Furthermore, the percentage of external factors remained constant and sometimes increased its strength a little. Kayden also progressed in his art of alchemy, being able to make first-realm medicines with ease, although they did not affect him. His tests involved random animals he found in the forest, leaving the formulas and ingredients in the almanac he was writing. Another thing he added was what were the best pelts to acquire.
As ridiculous as it was, Kayden noticed a difference in the mana density of the environment depending on the skin he used as a cushion. At the moment, he was using that of a white bird, which was capable of absorbing a certain amount of mana and releasing it into the environment. He kept a few meters of it in his spatial ring.
Once Kayden reached the fourth level, he had been in the abyss for about eight years and yet he had not delved more than 100 pages out of the nearly two thousand in Han’s book. Furthermore, there were several hundred books he still had to read.
Every day, he was grateful for his decision to accumulate knowledge in place of treasures in his spatial ring. His combat strength increased several times more than his realm as the amount of spells he learned in these eight years was ridiculously high.
He faced a few life-and-death situations. Mostly, it was from being surrounded by a few dozen beasts at the peak of the second realm. Other than that, nothing threatened his life. Third-realm beasts were hardly involved in any confrontations. He still didn’t understand why.
Another strange thing was that he hadn’t encountered any animals above the third level of the third realm. It felt like a curse, and he didn’t understand why. Not even treasures above this level were found. It seemed like a universal abyss limiter.
Every year animals also came out of the abyss. Kayden only watched her twice during those years. They only happened at some specific points and were made by the moths that were at the top of the abyss. Once again, he couldn’t understand why and just brushed it aside.
When he turned nine years and a few months old, he found the first signs of human beings. While digging to open his metal room and begin his cultivation and reading session, he ended up crashing into a buried house made of stone. Inside, he found fossil remains and a destroyed book. Using a mana technique that utilized the principles of carbon-14 and nitrogen-14, Kayden was able to deduce that it had been around 400 years since these people died.
Apart from this small event, he had no other encounters with human beings. This did not stop him from continuing his routine, and after some time, he advanced once again, reaching the fifth level of the grand wizard realm. According to his estimates, this should be the speed of a normal genie on the surface. If he only focused on advancing and using the treasures in his possession, he would probably already have reached the peak of the second realm several years ago. However, that was not his goal.
At times, he would think about what was happening on the surface, but these thoughts only lasted a few minutes. In a way, there were too many nuances for him to predict. He guessed that everything was normal and calm. Kayden couldn’t be more wrong than that.
Two figures passed through the transparent bubble that defended the earth from the invasion of other beings. The two were none other than Adam and Lucifer. While Adam was in his human form, Lucifer was like an imposing black dragon that absorbed all light, only his white eyes could be seen.
"Hello, little ones," an old human with a pure white beard and hair appeared floating in the sky. He wore a dark cloak and a fictional wizard’s hat that reached almost one meter in height. His eyes were white and seemed to contain the truth of existence. The two only looked for a moment and found themselves trapped, admiring its magnificence, which seemed to hide the secrets of the universe. Every second they looked, they seemed to be closer to understanding something.
"Wake up, I believe it’s okay now", the old man said calmly and the two came out of their trance, which incredibly lasted an entire month. "My name is Merlin, and I am a god. That should be clear to you by now."
They both nodded. Humanity has been exchanging information and resources with aliens for centuries. This was the truth behind its rapid development. The two were the bridge of this connection, but they had never come into contact with the true master of things.
"A few centuries ago, I let you raise the barrier in a theater so that you could develop quickly, and you reached a good level. Next year, you will do the following:"
At this moment, the two just unconsciously agreed. The aura Merlin exuded made it impossible for them to deny it. His mere voice asking for suicide would be met without any fear.
Merlin detailed how the bubble would be broken and a select few species would be introduced to the planet. They should cause terror in the human species and the conscious beings of Lucifer’s third kingdom. The two leaders should appear to be suffering a lot and prevented from fighting for beings of their own level. Meanwhile, Eden was to be disbanded and its members killed in a surprise attack. The invading races would be hostile or neutral.
The human race would be trapped in a few centuries of war where they would constantly suffer great loss of life, but would never be annihilated. The invaders would only bring forces up to the fifth kingdom and mostly on the same human average. New techniques and cultivation models would be introduced through trade by neutral species aiming at the accelerated development of the human race and other beings. Furthermore, Merlin highlighted how important it was for the human race and sentient beasts to be united.
The old man spent days explaining how each thing should be done and that each detail should be introduced in a certain period. The amount of information would be enough to fill an entire library with books, but it was adequate for beings in the sixth realm to handle.
"I expect great things from you."