Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

The sea gradually calmed down, and the volcanoes on the earth stopped erupting. The number of meteors falling from the sky gradually decreased, the conflict slowed down, and as the two ancient gods who were fighting each other spread their domains across the void, creating one star and planet after another, a little bit of life gradually emerged on the peaceful earth.

The first to appear were seaweeds. Under Alice's will, they abhorred sunlight and favored darkness, releasing vast amounts of gas to obscure the sky and earth. Because aquatic life does not need fire, they have been unconsciously drawn to the moon and night since their inception. Unbeknownst to them, the earliest mollusks and plankton appeared in the ocean, and the first crustaceans quietly emerged.

One of the fifteen races, the marine species, was born. From the moment of their birth, they worshipped the moon and the nights it brought.

Flowers, grasses, and trees gradually appeared on the land, and the earliest beasts roamed the water sources. They sharpened their teeth and sucked blood, and while the ocean flourished, they were inspired by another will. Unlike the ocean, which was entirely water, the creatures living on land discovered that they needed fire after a lightning strike ignited the trees.

One of the fifteen races, the Orcs, were born. From the moment of their birth, they worshipped the sun and the flames it brought.

As the orcs grew stronger, the marine races also reached their zenith. When the ancient sea city of Atlantis and the original orc capital of Olympia were established, the two races with different beliefs began an endless, epic bloodbath on the coastline. The marine races rode the giant waves, while the orcs rode the lava; the clash between the two races was like fire meeting water.

The outcome could not be decided quickly, just as the sun and moon beyond the void, drawing upon an ever-growing number of stars, maintained a constant balance. Thus, the battle between sea and land continued, never ceasing.

War, war never ends. As the forces of war brewed, a strange life emerged on the blood-stained land. From the forests, the first forest elves were born. From beneath the rocks, the oldest goblins were born. From the moment of their birth, they secretly fought each other for resources to avoid the land's dominant orcs, thus sealing their fate as eternal enemies.

No powerful beings noticed them because they were too insignificant. No powerful beings anticipated them because other things attracted the attention of the rulers.

Just as the world was functioning smoothly, and the war between the ancient gods was at a standstill, a thunderous roar, almost like a whisper, brought the surface of this world to a point where it was perfectly suited for the survival of most mortal beings. In this multiverse, there exists a predetermined truth.

—'Wherever there is a place suitable for mortals to live, mortals are destined to appear.'

—'As long as mortals exist in a world, mortals will inevitably become the dominant force in that world.'

This is the truth, this is the fact, this is the irresistible trend of multiverse. All who obstruct it will decay and turn to dust, and unfortunately, beings who know this fact are few and far between in the multiverse.

The tide of battle turned. Even though the ocean and the land hadn't yet decided a victor, when the first mortals appeared near the orcish settlements and were subsequently preyed upon, the intervention from outside the chessboard, the silent torrent of humanity spanning the entire multiverse, began to operate. More mortals appeared in this world, and from the moment they arrived, they were forced into battle against the land's overlords due to a lack of resources.

Once the bloody war begins, it will never end. Especially after the marine species offered refuge to mortals living along the coast and rivers, this feud only intensified. Gradually, with the help of the marine species, mortals built several cities on the coast and riverbanks. And gradually, more and more mortals fell victim to the claws of the orcs who cried out in the name of the sun's radiance.

This period lasted for many, many years, during which various miscellaneous events occurred. For example, a mortal in a hidden cave came into contact with a drop of blood left behind by a 'famous but not particularly handsome young man' in ancient times, thus giving birth to the first vampire species. Or, for instance, a 'dragon that had been brutally beaten by two uninvited guests in the previous era' crossed over in the form of its corpse, and the first dragon spirits were born on its body—it is said that the dragon spirits always believed that their ancestor would awaken someday in the future, but until then, they were merely intelligent beasts.

Before the Elven Corridor was even born, the energy level of this world was still at a very low stage. The orcs' innately powerful physique destined them to be the rulers of the land, which also caused many non-orc races on the continent to live in dire straits.

Mortals call this era the 'Eternal Night Era'. Even with the help of the sea-dwelling races, their lives remain shrouded in darkness. Another reason for this is that they have finally turned their faith to the same Lord of the Moon and Thunder as their allies, the sea-dwelling races. They hope that the Moon will completely defeat the Sun, bringing eternal night to this land.

The tide of humanity begins to move, and the outcome is decided as a result.

Perhaps even Fanlou didn't know where she had gone wrong; she only knew that her divine power was inexplicably weakening. Her fortunes worsened with each passing day. Beyond Disbote, the realm known as the Chessboard of Gods, the number of primordial stars controlled by Alice visibly exceeded her power, measured in millennia. She grew weaker and weaker, sinking deeper into despair, until the expanding starry sky had formed a small cantilever, and the former Ancient God of the Sun finally fell into the Chessboard of Gods.

Fanlou finally became Alice.

Part of her body was assimilated, while the first giants were born from another part of her body. A small portion of her scattered will returned to the faith of the orcs, attempting to infiltrate the orc witch's body but being assimilated by Alice. And when she died, or became Alice, the greatest wave since the creation of the world finally surged from the primordial chaos.

The ancestral god is dead, how can there be no star sacrifice?

With the birth of the Elf race and the rapid increase in the energy level of the Divine Chessboard, a satisfied Alice returned to her temple to begin a long period of digestion and slumber. Before leaving, she took the vast majority of the marine species with her, allowing them to settle in her Moon Palace domain. She also left behind many unique mechanical humanoids, instilling in them the fundamental principle of 'not actively harming mortals' before letting them roam freely on the land.

Later generations of mortals would call them the Moonlit Seed and the Machine Seed. However, at this point in time, such trivial matters were not of much concern.

Because she is about to fall into slumber, because with her slumber comes the manifestation of the Elven Corridor, and the first war between the Old Gods and the first bloody battle between races will be decided. The third god, born from the Force of War, is about to descend.

The chessboard of the gods will soon become what she envisioned. The orcs, having lost their ancestral god, will fall from their dominant position to become powerful ants. The prayers of the goblins and forest elves will give birth to their own gods. Giants and dragon spirits will emerge alongside the elves, their energy levels rising to become powerful races. And when the gods descend, fantastical species capable of contending with them will also be born.

The marine species will leave and enter the ocean, just as the moon-singing species enter the moon palace, no longer participating in the struggles on the chessboard. The vampire species are born from the power of mortals and 'a certain well-known, not particularly handsome, vampire youth'. They are destined to be indifferent to mortals due to their bloodthirsty nature and bloodline memories. As for the machine-type species, they will become an uncontrollable natural disaster that no one dares to provoke.

As for mortals, Alice had no intention of paying them any attention. Getting too involved with the tide of humanity was never a good thing; she didn't need their faith, but she knew they would continue to exist. She knew mortals would soon forget her, the Lord of the Moon and Thunder, who had never offered them much protection. And she knew even more—

—The eternal night that belongs to mortals is about to begin.

And so, Alice took one last look at the still-drooping crimson aura of humanity. She closed her eyes, and in a state of hibernation, journeyed to the distant future she had been waiting for.

How much of that blood-red fortune will accumulate at that time?

Section 81 Chronicle

Time flows on, and millennia pass in the blink of an eye. As the first primordial gods either died or slumbered, the second generation of divine beings were born into the world. Artesius, the Lord of War, was the first, and many other true gods of other races also manifested one after another.

Some were powerful, while others were relatively weaker. For example, the Goblin race gods, born from the Goblin prayers that arose during a rift in the struggle of the ancient gods, were no match for the more powerful and superior Forest Elf Lords, whose followers were far superior. The weaker Slime Worm Lords were even less powerful than the second-generation vampires and the resurrected giants. In the history of the primordial chaos erupting and constructing the Elven Corridor, numerous fantastical species and gods were born from nothingness, and with their birth came massive battles.

This is the second war, the second great war of gods to break out in the world after the ancient war of the gods. Many powerful gods are born and rise, and the races or concepts they represent are fighting against other opponents on the chessboard of gods, which is becoming more intense with each passing moment. Every thousand years, one god after another falls, and the races they represent also fall to dust.

Humans are a very special race. In the early days of the war, many newly born gods believed that an unprecedentedly powerful overlord would emerge from among the vast mortal population of the earth. For this reason, even though mortals, like their contemporaries the orcs, could not sense the increasingly abundant elves in the atmosphere, the numerous new races regarded them as a lurking threat and avoided them. This was because no god could be certain that mortals wouldn't give rise to a tyrannical vengeful ruler due to external oppression, and also because the newly formed races at that time were truly no match for them.

Ah, that's right. At the end of the Primordial Era and the beginning of the Ancient Era, mortals briefly replaced the orcs, who had lost the protection of their ancestral gods, and the sea creatures, who had retreated from the battlefield, as the overlords of the divine chessboard. Because civilization ultimately needs time to mature and solidify. And at the boundary between the Primordial and Ancient Eras, at the end of an era that mortals called 'Eternal Night,' the elves and the Elven Corridor, which were born then, could not actually provide much power to those ancient, primitive races.

Without magic, even the most intricate spells cannot be cast. Furthermore, the development of a system cannot be achieved overnight. While the ancient races (in general) were still rejoicing over the primitive spell of using elves to ignite haystacks, mortals, having absorbed the heritage of the sea-dwelling species, had already ruled several continents on this chessboard with machines that didn't require elves to operate. Except for the celestial machine races, who roamed the skies, never interacting with any other race and acting like an uncontrolled natural disaster, mortals feared no other emerging races. In fact, in the early years of the era, they even used powerful mechanical firepower to wipe out a new race, accomplishing the feat of slaying gods with mortal bodies!

Whether some unnamed, slumbering being from the Moon Palace was involved is unknown. Whether the crimson torrent of humanity, traversing the gaps between dimensions and visible only to saints or transcendent beings with informational connections, interfered is unknown.

The truth is only recorded in those long-lost histories, unrecorded by any human, non-human, or even divine being. These histories record how mortals once ruled this continent with their wisdom and creativity. The writing systems, customs, aesthetics, and even most of the life technologies unrelated to elves of the other races… all originated from their ancestors' imitation of mortals.

This could perhaps be called 'cause and effect'. Although few races in this world know the secrets contained within. After all, time will continue to flow, the ancient era will pass, and the medieval period will arrive. The hallmark of the medieval period is the complete formation of the Elven Corridor and the participation of the Lord of War on the battlefield.

This powerful being, who descended at the very beginning of the ancient era as the third god—perhaps the first in his own perception—spended countless years in his own domain. Because he himself was the embodiment of war, even if he did nothing, the ceaseless warfare on earth would endlessly push his power to its peak. And with his cessation of observation and the creation of his own personal race, the boundary between the ancient and medieval periods was thus established.

The Winged Race, these divine servants born for war, were created by Him. The story begins with these winged beings landing on Earth. Over the long years, a stalemate gradually formed, and the dynamic balance where all new and ancient races had roughly found their place was shattered—the Forest Elf's capital was destroyed, the Vampire's settlements were bombed, the ancient and powerful Fantasy Races were slaughtered one by one, and even the dragons suffered casualties under the Winged Race's siege—the Winged Race, like a catfish thrown into a fishbowl, broke the deadlock in a ruthless and unscrupulous manner.

Thus, the Third War, sweeping across the land, began. This time, the mortal civilization, unable to break free from the limitations imposed by the elves and lacking the means to cast spells or use magical artifacts, finally faced annihilation. The long passage of time in the ancient era had eroded the fear that the gods and powerful races held for this race. And so they were wiped from the earth like dust.

Thus, the medieval era, represented by the fifteen races, continued for thousands of years. The end of the medieval era was marked by the 'Dragon's Demise' event and the awakening of the ancient ancestor of the Dragon Spirit race, hidden deep within the sacred land, unknown to both humans and gods—the Ancient Dragon Ismir. With its awakening from its eternal slumber, a massive temporal and spatial shift immediately engulfed the entire chessboard of the gods.

Many changes occurred, some significant, some subtle, some known to beings on earth. Others, however, manifested silently in the shadows.

The Demon Race appeared silently in the world, with a cause and an effect. This powerful fantasy species, revered as the Mother of All Demons, seemed to have existed in the world since ancient times, while her kin had merely disguised themselves and kept a low profile throughout the long past. No one, human or non-human, found the appearance of the Demon Race unusual, nor did anyone raise any objections.

The newly emerged demon races quickly became one of the fifteen races and participated in the Third World War, which swept across the entire world, spreading to even more distant places.

The war intensified, and amidst this escalating conflict, countless heroes and sages, far surpassing any previous era, emerged like shooting stars from every powerful race. The use of elves and the development of magical technology progressed at an unprecedented pace. And finally, the battle transcended the ground, extending into the heavens!

Even the Moon-Singing Race, dwelling on the moon and long since far removed from the divine chessboard, were drawn into this renewed war. Not to mention the other races, whose very existence was intertwined with conflict. All, including the gods, believed this war would be the grandest and most important battle in the world's history. And the ultimate victor would become the supreme god of this planet!

Yes, the existence of the Star Grail has only been proven at this moment. And the idea, which came from who knows where, has led the gods of this world to unanimously believe that as long as they return to the Star Grail, or what is called 'primordial chaos' in ancient times, the ultimate victor will obtain this infinite power that transcends all gods.

Thus, in this atmosphere, the intensity of the war continued to escalate.

And it was in this atmosphere that a powerful race called the Fairy Race, known to many powerful races through prophecy or ancient scrolls, yet rarely leaving a trace on earth, finally stepped onto the chessboard of the gods. The fifteen pieces on the chessboard were finally in their places, and it was at this moment, in the Moon Palace—

—An ancient god who had slumbered for countless years opened his eyes.

Chapter 82 Revealing My Name

Alice opened her eyes.

As she opened and closed her eyes, she felt an unparalleled power within her—a power that, in the initial instant, almost overflowed and escaped her control. But in the end, she still managed to grasp this power of dominance.

A faint glow appeared in her palm as she held the staff of domination. Even though she had relinquished her status as Satan, the concept of 'domination' remained firmly in her grasp. She was, after all, a person who cherished the past; even with new methods, she would easily abandon the old tools.

[There will be about half an hour until the Zhongzhou team arrives in this world.]

Alice tapped her forehead—although the time when the past and future would merge into one was still a little short, she knew she should wake up now. A crucial cause and effect still needed to be resolved so that spacetime could form a sufficiently complete circuit.

She exhaled softly, and the entire Moon Palace, and all the changes on the moon, silently came under her control. Just as she had planned in the past, the moon people who once worshipped her as their ancestral goddess had long forgotten her in the long years and countless wars. And it was precisely because of this that the Moon Palace, where she slept deep within the moon's heart, remained undisturbed in any way throughout this long history.

This is good.

Faith is poisonous, especially faith connected to mortals. Mortals are a domineering race; they cannot tolerate fellow humans. At most, they acknowledge servants and slaves of other races. Even if someone has been kind to them, even if they have offered them countless helping hands when they were weak, this karmic connection will always be erased for various reasons, leaving only the law of the jungle.

Alice raised her head, her gaze piercing through the thick lunar soil and the vast void beyond, finally settling on the crimson torrent of humanity spreading across the multiverse. She clearly saw that the bloodthirsty fortune that had once weighed down the Sail Tower with a mere sliver of its power long ago had now surged to about ten times its former strength. And every race that had, over the long course of history, incurred the blood feud of mortals on Earth had, without exception, been corrupted by this crimson fortune; their lives were no longer in their own hands.

[As expected, this is, after all, the result of my research.]

Alice departed from the throne where she had slumbered. Her earlier breath had swept away any remaining dust and debris from the lunar palace. Beneath her feet, a vast and complex network of energy extended to every corner of the moon, unnoticed by the lunar singers on its surface.

This is quite normal, since the entire moon was originally her tool. The Moon-Singing Species exist to guard this star and prevent it from being defiled by outside gods or races. And since they serve as both gatekeepers and servants, Alice naturally wouldn't allow them into the Moon Palace.

They were tools, but also tools that faithfully fulfilled their duties. Therefore, Alice pitied them and ensured they did not clash with the mortals on earth. Their loyalty, enduring for millennia, was indeed commendable, but now was not the time for reckoning.

[Fairy species, fairy land. In this world, Patchouli in her true form should have already arrived.]

Alice blinked, her gaze falling on the divine chessboard, almost stained crimson by the bloodlust and destiny, in her vision. On this chessboard, only three races remained untouched and corrupted by the bloodlust and destiny.

First, they are sea creatures; second, they are demons; third, they are fairies.

The sea creatures had fled far away, the demons had other reasons, and the location of the fairy gathering point was therefore particularly dazzling and conspicuous in Alice's eyes. She located it in an instant, and then she appeared outside the fairy's hidden portal the next moment.

There was a strange movement in the sky. She looked up and saw a giant silver serpent, visible only to her, descending from the outer edge of an endlessly distant world. Its landing point was somewhere thousands of kilometers away, somewhere between existence and non-existence—she knew very well that it was the main lair of the demon race, where a truly noble being resided.

[Is that Chu Xuan...? Yes, time and space don't hold much meaning for him now. Now is indeed the most opportune time to persuade that important person. Just like how I was destined to wake up early at this point, this guy really knows how to seize opportunities...]

Alice knew it was Chu Xuan, the true Chu Xuan who controlled the Hunting Saint Ritual. She also knew that the person Chu Xuan was visiting was the Mother of All Demons, Aichidra, the origin of the demon race in this world's lore. She even knew what kind of agreement, what kind of cooperation, Chu Xuan and that woman would reach. Because after she finished her urgent matter, she also wanted to meet with that esteemed hermit.

Alice reached out and gently touched the door before her. Memories from the past, or rather, the 'future,' allowed her to know the secret code for entering and exiting this door without needing to decipher it. The next moment, she appeared inside, and a brand new, prosperous world was reflected in her vision!

Fairy Village, a perfect place to retire. The boundless, desolate lands and falling black snow of the outside world are replaced in this secret realm by endless, dense forests, pools, and blooming flowers. Countless long-extinct animals of all sizes and frolicking, giggling little fairies chase and play in the forest. Everything is lively and full of life.

Alice paid them little attention, for she could see through the thick soil and vibrant flowers of the nanobot swarm with a single glance, and discern the billions of life-bearing vessels slumbering deep underground. Within each vessel lay a mortal of unknown age, asleep. Yet they were not imprisoned, for their souls had been freed and were living within layers of idealized dreams.

These are just details, details that don't really matter. In fact, Alice's attention was drawn to the tree palace in the center of the fairy village the moment she arrived. And with one step, she silently appeared inside the tree palace!

As she expected, the patrolling fairies throughout the Tree Palace didn't react to him at all. Everything was just as she had arranged in the Moon Palace. The moment she appeared here, she gained supreme control of this area!

Of course, that's not important. And she doesn't think it's important.

All she had to do now was suppress her overwhelming yet controllable emotions. She silently strode forward through the corridors of the Tree Palace, then covered the face of someone whose body shape was different but who felt strangely familiar from behind!

"Guess who I am?" — Alice's voice was as sweet as honey.

Section 83 The Cycle of Cause and Effect

Her response was an over-the-shoulder throw.

The familiar Patchouli-style treatment she hadn't received in a long, long time had truly passed. So much so that Alice couldn't help but feel a warm, nostalgic feeling as she was levitated. This feeling prompted her to execute a simple yet effective set of joint locks, locking the slender body behind her as her feet touched the ground, and then pressing her backward.

As she expected, when she turned around, the 'Fairy Queen' disguise she had used in the Sacred Hunt ritual had silently faded away. In its place was the Patchouli Knowledge she knew from her memories. Although Alice felt there was nothing wrong with occasionally indulging in role-playing, it was clear that not everyone shared her sentiment at this moment.

She looked at Patchouli, placing the latter's hands on the top of the fairy throne as her gaze traveled from top to bottom. From the tip of her nose to her chest, across her beautiful curves, down to her ankles. A strand of pale golden hair fell quietly, gently intertwining with Patchouli's purple hair, which fluttered in the breeze. And in those pale purple eyes, she saw only her own reflection.

“I’m back, Patchouli,” Alice said softly, watching the delicate earlobes of the beautiful woman before her blush silently. Throughout this process, she hadn’t used any power or skill beyond what an average high school girl could possess. And this didn’t mean she discovered that the resistance she had received was of the same caliber.

"Hmm." The purple-toned witch, once the fairy queen, let out a soft 'humph' from the tip of her nose. Her long, slender eyelashes trembled slightly and drooped, obscuring her pale purple eyes.

A silent wind swept by, and though no one, not even a fairy, entered or noticed the change, the gates of the fairy royal court, which had never closed for millennia, silently shut completely. In the quiet palace, the magical candles and illuminating orbs that had burned for countless ages went out one by one without a sound, and amidst the spreading silence and darkness, Alice gently lowered her shoulders.

Then…………

....................................

Alice had to admit that even though she had advanced to the fourth tier, gathered the Light of the Mind, and gained a certain grasp of higher powers such as time, space, and dimensions, she still had some shortcomings in certain areas. For example, in terms of itinerary planning, she felt that she should have come six months earlier. Because if she hadn't, she wouldn't have needed to temporarily adjust the flow of time in this fairy kingdom, extending a few minutes into hundreds of days and months.

But that's not really important. After all, even if the war between witches escalates to a transcendent level, she will ultimately be the victor. While she might feel a slight regret at not being able to sit by her bedside and admire her sleeping beauty as she used to, times have changed. Losing old pleasures naturally brings new ones. The only pity is that expressing that information in words or images is rather irrational and likely to provoke an attack from some kind of myriapod crustacean. So, she'll just collect it all, record it, and imprint it in a suitable place in her memory bank…

"So, Alice, you've successfully reached the middle of the fourth stage of the Gene Lock. You've gathered the light of the soul?" Patchouli, having changed her clothes, sat on the fairy throne that had been repaired countless times, tilting her head to examine Alice, who was being used as a temporary cushion, her luscious lips slightly pouting.

"And now you only need to return to the right point in time to fully advance, acquire the power of the fourth-tier mid-stage, or even infinitely approach the high-stage?"

“Only in this world.” Alice shook her head, her cheek brushing against the soft hair of the beauty in her arms. “I put in so much effort before, thinking I could simultaneously push the genetic lock and soul obsession to the Light of the Mind stage, and then, with the blessing of creation myths and the primordial godhood, at least experience the level of the four highs ahead of time. But after trying, I finally found that the original theory was not feasible. After gathering the Light of the Mind, any power system will lead to the same result… In the end, this is the only level I can reach.”

"After all, it was built up by brute force," Alice sighed softly. "She skipped over her inner demons and became a fourth-level expert by force. Although there are probably no long-term consequences, the consumption of resources is much greater than the most outrageous figure expected. The reserves that she had barely accumulated by absorbing everything from an entire era, which theoretically should have been enough to reach the fourth level, were completely exhausted before she even touched that crucial threshold. All I can do is take a look at that level and then have to slink away."