Arthur spent the next few days doing what he felt was the most important before departing, that is to settle everything in Avalon. By now most things in Avalon were automated, only needing intervention where major decisions needed to be taken so Arthur didn't have to do much.
Avalon continued to function smoothly, the island's defenses were stable, the construction of the new cities around the island was complete, trade routes were running smoothly, and the leaders he had placed in charge were competent enough that they didn't need him breathing down their necks every hour. He delegated the rest, signed off on reports that needed his intervention, and spent some time with Selene.
There was a strange calm to those days, and Arthur spent most of it with Selene, Lisa and his friends. He even went back to his universe to meet with his teammates as he didn't know when he would get the chance again.
He also took the opportunity to observe if the UFE had noticed the disturbance in the Chimerian army. And after the first few days of probing, the UFE actually initiated an assault on the Chimerian bases outside of their galaxy. And what they found there was something Arthur had already expected, they were left empty.
After their God and Apostles went missing, the Chimerians had stopped all invasion and returned to their galaxy in fear. And after meeting with his teammates he returned to Avalon.
Selene noticed Arthur was absentminded in the last few days and knew it was time for him to go. So, she didn't say much, but stayed close to him whenever she could, sharing meals with him, walking beside him along Avalon's streets. Arthur appreciated that more than any reassurance, words wouldn't have fixed what was wrong anyway and he enjoyed her company too.
Before leaving, he spoke to Steve one last time.
They stood in a quiet chamber far removed from the city's bustle. Arthur leaned against a pillar while Steve regarded him with an expression that was equal parts concern and resignation.
"So," Steve said slowly, "you're really leaving."
Arthur nodded. "I don't have a choice."
Steve exhaled. "I figured as much, I've searched this world for over a thousand years, Arthur. If Thyrandel had a method to cultivate or directly strengthen the soul in the way you need, I would've found it."
Arthur wasn't disappointed, he'd already expected the answer.
"In my old world," Arthur said after a pause, staring at nothing in particular, "there were stories about Cultivation worlds. Places where people didn't just temper their body or gather energy, but refined their soul, intent, spirit… and all that."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "You're basing this on fiction?"
Arthur shrugged. "Magic too was a fiction for me a few years back."
Steve actually laughed at that. "Fair enough, just don't die permanently out there."
That was the last conversation he had with Steve before he left.
…
Arthur stood on a faraway island to use the obelisk and create an interdimensional gate to a new universe. It was a lonely stretch of land surrounded by an endless ocean, its cliffs battered by constant winds. If something went wrong, he didn't want the consequences anywhere near Avalon or the people he cared about. He didn't know what would be at the other side or what kind of environment there would be so he felt it was safe to create the gate away from Avalon.
He took out the obelisk and stood at the center of the island. He rubbed his thumb against its surface and activated it through Technopathy. Lines of light appeared across the surface of the Obelisk, it started to tremble softly as a blue portal started to appear in front of him.
Arthur took a deep breath and stepped through.
As he exited the gate he felt the air become dry and hot as it hit his face.
He looked around and saw he had appeared into a vast desert that stretched endlessly in all directions, dunes rolling like waves beneath a blistering sun. The air was dusty, devoid of moisture, and the sky above was harsh and cloudless.
He had only taken a few steps forward when the ground started to tremble.
Arthur's eyes narrowed as his senses extended towards the ground. And he immediately sensed a massive lifeform beneath the sand, it was moving extremely fast, far faster than something of that size should have been able to and that too inside sand.
He shot upward just as the sand exploded.
A colossal worm-like creature burst from beneath the dunes, its segmented body lined with chitinous plates, a circular maw filled with rotating rows of teeth snapping shut where Arthur had been a moment earlier.
"KRRRREEEEEEE!"
It screeched, knowing it failed at hunting its prey.
Arthur hovered above calmly, studying it as it twisted midair before crashing back into the sand, and disappeared beneath the surface as if it had never been there.
"…What was that," he muttered.
He expanded his awareness further, and frowned. There wasn't just one of these creatures, there were dozens, maybe hundreds within a hundred kilometers.
The entire desert world was infested with similar predators, all moving beneath the sand like fish in water.
Arthur didn't linger there much longer, he spent the next hour scanning the planet thoroughly, searching for even faint signs of civilization. And after an hour of searching he found there was no intelligent life on the planet. It was filled with various alien looking animals and huge worm-like predators roaming the desert planet, and a brutal ecosystem where every organism fought purely for survival.
He released several probes, locked the universe's coordinates into the Obelisk, and opened another gate.
It was easier and much more time efficient for him to just hop into another universe than to find another planet, so he just saved the coordinate of the universe and left a few probes to gather information about this universe.
…
The days turned into weeks following his departure from Avalon.
Arthur hopped from universe to universe without taking any rest. If he didn't find anything promising within hours of arrival, he moved on.
He continued to search for a universe where he could feel mana, spiritual energy or in fact any kind of mystical energy. But all he came across were mostly normal and mundane worlds, sometimes he encountered alien civilizations with advanced technology but no mystical energy whatsoever, sometimes in a barren world where there was no life.
He also encountered worlds where intelligent life had already gone extinct, leaving behind rusted megastructures and ruins.
Once, he even arrived in the middle of a world-ending catastrophe, a world undergoing a zombie apocalypse. And Arthur stayed there longer than he intended.
The virus fascinated him. It rewrote human physiology aggressively, enhancing strength, resilience, and regeneration but at the cost of cognitive collapse. What intrigued Arthur most was that some humans had adapted to the virus, resisting transforming into a zombie. These survivors displayed clear superhuman traits, fighting zombies barehanded and extracting crystalline cores from their skulls and consuming them to grow stronger.
"…Interesting," Arthur murmured as he observed everything from high above in the sky.
So, he stayed there for a few days to collect samples for his research. And after collecting everything he could about the zombies he left the universe after saving its coordinate.
He continued his search for a cultivation world, and just like that a few months passed while he was hopping from one universe to another.
Occasionally, he returned to Thyrandel, if only to reassure Selene that he was still alive. But each visit reminded him what he was fighting for, and why he couldn't afford to fail.
And just as he was losing hope and concluding that there was no such world similar to a cultivation world he finally encountered a world which was ideal for him.
The moment Arthur stepped into the next universe, he felt it. There was a mysterious energy flowing through everything in this world, and it was not mana or Chi.
He couldn't exactly define how this energy was different from mana, but he could feel it.
Arthur stilled. "…This," he muttered quietly, "is new."
He floated upward, and scanned the world beneath him. Mountains, rivers, forests, he felt nothing immediately unusual with them. But he could feel this energy in everything, in the ambient air, in the stones, plants, water. It was like this energy was omnipresent in this world.
So, seeing there was some development in his search, he flew towards a small gathering of lifeforce that felt similar to humans he sensed a few hundred kilometers away.
…
A few moments later after Arthur left the area, a few powerful presences appeared there.
A dozen figures materialized in midair, each radiating an aura that could bring any Transcended rank expert to their knees. They wore flowing robes in various hues, styled similarly to ancient Hanfu, embroidered with symbols Arthur would have found familiar had he been there.
A thin, elderly man stepped forward. His hair and beard was white, and his face was lined with wrinkles, yet his posture was straight and his presence was extremely sharp, like a blade honed over centuries.
He brought his hands together and bowed, giving a salute like a martial artist.
"Fellow Daoists," he said calmly, "it seems we arrived too late. Whatever caused the spatial anomaly has already departed." He paused for a moment and said, "Maybe it was a fellow cultivator who was practicing spatial laws here."
A middle-aged man opposite him sneered, his expression was sharp and suspicious.
"Old coot Wei," he scoffed, "do you take us for fools? That disturbance was no ordinary spatial anomaly. It was most likely a Heaven and Earth treasure that gained consciousness and escaped. Do you think others would believe your word and leave without searching?"
Murmurs of agreement spread through the group.
'Idiot Weilong! Always had to ruin things.' The old man, Wei Wuxian, kept his expression neutral, though inwardly he cursed Weilong's thirteen generation.
It was true that he was trying to instigate the others to believe it was a phenomenon caused by a cultivator and later search the area for any treasure, but it looks like his plan failed.
"If Fellow Daoist Long believes so," Wei said evenly, "you are free to search. No one here is stopping you."
Weilong's lips curled upward in a sneer. "Gladly."
Without another word, he shot off toward the center of the disturbance, his divine sense sweeping the area aggressively.
Wei watched him go, his eyes narrowing slightly and started to search the area too.
And far away, Arthur was unaware that he had already stirred the waters of an entirely new cultivation world.
***
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