As soon as Horus stepped into the dimension, he could see an infinite number of him standing exactly as he did, looking at themselves.
As if on cue, some of them walk through each of their portals and disappear while others still stand in place.
Just looking at them made Horus jump in surprise.
'WTF!!! Those were me but not me. Am I seeing what I might do in the future? This is like Wraith's Into the Void ability!!!'
Horus was ecstatic as he looked onward into the distance out of the portal. A gigantic megalithic tower stretched onward from the ground and high into the sky.
Connor could see a city about 600 miles south of the tower. The city itself estimated to span more than 300 miles. A wall standing at 200ft stood erected, towering over the city.
The walls themselves encompassed the city and its lands at about 500 miles in diameter.
Ramparts are strategically set up at 10-mile intervals.
In the ramparts, Horus sees what appears to be artillery cannons.
They were a mixture of technology and magic, the power source of the mechanism appeared to be a crystal core.
Horus briskly steps out of the portal.
Activating his Left Eye, Horus is instantly bombarded with information. Information not just about the device on the ramparts, but even just about the world itself.
The plants, the animals, the people. A multitude of data that somehow sorted itself orderly in a "file" named "Terra-231".
Earth 400 years into the future.
Went through some evolution.
Animals evolved.
Alien races also made contact with Earth.
Humans here gained the ability to get stronger through leveling up.
Demon invasion.
To make matters worse, a system prompt pops into Horus's FOV.
[The System has detected a foreign entity with abnormal levels of dimensional energy.
Processing identity…
Identify not confirmed.
Proceeding to integrate entity with Aetherization.
Integration failed.
Processing back up protocols.]
When Horus read that he would enter Aetherization, he immediately rejected it.
He knew what that was. Allowing the System of this universe to essentially merge with him was not a good thing.
Not even Absolute Secrecy shielded him from the detection of the System. This meant the System was on a different level compared to the young god Mike.
This prompt made Horus nervous. He was about to head back when another system prompt appeared.
[Foreign entity, I am the System, or what you may call the Universe's Will. I currently am in dire need of your help.]
Horus read the prompt and was shocked.
'So, the systems in those novels were intelligent after all. Why the hell does a powerful System like this need MY help?'
Horus's mind was in calculation mode. A second goes by and Horus has three possible reasons why the Universe's Will would need his help.
Reason one, the System's hands are full. This reason was more or less a given as it is a cliche trope used in many novels Horus had read. A powerful entity would invade a universe and take its resources while killing all the inhabitants of said universe slowly.
Reason two is trickery. The System that sent him the prompt isn't exactly the System and is an evil demonic entity hellbent on making a comeback to exact revenge and time the universe.
Typically though, those old monsters appeared in rings or swords. Never were they right in front of your eyes.
Lastly, reason three would be that the System isn't necessarily the strongest in this universe and the strongest being had gone missing out there in the far reaches of the omniverse and hadn't come back in billions and billions of years.
Another universe, seeing the vacancy of its rival, decided to forcefully take this universe.
To Horus, reasons one and three would be more likely to have occurred with a 93% chance overall.
The old evil grandpa scenario was at an all-time high of 87%.
Even now, Horus can't deny that he isn't intrigued. Not wasting time, Horus replies, "Depending on what it is, I might consider helping."
[An extremely powerful force had invaded my universe a billion years ago causing untold amounts of damage. The creator left the Void 28 billion years ago.
That malevolent force and I had been equals until about 100,000 years ago. Slowly but—
What is it? Why did you smack yourself?]
At this point, Horus face-palmed himself into oblivion. His calculations were too accurate. The cliché in this world is too much. Horus pretty much made up his mind that all fantasy worlds are cliches.
"Uh, it's nothing. It's just that sometimes my genius is almost frightening," Horus replies to the System with a sigh, melancholy evident in his voice.
[Oh, okay. I see. As I was saying, am really in need of your help.
I sense that the laws established by the creator are not affecting you which means that you are of divinity where you come from.
Even the gods of my universe were unable to detect your intrusion.
A fledgling god with such a strong power. You are exactly what this universe needs. As a show of good faith, I will grant you this gift.]
After saying that, an object the size of a tennis ball appears before Horus, floating.
The ball radiated pure cosmic elemental energies of various kinds. This ball of cosmic energy made his Incandescent Luminosity and Expanse authorities react briefly. Horus instinctually reached a hand out but forcefully stopped himself.
He activated his Left Eye and read what he needed.
[Item: Myriad Law Energy
Description: This small ball of energy is refined by the Universe's Will. It contains all of the laws of the universe and their corresponding energies. Eating this will elevate any being's law of choice to a divine power.
System Note: Your authorities are above divine laws and will not receive a boost. It is recommended that the host gives it to another deity.]
'Damn, that's why they both reacted briefly. This thing is pretty amazing. I'm sure this refined energy would do the inhabitants of this universe much greater good than myself. I'll keep this for that special 'someone'.'
This was all processed in not even a second inside Horus's mind. This Universe's Will was quite generous to elevate his divinity without even knowing him.
Still, he didn't need elevation… He needs something more practical to help him in his plans. Something more materialistic.
"Thank you, System. However, I would like to clarify something first. Do you need my help immediately or is it something that could be pushed back? As of right now, I am but an ant in both your eyes and the higher echelons of this universe. Not to mention your enemies. Also, is there any way for you to gift me a metal capable of divine law integration?"
The reason Horus did not immediately accept the gift would be because that would mean he accepted the universe's plea for help.
That would be a big no-no. Gifting one thing to Horus would not persuade him to put his life on the line.
He'd need something more.
The Universe's Will did not respond right away. Another spherical object appeared before Horus. This one is the size of a basketball.
[This metallic ball is called the Divine Mineral of the Cosmos. It has the ability to not only absorb elemental, cosmic, demonic, psionic, spiritual, mana, and void energies into itself, but it is also capable of integrating concepts such as destruction, time, space, or whatever might have you into it. And even be able to evolve past its current self. At higher levels, it could even gain its semi-consciousness.
That was a lot, young deity but that is the best metal that has formed in the past 10 billion years. It resists things such as time erosion and the laws of thermodynamics.
As for your other inquiries, no you do not need to do anything now. In two years, I will need you to kill off the mid-powers of my enemies. They are all Tier 4-5. At your current power level, you are at the Early Tier 3 stage.
Other than that, that's all.]
As the System spoke, Horus used the Left Eye to gain information on the power system of this universe.
Horus even went as far as scanning the memories of thousands of soldiers to gain a better perspective.
The world he'd gone to was a newly awakened one with the highest growth potential. Horus wouldn't be surprised if this Terra-231 was a non-cliche where this planet was the first planet to be Aetherized and is the creator's favorite planet.
It later became abandoned and cordoned off due to his absence and other conflicts after his absence.
Horus was naturally glad. The System gave him a deadline to meet and to fulfill his promise.
With nothing more to add, Horus took the MLE ball and the DMC ball and stored them in his soul space.
Before leaving, Horus made sure to imprint this place with a marker. This would allow him to travel back to Terra-231 whenever he wished.
"Goodbye, System, and thanks for the items. Be looking out for me."
The System bade him farewell. Horus begins to slowly face each step he takes. His last thoughts were,
'Time to begin the Evolution of the Blades.'