"Pan-Human History has also begun expanding and prospering at a rapid pace."

In the universe-wide pioneering era, the greatest beneficiaries were Pan-Human History and all concepts, rules, and entities related to it.

As Pan-Human History expanded, the power resonating with the true names of the gods also grew stronger. This was an absolutely positive cycle.

...

Time passed quickly—at least, for mortals.

To gods, however, even a hundred or a thousand years was just an ordinary span of time.

Though gods possessed a concept of time, to their eternal nature, that perception became faint and compressed.

Year 1500 of the Great Universe.

The Supreme Gods who understood Truth established a standardized cosmic calendar.

They designated the year Teyvat became a great universe as the first year of the Great Universe Era. From then on, each year followed the original Teyvat cycle of four seasons.

Of course, this applied only to the main universe. If one wanted to calculate time in space-time dimensions, they would need to factor in spacetime scale.

This spacetime scale was calculated based on the distance from the central galaxy—the farther the distance, the faster time flowed.

A single day in the central galaxy could equate to a month in a minor space-time universe, or even a year, a hundred years, or a thousand in Endless Planes.

The pre-Great Universe Teyvat era was defined by the Supreme Gods as the Primordial Era.

This Primordial Era was a time 99.9999% of gods could not access. It was extremely difficult to find surviving artifacts or proof of it in the current universe.

Accordingly, the Great Universe bestowed corresponding power upon all objects from the Primordial Era.

An ordinary item once used by a Vision holder during the Primordial Era might now be elevated to a divine artifact, a rule-bound object, or an ancient relic.

With the opening of the universe, communities dedicated to archaeology emerged, specializing in excavating relics from the previous era.

One small community even unearthed a teacup once used by the Rex Lapis. Riding on that discovery, they swiftly rose to become a large national-scale community.

Year 2000 of the Great Universe.

The Age of Exploration had lasted a thousand years.

By this time, under the relentless expansion by countless pantheons, 10% of the entire universe had been explored.

To gods of True God level and above, a thousand years passed in the blink of an eye. But to those below that level, a considerable span of time had already elapsed.

To immortals and transcendents, a lifetime had passed. Many already had children and grandchildren, and in a few more years, might be ready to reincarnate in the Underworld.

Even for demigods, a thousand years marked half a lifetime.

With the expansion of Pan-Human History, tens of millions of gods had been born over the past millennium, and tens of thousands of True Gods had emerged.

Even hundreds of Primary Gods had appeared—a direct result of the universe's pioneering achievements.

However, the birth of God-Kings was not so easy. That tier remained largely unchanged.

In this thousand years, every pantheon had grown continuously. Gods of the lower and middle tiers flourished, and each pantheon's overall strength swelled rapidly.

The Supreme Gods also ascended to their tier by virtue of their pioneering feats.

Those who had truly reached the Supreme God tier were now, at minimum, supergalactic-level beings.

The entire universe had entered an initial stage of prosperity. Countless life-bearing planets blossomed across tens of millions of galaxies.

All kinds of civilizations and races expanded without limit.

Each galaxy and life-bearing planet gave rise to vastly different civilizations.

Even among human civilizations, humans evolved differently on certain planets depending on environmental conditions.

Phanes sat on the Human Principle throne in the Temple of Truth, watching the projection of Pan-Human History with a faint smile on her face.

As the embodiment of Human Principle, Phanes grew stronger alongside Pan-Human History. Now that 10% of the universe had been explored, she was more than twice as powerful as before.

Even so, Phanes remained at the level of a strong single-universe. No matter how much stronger she became—even a hundredfold increase—she would still fall within that category, unable to reach the level of a super-single-universe.

Besides, she couldn't actually become a hundred times stronger. At most, perhaps tenfold.

...

Elsewhere—

While the gods were busy pioneering the universe, Noah, the Heavenly Principle, was traveling incognito, strolling through the various worlds and planes they had developed. This is a sample from My Virtual Library Empire. Read the rest on M-VLEMPYR.

Civilizations across the universe were already vibrant and diverse, but those within the planar worlds were even more fantastical.

One such plane had been developed by followers of the God of Play, Tet. The world's rules leaned entirely toward games.

Card duels, chess duels, yo-yo duels, racing duels, soccer duels... these had become the core of societal norms.

In this plane, every person determined their social status and future through game duels.

Wasn't this just like those animated worlds he used to love as a child?

With great interest, Noah became the world's Game King, the number one racer and soccer champion, before leaving the plane quite satisfied.

Next, he visited a plane developed by the Wanmin Hall Community.

In this world, chefs held the highest status, and a cultivation system for chefs had been established—eventually allowing them to become Culinary Gods.

These magical chefs could imbue dishes with miraculous effects, even granting supernatural powers to those who consumed them.

Everyone in the world dreamed of becoming a chef.

It was a fantastical and delightfully amusing world.

And there were tens of millions of such fascinating civilizations.

While only a thousand years had passed in the main universe, more than 100,000 years had gone by in the Endless Planes. Noah had spent that time traveling through the Endless Planes, witnessing every sort of wondrous civilization.

Some of the stronger planar worlds had even evolved into divine realms, giving rise to organizations spanning thousands of planes.

Because the Endless Planes were so vast, many of these self-proclaimed divine realms believed theirs was the only one.

After several millennia of development, they eventually encountered other powerful organizations—leading to conflict.

Which, of course, escalated into planar wars.

This angered the gods pioneering those regions immensely.

They immediately summoned True Gods, who effortlessly slapped down the gods responsible for initiating the wars, pinning them to the ground.

The ignorant gods cried out, calling them Creator Gods. Only when the pioneering pantheons brought them into the proper divine system did they realize the truth.

Noah simply watched with a smile, amused by the foolishness and naivety of those gods.

Though they triggered wars, they committed no true sins—thanks to the will of his beloveds.

The primary issue was the accelerated time flow of the Endless Planes. The gods couldn't keep up, and as a result, no one was managing the ascending gods.

Furthermore, the sheer number of newborn gods meant that unless they actively triggered the Cosmic Nexus's grant system, they would receive no information.

Of course, once a god reached the level of Upper God and became a rule incarnation, the Cosmic Nexus would automatically grant them the necessary information.

However, even after 100,000 years in the Endless Planes, only a few had reached the Upper God level—and most of those were innately born gods.

Noah stretched.

"Played around for 100,000 years, and only about a thousand years have passed in the main universe."

"Time to prepare. I should elevate Dream to standard single-universe quality—it wouldn't be fair otherwise."

There was still one Dream Truth of weak single-universe quality he had yet to collect from the Re: Creators world.

Since the universe was in the midst of a grand expansion, it was the perfect opportunity for the Heavenly Principle to go out and enjoy himself.

Who knows—by the time he returned, the universe might be ready for a Divine Collective Gift Game.

Noah returned to the main universe, to the central galaxy.

On this continent vast as over 100,000 galaxies, countless nations stood.

However, only True Gods had the right to found a nation.

Only Upper Gods could establish a community. Communities with a True God were classified as large communities—on par with nations.

Ultimately, the status of both nations and communities was determined by the strength of their gods.

Even so, the original Seven Nations remained the strongest. They were now known across the universe as the Supreme Nations.

"Come to think of it, it's been an incredibly long time since I was last here. The last time was even before the Great Universe era began."

Noah arrived in Inazuma, strolling through Inazuma City.

The area of Inazuma City was the size of a star. Unlike other nations, Inazuma was composed of countless supercontinents amidst an endless ocean, with myriad celestial bodies orbiting between the seas and landmasses.

Inazuma's Pseudo Star Map Creation had already been activated and recognized its master. There was no longer any need to hold a Divine Collective Gift Game.

With the power of the Pseudo Star Map Creation, all gods in the Inazuma Divine Collective could advance to higher levels. The potential of the entire divine collective had been unleashed.

Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei were already nearing the first stage of the Supreme God tier. It seemed only another one or two millennia would be needed before they could ascend to the Primordial God tier.

Among their subordinates, Yae Miko was approaching the God-King tier. Sangonomiya Kokomi, Kamisato Ayaka, and Kamisato Ayato were all on the verge of breaking through to the Primary God tier.

Of the three original main gods of Takamagahara, both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi had already embarked on the path toward Supreme Godhood, and at an astonishing pace. By the time the Divine Collective Gift Game was held, they might well reach the Supreme tier.

The Inazuma Pantheon had effectively become the most powerful divine system.

Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei, in their normal states, were unafraid even of Primordial Gods. With the Pseudo Star Map activated, they could instantly ascend to weak single-universe level. Even if the two of them faced every god in the universe alone, they would remain unfazed.

They were the true definition of invincible: two goddesses capable of standing against millions of gods. Absolute sovereigns.

If this were the past, Noah would have certainly commented, "How terrifying." Even before the expansion of the Great Universe, he hadn't possessed such power.

Noah made no effort to conceal his arrival and allowed a trace of his aura to spread.

Grand Narukami Shrine.

Now, Mt. Yougou had become a heavenly pillar of the Inazuma Nation—one of the few places closest to the second divine layer.

The Grand Narukami Shrine itself had become a small universe.

This small universe was no less expansive than an entire spacetime.

It had been created by the Raiden sisters using the Pseudo Star Map. This was now the heart of the Inazuma Divine Collective, where all of Inazuma's True Gods resided.

At the moment, however, most of Inazuma's gods were off pioneering the Great Universe and the Endless Planes. Only a few remained behind.

Yet even the highest gods of Inazuma had unspoken concerns.

Beneath the Sacred Sakura Tree, Raiden Makoto and Raiden Ei were playing shogi. Yae Miko and Kitsune Saiguu were preparing tea with fresh petals from the Sacred Sakura.

Not far away, the Shogun was practicing her martial skills with her naginata.

The already mystical Sacred Sakura had transformed into a World Tree after the Great Universe's expansion.

Its branches stretched across thousands of galaxies. Petals fell across the entire small universe.

Civilizations had formed atop the petals, each as vast as a supercontinent.

Only True Gods could brew tea with fresh petals from the Sacred Sakura.

A single sip from a Lower God would instantly elevate them to Upper God. An Upper God would break through bottlenecks, and if not blocked by merit thresholds, could become a True God directly.

For a God-King, the tree could grant insights into Truth itself.

Even Supreme Gods benefited greatly from it.

Raiden Makoto sighed softly, her voice tinged with worry: "It's been two thousand years since Lord Heavenly Principle last visited Inazuma. And that was before the Great Universe era..."

Raiden Ei moved her piece quietly, capturing one of Raiden Makoto's shogi pieces as she spoke calmly: "Perhaps it's because the universe is in a period of grand expansion. Lord Heavenly Principle likely has very important matters to attend to."

Yae Miko, full of grievance, lightly placed a sakura mochi into her mouth: "He is Lord Heavenly Principle, after all. I've heard it from those other great ones too."

"But he doesn't actually do anything himself—he leaves all his responsibilities to those eight great beings. Especially Lady Istaroth, the Ruler of Time—she told me in secret he's been playing in the Endless Planes for 100,000 years."

"A hundred thousand years, you know~ He's probably forgotten all about us by now..."

Her tone was filled with resentment, her tail drooping from beneath her clothes, ears limp and listless.

She chewed the sakura mochi like she was swallowing wax.

Kitsune Saiguu, seeing her so dejected, felt a pang of sympathy. She took a drag from her pipe and exhaled a melancholic ring of smoke.

"With this much resentment, Lady Miko is about to become a bitter woman. If other gods saw her like this, how embarrassing would that be?"

Yae Miko's resentment grew even stronger. She cast a ghostly glance at Kitsune Saiguu: "Lady Saiguu, are you comforting me or mocking me?"

Raiden Ei spoke up: "Miko, I know you miss Lord Heavenly Principle deeply, but you shouldn't complain. I'm sure he has important things to take care of."

"It's just that... we don't understand them."

Yae Miko pouted and tried to brush off the aura of gloom: "Yes, yes, you're right, Ei. I'm just a little fox, after all."

"But… something's been feeling really strange."

The Shogun stopped her training and walked over with a blank expression. "Strange? What's strange? Has a Supreme God come to visit?"

Yae Miko rolled her eyes. Even now, the Shogun was still as stiff-minded as ever—even after becoming a Supreme God herself.

"Lady Istaroth said that ever since the Great Universe expanded, Lord Heavenly Principle hasn't touched beauty even once—not even in all those 100,000 years in the Endless Planes."

"Could it be that… after reaching a certain level, he's lost all mortal desire?"

Raiden Makoto's eyes widened. She quickly responded, "Impossible! The Heavenly Principle's will permeates the Great Universe. We gods all possess emotions and desires, which means Lord Heavenly Principle must as well!"

Yae Miko added, "Then maybe the change just hasn't reached us yet... Otherwise, how can someone who was once so full of desire go 100,000 years without being tempted? It just doesn't make sense."

Raiden Makoto, Raiden Ei, and Kitsune Saiguu all fell silent, unable to come up with a rebuttal.

Just then, Yae Miko suddenly shivered. A hand had grabbed the base of her tail.

Before she could even cry out, a familiar voice whispered in her ear.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Well, well. Gossiping behind my back? It hasn't even been that long, and you've grown awfully bold, little fox!"

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