104(1) – Plans & Past!
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PART 1 – Plans!
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Skarla walks through her palace, which is somewhat empty.
Her lively children live in their mothers' mansions, most of them now distant from her, and rightly so.
Soon the younger ones will have to go through the same process. Skarla has been creating alternatives, modifying the Cultivation Techniques and subtly adding mantras related to strengthening the mind, which will make the process less torturous.
Even walking alone and having countless feelings bubbling inside her, she is still focused on what she has to do. So it's time to list some of the main things to do:
1 – Achieve Perfection in her Proficiencies: Skarla faithfully believes that the level of “Perfection” in mastery is the mortal peak in some areas, which may not be far from the truth.
Her highest level is Masterful, one level below Perfection. When she reaches it, her performance in that area will double. She still doesn't quite understand what it means to reach that level, but she's working hard to get there.
Before, it was just numbers, additions to a probability of 1~20, with a chance of Critical Failure (1) or Critical Success (20). It probably still exists; she doubts that the system and this universe would abandon something so central because of that.
“I reached the Masterful Level in [Athletics], I thought my [Perception] would be my strongest point, I was wrong.” - Skarla laughs slightly as she analyzes her Proficiencies.
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2 – Advance in linguistic studies: Sueika's death and looting brought many incredible treasures and benefits, the problem is that it is a library containing almost unlimited knowledge from the millions of years that Sueika, The Sin of Lust, has been accumulating.
Countless languages, many of which must be dead. Knowledge that may never be deciphered, even if she transcends.
To try to help with this, Skarla used rituals to be able to speak with demons from the Demon Realm. They tremble when they hear her name and piss themselves when they see her. But with a few minor sacrifices, she managed to obtain some linguistic artifacts with various important data.
She then used these artifacts with the Intelligent Spirits who are her librarians. With them learning the languages through the artifacts, it became easier to catalog them. The focus, in addition to studying the available languages further, was to study the area of artifact creation, especially linguistic ones.
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3 – Advancing Technology: There is a lot of technology in Sueika's library, a lot of knowledge that would make even Earth feel like a primitive world. But Skarla is still far from understanding all of this; more time is needed.
This is not so urgent, as the changes she has already brought to the world are enormous, and the world is still adapting, and its scholars, researchers, and scientists are still in the learning and improvement phase.
Everything is still very new to all of them; many are developing, gaining epiphanies, and growing. If Skarla simply brings more advanced concepts that surpass not years or decades, but centuries of development, it is obvious that they would be left behind.
In other words, Skarla is forced to slow down her advances so that the world can adapt before dropping another bomb on everyone's lap.
But something she doesn't understand is why Gods who have access to as many worlds as demons don't think about bringing such technological advances to lower worlds. To support the evolution of their subjects, to grow their name and worship.
Even though science can be seen as a way for mortals to get closer to God, if it is something brought to mortals by divine means, it is natural that they would think it is a gift from the gods who want a better life for everyone, which would lead to more devotion.
Of course, this would most likely create complacency among mortals, who would begin to ignore faith or the like, but such advances would bring about constant population growth, something Skarla sees as increasing.
And from what she knows, regardless of quality or quantity, gods will always prioritize quantity, because quality will somehow reside in that. But they don't bother, not even to send a few subjects for that.
And Skarla researched the Radiant God, now dead, as well as many other gods. Murim and even Paradise helped her find more details and, in fact, they have a foothold in gigantic and technologically advanced worlds, worlds where they can actually kill gods.
In any case, this is what needs time.
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4 – Develop the Verona Continent: And speaking of time, we have a continent that has had dozens of World Hearts installed at various strategic points, the presence of High Elves to increase the prosperity of the lands, and natural resources undergoing transformations.
A continent that is becoming a perfect place for cultivation in general. A paradise on earth, so to speak.
In the center of the continent, Skarla is already establishing the capital, the technology center of the world, and the place that every intellectual individual will want to reach someday in their life. Even demigods will envy such a place.
But it is still in its infancy. Even though many people have been sent for its development. One might think that there would be no living beings, no sentient beings, but there are many common monsters, as well as many new types of monsters.
It is not only plants that are being altered by Internal Energy Cultivation, with the expansion of Murim, changes and laws, creating new life from pure energy, the same energy that has new rules because of Skarla.
Monsters and animals are being born with Internal Energy, some developing intellect and undergoing various changes. But it is still in its infancy, just the beginning, and Skarla is controlling everything before it gets out of hand.
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5 - Development of the Personal Dimension: Skarla has huge plans for this personal dimension. Initially, she wanted to make it a place for Internal Energy Cultivation, where she would install several Hearts of the World, and she and her family would come to cultivate and train.
But with the “seed” planted by Murim and Paradise, which will generate consciousness in the future and the beginning of a new world will be born. Skarla changed her plans and the two Hearts of the World, which she took from Paradise and the Demon Realm, are complementing each other and creating a unique and purifying synergy.
She will use it to establish a matrix, where she asked for support from Paradise and Murim. Create the “World Barrier” and accelerate the birth of this world that will be under her control.
When it occurs, she will establish the rules of power in this dimension, allowing even Gods to enter, but greatly limiting the power of those who enter to avoid conflict as much as possible.
And finally, she will transform this into a commercial dimension. Beings from countless worlds will be able to come and negotiate resources and knowledge. She will be at the center of this and will charge some “taxes.” The profit from this place will be something bordering on infinite.
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6 - Beasts of the Void: They are a constant danger, it is best not to provoke them, especially as a mortal. But Skarla has plans to use them to leverage her fame among the most powerful beings in the universe.
When she establishes the “Universal Trade Center,” she will provide some protection services and, of course, she needs to show that she is capable of protecting them. Therefore, she will need to accumulate power and improve herself in order to ward off, seriously injure, and finally kill a Void Beast.
She knows it's possible because when she was much weaker, she managed to drive one away, making it bleed and benefiting Murim with the blood of a Void Beast. Even though it brought some problems that others dealt with.
But the fact is, she is capable of hurting them as a mortal, even if it was only a type of cub. When she becomes a true Demigod, not a fake one like now, she will be able to cause more serious damage, and when she transcends beyond Level 50, she is confident she can kill them.
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7 - Investigate Administrators: Beings who are outside the timeline, individuals who have achieved certain power or living concepts, selected by the system and integrated into it.
Mysterious individuals who are required to be observers, but who use part of their authority to interfere and create justifications for interfering with mortals.
Skarla has interacted with them a few times, times that could have caused her a lot of trouble if she hadn't been lucky. Not to mention the times that didn't happen, because her daughter destroyed the future.
So she doesn't know what she did to be summoned to that place more often. But she knows that if she continues to develop, she will be summoned sooner or later, or never again, since last time she caused the death of one of the Living Concepts.
But she needs to investigate, to better understand what kind of divine power is necessary to be appointed an Administrator. And she also wants to know if these individuals live in her timeline and universe, or... if they live in other timelines.
As she understands it, the universe is divided into infinite layers, with infinite timelines. This means that there are many branches that diverge greatly from what she knows, perhaps catastrophic and universal divergences from billions of years ago, such as the presence of some Void Beast that ignores all these layers.
In any case, she needs to study and investigate her uniqueness further, she needs to investigate Hackel's past life, kill Kaleria from another universe for what she did to her children from that timeline. Perhaps master the concepts of death and reincarnation, relive her version of that world and... give herself and her children a decent life.
This is a very delicate area, Skarla will only deal with it when she becomes a Deity, but it's good to note it for now.
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8 - Finalize the conquest of Seahorse: The continent is already under her control. The north still has some resistance, but it is a resistance that is allowed, to make the people of the north accept the future.
Make them live in misery while the people under Krugar's rule prosper and grow. More and more people from the north are fleeing their leaders to take refuge with them. Five years is all it takes for the north to be tamed.
The Elven Kingdom of Yggdrasil is disregarded from the sum, belonging to the Elves and Skarla's wife, practically their territory, but still under the rule of the Elves, a demonstration of respect. There is a complex treaty that cannot be changed in the Constitution of Krugar.
Krugar and Yggdrasil are sister nations.
Torwin, which suffered heavy losses in the last war, now a vassal nation of Krugar, has already been practically assimilated, and when the borders between Krugar and Torwin are established, it will automatically declare itself a Nation State of Krugar, which in the future will become only a State.
Jarletia follows suit. As soon as the territory is formalized with Torwin, Jarletia will also become a Nation State of Krugar.
Melamia, after the fall of Kaleria, political tensions have not diminished. Skarla came to its rescue and, of course, Hackel is already plotting to control them. Even if it is not concrete, the moment Zenirys falls, they will fall too.
Sodoha, a vassal nation of Zenirys, their little puppets. Since the fall of Kaleria, it is obvious that they have gained more control over themselves, even dreaming of greater independence, but again, Hackel also knows how to play this chess game and is putting them in check. He cannot let them become a headache.
Finally, Zenirys, the greatest empire that ruled over almost half the continent, being at its center. More than 1,000 years of history, immense military power cultivated by Kaleria, almost absolute control over most of the nobles.
Without Kaleria, Zenirys lost its head. Lucius Zenirys, he is... a good man, but far from being a decent Emperor. His incompetence knows no bounds, so his daughter takes care of everything.
Lucius watches as he drowns in depravity with his many wives, no longer having to worry about the leash that tightened around his neck. He is fine with his life, because Hackel is taking care of everything.
He sees how various territories are submitting to Krugar, being claimed. He ignores the pleas of ministers and various nobles who beg for Zenirys' sovereignty.
Lucius may be an incompetent emperor, but if anything under Kaleria's collar taught him, it was that you can't fight those who have real power. Skarla is literally synonymous with power.
A demigod capable of doing whatever she wants without penalty? How can anyone fight someone like that? If Zenirys' wealth were greater, if loyalty were greater, perhaps they would have a chance to resist. But at this point, the wealth of Krugar or Skarla is unlimited, and the influence of the banks that bear the name Verona throughout Zenirys is unmistakable.
There have been cases of nobles who tried to fight back, and sanctions followed. Pressure from the banks, which drastically affected business, with merchants avoiding them. They quickly had to kneel and beg.
Trying to fight Skarla is asking to go bankrupt. It would take a joint alliance of all the nobles and their people to resist the overwhelming pressure of Krugar's money. But that is impossible.
Not only have many nobles already gone over to Skarla's side, but there must be several spies hidden among those who claim to be loyal. So a fight behind the scenes would result in huge losses for Zenirys, and these traitors would take advantage of the situation to grab what they could before switching sides.
So five years is what it will take for Seahorse's greatest empire... now second best, to become a nation-state. But of course, it will not be that big, as there are remnants of some other nations that Zenirys has taken over throughout history.
Most likely, to reduce the influence that the Zenirys State may have, their names will be reinstated to satisfy some of the older subjects with lineage from these nations, as a form of respect and control.
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9 – Investigate the Demon Realm and Paradise: Skarla knows that they will not stand idly by and watch her grow and transcend, so that they can then control her. They will want revenge, even if Paradise is on her side, she has no control over the Gods of Light.
Not to mention that the Demon Realm certainly hates her. It has never tried to contact her, even though Skarla has her doubts that the consciousness existing in that dimension is capable of establishing any kind of dialogue.
But it is a fact that both will try to harm her, and the chances of them joining forces... even if it is crazy to imagine Gods of Light and Devils joining hands to harm her, it is not impossible considering that they have worked together before.
Gods of Light had connections with individuals from the Demon Realm and other similar dimensions in exchange for certain resources and information. One example is the Archangel who now serves Queen.
So she needs to prepare herself, as something could happen at any moment, which is why she is taking greater control over churches in general, especially those of the Gods who died because of her.
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There are many more points that need attention, but for now, these are some of the main ones.