In the blink of an eye, another six months had passed. Fang Yuan had finally studied the magic of all the systems in detail and set up the basic spells for each system. He divided the entire realm's elements into ten primary systems: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Thunder, Light, Darkness, Poison, Vitality, Necromancy, Time, Space, and Fruits.
Among them, Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, and Thunder were systems that, according to his calculations, were prone to mutations, leading to variations such as Earth, Ice, Lava, etc. However, after further study, Fang Yuan was shocked to discover that if the beings in the Steel Ball Realm were to train the "Time," "Space," and "Fruits" systems to a sufficiently high level, they might break through his realm and enter other realms or directly manifest in the universe where Earth exists.
This was something Fang Yuan was unwilling to see, so he decided to directly lock the Time, Space, and Fruits systems, preventing people in the Steel Ball Realm from studying them.
With that, only twelve basic systems remained, but even so, there were still many variations. Fang Yuan tried using Necromancy in the Steel Ball Realm and found that it could make various skeletons of creatures fight for him, and even cause recently deceased beings to decay instantly, leaving behind skeletons that would rise and transform into killing machines.
The Light system and the Darkness system were opposites. Like the Water system, the Light system had strong healing and purification effects, while the Darkness system was potent in devouring and polluting. Fang Yuan also discovered that the Darkness system could turn him into someone else's shadow, which was quite strange.
Fang Yuan only developed the basic abilities and powers of these systems; as for the specific magic in each system, he let the beings of the Steel Ball Realm research and develop it themselves.
What intrigued Fang Yuan most was the Space system, which he had locked to prevent people in the Steel Ball Realm from training. He discovered that by using mental power to summon spatial elements and form specific symbols, he could trigger spatial folding or even create spatial wormholes.
This spatial folding or wormhole could be controlled, but the distance and location were not very precise. This did not trouble Fang Yuan. He imprinted the symbols on materials, fixed them in specific locations, and placed similar symbols on materials in distant places. By activating these symbols with mental power, he could achieve long-distance travel.
This was like a legendary teleportation array, and not only could it work in the Steel Ball Realm, but it could also be used outside it. Fang Yuan was overjoyed, never expecting that his study of magic would yield such results.
Though he could already teleport, the distance was too short—at most a few hundred meters. But this kind of teleportation had no distance limit; it just consumed mental power. Fang Yuan could easily replace mental power with energy stones, allowing him to achieve long-distance travel.
With this teleportation, Fang Yuan no longer needed to teleport in small increments when traveling to the moon. Most importantly, with this system, he could even explore the stars.
Fang Yuan was also curious: the universe was vast, and within or beyond the Milky Way, were there other sentient species? Of course, Fang Yuan was most concerned about whether there were treasures in the universe that could help perfect his realm. After all, if he could have the Steel Ball Realm, there must be other extraordinary things in the universe.
Six months had passed outside, but in the Steel Ball Realm, over ten thousand years had passed. In this time, the human population had reached over a billion, despite the constant wars and battles that led to many deaths. The population would have been much higher if not for the frequent conflicts.
The divine race's population had also reached ten million, although it was originally much higher. Due to their strong reproductive abilities, they could have seven or eight children per birth. However, a thousand years ago, the divine race discovered a land full of abundant resources and relocated en masse. Unfortunately, this led to war with the metallic lifeforms, resulting in over a hundred million casualties, with only a few million divine beings surviving.
The metallic lifeforms, having developed over ten thousand years, now numbered in the thousands. Though their population was small compared to the divine race, their individual strength was incredibly powerful—some of the strongest metal lifeforms stood thirty meters tall, with strength exceeding a million kilograms, capable of crushing mountains with a single punch.
The divine race's troubles were self-inflicted. They were too domineering and sought to monopolize the entire continent, clearing out the metallic lifeforms, which nearly led to their extinction. The divine race dared to provoke the metallic lifeforms because, over the past ten thousand years, they had developed a method for strengthening their bodies. Many powerful warriors could lift thousands of kilograms, and there were many of them.
In fact, not only the divine race but also humans, under the guidance of the Queen of Silence, had developed methods for body strengthening. Over thousands of years, many strong warriors had emerged. These warriors were capable of taking on hundreds of opponents, comparable to the divine race, though the divine race's average strength still surpassed that of humans.
The divine race had also had friction with the sole Lava Giant, but the results were disastrous. In the end, they completely avoided the volcanic region. Had Fang Yuan not restricted the Lava Giants from leaving that area, the divine race would have suffered even more.
After observing for so many years, Fang Yuan had learned that the average lifespan of the divine race was around 300 years, and their strongest warriors could live up to 800 years. The average human lifespan was around 70-80 years, with strong warriors reaching 110 years.
The metallic lifeforms had very long lifespans. The first generation of these beings was still alive today, though they were very old. The elves, with a normal lifespan of 1,000 years and their strongest warriors living up to 2,000 years, were also a long-lived race. The elven population had surpassed ten million, and they occupied a continent full of magical forests, excelling at archery.
The elven fruit tree, now over 10,000 meters tall and covering an area of more than ten kilometers, was incredibly impressive. What surprised Fang Yuan was that the tree was now exuding life energy.
As for the Queen of Silence, she had passed away over 4,000 years ago. Fang Yuan was astonished. The young girl named Qing You, after integrating with the Mother Insect Queen's core, had lost the ability to bear children due to aging but had far surpassed ordinary people in mental power. Qing You used her mental power to refine her body, allowing herself to live to 999 years old, just one year shy of 1,000 years.
Today, Qing You's descendants were scattered across the human continent. The once-great Qing You Dynasty had collapsed, but her name still lived on.
...
"Crack…"
One day, the jade egg that had been incubating for nearly six thousand years finally hatched. Fang Yuan hurried into the Steel Ball Realm and arrived at the Creation Mountain.
He saw the translucent jade eggs rising into the air, tearing the membrane, and cracking open. Immediately, light exploded out. To Fang Yuan's astonishment, the shells of a hundred jade eggs shattered, revealing beings of "life." However, what shocked him was that these were not ordinary beings, but small, human-like statues, each about the size of a palm.
The statues flew around Fang Yuan, and as they faced the wind, they grew rapidly, transforming into statues that were over ten meters tall and neatly lined up in front of the temple.
Then, one by one, half-transparent figures of little girls or boys rushed out of the statues, cheering and running toward Fang Yuan.
"Father God..."
"Father God, I'm hungry..."
"Father God, I'm so hungry..."
"Father God..."
The little ones, entirely composed of energy, chirped as they flew around Fang Yuan, bouncing and jumping.
Fang Yuan was stunned—what in the world was going on?