While the incubators were running, Liam returned to Earth and went to the Mariafird Company.
When he went shopping yesterday, he forgot a crucial element.
Even if the nagas grew up healthy, they couldn't enter the divine realm just like that.
Novarians used to have the mark of the realm but the seed erased it all. If he brought them in through a portal, with their power, the divine realm would take several hundred years to add anything else.
That was certainly not what Liam wanted.
Fortunately, he had a solution.
In the store, there were fewer people than yesterday, and he was directly received by a young elf.
"Hello, sir, what can I do for you?"
"I need to encapsulate living beings to put them in my divine realm, but I don't have them with me."
The woman hesitated.
"It's not that I don't want to, but only demigods can create divine pearls that reduce divine realms' acceptance time. If you don't have the things with you, you'll need an encapsulator. The price is tens of times higher than paying a demigod to do the same job."
Liam nodded.
"Don't worry, I can pay."
Hearing that, the woman smiled. For such an order, she was going to earn a big commission.
"What is the strength and number of people to encapsulate, and for what level of divine realm?"
"I just opened my divine realm and it's still a lower demi-plane, so it should be a 1-star pearl. There are 63 living beings to encapsulate, and their strength will not exceed rank 2."
He doubted that any red-moon naga could reach rank 2, but he preferred to be prepared.
"No problem, I'll get that for you."
Pearls were quite tricky to evaluate, and depending on the roughness of the divine power used to make it, its quality could be very different.
For example, the Pearl containing the novarians that Liam had used a few days ago.
If the divine power was too rough and the Pearl was formed hastily, the pearl couldn't be accepted by demi-planes, so it would be evaluated as 2 stars. At that point, its quality would be around red or yellow.
However divine pearls were not the only method for gods to add things to their divine realm, only the most convenient. Divine energy infused the contents of the pearl, allowing it to quickly merge into the plane.
In reality, Liam could have directly sent the novarians into the demi-plane, but he would have had to wait more than 300 years (between three and four months on Earth) before adding anything.
Every time something was added to the divine realm, it used its origin to mark it as belonging to the realm.
It was easy to overload the origin of the realm and make it collapse on itself by adding too many things.
That's also why a large number of small objects integrated faster than a huge object, especially if it was alive.
It was easier to move 10 000 one-kilogram rocks than a 10-ton block.
Fortunately, the more the divine realm improved, the more its origin increased.
Meanwhile, the saleswoman returned with a spatial ring.
"And there you go, is that all?"
"Yes, that's all I needed."
"Then it will be 750 000 divine points."
Liam was speechless at the exorbitant price, but he still paid.
The woman smiled even more and summoned the roulette.
"The software tells me that you already came yesterday, so you already know the concept of the roulette. You have 15 draws. You can make them all at once if you're in a hurry, it's up to you."
Liam nodded and did all fifteen draws at once. A few moments later, a robotic voice rang out.
"Congratulations, you won two 1000 divine point vouchers, a rank 4 magic staff, a foundation sublimation pill, a pack of ten spirit stones, six white pearls, two red pearl, one yellow Pearl, and the coordinates of a lower half-plane."
The entire room seemed to freeze as the mechanical voice finished speaking.
Liam himself had wide eyes.
The value of such coordinates was thousands times higher than what he had just bought.
He quickly recovered and could only scratch his head, happy.
"Well, it seems I'm lucky."
The saleswoman regained her composure and still dazed, went search for his rewards.
…
A few hundred kilometers away, in an apartment filled with futuristic gadgets, a person couldn't stop fidgeting on a holographic keyboard. Finally, he shouted with joy and stood up in one go.
"Haha, I finally managed to hack their damn system. I'll use the blood of these kids to regain my power!"
He didn't stay long and immediately teleported elsewhere, disappearing from the room.
…
A crack opened in the void, and Liam appeared above his divine realm.
He looked at the incubators.
He had been on Earth for less than two hours, but almost three months had passed here.
There were only a few weeks left before everything was ready.
…
In the middle of the night, Sylvera left the party and exited the cave.
The guards saw him but said nothing and let him go.
It wasn't the first time he left in the middle of the night, and the chief had given his permission for this.
Sylvera didn't go far. He climbed up the mountainside and stopped on a small promontory a few hundred meters high.
He was still far from the summit, but from here, he overlooked the entire area and could even see the edge of the world.
The trees swayed slowly in the wind. From time to time, nocturnal beasts could be heard roaring.
There were no stars in the sky, only a large number of cracks. When he looked closely, he could see them slowly expanding.
At that time, Sylvera suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
He jumped and wanted to grab his weapon, but he had left his spear in the cave. Fortunately, he recognized the newcomer and quickly relaxed.
"I knew you would be here."
The tribe chief didn't say anything more and looked at the sky with Sylvera.
Some time passed before he spoke again.
"This world is collapsing."
Sylvera didn't react.
He already knew.
"You probably don't remember, but when you were still a child, the sky had no cracks. They only started appearing a few years ago."
"These cracks are not really cracks in the sky, but holes in the spatial barrier. Before, it could regenerate almost immediately, but since the origin of the world has been depleted, its regeneration speed decreases every day."
He sighed and paused again, looking sadly at the landscape.
"With the current pace, it will only take a few weeks before the spatial barrier breaks completely."
"What?!"
Sylvera looked at his father completely shocked, but he didn't answer and continued talking.
"The origin of the plane has been damaged, and even the spirit beasts can't do anything about it. This plane is doomed to disappear."
Sylvera was outraged.
"And the Lord of the Azure Abyss? Is he not going to do anything? Is he going to watch all of die like this without doin-..."
Slap
His father didn't let him finish and slapped him.
"Don't speak of our lord like that. He has already done so much for us. I told you to learn to read between the lines since you were a child. You're not like the others. You're the future chief of the tribe. Others may have rigid beliefs and thoughts, but you must absolutely maintain your lucidity and keep a clear view of the situation. That is the only path you can take. Otherwise one day, you will lead our entire tribe to its end."
Sylvera said nothing and stared at the ground while his father continued to speak.
"God is all-mighty, that's true, but there is also a balance in things that must respect. Since this plane is reaching the end of its life, it is normal for it to disappear, and all beings on it with it."
"But it's not fair; we're not responsible for it!"
Sylvera retorted.
He was no longer the great novarian chief who led his tribe for hundreds of years; he was now just a child.
"Yeah that's right, it's not fair. But then what? Life is not fair, Sylv. When you hunted that crocodile this morning, do you think it wanted to die?"
"What? What's the link? It's just food."
"No, Sylv, war beasts are evolved enough to be not less smart than you and me. So tell me, do you think it wanted to die to end up in your stomach?"
Sylvera hesitated for a while but finally answered.
"No, it didn't want to."
His father put his hand on his shoulder and bent down to his level, looking him straight in the eyes.
"But you still killed it, don't you? And you know why: to survive. As you are stronger than it, you killed it, so you and the tribe could eat. It's balance. The weak eat grass, and the strong eat the weak before dying of old age and feeding the earth, which then feeds the grass. Balance rules everything, and only strength could break it."
"Now that the world is falling apart, there is nothing we can do. Only god could intervene, but I sincerely hope you are not naive enough to think that reversing the fate of an entire world comes without any consequences, or that our small tribe is truly worth paying such a price."
He straightened up and looked at the sky, not speaking for a moment.
"Have you ever thought about why you are the last children of the tribe?"
Sylvera shook his head. He already noticed that they were the youngest in the tribe, but he hadn't paid much attention to it.
"Short after your birth, the Lord of the Azure Abyss sent me a prophecy. The words he told me are still engraved in my memory. I haven't yet told them to anyone, but let me recite what he told me this day."
He took a deep breath, and his gaze clouded as he remembered memories from the past.
"This plane is fated to return to dust, but a new generation is born. They will carry the hope of the red-moon nagas. On the day of the end, they will leave behind this world destined to disappear for a brand new world that is just born. Thanks to the legacy of their ancestors, they will build a society like no other. The balance of forces, life, and death will continue in another plane, maintaining the eternal cycle of existence. When the sky collapses and the world withers, these young nagas will be the heirs of a new dawn."
As he spoke these words, the naga chief seemed to have aged more than a hundred years, and his once straight back hunched.
"So decided the Lord of the Azure Abyss, and so it must be."
Sylvera looked at his father; eyes wide open in shock. His father continued with a serious expression.
"We did not choose this, Sylv. Destiny decided to place us in this position; you, me, and the whole tribe. You are the guardians of our last hopes. God gave you a chance for survival, but that does not mean your responsibility toward the tribe is lesser. On the contrary, it means that when we are gone, you must pave the way for those who'll come after you."
His father pointed a finger at the cracks in the sky.
"When the time comes, the young nagas will have to take that gate and seek a new home, a new life."
Sylvera swallowed, slowly understanding the magnitude of the situation.
His father placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Be strong, my son. For us, it is the end of the journey, but for you and your comrades, the trials are just beginning. We have done our best to guide you, and I'm sure that even after our departure, you will manage to reform our glorious tribe and even lead it toward higher views."
Upon hearing his father's words, something clicked in Sylvera, and immersed in his thoughts, he slowly became aware of the role that awaited him.
Thinking back to the wise words of his god, he understood that he had been too naive.
Instead of weakening, his faith strengthened. He was already a true believer, but he did not follow the path of a fanatic.
His faith condensed into something more powerful, purer.
The two of them remained silent, together looking at the cracks in the sky that marked the imminent end of their world.
…
Time flowed quickly, and the few weeks went by. On that day, the entire tribe gathered at the summit of the mountain.
Sylvera had a calm and determined expression on his face. The words of the Lord of the Azure Abyss still echoed in his mind.
The cracks in the sky had widened again, and waves of chaotic energy escaped from time to time, destroying vast areas.
They even saw a huge spirit beast over a hundred meters long being torn to pieces without resistance.
Everyone knew that the end was coming.
His father stood by his side, addressing the tribe.
"The end is close, but the great Lord of the Azure Abyss has not abandoned us. Even if the world falls into ruin, he will not let our race tail off. In his kindness, he agreed to welcome our 63 young children so they can perpetuate the flame of our race."
As the chief spoke, space twisted behind him, creating a singularity that slowly expanded.
"Our race will not tail off, and our children will be the carriers of a new hope, the heirs fated to forge a radiant future for our tribe in a new world. We won't be here to witness it, but our legacy will continue to be passed down through generations. On this day, I, Simia Nagaia, appoint my son, Sylvera Nagaia, as the new chief of the tribe! May he bring glory to our race in the new world!"
While he was speaking, the singularity expanded to several meters. As soon as he finished his speech, the singularity shone, transforming into a gigantic spatial passage.
In a solemn gesture, he stretched out his arms and pointed to the portal.
"Go, children, there's not much time left."
The young nagas hesitated. They didn't want to leave. Under the persuasion of the adults, they eventually entered the portal one by one.
The entire tribe stood there, on the top of the mountain, watching their young ones go enter the unknown, their eyes filled with emotions.
In the end, only Sylvera remained.
He approached the portal, took a deep breath, and with a final glance towards the tribe, entered.
The channel closed behind him.
The sky continued to crack, and chaotic energy ravaged the declining plane.
At some point, the spatial wall completely collapsed, and a massive surge of chaotic energy directly shattered the plane into pieces.
Beyond debris, the hope of new dawn was flying to another world…
[PICTURE HERE]