Before Vaan decided to return to Pangea, he cast a sweeping glance at the surrounding region of space one more time.
When his gaze landed on the moon, he suddenly paused in thought.
The asteroid field might be too far for a trip with his current abilities, but Pangea's moon was definitely within reach.
Although he was strongly curious about the azure energy's origin, he shouldn't ignore the moon's binding dimensional crack.
'Let's investigate it,' Vaan decided.
…
Three hours later, Vaan reached the moon's surface after traveling nonstop at his maximum speed and space-jumping a thousand times throughout the trip.
'About 400,000 kilometers, huh?' Vaan calculated the distance between Pangea and the moon.
To travel such large distances within three hours would have been unthinkable on Pangea with his current capability.
However, in the vacuum of space, it was possible.
Nevertheless, even Vaan felt three hours was still too long. After all, he still had to make the round trip later.
To travel at full power for six hours… Even if it didn't exhaust him, it was still tedious.
And this was only for the moon.
As for the asteroid field, Vaan wasn't quite sure how far it was. But based on his rough estimate, he could be looking at anywhere between 400,000,000 to 650,000,000 kilometers in distance.
In other words, the asteroid field was at least a thousand times further than the moon. It would take him more than four months to reach the asteroid field and over eight months for a round trip.
Furthermore, this was under the assumption that he could travel at full power throughout the long trip.
It was more accurate to say the round trip would take him at least one year.
Naturally, Vaan would not want to make such a long trip.
After all, he could achieve a lot of things in a year. Why would he waste it on travel time? He didn't have so much leisure time to waste on interstellar travel.
If working for a black company was the thing Vaan hated most in his previous life, the commuting hours would take second place on his hate list.
So much precious time was wasted just to get to and from work.
However, it was all behind him now.
After shaking his head, Vaan surveyed his surroundings on the moon.
Besides its soil composition, Pangea's moon did not seem that different from Earth's moon in his previous life; they were both full of craters and had a thin, non-breathable atmosphere.
Nevertheless, Vaan didn't visit Pangea's moon to sightsee and make comparisons.
After failing to discover anything of interest and value on the moon, he made his way to the dimensional crack, which was located in one of the larger craters.
Unlike Gehenna's Gateway, which was vertical like a standing mirror, the moon's dimensional crack was flat like a reflection on the water's surface.
More importantly, the moon's binding dimensional crack was incomparably larger than Gehenna's Gateway.
Fortunately, there was no sign of danger. Only mana poured out from the moon's dimensional crack. Safe to say, it was a dimensional crack connected to Chaos.
Whereabouts in Chaos? Vaan had yet to determine.
However, not a single demon had passed through the dimensional crack. Most likely, they had yet to discover the dimensional crack.
Of course, normal demons wouldn't be able to survive on the moon for long, even if they came. But that's also only if they were stupid.
Considering mana was pouring out of the dimensional crack much faster than Gehenna's Gate, it was only a matter of time before mana covered the entire moon.
In a sense, the mana would become an additional layer to the moon's atmosphere.
Intelligent demons would only need to use magic to terraform the moon into an inhabitable environment.
Thus, that was also another cause for concern.
However, Vaan had reached the moon first and did not intend to give the demons such an opportunity.
'Fortunately, the other side appears to be a secluded place,' Vaan thought as he studied the dimensional crack from the edge of the enormous crater.
Judging by the appearance of natural rock formations, the pitch-black darkness of the space, and the long resonating echo of soft dripping water, among other small details, the other side appeared to be located in some enclosed, large underground pocket space.
It could even be an undiscovered, vacant secret realm.
Since oxygen was also flowing out from the dimensional crack, Vaan knew he could breathe on the other side without consuming his own air supply.
After Vaan finished his brief surveillance, he immediately dived down. He passed through the dimensional crack and entered the other side for further investigation.
The moment he entered Chaos, Vaan's mind was on full alert for hidden presences and dangers.
Even though he had already concluded that underground space was secluded with no signs of life, it was still an educated assumption based on his observation with limited information.
He couldn't be careless when venturing into the unknown.
Nevertheless, once Vaan confirmed the absence of threats, he slightly relaxed his vigilance. Soon, he spread out his perception and studied the difference in the world's laws.
Although Vaan had grown incomparably strong compared to most people in Pangea, he had never felt invincible… until he entered Chaos.
A feeling of omnipotence subconsciously welled up inside him shortly after he entered this vast unknown world.
It felt like he could do anything and everything with just a thought – almost like the world was at his command.
He felt welcomed by the world.
In the world of Chaos, overflowing with the power of existence, everyone had the qualification to cultivate and pursue the everlasting.
Chaos did not discriminate and gave all life equal opportunity and the ability to raise their level of existence.
As long as one's level of existence was high enough, one could freely destroy and create the world with just a thought.
The world was theirs to bend and reshape as they pleased.
"So this is Chaos… It certainly feels different…"
Vaan marveled at the sensation of freedom as if invisible shackles had been removed from his body.
If he had not reached Peak Demigod rank in his soul and hit a bottleneck, Vaan had a feeling he could have raised his soul rank with breakneck speed by absorbing the power of existence found throughout the world.
Of course, the so-called power of existence was mana.
However, the mana Vaan currently sensed felt different from the one in Pangea and Gehenna. It felt pure and unadulterated.
As such, it was mana that he, a man, could actually manipulate!
"There's a problem with Gehenna's mana," Vaan's eyes flickered with realization.
He immediately understood the heart of the problem that plagued all men on Pangea. Gehenna's mana was incompatible with human males.
Of course, Vaan had long understood that.
However, he never expected the incompatibility only applies to mana from Gehenna. Mana from other realms in Chaos wasn't necessarily incompatible as well.
This was a history-changing discovery!
Men finally had an opportunity to cultivate their magic like witches. They just needed mana that came from another realm in Chaos!
"No… Given the distance, could this place really be another realm other than Gehenna?" Vaan suddenly thought deeper.
It was still possible he was in Gehenna and not some other realm in Chaos.
After all, he was currently underground. There was still a chance that the mana in Gehenna's underground was different from its surface.
In other words, some factors on the surface affected the mana to become incompatible with men. It could even be a great scheme from the Seven Great Devils to limit humanity's growth!
Of course, the latter was quite improbable.
Vaan didn't believe the Seven Great Devils were so capable that they could predict the appearance of the dimensional crack and tamper their mana beforehand.
As such, it was most likely an issue with Gehenna's surface environment that altered the mana.
"It's just as I suspected. I can truly control this kind of pure mana without a problem…" Vaan muttered.
He freely absorbed the surrounding mana and circulated it through his body's channels.
Within mere seconds, Vaan formed the first mana ring around his with the abundant pure mana from the enormous dark cave.
However, he felt like the standard cultivation process of magic was too simple and underdeveloped to satisfy him.
As such, Vaan shattered the mana ring and simply stored the mana in his Heaven-Swallowing Space for the time being.
Nevertheless, he had confirmed it was truly possible for men to cultivate magic with this kind of pure mana.
It was already tried and tested.
That said, Vaan suddenly felt sympathy for all the men from the Wizard Tower. They had all castrated themselves to embark on the path of magic cultivation as wizards.
"I wonder how the wizards would feel once I make known that men could cultivate magic without needing to castrate themselves…" Vaan rubbed his chin, intrigued by his own thoughts.
The wizards had already made their choice and accepted the price. Even if they felt great regret, they could only live with it.
After all, their PPs weren't coming back.
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