Chapter 985: Chapter 985: The Day Before Heading to the New World
After persuading Ishtar to head back, Bell stayed home and entered his final adjustment period. This wasn’t just about tuning his body and power, but also about making the last refinements to the core of the new world.
Time slowly reached the final day of the three-month deadline.
Today was the Hestia Familia’s final gathering.
Not only Bell and the six goddesses were present—Meteria and Shiki Ryougi had also gathered here.
"All preparations in both worlds are complete. Humans, demi-humans, Xenos, and gods from this world have already gathered around Orario. Judging by their state, they’re ready to face the new world."
During this time, Meteria had been closely monitoring the internal state of the world. After all, she was the one responsible for sending every living being of this world to the new one. At the same time, she still needed to make a clean break from this world. She didn’t want any lingering connections, or things would get troublesome later.
"Divine essence and Authority have all been reclaimed. Every god has returned to the level of a demigod. From here on, they’ll need to reshape their divine essence and Authority in the new world. For a while, they won’t be lacking in things to do."
Her preparations for severing ties with this world were essentially complete.
"My situation is similar. Ordinary people across the world are ready to transfer to the new world, and the divine essence and Authority of the gods from every pantheon have already been dealt with."
Shiki Ryougi also reported her side of things, then turned her gaze to Bell.
"That just leaves you."
"I’ve finished handling the core as well. All preparations for connecting to Human History are complete. What’s left is the formal connection."
As soon as Bell finished speaking, Meteria looked puzzled.
"You naughty boy, you didn’t connect directly to Human History?"
"Yes. If we connected to Human History right away, the Miniature World would immediately realize we’re siphoning four-digit authority. Connecting now would be premature. We need to wait until the very last moment to officially link it. And I’m planning to give all the gods of the Miniature World a big gift—only then will they stop paying attention to us."
Hearing this, Meteria nodded slightly.
The attention of the Miniature World had always been the greatest problem for the new world. If her naughty child could successfully divert the gods’ attention, the new world would be spared a lot of trouble.
Even though the new world was already extremely complete—the connection to Human History, the internal cycle of reincarnation, and the core built on Bell’s simulated star creation map covered almost everything a world needed, even accounting for future ascension—
they still had to worry about whether the Miniature World might interfere.
If its attention could be effectively redirected, many problems could be avoided.
"Bell, what exactly do you mean by this ’big gift’?" Shiki Ryougi asked, curiosity slipping into her voice.
"Two paths to becoming one-digit."
"!?"
The sudden statement nearly made Meteria and Shiki Ryougi drop their jaws.
"Paths to one-digit? Two of them?"
Meteria hadn’t known before, but now she did—and suddenly wished she didn’t. She hadn’t expected her troublesome child to play something this big.
A trace of surprise flashed across Shiki Ryougi’s face, but seeing Bell’s casual expression, she quickly calmed down. Knowing Bell’s personality, she was certain he wasn’t the type to help the enemy. This so-called "gift" was definitely a massive trap.
’So this bomb is meant to draw the Miniature World’s attention and keep it completely off our backs?’
That answer immediately surfaced in Shiki Ryougi’s mind. Thinking it over, it seemed like the only explanation that made sense.
"A divine status that’s hard to achieve?" she asked tentatively.
Bell couldn’t help but laugh.
"It’s not that it’s hard—it’s only possible at the very end."
"How could a one-digit path be completed so easily? An unfinished one-digit path is still just a path. As long as the theory exists, something like that can be fabricated. The real problem is how to actually reach it."
An incomplete framework was something that could be produced in any number. Bell was never stingy with that. What mattered was whether it could successfully pull the attention of every god in the Miniature World away from them.
"The Theory of Divine Creation and the Theory of Human Creation. Whether everything was created by gods, or created by humans—that’s the one-digit path."
"If it’s Divine Creation, then everything was made by gods. Any so-called calamity is something they can casually overcome. And since the gods created everything, that means the quasi–one-digit Decaying Wind was also created by them, so naturally they can transcend its erosion."
"But if humans created everything..." Bell let out a quiet laugh. "That theory is something the gods of the Miniature World would desperately deny. But once Human History acknowledges it and an incomplete one-digit spiritual framework is formed, it would mean every human in the Miniature World would riot."
Bell could already see the chaos that would erupt within the Miniature World.
Meteria, however, frowned.
"Those gods won’t fall for something like that so easily, will they?"
Bell agreed with her completely. Gods who had existed for so long were all old monsters. There was no way they’d be fooled that easily. And precisely because he knew that, Bell was being so direct.
"So when these two incomplete divine and spiritual frameworks truly manifest, do you think they can really ignore them? A theory that doesn’t exist can’t form an incomplete divine or spiritual framework. Only something that’s theoretically possible can."
"I don’t need the gods of the Miniature World to believe in it. I just need them to understand that the path to one-digit truly exists—and that it’s achievable."
"As long as they have that awareness, the gods of the Miniature World will definitely start stirring things up."
Bell didn’t care whether those gods would actually fall for it. As long as the idea took root, that was enough. Even if they all knew the path to one-digit was extremely difficult, that was still far better than not knowing such a path existed at all.
