Chapter 136: Ch 136 : A New Understanding
The void was a place of absolute silence, a cold, starless black that stretched between all the multiverses. It was here, in this perfect emptiness, that Nova and Mammon traveled, two points of divine light on a journey set by their master.
"By the way, what happened to your friends in the demonic realm?" Nova’s voice was a gentle hum in the silence, a casual question meant to pass the immeasurable time.
Mammon, who was currently guiding them through the currents of the void, hesitated for a moment. "The situation there is dire," he finally said, his usually smooth and confident voice laced with a conflict he rarely showed. "They spoke of the demon king creating a new army, a force meant to attack the multiverse directly."
"Mammon, you have to remember, our master doesn’t care if a soul is born a demon or an angel," Nova said, her tone taking on the gentle wisdom of the eldest. "The only thing that matters is the heart. Why don’t you persuade them to join us in Veridia? They could live here in peace. Diablo would surely welcome another race under his guidance."
A heavy sigh escaped Mammon. "And you think I didn’t try? I offered them sanctuary, a new life. But they refused. They told me to leave the demonic realm for good, and in return, they would not report my existence to the higher authorities." He fell silent, his thoughts turning inward. A cold knot of worry tightened in his chest, a single, persistent fear. What if, one day, they stand on the other side of the battlefield?
While one demigod wrestled with the loyalty of his friends, a mortal on Veridia was nearing the end of a legendary journey.
For eighty years, Light Celestine had walked the world. He had left the glittering capital of Haven behind, trading a prince’s life for a teacher’s simple robes. Now, as his magnificent bird Lily soared towards the last disconnected village on his map, he let his mind drift back over the decades.
His first real test had been the village of Taewe, and the stubborn porcine chief, Gulata. He smiled at the memory. He had returned a few years after his first visit to find the village transformed. The children he had taught were now young adults.
Bolg, the curious boy who had been fascinated by Light’s knowledge, was now the village’s first true engineer, proudly overseeing a complex system of clay pipes and charcoal filters that provided clean water for everyone. And Gulata, the hulking chief who had once threatened him, now greeted him with a gruff but respectful nod, his suspicion replaced by a hard-won trust.
He remembered the dusty, forge-lit halls of the dwarves in the Ironpeak Mountains. They were masters of their craft, proud and unyielding. He hadn’t dared to teach them about smithing.
Instead, he had shared blueprints from elven libraries, showing them how to weave mana into their steel, creating alloys that were not just strong, but alive with magic. He had spent a month there, the air ringing with the sound of hammers and the hum of newly learned runes, bridging a gap between two prideful races.
He remembered the shimmering, coral cities of the merfolk. He couldn’t teach them on land, so with a simple use of magic, he had created a bubble of air and descended into their silent, blue world. He had taught them about the healing properties of deep-sea algae he’d learned of from the Divine Library, a knowledge that revolutionized their medicine. The lessons were written in glowing phosphorescence on the cavern walls, a strange and beautiful classroom at the bottom of the world.
Eighty years. Dozens of villages. He had taught beastfolk how to read the stars, giants how to build with precision instead of just brute force, and orcs the discipline of an army. His journey was finally coming to an end.
As he landed near the last village, a wave of melancholy washed over him. His life’s purpose, it seemed, was almost complete.
"Divine Library," he asked through his system panel, a final, hopeful query. "Are there any more such villages under God Cosmos’s rule that require aid?"
He expected the answer to be zero. He expected his long journey to finally be over after this last village.
The answer that appeared on his panel was not a word, but a number. A number so vast, so cosmically impossible, that he thought the system itself must be broken. It was a staggering figure, a number that his mind could barely comprehend: five trillion.
"Five... trillion?" Light whispered, his voice catching in his throat. "That can’t be right. Veridia is growing, I know, the landmasses increase with our God’s grace... but five trillion villages cannot possibly fit on this world."
It had to be a bug, a glitch in the system or the knowledge from divine library. He immediately sent a message to the Host Seer, Rem, detailing the impossible number, certain she would confirm the error.
Rem’s reply came back swiftly. It was not a confirmation of a bug, but a gentle, profound correction, a message that shattered his entire perception of reality.
Master Isiah says the Divine Library is never wrong, Light Celestine. It is your thinking which is flawed. How can you say that our God only has one world under his command?
Light’s eyes widened, his heart pounding in his chest. A single world? His thoughts, which had felt so grand and worldly just moments before, now seemed impossibly small, like a child trying to map the ocean from a single puddle. With trembling hands, he posed a new question to the Divine Library, a question that would redefine everything he thought he knew.
’How many worlds are under the rule of God Cosmos?’
The answer appeared. It was a smaller number than the last, but the scale of it was infinitely greater. It was not a number of villages, but a number of entire, populated worlds. It was a number so vast, so utterly outrageous, that it stole the very breath from his soul and left him staring into the future, a future whose true, cosmic scale he was only just beginning to comprehend.