Truth is the most fundamental cornerstone in any world, and incarnations of Truth are born as natural rulers.
Alpha and Omega are Truths that, as of now, have no Lawbearers within Teyvat.
A faint light flickered deep in Zhongli's gaze. Even if the other party could not become a Lawbearer of Truth in the future, given the nature of a Truth Incarnation, their potential would undoubtedly surpass his.
Building a good relationship was never a mistake. With that in mind, his peripheral vision calmly swept over the other 2-Digits who were conversing with various groups.
Aside from them, only the World Dragon was worth befriending.
Born of the Void, this pure-blooded dragon race—though not an Incarnation of Truth—shared a similar mode of origin with those two Lawbearers of Truth. Its potential was certainly no less than his own.
As for the rest... casual conversation would suffice.
Zhongli was not the only one who held this thought; everyone on Teyvat's side felt the same.
Though they treated everyone with kindness and politeness, that was all.
After all, their future was one of certainty—they would become Primeval Gods, 1-Digits of Little Garden.
And among the 2-Digits present, only a handful could hope to reach such heights. The rest—if they managed to attain super-single-universe levels of power—would already be blessed.
Thus, their limits differed, and there was no need to force deeper connections.
Besides, even now, the gods of Teyvat held little regard for those ordinary 2-Digits.
The Son of God, Jesus, the Holy Sage Krishna, and others were no fools. They could easily sense that the Teyvat gods had no intention of forming deeper ties with them, so they, too, kept things shallow.
However, Alpha, Omega, the World Dragon, and the Shiroyasha received deliberate kindness from Furina and Nahida. Such obvious selective courtesy made the others struggle to maintain composure.
No matter how much they tried to stay calm, irritation inevitably rose in their hearts. The only one who managed to remain composed was Shakyamuni Buddha, whose cultivation of serenity was unmatched.
The only one not particularly slighted was Athena, who sought to draw Gaia's youngest child, Typhon, into her own camp.
Kurma stood with her hands on her hips, looking curiously at the small-statured Nahida. "So, the Supreme Divine Realm has that many fun places? When will you take me there to play? Little Garden's too fragile. Without sealing my power, I can't even move freely on the lower layers."
Nahida extended her hand, her eyes narrowing with delight. "I can take you right now. Once there, I'll teach you how to adapt to our system. Then you'll be able to restrain your own power freely—without harming the world around you."
Kurma's eyes lit up as she eagerly grasped Nahida's hand. "Deal! Let's go, let's go, right now!"
Compared to the distant goal of becoming a 1-Digit, what she desired most at this moment was the ability to freely control her power without affecting others.
The idea that a 2-Digit from Nahida's side could restrain their might to the level of an ordinary person—it was simply unbelievable.
If she learned that ability, she could finally play however she wanted without fear of destruction!
Furina quickly added, "My Fontainian Divine Realm has plenty of fun too—games, theaters, entertainment, the most advanced of all!"
Hu Tao followed cheerfully, "Liyue's wonderful too! The best restaurants across countless universes of Teyvat are all there."
Kurma's eyes sparkled like stars. "Then let's go!" She raised her hand high, brimming with excitement.
Nahida and Furina exchanged a glance.
"Not yet. We just got here, didn't we?"
"We still have some serious matters to discuss first. How about we explore Little Garden afterward?"
Hu Tao nodded, puffing out her chest proudly. "Exactly! We only just arrived."
Kurma scratched her head. "Ah? Well, Little Garden isn't all that interesting, but since you've only just arrived, I guess you can't leave right away."
...
The eleven 2-Digits who had just descended from Teyvat were:
Zhongli, Hu Tao, Venti, Nahida, Odin, Athena, Raiden Makoto, Raiden Ei, Focalors, Furina, and Neuvillette.
Meanwhile, Little Garden's current lineup of 2-Digits consisted of nine:
Alpha, Omega, the Son of God Jesus, the Ark Matsya, the Holy Sage Krishna, Gaia's youngest child Typhon, Buddha Shakyamuni, the World Dragon, Kurma, and Shiroyasha.
Both sides convened to discuss numerous terms.
These included matters such as mutual trade, cultural exchange, and other cooperative agreements.
After all, the World Gate could now remain permanently stationed in Little Garden.
By simply crossing through it, one could arrive directly in Teyvat.
...
Three Gates of Myriad Heights — The Moon Capital of the Lower Layer.
Noah appeared leisurely, his gaze encompassing everything that was transpiring within Little Garden.
"As soon as they travel to Teyvat and obtain its power, they'll no longer be beings purely belonging to Little Garden. They will, in a sense, become part of Teyvat as well."
This was an open scheme—a strategy of assimilation executed without drawing a single drop of blood.
The gods of Little Garden had seen too little.
When a broad and shining path appeared before them, they would unhesitatingly walk it—even if that path did not belong to their world.
What they failed to realize… was that the road ahead was not their own.
Once the 2-Digits of Little Garden obtained Teyvat's system, they would naturally disseminate it to the pantheons beneath them.
Those pantheons, in turn, would influence the observed worlds below—and before long, those observed worlds would begin to assimilate at astonishing speed.
Then… as Little Garden continued to incorporate more worlds into its observation range, Teyvat's system would, in turn, continuously proceed with assimilation.
To the multiverse at large, it was like boiling a frog in warm water.
By the time the multiverse realized what was happening, it would already be too late.
They would have helped Little Garden grow, while Little Garden's gods and Buddhas would even feel gratitude toward them.
To those deities, this would seem an immeasurable favor—a blessing of divine grace. But for the world itself, it was unmistakably a slow-acting poison.
Noah gazed toward the gradually dimming core of Little Garden's Nexus.
The descent of 2-Digits was not something the Nexus would announce publicly.
At present, only beings at the 3-Digit level were fully aware that eleven 2-Digits had arrived.
Aside from them, only the high-ranking figures of the major pantheons and communities—those informed by the 3-Digit gods—knew the truth.
Yet before long, this truth would spread throughout all of Little Garden.
"At the moment, among Little Garden's potential candidates who could be cultivated into 2-Digit Primeval Gods, there are only six—Creation, End, Heaven, Earth, Kurma, and the White Night Demon."
Noah pondered briefly. "Alpha and Omega…"
"In the past, before they had developed this far, I had considered pulling them over to our side."
He smiled faintly at the thought.
"Now that I think about it, they must be yearning for further advancement beyond anything else."
Walking calmly through the bustling streets of the Moon Capital, Noah watched the Moon Rabbit clan busily preparing for the upcoming Festival of the Divine Child's Birth.
If Little Garden were to develop naturally, the Four Great Truths would eventually have the potential to ascend into Primeval Gods.
However, by that time, whether Little Garden itself would even continue to exist remained an open question.
After all, only the Cosmic Truths could endure eternally—while all other gods and Buddhas were but fleeting waves in the ever-growing sea of the multiverse, blooming brilliantly only to wither in time.
The appearance of Teyvat's system merely hastened the twin goddesses' progression toward becoming Primeval Gods—and even gave them a chance to evolve further into Super-Primeval Gods.
But that was not the most pressing matter at hand.
Because of Teyvat's intervention, Little Garden's fate had been completely disrupted. The originally preordained cycles of human history were now infused with new variables, shattering the carefully woven plans and arrangements of every pantheon.
It was as if Columbus had just discovered the New World, heralding a new Age of Exploration. Inevitably, the gods would set forth toward Teyvat in pursuit of the unknown and the future—and in doing so, Little Garden's human history would become flooded with countless variables.
Even its paradoxes and ultimate propositions would begin to resolve themselves.
In the original fate, humanity and the gods alike were meant to overcome successive Last Embryos before they could reach a new dawn and rebirth. Yet the gods knew all too well: with their current level of interference, they could never hope to surpass all of humanity's final trials.
Thus, the gods of Little Garden had long divided into two factions—the Escapists and the Saviors.
The Escapists sought to abandon the current Little Garden, to forsake its existing human history and all attached worlds, and to create an entirely new one from the ground up.
The Saviors, however, wished to unite every available force to help humanity transcend the Last Embryos, even if it meant the gods would ultimately become humanity's vassals.
Arcadia, the human community that had triumphed over a Last Embryo, became the Saviors' chosen point of support.
Naturally, the Escapists could never allow such an outcome—nor could they accept the prospect of gods and Buddhas falling into servitude under mankind.
That was why Arcadia vanished overnight. But Canaria had outplayed them all, ultimately restoring Arcadia, even after its very name had been erased.
"In Teyvat, there's also a Festival of the Divine Child's Birth—and it was organized by Indra himself, in memory of the Moon Rabbit maiden who once sacrificed herself for him~."
Noah's gaze shifted to the central square of the Moon Capital, where joyful dances and songs filled the air around the high altar dedicated to the main deity, Indra.
Yet there was a key difference—unlike here, in Teyvat, that Moon Rabbit maiden had not truly died. Instead, she worked in the Underworld.
Her superior, coincidentally, was none other than the Moon Goddess of the Underworld, Fairy Inukimi—a deity deeply intertwined with Noah himself, and who now stood upon the second tier of her divine collective's divine hierarchy as an Almighty God.
"The main deity hasn't issued any oracles for ten years now. I wonder if there'll be one this time."
"I heard something major happened in the upper layers recently. No idea what it was, though."
"Heh, matters of the great gods aren't for us to know. As long as our lord deity protects us, the Moon Capital will remain the safest place in all Little Garden."
"That's true. Even the Dystopian Demon Lord never dared to approach the Moon Capital."
"They say this year's festival has invited many lower-layer communities to observe. I wonder if the hero community that conquered the Last Embryo was invited too."
"Even if they were, I doubt they'd come. They're probably busy preparing their own victory celebration."
"What a pity. It would've been amazing to see the heroes who overcame the Last Embryo."
"Yeah! But what can you do—their celebration and our festival just happen to fall at the same time."
Noah smiled faintly as his gaze fell upon a young Moon Rabbit girl with short blue hair, dressed in ceremonial garb as a Divine Child. Holding hands with her parents, she ascended the altar, her golden bells chiming brightly.
Her innocent eyes sparkled with curiosity, yet seeing the smiles and applause around her, she began shaking her golden bell with even greater enthusiasm.
"My dear daughter," said a composed, gentle man, his tone calm and reassuring, "next, follow what you practiced. Offer the sacred sake you've prepared to the divine altar of our lord deity."
"Mm-hmm, I understand, Father." The little Moon Rabbit girl nodded quickly. Looking toward the divine altar, she pouted slightly. Though everyone around her seemed happy, her parents had made her practice this ceremony for so long. She didn't want to practice anymore—she wanted to go out and play.
Noah didn't continue watching. He turned and quietly left.
At this time, the Black Rabbit was only six years old. It was around this period that she first caught Indra's attention. Four years later, when she turned ten, Indra would grant her four divine armaments and bestow upon her the name "Black Rabbit." But for now, she had yet to bear that name.
Just then, eleven golden pillars of light erupted in the upper layers of Little Garden. Along with them appeared eleven golden gates—each nearly the same size as the Celestial Gates of Myriad Heights.
As the eleven golden portals manifested, countless meteors streaked through the heavens and entered the gates. The high-ranking leaders of the lower-layer communities instantly recognized them—those meteors were none other than the principal deities of their respective pantheons.
At the same time, the upper gods sent urgent messages to the lower communities' leadership.
The contents of those messages were explosive—shock, astonishment, exhilaration, elation… emotions spread like wildfire.
Even Arcadia, though unaffiliated with any pantheon, received divine correspondence.
Though Arcadia was a human community, certain gods and Buddhas maintained close alliances with them—sharing mutual interests and cooperation.
The grand celebration for their triumph over the Last Embryo was reaching its conclusion. Most of Arcadia's upper members—save for Canaria and a few who abstained from drinking—were utterly intoxicated. The community headquarters was filled with the sound of laughter and the sight of revelers sprawled across the floor.
"Koumei, I really can't drink anymore… ugh!"
"Koumei, you lightweight! Hahaha—hic~!"
"Drink! Keep drinking!"
Then, in an instant, the representatives who were still sober froze, their entire bodies trembling in disbelief.
Even Canaria's eyes widened. "Other 2-Digit deities… from other Little Gardens? And the Little Gardens can connect to one another? Wait, wait—didn't we just finish conquering the Last Embryo? How did things escalate to such an unimaginable level so fast!?"
She sighed, half helpless, half amused.
"Lord Shiroyasha really does think highly of us, doesn't she? But… can we even take part in an event that only 2-Digits should be involved in?"
Still, her eyes gleamed with resolve.
—
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