After seeing off Genarkrail and Coo, Realm Ferryman Waka went back to waiting.
Barely half an hour had passed before another batch of smugglers arrived.
This group had about four or five people, all from the String race.
Their overall vibe, however, was noticeably colder and far more discreet.
Chances were they were professional contraband traffickers rather than desperate runaways drowning in debt like Genarkrail.
Once they reached the depths of this Creeping Sea tributary, they did not waste a single breath. With practiced familiarity, they handed over a landmark and Spirit Crystals to Waka, then stood quietly, waiting for him to chant the incantation to construct a Divine Vessel.
Moments later, through Waka's routine handling, a crude thousand-meter-long Divine Vessel materialized once more, carrying the group before instantly vanishing into the vast tributary of the Creeping Sea toward some uncharted Swarm.
With the job done, the taciturn Waka stayed suspended in the depths of the tributary, patiently waiting for the next batch of clients.
Based on his experience, guarding this tributary meant handling roughly ninety to a hundred batches before the next surge cycle hit, which was about seven hours away.
That was actually considered light traffic; wider tributaries with longer surge cycles easily saw thousands of groups or more.
And at official realm checkpoints, daily volume reached astronomical figures.
"Whatever..."
Waka muttered under his breath, "Once I hit my KPI, I am clocking out."
Overtime?
Out of the question.
Waka never did overtime. He put in his eight hours and took off, with no exceptions.
Whenever he cleared his quota early, he would just call it a day on the spot.
After all, Waka had sworn a solemn oath to the God of the Creeping Sea never to work a single minute of overtime in his entire life.
He was definitely not about to compromise his devotion.
Time drifted by.
Events unfolded just as Waka had predicted.
Within just an hour, he kept the conveyor belt moving, sending off more than a dozen batches of smugglers.
Not long after Waka shuttled off the thirteenth batch of clients, someone else arrived.
No, it was a faint, ethereal silhouette of light, cutting through the vast sea of radiance to reach this place.
"So this is the spot..."
The silhouette casually scanned her surroundings and glanced at Waka in the distance. "This must be the smuggling shortcut from the Heavenly Hegemon's memories."
Indeed, the newcomer was none other than Seraphine's Divine Projection.
Having fully integrated all of the Heavenly Hegemon's memories, her grasp of the boundless Creeping Sea and the nuances of these smuggling routes was far sharper than even Genarkrail's.
In fact, she knew vastly more detail.
For instance, while the hybrid before her nominally belonged to a high-tier native race of the Creeping Sea...
In truth, the Heavenly Hegemon's archives explicitly recorded that his ancestors originated from a 6D race born in the Yike Swarm.
Attached to that record was intel regarding an ancient war fought within the Yike's ancestral grounds.
According to those archives, countless eons ago, two unknown Eternal-level beings engaged in a savage war within the Yike race's 6D homeland.
The records never explicitly detailed just how cataclysmic that clash between Eternal entities truly was.
It merely noted that the stray shockwaves radiating outward from the two Eternal titans' main battlefield ripped through and shattered countless sectors of the Yike Swarm's 6D universe, with each domain being so unfathomably vast that even a String Ancestor-level Yike, straining its senses to the limit, could not perceive a single boundary.
Furthermore, after laying waste to the Yike 6D universe and expending most of their force, the millions of residual ripples pierced unimpeded straight down the dimensional hierarchy, effortlessly disintegrating and vaporizing a colossal number of 5D, 4D, and 3D space-time universes, leaving a toll so astronomical that 10^10^10^38 could scarcely quantify even a few-hundred-quintillionth fraction of the devastation.
The Yike archives regarding that ancient war were so mind-boggling that although they existed in the Heavenly Hegemon's memories, he personally refused to believe them.
The notion that such horrifying entities could actually exist in the endless cosmos challenged his cognition far too violently.
The Heavenly Hegemon flat-out rejected it.
In short, amidst that reality-shattering catastrophe, countless Yike perished, leaving behind neither energetic residue nor causal traces.
As for Realm Ferryman Waka's ancient ancestor, blessed by sheer, miraculous luck to survive the ordeal, he stumbled into the deepest reaches of the Creeping Sea during his panicked escape.
In the eons that followed, he settled within the boundless Creeping Sea, carrying permanent spiritual scars as he went on living.
Gradually reshaped by the alien environment, his lineage eventually evolved into genuine Creeping Sea organisms.
In truth, this was not unique to Waka's platinum-serpent race; the vast majority of so-called native populations inhabiting the boundless Creeping Sea were originally higher-dimensional lifeforms from various Swarms.
Most of these high-dimensional beings had entered the deep Creeping Sea for various reasons, whether by choice or circumstance.
Some were trapped within obscure tributaries, forever unable to return to their ancestral lands; others grew fond of the Creeping Sea's idealistic, tranquil atmosphere and simply chose never to leave.
Ultimately, those high-dimensional nomads who made their living in the Creeping Sea diversified over time into the myriad native species of today.
In a sense, these Creeping Sea populations were essentially distant relatives to the high-dimensional races of the various Swarms.
Back when the Heavenly Hegemon was making a name for himself abroad in other Swarms, he had encountered a Creeping Sea creature deep within the Geleton Swarm's High-Level Realm of Phantasm that claimed its ancestors originated from the String Swarm, yet bore no genetic trace of the String race.
Intriguingly, according to the questionable lineage records produced by that creature, its Primogenitor had inhabited the String Swarm's 6D space-time era far earlier than the recorded history of the String race itself.
This was downright absurd!
The Heavenly Hegemon dismissed it as sheer nonsense.
If their lineage predated the String race, why had their people vanished?
Extinguishing a fully developed, populous 6D civilization across every metric is no simple matter.
It was practically an Arabian Nights fantasy.
Because every single 6D space-time universe is genuinely Infinitely Large, and even the strongest Eternal String lacks the power to truly destroy one.
Thus, when Seraphine had reviewed this record, she leaned toward the conclusion that the creature's ancestors were another high-dimensional race coexisting in the same realm alongside the String race.
It was simply that the 6D universe was Infinitely Large and the distance between them vast, so their paths had never crossed.
"Which Swarm are you heading to?"
Seeing Seraphine (Projection) drifting closer, Waka asked coldly out of routine, "Do you have the landmark and the toll? The fee is sixty units of Spirit Crystals."
Hearing this, Seraphine chuckled softly. "A toll? Ah, sorry, but wherever I go, I have never once paid a toll."
"Huh?! You trying to play me?" Waka froze, his vertical pupils flaring as he moved to drive her off.
BUZZ——
Suddenly, a brilliant divine light flashed across Seraphine's hazy eyes.
Waka instantly stiffened in place, his anger evaporating into nothingness.
Deep within his high-dimensional soul, the spark of materialized spirituality was instantly subjugated by Seraphine, turning him into yet another of her loyal thralls.
"Master!" Waka bowed with absolute reverence.
"Good." Seraphine nodded indifferently. "Hand over every landmark on you."
"By your command!" Waka complied instantly as shimmering radiance burst from his form, releasing over a hundred thousand tiny glowing orbs.
These were duplicates of landmarks he had skimmed during his daily duties, filtered and curated with virtually zero duplicate data.
Still, this number represented the absolute limit Waka had accumulated over his entire career.
While his post gave him effortless access to vast amounts of landmarks, the overwhelming majority were redundant data.
Only after long stretches of time would Waka chance upon a genuinely new landmark.
Even so, this gave Seraphine an idea.
"Hmm... If Kakimi really fails to gather a full Googol of landmarks, I can always brainwash more Creeping Sea Realm Ferrymen and farm gold coins off them."
With a flick of her hand, she collected all the landmarks and remotely transmitted them to her true body across the infinite distance.
Done with the task, Seraphine commanded Waka: "Build a vessel. I am heading to the Desolate Ancient Swarm."
"Right away, Master!" Waka acknowledged instantly, chanting incantations to channel the power of the Creeping Sea's deity, weaving light in the void around Seraphine to construct the vessel.
HUM HUM HUM——
Sensing the vast, boundless power descending from nothingness, Seraphine remarked with a hint of admiration, "A deity ruling over the entire boundless Creeping Sea... tsk, a genuine Endless-grade existence."
Putting her thoughts aside, she issued a command to Waka through the cascading layers of radiant light:
"From now on, no clocking out and no breaks. Work flat-out to ferry every illegal smuggler who comes through, and secure as many new landmarks as possible."
"Understood!" Waka complied reverently.
Seconds ticked by.
Minutes later, an ethereal, exquisitely crafted thousand-meter vessel solidified. Carrying this wisp of Seraphine's projection, it shot along the radiant river at extreme velocity toward the boundless Creeping Sea outside the String Swarm.
Meanwhile, deep within the unfathomable expanse of the 6D universe, the fake Heavenly Hegemon that Seraphine had casually molded arrived at the rendezvous point agreed upon with Kakimi.
Prior to reading the memories of multiple 6D lifeforms, Seraphine had only possessed vague theoretical concepts of 6D space, never truly knowing what a genuine 6D universe looked like in reality.
Yet upon reviewing those memories and physically stepping inside, she discovered that the 6D universe was a space-time virtually devoid of darkness.
As a true higher-dimensional realm, every microscopic patch of space within the 6D universe constantly blazed with radiant light, outputting energy levels hundreds of quintillions of times beyond the Big Bang of a 3D universe.
Consequently, the baseline cosmic microwave background temperature of 6D space-time sat at billions of times above the Planck temperature.
Bearing such monstrous energy levels and temperatures, 6D space boasted structural stability and complexity that vastly outstripped any lower-dimensional cosmos.
The immense complexity of the 6D universe stemmed largely from its sheer degrees of freedom.
In 3D space, intelligent beings can move up, down, forward, backward, left, and right.
They can clearly pinpoint any coordinate using three axes: length, width, and height.
But in 6D space, where twelve directions exist, with each mutually perpendicular at ninety-degree right angles, defining a precise position demands six coordinate axes.
These six axes can be represented as X1, X2, X3, X4, X5, and X6.
Thus, physical objects in a 6D universe cannot be described simply in terms of how long, how wide, or how tall.
One can only state: "What is this 6D entity's value along X1, its value along X3, its value along X5," and so forth.
In short, superficial 3D language can hardly map the concrete reality of a 6D universe.
Suffice it to say that any arbitrary point in 6D space can be conceptualized as an entire 3D sphere possessing length, width, and height.
Scale this conceptual framework infinitely: treat 3D space as a single [Point], 4D space as a [Line], and 5D space as a [Plane].
When that 3D [Point] moves, it traces a line; when the line sweeps, it forms a plane; when the plane shifts, it forms a volume. Stacking this hierarchy into an Infinitely Large continuum yields a 6D universe.
Naturally, for 3D beings, this framework is jarring, deeply counterintuitive, and beyond ordinary imagination.
Yet 6D space was never built to be comprehended by 3D minds.
Most matter from a 3D universe, whether macroscopic or microscopic, would instantly disintegrate and collapse into meaningless fundamental particles the moment it entered 6D space.
With the possible exception of black holes, which might survive.
Though in 6D space, even those black holes would no longer retain their pristine spherical geometry.
Instead, they rapidly morph into donut toroids, barbed spirals, multifaceted prisms, multi-axial polyhedrons, discrete irregular shapes, porous honeycombs, nested funnels, and countless other geometries.
Furthermore, while black holes in a 3D universe represent the ultimate terminus of matter, devouring everything in their path,
In a 6D universe, they operate like material factories, constantly generating vast quantities of high-dimensional matter.
One such high-dimensional substance manifests in the form of 'vapor', which is physicalized gravity.
That is right: the universal gravitational pull that binds and tethers celestial bodies across a 3D cosmos,
In 6D space, is an actual physical substance.
Across lower-dimensional space-times like 3D, gravity is a fundamental force sustaining the baseline mechanics of reality.
Yet in the 6D universe reigning above, gravity is a tangible 6D material with real physical mass.
Moreover, 6D space harbors an infinite variety of such high-dimensional materials.
From the Heavenly Hegemon's memories, Seraphine learned that if these 6D substances escape into lower-energy, low-degree-of-freedom space-times, they undergo complex transformations, unleashing immense energy while decomposing into various fundamental cosmic forces like gravity.
Consequently, injecting even a modest current of 6D matter into a lower-dimensional universe would instantly destabilize, rewrite, or outright destroy the core physical laws governing that cosmos.
Imagine a 3D universe governed by only four fundamental forces suddenly inundated with hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of new basic interactions.
These fundamental forces would violently clash with one another, locked in total mutual incompatibility.
In a chaotic continuum where an explosion of conflicting forces causes physical parameters and cosmological constants to fluctuate violently millions of times every second, how could countless living species and civilizations survive?
There is only one answer: total extinction.
Perhaps countless eons later, under the sheer accumulation of time, these overwhelming fundamental forces would transition from conflict to synthesis, gradually coalescing into a newly coherent, self-consistent system and framework.
But every living being, along with every macroscopic and microscopic structure that had once inhabited that cosmos, would have been extinguished long before.
From the perspective of lower-dimensional sapient life, such a cataclysm is unfathomably horrifying, almost beyond comprehension.
Yet through the eyes of the String race, it was utterly mundane.
Many String race youths, driven by curiosity toward lower dimensions but lacking the funds to purchase a Sacred Descending Form, frequently passed their idle hours intentionally dumping vast quantities of 6D matter into lower 3D universes.
The Heavenly Hegemon himself had engaged in this wicked pastime in his youth.
It was no different from cruel children burning anthills with boiling water, ripping off dragonflies' wings, crushing caterpillars underfoot with gleeful twists of their heels, or burning a trapped mouse's eyes with a lighter.
The sadistic pleasure of trampling the weak is, after all, a primal instinct ingrained across countless species.
The 6D beings were no exception.
Thus, with zero provocation or justification, they still cast massive deposits of 6D matter into 3D space.
Purely to watch countless lower-dimensional sapient races perish in absolute despair.
Could the victims fight back?
Obviously not; they could only suffer their fate.
There was no helping it, since the innate disparity between higher and lower dimensions was simply insurmountable.
It was so vast that any random scrap of high-dimensional matter casually discarded downward became an unimaginable Divine Artifact to lower beings, turning into a terrifying anomaly that triggered cosmic cataclysms.
And now, the fake Heavenly Hegemon sat poised inside a colossal palace constructed from mountains of high-dimensional matter.
Because 6D structures defy description through simplistic three-dimensional coordinates of length, width, and height,
The scale of this grand hall could only be roughly approximated as being over 10^20 times more massive than a Non-Static Global-Inflation 3D universe.
It was so enormous that even unleashing the full might of the Heavenly Hegemon's King String rank could not shatter a trillionth fraction of it.
Yet in reality, this vast hall, resembling a divine pantheon of the gods, was merely one of Kakimi's hundreds of millions of estates.
And it was the smallest one, at that.
HUM——
The void vibrated as radiant light churned.
The high-energy vacuum before the fake Heavenly Hegemon suddenly twisted and swirled, manifesting a colossal face a trillion times larger than the Verdant Ancient Matter Sea.
This gigantic visage, appearing solid and tangible, was merely a fraction of Kakimi's projection transmitted across vast distances via specialized high-dimensional apparatus.
Born of paranoia, he never met his subordinates in his true body.
Even this materialized projection bore zero connection to Kakimi's actual intrinsic power.
It was purely an artificial construct simulated through complex devices.
He operated this way specifically to insulate himself against causal tracking and informational surveillance.
"Cautious as an old dog."
Anchored in the 3D universe, Seraphine chuckled, shaking her head. "Yet no matter how careful you are, you cannot erase every trace from the causal network like the Authority of Change does. The moment I latch onto your causal thread, no matter how deep you hide, you will be utterly enslaved."
Seraphine's strategy was simple: bait him with profit and force the paranoid, insatiably greedy Kakimi to show his claws.
She immediately took remote control of the fake Heavenly Hegemon to initiate negotiations with Kakimi.
...
Inside the vast grand hall.
"Boss, it has been a while."
The fake Heavenly Hegemon bowed respectfully toward the colossal projection. "How have you been?"
"Indeed, quite a while. I have been well,"
Kakimi replied warmly. "So, Hegemon, how has your development been coming along lately?"
Hearing the inquiry, the fake Heavenly Hegemon answered promptly: "Thanks to your continued patronage and mediation, I have not been harassed by any outsiders all these years. Everything has progressed very smoothly."
"That is wonderful to hear. I am pleased," Kakimi said gently. "So, what brings you to me this time?"
The fake Heavenly Hegemon did not speak right away; instead, he silently produced a massive sphere of light from within his robes, offering it up with utmost deference.
"Hmm? 1,000 units of Spirit Crystals?"
Kakimi's gaze swept over the sphere of light, noting with slight surprise, "Hegemon, emptying your entire net worth for me... what is the meaning of this?"
"Haha, just a small token of respect."
The fake Heavenly Hegemon grinned. "I have cooked up some new stuff recently and want to test the market to see how it moves. But this product might catch the eye of certain folks in the Security Department, so I am just hoping the Boss can cover my back when the time comes."
This 'new stuff' was actually a novel, highly stimulating high-dimensional narcotic that the original Heavenly Hegemon had been researching with significant success.
The raw material was an artificially cultivated, multi-dimensional hybrid fungus that matured by parasitizing 3D universes.
The Heavenly Hegemon named this fungal strain, which possessed predominantly 4D and 5D structures with a tiny fraction of 6D architecture, Paradise Grass.
Except for its core, the entire organism was saturated with horrific toxicity.
Under the influence of this toxin, the host 3D universe would suffer extreme contamination, triggering a cataclysmic detonation of its infinite Vacuum Energy.
Furthermore, the explosion would propagate across adjacent vacuums, accelerating exponentially in every direction without limit.
In roughly a billion years, a Static 3D universe spanning 10^132 light-years across would have its entire Vacuum Energy burned away by the Paradise Grass, leaving its space-time fabric thoroughly annihilated into a permanent Dead Zone.
After such an extravagant growth cycle, the matured Paradise Grass would birth within its core a rare 6D multicellular copper compound, alongside five distinct varieties of multidimensional inverse-entropy extracts.
Blending these components in precise ratios and sequences with forty-four other 6D substances through a complex synthesis yielded the refined Paradise Drug.
Which was precisely the 'new stuff' the Heavenly Hegemon was pitching.
"Is it a new narcotic?" Kakimi casually guessed.
"It is," the fake Heavenly Hegemon nodded in admission.
"Well then, run it by me," Kakimi said with piqued interest. "Let me see its market potential."
Clearly, he was intrigued by a new product potent enough to make the Heavenly Hegemon willingly empty his entire fortune as collateral.
"Well..." The fake Heavenly Hegemon hesitated, putting on a conflicted look tinged with apparent regret.
This was all part of Seraphine's deliberate manipulation from behind the scenes, designed to make the bait all the more irresistible to Kakimi.
"Hahaha."
Kakimi chuckled heartily. "Speak up, Hegemon. Consider it humoring my curiosity."
"Fair enough."
The fake Heavenly Hegemon let out a heavy sigh and began laying it out: "This new product is called the Paradise Drug. Its potency is outrageous, as it intensely stimulates the String race's soul structure and ripples directly into the realm of spirituality, delivering an unfathomable wave of euphoria alongside extreme addictiveness."
"Hmm, most narcotics on the market boast similar effects,"
Kakimi remarked flatly. "So what is the actual edge of this Paradise Drug?"
"Two main advantages. First is its addiction profile: practically anyone with materialized spirituality will fall into eternal dependency after a single dose. As of now, there is zero known detox method.
Second: the degree of euphoric stimulation stacks infinitely."
The fake Heavenly Hegemon gave an example: "During clinical trials, I found that within a single dose cycle, each additional portion multiplied the effect by an entire order of magnitude, which is tenfold. At ten portions, every ten additional portions amplified the effect by ten orders of magnitude, or ten billion times. At one hundred portions, every hundred additional units caused the baseline euphoria to explode by a full one hundred orders of magnitude, which is a Googol times.
In the most extreme test, I administered a total of one thousand portions to a single subject. His soul, physical form, and materialized spirituality literally detonated from sheer sensory overload.
So I theorize that the stimulating effect of Paradise Grass can stack infinitely, or at the very least, scale toward an astronomically massive figure."
"Is that so? Interesting."
Kakimi mused with mild astonishment, "If it truly stacks indefinitely, then even Divinity, or perhaps even Greater Divinity, would likely be floored by this Paradise Drug."
"It is possible," the fake Heavenly Hegemon shrugged. "Though I could not exactly find a String Emperor to run tests on, so that part is purely speculative."
"Hmm..."
Kakimi pondered for a moment before speaking, "Hegemon, go all in. I will provide full coverage for your new drug venture."
The fake Heavenly Hegemon feigned excitement: "Thank you, Boss! I—"
"However," Kakimi interrupted smoothly, "accumulating wealth is never easy. Emptying your pockets just to hand over protection money to me is far too hasty."
"Huh?" The fake Heavenly Hegemon blinked, looking momentarily stunned.
What did that mean? Was the money beneath him? Or had he grown a conscience?
"Therefore..."
Kakimi drawled leisurely, "I want you to take these 1,000 units of Spirit Crystals back. Consider it my initial investment for a 10% equity stake. Once your operation scales up, you can just cut me a few more shares."
"Uh..." The fake Heavenly Hegemon put on a twisted expression, caught between an awkward smile and a grimace.
Unbelievable. Kakimi was not looking down on the protection fee at all;
He was playing the long con to swallow at least half of the entire Paradise Drug enterprise with zero upfront cost.
"Hahaha."
Far away in 3D space-time, Seraphine let out a low chuckle. "I never worry about greed; I only worry when someone plays hard to get."
Originally, she had not expected the Paradise Drug alone to reel in Kakimi.
For that reason, Seraphine had specifically fashioned a 6D dimensional cell and placed it in the fake Heavenly Hegemon's hands, intending to bait Kakimi a second time by leaking intel on 6D spatial lifeforms.
But as it turned out, Kakimi was surprisingly petty.
He was sitting on untold riches, yet still salivating over a slice of narcotics revenue.
He was truly an insatiable bottomless pit.
Following that, Kakimi stated his intention to draft a rigorous, binding causal contract.
The pretext was to clearly delineate and secure mutual interests.
To this, the fake Heavenly Hegemon acted reluctant yet resigned to submit.
Seeing this, Kakimi beamed with sheer delight.
Meanwhile, Seraphine lurked behind the curtain across infinite distances, silently watching, waiting for Kakimi to extend a sliver of his genuine power past his impenetrable defensive shell.
...
Inside the vast hall.
"Alright,"
Kakimi said slowly, "Hegemon, I have finalized the causal contract, so if you would..."
With that, his colossal illusory face blurred, exposing a faint fluctuation representing his Root Divinity from within.
Both parties revealing their respective spirituality was an absolute prerequisite for signing a causal contract.
And the very millisecond Kakimi exposed that wisp of Divinity, the fake Heavenly Hegemon's eyes erupted with blinding divine radiance.
HUM——
The ancient palace shuddered violently, and Kakimi froze instantly.
A mere fraction of a second later, he bowed respectfully toward the fake Heavenly Hegemon: "Master."
"Good."
Far away in 3D space-time, Seraphine spoke through the fake Heavenly Hegemon's vessel, "Now, bring out every Space-time Landmark you have stored."
Just after speaking those words, Seraphine paused slightly, then smirked. "Excellent. After thirty million years of [Divine Vessel time], my projection has finally reached the Desolate Ancient Swarm."