Chapter 1 – Multiverse

Note: Although the author feels the world-building and plot are well-written with many important foreshadowings, and readers have generally expressed great enjoyment, a friendly reminder: those who dislike world-setting narratives may skip chapters one, four, and five! These three chapters primarily introduce the world setting!

Though you might miss out on plenty of excitement that way~

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In the endless void, there are two origins for naturally evolving universes. One type forms from the explosion of a singularity—infinitely small and dense, existing between being and non-being—expanding into a continuously growing cosmos. The other type slowly inflates from a singularity, and the Multiverse is the latter.

Different universes have different laws, and the Multiverse possesses its own system of rules. Within it, countless bubbles float about, varying in size, each bubble representing a plane. The gravitational pull of a plane isn’t generated by mass but by its core. However, the core’s gravity isn’t uniform in all directions, resulting in many planes displaying the wondrous phenomenon of a “square sky and round earth.”

Countless years have passed since the birth of the universe, with innumerable planes quietly coming into existence and just as silently meeting their destruction.

Then, one day, the Multiverse gave birth to its own consciousness. His name is Ao¹, and Ao is the Multiverse itself. Thus, his greatest desire is to maintain the stability and continued development of the Multiverse. But clearly, things didn’t go as smoothly as he hoped. The tranquility of the Multiverse wouldn’t last much longer.

The Lady of Pain descended² from the void. Compared to slow self-development, plundering the fruits of others’ labor is evidently quicker and easier. The Lady of Pain is a void powerhouse who employs pillaging as her means of advancement, and the Multiverse became her target this time.

Ao, of course, wouldn’t sit idly by. The moment the Lady of Pain invaded the universe, he launched a counterattack. A great battle, starring two void-level powerhouses, erupted across the Multiverse.

In the end, Ao emerged victorious by leveraging his home advantage. The Lady of Pain had misjudged Ao’s strength; she failed and found herself trapped within the Multiverse, unable to escape. Forced to take refuge in her last remaining base, known as Sigil³, she now recuperates and rebuilds her strength. For Ao, devouring a void powerhouse would bring immense benefits, at the very least compensating for the losses from this great battle. He wouldn’t let his enemy slip away.

But now, he has more pressing matters… namely, repairing the Multiverse as quickly as possible. During the battle, the raging forces of the two void powerhouses tore holes throughout the Multiverse. These breaches leak the Multiverse’s essence into the void, attracting countless savage creatures wandering in the emptiness.

Such leakage of essence in the void is like allowing a wound to bleed freely in the ocean. Even the mighty can be overwhelmed by swarms of predators. Moreover, Ao was severely weakened in the great battle. If another void-level powerhouse were to appear, the consequences would be unimaginable. But Ao was no master tailor. Who knew how many eons it would take for him to properly mend the breach? For now, he just needed to plug the hole. Even a superficial fix was better than leaving it exposed—at least it would be enough to fool those mindless void creatures.

Ao’s method was to elevate living beings into deities, forging divine sparks to fill the gaps. He let living creatures control these divine sparks to become gods and handle sudden changes, while the gods gathered faith to sustain the sparks. This chain could form a virtuous cycle, perpetuating itself endlessly.

Divine sparks needed to be controlled by living beings, but life could only emerge through natural evolution. Even Ao couldn’t completely control a living being. And life was undoubtedly selfish—especially those ambitious enough to desire godhood. They would never obediently control the divine sparks to mend the breach. They would covet greater power and influence, and attempt to break free from control.

However, Ao had a clever countermeasure. He tampered with the divine sparks, embedding a hidden flaw. Sparks altered by Ao would gradually erode the emotions of their bearers, eventually turning them into absolutely rational, cold, and unfeeling machines. Machines work diligently and without personal agendas, of course—but by then, the being would no longer be itself, not even a complete life form.

But it turned out that gods might be arrogant, greedy, and ignorant, but they were certainly not fools!

The first batch of “lucky ones” who obtained divine sparks and became gods quickly realized they were slowly losing their emotions, turning into cold machines. And if they abandoned the divine sparks, they would face complete annihilation. Ambitious as they were, they could not accept such an outcome.

As the saying goes, where there is oppression, there is resistance. The gods began racking their brains to devise all sorts of methods—some reliable, some not. A very few succeeded, while most failed. Those who succeeded hid in the crevices of the cosmos, living in constant fear. Those who failed turned to dust and vanished into the heavens. But their divine sparks would be found by new successors, and new gods would be born. Even when these new “lucky ones” were fully aware of the sparks’ drawbacks, there were always countless “arrogant prodigies” who believed they could easily defy the heavens. Thus, the divine sparks were passed down, one ancient god falling after another, new gods rising in their place. Seeing that this virtuous cycle had been established, Ao peacefully fell into slumber (yes, the method to mend the cosmos was to sleep).

Life always seeks evolution. Over the long ages, the beings of the multiverse discovered means of advancement, with magic and Battle Aura being the dominant paths.

Among these, magic developed the fastest. In an obscure plane, the glorious Netherese Civilization⁴ emerged. Driven by the Grand Arcanists⁵, the radiance of Netheril spread across the multiverse at an astonishing speed. By the time Ao noticed, the power of Netheril had nearly transcended the cosmos, truly slipping from his control.

Restrained by the Lady of Pain, Ao couldn’t intervene directly. So, he sent the gods to battle Netheril. But the overconfident deities were swiftly defeated by Netheril’s ultimate creation—the Floating Cities⁶! The failure of the deities only made Ao more wary of these powerful beings. How could Ao allow creatures in the universe to escape his control? Thus, he reluctantly divided a portion of his precious essence to create his most loyal servants—a horde of terrifying, tentacled monstrosities. Ironically, he named these creatures after the heartland of Netheril, the Faerûn⁷ Plane, and so the phaerimm were born⁸.

In the long years of war against the phaerimm, the Netherese Civilization ultimately emerged victorious, but at a grievous cost. Though the Grand Arcanists managed to seal away the phaerimm, the Netherese Civilization crumbled under the deities’ opportunistic attacks. Yet this did not mark the end of Netheril. The survivors of Netheril still remember its glory and strive tirelessly for its revival.

The Multiverse may appear tranquil now, but beneath the seemingly calm surface, deities vie for faith while employing every means to break free from the shackles of divinity. Meanwhile, the Netherese remnants evade pursuit from all sides, secretly preserving and passing on the knowledge of Netheril.

Deep within the endless Abyss,⁹ an Abyssal Will has quietly emerged at an unknown time, scheming in the vortex of filth and chaos. Endless waves foretell the coming storm, while unseen undercurrents surge beneath the surface.

In such an era of turmoil, a spark of Netheril abruptly ignited in the boundless void.

(End of Chapter)