Chapter 96: Divine World
Night looked closely at his EV.
A considerable amount had been steadily used by them recently; Death had repeatedly spent EV to create new Undead, and the others had spammed their skills without a second care during the dungeon dive.
Yet, he had already completely recovered most of it just in an instant.
[Energy Value (EV): 35,982 EV]
So, the only logical explanation for all this was that the terrifying Level 84 insect was devoured in an instant.
This was unlike before, when he had tried something similar with just the Nightmare Mist and received nothing in return.
He quickly explained his theory to the group.
Blade then looked at him with a wary smile. "This must be why I felt danger when I first saw you. The flames have made it possible for you to actively use your [Nightmare Domain] to attack and devour instantly. Which is ridiculous, since I highly doubt even a Demigod would be able to survive that if they were caught in it."
Sara exhaled, as if a massive load had been lifted from her shoulders. "I doubt you will need our help to protect you anymore. If you just cover yourself with it all the time, then even Evolvers with much higher levels like us might not be able to kill you. But... you will not be able to do the same to us either, since people at our level can simply run away from you."
Night perked up. "So doesn’t this mean I can level up a lot faster?"
Blade and Sara looked at each other and nodded, as if coming to a decision.
Sara declared, "Let’s power-level you to some decent level first. Then, you can finally enter a high-level dungeon with us. Though you might not be able to keep up with us in raw combat yet, you will not hold us back either."
It was then he fully realized something important. Just like him, they had to level up and cultivate too. But because of him and his safety, they had been delaying their own progression.
He felt warm realizing exactly how much they genuinely cared for him.
Just then, he distinctly heard [Dream]’s tired voice echo in his mind. "Done."
"Hurry up and come inside. And oh... bring your friends along as well."
Night spoke up. "Let’s take a quick break first. I need to check something in my soul space," he explained.
Curious, they agreed.
Then, with ease, they quickly set up a tent. It looked grey in color, but as soon as they entered and secured it, the exterior magically camouflaged itself to match the snowy surroundings.
The tent was relatively small, with just enough internal space for two cots and two folding chairs, with enough space in between to comfortably move around.
He brought out the glowing [Burning Coal] artifact to warm the freezing temperature inside.
He sat cross-legged on the cot and entered his soul space. Following his lead, the others dispersed their forms and returned to the soul space as well.
Inside the vast soul space, he could see [Dream] and System Girl standing at the edge of the void.
In the middle, he could see a massive, imposing black ball. It was so huge that he might not have been able to properly see it fully if it wasn’t located inside his own soul space.
Night and his friends materialized. The others observed the two entities curiously; this was their first time seeing [Dream] and System Girl in person.
[Dream] looked exactly as breathtakingly beautiful as Night had previously described to them.
[Dream] looked warmly at them and smiled. "It’s wonderful to finally meet you all. I am [Dream], and this is System Girl."
Night asked curiously, pointing at the massive, hovering mass. "What exactly is that?"
Smiling brightly, she pointed gracefully at the huge ball and proudly declared, "It is a World."
Everyone was completely shocked. Lucy asked first, her tail twitching. "A World? What exactly is it doing here? How on earth did it come here?" Knowing [Dream] was a former Goddess, she didn’t doubt her ridiculous claim for a second.
[Dream] explained calmly. "I used a significant portion of my remaining Divine Source, combining it with the [Nightmare World Seed], and successfully helped it form a stable Internal World."
Looking at Night, she said seriously, "With enough diligent cultivation and resources in the future, it will become no different from a real world."
As she spoke, she snapped her elegant fingers, and they were instantly teleported. They were now standing on solid ground, in front of the small plant.
The plant was Night’s true core. It now possessed thick black and vivid purple leaves, and looking closely, you could also see tiny, new leaves sporting a red color.
The ground felt as dense and real as the outside world, making him marvel in awe that such a magical thing was even possible.
He genuinely thought creating something like an Internal World was only possible once one successfully became a true God, or something vastly stronger than that.
Eve, Lilith, Death, Lucy, and Sage looked around in sheer wonder.
Death said with emotion as she surveyed the landscape, "This is Master’s true world."
The ambient environment functionally felt no different than a real world, probably because it technically was a real world.
Eve and Lilith excitedly summoned their respective nanobots and let them freely roam. The swarms of microscopic nanobots looked like tiny blue and black fire embers floating on the breeze as they moved.
Sage looked at the small plant curiously. She just couldn’t understand why the white snake was playing dead while tightly clinging to it.
She quickly created a tiny stone stick and poked the snake, but it gave no response.
Lucy was undeniably the one who was the most amazed. She could easily tell this was a genuine, real world the absolute moment she stepped her paws on it.
Something resting dormant in her, her bloodline had awakened the moment Night successfully reached Level 21.
It told her that this was indeed a real, physical world... and warned her that it was not something she could eat with her current low level.
Being a Fenrir bloodline and all, her instincts were always brutally honest...
[Dream], looking at their excited reactions, told Night while pointing at the plant, "In the distant future, this tiny plant will grow to become a true World Tree, and it will serve as the core of this planet, as well as the core of your [Nightmare Domain]."
"This Internal World safely resides entirely inside the [Nightmare Domain] and is protected by it. Which fundamentally means, in the future when you are strong enough to fully unleash your [Nightmare Domain] outside, this world might manifest as well."
Night didn’t understand much of the mechanics, but he remembered every word she said. Then, he asked something he had just realized after recalling their earlier conversation. "What exact grade is this planet?"
He didn’t know if Internal Worlds could be graded like the outside worlds.
[Dream] smirked proudly. "Divine Grade."
Night looked at her in puzzle. "And it was created with just my [Nightmare World Seed] and your remaining Divine Source?"
He asked this because Earth had just barely managed to become a Demigod Planet, and Earth was undeniably a lot larger and stronger than this world.
[Dream] corrected him softly. "Its current size is because of your own current strength. This planet will develop and expand as you rapidly grow stronger... But, it is still structurally a Divine Grade. A grade higher than the outside world."
"Divine Planet means it can easily and produce God-level beings if enough resources are invested into it."
Then, System Girl spoke up excitedly, floating around. "Let’s build a house here!" She was incredibly happy to finally have more company.
After being helplessly stuck in that lonely legacy for god-knows-how-long, it was completely natural.
[Dream] pondered the suggestion. "While I am low on remaining Divine Source, I can afford to spend some to build a good house."
Night frowned. "What’s the actual point of wasting precious Divine Source on just building a mundane house?"
He genuinely didn’t understand. If they truly wanted shelter, they could effortlessly terraform the place manually and just build a house themselves. It was still his own soul space, after all.
[Dream] shook her head. "I will be staying here for who knows how long. A proper house is a must. And though the core plant is protected by the world, one more layer of protection in the form of a house wouldn’t be bad."
[Dream] raised her open palm, and a purple orb appeared. Night could feel it was a huge amount of concentrated energy.
She waved her hand, and the orb flew away from her, plunging deep and merging into the solid ground.
The very next moment, a massive foundation structure instantly appeared in its place. It rapidly started growing in size, expanding larger and larger. It was easily hundreds of times the size of the Nightmare Castle.
The others stopped what they were playing with and quickly gathered together. They didn’t expect the surroundings to change so suddenly.
Finally, when the massive structure entirely stopped growing, [Dream] clapped her hands again, and they were all instantly teleported into an empty hall that looked like it was built for towering giants a hundred times their size.
With one final clap, luxurious furniture, intricate decorations, glowing chandeliers and plush carpets started appearing from thin air.
The previously barren hall now looked exactly like it was meticulously designed for a King. It looked too royal.
After it was finally completed, [Dream] nodded in satisfaction. "Perfect."
Night looked directly at her as his lips twitched violently. "Is such an big home necessary?"
[Dream] raised her elegant eyebrows at him. "Yes. One day, the tiny plant will massively grow into a towering World Tree. A big house is needed to properly fit it inside."
Night stared blankly. We could have just let it grow in the courtyard or something...
[Dream] effortlessly read his mind. "What’s the point of building the house then, if we were just going to carelessly leave the core in the open?"
Night thought defensively, Isn’t this too much protection for a tiny, harmless plant?
System Girl chimed in wisely from the side. "Prevention is vastly better than the cure." That simple logic successfully made him shut up completely.
After leaving the others to happily play with [Dream] and System Girl, Night left his soul space.
He quickly saw that the goofy Nightmare Fire had, at some point, materialized in the outside and was casually wandering around the small tent. No wonder he didn’t see the little blob inside his soul space.
Blade and Sara, who were meditating, quickly opened their eyes when they saw him wake up.
After Night briefly but excitedly explained the changes, they expressed their desire to see the Internal World as well.
But as of right now, Night didn’t know how to pull living, breathing people into his soul space safely.
After some brief discussion, they packed the grey tent and continued their snowy journey...