In the captain's cabin of the Doomsday Ark, massive crystalline shards of divinity descended like mountains.
It took an amount sufficient to birth a true god just to barely repair the captain's cabin.
If the Doomsday Ark were to be fully restored, even the accumulated wealth of ten or eight Great True Gods wouldn't be enough.
On the surface, the Doomsday Ark appeared to be an ancient sailing ship, but in reality, its level of technology was extremely high.
At the very least, the control panel in the cockpit was a quantum computer at the level of a True God.
Rosen plugged in the main god computer's network cable, and soon he had taken over the quantum computer and started searching for the voyage logs.
On his retina, the screen of the main god computer emerged, playing everything recorded in the voyage log.
Everything that happened on the Doomsday Ark was recorded in the logs.
It wasn't recorded in text—it was all captured as video.
However, much of the video was heavily pixelated, as it involved Great True Gods.
After all, a quantum computer wasn't the Secretive Brass Tome—it couldn't record the images of Great True Gods. All depictions of their appearances were pixelated, and all their voices had been reduced to static noise. The only figures properly recorded were True Gods.
Three Great True Gods and over a hundred True Gods had boarded the Doomsday Ark with great hope, setting sail from the Myriad Gods Sea.
Just as Rosen had discovered in the captain's personal log, the Doomsday Ark's initial voyage was smooth.
From the Myriad Gods Sea, it ascended continuously, but instead of entering the Astral World, it bypassed it entirely and ventured straight into the boundless void above the Astral World.
The increasingly terrifying spatial storms could easily tear True Gods apart, yet they couldn't even shake the Doomsday Ark.
However, the Ark's speed was incredibly slow—almost crawling.
Its speed was less than ten thousand kilometers per hour. To break through the outermost world barrier of the New World, it needed to ascend more than six trillion kilometers. At this pace, it would take seventy thousand years to escape the New World.
It wasn't that the Doomsday Ark couldn't go faster, but the faster it traveled, the more problems it would face.
Even as a Great True God-class vessel, it was nothing more than a tiny sailboat adrift in a hurricane.
If it moved too fast, spatial storms could easily blow it off course.
In the boundless void, there was no sense of direction. The only method of navigation was to maintain a direct vertical trajectory away from the Myriad Gods Sea. If the ship drifted off course, it would only encounter more danger and waste even more time.
Thus, stable navigation was the top priority. But enduring a voyage lasting tens of thousands of years was grueling.
The Great True Gods and True Gods aboard took turns protecting the Doomsday Ark in three shifts.
The spatial storms weren't the biggest threat—the creatures born from these storms were.
At one point, the Doomsday Ark encountered a swarm of void worms led by a Great True God-class Void Worm.
It took all three Great True Gods working together to drive the swarm away.
By the end of the battle, all three Great True Gods were severely injured.
Once the danger had passed, the Ark had to make a rare stop for recovery.
It took them several decades to fully heal, and only then did the Ark resume its upward voyage, maintaining its anchor point in the Myriad Gods Sea.
But at that moment, the Doomsday Curse descended.
The Doomsday Curse was born from the deaths of all beings—a manifestation of the resentment of all the dead toward the Prime World.
One could say the Doomsday Curse was a cancer to the Prime World.
However, instead of eliminating it, the world's will had expelled this cancer into the boundless void, turning the Doomsday Curse into a barrier preventing Great True Gods from escaping the New World.
The Doomsday Curse was composed of the negative spirituality of the dead, and when it gathered in vast quantities, it could form a unique type of life.
These entities were spiritual beings by nature and instinctively wielded terrifying curse abilities.
The weakest of these cursed wraiths were True God-level, while the strongest surpassed even Great True Gods, rivaling Immortal Gods and Demons.
The fall of the Doomsday Ark stemmed from an encounter with a Cursed Wraith at the Immortal God Demon level.
All true gods quickly perished. Among the three great true gods, two managed to escape, while the last one failed to do so—this was the strange being trapped within the ticket space. However, at that time, the Doomsday Ark remained intact. For some reason, the Cursed Wraith did not destroy it.
The Doomsday Ark, having lost control, continued moving along its predetermined course.
Strictly speaking, the Doomsday Ark was only out of control for a brief moment.
The great true god hiding within the ticket space, though severely wounded by the Cursed Wraith's curse, gradually recovered over time and eventually regained control of the Doomsday Ark.
Tens of thousands of years passed. The Doomsday Ark encountered many dangers but managed to survive them all.
By the time it neared the World Barrier, parts of the ship had suffered severe damage.
Just as it was about to completely break free from the World Barrier, the only remaining great true god on board finally stepped out of the ticket space.
Yet, at that very moment, the recorded images in the navigation log turned into a complete mosaic.
Clearly, what happened next exceeded the recording limits of the quantum light-brain.
Although the visuals were lost, surprisingly, a segment of sound remained.
Rosen carefully analyzed the audio and confirmed that the voice did not belong to the great true god but to another true god.
However, this true god was not one of the ship's passengers.
Rosen recalled the third ticket space within the ship's cabin. Inside that space, there was the corpse of a true god and a shattered divine kingdom, all mixed together after being crushed. This true god was most likely the owner of the last recorded voice in the navigation log.
As for why this true god was on board, it was likely related to the last remaining great true god.
That great true god had used some method to bring an unplanned true god along, hiding them within their personal world.
A personal world could accommodate countless beings—so why was there still a limit on the number of tickets to board the Doomsday Ark?
The reason was that all life was entangled with the karmic threads of the world formed by the ancient gods.
For a great true god to transcend the world, the most difficult challenge was not the void storms or the Doomsday Curse but the entanglement of karma. Without resolving these karmic ties, they could not escape the main world and enter the true universe. The more passengers the Doomsday Ark carried, the more entangled the karma became.
The ticket space, however, was made of a special material that weakened karma.
Thus, to reduce karma, everyone aboard the ship had sent away all life within their divine kingdoms before boarding.
Not only their believers and subordinates but even their own kin and children were completely abandoned.
Yet, despite this, the great true god still insisted on secretly carrying another true god along. Clearly, their relationship was extremely close—so close that they were willing to take an even greater risk just to bring this true god along in their escape.
"The universe is fake. Everything is a lie..."
Despair, fear, pain, and madness—this was the last recorded voice left by the Mysterious True God in the navigation log.
Rosen fell into deep thought, his heart heavy. The navigation log did not record what happened in the end.
But judging from the outcome, the Mysterious True God died within the ticket space, the great true god became a strange being and imprisoned themselves in another ticket space, and the Doomsday Ark mysteriously appeared in the depths of the Spirit World's ocean.
If the Mysterious True God's final words were true, it would be enough to drive all great true gods insane.
Transcending the world to reach the true universe—this was the ultimate goal of every great true god.
If the universe was fake, and what lay beyond the main world was not truly the universe, then it would mean that all great true gods throughout history who had transcended had actually perished. So-called transcendence was nothing more than a lie, and all great true gods had been deceived by it.
Rosen thought about going to the Heaven-Piercing Pillar to find the World Tree but quickly dismissed the idea.
The World Tree had been trapped within the mystic realm of the Heaven-Piercing Pillar for countless years. When it came to the truth about the old and new worlds, or whether there was truly a universe outside, the World Tree likely knew even less than he did. Asking it would be pointless.
Ultimately, whether it was true or false didn't really matter.
Only strength determines everything.
No matter the situation, whether one faced truth or lies, without strength, even the truth was meaningless. With strength, even a lie could become real. If one wanted to uncover the truth, they should first become an immortal god-demon—only then would it not be too late to seek the answers.
…
The Old World—what remained of it—was on the verge of being completely consumed by darkness.
The underground empires and holy courts had gradually migrated to the Divine Mountain Sea Region.
This migration was no ordinary relocation. It involved stripping away the untainted parts of the Old World and actively integrating them into the New World. As a result, the Old World had become riddled with wounds, with no traces of intelligent life remaining.
The overall mass of the Old World had now become smaller than the New World due to the dismantling efforts of the many Heavenly Empires and Holy Courts.
During this process, the greatest beneficiary was the New World—or rather, the Ancient Gods.
Since the New World was formed from the Ancient Gods, devouring the last valuable remnants of the Old World naturally brought them the greatest advantage.
Meanwhile, the various Heavenly Empires and Holy Courts also successfully converted the old laws under their control into new laws.
As a result, laws that had previously been monopolized by certain true gods suddenly found themselves shared by two gods at once. It was inevitable that one of them had to die—otherwise, over time, both risked falling from their divine status.
Rosen came to the Old World this time with three main objectives.
First, of course, was to hunt the Children of the Dark Sun, obtaining more Dark Sun Imprints to enhance the strength of the Dark Sun Slime.
Second, he wanted to observe the changes in the Dark Sun. If its eternal essence was evolution, then where did darkness and corruption come from? Were they simply the byproducts of failed evolution? If he didn't figure this out, it would remain a hidden danger.
Lastly, Rosen wanted to investigate whether Apocalypse had left anything else in the Old World.
After merging with the Solar God Core, the Solar Lighthouse transformed into the Solar Jellyfish. Utilizing the miraculous trait of the Eternal Light Source, it could convert all energy into sunlight. Although only at Sequence 0, it was capable of effortlessly slaughtering true god-level Dark Sun Nests.
The Dark Sun Slime wasn't far behind. After all, it had mastered the Solar Law obtained from the Solar Dragon God.
With these two working together, every place they passed through was littered with the corpses of the Children of the Dark Sun. Rosen's Hunter Points and the permanent bonus to real damage against humans from his Hunter Contract kept rising. The entire hunting process required little involvement from him.
With his main body unoccupied, Rosen focused all his efforts on strengthening his pets.
After hunting the God of Thieves and the God of Hunting, he didn't use his Hunter Points to redeem anything.
The Root Law he had mastered could simulate their laws, and his Root Sequence could mimic their sequences.
So, redeeming for himself was pointless. If he wanted to redeem something for his pets, they had to be able to withstand it.
The Calamity Apostle was well-suited to inherit the Thief Soul Sequence of the God of Thieves and the Law of Theft.
However, the Calamity Apostle was only Sequence 1. To inherit a true god's power, it needed to ascend to Sequence 0 at the very least.
In fact, the same applied to the Dark Sun Slime. Strictly speaking, it was only Sequence 0, not a true god.
This was because it had not yet established a divine kingdom. Compared to a true god, its foundation was incomplete.
As for why Rosen hadn't helped it create one—he simply didn't know how. Ordinary divine kingdoms held little meaning for the Dark Sun Slime, and a kingdom that fully suited it had no precedent, meaning he had to research it himself.
Rosen's main research focus was on the Dark Sun Nests.
The Children of the Dark Sun were Sequence 0, while the Dark Sun Nests were true gods.
Each Dark Sun Nest contained a self-contained world, specifically designed to create more Children of the Dark Sun.
These nests bore a striking resemblance to out-of-control troop-breeding nests.
Surely, something could be learned from studying them.
Rosen didn't even need to conduct the research himself. The True Realm of the Ancient Gods now had a population of trillions. While they lacked the resources to make everyone transcendent, the total number of transcendents had still reached hundreds of billions. Over the years, at least tens of thousands had reached demigod-level strength.
By selecting a few demigods to study the Dark Sun Nests, they were bound to produce some results.
Moreover, Rosen didn't rely solely on these demigods—he also set his sights on the Holy Emperors of the Holy Courts.
These Holy Emperors had been trapped in the Old World for a long time and had undoubtedly conducted extensive research on the Dark Sun.
To assume they had discovered nothing would be underestimating these great true gods.
With this in mind, Rosen sent his Yinglong Avatar to visit the Primordial Soul Holy Emperor.
Although he could forcibly extract knowledge from the Holy Emperor using the All-Knowing Eye, the more detailed and valuable the information, the greater the cost to his divine essence. Compared to that, direct negotiation was far more efficient.
The transaction went smoothly—even better than expected. The Primordial Soul Holy Emperor even introduced Rosen to more potential trade partners, expanding the scope of the exchange.
Rosen only spent some basic potions but managed to exchange them for research materials on the Dark Sun Nests from over a dozen Holy Emperors. He also made acquaintances with these Holy Emperors—although they weren't close, at least he could interact with them when there was no conflict of interests. In the end, Rosen also gained over a dozen big clients.
The Holy Courts rely on the fortune of civilization as their resource, and the strength of this fortune is determined by the power of the nation.
The extraordinary systems of the Old World were significantly affected when they arrived in the New World.
The potion sequence system was an insurmountable threshold for the civilizations of the Old World.
So, this transaction was not only profitable for Rosen, but he also made a huge gain.
Upon reviewing the research materials on the Children of the Dark Sun, Rosen noticed many overlaps.
It was clear that these Holy Emperors had exchanged their research on the Dark Sun with one another.
"Group life?"
Rosen mused.
From the Children of the Dark Sun to the Dark Sun Nests, from the lower-tier Dark Sun followers to the higher-tier Dark Sun Forbidden Zones, there was a strict hierarchy among these beings. The lower ranks had no ability to resist the higher ranks.
Furthermore, these Dark Sun followers, as a form of group life, could evolve into the next tier through the mutual consumption of lower-ranked members.
The Dark Sun Nests could mass-produce gods, and the most studied topic among the Holy Emperors was the Dark Sun Nests.
There were indeed some valuable findings. Although they hadn't discovered a way for the Dark Sun Slime to create its own divine kingdom, they had managed to research methods to greatly enhance the efficiency of hunting the Dark Sun followers.
For instance, capturing a large number of Children of the Dark Sun and forcing them to kill each other to create Dark Sun Nests.
Then, trapping the Dark Sun Nests and killing any Dark Sun offspring that emerged.
While a single Dark Sun child had few resources, the more there were, the more resources would accumulate.
The key was not allowing the Children of the Dark Sun to form groups. Each one that was born could be slaughtered without resistance.
As for why the Holy Emperors hadn't killed enough to discover the Dark Sun Imprints, it was because the moment a Child of the Dark Sun died, a massive amount of Dark Sun pollution energy would be released. After killing many Dark Sun children, they would inevitably suffer from Dark Sun pollution. Therefore, even when hunting these semi-domesticated Dark Sun children, they rotated the hunts.
This research outcome seemed simple, but it was incredibly valuable.
Because the Dark Sun Nests were not lifeless—they wouldn't just stay there, producing Dark Sun children to be slaughtered.
The Dark Sun Nests had to be sealed and trapped, without affecting their production.
This required special sealing methods, and without countless trials, it would be hard to find the right balance.
Rosen hadn't considered domesticating the Dark Sun Nests, because they produced Dark Sun children too slowly.
The Old Continent wasn't lacking in Dark Sun children. The benefit of domestication was that it allowed him to hunt more Dark Sun children without having to move far from the Heavenly Empires and Holy Courts.
However, his Solar Lighthouse could move freely, so hunting wherever he went was much more efficient than domestication.
What Rosen focused on was the weakness of the Dark Sun Nests mentioned in the research materials. The various methods of dealing with the Dark Sun Nests would greatly improve the efficiency of hunting both the Dark Sun children and the Nests themselves.
Where ten Sequence 1 angels used to be needed to hunt a single Dark Sun child without harm, now only three to five could easily capture one.
Thus, these research materials increased Rosen's hunting efficiency several times.
As the countless Dark Sun children died in the frenzy of hunting, the number of Dark Sun Nests hunted gradually neared a thousand.
Hunting a thousand Dark Sun children gave one Dark Sun Imprint. What would hunting a thousand Dark Sun Nests give?
Rosen fired a Solar Flame Ball from the Fury of the Dragon God at the last Dark Sun Nest from an extremely long distance. As the shot landed, a black-red vertical pupil-like symbol appeared on his forehead. This was a Dark Sun Imprint of true god-level.
With this Dark Sun Imprint, he could forcibly command a true god-level Dark Sun Nest.
Confirming that there were higher-level Dark Sun Imprints, Rosen began to search frantically for more Dark Sun Nests. Fifteen Dark Sun Imprints from hunting Dark Sun children had created the Dark Sun Slime. What would happen if fifteen higher-level Dark Sun Imprints fused?
It would be 14,000 Dark Sun Nests—one for each day. Crushing them one by one was just a matter of time.
The Dark Sun Nests were easy to bully because they lacked intelligence and didn't know to group together when targeted.
(End of Chapter)