Mainland.

  The castle of Entertainment Goddess.

  Entertainment Goddess slowly opened her eyes.

  She felt her unreal advancement took no time yet seemed to take a long time at the same time...

  The first thing she did after coming back to 'reality' was look around to know where she was.

  Fortunately, she was back at her own castle on the mainland.

  She had the most unbelievable experience in her life today.

  "My beloved crystal...

  You almost got me killed."

  Said Entertainment Goddess to her crystal with resentment.

  < I didn't. >

  And the Crystal answered as though it was 1000% sure of what it did.

  Hearing the reply, Entertainment Goddess snorted.

  When she was suddenly dragged back to that place with the scary creature that wanted to 'eat' her last time, nothing happened at the beginning.

  She was even in a familiar place.

  Her own main planet, which was now merged with the planet that hosted her advancement two times in a row.

  But she couldn't pry into the condition of anything outside her main planet.

  Everything around her was sealed, and she didn't even have access to the world law of that universe, as if there were some secrets that she wasn't supposed to see.

  But she could see that everything on her own planet was fine, and no one seemed to know anything about the outside changes yet, and she could bet her own crystal was involved in keeping them in the dark.

  While she was in her own thoughts,

  One of her child crystals delivered a black pearl to the main Crystal, as if it was smuggling some 'goods'.

  Just one glance at the 'goods', and she advanced to level 9, and felt the world around her had changed.

  The storm of emotion inside the pearl 'hit' her so hard that she couldn't even imagine herself surviving it,

  Let alone her crystal, which was acting as a transporter for her.

  But when she felt the nonchalant attitude of her crystal, as if it was fearless and dealing with these kinds of dangers was part of its daily life,

  Entertainment Goddess only focused on her advancement with the knowledge of her own 'indestructible' body.

  At that moment, she was really curious about the emotion inside this pearl, which seemed to be coming from millions of living creatures in a specific condition.

  The emotions made her feel as if creatures that weren't supposed to exist in this world were present.

  Like a faint imprint of the past, trying to exist, a ripple from something that has already disappeared.

  At that time, she muttered to herself,

  "An echo in a void that should be silent..."

  To describe the feeling she got from this 'emotion'.

  If she knew these feelings were coming from the 'souls' of creatures who were once from a higher civilization, and the information inside their 'souls' was erased by something so they could be used as 'intelligent machines',

  She probably could understand why such an emotion was emanating from this pearl.

  After that, there was the second storm of emotion, completely separated from the 'souls'.

  It was the emotion coming from the 'source' of everything inside the pearl.

  This 'emotion' was undoubtedly incomplete.

  Maybe one thousandth of its source, but whatever it was, it was directly related to 'knowledge'!

  Until that moment, Entertainment Goddess didn't even know knowledge could be a source of emotions!

  But before she could experience it, the world law stopped her from absorbing it.

  Entertainment Goddess knew the source of emotion was from an existence far stronger than her, like previous times, so she really didn't understand why she was stopped this time, unlike the previous times.

  She remembered the first time she received emotion from a creature of a higher level; the only difference was that it didn't turn to raw law.

  Instead, she received its original form, the main law of that creature, which was 'speed'.

  And the second time she received such an emotion, it turned into the law of fire.

  Even now, the fire, death, ice, and law of devour in her body were completely out of balance.

  And the one coming from the black pearl at this moment was like knowledge and information that seemed to be an echo from a whole civilization, and not just one entity.

  But before she could receive it, the world law halted the process, erased the knowledge and information, and replaced it with an equivalent law of entertainment, which was her own main law.

  At that moment, Entertainment Goddess could tell she was on the verge of uncovering some ultimate truth through that knowledge, but the world law prevented it from being revealed.

  This situation continued until she reached the peak of level 9, the level of power that she knew from the mainland's feedback was supposed to be the end of the road for the creatures connected to it.

  And the reason for that was simple.

  The creatures on the normal mainland needed to be 1 level lower than the mainland manager, which could be at most level 10.

  But there was a sudden change.

  A condition was suddenly added that if she could fulfill that condition as a level 9, the world law of her zone would allow her to advance to level 10.

  The condition was both simple and complex at the same time.

  She needed to receive permission from 'Fate', the law that didn't have any holder or representative, so she could advance again.

  One glance at the condition, and she knew it was directly linked to what her 'Fate' decides, and it had nothing to do with her.

  But before she even thought about how impossible this condition could be, a 'forced' memory suddenly flashed before her eyes.

  It was a memory from the past that she still kept in her crystal because she found it funny.

  In her memory, she was walking alongside a young man, whose back view was in the scene, and she immediately recognized him.

  But it didn't matter how hard she tried, Entertainment Goddess couldn't remember the face of this familiar young man.

  In the scene, the two were strolling in a park, with kids playing around.

  After a while, they sat on a bench.

  Not far away from them, a little girl and a little boy, who seemed tired of playing and waiting for their parents to pack up and leave, were yawning as if they were bored.

  First, it was the little boy who yawned, then the little girl who looked at him and imitated him, and then the young man beside her.

  In her memory, Entertainment Goddess chuckled and asked,

  "Little mortal, how can you yawn?

  You don't even sleep or get tired.

  We higher beings never yawn."

  And the young man answered,

  "I don't know why either.

  But for an unknown reason, I feel close to the Human race,

  As if we have the exact origin.

  And there is a phenomenon between them called 'contagious behavior', where certain actions or emotions can spread automatically between individuals.

  Yawning, laughing, crying, smiling, these are all examples of it.

  If you saw one of them do that,

  Especially if you feel 'close' to the other party, you do the same.

  I don't know why, but it affects me too."

  And the memory ended after Entertainment Goddess chuckled again and said,

  "I remember you always looked at every single creature on this planet like 'family members'.

  So it makes sense."

  When Entertainment Goddess returned to her senses, she suddenly realized that the condition to advance was fulfilled, and 'Fate' revealed the reason: the memory.

  Entertainment Goddess wouldn't believe it at all that such a simple recording from a lawless 'kid' would be the opportunity for her to advance in the future if she didn't 'see' the reason...

  "Fate works in unexpected ways, huh?

  I wonder how the effect of this recording spread that gave me this opportunity..."

  While wondering to herself, Entertainment Goddess received a message from the world law,

  [ Saraswati, Mortal's side of the deal with you has been fulfilled.

  You received 'unlimited power' until you reached the highest level of power that your existence allows.

  He is not under any obligation to protect your safety, and the World law won't act as a witness in this matter anymore. ]

  Hearing the message, Entertainment Goddess sighed,

  "A simple deal with that little rascal changed everything so fast for me..."

  Then she looked at the big bubble in the empty void and muttered to herself,

  "Let me try my new powers and take a peek inside.

  I am a legit level 10 now with my own unique law."

  Looking at the bubble, she could see the emotions of the creatures inside, which she was probably the only one who could see.

  'Oh, all of the emotions are in one place?

  And it is in the same place as my main planet, where I advanced?'

  At a glance, she saw all the emotions were focused in one place.

  'How could you gather so many creatures on one Planet?

  Do you know how big the planet should be?'

  She could even see the emotions of each level.

  Level 1 creatures all had normal or positive emotions and seemed to 'worship' something in their heart.

  Level 2 creatures, as if connecting to the world law for the first time, reveal a certain secret to them; all felt excited, fearful, and hopeful for the future.

  As the levels increased up to level 5, the creatures felt more and more 'fearful' and less excited, but more 'respectful' towards an unknown source.

  It seems that the secret revealed to them at level 2, as they grow stronger, becomes scarier but more 'trustworthy'.

  And level 6 creatures...

  'Why in the world does every single level 6 creature over the has a child crystal!?'

  All of them had one of her child crystals with them without her notice, and only now that she reached her peak, she could see through this traitor crystal of hers!

  She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and focused on their emotions.

  She felt that nearly 10 thousand of them were there, and they were divided into two groups based on 'emotions'.

  One was the group of 'pure' ones, which she was sure were all newborns.

  They were feeling 'safe' but 'anxious', 'fearful' but 'grateful'.

  And the second group, while normal, were showing 'love', 'respect', and 'admiration' to a certain source at this moment.

  Entertainment Goddess was fascinated about the situation inside and how so many emotions was gathered in one place.

  She could feel at least 1000 trillion different sources of emotions from intelligent beings, and 100 times more than that from various kinds of animals.

  Then she looked down at the mainland itself.

  She could clearly feel its emotions.

  'So mainlands actually have emotions too...

  They are intelligent to some extent !?'

  She could feel happiness and a sense of relief from a small part, which was their former mainland, and 'stress and uncertainty' from the other parts.

  And then,

  *Rumble*

  Entertainment Goddess, who thought that as a level 10 powerhouse, nothing could surprise her and cut her off guard anymore, or avoid her 'sharp level 10 eyes', flinched.

  She hurriedly looked up and saw a big ripple on the surface of the big bubble above.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It was as though something just collided with the barrier around the universe!

  "Who is so crazy to attack that place?

  Don't they know that old monster is probably in there?"

  And then,

  *Bam*

  Something smashed into her castle's defensive barrier, made a small hole in it, then smashed into her castle's rooftop, made a hole in there too,

  and while smashing into the ceilings of the room she was in, 'entered' through another hole, and landed on the floor.

  Entertain Goddess looked at the white canary,

  Which was even smaller than before, and asked in shock!

  "What happened to you, Senior Manager!"

  The white canary stood up in confusion,

  Then looked around, and after it found out where it dropped, *coughed* in embarrassment, and left after saying,

  "Oh, nothing.

  I just came here to say congratulations, little girl."

  And disappeared.

  Entertainment Goddess looked at the small hole and didn't know what to think.

  First of all, she knew the white canary was 'kicked' away by that bubble, and it didn't come here by its own will.

  And second, why did this manager give her the feeling of '1 level higher' while still at level 10?

  She didn't know that the White Canary had become an 'Eminence Manager' not long ago, and then received a message from world law, telling it why it became one, which wasn't surprising for it anymore.

  But just a moment later, the new 'Eminence Manager' received a second message from world law,

  [ Your mainland is going to be used as a bet with two other mainlands.

  Do you agree?

  Yes / No ]

  While dumbfounded, the white canary naturally chose 'No'.

  Why would it bet on its beautiful mainland over any other ugly mainland?

  But,

  [ 2 [Yes] / 1 [No].

  The bet will begin shortly with the Guardian's final confirmation. ]

  The white canary, who knew out of these 3 votes, one of them was itself, another one was probably that old man, and the last one, only mainland itself probably knew who, snapped!

  As the 'Eminence Manager', it could naturally feel that it could enter the bubble connected to the mainland now, and that the troublemaker old man was surely there too!

  So it attacked without thinking to show him who is the boss, and why he can't just bet on its beautiful mainland!

  Even if that old man was a peak level 10, he couldn't deal with it now, right?

  Well... wrong.

  When it entered the bubble at full speed, it was blocked by a second bubble, causing it to bounce back with the same speed.

  But because of the impact angle, its landing place was different, and it ended up in Entertainment Goddess's castle...

  Entertainment Goddess, who didn't know about any of these, was now watching a live stream under the stunned gaze of her crystal, which didn't know how there was an 'information leak' on its side!

  After becoming level 10, while her crystal was still able to stop her from gaining access to many records from the past for some unknown reason,

  At least it couldn't stop her from peeking into the most popular live event playing at the moment.

  While all of the higher beings in the mainland were dead, the ones with 'smuggled' child crystal inside that unreal planet were alive, and they were using her crystal.

  So she could use their 'emotions' connected to the most popular 'event' there, and secretly watch it with them.

  And at this moment,

  On the 'most popular live stream', a familiar figure was running around and scaring people...

  "What in the world are you doing, Little Mortal?"

  In the live stream, Little Mortal was in a place that seems to be in the middle of a war between two mainlands.

  And for some reason, any creature he got close to would run away after he jumped behind them and made a *BOOO* sound!

  Entertainment Goddess was speechless,

  "My goodness!

  I bet while this little rascal is running around, that old monster is secretly scaring anyone he is getting close to!

  What are they even doing?"

  Then she saw a number for 'Level' on the screen.

  "And what does 'current level 200,000' mean?

  Tsk tsk tsk...

  My beloved crystal, you are adding background music, different auras, and special effects to him, too?

  Anybody else except me couldn't tell at all that all of this is fake!"

  The Crystal, who didn't know how to deal with this situation, kept its silence.

  And after a while more watching,

  "Why is everybody running in the same direction after 'Little Mortal' scaring them?

  I bet it's that old man controlling everyone's body!

  Like what he did with our unprofessional actors...

  By the way, why is he spoiling him so much?

  Did he give him all of his 'birthday gifts'?

  Or... "

  Entertainment Goddess shook her head,

  "No, that's impossible.

  I know Little Mortal's origin, he is not that old man's real child...

  But wait, didn't he call himself 'Heavenly Father'?

  He is basically everyone's father...

  Maybe that's why he takes care of me, too?

  He has some favorite children, to whom he can't say 'No'.

  Like Little Mortal, that probably started a tantrum and forced him to help me advance, right...?

  I think that should be it."

  The Crystal didn't know how to handle her master's misunderstandings.

  And a while later,

  "Oh, everyone from both sides of the war is now gathered in one place.

  The managers are there too.

  What are they gonna do now?

  The 'little spoiled brat' is going to scare them again?"

  But on the scene, a familiar battleground appeared.

  "Eh!?

  Isn't that the betting ground from the movie?"

  And Little Mortal on the scene shouted, [Expand!],

  And turned all of the creatures that were gathered there into particles...

  Entertainment Goddess gasped,

  "No way!

  That old man killed so many creatures just for this little 'young master' to have some fun?

  It is really hard to believe...

  What kind of kid would say, 'Father, take me out to kill some higher beings, ' and the father would answer, 'Sure, let's go, son!'

  It doesn't make sense at all!

  And you, my beloved crystal, did a great job in this scene.

  I couldn't tell at all, it wasn't Little Mortal who 'expanded' the creatures!"

  And suddenly, she felt something and looked above the mainland, like the white canary, and the rest of the' survivors'.

  A big space passage opened out of nowhere.

  The Space Goddess's jaw dropped seeing the scene.

  She could feel it.

  It was her former birth treasure, the space mirror, opening the biggest passage she could ever imagine!

  And from the other side, under the blank look of the audience, two huge mainlands, and many bubbles connected to them, entered.

  The mainland started shaking in excitement and merged with the two mainlands without hesitation.

  And in the sky, all of the bubbles, as if being pulled by gravity coming from the big bubble, moved towards it and merged with it...

  Entertainment Goddess looked at the events unfolding and nodded,

  "I knew it.

  That scary old man seems like someone reasonable.

  He was going to hunt a mainland or two,

  And the little kid in the house started a tantrum, saying, 'I want to come with you, Dad! Take me with you!'

  And the helpless father could only take the spoiled little kid with him to his workplace.

  He even let him pretend it is a speedrun!

  Am I right, my traitor crystal?"

  The Crystal, while thinking her master's imagination wasn't bad, and already guessed she probably knew about the 'illegal' child crystals, said,

  < Whatever you say. >

  It was going to send a message to its child crystal and tell it about Entertainment Goddess's discovery,

  But stopped.

  She was a level 10; she might see the message too and discover the truth she shouldn't.

  Even now, after their deals ended, the Crystal didn't know if that little monster was fine with its master knowing about his secrets or not.

  Even though her master was at her peak, she was still considered 'weak' compared to characters like Lubo, that Agent, or the cyborgs in the sealed area...

  Even the Crystal itself felt it was better to let its master be in the dark.

  -------

  Underworld.

  While watching the live stream,

  Lilith suddenly saw the two hexagons under her feet teleport to the four that had merged recently.

  And in the live stream, the two mainlands entered the passage.

  "I didn't even know hexagons can teleport..."

  It was her first time seeing something like this happen.

  A small figure then appeared beside her.

  Lilith was going to open a passage to the next hexagon, but saw him not moving, and standing there with closed eyes and... cracked skin?

  She stretched her hand to tap his shoulder and ask if he was okay, but he suddenly dodged her hand, opened his eyes and glared at her,

  "Young lady, I am a married man!

  Please mind your manners!"

  And the cracks on his skin slowly disappeared.

  Lilith's hand turned into a fist and punched!

  A huge magma fist appeared out of nowhere and fell from the sky!

  Little Mortal panicked,

  "I was kidding!

  I was kidding!

  Calm down, partner!"

  Hearing him say that, Lilith snorted, and the Magma Punch disappeared.

  She opened a passage and said,

  "That's the next one.

  The other nine normal mainlands are fine for now."

  Little mortal walked in and, while chuckling, said,

  "Little Lilith, you have a 'fiery' temper.

  I wonder why!"

  And ran away to the next mainland.

  The corner of Lilith's eyes started twitching.

  He didn't even give her time to attack this time.

  A couple of seconds after, as before, she received a message to vote.

  She needed to vote for the betting.

  After she chose 'yes' again, surprisingly, the White Canary voted for 'yes' too this time.

  Lilith shook her head,

  "It seems that White Canary just gave up and thought it's better to play along..."

  Lilith, who was slightly worried at first because she thought it might be dangerous for Mortal to go alone, saw the process and put away her worries.

  The 'Judgment by Fear' technique was working in her partner's hand like a charm.

  He just spread his 'fear' everywhere while invisible, which could even scare the level 10 managers now,

  and any creatures nearby would run to the strongest entity they knew.

  Then he would challenge them all and, in the end, expand them to particles.

  At first, she wondered why he didn't just challenge the mainland to bring them to the betting ground forcefully.

  World Law would force them to that betting ground anyway when the challenge was issued.

  Until she saw a couple of creatures, after being affected by 'fear', actually run in another direction, different from the rest!

  And then when he went after them, instead of killing them, he knocked them out and imprisoned them in his cage.

  He even used the 'Judgment by Fear' one more time on the 'betting ground' to test it on the higher beings who were inside their universes until then, to see if there were any more such cases.

  And not surprisingly, he actually found more of them, which he sent to prison cage.

  Lilith knew he was catching 'spies' from level 2 civilization, which were the creatures with those 'chips' inside, being controlled by them.

  "If I'm not wrong, he is trying to track down those level 2 civilizations and, at the same time, stop the spies from sending out information.

  But didn't they send the information about what just happened already?"

  And soon, when she saw both mainlands and the universes inside the bubbles connected to them actually all entered the passage at the same time,

  She knew the 'space mirror' was the one doing it.

  "So the whole space around the battlefield between the two mainlands was sealed before he took action, and nobody could send any information out?"

  Lilith shook her head.

  "This partner of mine is so resourceful..."

  She knew that it was a disaster if he was exposed, but at the same time, he was like a fish in the sea if he was in the 'dark'.

  And he was dealing with higher beings all the time that he could kill without worry, because of their ability to resurrect.

  So he could always be as unrestrained as he wants when it comes to them.

  "And after the living creatures from the new universes are added to his guardian territory, with Frontline effect protecting them, no one from 'inside' his territory can threaten him.

  He is basically covering all of his weaknesses..."

  The only worry she had was the sealed area.

  He went inside one of those spheres by accident, then left, and went back inside again.

  The second time, no information was sent out.

  But what about the first time?

  The sealed creatures inside the other spheres knew about him by now.

  About a creature that can enter and leave the seals freely.

  Except...

  Lilith remembered something,

  "Fate, World Law, and Underworld Law, while separated,

  They are connected and can at least share information.

  When Fate forced him inside that sealed sphere,

  Underworld Law actually focused all its attention on that area.

  If the same thing happened with the World Law in the world above,

  Then it means they already stopped the information of someone attacking the sealed sphere from leaking at the beginning?"

  Lilith didn't know these three forces weren't the only ones involved in sealing the invisible creatures.

  The Gate in Dark World, or to be exact, the Dark World itself, could be involved too.

  The speedrun continued.

  After Little Mortal won the bet with the 10 normal mainlands and the one evil mainland,

  He went after the 20 Evil mainlands still connected to the underworld.

  To expedite the process, he even 'helped' the scared creatures reach their destination by kicking them in the direction they were fleeing.

  At some point, he even started spinning the mainlands, which Lilith finally saw 'Live', to gather them even faster.

  After he was done with the 30 mainlands, which were connected to the underworld,

  He went after the disconnected ones.

  These were old evil mainlands who 'cut ties' with the underworld for billions of years,

  And the underworld was only receiving some law from their lava sea.

  They didn't 'contribute' by sending sinners down anymore.

  But Little Mortal just walked into these disconnected Mainlands through the Dark World one by one.

  However, seeing the condition of these mainlands made Lilith so angry that the whole underworld started boiling.

  Every single mainland was actually on the verge of death!

  They were completely deserted, with no active manager and only a couple of universes connected to them to keep them alive temporarily.

  Lilith's breathing turned heavy,

  "Such a disaster was on our way without my notice..."

  Little mortal, while speechless, challenged the mainland, which no one was on, and appeared on the betting ground with 10 higher beings who were dragged out of their universes connected to the mainland.

  Then he used his Judgment by Fear, and the 10 actually ran in 10 different directions.

  So he shook his head and said,

  "Every one of them is a spy...

  This isn't the smell of conspiracy anymore.

  It's clear proof placed on a silver plate."

  When Lilith saw him capture them and come back, she said,

  "Be extra careful with these ones.

  You might trigger something, and the rest 'kill' their mainlands."

  It was clear to both of them these mainlands were like a disguise.

  A disguise to hide the fact that not many mainlands were left to support the underworld!

  Lilith could imagine what would happen if all of these disconnected mainlands suddenly died at the same time!

  Little mortal shook his head, though,

  "That's dangerous; we should start from the source."

  And then he left again, but to a random direction this time.

  Lilith furrowed her brow.

  That wasn't 'up', where he could enter the mainland above.

  She watched the 'live stream', but discovered it was paused due to 'technical difficulties'.

  After a brief moment of contemplation, she opened a gate to the lava sea of the 'Evil mainland'.

  At the same time, she received a new message.

  She needed to vote for another bet.

  Not long after, a passage opened, and a level 2 civilization mainland, while completely 'off', with every single structure on it dismantled, entered the guardian territory.

  It didn't even take 20 minutes, and 20 more messages from World Law to 'vote' were sent to her, and 20 more level 2 civilizations were added to their collection!

  Little Mortal appeared again,

  "What do you think of my 'investigation team'?

  While the organization boss was in the middle of conquering the world,

  They interrogate the 'Prisoners', found the 'moles', where they 'live',

  And how to 'clean them up' as fast and efficiently as possible."

  Lilith took a deep breath when she understood what he did and what would happen if her partner was dealing with already 'dead' targets like level 2 civilizations,

  and answered while smiling nervously,

  "Impressive."

  He first dealt with the headquarters of the spies, the 20 Level 2 civilizations, to ensure he could handle the spies themselves with peace of mind.

  Little mortal nodded,

  "I know, right?"

  Then he tapped his guardian token and left.

  The live stream continued again.

  In the end, when the stream ended,

  A record remained for everyone to see,

  With a sentence left by the speedrunner.

  [ Mortal's Speedrun Record :

  Time: 700 minutes

  Damage taken : 0

  Casualty : 0

  Death : 0

  Total Normal Mainlands conquered: 10

  Total Evil Mainlands conquered: 300

  Total 'Moles' Mainlands conquered: 21

  Final results: 331 Mainlands

  A word from the speedrunner, Mortal :

  "Everyone, I can't wait to see someone break this record!

  I believe in you!" ]

  Lilith, who saw everything was over before she found the time to be worried,

  "-_-"

  Entertainment Goddess, who saw the seemingly normal 'father and son going to work' turn into 331 more mainlands merged,

  "o_o"

  The White Canary after +300 votes,

  "-_-"

  And finally, Little Mortal, who came back to the underworld and tried to encourage himself,

  "Level 3,333,333!

  I can do this!"

  Which was the total number of the universes added to his guardian territory, minus his original 85 levels.

  Then he looked at the 'numb Lilith' and said,

  "Partner, I'm going to hold an 'analysis meeting'.

  We are going to review the recent events,

  Find the connection between them,

  And reveal the hidden truth behind the scenes.

  Do you want to participate?"

  Lilith, while still out of this world, nodded.

  Little mortal, after bringing his whiteboard back from Lilith's citadel, went back to planet Lubo with the dumbfounded Lilith.