The longer Hao Ren knew Izax, the more he felt that the man hardly seemed like a demon at all—he was better suited to being a thinker and philosopher. Of course, if he had any energy left, he could even be a scientist. This rough-looking, burly man possessed insights sharper and deeper than those of many scholars. They were the product of centuries of unceasing exploration and the subtle, long-term influence of a true scholar, and by now had become part of his "human" nature.
Even a demon could develop remarkable habits if he focused on one thing for several hundred years.
The world Izax lived in—at least within the portions that had been explored—possessed an incredible spatial structure. Space here was discontinuous, and the concept of "long-distance travel" was forever confined to sealed, finite-sized spatial bubbles—or, in more sophisticated terms, "crystal-wall systems." Hao Ren, who came from Earth, found it difficult to imagine how such a discontinuous spatial body had formed, but clearly, this spatial structure had profoundly influenced and shaped the unique forms of civilization here. Countless races lived scattered across one spatial bubble after another, while powerful races could even occupy one or several spaces on their own. They built nations on continents floating in the chaos and grew accustomed to the ancient portals that had existed in space since time immemorial, even considering them a natural phenomenon found everywhere.
The natives of this world reproduced and thrived by relying on spatial bubbles and Space Gates. Even nature had developed unique ecosystems because of them. Many animals regularly migrated as groups through enormous portals. They were born and raised in one space, then ran to another to breed or hibernate. Some plants even needed Space Gates to complete their reproduction. Intelligent races, meanwhile, actively treated Space Gates