35 Returning

Xander used this opportunity to leave the vicinity and appear in the outskirts of Verdant city. Entering the gates, he headed towards the Missions building of MCGD.

It didn't take a long time to reach it; just a couple of minutes.

He immediately headed to the C+ floor and talked to Aria to submit his findings. He only sold the full 100-floor map of the ruins, while the rest of the things he found, he kept them.

Aria, who looked quite surprised at Xander's appearance, gawked at the information that he just gave to her.

"T-t-the complete map schematic of Ruin Eta-64 has been submitted, as well as the additional information for each floor."

"Ehem, the payment for the discovery of the remaining 80 floors totals to 16,000,000 Etas, the payment for discovering the hidden compartments per floor, a total of 5 per floor, totals to 10,000,000 Etas, making the total amount to be 26,000,000 Etas. Because this isn't a mission entrusted to MCGD, no fees will be deducted from your reward."

Aria scanned the portable terminal to Xander's smartwatch, and immediately the bank transfer was done.

"Successfully transferred 26,000,000 Etas. Thank you for doing a service for the country!" Aria bowed at Xander, who just nodded in response while saying inwardly, they wouldn't thank me once they realize the ruin is already gone.

Xander headed back to his hotel, with his disguise on. He was going to debate whether he should cut his trip short or complete the remaining 4 days.

In the area near Capsule City, chaos was ensuing.

______________________________________

"Men, more firepower! Drive these magic beasts away from the city!"

"If these beasts won't communicate with you, do not hesitate to kill if you can do it!"

Shouts from commanding officers, lieutenants, and majors were occurring all over the field and forested area where the ruins was situated.

When the magic beasts appeared, it coincided with the powerhouses of the clans and conglomerates in Eta appearing one by one, and the soldiers thought that they would help. However, upon receiving a message from their superiors, it seems they were preparing for a bigger fight to happen later, as they expected that something will come out of the ruins. So the soldiers, whose cultivation averaged between Master-5 to Mythic-3, had to fight on their own against these magic beasts who were, according to the scanners, were at least 10,000 years old, meaning they have a firepower of at least a Legendary-1 magician. As these were magic beasts, their actual strength may actually be stronger.

Sadly, the stronger magicians in the military had to fight the magic beasts that were roughly 100,000-200,000 years old, meaning they were as strong as a Mythic magician, so they couldn't eliminate the weaker magic beasts because the stronger magic beasts would do the same towards the soldiers. It was also a pity that these magic beasts were in the state of being feral, thus their cognitive consciousness can't be reasoned with.

It was simply a massacre. The government continued to send more and more soldiers in the area, to ensure the fight was contained and the nearby city wasn't affected. They had to even conscript magicians in the city to fight as well as they were the closest ones.

The powerhouses, on the other hand, were patiently waiting.

As they were deciding what to do once they caught Homer Simpson, at that moment, the man they were talking about appeared by the ruin entrance.

But before they could even act, they felt extreme danger coming from his area of influence, to the point that even magic beasts and soldiers alike unconsciously moved away from Xander's position. This was when Xander raised his hands, pointing at the ruins, and what they saw would visibly shake the foundation of magic that they currently know.

They could visibly feel the elements all around them churning, widely out of their control and was gushing towards the ruins. Their domains became a bit unstable, causing some of them to float and sink wildly, while magic beasts began to howl and some of them began to disperse, especially the strong ones.

The spectators couldn't explain it, but the ruins that they could see from the outside simply disappeared after faintly hearing a roar, and on its place, a small pyramid object appeared to be floating in air. They weren't able to sense the contraction of space, the collapse of pocket space.

For a while, their elemental cycles in their bodies were disrupted, and they couldn't cast spells, magic beasts, and humans alike. Only after a few seconds when Xander left did things return to normal.

The demigods looked at each other and shook their heads. They weren't even able to contend with such a person if Homer Simpson was considered a person.

Immediately, they helped the soldiers deal with the remaining magic beasts, especially the older ones because of the magic cores they had, and left the clean up to them, and left the province.

__________________________________

Two hours later.

In the same underground meeting chamber that Xander crashed yesterday.

This time, not only were representatives from conglomerates and clans based in Eta were present, other country leaders were present as well, and other global groups. Even the Elven queen Syn was present there, as she represented the country of Elves.

"General, what's the current situation?" The current head of Eta, Mirmow Varn, asked the general of the state.

"The information that Homer Simpson has given to us has been verified. Several of our completely uncovered ruins, Eta-1, Eta-8, Eta-32, and Eta-45, have been discovered to have an extra hidden floor. These hidden floors were only detected due to a mild elemental fluctuation, allowing us to locate the passageway to the next floor. The main problem is that the passageway to the last floor is sealed. No matter what we do, we cannot enter the space heading downwards. We assume this is the so-called space sealing caused by the elusive space elements. Right now, we are rapidly coordinating with Nema and other countries in developing a method to detect space element fluctuations, allowing us to observe and understand the space element. However, we do not plan to open any of the space sealings discovered due to the additional warning sent by Homer Simpson; we plan to do so, once we have one of our experts, someone in the Divine class, appear. Concerning the disappearance of Eta-64 ruin, please allow Professor Douglas to explain what happened to the members of the meeting."

"Approved." A chorus of approvals sounded off, and the general nodded his head and called for Professor Douglas.

Professor Douglas appeared in his casual clothing and long pants. He coughed for a bit before proceeding with his explanation.

"Greetings. So I'm here to explain what just happened to the ruin. We are sure that Homer Simpson has a method of either destroying these pocket spaces, reducing these into items like the pyramid-like that was seen afterward. We can highly assume that if Mr. Homer Simpson did not appear to warn us about the danger of the ruins, we might inadvertently push ourselves to ruin in the future."

"Another point is that it seemed that this Mr. Homer Simpson is capable of traveling through space, without any elemental fluctuations detected whatsoever. Meaning, this person of interest can control, manipulate space to a certain extent, similar to what Divine magicians can do, but his is more unique: there seemed to be no energy expenditure at all, as well as downtimes." Professor Douglas said, as he explained the abilities Xander could do. The comparison to that of Divine magicians was done due to the fact that once at Demigod, you emphasize on turning your domain that has your rule as an accepted part of the ordered system. At the demigod stage, one would integrate their domain into the ordered system, borrow more strength and lessen the rejection received from the system.

Once one completes the integration, they are fused with the ordered system. They become Divine magicians at this point. In this stage, one can travel through space measured in 0.05 lightyears per minute. This is the ironic part; if they were fusing their domain earlier, this time, they now have to gain more control and understanding of the ordered system through their primary elements. This time, they aren't copying the representations of these elements and then creating a conformation of rule; they are now trying to comprehend the elements' representations to its extremes.

To break through to the Sage realm, one would have to reach 100% comprehension to their primary elements. To reach God class, no knows completely what to do, as people who have been asked say they would only have an inkling of what to do once they were at peak Sage-9 class. Although 800,000 years ago, there were several people who ascended to become gods, they never left any written records about the process. For the past 800,000 years, no one has reached Sage-9, and the currently surviving magician was at Sage-4, and no one has heard of her since she left for the cosmos 100,000 years ago.

"We can therefore classify this person probably above the Divine class, most likely half-step to Sage class or already at the Sage class. At the same time, we can confirm this person is not an inhabitant of our planet, and most likely came here on his own."

After Douglas finished his explanations, everyone was silent, and the leaders of the countries were all worried. Even some of the conglomerate heads and clan leaders present were in discussion whether they should utilize the hidden powerhouses, those in the Divine class level, but majority of them were in seclusion, while a few minority were already out in space. Although they could contact them through a special magic ritual, it would still take a long time for them to return here, and by then, the planet might have been ravaged already and destroyed.

They were at the moment, stumped on what to do to this Mr. Simpson.

Of course, another interruption surprised the group.

"Really, another meeting? Can't you like, meet in virtual reality? Way faster to be honest. Oh my, new faces. Hello there."

The people present looked at the hologram of the newcomer incredulously, some were even confused. They didn't recognize who this person was. The others who were in the previous meeting, on the other hand, immediately recognized the man.

"Welcome, Mr. Simpson. We would have invited you, but we had no way to contact you."

"Yeah, whatever. Anyhoo, my job here is basically done, and I already did what my friend asked me to do."

"Erm, may I ask, who this friend of yours is?" A man in his early 40s asked, his voice a bit curious.

"Ehh? What do you plan to do? Hmm?" Xander looked at the man who asked him. He was a bit surprised because this was one of the Cloverfield's grand elders, Veirhardt Cloverfield, Demigod-9, age 280 years old.

"Er-n-nothing, nothing at all! I am just genuinely curious." Veirhardt flustered, a bit stressed. Why was he the one sent to this meeting, ugh. He just wanted to play his virtual reality games, sheesh.

"Hmm.... interesting domain. Pity, there's vital flaw to it. You probably won't survive the final step to Divine class. Pity, pity." Xander shook his head. Xander knew these added information as he had already accessed the information concerning Mythic class magicians and higher in the databases of all countries earlier today when the meeting just started. The main connecting point to their servers was through their hologram projectors. He basically had the necessary information to reach Sage class.

Veirhardt turned pale, as if an old wound resurfaced and began acting out. How did this person know his problem? Veirhardt, after all, kept it mum, only the other grand elders knew of this problem.

To be honest, it wasn't a big deal when he started cultivating, but it became an obstacle upon reaching Demigod class, and the higher his cultivation became, the more danger he experienced. The problem was that he was born with a set of weak lungs. Although he had taken in high-quality geno solutions, his weak lungs didn't improve much. It wasn't a problem, but his primary elements involved a subset of the air and physics series, Wave - Sound element, Earth/Metal, and subset of Fire and water series, Steam element. From Mundane to Mythic class, there wasn't much problem, and it took him 110 years to reach the peak of Mythic class. With his body strengthened twice, his lungs weren't that weak anymore, however it was still several times weaker than people of the same class.

The problem showed up when he began integrating his domain, which was [Heavy Steam Wave] domain into the universe, he almost blacked out trying to integrate 1% of it, while coughing out blood. However, he persisted on. When he was passing to Demigod-9 from Demigod-8, he almost died, and only survived through the help of one of the natural artifacts the Cloverfield family had from a Divine class magician who specialized in life element.

Accordingly, he had to condense his integrated domain into an Elemental Essence stone seed to advance to Divine Class, which had the properties of the universe, of his domain, as well as the physical manifestation of his life essence doll. However, a premonition has been stopping him from doing that step. At his current cultivation level, usually listening to such things would be the best.

Could it be that this man in front of him had a way to solve his problem? He looked again at Xander, his eyes full of hope, but Xander didn't even notice him.

He was merely sitting relaxedly on one of the chairs, munching a fruit.

"Do any of you recognize this fruit?" Xander raised his hand holding the half-eaten fruit, and the others in the room weren't sure if it was a test or something. Seeing them hesitate, Xander rolled his eyes, before answering his own question.

"This came from a 3,000,000-year-old Mango tree that hasn't formed any sprite. I got this from one of my travels all over the galaxy. I think it was 10 years ago? I chanced upon a sentient mango tree a few hundred light-years away from here, moving across space. I purchased it at the cost of a few galaxy coins. I just have to say, it's so delicious, and overwhelmingly full of nutrients and elemental energy!" Xander lied flawlessly, putting himself into character. After all, he was going to "leave" after this meeting. The people around, on the other hand, were shaken.

Sentient plants, without a sprite!

Galaxy coins! Could this be a universal currency in our galaxy?

"Hmm, yep, going back to your question, yeah, my friend summoned me on this planet by accident, haha. Do you remember the meteor falling several years ago? That actually caused a signal to be released within the radius of 15 lightyears, and coincidentally, I was vacationing in an exoplanet nearby. There were some Divine-rank magic beasts in the area that were curious about who was summoning them, and wanted to approach the planet. Well, long story short, they're still here and waiting for the same signal to appear once again. I, however, had already discovered who it was, hehe~"

"Anyhoo, I can't tell you who this person is, after all; it's not my story to tell. Also, just so you guys know, there seems to be a gigantic spell array cast on the whole planet. It doesn't do any harm, but well, it doesn't do much, except, make it harder to comprehend and fuse your elements. It seems quite old as well, like, 600,000 years? Pity though, the foundation of the array uses the planet core and the continents, tsk tsk. You can't break it unless you literally destroy the planet, huh."

Xander eyed them sympathetically. "Seems like it was a way to remove Divine magicians or higher from the planet, what a devious plan."

Xander shook his head for a bit, acting in character, before waving his hand.

"Of course, Mr. Big Tree must have realized this and informed the other ancient clans and conglomerates? After all, it seems to be done by an outsider." Xander snickered, while looking at the Elven queen, her face whitening. The truth was, even she wasn't knowledgeable about the matter.

"Ok, I'm going now. Oh right, old guy with lung problems! You want to breakthrough safely to Divine class, right?"

"Huh? Wha-, yes!" Veirhardt stammered before quickly responding.

"Ok, so you need to get metal, wind, and water essence from sprites older than 50,000 years old. Just mix them together and then swallow them, while circulating your high-rank cultivation method. Once you feel a burning sensation in your chest, attempt your breakthrough, no matter what your premonition is telling you; you would succeed." Xander muttered carelessly. He just gave him the remedy that Veirhardt would discover 20,000 years from now from an outside traveler passing by Eteria.

"Ok, see ya guys hopefully in the Galactic council in 10,000 years! That is if you manage to develop your space technology." Xander quickly disconnected from the meeting, leaving everyone in daze, and at the same time, in fervor of what just happened.

There was a greater stage out there!

______________________________________

On an unknown island.

A man was twirling his wine glass, slowly drinking its contents, and placing it on the stand.

"Huh, it seems this Homer Simpson was truly, just an outsider."

"This brings up another question, however: Why did he partner up with Xander Cloverfield in publishing those 2 papers?"

Upon saying these words, the man became silent, before issuing an order to his butler.

"Change the priority of Xander Cloverfield to Rank 0, highest priority. At the same time, designate the danger as Class I: Absolutely do not approach with malicious intentions. Continue the remote surveillance. If possible, insert some of our people to his retinue of guards and servants."

"At your command, master."

"Xander Cloverfield... if it truly was you...it seems I have to let go of this prey." The man shook his head disappointingly, as if he was robbed of a scrumptious feast.

It wasn't just him who had similar thoughts and questions about the outside visitor and Xander Cloverfield's relationship. Other countries, conglomerates, and clans had these thoughts run as well.

____________________________________

Xander currently checked the amount of Etas he had. To be honest, the thing about the Galactic Council and Galactic Coins, those were real, since he did see that they have existed for the past 10,000,000 years. Although it was called a galactic council, the area of control it had was over 1/1.26e+30 of the current total size of the universe, encapsulating hundreds of galaxies, sectors, and fields. Formally, the areas they control fall under the "Galactic Empire" banner.

They had a "no approach" rule, wherein no direct contact between the Galactic Empire and underdeveloped civilizations were allowed. Even those that left Eteria, once they have discovered the Galactic Empire and registered as members or passing travelers, they cannot return to their planet and divulge information about them.

Currently, he could visit the nearest planet under the control of the Galactic Empire, and sell some of his priceless metals and plant materials, as well as those shards of creation through an auction house. The problem is the requirement of providing an identity, which Xander couldn't easily fake even with the help of the System because their identity cards are not only recorded in a virtual reality storage system, it is directly connected to a physical identification card that every planet under the Galactic Empire issues to children upon reaching tertiary education, and is with them permanently. He could say it was lost, and get a new one reissued, but he would need Galactic coins to do so. He could apply for free, but he had to sign a binding contract much stronger than the one he made 2 weeks ago for Faykes.

After a while, as well as debating with himself for 2 hours, he decided not to get impatient and deal with what he had right now.

After packing up his belongings, he checked out from the hotel early and left Verdant City. Upon leaving the gates and entering the foresty area, he immediately teleported to his basement in Callows City. After ensuring that nothing was out of place, that the traps were not triggered, he transformed back to Xander, a 7-year-old kid turning 8 in a few months.

He also checked the garden and the state of the sprites and the magic beasts. As expected, the time flow was 1 second: 50 days, with Sam and Pan experiencing 1 second:100 days. He was curious about what these creations of his have in store for him.