Gideon left towards the void. This was after a month of accumulating Qi and Divinity all over again. This time, it was to have enough of a foundation to travel the cosmos without dying too fast.
The world Gideon left well protected was in a stable state of growth. And while he was away, his incarnations were still present in the different forms of protection. To protect the skies some transformed into gigantic eagles and such creatures. To protect the waters some transformed into fish or whales. To protect the earth some transformed into land animals. The rest stayed in and blended with human society.
Only the closest to Gideon knew that his incarnations were surrounding his wife and daughter as pets or even as bodyguards.
A few months after the news of Gideon's absence, some of the corporations who waited long enough for this opportunity started moving. They wanted to encroach on Johnsons Enterprise and get a piece of the pie. One of these few people was Gabriel.
Gabriel was one of the fee small businesses and clans who joined in an Alliance they called themselves as Saints.
He had infiltrated the alliance to get a chance to partake in the products produced by Johnsons Enterprise. Gabriel was a spy planted by someone called Mr. Green.
As Johnsons Enterprise grew, so did the Saints. And as the Saints' leader, the Musashi Clan prospered more than others ever. With their support, even the small clan and businesses flourished. This was especially true for the company that Gabriel handled. It has now become an authority in supplying various parts for the mass production of Johnsons Enterprise's various array of products.
In a way, it was already powerful enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his employer's company and CEO, Mr. Green.
At this time, Mr. Green contacted Gabriel.
"Gabriel. How has your task been progressing?" Asked Mr. Green in his usual commanding tone with an accent.
"Sir, everything is progressing smoothly." Gabriel answered with a sneer in his heart. "If everything would follow your plan, then you'd be god. However, Gideon, Sir, Gideon! He's the true genius of both ideal and practical." Gabriel thought in his heart.
"That's good! I'm checking in to know firsthand the progress of this plan."
"Yes, sir. Good job, sir!"
"Enough. So, tell me."
"Ah, it's like this sir…"
Gabriel started fabricating details of their plan's successful progress and Mr. Green greatly appreciated his efforts.
"Good, good, good! Will it be feasible now to enact the final stages of the plan?"
According to their initial plans, when it comes to a stage like this it would be possible to sneak their large enterprise into the alliance and slowly encroach upon Johnsons Enterprise.
"Yes, sir. It is totally possible." Said Gabriel, but in his mind, "Hah! That's totally impossible! Miss Rebecca won't even miss something like that. She wouldn't when she was an ordinary human being, and even more now that she'd become awakened."
"Then, proceed to the final stages. I expect great things from you, Gabriel."
"Thank you. Thank you, sir!"
…
Before Gideon left, he set a law on Earth using Gideon's Law, a skill he acquired after giving up his cultivation and divinity, to make it so that whenever any dungeon that evolves beyond what the people of Earth can handle, then the same Divine Punishment he meted out to destroy all existing dungeons at that time would smite the dungeon or dungeons.
This way, Earth's economy can grow and the defenders themselves also grow.
Also, before he left, Gideon also gave the World Bank and idea as to keep their shares. It was to put a high value on the rarest of rare materials or items from the dungeons and the world go crazy about products made from it.
From that moment on, the same item would cost so much that any item made from it would also be some sort of limited item people fought for.
So, the world bank which Gideon owned 88% of, for mercy's sake, put a high price on a material they started calling, Magic Silver. A metal that conducts really well and yet so sturdy that tungsten alloys pale in comparison.
This was how the world bank regained their foothold while trying to catch up to Gideon's wealth.
After 3 years of reestablishing themselves, the world bank finally took control of the financial world again, albeit, just because Gideon and his family never interfered with them.
…
Gideon and his family were better of than before Gideon came back but when he left again, all they could thin about was why he had to sacrifice himself again. All for the same reason he took the summoning instead of Deborah a decade ago.
"Why does Gideon need to be the one to go? Can't there be others?"
Mother cried out. Father just rubbed her back as comfort. Not saying anything.
"Mom, it's because brother is the only person who can do it that he does it."
"We just recently had him back! Can't there be anyone else aside from our family?"
She started sobbing as she cried. Deborah also wanted to cry but she stopped herself for the sake of not adding more worry.
She was also hurting that she was still not strong enough to even stand beside him when Gideon had destroyed the Black Dragon and annihilated all existing dungeons in one wave of a hand. When Gideon decided he needed to go and bring the fight to the evil god, she also wanted to go with him, but was refuses outright for lack of strength.
"If you want to go outside, in the void, you'll need strength surpassing the god you are contracted with. Else, you'll just die."
Is what Gideon said before he added, "You're needed here more than out there, so keep up your training and strive to fully control the strength you are given by your contract with your patron god. If you want to learn new things, just go ahead and approach Rebecca, she'll probably teach you a thing or two."
"Yes… brother."
…
In the Divine Realm, when the surge of lightning, the Divine Punishment Gideon unleashed stopped.
"Hey, hey. Did everyone notice that many earthlings were taken by numerous otherworld summoning?"
"Yes. Many were taken through lightning as cover. Many more were by trucks and vehicular accidents. Some were even taken through drowning. What creative sons of…"
"That's right. Hopefully, they come back and grow stronger. Many of them are not heralds after all. In the vast world, some may have not even been aware of the real situation and just lived comfortably in ignorance."
"That was for the best. And yet, if they come back as strong as Gideon, wouldn't that be helpful in the end?"
"You have a point."
The gods spoke and spread this around as they gossiped about the earthlings taken by summoning.
They even talked about a well-to-do young man who was struck by lightning to cover for the magic summoning circle.
Such were occurrences that happened while Gideon was executing the champion and the dungeons.
…
Meanwhile, Gideon had entered the void after accumulating enough Qi to protect himself from the harsh environment.
In the void, it wasn't particularly cold and entering it would not result in freezing over. In fact, the more you approach the outer space, the hotter it is. After all, the more you distance yourself from the Earth, the closer you are to the sun's radiation.
Gideon had wrapped himself in Qi to protect himself. He did not cultivate using the Qi he'd accumulated. This Qi was default to him now. It was Pure Spiritual Qi.
Because Gideon's Law was created solely for Earth's protection, Gideon became unable to use its power outside of Earth. It was a bargain he needed to do in order that he'd not suffer the consequences of transcending sand stepping more towards perfection.
While in the void, Gideon started to feel out not Qi or Divinity but Cosmic Energy. He did not have any particular arts he could use for gathering and absorbing cosmic energy, but as it was energy, just modifying the spiritual arts he possessed to accommodate cosmic energy was enough.
In this sense, he was using the same principles as his Spiritual Arts to absorb and refine cosmic energy. This was going to be the first instance he'd tried this and he had to be rather careful.
He chose cosmic energy, since cosmic energy stems from the heavenly bodies themselves and the void. It was ever present outside of planetary systems and even galactic systems.
Staying still, Gideon gathered the freely flowing cosmic energy into his body and inside, he circulated it using his Qi as guide. It was one thing to gather and accumulate Qi and yet not cultivate it or improve his body with it. However, it was practically a tall order for a new energy introduced to the body not to wreak havoc once in contact. So, he used Qi to protect his insides while making it familiar, making it feel at home inside himself.
Like this, 10 hours passed and finally, a notification he'd waited for appeared.
{Gained 450 BTU worth of Cosmic Energy}
{Ten Orders of Magnitude in Gains activated.}
{Gained 4.5 trillion BTU Cosmic Energy}
{Imminent implosion detected}
As soon as that appeared in his mind, Gideon started to compress the surging energy with Pure Spiritual Qi to contain it before slowly releasing it into his body in safe amounts. With his body's current capabilities and his control over energies, Gideon needed only to concentrate on letting his body adapt to the foreign energy.
Soon, he began gathering and absorbing and then compressing the surging cosmic energy he accumulated. In about 5 days, he was able to move while continuously absorbing and compressing cosmic energy.
Using Pure Spiritual Qi to propel himself forward in quite a fast speed, he escaped the Sun's pull and ended up outside the Solar System where Earth was.
At this juncture, he tried utilizing the Cosmic Energy he had to detect planetary systems or solar systems nearby. After about an hour of going about like a headless fly, Gideon sensed a cluster of planets revolving an enormous gaseous ball of a planet.
He found a planet within this system where a planetary surface was present and landed there.
Using the same energy, he detected for sentient life and found nothing but unfamiliar beasts and no intelligent life.
"This planet is probably in its infancy. Since there is no sentient life here, it is safe to say that this is just a normal 'planet'."
Gideon had stopped using Pure Spiritual Qi and got used to using Cosmic Energy to compensate for the lack of food and breathing. His body was strong enough to defend against the harsh environment of space and other planet.
After a simple double check, Gideon set himself up a cave and cleared any hostile elements before isolating himself.
His goal was to establish some sort of connection to this planet by pushing his consciousness into the Astral Plane and interacting with the Planet's consciousness.
In the darkness of his mind, the tranquility was disrupted as a single particle of thought appeared. This particle then grew in size until the entire space was filled with its light. As this light exceeded the limits of the space, it was when Gideon's consciousness left his physical body.
"Sigh. This is the second time I'm going to attempt this. If I fail, my consciousness will be devoured by the world."
Gideon urged his Astral body towards the core of the planet. Not, the actual core but the consciousness. Soon, he arrived and spoke humbly.
"Greetings. May I speak with you?"
"…"
The core was silent. Gideon waited for it to respond. After about an hour of waiting. Gideon finally heard a response.
"What…are…you?"
Gideon guessed that the planet's consciousness must have been trying to understand or learn his language.
"I am a human being from the solar system next door. I wish to establish a connection with you."
"A human…? Solar System?" The world's consciousness was struggling to understand. After all, it was the first time it learned to talk like this and the first time it met anyone.
Like this, Gideon explained everything needed to be explained patiently. This process took more than a month. You'd be surprised how quick this was for teaching something or someone concepts and facts.
Another month later.
"So that's why you wish to establish a connection with me, human called Gideon?"
"Yes."
"As you've explained, it would only be good for me to have a connection with you as this will enable your world and me to have a link which would make it easier to interact in the future. Of course, I would agree."
"Are you certain?"
"I am. Make the connection now."
"Alright."
With this, Gideon established a connection between Earth and this planet in a neighboring planetary system through himself.
After the connection was established, he was granted permission to establish a Divine Realm for this place. He also regained access to his Gideon's Law skill and established this planet as a backup planet for when Earth itself would perish. He used Gideon's Law to hide the planet, and terraform its atmosphere to be able to accommodate human beings with the planet's permission.
In about 6 days, Gideon had recreated an Earth-like planet. He called it E-2.
This was simply a pit stop for his journey towards the source of all his troubles. When he left, he also left his will to protect the world with Divine Punishments when excessive evil becomes present.
Along the way, Gideon restarted his cultivation and reached Transcendence Realm. While he was in the void, he went past Transcendence Realm to the Saint Realm and then directly entered Monarch Realm. When he reached this stage, his physical body was washed with Pure Spiritual Qi and his Qi was further refined into Origin Qi. It was Qi that could be said to become a source of creation through Spiritual means. Creation using Origin Qi was limited only by the imagination and will of the possessor.
Cosmic Energy was continuously gathered and as soon as he gained some way to cultivate it and integrate it into his body, he would. For now, Gideon retrained his cultivation and surpassed Earth's limitations. This way, he could go about his way without much danger.