CHAPTER 321: THE STAR RAIL UNIVERSE’S AGE OF EXPLORATION, THE SEA OF WORLDS

Aether had just torn open cosmic space when a presence far surpassing the universe itself descended upon him.

"Mm! What is this..."

In that instant, even though he had already reached the standard of a high-tier standard single-universe, his very consciousness seemed to be struck, as if about to be torn from his body.

The moment his awareness was shaken, his eyes reflected the ultimate mysteries of the universe as they changed.

He saw ring after ring of Law Rings being born, strands of threads radiating toward infinite universes.

Each of these threads was immensely powerful. Even a single one carried mass comparable to part of a universe, and each thread emitted still more threads.

These threads spread across the great universes, becoming its very meridians.

These threads were all too familiar to him—were they not the very Laws of the Great Universe?

And those Laws were still splitting into countless threads, spreading into innumerable small universes. Within those small universes, the threads split further, flowing toward the Endless Planes.

In his daze, the cosmic space he had just torn apart healed itself again.

When he came to his senses, he exclaimed in shock: "The Teyvat Universe has ascended to multiversal level?!"

"When did this happen! What in the world transpired during this time?!"

The main Laws of the entire main universe had all advanced into philosophical principles—space, time, life, death, elements, everything.

Thus, the total mass of the main universe’s space had become terrifyingly vast.

Even with his current strength, he could no longer tear open space in an instant to reach the cosmic barrier.

Now the universe had become so immense and dreadful that even if he unleashed his full strength, he could not shake even a single corner of it.

For every main Law had become a philosophical principle, and each Principle itself bore the weight of strong single-universe mass. He could not even budge a single main Law.

"Time differential!"

"The flow of time inside the universe and outside of it has been adjusted. And it involves the Principle of Time itself. Even I cannot perceive what happened!"

Aether was drenched in cold sweat, horrified.

Who could imagine just how terrifying this was?

He had just completed his mission and returned from the Star Rail Universe. Before he left, Teyvat had still been the familiar world he knew.

Yet after he returned—less than a single day later, from his perspective—it had become multiversal in structure. Even the main Laws of the universe had all become Principles.

"Lord Heavenly Principle... just how terrifying are you..."

It took Aether thousands upon thousands of tears through cosmic space-time within a single second before he finally reached the edge of the cosmic barrier.

The strength of the barrier was now unspeakably dreadful. Even if he gave his all, he could only stir the faintest of ripples.

And he could not begin to comprehend its composition or strength.

If not for the fact that the cosmic barrier remained in an open state, he would never have been able to pass.

The moment he stepped outside, Aether froze. Before his eyes unfolded the sight of a multiversal panorama.

Countless small universes and immense realms glowed like starlight in the galaxy.

Those primordial universes, and the Star Rail Universe itself, drifted past his gaze like marbles of glass, orbiting the main universe.

Whoosh—

A crimson dragon whose single wing could enfold an entire great universe rested with closed eyes, its wings slowly beating. Upon its back it bore a crimson divine Ring of Truth vast enough to carry several great universes.

Encircling the Ring of Truth were layers of luminous rings, each one representing a philosophical principle. And there were over a thousand such rings.

Beneath the slow beat of those wings, infinite brilliance disturbed the mists of dimensions. Within the mist, one after another, colossal spheres of color and drifting fragments of light were born.

Even with the vision of a single-universe powerhouse, Aether could not comprehend what they were.

And moreover, the name of the Creation Red Dragon God—God of Gods, Eternal Throne—was already known to all gods of Teyvat.

Yet even in the past, when she spread her wings, she had only ever created planes. At most, there would occasionally be an ultra-large plane comparable to a small galaxy—but still, they were only planes.

But now—what were those colored spheres?

That radiant halo of colors could only be one thing—the crystalline walls of universes.

And the aura radiating from them was nearly at weak single-universe level. After only tens of billions of years of development, they could smoothly evolve into full-fledged standard single-universes.

Even the drifting fragments of light were at least small universes of galactic scale.

"To create infinite universes with just a flap of the wings... Am I dreaming?"

Aether was dumbfounded, truly suspecting that he had crossed into the future.

He could not perceive what level that existence was on—but it was undoubtedly above super single-universe.

As one who had already reached high-tier standard single-universe level, he too could create countless small universes. Yet even if he exhausted himself, what he produced would be nothing more than incomplete, defective weak single-universes.

...

At this moment, during the pulling of the Star Rail Universe, more than a hundred years had already passed inside.

In a hundred years, its civilizations had recovered most of their population, though only in numbers.

Over that century, countless transformations had become normal to the civilizations within.

The Genius Society, the Xianzhou Alliance, the Interastral Peace Corporation, the great Family factions—all the reorganized cosmic powers—had already resumed normal operation.

And with the universe now opened, gods from various pantheons of the main universe occasionally ventured into the Endless Planes and then into this world.

Sudden appearances of such powerhouses stood out starkly in this universe, where there were few Emanators.

Through exchanges with them, these great factions obtained much information.

It turned out that their universe had already been integrated into another world, becoming one of its subsidiary universes.

And then they learned that the cosmic barrier now stood open—that so long as one was a high-level Pathstrider, or possessed ark-type vessels like the planet-class ships of the Xianzhou, one could freely travel between universes.

It was like the dawn of a new Age of Exploration. Any faction with even moderate strength longed to venture beyond the universe.

Particularly organizations of scholars like the Genius Society and the Intelligentsia Guild—none of them could restrain themselves, all charging toward the edge of the cosmos.

For them, what lay beyond the universe was the deadliest of temptations.

Countless starships pierced the cosmic barrier—and in that instant, they beheld a vision so grand and sacred that it utterly crushed their cosmology.

That vision, transmitted through the power of the Pathstriders, spread throughout the interior of the universe.

Herta sat stunned, her eyes reflecting the shadows of cosmic birth—and that unimaginable, incomprehensible, ineffable being that was creating universes.

No one knew how many universes, great and small, were being born beneath the unfathomable wings of that being.

The manner of their birth utterly overturned the Genius Society’s research—it was not a singularity’s big bang, nor quantum fluctuations...

But creation by an incomprehensible existence.

In the Dimensional Gap, there was no concept of time or space—only the highest dimensional attributes. Any lifeform that mastered the powers of planar rules, universal rules, or philosophical principles could enter.

And the Principle of Time harmonized the flow of all worlds. No longer would chaotic time differentials appear.

Yet even though the Red Dragon God Emperor, at low-tier super single-universe, was beating her wings, in the eyes of all life her movements seemed slow.

The universes born beneath her wings also seemed to emerge slowly—a great universe required at least a hundred thousand years to take shape, a small universe at least ten thousand, and only planes could appear in a few days or years.

Of course, this was not truly slow. In fact, the speed was unimaginably fast—even a single-universe being could not keep pace.

It was only slow in relative terms. Were the approach of galaxies slow? They neared each other at sub-light speeds, but to humans their collisions spanned billions of years.

"What kind of existence is that...? Is this how universes are truly born? This is more mythic than the creation myths of primitive civilizations."

Herta snapped back to her senses, her body trembling with excitement as she hastily operated her own interstellar computer.

But she could calculate nothing.

She could not determine the true size of that Creation Dragon, nor the factors involved in the universes being born beneath its wings.

Unknown. Unknown. Everything was unknown.

And it was precisely the unknown that made her shiver with fanaticism.

"Haha, perfectly normal. Anyone seeing the Eternal Throne, the Creation Red Dragon, for the first time would go mad like this."

A heroic woman, like a valiant general, clapped the fervent, muttering Herta on the shoulder with a bold laugh.

"The first time I encountered the Eternal Throne in the Dimensional Gap, I too was shocked into a daze for years."

"But don’t even think about analyzing it. Such a being of creation is not something life within a universe can ever probe."

"What you are seeing now is only what that existence permits you to see. Otherwise, how could beings as small as us even behold it?"

"Unknowable, unsearchable, unnameable—that is what the Eternal Thrones are."

Herta turned toward the woman and cried out: "B-Beidou! You said... them? You called them the Eternal Thrones? What do the Eternal Thrones represent? What meaning do they hold?"

Beidou spread her hands, laughing heartily: "Yes, didn’t I say so before? You asked me so many questions back then, Herta."

Now Beidou herself was already at God-King level. Her commercial community was following her starship to the small universes and immense planes orbiting the main universe to trade.

This was thanks to the Supreme of the Traveler Pantheon, who had opened new routes to the satellite universes around the main universe. Curious herself, she had decided to take a look.

More than a hundred starships, laden with lower-grade resources, were prepared to trade for local specialties.

For some products of small universes did not exist in the main universe. It was not that the things of small universes were superior—only that they were rare, and many gods enjoyed collecting the uncommon.

She had just concluded trades with the god realms of more than a dozen small universes, and was preparing to explore some barren planes.

But her fleet had been caught in dimensional turbulence, swept who knew where.

When they finally stopped, perhaps a hundred years or a thousand had passed—and they had come to rest on the edge of this subsidiary universe.

Taking the chance, she entered it.

Unexpectedly, this subsidiary universe had only recently joined Teyvat.

As leader of a commercial community, she knew well what a great opportunity this was.

So she boldly led her hundred starships through the cosmos, broadcasting their presence to the entire universe.

One by one, major powers came to trade with her.

After ensuring safety, they exchanged various specialties.

She even met two gods on the same level as Rex Lapis himself.

What shocked her even more was that although this great universe’s civilizations were spread widely and engaged in mutual exchange, it had shockingly few true powerhouses. The strongest here were the so-called Emanators, who were merely fragments of the gods’ power.

And the classification of Emanators was vague. True Gods were called Emanators, God-Kings were also called Emanators. As long as one surpassed planet-level, they were given the same title.

By that definition, Beidou’s commercial community alone had hundreds of Emanators.

This universe’s development was truly distorted.

For decades she traveled across this universe, exchanging information with its great factions.

And so, even before she arrived here, she had already seen countless starships flying toward the cosmic boundary.

In other words—she herself had ignited this universe’s Age of Exploration.

Herta kept raising questions to Beidou, and Beidou, laughing heartily, answered them without impatience.

"...After all, these matters concern those beings. I can only say this much. Any deeper—I wouldn’t know either. I am not one of those scholars."

Herta looked upon the Eternal Throne, the Creation Red Dragon, standing at a distance she could not measure, her eyes filled with boundless reverence.

That such unimaginable beings numbered eight!

And above them—beings even higher still.

She, the most intelligent human of Azure Star, could not begin to imagine what those existences were.

In truth, there were only four such beings. Istaroth and the others had not reached super single-universe—at most they were at the level of high-tier strong single-universe, barely touching the edge of super single-universe, quasi-super-universe at best.

They had become Lords of Principles—Life, Death, Space, and Time—the foundations of all universes. Everything depended upon these four powers. Thus they were the Four Pillars of Supremacy, the strongest Principles beneath Truth.

Beidou rallied her crew with a booming laugh: "Boys! We’re returning with our ships laden—and of course, bringing our guests’ coin with us too!"

"Set sail!"

"Yes, Boss!" chorused the True Gods piloting the ships.

Behind her fleet of more than a hundred starships followed countless vessels of all sizes. Empowered either by the force of Paths or by the divine power granted by Teyvat’s gods, they voyaged safely.

Herta stood on the deck of Beidou’s flagship, gazing at the endless universes beyond the membrane, and murmured to herself:

"If the starry sky of countless suns is called a Star Sea, then what should we call this expanse of universes? A Sea of Worlds?"

Beidou laughed: "The Dimensional Gap, the Endless Planes, the great spans of time and space—call it whatever you like!"

Riding aboard Beidou’s vessel, Herta became one of the first to reach beyond the cosmic barrier.

Close behind came the Xianzhou Alliance—and their shock was even greater than Herta.

For they carried with them a deep, ancient culture. To them, this vision of creation struck their myths and legends directly.

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