Chapter 1 The World Tree's Dream

The World Tree towered on the crystal-strewn land of the Ending Nexus, its luxuriant canopy covering the entire plain. The potent energy emanating from the canopy not only connected to the order of all things in the depths of the universe, but also visibly influenced the planet's environment. Where the canopy reached, the perpetual millennia-old thunder storms and heavy clouds finally dissipated, revealing a clear, sunny sky. Glimmers of light scattered from the miles and miles of spreading branches and leaves, forming river-like streams of light on the plains below, and all sorts of incredible phenomena occurred around the giant tree, the light rivers, and the branches, visible every day.

Sometimes, palaces resembling mirages would suddenly appear beneath the World Tree. Within the palaces, one could even see orderly ranks of heroic spirit guards and endlessly bustling servants. Sometimes, vast gardens and forests would suddenly emerge on the plains, teeming with all sorts of marvelous creatures. Occasionally, the World Tree would even be surrounded by bustling cities or kingdom states, complete with merchants, officials, and monarchs, who could even engage in lively conversations and share drinks with visitors. But as the sun rose the next day, these wondrous scenes would vanish, not to reappear until much later.

These incredible phenomena could no longer be described as mere illusions, because everything that appeared within them was real, even capable of completely affecting the visitors who interacted with them. Therefore, the little pixies living around the World Tree quickly regarded this "incredible tree" as the best playground. After their initial apprehension and observation, they gathered in groups around the World Tree, even moving their crystal homes here, building a small pixie kingdom at the base of the tree. It was foreseeable that these lively little creatures wouldn't leave here for a very long time.

Lia stood at the end of a lower branch of the World Tree—this branch extended beyond the canopy and had naturally grown railings around it. In front of the branch was a small platform. On the World Tree, similar "natural structures" were common. She curiously watched the plains below, where a group of natives wearing grass skirts were trying to light their first bonfire, while a group of little pixies danced and cheered around them.

This scene brought a gentle smile to the face of Lia, the "Goddess of Creation": "I used to love watching scenes like this... watching them learn to hammer stones into tools, watching them learn to make fire, watching them learn to build carts and ships... I never thought I'd have the chance to see these things again. Are these all illusions?"

"It's the World Tree's screensaver," Hao Ren shrugged. "But it's not entirely an illusion. It's actually a system called the 'World Tree Dream,' used to assist gods who aren't very good at creation. Everything you see can be transferred to reality. Focus now, and you'll see an option in the lower left corner of your vision. Click on it, and there's a 'Save As' option inside. You can save the current World Tree Dream as a template, and then use the search-nesting I taught you to project this template onto a planet in this universe. If the compatibility reaches the minimum standard, you can generate it with one click..."

Lia stared blankly for a long time, finally sighing, "It used to take me many, many years to create an ecosystem... and there was no guarantee what it would end up looking like..."

"It's already amazing that you could learn to do this on your own. I heard there are gods over in the God Realm with such a complete knowledge system who still fail their exams over two hundred times and can't graduate..." Hao Ren earnestly comforted the goddess, then waved his hand to activate the portal to the inside of the World Tree (here, he had the same permissions as the Goddess of Creation, including teleportation to any location within this holy ground). "Let's go back to the main hall first; we've been here for too long."

The "main hall" of the World Tree was actually the crystal hall that previously housed the Ending Throne. After the World Tree had fully grown, the hall was almost unrecognizable. Large amounts of green vines and wooden walls covered the previously rough stone surfaces, and the original throne was wrapped and covered by layers of tangled vines, becoming a pillar connecting the dome and the floor. Considering comfort and practicality, Hao Ren had also added some new everyday items here, including some chairs, a desk, several bookshelves, an entertainment terminal, and an ice cream machine...

The ice cream machine was a strong request from Lily.

Looking at the temple hall that was completely different from her original design, Lia was quite emotional. "I really didn't think things would develop this way when I left these things behind... I imagined every possibility I could think of at the time, but the one thing I didn't expect was the arrival of you guys."

Hao Ren chuckled. "No matter how shrewd you are, you can only calculate things in this universe. There's no guarantee about things from another world."

Lia sighed. "What I didn't expect even more was that people from another world would come to scheme for my inheritance..."

Hao Ren: "... Can we not mention the inheritance thing? Or should I give you back that engine?"

"No," Lia quickly waved her hand. "I was just joking. After all, the life and death of this universe might only have a few months of buffer left. It's normal to make some jokes when the pressure is high, right?"

Hao Ren pointed to the huge crescent-shaped desk in front of the central vines. "Then why don't you do a couple of practice tests to calm down?"

Lia: "..."

At this moment, several more teleportation beams lit up in the temple, and Vivian led the gang of demons and monsters from home out of the beams. As soon as Lily stepped out of the beam, she shouted at Hao Ren, "Landlord, landlord! I heard we're going home? Can't we play for a few more days? I heard there's a celebration today!"

"Play, play, play, can't you think about anything else?" Hao Ren glared at the girl. "The final battle is almost here, how can you not have any sense of urgency?"

Vivian laughed. "Don't expect too much from a husky. If she gets nervous, then this universe is really doomed."

"I went to the place where the pixies are staying," Nangong Wuyue said. "They said the Ending Network is running at full power, but some of the pixies feel dizzy, like some of the nodes aren't fully activated or something. Is there a problem?"

"The World Tree has been connected and is operating normally. There are currently no system errors, but after all, the Ending Network and the World Tree created by the Star Domain Gods are not the same system. When the two are running, there will be a little bit of normal... hardware issues, and the pixies are actually the upper-level nodes of the Ending Network. This hardware incompatibility will cause them to be a little confused," Hao Ren obviously already knew about this situation, but he didn't seem worried. "This is just a small problem. The World Tree has self-adaptation capabilities, and so does the Ending Network. They will soon complete the match, so there's nothing to worry about."

Lia listened to the side and began to ponder. After Hao Ren finished speaking, she pinched her chin and said, "Why don't I try to recompile a driver for them?"

Hao Ren broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this. "Don't be reckless! Do you know how valuable this system is? If you accidentally crash it, it'll be a big problem of the collapse of the Heavenly Dao and the laws!"

Although Lia had already started nodding, Hao Ren was still a little uneasy, and continued to instruct, "Don't mess with the system settings functions in the World Tree. The administrator permissions given to you are limited, and if you mess around, you might get your account banned. Your main task now is to study, got it? I got you such a big desk and all these bookshelves to make you do your homework seriously..."

Lia became impatient when she heard this, and waved her hand repeatedly. "Hey, hey, I've heard you say it hundreds of times! You've already said I can learn on my own, how can you not believe in my learning ability!"

Hao Ren glanced at this goddess. "To be honest, after seeing your notebook, I really doubt your learning ability..."

Lia: "..."

At this time, Vivian finally spoke to ease the atmosphere. "Goddess, after we go back, we will first explain the situation here to the managing god of the surface world. If nothing unexpected happens, we will be back soon."

"Mm, I know," Lia nodded, then smiled gently. "And you don't need to be so formal when addressing me. Let me think... logically, you should call me Mother like Saruman and the others, but you are a naturally born new individual in your soul. But then again, you still retain a trace of the bloodline and power imprint I left behind... how about this, you can just call me Lia like Hao Ren. I really like this new name."

The first person to breathe a sigh of relief after hearing this was Hao Ren, because he suddenly realized that if Vivian called the Goddess of Creation "Mom," then in the near future, he would probably have to call this goddess "Mother-in-law"—if he was facing a mother-in-law with a normal art style, he wouldn't have any problem calling her that, but the key was that the Goddess of Creation looked only a little older than Elizabeth. Facing a loli who could be his niece, calling out "Mother-in-law"... damn it, he just couldn't bring himself to say it!

Although he knew that the habits of long-lived species regarding seniority were always very confusing, it was clear that Hao Ren himself still had a long way to go to adapt to this rhythm...

And after breathing a sigh of relief, Hao Ren immediately realized something else: considering his relationship with Vivian, should he be more gentle when urging the Goddess of Creation to do her homework in the future?

Lia watched Hao Ren's expression suddenly change, and couldn't help but ask, "What are you thinking about again? You're not planning to give me extra lessons, are you!"

Hao Ren woke up with a start and said casually, "Oh, oh, it's nothing. I just suddenly felt that you are not quite the Goddess of Creation I once imagined..."

Lia frowned. "Not the same as you imagined? How so?"

Hao Ren couldn't help but recall the time when he first started investigating the Godslayer incident. At that time, he could only piece together the image of the "God Who Shaped All Beings" from the religious texts and even historical relics of the Dream Plane natives. In the piecing together of those fragmented impressions, all he could imagine was a benevolent, loving, kind, and majestic goddess. It could be said that imagination was the most powerful Photoshop in the world. In his imagination, his impression of the Goddess of Creation was almost equivalent to twenty-three thousand and four hundred and fifty-six ravens 12345...

But today, the real-life version of Lia was standing in front of him.

Hao Ren shook his head. "Different personality, different methods, and of course, more importantly, the figure is also different from what I imagined..."

Lia had been nodding slightly while listening to the first part, but when she heard the last sentence, she glared. "What do you mean by that!"

Hao Ren grabbed Vivian and ran towards the portal, shouting as he turned his head, "You go do two practice tests to calm down first!"