here?" She asked coldly, her tone making it clear that his presence was neither expected nor appreciated.
"I came looking for a business opportunity. I didn't expect to find myself falling in love at first sight. The name is Ethan Knight, the 5th prince of the United Empire." Ethan said with a charming smile that could have melted ice off a lesser woman.
"You know who I am." She said with narrowed eyes, clearly not buying the act for a second.
"Nope, first time I ever saw you… Should I know her?" Ethan asked, turning to look at his butler with a genuinely clueless expression.
"She is Princess Sita," the butler said softly, and Ethan's eyebrow rose for a moment before he turned back to look at Sita, who was staring at him with a speechless expression.
As a cultivator, she could read him like an open book. And everything she was reading told her the same thing: he wasn't lying. He genuinely had no idea who she was.
"No, I'm not one to chase what doesn't want me. Instead, how about you and I work together? I want to start something here, and I don't mind if you get most of the profits," Ethan said with a smile, and Sita's eyebrows rose slightly, her guard dropping just a fraction as genuine interest flickered behind her eyes.
She had heard of Ethan's business skills—everyone in a position of power had. At the age of six, he had been working alongside his mother and built what became the most famous restaurant in the entire human domain.
By seven, he was someone the royal family consulted before making any major financial decision. His track record since then had only grown more impressive, and the name Ethan Knight carried weight in boardrooms and throne rooms alike, even if the man himself couldn't throw a punch worth anything.