Setting Off, Other Material Planes

A hundred years ago, Huosi began to contemplate what he should do about the future.

In his previous life, he had also learned about the paths taken by other transmigrators.

Generally speaking, transmigrators like him would head to the Higher Planes at this stage, starting from the level of a Median God to slaughter their way to the top.

They would advance by leaps and bounds, with Seven-Star Fiend, Asura, or even Sovereign status being well within reach.

Then, through their own unique methods, they would eventually achieve the status of a Controller.

However, Huosi could not take this path himself—or rather, he had no way to take it, because he was a god who had refined a Godspark.

On one hand, he was only a Lowgod; although his strength was not inferior to an average Median God thanks to the augmentation of his Interstellar Battle Armor, that was the extent of it.

In the Higher Planes, while a Median God would not necessarily be reduced to cannon fodder immediately, they were still in extreme danger.

Linley could fight his way out, but that did not mean he could; Linley possessed a Soul-Protecting Sovereign Artifact, Azure Dragon blood essence, Sovereign's Might, the resources Beirut provided through Beibei, and even Qinghuo following behind him.

In the Higher Planes, any random bandit group usually had more than one Median God holding down the fort.

As for tribes, any tribe with even a modicum of strength had a Highgod in charge, and Median Gods in such tribes barely held any status. Furthermore, conflicts between tribes were common, and the risk of falling was still significant.

Moreover, the wages in these tribes were tear-jerking; the Black Dragon Tribe only bestowed wealth upon a Median God once every ten thousand years. With such compensation, it would take hundreds of millions of years to even establish a foothold in a city.

He was different from Linley, who possessed Highgod Artifacts and a Highgod Godspark, which were worth a fortune the moment they were sold.

If he went, he could only work for others, and he estimated that after working for tens of millions of years, he would barely be able to afford to rent a room in a city for a few decades.

However, if he did not go to the Higher Planes, there was another problem: the resources of the Material Plane were limited, and so was the energy.

Even if he could absorb divine power from the Elemental Ocean, such a method was simply too slow.

Over these many years, Huosi had put effort into technological development, only to discover that the Coiling Dragon universe still adhered to the basic laws of conservation of mass and energy.

But this created a problem. Logically, if the heaven and earth elements of a Material Plane were fixed, then as time passed, they would be continuously absorbed by cultivators. Once cultivators broke through to the Saint level, some would leave for other planes.

The same applied to material resources; weapons forged by cultivators required materials. As time passed and more people left for the Higher Planes, the Material Plane should have been hollowed out.

Yet the reality was that even after many epochs, the Material Plane remained perfectly fine.

It was as if the Material Plane could replenish its own heaven and earth elements, and as for the source, it was naturally the Elemental Ocean, or perhaps even the Hongmeng Space.

After observing this, Huosi concluded that the Material Plane must be capable of self-repair, absorbing energy from the Elemental Ocean to replenish its heaven and earth elements and matter.

The energy of the Elemental Ocean essentially came from the Hongmeng Space; of course, this repair speed was limited, forming a balance with the cultivators.

In the Material Plane, heaven and earth elements and materials fluctuated within a certain range.

If one were to exhaust the materials and heaven and earth elements all at once, it would take long, arduous ages to recover; therefore, one could only control the extraction to a certain speed, like a thin stream flowing for a long time.

His Interstellar Battle Armor, while representing top-tier science that did not lose to the Mechanical Civilization universe, would not upgrade out of thin air.

The essence of the Interstellar Battle Armor was that it gradually increased its level through the absorption and conversion of resources and energy.

To upgrade, the demand for resources and energy was astronomical.

Especially since technological upgrades required breakthroughs in many branching technologies, it seemed that relying on the resources of a single Material Plane would make it difficult for his strength to ever see a major breakthrough.

Energy could, of course, be extracted from the Elemental Ocean and converted into divine power for use, but a Lowgod could only penetrate a few dozen meters into the Elemental Ocean, and the speed was so slow that even hundreds of millions of years would not be enough to upgrade the armor.

Thus, a cycle was created: one could not collect resources without going to the Higher Planes, one could not become stronger without collecting resources, and one could not go to the Higher Planes without becoming stronger.

However, Huosi suddenly recalled a branch of technology: space teleportation technology.

Huosi clearly remembered that in the finale of Coiling Dragon, Hongmeng said that subsidiary universes had no way to cultivate the Laws of Time and Space. The Laws of Time could only be manifested by some divine beasts through innate divine abilities, and as for the Laws of Space, it seemed there were only teleportation arrays and spatial rings.

Consequently, Huosi prepared to focus his remaining resources and energy primarily on space teleportation technology to open the gates between Material Planes.

In this way, he could absorb the resources of one Material Plane after another through space teleportation arrays. Although the resources of each plane were limited, the sheer number of planes was staggering.

Just like a Sovereign spreading faith, he could form a combined force from a terrifying number of sources.

As for whether this would drain the Hongmeng Space, Huosi thought of how people in his previous life had proposed that the sun might go out in five billion years, and wondered what humanity should do.

Regarding this, he felt they were overthinking it. Huosi even felt that not even a Hongmeng Controller could likely drain the Hongmeng Space dry.

"Space, what exactly is the principle behind it?"

Huosi casually tore open a spatial rift and couldn't help but mutter to himself.

From the perspective of his previous life, there were many theories about space teleportation, such as the wormhole theory, which connected two locations through the distortion of space-time.

Others felt it was quantum entanglement, where two particles remained connected even when far apart, or even that this was not a problem for three-dimensional life, but a theory for higher-dimensional existences.

In the Mechanical Civilization universe, within the main universe, there existed things like teleportation and the ability to alter the flow of time.

However, Huosi only knew a little bit about these things.

Although the system had given him a detailed document, it was incompatible with this universe itself.

He had to find the fusion point between the two through the space teleportation arrays of this magical universe, and only then would it be possible to complete a teleportation array for this world.

The Coiling Dragon universe did have real, tangible space teleportation magic arrays, and in the main universe, one could cultivate the Laws of Space.

Based on these ideas, combined with what he had seen in the teleportation arrays, Huosi began to make constant attempts.

It was just that these things always gave him a very vague feeling; it seemed as if he understood, yet he also seemed not to, and in the end, everything failed.

Because of this, Huosi felt a sense of frustration, and for a moment, he did not know what to do.

Twenty years later, as a law of heaven and earth descended, Adkins finally broke through, becoming a lowgod of the light attribute.

On this day, sensing the fluctuations of godhood, Huosi also temporarily ceased his research and came out to attend a banquet.

Regardless of anything else, Adkins had followed him for so long and rendered him great service; he still had to give him some face.

"My Lord, you look a bit exhausted. Have you encountered a bottleneck in your research?"

At the banquet, Adkins held a glass of red wine, looking at the weary-faced Huosi as he asked, the joy of his ascension to godhood dampened significantly.

He did not feel any dissatisfaction; rather, he felt more concern.

He had followed Lord Huosi for so long that he understood him quite well, knowing that the Lord would certainly not try to embarrass him.

Therefore, if the Lord wore such an expression at his own ascension banquet, it could only be because there was a major problem with the Lord's research.

It was to the point that the Lord himself had not realized that his current expression was frighteningly grim.

"You could say that, but you don't need to worry. Just focus on your own work."

Hearing Adkins' words, Huosi rubbed his temples and replied.

He did not tell Adkins the detailed situation; regardless, today was Adkins' ascension banquet, and it was better not to talk to him about work.

Moreover, this problem was far too complex, and he did not believe that Adkins could easily solve it.

Therefore, although he felt anxious inside, he did not want to put too much pressure on Adkins, so he did not explain anything.

Furthermore, although Huosi was very irritable right now, he had not yet reached the end of his rope.

If pushed to the limit, he would wait—wait until Adkins broke through to become a highgod and have him take him to Hell; it would be safe enough.

Although Adkins' strength was not that of an invincible powerhouse who could dominate a region in Hell, he would have no problem avoiding being bullied by bandits or weak tribes.

It was just that if he had to wait for Adkins to break through to become a highgod, it would likely take hundreds of millions of years, and Huosi still wanted to be as fast as possible.

"My Lord, regardless of anything, if there is anything you need from me, just say the word. With one more person helping, perhaps you might find a new line of thought."

Adkins did not insist, but instead offered a toast.

"Rest assured, I know... wait, what did you just say?"

Huosi was suddenly stunned, and then he seemed to have grasped something.

Just a moment ago, a sentence from Adkins had suddenly brought him a spark of inspiration, giving him a feeling as if a thunderclap had struck his ears.

"Ah? I, I said, My Lord, if there is anything you need from me..."

"Not that, the part after!"

Huosi immediately interrupted Adkins and continued to ask.

"I said, with one more person..."

"That's it, that's exactly it! Thank you, Adkins."

Huosi instantly understood what his previous bottleneck had been about. He patted Adkins on the shoulder hard and turned to rush toward the laboratory.

"I, what did I say? Has the Lord... had an epiphany?"

Adkins was completely bewildered. He felt he hadn't said anything at all; how did it end up like this?

He could only shake his head afterward. The Lord having an epiphany was a good thing; there was no point in dwelling on what he couldn't understand.

"I was wrong, it isn't singular!"

Huosi cursed himself while operating the equipment; he had been truly stupid.

The spatial teleportation magic array created by the Highgod was not something that could operate singly; it required two to be activated together.

For instance, the teleportation array of the material plane had to activate while the teleportation array of the divine plane simultaneously activated—one receiving and one transmitting—to achieve teleportation.

Yet, what he had been observing in the Extreme Northern Ice Plains was only the portion on the material plane, which was equivalent to understanding only half of it.

Even a battery required a positive and negative terminal to form a current within an electrolyte; how could a spatial teleportation array with only a positive terminal possibly function?