Chapter 489: Double Trouble

Jack opened his eyes in the New Cathedral. They flashed. A grin played on his lips, and power surged through his inner world.

Sitting in his office, Jack laughed with joy.

“Good job, myself!”

Several galaxies away, his clone had just absorbed the Green Dragon Realm. Working together, they had managed to attach the realm to the main body’s inner world, leading to yet another power-up for Jack.

He wasn’t sure how exactly this worked, but he was excited to find out. He quickly set to experimentation.

An egg-shaped portal floated in his mostly empty inner world. Through the vacuum echoed a sound like rushing waves; the sign of energy flowing rapidly from the realm to Jack’s inner world. The portal was only ten feet tall and six wide, but it pumped out energy at full capacity, like a drain at the bottom of the sea. The energy influx was far faster than what Jack could achieve by cultivating.

Originally, he would have needed hundreds of thousands of years of cultivation to reach the peak B-Grade. With this portal steadily pumping out energy, he could cut that down to a mere thousand. A more than great pace in normal circumstances. Of course, it wasn’t enough in the current war state, but it was a great step forward.

Jack stood in his inner world, gazing at the portal from afar. The other inhabitants of the world floated beside him.

“What a nice door!” The Stone exclaimed. “They forgot the knob, though. Do you have the details of the manufacturer? I’d like to give them a word or two! Speaking of doors, I remember seeing a beautiful one. It was white and marble, with two little flowers growing on it, and it smelled vaguely of lavender. Not that I have a nose, but so I was told. Speaking of lavender...”

Jack zoned out The Stone, as he’d gotten used to doing lately. He could now let it hang out in his inner world, speaking at will, and he just didn’t hear it. The human brain was a wonderful thing.

“Where does that lead, kid?” the turtle asked. Its eyes were narrowed. “Why does it feel so...homely?”

“That’s the Green Dragon Realm,” Jack replied. “The same place where you fell asleep a few years ago. I grafted it to my inner world.”

The turtle’s eyes brightened. “I see,” it said. “And you connected it here to...”

“To absorb its energy, mostly, as well as protect it from the universe,” Jack explained. “It has a ton of Life energy, too. I was thinking to use some of that energy to start refilling the Life Drop.”

“Brilliant!” The turtle nodded in approval. “You said you would refill it, and now you’re doing it. I like it when you keep your word.”

“I always keep my word.”

“Aren’t you worried about emptying it out?” the turtle asked, gazing at the portal again. It was releasing energy at a tremendous rate.

Jack shook his head. “The Green Dragon Realm is shaped as an inverse, wide cone. Just the jungle on its top is a hundred thousand miles wide. The entire thing has a volume hundreds of times larger than my inner realm’s, so all the energy I need is a drop in the bucket.”

Saint Venerable Thousand Shell thought for a moment. “That’s great,” he said, “but how exactly will you refill the Divine Blood?”

“Watch this.”

The Life Drop was currently glued to the middle finger of the fist-shaped meteor which occupied the center of Jack’s world. As he waved a hand, the Life Drop popped off, teleporting beside them. With another wave, it flew towards the portal, anchoring itself right before its entrance. The incoming flood of energy buffeted it, but thanks to Jack’s god-like powers in this world, it remained in place.

Looking at the two, Jack felt like he could see the Archons. Green Dragon was a powerful, rowdy individual, using his powers to kick up a storm whenever he went. Black Hole was calm, collected, and calculating. His plans reached deep into the future, a gradual accumulation.

Jack chuckled. He had a feeling his assumptions were accurate. He still remembered how, at the vision he saw of Green Dragon, the Archon had some...choice words for the Space and Time Old Gods. Which he’d said right to their faces.

“Two minor realms...” he muttered. “We’re doing pretty well here. Don’t you think so, Stone?”

The Stone, which had been going on about gardening techniques, propped up. “Most certainly!” it replied. “You’re standing on the shoulders of giants. That’s why I like you, Jack. You know how to get a good thing going.”

“...Are you trying to flatter me?”

The Stone deflated. “No,” it said in a small voice. Jack laughed.

“You don’t need to worry. I won’t abandon you, Stone. You’re a friend now. A bro. While I live, you will never be alone again.”

The Stone perked up. “Really?” it asked.

“Yes, really. Isn’t that right, Copy Jack?”

Copy Jack shrugged. “Yes,” he replied. The Stone beamed.

“Thank you, thank you! I knew I could count on you! That lion woman was so evil; just when I thought I’d been freed from an endless life of solitude, she threw me right into a space ring and left me there. Can you believe it? At least on my meteor I had something to enjoy. The stars were nice. There were astral winds. But in a ring? That’s goddamn boring.”

“She was a real piece of work,” Jack agreed. “How did you even see the stars, anyway? You don’t have eyes.”

“I sure do! Look here, right above my mouth.”

Jack frowned and leaned in. He could see nothing. The Stone had a human-shaped mouth with a stone interior, but above that, it was nothing but—

“Holy shit,” he said, drawing back.

“See? I do have eyes!” The Stone replied proudly.

Jack laughed. Right above its mouth, the Stone had two beady eyes so tiny they blended in. He only recognized them because one blinked.

“You’re a piece of work as well,” he said. “Anyway, I gotta get back to cultivating. I’ll take you out as soon as I find an opportunity. See you around, Stone, Copy Jack.”

“See you!” The Stone replied excitedly, while Copy Jack waved.

Jack opened his eyes in the real world. Interacting with his friends was nice, but he had work to do. The sack of space monster cores at his feet was only half-empty, but the progress it had given him was nothing short of impressive. He grinned as he opened his status screen.