Chapter 627: A way out

If the moment when I could recognise the aura of that strange being seemed like a major event in this otherwise boring and lonely universe, I was quickly proved to be wrong by thinking much about it.

In the end, I got excited all for almost nothing. Outside of this single sentence that this strange blob of energy uttered, absolutely nothing else has happened. It seemed as if just speaking those few words was more than enough to sap all the energy from this being. All the energy that I, for some reason, was unable to replenish even as a god of this place.

With more and more time passing without any reaction from my system-born twin-brother, I had no other choice but to move my attention back to the matters of the universe. Leaving a priority clone to stand guard before this strange entity that was somehow related to Bonger, I ultimately gave up on thinking about him.

Not because I had no hopes for him. Not because I didn't believe that he might show me a path that would allow me to return to the arms of my sweet Eve. But because with so much knowledge to be learned from how the entire universe operated I had a chance of finding the answers to those troubles myself!

With my focus detached from this sudden opportunity, I had no other choice but to put my attention back to the usual task of monitoring the life emerging in the universe. Bit by bit, more and more complex creatures continued to appear… Only to be all ultimately wiped out by the consequences of their own actions. Be it a war, pandemic or just a chain reaction of the plant once a given specie would interfere with the planetary foundation too much, every life seemed to face some kind of barrier that prevented it from achieving a level of sophistication that I knew from the earth.

But even this fact changed. With the counting number of seven million, three hundred twenty-nine thousand, sixty-six, a civilisation that I observed finally broke through the tribal and warmongering era, entering the period of relative prosperity and peace. Just like on earth, it was divided between what seemed to be countries, three of which managed to achieve global supremacy. And just like on earth, the discovery of electricity, machinery and electrical brains quickly led to the explosion of their technology…

Which once again, proved that life was a tough path to walk. Before I could even take notice of all the sudden developments happening on the planet, a nuclear war erupted, leaving only four escape ships stranded in the endless emptiness of the universe. Even though the planet they were coming from remained generally intact from the cosmic point of view, the radiation that covered its entire surface was more than enough to instantly kill anything that would dare to appear on the dry land.

"Gosh, I'm getting tired of this…"

After using up a slight amount of the universe's energy to create a warp tunnel before pushing those primitive starships through it, I made sure that those survivors of the horse-like race managed to safely land on the planet that I found for them. From that point on, it would be entirely up to them to strive to survive against all the odds in the relatively barren place where I placed them.

This choice of the planet, as strange as it might sound, was something I did while being perfectly aware of the situation on its surface. But there was one simple reason behind this decision.

With how this horse-like race entered the age of nuclear fusion and how it was this nuclear energy that ended their entire civilisation, I did my absolute best to find a place with only trace amounts of radioactive elements. But I didn't stop there. Even though I was risking the destruction of a safe haven for those poor survivors that entered cryostasis in hopes of maintaining their race in this way, I still went through with my plan and used my own force to erase all the radioactive elements that I could find. Only then did the other end of the warp tunnel appeared right above the surface of the planet, quickly pulling the rescue starships through itself and on the orbit of the new home I prepared for them.

"Are you done playing god already?"

Out of nowhere, just as I watched with content how those starships managed to safely land on a huge, fertile island of that planet, Bonger's voice appeared. With how long it has been ever since he spoke to me for the first time, I got so surprised that I almost caused an apocalyptic event to befall of this planet I gave so much effort to perfect!

"Wait, it's impossible… Unless…"

After making sure that those horse-men were already safely building their first city on the surface, I quickly absorbed myself back to the clone I left to watch over the Bonger's magical entity.

"I assume you don't have much time, so how about you move in to more interesting parts? Do you know how can I return?"

That was the only thing I could think about. Who would care about being a god of the entire universe if he couldn't be with the ones he truly loved? I, for certain, didn't. Even with all the power in the world right at my hands, it was Eve's embrace that I longed for the most!

"I get it, but right now I should be okay. Had to hibernate for long enough to gather just the right amount of energy to tear a hole in this universe. While it's only a temporary measure and it won't let you return for long…"

By absorbing myself to the clone I left at Bonger's resting place in the void, I instantly became perfectly aware of everything that happened to my other-self. Along with how easily Bonger managed to synchronise his own memories with those of my own. Once I noticed it, I couldn't help but instantly get worried about this brotherly figure in front of my ephemeral eyes.

If his tiny little mind was synchronised with the overwhelming monstrosity of what became of mine… In other words, was the Bonger that stood right in front of me, still the same Bonger I knew from that shitty cultivation world?

"Wait, what do you mean you can tear a hole in this universe? I can actually return?!"

I took a good while to process this unprecedented information. Even if I still groomed the hope that my system would stand up to the challenge and prove once again that it was more suited to be the main character of the story of my life that I was in the first place, and let me return to the ones I loved, it was never a thought I considered to be realistic.

And right now, he just revealed that he hid this information for so long… Only because he was preparing to do what he claimed he could in the first place?

"Listen, I can't really explain it, even when using this computer that you turned your mind into. For me… It feels as if a part of me was left back in the place where I was born, while the other part followed you to this… universe. In other words, the only way for me to do it is by forcefully reconnecting those parts. But…."

At this point, I was so excited about my return that I almost missed the hesitation in Bonger's voice. Almost.

"But?"

This was one of the worst words that I could hear right now. Just like someone in the past life of mine on earth said, it doesn't matter what you say in the first part of your sentence, is you separate its parts with 'but'.

"I don't know for how long I will be able to keep the passage open. While I understand the reasons why you grew so much ever since you were banished from the world… You are unable to enter it in your true form anymore. You are just too strong."

Word by word, Bonger was proving that the situation wasn't as great as it initially appeared to be. But it didn't matter at all. Back then, I didn't even get to say goodbye to Eve. Even a short moment to reassure her I would somehow find a way to come back to her was more than enough to make me happy right now.

"So, in other words…"

Before I could even finish my words, the mass of magic that made up Bonger's body suddenly took a form of a humanoid being.

"We don't have time. I don't know how long you will have inside the world either. But if you ever want me to repeat the creation of this inter-universe tunnel… Once I tell you to come back, you need to drop everything, literally everything, and hurry back. Because if you don't return by the time I reach my limit…"