A little while before the world core vanished.
"A deal? I do not have any need for your assistance in this endeavor." A sharp voice entered Zick's head as he touched the red portal before him.
"What makes you so sure? You might be able to run away now. But the great gods would notice your connection to this incident in no time." Zick spoke unprotruded by the sharp rejection.
It was not hard to find out that some unknown god was scheming behind others' backs.
This portal could not have been created just like that, though it might seem like a natural occurrence. There were cases where two world cores resonated with each other, so taking that into accord, this weird phenomenon was not out of logic.
Still, the other gods were not fools, they were aware that there was a high chance that this was a conspiracy from a third party.
So their doubt would of course head to the one who created this portal.
And it was the vortex god, Taweir, who was the culprit behind it.
Zick transmitted with a smile: "In exchange for the things I asked, I will give you half the world's core."
Zick wanted to join the dark faction, roaming around the universe with no backing might be fatal. Having a background, no matter how small, always came in handy.
"Pfft! You have not changed one bit, but I like it. Alright, I will agree to your terms, if you join the dark faction." Taweir started laughing, Zick never stopped amusing him, throughout the things he saw in 50,000 years in this world, there has never been anyone like him.
Such a long time was nothing to Taweir, who had lived for a very long time.
Taweir was aware of everything that Zick had done in this world. How he forced the time to be reset and then used Aurel's power to send back his remnant soul too.
Saving himself in this timeline from being destroyed.
Taweir had been watching it like a show, even he was amazed by Zick's determination and courage to sacrifice even himself.
If giving up just half of the middle-grade world core can help him win over someone like this. Taweir was totally willing to do it.
Zick was surprised hearing this, he didn't expect the other party to request what he was going to ask. This was good, the other party was showing his blatant desire to recruit him.
"Then, about the world I wanted...." Zick eyes flashed with a light, he wanted to ask for more benefits but was cut in the middle.
"Alright, let it end here, I agree to your prior demands. You should remember that I can't help you directly, I have made a bind with the wolf goddess, Sephine, and we will be working together this time. Or it is supposed to be like that." Taweir spoke slowly, with no rush in his voice at all.
"Of course, sir Taweir. I am just offering sir half a world core as thanks for presenting me a world." Zick's attitude changed at once. He began acting subservient, after all, Taweir was a great god.
Zick and Taweir formed a loose bind with each other. At least, ensuring his safety.
"I will delay my arrival, but if you fail, this deal will be off." Taweir cut off the connection after giving Zick coordinates.
Taweir had no intention to make an enemy of two great gods, to recruit Zick. Now, he had quite a clear name, leaving aside the fact that he pissed off many gods in the first timeline.
Zick was already on the hit list of all the gods guarding the Igmorous world. It can be said that all this misfortune originated from him too.
So it was apparent what would happen if Zick ever met them again.
Reikel's betrayal played a part in all this too, he smuggled all the secret information to Zick.
Reikel and the giant race were once again plotting something, but Reikel sided with Zick after thinking it through. If it went on, he would turn into a slave for the giant!
That was unacceptable!
Reikel had been fighting and working hard for his freedom for thousands of years. His bind with the giant race, which was made a long time ago was the reason he had to be loyal to them till now.
It was Reikel's biggest mistake, for power he became a slave to the giant race. And then served them for around 40,000 years.
When Kururu offered the plan to kill Zick after luring him to the world core, Taweir accepted it but refused to form a bind, telling him that he would withdraw if he felt that his life was in danger.
Only here did Kururu make a mistake, he thought Reikel to be obedient to him, not bothering to make a bind to ensure he leaks the information.
And then, the final pawn that played its part perfectly — Philine.
The Zick from the first timeline was long aware of her ability, she was like a hidden card that he prepared.
By the time Philine prophesied about Zick, he was already a demi-god, so how was it possible?
It was because Zick's allowed her to, he was able to feel that some kind of supernatural was gathering around him. He let it do its things, instead of resisting.
Thus, Kururu thought that Zick would personally come to the world core, falling into the trap he laid.
However, such a thing did not happen.
'What a letdown, I thought he was smarter than this. But he was not even able to think of such a normal thing.'
'Did he not consider me to have already become a Demi-god? Well, I am sure now that the giant race isn't the brightest.'
'Or....' Zick's eyes moved towards the one he suspected.
Zick had planned on taking action if Kururu changed the plan, after noticing this flaw. But such a thing never came to pass.
'Now, only the dragon lord's whereabouts remain a mystery. I wonder just what she is doing...'
....
Back to the scene, Taweir kept a straight face, appearing a little sad.
He could swear using his name as he truly did not have the world core yet. It was in Zick's hand, who had already reached a different world, that Taweir had given coordinates of.
'I am leaving, someone seems to be faster than us.' Sephine transmitted to Taweir, she lost interest, and there were no benefits to make by staying here any longer.
"Taweir, that red portal was your handicraft, right?" Velveric turned to Taweir with anger on his face
Taweir sighed, if he had come to attack alone, he would have gathered the ire and killing intent of two gods.
Taweir could easily steal the world core, it was all thanks to the connection between the red portal and the world core. But doing so would be no different than suicide.
Taweir stood no chance against two great gods, thus he appeared like this, pulling another great god into this.
Taweir was known as the god of the vortex, but his real power was the Void attribute. Though there are few gods with that attribute, Taweir was the only great god among them.
"Yes, I was thinking of taking away the world core, but who would have thought, there was someone who had an even deeper scheme." Taweir shamelessly spoke of his plan, it was no use hiding it anyway.
"I shall remember this." Velveric firmly nodded his head.
Sephine looked at Taweir, she understood his intentions to pull her into this matter too.
Without saying anything, Taweir, and Sephine left the world.
After thinking deeply, a suspect's name appeared in Velveri's mind.
"That human named Zick, where did he go?"
Silence took over the world, everyone showed varying expressions.
No one knew the answer, even the Kururu did not have an idea.
"Hmph, he did not go to the world that I gave coordinates of," Velveric spoke with disdain and disappointment.
A trap was waiting for Zick there, he would have been killed immediately the moment he appeared.
Suddenly, Velveric's expression grew ugly. The dark faction came attacking the places that he guarded, the moment he left for this world.
Right at the moment, the light and dark factions were still in a state of war. Attacks like this had become the norm, and it did not seem like they would stop anytime soon.
Things instead became heated at the moment.
Velveric could only leave, for now, the other gods began investigating. They put Zick as the priority, starting to search for his whereabouts.
.....
Within the deep darkness, where even a ray of light could not be reached, a sparkle suddenly appeared.
With a purple glow, Five figures appeared within the darkness, where nothing but emptiness was present.
'Hmm? Just one space core was not enough to teleport to the destination huh?' Zick heaved a sigh, thankfully, he knew the direction he needed to move at least.
"Sorry...." Arianell apologized seeing the space core crumbling away in her hand.
"No big deal, it's just some extra time." Zick patted Arianell's head.
He got to know more about dragon species after inheriting his memory from the first timeline.
Dragons were beings who could live for a very long time, hence their emotions grew dull as time went by. The only thing they could take joy in was the memories that they made in their younger age.
It was called amusement time, and Zick decided to give these two dragons plenty of good memories from now on with him. So in the future, they would always remember the times with him, depending on their relationship further.
That could wait for now.
'Well, I was planning on stopping by before reaching the destination anyway.'
Zick and the others began moving through the space at a rapid speed. They were not that far from the destination.
Zick and Reikel's speed was already at the level that was infinitely nearer to light speed.
After reaching a distance that Zick thought to be satisfactory, he stopped everyone there.
Zick took out the world core from within his body, he had no choice but to suppress its presence. It could not be stored in a space ring, it could not hold this thing.
The world core was in a squarish shape, similar to a prism. Its body was like space, containing thousands of stars within it. This was an object that could create mana with no limit.