1 million years later ...
On a cosmic scale, a million years is insignificant.
But for most people, a million years is an unimaginably long time.
During this period, Anti-Rachel remained relatively inactive.
Despite their numerous projects advancing rapidly, they only marginally weakened Rachel.
No Rank 12 worlds were destroyed, aside from the initial one. In that case, Rachel managed to recover the universal law, rendering the attack a mere financial loss rather than a foundational one.
In the present day, Lin Ming stands as the undisputed leader of the alliance, with his clone consistently present at headquarters.
Satisfying everyone with his leadership, he neither forces anyone nor shows leniency towards Rachel.
Still, he managed to disrupt Rachel's infiltrations significantly, so today, very few alliance members get hacked by Rachel.
The research team of Anti-Rachel constantly makes improvements to the code to the point that many believe Rachel's reputation as the best coder is not well deserved.
For this reason, many who were initially not members began to consider membership; after all, Anti-Rachel has codes that can resist Rachel's infiltrations and very few requirements; who wouldn't want to join?
Anti-Rachel became more prominent and influential, with Lin Ming as its leader.
...
Lin Ming sat in his chair.
As the clone, he possesses most of the main body's memories and is authorized to make independent decisions. Being a Rank 13, he is allowed to wield two universal laws and possesses a wealth of energy.
However, his true influence is less a result of his personal power and more a testament to his leadership.
He maintained close contact with Rachel throughout this time. Everything went according to plan. He now has a lot of information regarding many civilizations, all of which he gave to Rachel.
Anti-Rachel has a developing army, too; Ling Ming expects that in the future, Anti-Rachel will become a civilization itself.
He has experience uniting everyone into a big federation; he did it with the Clear Water Sect.
It's relatively easy; first, he needs legitimacy, a constitution, a court, and an army, a congress.
Anti-Rachel has a constitution, and a court was set up a while ago.
The function of the court is to resolve conflicts between civilizations. On its surface, its powers are minimal, but what courts are best at is expanding their own powers.
Aside from the court, Lin Ming himself mostly takes care of the financial part. One of the other best ways to create a federation is money.
The civilizations who are members must pay taxes to subscribe to code updates; it adds up to a lot. Lin Ming is setting up grant programs with conditions attached. For example, if they want to receive grants for code improvements, they must install certain weapons in their world's defense system.
He is also trying to come up with consensus laws. He plans to set up popular laws to create a precedent. A precedent that allows the alliance to set up and enforce laws.
Many underestimate precedents; they are important. If it's allowed to happen once, it would be much easier the second time.
As for Congress, it's a work in progress.
He plans to set it up in around ten million years.
A congress would give Anti-Rachel legitimacy, making everyone feel that they have a voice, so they resist integration less.
It will likely happen in less than a billion years with many top civilizations on board; Lin Ming is sure about it.
...
Zagronan is seated on a chair in a luxurious room. Lana also sits beside him at the table, and a few 'demon kings' are standing around.
He rang a tiny bell, and servants promptly entered, bringing in food dishes.
"It looks good!" thought Zagronan.
Over the past million years, he had been striving to reach Rank 11. However, achieving a Rank 11 body proved to be more time-consuming than anticipated, even with the aid of various pills.
To attain Rank 11, one must first elevate their body to Rank 11.
Recently, after consuming an unimaginable number of Rank 10 pills, he finally achieved a Rank 11 body.
For other Rank 10 immortals, this process might take billions of years, as they lack an endless supply of Rank 10 pills.
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A Rank 11 body can tolerate an unlimited number of complete laws. Zagronan can keep creating numerous complete laws, becoming much more powerful than he is currently.
Today, he is calculating another complete law and is only a bit away from rank 11.
As the feast was laid out on the table, he began to eat. His taste for food had evolved over the past million years.
Now, he prefers small quantities of food from various cultures.
In addition to tormenting people with illusions, his new hobby became exploring different cuisines.
Having already sampled nearly all human and elven dishes, the food on the table today hailed from the Beastmen.
Lana, who was eating nearby, also enjoyed trying different foods. Consequently, she accompanied him every time.
Zagronan observed the food; it appeared uncooked, resembling the internal organs of some animal.
The Beastmen encompassed various races, ranging from wolf and dog to cat, tiger, and dragon Beastmen.
Typically sold by 'Alive' in batches with a few of each kind, they were wild by nature, accustomed to consuming raw meat—a default setting that proved challenging to alter.
Even if one managed to change their eating habits, they were often unsuitable for delicate tasks, showing less talent in those areas. However, they excelled as fighters, which explained their prevalent role in multi-species societies, particularly within the military.
Zagronan nodded and consumed the food.
As a demon, he had no hesitation about eating the internal organs of an unknown creature.
"Hmm, I don't like it!" he shook his head.
Despite his preference for more refined cuisine, he finished the entire plate. While better than typical raw meat, it still lacked any additional flavors.
Turning to the head chef, he inquired, "Is this their best food?"
The servant responded cautiously, "This food is prevalent among Beastmen warriors; they appreciate its simplicity."
Zagronan remarked, "I appreciate simplicity too, but not this one! I rate it 1.5/10. Next!" and tossed the plate aside.
Lana said, "I'm giving it a 2." She, too, didn't find it appealing.
She remarked, "It tastes like a dragon heart but with only a hint of dragon blood, mostly horse blood. I would have given it a 5 if it were pure dragon."
The head chef tallied the points, gritting his teeth as he did so.
The servants then brought out other dishes.
Zagronan sampled some and exclaimed, "I give it a 1! It's worse than the last one!"
Lana added, "I'm giving this one a 4. A Rank 8 monster's brain could have been served better, but I guess those Beastmen don't want to do it."
The head chef gritted his teeth and signaled for the next round of dishes.
Lana's ratings for the following eight dishes ranged from 2 to 6, with one cooked newborn scoring a 9; she liked newborns.
Zagronan's ratings varied from 1 to 3, even assigning a negative 1 to the newborn. The head chef was on the verge of screaming at the mention of a negative score; such a thing didn't exist!
He contested, and Zagronan nodded, amending his mark to 1.
The head chef's score added to 83, falling short of 100. Which meant ...
"Good! Now, I'm going to eat you!" Lana smiled.
It was her favorite part. The head chef dropped to his knees, petrified, not even uttering a plea.
The food contest was Zagronan's idea, but Lana made a few suggestions to make it more 'exciting.'
They judged the foods fairly, and if the chef received less than 100 marks from both of them for 10 dishes, then they would eat the chef.
Zagronan agreed; however, he wasn't interested in uncooked and unrefined meat, so the chefs were usually consumed by Lana herself.
While she also disliked uncooked meat, she enjoyed the process, their fear, and the cruelty of it.
Zagronan watched as the chef screamed and died. Lana indulged in the most delicious parts before returning to her seat, covered in blood and smiling.
"Oh look, another child!" Lana announced.
She was pregnant, and her child had just been born. As a peak rank 9 demon, childbirth was not the least bit harmful to her. Her body was especially suited for childbearing, and with her unbelievably high vitality, she barely paid attention even during childbirth—no pain, no inconvenience.
Zagronan nodded.
After this long, he is numb to being a father. After reaching rank 9, all children born became royal blood demons.
There were no other untalented newborns for Lana to eat. Still, she liked newborns, so she started eating the royal bloods.
Zagronan was against it, but Lana didn't care. She smiled at her newborn and opened her mouth, swallowing the poor thing whole.
Zagronan had no reaction. He was too used to it. After a million years, one becomes numb to everything.
The last time in the illusion world, Rachel saved his state of mind, but this time, his state of mind changed after a million years.
"Okay, call the next chef," Zagronan ordered.
One of the demon kings went out, and the next demon chef arrived after a while.
...
Savior sighed.
After a lot of hard work, they managed to take Hype down! But not in the way he thought. They didn't fight it; instead, they ousted the CEO! The process was bizarre!
Savior had planned a lot and was about to start causing chaos to attract a rank 10 from Hype. However, he hit something on the ground and fell as he walked. Looking down, he was astonished! What could be so tough that even he, a rank 9 demon, fell when he hit it?
He began to dig the ground. After a while, he found a secret treasury! In it, there were no magic crystals, etc. Only old, ownerless shares of many corporations!
When he looked at the extent of it, he felt speechless. Even he was amazed at his luck!
He put his name on all the shares and became the biggest shareholder of many corporations, including Hype! He went to Hype headquarters with the shares, sacked the previous CEO, and took over the positions. Two of the rank 10s were corporatists, so with no effort, he became the boss of two rank 10s!
Savior regretted planning so much! With the main protagonist's luck, nothing below rank 12 can harm him; if they try, they will only benefit him, perhaps leading him to some treasure.
Martha was amazed!
Her behavior changed, and she began to treat him much better. She approached him and proposed marriage, a role typically reserved for those identifying as men in most places.
This world was no exception, but Martha took the initiative because she feared he might find someone else. Savior accepted the marriage proposal, and soon, they were married.
While Savior already had many children, he felt profound happiness when he saw his first child with Martha. Missing his other children from his home world, he asked Rachel to bring them here. However, she refused.
As time passed, his relationship with Martha deteriorated.
Martha was a good-hearted person who helped many people during this time but had flaws. She was a cheater, and he caught her with others multiple times.
Savior was not okay with it. While he forgave it a few times, he eventually divorced her. She wasn't the one he could spend eternity with.
He is still looking for a life partner but hasn't found one yet.
...
Rachel Headquarters.
"How can it be?" Luther was astonished.
"I'm surprised, too! But it's true," she said.
"Can we calculate it now?" Luther asked.
"We can try! We have enough infinitely complete laws to try!" she was ecstatic.
Infinity universal law is now within reach!
A while ago, they acquired another complete infinite law! She didn't expect to get even one for billions of years but got two in a million!
"I'll go get the computers!" Luther teleported away.
Computers are her inventions—entire worlds with only processing hardware. They can significantly help in reverse engineering complete laws.
Rachel smiled. If she can get an infinity universal law, things will change. She can reach rank 14 much faster!