Chapter 637 - Side Story: Tower Of Ascension (Interlude)

"Gosh, that took a while."

Looking at the lovely-dovely pair already making out at the terrace of the tower he recreated from his own memories, Bart shook his head lightly before ascending above the layer of the atmosphere that coated the planet.

This place was the pinnacle of what his endless consciousness could come up with after observing every last detail of this universe for millennia over and over again. Due to the atmosphere containing a way greater amount of oxygen than most of the planets would naturally have, its atmosphere was both thicker and heavier, making it way harder to either fly or breakthrough its confinement.

But rather than a stopgap measure against anyone attempting to leave the planet, it was something that Bart's shared consciousness designed to stop anyone from actually descending to the surface. Because adding the greater diameter of the planet and its incredibly dense core, the gravity and the air resistance alone made it nearly impossible and obviously, extremely costly to break through those natural chains even with the use of the most advanced technology that appeared within all the civilizations Bart observed.

'I hope they will live their life to its fullest.' Even though Bart no longer held any emotions, slowly losing his human side in the endless expanse of time and space, watching how Carl and the girl born out of his system finally could enjoy each other's warmth still made a pleasant feeling appear all across all his selves.

For a moment, the entire universe seemed to be put on hold, as a powerful wave of combined happiness filled every single corner of a world. From the live feed of several clones, Bart even noticed how this slight change to his emotions managed to actually stop the ongoing battle of several different battlefields on planets in all corners of the universe, putting all the warriors and soldiers into a momentary daze.

Thankfully, the stability of the entire universe wasn't something that could be easily shaken. Before long, Bart's happiness diffused in the overwhelming sea of his clones, split into so many parts that one could no longer even notice it.

"Still, that was quite a hard one." Muttering to himself, Bart transferred the main center of his consciousness back to the hub in the very middle of the entire universe.

Even though his emotions no longer seemed to work as they should, the promises he made still held his soul in a tight shackle.

In the end, fulfilling just the first of the many promises he made, took him over an entire cycle of reappearing. As soon Bonger managed to open the portal to the previous world he resided in, Bart duplicated himself in that world.

With the main body of his, he spent the next twenty-four hours with Eve. It was this day with her that rebuilt the source of emotions in him, allowing him to feel anything later on. Yet, while his main body was enjoying itself with his wife, Bart's clone had an important mission to accomplish.

Given his endless power for the standards of this world, even his off-shot was more than enough to break through the limits of space and travel at speeds unimaginable to the original inhabitants of this world. Yet, even with that in mind, reaching one of the locations he visited in what was akin to an ancient past still took Bart's clone a considerable amount of time.

Yet, even when he finally managed to not only locate but also reach the place, the worst part of the entire mission came.

Landing on the very same platform where he formerly made a deal with the local golem, Bart's clone quickly made a memory of how the tower looked like, before going for a quick search. A quick search concluded with a blade made of pure mana piercing the core of the golem. Piercing the core of the golem that hurriedly came to meet with him, most likely expecting Bart to fulfill his end of the deal.

But what others would take for murder, was just another necessary step of the plan. With his mana instantly coating the entire core of the golem, Bart's soul was infused with the exact mana footprint of the core. While the item itself ended up crumbling apart in the process, the entire 'self' of this system-powered golem was safe within his soul, even if its original body laid dead in the middle of the ancestral grounds.

From then on, Bart's memories about the entire process started to turn hazy. Even after his one day with Eve concluded, he was nowhere near actually fulfilling his promise. At least, with the core of the golem now obtained, he no longer had to waste ten million years of waiting just to get back to that world again.

"Still, that planet looks like to be the absolute paradise in this entire universe of mine." Still holding on to the lingering emotions that a visit to Eve over a thousand years ago filled him with, Bart looked at the rotating ringularity in the middle of the most central black hole of the entire universe.

It was this ringularity that Bart robbed out of considerable amounts of energy to power his terraforming activities. Using the magic as a mean to move this energy around, Bart managed to overcome the physical obstacle of moving anything outside of the event horizon. Yet, he still required over a thousand years to forcefully induce processes that resulted in the creation of this paradise-like planet.

"Stil, at this rate, it will take me…" Tearing his magical eyes away from the ringularity, Bart switched main consciousness back to his clones residing above the paradise. What appeared to be just a short moment for him, actually meant ages for the duo below. Yet, with the greater amount of oxygen in the atmosphere and copious amounts of mana seeping from every single particle on the planet, the lone tower where their history started once again turned to a center point of a city spanning over the entire plain of the continent.

"About forty million years more."

Outside of his very own aim that he was striving for, Bart was set on fulfilling all the promises he made before. It was a determination born from the fear that his wish wouldn't come true unless his karmic debt would be repaid. And with Bonger requiring a period of ten million years to open the gate to Eve's world for just a single day…

With four more promises to fulfill, the calculus was relatively simple. A day in Eve's world to solve a single promise. A single promise per visit.

And forty million years worth of waiting in between.

'But if fulfilling those missions will increase the chance of someone solving my quandary even for a bit…' Thinking to himself, Bart solved an environmental crisis in one of the civilizations under his care by reflex. Once that was taken care of, his thoughts returned to their previous track, once again filling the young god with determination to push forward.

"Even if it helps just a little, I won't stop before all my promises will come true!" Bart allowed his consciousness to diffuse amongst all the clones of his, putting himself into a fake slumber. With a spell set to awaken and regather his consciousness back after roughly half a thousand earthy years, Bart returned to his post as the god of the universe. 

"That's a promise I'm making to myself."