CHAPTER 767: HOME; SETTLED

--

The Void Slave was settled, and so was the realm.

It fits perfectly at the spot Cedric wanted it to be. It caused no disturbance, no disasters, or even as much noise as he was expecting. The ease of its placement was proof that Cedric’s planning went exactly as he imagined it to. All the stress and thought he put into it was worth it.

Cedric entered the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm as soon as it was settled. He appeared right next to his family, who are still patiently waiting for his news at the same place he left them earlier.

"There. Done," he said before anybody could say anything.

"Wait, that’s it? You’re done? We didn’t even feel a thing!" Godwyn exclaimed in surprise.

"That’s the idea. You weren’t supposed to." Cedric chuckled. "That means everything worked out perfectly as I wanted it to. You want me to take you out to see?"

"Can we?" Gilderoy asked; his voice had a barely concealed excitement and anticipation.

"Of course, you can. But be ready; it’s going to feel really weird again."

With that said, Cedric waved his hand and took his family out of the Void Barrier to expose them to the real atmosphere of the Primitive Universe.

The moment they stepped outside, everybody collectively gasped in shock and surprise. They felt this strange sensation of breathing for the first time. It’s like they’ve been submerged underwater all this time, and this was the first time they poked their heads out of the water to take a breath.

It felt weird, just like Cedric said. There’s a lot going on out here, so much so that it’s overwhelming their senses.

Actually, their reactions were already pretty tame. Through Cedric’s considerations, all of them had been out of the Void Barrier before. They have a preliminary expectation and experience of what the Primitive Universe will feel like.

But that’s limited to the barren state of the Forbidden Zone’s interior. That’s nothing compared to the real and raw atmosphere of the world outside of the Forbidden Zone, which is exactly the very same atmosphere they’re experiencing now.

"This is crazy," Gerald muttered softly underneath his breath.

It’s completely different from what he imagined at all. His father told them multiple times how the barrenness within the Forbidden Zone couldn’t even begin to compare to the true Primitive Universe. And Gerald knew that he wasn’t just saying this.

But even with all of the expectations and imaginations he had about this, it still managed to surprise them. His father was right; no words would ever be enough to prepare them for this; it has to be experienced.

"You’ll all get used to this soon. And there’s too much for you to learn still, but we have time. I just need you to remember that this will be our home now, and we’ve got a lot of work to do."

As the de facto leader of the humans of the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm, the Stormriders are responsible for guiding their people to the road of prosperity. It’s a burden that they willingly carried, for they have the ability to do so.

"So big, so huge! So many places to expand!" Godwyn’s eyes practically sparkled in enthusiasm.

He was already imagining how he will begin to expand his company and his business all over this place. Yes, he knows that his father became the Sector Lord of the Rising Sun Domain, which is this new home of theirs, and as his son, of course he had the freedom to claim and expand his playground in his father’s yard.

Hearing this from Godwyn made Cedric smile wryly. He then thought to himself, ’My son will get along well with Philip due to their shared business-centric mindset.’

It’s not exactly a bad thing, though; at least Godwyn was doing something productive with his time, and he has a goal.

"Hold your horses, Bro. You can expand as much as you want, but only after we shed the ’pseudo’ in our Immortal Realm Life Evolution; that’s our priority first," Gilderoy warned, not wanting Godwyn to charge headfirst into the unknown without the appropriate strength and capital to do so.

"Don’t forget the laws. At the very least, before any of us begin exploring this Sector Domain, we must at least have one Great Law under our belt," Gerald added, sounding as indifferent as he’d always been.

"Gee, rain on my parade, why don’t you?" Godwyn rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "You don’t need to remind me, you know. I was just excited."

Cedric and his wives chuckled at their children’s bickering.

They stayed out just a bit longer before Cedric took them back. When he did, they felt a sense of loss and incompleteness.

"Oh, damn! So this is what you always feel like whenever you exit your seclusion. It feels so wrong," Godwyn complained in an exaggerated manner.

The others couldn’t even refute him because they too felt the same. Godwyn just said what they were thinking. Now, they could relate to what Cedric always felt whenever he came back here.

"Endure it for now. Slowly but surely, as the Void Slave recovers, the difference will lessen until it completely disappears. But that might take anywhere from 50 to 100 years to happen," Cedric stated.

They don’t know that this actually feels worse to him, especially now that he’s a Universe Master. Cedric had to be very careful with every move he made because he always felt like he could destroy this entire realm with one careless flick of his finger.

"That’s both soon and distant to us," Gilderoy commented. "50-100 years is a long time, even for us humans, but due to our life evolution, that’s but a small episode that’ll pass before we know it."

"True," Gerald droned in agreement.

As his sons discussed their new setting, Cedric quietly spread out his senses and informed the other chancellors of what happened.

They too were surprised and reacted the same way as his family. He told them that if they want to experience what the atmosphere of the Primitive Universe was like for themselves, they can ask the Void Slave to take them out and retrieve them at any time.

Of course, Cedric also informed the Void Slave about this, and it’s more than happy to comply.

Now that this was done, Cedric’s life returns to its usual routine.

He would occasionally go out to stretch his legs, but for the most part, he would stay with his family because this is where he wanted to be.

As for his responsibilities as a Sector Lord, that will be handled by his clones, obviously. He created them for that purpose, after all.

The main body, now that he no longer has to be in a constant worry about his home collapsing due to the hostile environment of the Forbidden Zone, could spend more time analyzing and interpreting concept laws.

Now that he’s a Universe Master, the road towards more Heavenly Laws is starting to unravel before him.

Although he’s not in a hurry, it’s also not too early to start now since eyes are just that much of a cheat.

’Keep the lead while I’m still ahead. I can’t afford to relax. There are a lot of people who want me dead, after all.’

**

"This is incredible."

This is what both Quinella and Wilfred thought as they now stared at their clones.

They’re completely convinced that this was a divine skill at this point; nothing can convince them otherwise.

The soul-splitting process was, of course, painful. They could still feel the dull ache in their souls since it hasn’t been that long, after all. But that’s to be expected. Anything that concerns an evolver’s soul will be risky and painful, especially a deliberate, albeit controlled, splitting.

Still, it’s surprising how easy this was. The whole process didn’t even take a day to finish, and it barely took a week before their clone was born.

This clone was controlled by the main body’s thoughts and actions. And as Heavenly Venerates, multitasking was of course something that came naturally to them, so it wasn’t so hard to simultaneously control both the main and the clone body. They could even do it subconsciously or while in deep sleep. It’s that easy.

With this clone, their schedules were freed up by a lot. In fact, given time, they could unload all of their responsibilities to their clones, just like their lord does. Of course, the task of personally guarding their lord was something their main bodies still needed to do, but for the rest, their clones could take care of it.

If it wasn’t for the fact that their lord specifically noted that they’re not supposed to create another clone until their soul has fully healed and recovered, they would’ve created more right away.

But just as he said, the clones only possess 90% of their overall strength. Which, again, was hardly a downside, especially compared to the life-saving potential it holds.

Of course, there were ways to counter this. Their lord stated some along with the skill, but even so, this skill was still outrageously good.

They had nothing but gratitude for their lord’s generosity.