chapter 97
I wandered around the Divine City, or the Divine Realm as it was called, though it wasn’t truly "a Realm"—it was a massive pocket dimension. I asked why they referred to it as "Realm" when it obviously wasn't. She said cultivators often call pocket dimensions 'realms' because they’re unable to distinguish the difference. It’s not an actual world, just a pocket dimension, essentially a room created within the spatial layers. She added that it's no different than being anywhere else in the universe since it follows the same rules. However, in a realm, you're able to bend or change those rules and create your own.
The ground was made of trillions of clouds, though they weren’t an illusion. The ground truly consisted of clouds, conjured through powerful magic, which required a vast amount of energy. This place must have an external power source, I thought. The space isn’t maintained by any particular god. Instead, she explained that the core of the Divine Realm generates power to sustain the realm itself. They opted for a floating city concept, with the ground made of clouds, though, of course, regular clouds couldn’t support such a structure. She assured me that even if the clouds disappeared, the city wouldn’t fall—strictly speaking, the clouds were only slightly above the walls of the pocket dimension. The buildings wouldn’t collapse because this was, after all, a pocket dimension.
A pocket dimension is more akin to being in outter space, meaning the gravity here is artificially maintained. Even if the clouds vanished, the city would likely remain afloat since the magic sustaining the artificial gravity would also disappear. Of course, gods don’t actually need to breathe and can survive in a vacuum. Using magic, they created the necessary conditions for humans to live here.
As I wandered around, taking in the different sights, I couldn't help but find the place a little boring. There were plenty of buildings, but their entire purpose seemed to be as works of art. I had to give them credit for making skyscrapers look good, though—it’s not easy to make those inherently ugly structures appear attractive. She nodded, agreeing, saying that you can’t use any of the cheap building materials humans use for their skyscrapers. Instead, the skyscrapers here were constructed from various types of stone, giving them an almost majestic feel. The windows were all overly ornate, like those you’d find in an old church, and the exteriors were gilded in gold with intricate patterns and detailed carvings. But, she admitted, most of the buildings were purely decorative with no practical purpose. Of course they all functions as buildings most of them are empty since we have need for them.
I noticed that this was where people who weren’t supposed to become too powerful ended up. She confirmed this, explaining that those who were not destined for great strength, like protagonists in anime, would inevitably find themselves here sooner or later. However, by the time you reach this place, you’ve likely already become a god or are close to it, especially considering you were never supposed to get that strong in the first place. Your potential to become a god is ridiculously high.
I used my clairvoyance to look at the world below and noticed it had a wide variety of useful materials and food. I decided to explore, signaling Sophie to teleport me down. I flew around the planet, collecting plants and tossing them into storage. I sent a telepathic message to Sophie, asking her to instruct the androids to start cultivating the vegetables and planting fruit trees. I also arranged for livestock to be brought in so we could start farming meat. The creatures were similar to cows, though more accurately, they were a species of very large cow.
"This is none of your business. Leave now, and we won’t kill you." Such a cliché cultivation line. I simply snapped my fingers, instantly killing them with a death spell. They weren’t strong enough to survive it, and death magic isn’t even my specialty. It wasn’t a particularly powerful spell—someone who specialized in death magic could cast much more potent ones.
I smiled and said, "You’re coming with me."
She asked, "Do I have a choice?"
I replied, "No."
I took her into my realm and told the maid androids to start constructing her house in the fields. I told her that she was going to become one of my priestesses and that she didn’t have a choice. I handed her a book—the same book I’d given to many others before her.
One more thing—I lightly poked her forehead with my index finger, and a thick black ooze started coming out of her body. She began vomiting the black ooze, and after several minutes, all of it was expelled. I snapped my fingers, engulfing her entirely in rainbow flames, annihilating the foul-smelling black impurities. These were the toxins in her body, something I could remove as a god by using a bit of my divine power to force them out. It was a specialized healing magic mixed with divine power. Not every god could do this since it was a complicated technique requiring a significant amount of divine power.
I repeated the process, and another layer of black ooze came out. Once it stopped, I snapped my fingers again, creating the rainbow flames that incinerated the impurities. I repeated this process several hundred more times. Typical cultivators accumulate toxins, poisons, and impurities from the drugs they consume. Or cultivation resources as they would call it.
After about six days, I reached the last stubborn bits. I engulfed her in rainbow flames and said, "This is going to hurt like hell." I controlled the flames to burn away the last of the impurities. This method was excruciating, so naturally, she screamed in pain. I also burned away the excess energy she had absorbed from the world, transforming her back into a normal human. Unfortunately, it seemed I did quite a bit of damage in the process. I quickly cast a healing spell, but my magic wasn’t enough. So, I teleported a healing potion from my storage—one I had obtained from the That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime universe—and poured it on her, fully healing her.
Now that she was an ordinary human again, I enveloped her in a protective barrier and told her, "This barrier will last for a month. You have that long to become stronger if you don’t want to die, as the concentration of mana in this realm is immense."