While a cruel and unprecedented massacre was being carried out on Gaia, and the population decreased rapidly by the second as more and more perished, all of it unfolded in the void of space.
Asher watched the spectacle from space with an indifferent gaze and suppressed sorrow.
Even without looking, he could clearly feel how his faith points and divinity increased rapidly, even in such a situation.
It came as no great surprise.
In the face of death and despair, even the most unbelieving and hardened individuals regained their faith and prayed in vain for salvation, granting themselves hope.
And so, as they lost their faith, God gave them fear and despair, which in turn became hope and transformed into belief.
Thus, his faith points soared rapidly, even in such a cruel situation.
After less than half a day, shortly after the sun had set, the massacre finally came to an end, and the World Pressure sent all surviving angels and demons back to Heaven and/or Hell.
The World Pressure.
It was created by Asher and was to be applied to the mortal worlds, meant to deny and expel beings from other realms—especially powerful ones—should they have entered unlawfully.
The World Pressure resembled a spiritual pressure applied to the soul in order to reject it from the world. It was all the more effective the stronger and more refined the soul was.
It worked especially well against beings such as angels and demons, who possessed only temporary physical vessels and were thus swiftly ejected.
Meanwhile, seas of blood stained the planet, as the souls of corrupted humans, elves, and dwarves descended into Hell—though a few even ascended to Heaven and found redemption.
Gaia was now completely devoid of humans and lay in silence.
After the World Pressure had driven away the outsiders—the angels and demons—there were no longer any living beings on the planet. Even the animals had been eradicated by the heated and catastrophic clash of higher powers, reduced to piles of flesh and blood.
Asher observed Gaia with folded arms, as if waiting for something.
After a great, insurmountable storm, silence returned—but it was no permanent peace. Rather, it felt as though the "calm before the storm" had returned once more.
A few moments later, the earth began to tremble once again.
The dead bodies of fallen warriors, animals, and creatures were swallowed by the ground, and the blood of all flowed into the soil.
Huge waves broke forth from the sea and flooded the mainland, drowning it.
It was a unique, apocalyptic sight. But this time, the events seemed different than before. It felt more like a birth than the end of creation, following the fall of all life.
Suddenly, the earth split apart at its center, and a gigantic, ever-expanding hole opened, from which massive roots burst forth and spread across the world, striking deep into the land and soil like lightning, as if to be planted.
From space, the sight of the kilometer-long roots spreading over the planet resembled parasitic tentacles, twisting and writhing, growing and extending out from the planet and into the galaxy.
Eventually, a colossal trunk began to rise from the remnants of the planet, shooting up rapidly and expanding as it climbed.
With each bit it grew taller, it became broader and more phenomenal, until—within mere minutes—it had reached a size so immense that it stood out even within the vast galaxy, among countless stars and stony planets.
Soon, there was no trace left of the planet Gaia, for it had become a titanic ash tree, its roots stretching into the deepest abysses of the galaxy, and its branches rising high to the peak of the cosmos—becoming a pillar that now upheld the galaxy itself.
The vastness of the ash tree surpassed all perception. Its branches spanned beyond the horizon, and its roots reached down into the darkest realms, where truths lay hidden that some would rather leave buried.
In the end, when the gigantic ash tree seemed to have reached its final size and appeared as a pillar sustaining the entire cosmos, the crown of the tree bore nine massive, planet-sized, oceanic fruits.
Just moments after their appearance, the nine rapidly matured fruits dropped from the tree crown and connected to rope-like vines that hung from the sprawling branches.
Then, the fruits suddenly burst open, revealing fully developed, flat worlds that now hung in the void like celestial chandeliers.
Yggdrasil.
The World Tree, known from Norse mythology, emerged shortly after the fall of the primordial giant Ymir and was the origin of the nine worlds under the watch of Asgard.
This was also the name that Asher, fittingly, gave to this phenomenal tree.
He had purchased the seed of the World Tree in the World Shop, buried it on Gaia before the Day of Judgment, and caused it to bloom through the massacre, the immense life energy, and the spilled blood.
The World Tree resembled Yggdrasil of Norse myth—a massive tree that hosted several flat worlds.
In time, it would bear further fruits, which would then become new worlds.
The World Tree Project.
The first step had been establishing fertile ground: Gaia.
Next came planting the seed: Yggdrasil.
Then, harvesting.
This meant the establishment of the World Tree filled with multiple mortal worlds—thereby expanding life throughout the galaxy. But the project had not ended with the creation of the tree.
[Congratulations, you have successfully integrated a new type of world into your galaxy. Your understanding of the Law of Creation has increased.]
To Asher's surprise, the voice of the world informed him of a new achievement.
But the reward itself had little effect, as he had already reached a bottleneck in his power.
As someone who possessed more power than his rank allowed, it was no wonder.
Asher turned his gaze to the summit of the World Tree, beneath its crown.
There lay a single, great world—unlike the nine mortal worlds that had been born from the fruits.
This one was directly part of the trunk and existed within it.
This vast, flat Earth was unlike the mortal worlds, for it was the only one in the galaxy that produced and harbored immortal energies.
It was the primary world of the World Tree, the immortal world, and it was placed on one side of the cosmic scales, while all the other mortal worlds were placed on the opposite side.
While the cycle of birth and demise would continue endlessly on the mortal worlds, the immortal world would remain untouched—destined to never face destruction.
Thus, Asher had manipulated his aspect of doom for the sake of the immortal world, ensuring that the mortal ones would perish more quickly—so that the immortal one could thrive and endure, forming the core of his galaxy.
Although the mortal worlds of the World Tree would face earlier ends, the tree itself compensated for this.
Any worlds that perished would be absorbed by the tree and exchanged for two new ones, thus ensuring a constant influx of worlds and growing ever more immense over time.
With a simple step through the void, Asher appeared in the immortal world.
The immortal world.
It was truly unique and extraordinary.
It was precisely what one would imagine from the name "immortal world."
There was vast, lush land, great forests, clear lakes, towering mountains and ranges, and a heavenly fragrance in the air that could invigorate just by breathing it in.
Yet apart from the beautiful scenery, there was nothing else.
The world and the World Tree still lacked living beings.
No humans, no animals.
But Asher had already decided which creatures, races, and animal species would inhabit this world and the other mortal ones.
This time, they were to be different—more diverse and abundant than those on Gaia.
As this immortal world was to be eternal and exalted, it had to be truly exceptional.
Nothing ordinary should exist here—least of all common animals.
To this end, Asher opened the World Shop, clicked on the shopping cart where he had already saved several specimens, and purchased them.
In the next instant, countless animal species began to appear across the vast immortal world.
Yet, due to the immortal energies that permeated the world and its atmosphere, the animals transformed immediately upon arrival—evolving into higher life forms, just as foreseen.
Then, seven chosen, exceptional, mystical beasts appeared.
They were tasked with reproducing and spreading their bloodlines.
These founder beasts consisted of a dragon, a phoenix, a white tiger, a qilin, a Fenrir, a nine-tailed fox, and a dragon turtle.
These mystical beasts and their descendants would become the main inhabitants of the immortal world.
Through their unique energies and powers, the creatures of the immortal world would undergo various forms of evolution and produce countless variants.
After bestowing inhabitants upon the world, Asher turned his attention to the mortal worlds of the World Tree.
These worlds had also been born fully developed and already populated—thanks to the integration of Gaia's sacrifice into the World Tree's structure, which allowed it to generate life independently.
Yggdrasil was capable, whether still a seed or a fully grown ash tree, of autonomously birthing any life whose blood it had tasted or whose genetic code had been integrated.
Thus, in the current nine mortal worlds, there already existed humans, elves, and dwarves, as well as magical beasts mutated by mana.
It was a rather peaceful sight—apart from the lack of the grandeur and purity of the immortal world.
Though these worlds were still at the dawn of their development, and the creatures within were primitive—without civilization or intellect—the nine mortal worlds were each distinct, and not all hosted all three races.
There were worlds where only elves existed, only humans, or only dwarves.
Some hosted only humans and dwarves, others dwarves and elves, and so on.
Each mortal world also possessed a different kind of mortal energy.
The World Shop offered, besides immortal energies, three categories of mortal energy: low, medium, and high.
Thus, the mortal worlds of the World Tree were divided into six categories, based on the system of the Awakened.
They were classified from A to F rank.
Worlds of E and F rank contained low-level mortal energy; C and D rank worlds held medium energy; A and B rank worlds held high-ranking mortal energy.
The World Tree was truly a practical item—though far from cheap.
Since the races were born randomly across the worlds, Asher decided to add a few more races to the World Tree to provide more variety and greater development potential.
"Very good. Everything worked. Now, on to the next!"
Once Asher ensured everything had gone smoothly, he turned to another part of his plan.
He appeared in an empty, independent space.
Then, he opened the World Shop and began creating a previously saved, independent realm.
In the void, a bright, divine light appeared and illuminated the surroundings like a sun.
A beautiful, cloudless blue sky formed beneath it—becoming the majestic canopy of a world.
Below it, a vast landmass appeared, stretching endlessly, taking the form of an infinite green meadow.
Next, Asher waved his hand, and from the earth arose a large and magnificent temple of gleaming white marble, which seemed to reflect the sunlight.
Once the grand temple appeared—resembling the Greek Parthenon—countless small altars sprang from the ground like molehills.
In seconds, the entire meadow was dotted with uncountable altars—thousands, hundreds of thousands, more than could be counted.
On each altar sat shimmering glass spheres in different colors.
Inside the temple…
One could enter the grand, open doorway and explore the magnificent temple, built for giants.
Inside were just over a dozen stone statues, each representing a different figure.
Among them were the four heroes: Achilles, Siegfried, Arthur, and Morgana.
There were also six statues resembling demons, and eight more that resembled angels.
"I hereby name this space: the Divine Chamber," Asher declared at the sight of the vast landscape of altars.