Mainland.
The Castle of the Entertainment Goddess.
Big sister was currently absorbing more law, which had converted from 'fear' and 'shock'.
And the source of it was actually familiar to her.
It was from the Divine Doctor and the Adventure God.
Two friendly higher beings that everyone respected, and there was no news about them for a while.
She wondered what had happened to the two?
And how was her crystal involved in this, too?
She naturally didn't know a certain child crystal was 'filming' these two elders when the lightning struck Little Mortal, and recorded them while they were in shock.
After that was the Goddess of Foresight's turn to go through an emotional rollercoaster.
And after that, the God of Prophecy and someone she didn't recognize.
She didn't even know what to think anymore.
What was happening to these always calm and indifferent 'gods'?
And as if she didn't have enough reason to be confused, even the old Thief, God of Thievery, showed a moment of extreme change in emotion.
The best scenario that came to her mind, which could explain all of this, was Little Mortal going around with the 'space mirror', and scaring everyone to death with something that she didn't know what!
But this assumption was so ridiculous that she couldn't believe it.
While in her own thoughts, she heard a 'knock' at her castle's door.
Seeing who it was, she furrowed,
"What is she doing here?
I thought she had a tough time now ... "
She opened the gate and let the guest, the Goddess of Foresight, in, and met with her in a big, but simple hall.
She knew this goddess could see many things that hadn't happened yet, and probably nothing would be interesting in her castle for her to watch.
She wondered what had made her so shocked and fearful not long ago.
She was nervous at first, then became excited, then scared, and finally, she became confused.
But it didn't take long before she was scared of something again.
Entertainment Goddess didn't know what Goddess of Foresight went through to make her emotions keep changing, was her fight with Little Mortal, and then finding out about some hidden truth about him that she wasn't supposed to.
But either way, Entertainment Goddess didn't mention anything about this because it could expose her crystal's ability.
"Goddess of Foresight, it is the first time we meet like this, isn't it?"
Goddess of Foresight, with her face hidden, said,
"Sorry to bother you.
But it is an emergency matter that I need your help..."
Entertainment Goddess raised her eyebrows,
"What is it that even you can't handle?
You are a member of God's Council; I think they can help you better than I can.
But if you think I can help, sure, I will do my best."
Goddess of Foresight gave her a paper while saying,
"Take a look."
Entertainment Goddess received the paper and started reading curiously.
A moment later, she said,
"So you want me to write a script for you?
With these 'materials'?"
Goddess of Foresight nodded.
She was puzzled by the 'materials' too.
Entertainment Goddess nodded,
"Alright, let me see.
There is a main character,
Always behind the scenes, pretending to be weak and pitiful.
There are characters that he turned into his puppets, but no one knows who they are.
There is a final Boss that is not even around yet.
And numerous side characters whom he needs to fool indirectly through his puppets.
Hmmm, and these are his abilities and treasures ...
The treasures seem somehow familiar.
And we have the two opposing groups.
One a copy of God's Council, and the other one a group that isn't from here ... "
After reading and thinking for a brief moment,
"Alright, here you go."
Not even 20 seconds after, she gave her a peanut-sized crystal containing the script made of the 'materials'.
Goddess of Foresight nodded and left after saying,
"I owe you for this, Goddess."
Entertainment Goddess waved her hand,
"That was nothing.
But if you really made a movie out of this script,
I hope you can let me have a look at it first.
And if possible, could I have an interview with the actors, especially the main character?
You can even count on me for the advertisement."
Goddess of Foresight nodded awkwardly and left.
She had a feeling that she, and everyone else, might see this movie in real life ...
Or even live in it soon...
But she tried not to think about it at all, because her foresight might trigger, and she might again see something she shouldn't.
After a while, she was back at her hideout.
She put the small crystal on the table, with the paper of 'materials', and waited nervously.
While waiting, she received a message from the Goddess of Time.
[ Meet us 10 hours later in God's Council meeting hall.
This is Apollo's request. ]
Seeing the message, her hands shivered.
She remembered that the God of Prophecy was listed among the challenged opponents in the World Law's Guardian archive...
She felt confused and scared at the same time.
So many things didn't make sense to her.
In the last challenge, the one in which she lost control over her body, the battlefield was different.
When the challenge ended, she was stuck there, and the World Law didn't send her back immediately.
And it means one thing.
That place was completely fake, and so was the voice of the World Law at the end.
For higher beings like them, it was easy to recognize the voice of the World Law.
Who or what could fake the sound and create such a realistic battlefield that even she needed to see some signs here and there to realize it was fake?
And the only answer that came to her mind was the 'crystal', the famous birth treasure of the Entertainment Goddess...
But the more she thought, the more confused she became, and a feeling came over her, telling her not to pry into it.
So every time a new thought came to her mind, she tried to avoid thinking and analyzing it.
While fighting with her own thoughts, she heard a knock on the door of her hideout.
Hearing the knock, in a place that no one was supposed to know about, made her heart start beating faster!
With a trembling voice, she asked,
"W-who is it?"
And a familiar, and at the same time not familiar voice sounded from the other side,
"Morleone."
She gulped and was about to ask what he was doing there, but she suddenly felt something familiar at the other side of the door, which had been empty of anyone's presence a moment before, suddenly appeared.
It was so familiar to her that she opened the door without thinking.
And what she saw made her freeze in place.
In front of her, a lantern was floating.
Like the voice, the lantern was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time.
Without knowing why, tears started streaming from her eyes, while the 'lantern' started vibrating, as if it was excited.
The lantern was her birth treasure, which was taken away from her billions of years ago...
While dumbfounded, she heard the voice say,
"Welcome to the family."
When she turned around, she saw only the back view of a child in a black suit, who disappeared into a passage with the recorded script in hand and a paper.
Goddess of Foresight stood there quietly until the passage closed.
At this moment,
The only thought that came to her mind was,
'The God of Thievery has fallen...'
And then, her foresight was going to show her something, as if her guess was 100% correct, but she hastily stopped it.
"No!
I don't want to see anything!"
And then she held her birth treasure with both hands and said in a panicked tone,
"My beloved Lantern, we were together for only one day before that old thief took you away!
But I want you to trust me, and don't tell me, or anyone else, what you saw when you were with the man who just left!
Alright?"
The lantern was speechless,
Goddess of foresight,
" -_- "
.....
Planet Lubo.
Silver Platform.
Little Mortal woke up in the morning.
While looking around and scratching his head, he slowly came out of his sleeping bag and put it back in its place at the back of the backpack.
Then he muttered to himself,
"With these melodic sounds of wind going through these crystalline mountains here, my sleep quality is a lot better."
Then he said to the backpack,
"Good morning, big guy.
Anything new while I was sleeping?
The backpack trembled.
"Oh, Mr. Morleone was out last night?
That makes sense.
He likes the night shift."
After going inside the backpack and changing back into his martial arts clothes, he came out and went to a table with food on it.
"As expected of my trustworthy assistant.
My breakfast is ready.
But what are these papers?"
Including his 'spirit' food, there was a stack of paper too.
He read the first paper at the top, which Rose wrote,
"Hello, boss, good morning.
It's me, Rose.
Mr. Morleone was out for a 'night walk' last night.
This is the result."
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow,
"What was he doing last night that needs a report?"
And picked up the stack of papers.
On the first page was a sentence,
[ Never let anyone know what you're thinking.]
Which Little Mortal nodded at.
And then there was a short report that, while reading it,
all kinds of emotions appeared on his face.
"So, he was taking care of my troubles last night.
The problem with those two in the cage is solved.
The birth treasures of those little brats are delivered.
No way!
Was Aladdin, that old thief, actually one of those outsiders?
And he is already turned into a puppet like the fortune teller and that soulless guy?"
Wait a minute, Mr. Morleone was going to send the coward to meet with big sister for the new script, but she already went there by herself?
How is it that her foresight is so efficient?
And her birth treasure was given to her in return for her help?
I was wondering why I didn't find any birth treasure on her the first time I saw her at the newborn's ceremony, so that old thief must have taken it away...
For how long has this guy been stealing stuff from newborns? So shameless and obnoxious!
Anyway, it's good that the coward asked for the script,
This way, Big Sister wouldn't know I was the one looking for a new script, and if anyone asked her, she wouldn't be forced to tell the truth.
But what is the script about? Let me read it..."
After an hour, while eating and reading, Little Mortal put the paper away and muttered,
"My goodness, big sister wrote such a good plot for me..."
Then he suddenly saw another sentence on the back of the last page.
[ Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment.
You didn't need to go around and risk everything to kill those six and gain extra support for the prison cage.
You could simply change all of them to puppets.
But you let your hatred affect you and risk everything simply for revenge. ]
Little Mortal, after indirectly being scolded by Mr. Morleone, became silent.
After a while, he sighed and started mumbling to himself.
"After all they did to my 'people' and myself for billions of years,
You're telling me 'never hate your enemies'...?
But I admit, I was just looking for an excuse to kill them."
And after a while, he suddenly slammed the table,
"Oh, now I get it!
He said Don't hate them, but didn't say
'Forgive them!'.
If my hatred affects my judgment as it did this time, I might get exposed.
But if I don't hate them, and don't forgive them,
I can take them down one by one without failure!"
Then he gasped,
"I'm so smart!
Wait, was that enlightenment just now?
I figured out the deeper meaning of the words of the wise by myself!
So it should be enlightenment."
Little Mortal nodded to himself.
And then read the script that big sister wrote for him 10 more times to be sure he wasn't missing anything.
After that, he shouted,
"Big guy, tell my birthday gifts to read this script.
We can't mess things up, or big sister might be disappointed."
The backpack trembled.
And Little Mortal attacked while shouting,
"What do you mean?
Are you mocking me for being forced to read it from paper, word by word!?"
A one-sided beating broke out just like that.
After 'morning exercise', Little Mortal asked.
"Anything else that I need to know?"
The Crystal flew to him and showed him a scene.
It was Little Morleone, who was back from the mainland, and was going to finish his night shift.
So he flicked his 'cigarette butt' away and went inside the backpack.
The scene changed.
On the screen, the Solar System Manager, dressed in a purple robe, stood somewhere outside the planet, watching it with interest alongside a group of other managers.
Little Mortal, when he saw the guy, frowned,
"Why are you showing this rude guy to me?"
But before he received an answer, a hole appeared in the head of the Solar System Manager, and he turned to powder...
Little Mortal gasped,
"Did you see that?
It was the cigarette butt!"
Then he suddenly panicked,
"Oh no!
Yesterday,
I got hit by another lightning too!
Space Mirror, where are you?
What happened to the second one?"
The mirror flew over and vibrated.
Little Mortal sighed in relief.
"So this one went opposite of the mainland too.
I was lucky then...
What about the cigarette butt?
I hope it won't harm anyone.
Mr. Morleone is so careless."
The birth treasures were at a loss for words.
What do you mean you hope it won't hurt anyone?
It has already turned the solar system` manager into powder on its way.
And Morleone is the careless one here?
Isn't your random lightning more dangerous?
While helpless, the Space Mirror vibrated again.
Little Mortal nodded, but he suddenly froze.
His eyes widened in shock.
Then he started sniffing.
The birth treasures didn't understand what was wrong with him again.
After sniffing for a while, he said,
"Can you guys feel the smell too?"
The birth treasures vibrated,
"Oh, sorry, I forgot you guys don't have a nose.
How can you smell anything without a nose?"
The noseless birth treasures,
< -_- >
Little Mortal smiled mysteriously,
"Let me ask you, little mirror.
The first lightning, the second lightning, and the cigarette butt, all went in the same direction, right?"
Little Mortal chuckled,
"Exactly!
So, you want to say all of it was just a coincidence?"
"That's impossible!
Our planet is moving and rotating at the same time.
The entire galaxy is also moving and spinning.
Even the mainland is moving at an unimaginable speed, carrying all the universe with it.
So, how rare is it for all three to go the same direction?
Huh?"
The birth treasures wanted to gasp from the realization, but they didn't have a mouth.
He was actually right. Why would they go the same way?
That was too much of a coincidence!
Little Mortal said confidently,
"The smell that none of you can feel is the smell of my passive fate skill, which triggered 3 times in a row, without anyone noticing!
So the smell of 'what' fills the air now?"
The birth treasures thought for a moment, and after a fast discussion, they answered.
Little Mortal started clapping,
"Exactly.
The smell of a 'calamity'."
The birth treasures wondered who might be the unlucky target of this calamity in the infinite space outside?
Recently, they discovered another Mainland that exists, and even 11 citizens from there infiltrated their side.
So, their best guess was that someone from there was the target.
Little Mortal, while pleased with himself, said,
"Alright, let's leave the matters related to fate alone.
If you meddle with fate, your outcome will be unpredictable.
Now, is there anything else that I need to know?"
The backpack trembled.
Little Mortal raised an eyebrow,
"What's out there that makes it cautious with Frontline effect? Call it over."
A moment later, a passage opened, and the Glasses of Knowledge came in while vibrating.
Little Mortal was shocked,
"You found an eye as big as a mountain?
That's nonsense!"
The glasses didn't say anything and just opened a passage.
Little Mortal's jaw dropped when he saw what was on the other side.
The other side of the passage was actually an eye, as big as a mountain, floating in empty space.
Little Mortal gulped and asked,
"It is in the Puppet Guy's universe?"
The glasses vibrated,
I have no knowledge about its creation, that's why I left it be.>
Little Mortal nodded his head and then walked to the other side of the passage.
He 'swam' to the eye, touched it, and then came back.
"That's indeed not an eye belonging to a living creature.
It's a mechanical part, as you said."
Little Mortal rubbed his chin,
"Is anything special about the universe these outsiders own?"
Only Fortune Teller's universe is normal.>
"Hmm, I'm busy now, so just leave them be for now, and don't mix our side with anything from theirs until we figure out why their universe is different.
I don't want to see a bunch of mechanical body parts suddenly assemble into a final boss and beat us all!"
The birth treasures thought,
"Oh, right, and don't ask about it from their birth treasures.
After I'm done with those Outsiders, we can take care of the parasite's main planets, and then take a look at the Outsiders' universes to see what makes it denser."
"Alright, bring out the whiteboard."
A whiteboard appeared, and Little Mortal began writing his future quests.
"I already have the script.
The only thing left is to execute it in real life."
[ -Main Quest number 1:
Meet the members of the parasite's council, and 'reveal the secret'.
-Main Quest number 2:
Meet with the outsiders, and 'reveal the secret' while showing it live to the parasite's council.
-Main Quest number 3:
Corrupted Police Officer's announcement.]
When he was done, he said,
"Alright, for the first quest, I can go with Fortune Teller.
I already know where the meeting hall is.
But for the second quest, I'm counting on you three,
Little Cage, Cube, and Puppet, to find where I can meet with my colleagues, the outsiders.
I should go there with all the outsiders on my team, plus the Police Officer and maybe the rest of the puppets, to make the scene believable.
You guys try to use the outsider's puppet to contact them and ask for a meeting.
Use our own outsiders to agree with our own request, so our chances of meeting them increase.
And for the third quest, I can do it from here after I'm done with the other two quests."
Then he wrote down the quests in his notebook while muttering,
"Okay, now I should think of an efficient way for big sister to farm law."
And started writing a program on the whiteboard,
[ - Law Farming Plan for Crystal -
1. Use level 1 creatures to:
- Provoke them
- Look down on them (literally)
- Humiliate them
2. Use the castles
- Show them their own castle
- Show others' castles to them
- Show more than one castle to them
- Show them all of the castles at the same time
3. Use the birth treasures
- Show them their own birth treasure
- Show others' birth treasure to them
- Show more than one birth treasure to them
- Show them all of the birth treasures at the same time
4. Use them on each other
- Just let them see each other in turn ]
"Little Crystal, use this 'farming plan' to trigger the emotions of our puppets here, and I'll try to trigger emotions on the mainland."
The Crystal vibrated excitedly.
Little Mortal then muttered to himself,
"I could connect five treasures to the Guardian Token, and with 12 universes as territory that gives me plus one slot for each, now I can use 17 birthday gifts at the same time.
So, it's fine to just go around with only the Guardian Token while it's invisible with the black liquid.
This way, those thieves can't take away my stuff."
The birth treasures 'looked' at each other, and wondered who was the real thief on the mainland...
Little Mortal asked the Guardian Token,
"Mr. Token, how many of my birthday gifts are you connected to by karma?
Can't I connect to all of them at the same time now that I have 17 slots?"
The Guardian Token answered,
[1. Backpack
2. Crystal
3. Unstoppable Ride
4. Space Mirror
5. Punishment Stick
6. Judge Hammer
7. Pot
8. Star Fusion
9. Notebook
10. Divine Medkit
11. Glass of Knowledge
12. Prison Cage
13. The Headband and Wristbands
14. Unbreakable Armor
15. Gold Coin
16. Assassin Knife
17. Soul Cube
18. Puppet Maker
19. The Book of Names
20. Prophecy Orb
21. World Tree
22. Starfall Stone
23. Frostveil Crystal
24. Pair of Divine Candy
25. Heaven's Tear
26. Gauntlet of Disaster
27. Brush and Inkwell
You need 10 more universes .]
The birthday gifts that didn't pay attention to their total number until now,
< O_O >
And he was talking about a Final Boss that might assemble...?
Little Mortal coughed awkwardly,
"Forget it then.
Cube and Puppet, take as many universes for support as you need,
We need to have 'realistic puppets' for our show.
Alright?"
< Affirmative! >x2
....
Mainland.
The Meeting Hall of God's Council.
All the members were gathered, except the Goddess of Space and the God of Prophecy.
The 10 hours had passed, and
The God of Judgment looked towards the door.
As the strongest member, he was the first to feel the arrival of the God of Prophecy.
The one who was the most surprised and confused was the Goddess of Foresight.
She thought of her body being easily controlled, probably by the little guardian, and his unique ability to hide, plus the 'puppets' in the script, and a scary possibility came to her mind.
Even her law of foresight triggered, but she stopped it in time to prevent it from revealing anything she shouldn't see.
She didn't want to know anything about this little monster's business.
The God of Prophecy opened the door and walked in while chuckling when he saw everyone's solemn face,
"Everyone, I know you are mad at me, but decide for yourself what you want to do with me later.
First, let me clear some misunderstandings."
The crowd nodded their heads and didn't say anything.
Many things needed to be cleared.
God of Prophecy went to his seat and sat down,
"How about we start from the beginning?
From the first day I met you all."
Goddess of Foresight, who was the youngest in this group and had only joined God's Council after sharing her foresight about the 'disaster' originating from Little Mortal's universe with God of Prophecy, was puzzled.
She was asked to join the God's Council because, while her law of foresight was not 100% clear, the result was always 100% correct.
So, she wasn't as strong or as old as these old-timers, and didn't understand what he meant by 'the beginning'.
She was reborn around 5 billion years ago.
God of Judgment, though, knew him from the start.
"You joined our Mainland 20 billion years ago with your universe.
Back then, fewer than 900 universes were attached to our Mainland.
Your universe, like all the universes currently attached to the Mainland, was a lone universe in infinite space, which was lucky to be in the Mainland's path."
God of Prophecy nodded,
"And who joined after me?"
God of Knowledge answered this time,
"The group of 10 who joined together.
The same group who were invaded by most guardians when that accident happened after the Guardian God's sacrifice...
What are you trying to say, Apollo?"
God of Prophecy chuckled,
"Let me ask you another question first.
Is our Mainland the only Mainland out there?"
The crowd raised their eyebrows.
God of Judgment, who was the oldest, said thoughtfully,
"It wouldn't be surprising if there are other Mainlands with universes attached to them out there.
Ultimately, space is infinite.
But I never saw one in my entire life."
God of Prophecy smiled,
"Because our Mainland is running away from them."
The crowd was shocked for a moment, and then,
"What!?"
"What do you mean by running away?"
"Do you expect us to believe this?"
"How about you stop with this nonsense and explain why the Guardian God is alive?"
The meeting hall became noisy.
God of Prophecy just sat there in silence.
Seeing the chaotic meeting hall, God of Judgment knocked on the table.
"Let him continue.
He sure has an answer for our questions,
Or he wouldn't be here."
God of Prophecy nodded,
"Indeed, and I hope everyone can be patient enough so I can explain everything from the start.
I assure you that I can prove every word that I say, and you get your answer about Guardian God's comeback."
The crowd fell silent, their expressions dissatisfied.
God of Prophecy continued,
"20 billion years ago, the owner of this body joined our Mainland."
Hearing him call himself 'this body' in his first sentence, everyone felt puzzled.
"After 6 billion years, another 10 universes joined us.
But these newcomers actually had a Mainland before joining us, and none of them are here to join ours.
In reality, they are here to slow it down."
The crowd was now at a loss.
He suddenly started talking some nonsense that didn't make sense...
Seeing them not believe him, he tried to explain it from another angle,
"You might not know.
However, the Mainland in the past was always moving in a circle around the universes attached to it, or moving in random directions, searching for rogue universes.
But after the 10 universes joined, it changed its path,
And now it is always moving in a straight line.
I think most of you are old enough to confirm this fact, right?"
The crowd was shocked now.
They indeed remembered in the past when their Mainland moved in random directions, always searching for universes.
But now...
"By 'Mainland is running', you mean this?"
"What's the problem with those 10 universes?
Are you telling us that they are really from another Mainland?"
"Wait, if we are running, doesn't that mean our side is weaker?"
God of Prophecy smiled,
"Your guess is as good as mine, and the one who sold us out and gave the coordinates of our Mainland was....?"
He waited for the crowd to answer.
The members of God's Council all guessed it, but didn't want to believe it.
God of Judgment was the one to say it,
"Was it you, Apollo?"
God of Prophecy nodded and then shook his head,
"To be exact, it was the owner of this body."
The meeting hall became silent.
It was the second time he said, 'This body.'
God of Judgment furrowed,
"Who are you then?"
From their faces, it was obvious they didn't believe him at all.
God of Prophecy smiled and stood up.
He placed one hand on his chest, bowed slightly to show them respect, as if it were their first meeting,
And said,
"My adopted children,
Let me introduce myself again.
I am Celeron, the manager of the Mainland."
The Gods and Goddesses who suddenly found out they are 'adopted',
"WHAT!?"