World Portal

"Sebas, what do you think of this place?"

After surveying the area from midair with the Flight spell, Ryan used the Message spell to ask Sebas, who was still on the ground.

"Whatever you decide is fine."

Sebas's voice echoed in Ryan's mind.

"Then it's settled. But first, I need to make sure nothing that happens here can be seen by Earth's satellites!"

Having made his decision, Ryan returned to the ground. Looking at the sunken basin before him, he raised a hand, and formation after formation of magical runes appeared, enveloping the entire basin.

In the game, he had trained exclusively in magic-based classes, but he had never specialized in any single school. Instead, he had learned a little of every type.

Although that choice had made his combat power merely below average in the game, it also meant he had no weaknesses. Besides, when fighting others, he had never relied on skill or stats, but on items and money!

The countless cash-shop items in his inventory ensured that he could hold out even against a hundred players attacking him at once. If world-class items were included, wiping out the enemy by himself would be easy.

Come to think of it, such an extremely unbalanced game system was also why Overlord had shut down so early. Otherwise, given Overlord's popularity, it could have lasted several more years at least.

After the spell was cast, an illusory curtain of light covered the basin. Ryan did not stop there, pulling more than a dozen scrolls from his inventory and using them one by one.

The illusion was meant to prevent satellite observation, while those scrolls were meant to guard against detection by information-type magic.

One thing worth noting was that information-type magic in Overlord could only be used to find people, monitor them, and probe a target's weaknesses. It was useless for events that had not yet happened, or events that had already happened but offered no clues whatsoever.

"That should be enough!"

Ryan studied the basin before him as he considered the matter.

With the measures he had taken, he could ensure that this place would not be discovered by outsiders due to some accident. Unless someone could come to Mars and happen to arrive at this exact location—but that possibility was so small it was practically impossible. And even if that infinitesimal chance really came to pass, once the portal was established, the monsters guarding it would tear the intruder to pieces!

As he considered whether he had overlooked anything, Ryan walked to the center of the basin and took the World Portal out of his private space.

The World Portal stood fifty meters tall, twenty meters wide, and one meter thick. Its surface was covered in magical runes, and it was forged entirely from the highest-grade Void Metal. It had no door, only a frame embedded with 2,048 highest-grade spatial magic gemstones. At full charge, it could keep the World Portal activated for half a year.

And with the charging formation carved into it, the energy core would not need to be replaced even after thousands of years. It could be called the highest-grade creation Nazarick was currently capable of producing, as well as knowledge that absolutely could not be allowed to leak.

Ryan poured a stream of magic power into the portal to activate it. Seeing it begin to change, he stepped back.

Construction of the base would be handled by Nazarick after the portal activated. For now, all he had to do was wait.

The magical runes carved into the frame lit up one after another in sequence, their azure radiance illuminating the entire basin.

As void energy gathered, tiny black fissures began to appear in the center of the portal. Ryan frowned slightly at the sight.

Those spatial rifts gave him an immense sense of danger. He believed that even if Adamantium, the hardest metal in the Marvel world, were thrown into them, it would meet only one fate: being ground to pieces.

"Is this... normal?"

Since it was his first experiment, Ryan could not help asking Sebas. The World Portal was irreplaceable in his future plans. If this attempt failed, the resulting trouble would be far more than a mere inconvenience.

"I trust Mr. Alva's skills."

Sebas did not answer directly, because he too had no idea whether what was happening was normal. However, he had absolute confidence in his colleague's research abilities.

"I was overthinking it!"

Ryan froze for a moment, then shook his head with a laugh.

Even if this attempt failed, they could keep trying next time. With Alva's research ability, it was only a matter of time.

Besides, the portal did not look as though it was about to fail.

The black fissures grew more numerous, but after reaching a certain limit, they instead stabilized completely.

A passageway remarkably similar to the Teleportation spell slowly rotated within the portal.

"Looks like it worked!"

Ryan's face brightened. Just as he was about to summon some monsters according to the plan for a practical test, a familiar figure rushed out of the portal, clinging to him like a koala with an utterly blissed-out expression.

"Ah~ Master's scent! This aroma of flesh and blood overflowing with magic power... it has utterly captivated me!"

Dressed in a gothic princess gown, Shalltear pressed her face against Ryan's chest and sniffed deeply in intoxication.

Ryan's face darkened. He grabbed the back of her collar and yanked her off him.

"I told you, didn't I? You can only use this World Portal after I've conducted enough experiments!"

"You were so reckless—did you ever consider what would happen if something went wrong?"

Fire burned in Ryan's eyes. He was genuinely angry.

"I acted on my own without heeding Your Supreme One's instructions. Please punish me, Your Supreme One!"

Frightened by Ryan's expression, Shalltear dropped to her knees, her delicate little face full of regret.

The instant the portal appeared, she had sensed Ryan's presence and rushed inside without thinking, completely forgetting about the experiment.

Of course, that was also because Ryan had merely been discussing the matter with Alva at the time and had not issued a clear order. Otherwise, no matter what, she would never have done anything that disobeyed Ryan's command.

"Enough!" Seeing Shalltear kneeling there with a pitiful expression, Ryan impatiently told her to get up. "You really do need to be punished this time. You were only lucky this time. If the portal had actually malfunctioned, how could you still be alive right now?"

"Your punishment is to finish reading this. Until you do, you are not allowed to go to my world!"

Ryan took out a set of textbooks from his private space.

He had specifically compiled them for the people of Nazarick. They contained most of Earth's common knowledge and social background.

Honestly, if these Demon King-level monsters did not learn the rules of Earth first, Ryan would not dare let them come over. He did not want to wake up one day and find the United States dropping nuclear bombs on his head.

"Textbooks..."

Shalltear, whose face had been flushed from Ryan's concern for her, looked at the thick stack of books before her, and her little face fell.

Reading was one of the things she hated most. She would rather fight a powerful enemy to the death than look at such things even once, but...

After glancing at Ryan, who clearly had no intention of changing his mind, Shalltear let out a helpless sigh and accepted it.