Chapter 1 Hao Ren's Discovery

The longer Hao Ren knew Izhaks, the more he felt that this guy didn't seem like a demon at all—he was better suited to be a thinker and philosopher, and if he had the energy, he could even be a scientist. This ruggedly built man had more keen and profound insights than many scholars. This was the result of his constant exploration over hundreds of years, under the long-term subtle influence of a true scholar, and it had now become a part of his "personality."

Even demons, if they focused on one thing for hundreds of years, would develop remarkable habits.

The world Izhaks lived in—at least within the scope of the explored world—had an incredible spatial structure. The space here was discontinuous. The concept of "long-distance navigation" could only be confined to closed, finite spatial bubbles, or, to use a more high-end term, "crystal wall systems." Hao Ren, from Earth, found it difficult to imagine how such a discontinuous spatial body was formed, but it was clear that this spatial structure profoundly influenced and shaped the unique form of civilization here. A large number of races were scattered in one spatial bubble after another, and powerful races could even occupy one or several spaces themselves. They established countries on those continents floating in chaos and became accustomed to the ancient portals in space, even considering them a common natural phenomenon.

The natives of this world relied on spatial bubbles and portals to live and multiply, and even nature had formed a unique ecosystem because of this. Many animals would regularly migrate their populations from large portals. They were born and raised in one space, and then ran to another space to breed or hibernate. Even some plants needed to rely on portals to complete their reproduction. Various intelligent races actively regarded the space gate as a long-term and effective strategic resource, just like the road junctions on Earth. Each race actively explored undiscovered portals and carefully passed through one portal after another to find new "worlds" rich in resources. Each race had its own set of exploration techniques, but they were generally similar, with no more than three elements: a method for discovering the gate, a technique for detecting the environment on the other side of the gate, and how to immediately destroy the gate if there was a major disaster on the other side—this was the three key points of space exploration in this world.

It was precisely this convenient and easy exploration, and the world's firm belief in the existence of countless resource-rich new spaces, that led most races in this world to be satisfied with the status quo. They believed that constantly opening one space gate after another was enough, and they did not even focus on developing the territory they already occupied. One of the three secret realms of the elves, the "Dark Elf Secret Realm," was a planet about the size of Earth, but those elves only occupied a large forest on this planet. Because the environment outside the forest was full of poisonous gas and toxic radiation, those elves set up barriers, content with their isolated corner. They discovered portals leading to other spaces in their forest, and after simply "weighing the pros and cons," they believed that developing the entire planet was not worth the loss, and it was far safer to directly seize resources from other spaces.

This was also the idea of ​​many other races: why run so far to explore those hard-to-reach places in your own space? Portals are so convenient.

Of course, they also had institutions that studied spatial bubbles, and some crude "spatial structure theories," but on the whole, their exploration was limited to the periphery of those existing portals.

There was actually nothing wrong with this way of survival. In this spatially discontinuous world, this form of development was quite normal. Cosmic navigation technology seemed unnecessary in front of space gates. People simply didn't see much of the starry sky, so naturally they weren't very interested in the universe.

But the problem was that the races of this world were too dependent on portals. Before a crazy human alchemist became interested in the size of the universe, no one had even questioned the borders of the "space bubble zone." They believed that these closed spaces, one after another, were the entirety of the universe, and never thought that the "portal application theory" they had built up over tens of thousands of years might only be effective in one corner of the universe.

Izhaks was the first "person" to feel a sense of crisis about this.

"Of course, I shouldn't be the last one," Izhaks said with a smile, looking at the portal in the distance. "Goddess Tavier once told me that the variability and curiosity of intelligent races are treasures. As long as someone is still thinking, someone will always find the right path, sooner or later. The little old man's space bubble theory was dismissed as crazy by mainstream scholars less than a thousand years ago, but since a hundred years ago, some people have begun to seriously study the manuscripts he left behind. Someone will always calculate the scale of this world and realize the importance of working together—perhaps my unification war back then did have some effect, making their vision a little longer."

"At least to prevent the emergence of a second Mad King, they have to band together," Hao Ren stood up and patted Izhaks' arm. "Alright, stop reminiscing about your youth, the progress bar is about to collapse again, let's hurry to the Obsidian Plain... By the way, where is the Obsidian Plain?"

Lanina straightened up and looked at the distant mountains and barren land, the succubus tail behind her swaying in the air, and then the arrow on the tip of her tail suddenly pointed in a certain direction: "That way!"

Izhaks nodded and led the crowd in the opposite direction: "Let's go, this way."

Lanina: "...Your Majesty...your trust in me..."

"My trust in you is fully reflected in any field other than letting you lead the way," Izhaks turned his head and glanced at his old subordinate. "Besides, how many times have I told you, call me Old Wang here."

Lanina pouted and followed honestly, muttering as she walked. Hao Ren was amazed: it is said that succubi are cunning, charming, and vicious creatures at heart, but why does everyone he encounters not play by the rules—isn't this one a bit too honest?

The group left the small hill and walked down the mountain. Ahead was a wilderness covered with black gravel and strange grass and trees. Possibly because the continent under their feet was just the wreckage of a planet, the rounding effect over tens of thousands of years was still tearing this land apart, causing the geological environment here to be somewhat unstable. On the wilderness, you could see huge cracked ravines and surface cracks spewing flames and smoke everywhere. Some black and red thorny vines stubbornly grew on this harsh land, making one wonder if they were "plants" in the normal sense. Occasionally, some strangely shaped creatures would jump out of the flames or even the lava, running and preying wildly among the vines. They were chaotic monsters that were not even considered low-level demons—even in the demon space, there was its own ecological structure.

"It's really hot here," Vivian frowned as the group passed a lava river. "Everyone get closer, I'll turn on the air conditioning."

A burst of icy air spread out from Vivian, and Hao Ren immediately felt rejuvenated—it was good to have a humanoid self-propelled air conditioner, maybe he could even eat some shaved ice by the lava lake later... if Nangong Wuyue still had the strength to create a water source.

Lili looked at the flowing lava river not far away, frowning and pondering all the time. At this time, she suddenly took out her flame claws and walked towards the lava. Hao Ren immediately called her from behind: "What are you doing?"

Lili waved her claws happily: "I'll try if the weapon strengthening mentioned in the book works..."

Ordinary people can't keep up with this husky's train of thought. Everyone present didn't react at all. Lili happily explained: "Doesn't the book say that magical weapons are made in the abyss of fire, or roll around in the hell lava—I always feel that my claws are missing something, and now I think it should be a lack of serendipity to strengthen them. After using lava to temper them in the demon plane, do you think they will become magical weapons or something..."

Obviously, this girl had been brainwashed by some fantasy novel again. Hao Ren looked at her dumbfounded: "Can you take what is said in stories seriously? Do you really think that if you throw a weapon into the demon lava and soak it for a while..."

Before Hao Ren could finish speaking, Lili had already run to the edge of the lava river. She squatted by the river like a child with great interest, stirring her flame claws into the thick lava. Vivian rolled her eyes at this cute girl who would act silly from time to time: "So, does it work? Have you become the Fire of Very Happy?"

Lili put away her claws, frowning a little confused: "It doesn't seem to have changed much... and I seemed to have poked something just now..."

As soon as she finished speaking, the lava river in front of everyone suddenly surged!