Chapter 123

Grandpa Vremya frowned. At last, he had reached the top of the leaderboards. He should’ve been happy or satisfied, but he wasn’t. Although the game wasn’t fun, it was still addicting. The feeling of crushing people underneath his feet, watching them squirm and struggle to keep up despite their defeat being certain, it was a feeling his godly self hadn’t embedded into his memory. Grandpa Vremya exhaled and stood up, causing Azalea to take off her headset and stare at him.

“I’m done,” Grandpa Vremya said, answering Azalea’s unasked question. “It’s time to move on to something else. Something with a wider range, more competitive.”

“You’ve reached first place?” Azalea asked. She ignored her game and whirled around in her seat. “Why not join the Bread Games next? It’s a competition that happens every seven years. The best athletes in the intergalactic society get together to compete in different events for their respective planets. The Moon Lotus World was thinking of sending a few competitors under Miss Emily’s suggestion. If we can demonstrate our strength to the intergalactic society, more people will be willing to visit our planet, increasing our funds.”

Grandpa Vremya stroked his chin. As a lazy person, he always felt like physical activities were beneath him. He hadn’t cultivated in bodily techniques either. If he joined these games, it was quite possible he’d lose. However, now that Azalea had alerted him of the games, if he refused to join them, that was similar to running away because he knew he’d lose. As someone who was going to be the most domineering person within this dimension, how could he avoid a challenge? “When do the games begin? What are the rules?”

“The rosters have to be confirmed within the next month,” Azalea said. “However, the games begin in four months. There are a few rules; I’ll send them to your bracelet. Are you going to join? I’ll let the official team know if you are.”

“I’ll join,” Grandpa Vremya said. Four months. It wasn’t a long time, yet it wasn’t a short amount of time either. Would it be enough time for him to train and overcome athletes who’ve been training hard for years? With his talent, it should be doable. Four months was also the amount of time the Moon Lotus Sect needed to put their plan into action. After the Bread Games, the federation would change into a dictatorship, one ruled by the Moon Lotus Sect.

***

Kosmos frowned. Lately, she had been creeping on Vremya, but she couldn’t find anything new. How was it possible that a primordial god wasn’t making waves with every breath he took? The last thing Vremya did was establish a fast-time world, one where people could pay to accelerate the growth of plants or wine. However, that was almost half a year ago. Half a year wasn’t a long time by any means relative to the lifespan of a god, and considering Vremya did disappear for a few billion years, it wasn’t unreasonable for there not to be any news of him. However, Kosmos couldn’t get in contact with that money-hungry dog either! There was no way a god as greedy as that black four-legged creature would ignore a message offering it money. No, Vremya was off the grid, and the dog by his side couldn’t be contacted. Something was wrong.

Kosmos tore apart the space beside her. She arrived in an empty void, confirming her suspicions. Vremya was a lazy individual. As the god of time, nearly all of his problems could be solved by simply waiting. Time healed and destroyed all things. There was no way Vremya would relocate his base, not after already settling down. However, she had arrived at where his territory should’ve been, but it was empty. For a brief moment, Kosmos considered Vremya was hiding from her, but after looking around, she concluded that wasn’t the case. If Vremya wanted to hide from her by relocating his base of operations, why would he leave his fast-time world behind?

Kosmos walked through the space before her, appearing in front of a gadget that looked much like a microwave. She pressed a few buttons on it, but nothing happened. It was almost as if Vremya’s holy power had been disabled as well. On the walls, there were a few messages written in ink. Nearly all of them were complaints left behind by customers. They were promised full usage of the fast-time world any time they wanted; they exchanged their secret techniques, the ones they didn’t even sell on the marketplace, for the privilege, yet there was no one here operating the world when they came! Of course, they would be disgruntled. Although Vremya was a bastard, Kosmos knew he’d at least honor his words. Perhaps there’d be clues left behind in the fast-time world. She inserted a bit of her divinity into the microwave’s interface, and it lit up. Kosmos opened it and took a cursory glance around. Other than a few immortals, there wasn’t anything hinting towards Vremya’s location. She shut the microwave, not bothering to turn it off. It’d power off by itself eventually when her divinity dissipated.

Kosmos frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, tapping her foot against the ground. What happened to Vremya? Luckily, there was someone she knew who obsessively kept track of every event that ever occurred in history. She could just go ask Istoriya what had happened. Long ago, she had gone to Istoriya, asking him to find Vremya’s location when he first disappeared, but at the time, the god of history was too weak to locate him. Now, however, the god of history had grown tremendously as more and more civilizations came into existence in the lower dimension, each one leaving memorable figures behind.

Kosmos wasn’t one to wait around when she got an idea. She ripped apart the fabric of space and walked through the tear, entering a large building housing many relics. This was Istoriya’s warehouse. As the god of space, as long as a place existed, she had access to it. The defensive formations in the warehouse were enough to keep most gods out, but it wasn’t enough to keep Kosmos away. She was a bit surprised that she had actually managed to enter in the first place. The primordial gods designated their territories, and as long as they were inside, other gods couldn’t come in without permission due to the rules against violence. Since Kosmos was inside, that must’ve meant Istoriya was away. In other words, it was a perfect time to rob him. It was a shame robbing gods was against the law, but that didn’t really matter to Kosmos. She touched an old-looking object, and it instantly turned to dust. Istoriya would know right away if an object in his collection was damaged, and as a rich person, Kosmos wasn’t afraid of paying for things she broke. In fact, even if she didn’t pay for the damages, some other god would lest the whole community lost their use of portals.

Three seconds later, a portal appeared in the warehouse, and Istoriya stepped through. Upon seeing Kosmos, the dark expression on his face vanished. “Kosmos, what an unexpected visitor,” he said, his eyes flashing. “What are you here for?”

Kosmos furrowed her brow. For the briefest of moments, she had sensed hostility radiating out of Istoriya. Was he upset she broke something of his? Even if he was, to show hostility towards her, who gave him the balls to do that? With a wave of her hand, a shelf came crashing down, shattering countless artifacts and relics.

Istoriya raised an eyebrow. “Are you throwing a tantrum in my warehouse?”

Kosmos’ expression darkened. Even though she broke his things, he didn’t seem angry at all. The hostility must’ve been coming from a different place. Did Istoriya clash with Vremya? That would explain Vremya’s disappearance and Istoriya’s dissatisfaction upon seeing her. “That’s right,” Kosmos said and cocked her head to the side. “What are you going to do about it?”

Istoriya let out a weak laugh. “Kosmos, how can I do anything to you? Feel free to destroy as much as you want.”

Kosmos snorted. She opened a portal and walked through, exiting Istoriya’s realm. It seemed like she’d have to ask someone else about Vremya’s disappearance. The problem was she didn’t get along with many gods. Who should she ask for help?