Guidelines for Future Actions

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Ryan's gentle voice echoed throughout the circular Arena. He had thought an hour would be enough to settle matters in the Marvel world, but he had still ended up wasting a little more time than expected.

"You are too kind. We are servants who serve Lord Ryan, insignificant beings in your eyes. Here, we swear that we will never do anything that tarnishes the dignity of the supreme creators!"

Albedo knelt at the very front, while the other Guardians knelt in order according to the floors they protected. Seeing this strangely familiar scene before him, Ryan could not help but clear his throat. "I believe in your loyalty. All of you, rise first."

Being worshipped like a god truly felt wonderful, but that was not what Ryan wanted.

He knew himself well. He was not a god, and he would make plenty of mistakes. If the Guardians before him could not understand that, then it might not matter while he held an absolute advantage. But when he faced an evenly matched opponent—or even found himself at a disadvantage—their current state would become a fatal weakness.

However, he could not say such things aloud. It would damage his authority in the eyes of the Guardians. He would have to guide them gradually in the future.

With these future matters on his mind, Ryan spoke gently. "Nazarick Great Tomb has encountered something unknown. I previously sent Sebas out to investigate, and we now have the results."

"We have most likely arrived in another world!"

Ryan's words caused an uproar among the Guardians, yet not a single one doubted their truth. That made Ryan feel quite relieved.

"A New World! I wonder if there are any strange magical beasts here. It would be wonderful if we could encounter some!"

Aura happily skipped back and forth. Shalltear beside her could not help mocking her. "Perhaps this is a world without magical beasts at all. Then your hopes will be completely crushed!"

"How could a world like that exist!"

"Why couldn't it!"

The two began bickering back and forth. Albedo, standing nearby, could not help reprimanding them. "How can you be so disrespectful before the supreme one!"

Aura and Shalltear immediately stopped arguing at those words and cautiously looked toward Ryan.

Ryan did not actually mind such things, but to preserve Albedo's dignity as the overseer of the Guardians, he gently stopped their quarrel. Then he used Message magic to call Sebas, who had been scouting outside, back to give a detailed report on the situation beyond Nazarick.

"Oh? The original buildings, monsters, and swamp have all vanished and been replaced by plains!"

"As expected of the supreme creator who made us. You could even foresee something like this in advance... No, it would be more accurate to say that naturally, you would be able to foresee it in advance!"

After Sebas finished his report, Demiurge spoke with a fanatical expression. His appearance even made Ryan grit his teeth. Being trusted to this extent was truly an enormous pressure.

"Ahem. There is no need to praise me further. Although I am quite confident that Nazarick is also among the strongest powers in this world, we cannot become complacent because of that. Mare!"

The dark elf youth below, dressed in women's clothing, immediately took two nervous steps forward upon hearing his name.

"Nazarick is not yet at the stage where it should reveal itself. After the meeting, I will need you to conceal the surrounding environment."

"Yes!"

Hearing Ryan's request, Mare, dressed like a girl, eagerly agreed.

"Alva."

Ryan turned toward the NPC he had created. Ryan valued Alva's innovation and research abilities immensely; he was also indispensable to many of Ryan's plans for the future.

"Great Creator!"

Alva gave a slight bow to show his respect.

"I will grant you the authority to control the Tower Spirit. You must research a portal capable of stably crossing worlds as quickly as possible. There should be relevant records inside the Tower Spirit. If you need any materials, as long as they exist in the treasury, feel free to request them." Ryan spoke with great generosity. In YGGDRASIL, there were nine major worlds, and players used World Portals to reach the other worlds.

Previously, Ryan had used the world-class item Endless Serpent Ring to demand that the Tower Spirit building he created share access with the game's database. Naturally, as long as something existed in YGGDRASIL, the Tower Spirit possessed detailed records of it.

As for construction materials, Ryan was not worried about that at all. The quantity was so astronomical that even numbers could hardly describe it. He estimated that he would not use even a ten-thousandth of it in his lifetime.

"I understand. But please forgive this subordinate's confusion. Since Nazarick's power in this world is also among the highest, why not conquer this world first before setting out to subjugate the other worlds?"

Alva asked in confusion. Ryan's mouth twitched when he heard that. Damn it, when had he ever said he wanted to conquer the world? He did not remember adding a chuunibyou trait to Alva's settings!

"Ahem, Alva, I am having you build World Portals not to conquer other worlds, but because of one of my abilities." After demonstrating the system's spatial passageway, Ryan continued, "This ability of mine can send people to other worlds, but it can only be opened by me personally. That is very inconvenient, so I hope you can complete this research as soon as possible. It will greatly benefit Nazarick's development."

He hoped to reduce his reliance on the system as much as possible. However, whether he could ultimately achieve that goal would depend on Alva's final construction results.

"I understand. Truly worthy of the supreme one who created us—you can even freely open passages between worlds. I will complete the task you have assigned as quickly as possible and ease your burdens!"

Alva's aged voice carried a trace of excitement. Having been flattered yet again, Ryan awkwardly cleared his throat a few times. After arranging Nazarick's recent defenses, he began explaining his plans for the coming period in detail.

Ryan had no desire to rule this world. After all, nearly all the benefits this world had to offer were already in his grasp, and what remained was merely scattered scraps. Wasting effort and time for such insignificant gains was simply not worthwhile.

Moreover, because Influence Value could only be acquired in the Marvel world, he had no choice but to treat the Marvel world as his main focus. Unless one day he could free himself from the system's power, as long as he still wanted to use the advantages of different worlds to grow stronger quickly and find his way home, he had no other choice.

Therefore, in this world, Ryan only needed to ensure that Nazarick possessed sufficient influence. In the future, he might even take the initiative to spread powerful cultivation techniques to this world's other forces.

It was foreseeable that he would obtain all kinds of power systems while traveling between worlds. Whether some of them conflicted with one another, contained hidden dangers, or even killed anyone who practiced them could not be determined without sufficient experimentation.

Ryan's personality could not tolerate using his own people as test subjects, so he could only let outsiders do the work. Whether the results were good or bad, after enough time had passed, he, who controlled everything from the shadows, would naturally be able to claim the crystallized achievements of an entire civilization.