103(3) – Paradise!

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PART 5 – Hearts of the World!

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Skarla is in her personal dimension. She has several plans for its development. And here is the new Heart of the World, and she also requested from Murim the other one she left in his possession for purification, which was delivered a few minutes ago.

Two enormous Hearts of Worlds, with energetic capacities superior to all the others she created.

Especially the one from Paradise, which is more than five times larger.

Smiling, Skarla installed them in the center of this dimension and observed the changes.

Using the two opposing energies, it was possible to accelerate the purification by installing a matrix. Of course, she needed to use other Hearts of the World to actually balance things.

But her real goal is to purify both and have only the pure energy of the elements of Chaos and Order.

Murim will help, in exchange, he requested that this dimension receive his mark. It can be said that this dimension could become a real world in the future, or develop in another way, it will be according to Skarla's desire. But this dimension will become a child of Murim.

Skarla agrees, she trusts Murim, both have benefited greatly, and it is unlikely that Murim will betray her or turn his back on her.

But it will still take a long time for a consciousness to be formed. But with Murim's help, the Hearts of the World could be purified more easily, and his plan worked.

Putting the two opposing energies together to clash, they damage each other, but their essence, modified to suit Skarla's Chaos and Order, remains intact.

The “Hypocrisy” of Paradise and the “Malice” of the Demon Realm are being purged. They clash, and the process is rewarding.

......

Weeks later, Skarla, observing the purification process, found herself being pulled. She narrowed her eyes, knowing that it was not Murim, for obvious reasons, much less her personal dimension, which is still in its embryonic state.

She prevented the transfer, narrowing her eyes.

[The Higher Dimension – Paradise, requests a peaceful meeting!]

[Accept?]

Skarla narrowed her eyes and nodded. Normally, it is Murim who takes care of these things. Without stating that only lower worlds and dimensions interact, some have tried to reach her directly, but it was never through the system, and Murim also interferes.

“A higher dimension is really different.” Skarla smiles slightly and her mind is drawn in.

...

On the other side, waiting for Skarla is a woman with skin as dark as coal, long, silky platinum white hair, and several tattoos of divine seals that glisten in the slightest light.

A slender figure, proportions that could be described as perfect. White, radiant eyes, deep, as if they could see into the depths of his soul.

“Hello,” said the beautiful woman with a slight smile.

Skarla couldn't help but admire her, for her beauty went beyond the merely physical. There was something about her that attracted him, made him want to bow down. Something that couldn't be measured in words.

“I expected hatred, not calm and smiles,” Skarla said calmly.

Paradise smiled. “For what? For tearing me apart?” She showed a scar on her belly, which hadn't been there before, breaking her perfect image.

Soon the scar disappeared, but unbeknownst to Paradise, she had broken something and couldn't rebuild it, allowing Skarla to stand firm in the face of something far beyond her control.

“Yes. I was quite... brutal in tearing you apart, even though you didn't resist,” Skarla said calmly. “What did your damn children do to you? You seemed to have given up on living or something.”

“So you could feel it?” Paradise looked away slightly as she leaned back in the air, sitting down. “About 1.3 billion years ago, I achieved a great leap in level, devouring a Dimension subordinate to me, which I had been cultivating for almost 2 billion years.” She sighed.

“In the process of assimilating it and leveling up, one of my children, Altron, the strongest God of Light, took advantage of my brief moment of weakness and... sealed me!” Paradise growled.

"He separated my consciousness from my body, where he remained in the middle, suppressing me and controlling my body, managing to redirect various resources to himself and... modify how my body acts. He modified the Sacred Energy, all to benefit him to the maximum... I noticed that the flesh he stole from me, you are purifying and remodeling, very interesting." Paradise smiled.

“So my attack on you gave you the opportunity to wake up?” Skarla laughed.

"Yes. Altron was in the process of replacing me, of erasing my consciousness. When he did, he would become a World Conqueror. He would have access to the exclusive system of worlds and deities, his power would grow enormously, for Paradise would be part of his power, which would be practically unlimited energy and strength. As I have countless domains throughout the universe, if he organized them correctly, he would have an advantage over almost the entire universe."

"But what you did, the massive damage you caused me, meant that Altron couldn't just stand by. He was almost finished; in another 700,000 years, I would have died. But the corruption of the void, the sudden expenditure of energy, and the death of so many gods threw me off balance and forced him out. He thought he could handle it and regain control of me, but it was more serious than he imagined, and he underestimated how much I could resist and overestimated how much he could suppress me."

When I awoke and saw that I could regain control, I did so. I was enraged, for it was most of my consciousness and will that remained. I had known for a long time that he would gradually erase me, that if I were to have a chance at survival, I would need anger, I would need to be willing to die to free myself, and that is what happened. As a world, I sacrificed almost 20% of my body and lost several levels because I formally interfered to kill someone. In fact, the cost was much lower, since the system takes my motivations into account and I was in the right, but my action still affected several others and I also spent enormous amounts of energy to move my body."

“Normally, moving our bodies serves to create mountains, deepen oceans, create continents, etc. You could say that I used my palms to close everything so that he couldn't escape, and I pushed him out of my body, straight into the arms of that thing...” Paradise fell silent, even she shuddered at the thought of that being.

Skarla listened attentively, better understanding why, even though the world was about to die, he did not act to protect himself. The cost is too high. Paradise, who is one of the largest dimensions in existence, sacrificed 1/5 of her body.

“Well... you're not going to ask for your flesh back, are you?” Skarla narrowed her eyes.

“No. Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't provoke you. You're too terrifying to anger just for a piece of flesh.” Paradise rolled her eyes.

“Then what's the point of this conversation?” Skarla crossed her arms.

“To thank you and try to establish a good relationship. You saved my life, I have nothing but gratitude towards you. If you want more pieces of my flesh, I will give them to you without hesitation.” Paradise smiled.

“...” Skarla was speechless.

“I want to know if you are interested in living inside me. I will accept you as my child—no, even better! I am willing to accept you as my lover!” Paradise smiles broadly.

“Lover? What?” Skarla becomes even more confused.

“When a world or dimension reaches a specific level, our consciousness can take shape, and we can live among our children. The form I have is just one of many, but it was my first form, the one I am most comfortable with. If you don't like it, I can always change.” Paradise laughs subtly.

“Okay... but what does it mean to be a lover?” Skarla asks.

“By becoming a lover of a world, you will be able to receive more interference from it, that is, favors. I can gift you with EXP, for you and your family. I can even gift you skills, points, attributes, and more. Murim is weak, he still cannot form a concrete appearance, it will take millennia for something like that, so he cannot receive a lover nor give you so many gifts.” Paradise laughed.

“Join me. With the Void causing so much chaos in my body, you will have a lot of work, but I will have justification to strengthen you. I will provide you with various blessings and protection. If you slaughter some of these trash, I can reward you 2 to 3 times more.” Paradise laughed excitedly.

Skarla raised an eyebrow.

“I know, dealing with the Void is annoying, but you can do it, I know that. With my support and if you advance to the next levels, I think in 10 to 15 years, you should become a Goddess.” Paradise laughed.

“I have no plans to transcend at the moment.” Skarla said calmly.

“What? Why?!” Paradise blinked. “You will become immortal with your achievements, and if you become my lover, you will have even more achievements. You will easily become an Elite Goddess once you transcend. With me supporting you, you will be able to rule everyone in my body!”

“It's tempting, but I don't need help to reach the top. Not to mention that my power still has flaws, many opportunities to grow.” Skarla says calmly, looking at her status, the change in the way proficiencies are categorized.

"I want to reach the limit, achieve greater power and knowledge, master many more things. Not for perfect transcendence, but because I want to! I also have many children, I want to see them grow up, and I don't think it will be long before I become a grandmother. I know that when I transcend, many things may change and... I wouldn't take my family into your body, with the Void causing all this chaos and destruction."

Paradise sighed. “I understand, you're just a mortal who is very attached to life. It usually takes a few centuries for the Demigod to distance himself from mortality and aspire to the divine.”

“Want a tip?” Paradise smiled slightly.

“Coming from someone so important, it would be an honor.” Skarla smiled.

“But in return, I want your support in the future, to get rid of the Void you brought into my body,” Paradise said with a laugh.

“I don't see a problem with that, but only if it's very useful,” Skarla said calmly.

“Okay. When you begin to touch the divine, that is, when you become a Demigod, you automatically begin to distance yourself from mortality, from that which binds you. It may take decades or centuries, but sooner or later, that which binds you will be undone. It happens to everyone, without exception. When that happens, that's when you're ready to transcend,” Paradise said calmly.

"And the process is not so wonderful. You distance yourself more and more from your mortal self, your own personality may change. What supports this is the fact that Demigods cannot interfere with mortals. It's not that they can't, it's that it costs too much to do so. So it's normal that Demigods who have detached themselves from their mortality, when they see their descendants from 3 to 4 future generations being annihilated, prefer to ignore it rather than bear the consequences."

Skarla frowned. “But doesn't the death of your descendants give you justification?”

“Yes, but even with justification, there is still cost and penalty. I was on the verge of death and still lost 1/5 of my body. Of course, demigods won't take such a heavy penalty, I received it because I am a great world and the stronger I am, the greater the penalty.”

“So this division between the mortal and the divine makes the individual care less about what happens to the mundane? Even if we say that the penalty for interfering is only a few years without being able to accumulate energy or something like that?”

“Yes. The smallest penalty, even if your great-grandchildren are about to die, makes you hesitate to act. There are exceptions, I believe you may be one.”

“What do you mean, exceptions?”

“People with strong souls, who can resist to a certain extent what would be the corrosion of mortal personality.”

Skarla scratched her chin. “So... transcending beyond Level 50 isn't about detaching yourself from your attachment to the world, but rather being ready to let go? It doesn't mean I have to abandon it, just that I can't let things hold me back?”

“Yes.”

“Then what is this corrosion? Why does it exist?” Skarla frowned.

“I don't know, it existed before I did. But I think it's good, because it helps create more gods,” Paradise said calmly. "Otherwise, the Demons would be the strongest because of their numbers. They have no emotional attachment, always ready to reach a new level of power."

"Without corrosion, the number of Gods of Light and Neutrals, even Undead, would be much lower, not even 1/10 of what exists today. I think among the undead it would be even more difficult, since what keeps them going is their attachment to when they were alive. Corrosion erases that, and what remains is the desire to progress. So it's something that was created to balance the universe, or the demons would have already taken over everything."

Skarla nodded, knowing that the Administrators must be the cause of this.

“But what about becoming my lover?” Paradise smiled.

“We can talk about it when I become a deity. But if you want to delegate missions to me, we can talk. I'm setting something up in my personal dimension.”

“Are you talking about that place created in the Demon Realm that now has a seed of... Murim, right?” Paradise points lightly, and Skarla's dimension manifests itself in a kind of hologram.

“Yes.” Skarla nodded.

“Hmm... I can put my seed there too. With two seeds sprouting, their consciousnesses will collide, and what is born will not be mine or Murim's, but may become independent. As you are its owner, you will be able to feel the consciousness forming and bind it.” Paradise said calmly.

“If you leave it as it is, what emerges will be Murim's child, but not under your absolute control. However, you will be able to redirect its growth. Now, if you manage to chain the neutral consciousness that is born, it could become a World Conqueror.” Paradise smiles slightly.

Skarla scratched her chin, liking this. “I'll accept, only if it's true. It's hard to trust you, considering what I did to you.”

Paradise laughed loudly. “Indeed, but I have no resentment, only gratitude, and having you as an enemy is foolish. Anyway, I'll contact you in the future, wait for me!”

Skarla nodded and moments later woke up, soon feeling the presence.

“What did she want?” Murim asked hesitantly.

“Something about me becoming a lover.” Skarla shrugged and Murim fell silent.

At the same time, a seed was planted. Murim watched and said nothing.