Mars

"The grand show is about to begin. Sebas, how is Annie's training going?"

"To be honest, I don't really trust Demiurge. I always feel that under his guidance, Annie's values are bound to develop problems in the future!"

Back in his own home, Ryan sat on the sofa, rubbing his temples as he asked.

Originally, he had intended for Sebas to train Annie. However, Tony's sudden return had forced him to alter part of his plan, so he could only have Sebas—the only Guardian who could accompany him in public without being misunderstood—follow him instead.

As for Annie, he had returned to Nazarick and brought over the self-recommended Demiurge to help teach her.

But whenever he thought of Demiurge's evil worldview, even though he knew Demiurge would not actively instill those wicked ideas without his orders, there was a saying: one who stayed near ink would turn black. Could anyone remain untainted after studying beside a great demon king for so long?

"Miss Annie has improved rapidly. If measured by levels, she had already reached the standard for level 5 by yesterday evening."

Sebas's respectful answer stunned Ryan. "How could she improve so quickly?"

In the game YGGDRASIL, the strength of a level 1 character was roughly equivalent to that of an ordinary adult. By level 5, one had basically reached the limits of a normal human body. Two more levels would allow one to learn truly extraordinary abilities such as magic, while warriors would likewise break past human limits.

No matter how gifted Annie was, it should have been impossible for her to cross such a vast gap in just two days. This was not one of those fantasy worlds with cultivation techniques. Without the cheat of experience points, anyone who wanted to become stronger could only train step by step.

"After Alva learned about Miss Annie, he specifically spent time creating an Arcane Energy Training Grounds. It has a rapid enhancement effect on anyone below level 30."

"Oh? I've been busy these past two days, so I didn't notice. Can it be mass-produced?"

Ryan's eyes gleamed. Simply saying level 30 would not give people an accurate idea of how strong that was, but for a pure warrior class, someone at level 30 could exert over ten tons of force with one arm, run one hundred meters per second, and possess reflexes so powerful that they could clearly see even a fired bullet.

With explosive force and combat skills added in, this thirty-three-story Haulers Building could be brought down barehanded within an hour.

"This subordinate does not know yet, but according to Demiurge, the training grounds consume a great deal when activated."

"It consumes a lot? That's hardly a disadvantage. You know our resources are currently in a state of complete surplus, but..."

Ryan tapped two fingers against the sofa, shook his head, and did not continue the subject.

He planned to find time later to ask Alva about it in detail. If it could be used on a large scale, he would have another valuable card for trade.

But he was not concerned with that right now. There was something else he wanted to know.

"That story we made up... ahem, Annie didn't notice any flaws, did she?"

Ryan suddenly coughed, asking somewhat guiltily.

In order to let Annie receive better training, he had deliberately arranged a scripted fortuitous encounter for her.

The plot was roughly that he had invented the identity of an exorcist, as well as certain fictional duties for exorcists. In the end, Demiurge would play the role of an old master and teach Annie, this new generation of exorcist!

The background story was similar to the novels from his previous life, but Ryan truly had no idea whether it could fool Annie. The little girl had been smart since childhood, and even with Nazarick supporting this lie, it was hard to say she would not spot some flaws.

Although it would not matter even if the truth was exposed, he still hoped this act could hold up for a while.

After all, artificially creating a fortuitous encounter and acting as the mastermind behind the scenes had been one of his little dreams in his previous life.

"Miss Annie was initially somewhat doubtful, and she often asked about places where the details conflicted. However, after Demiurge's explanations, she should currently be in a state of half-belief and half-doubt."

Sebas spoke steadily, and Ryan relaxed after hearing it.

"Is that so? Hmm, Demiurge really is quite reliable when it comes to getting things done!"

Ryan smiled as he praised him, having completely forgotten that he had just been worried Demiurge might lead Annie astray.

Sebas showed no reaction at all, standing motionless at the side. Ryan rubbed his nose in boredom and rose from the sofa.

"Time to handle business! Though I feel that establishing the World Portal will be nothing but a complete disaster for me!"

Thinking of the warped values of those people in Nazarick, Ryan sighed with a headache before using teleportation magic.

The construction of the World Portal had proceeded even faster than expected. After directly obtaining the world coordinates from Ryan's system, they had even skipped the time needed for calculations, leaving it ready to activate at any moment.

Now, Ryan needed to find a hidden place to set up the other World Portal. Although a single portal could still teleport using the coordinates of the other world, it consumed ten thousand times the energy of a paired set, and the passage's stability and carrying capacity were vastly inferior.

Since Ryan regarded the Marvel world as his primary world, establishing a stable interworld passage was essential. He had already decided on the location.

The gale surged. Immediately after teleporting over, Ryan got a mouthful of sand blown into his face. He hurriedly cast a protective spell, then took out an oxygen tank from his private space—also known as his game inventory—and put it on before surveying the dark-red wasteland before him.

This was Mars, a place hundreds of millions of kilometers away from Earth.

Originally, he had wanted to establish the portal somewhere hidden on Earth or the Moon, since they were closer.

However, after considering the interdimensional protective barrier formed by Kamar-Taj's three Sanctums on Earth, as well as the Inhumans on the far side of the Moon, he ultimately abandoned that idea.

He was unsure whether the construction of an interworld portal would be detected or affected by those forces. Even though Alva had said the portal's construction would not cause much of a disturbance, caution had been etched into Ryan's bones. Unless something absolutely had to be done, he would rather go through extra trouble than allow even the slightest accident to occur.

Besides, establishing the portal on Mars was not much trouble. The spell "Teleportation" had no distance limit in the game, and when the game became reality, it had retained that setting. No matter how far away a place was, the distance was only a psychological issue.

The two searched Mars for a suitable location to build a base, and when Ryan saw a concave basin, he stopped.

Although Mars had an atmosphere, it was not suitable for normal human survival.

Ryan's body could ignore those harmful effects, but since this would become a location connecting the countless worlds in the future, necessary modifications were still required. After all, he was a hedonist. Experiencing eating sand on Mars once was more than enough.