Chapter 109: The Astral Update

"Wait... Normal boundaries don’t exist now."

Liam immediately activated Astral Projection. His consciousness detached from his planetary body, and in the next instant, he found himself floating through the endless darkness of space, surrounded by countless stars that stretched farther than his senses could comprehend.

Without wasting time, Liam traveled toward the same solar system that had once betrayed him. His destination was X_X’s planet, the world he remembered from his previous evolution, a planet that had eventually become the home of an army powerful enough to participate in his destruction.

When he finally arrived, Liam slowed down and carefully observed the planet from above. He saw nothing but strange green creatures wandering across the land, their movements clumsy and their behavior almost animalistic.

Liam stared at them for several seconds. These were the same goblins that would eventually become powerful enough to fight alongside X_X against him?

He could hardly believe it. Back then, the creatures that invaded his world had possessed unbelievable speed and strength, accompanied by numbers so vast that they seemed capable of swallowing entire civilizations.

Yet the goblins before him looked nothing like those monsters from his memories. They were primitive, barely seeming capable of basic reasoning, wandering around aimlessly while fighting over food and territory.

Compared to the primitive races that existed on his own planet, these goblins were closer to wild beasts than intelligent life. Liam could not help but compare them to the dumb sloths he had once seen in videos on Earth.

"Tsk... This fucker betrayed me because he got a bunch of dumb creations and a dumb mind."

He watched one goblin attempt to climb a tree, only to fall directly onto another goblin below it. Liam’s expression became increasingly irritated as he observed the creatures that would eventually become such a massive threat.

"If we had fought without the assistance of that Unorthodox Player, the demonic forces could have wiped them out."

Liam floated closer, examining the goblins as if expecting to discover some hidden intelligence. Instead, he found nothing that explained how their civilization could eventually reach the level he remembered.

"How the fuck is X_X that dumb? Can’t he use the system? What has he been doing for all these years?"

His complaints continued for several minutes as he floated above the planet, endlessly criticizing the player who had once been his "ally". He knew there was no one around to hear him, but that did little to stop the frustration that had accumulated within him.

"Just you wait. I’ll invade you first."

Liam turned away, only to suddenly remember something. "Right... Qwerty was the name of the Unorthodox Player, and the two individuals that the Fourth Evolution supposedly got rid of... Are they still here?"

The thought immediately made him move. He traveled through space at an absurd speed, passing countless celestial bodies until he reached a planet he had discovered during his previous investigation.

"They exist..."

His expression became slightly darker. "Seems like the Fourth Evolution had limitations after all."

He approached the planet and carefully examined it. His consciousness spread across the world, scanning its terrain, atmosphere, creatures, and magical characteristics.

"Black slimes?"

Liam discovered strange creatures crawling across the surface. They appeared to be slimes, yet their bodies were completely black, almost as if they were made from liquid shadows.

He observed them for a while before realizing something else. "They’re the same as X_X, a single intelligent race controlling an entire planet."

The slimes looked harmless now. Some struggled to move across small hills, while others simply gathered together in groups, seemingly unaware of the vast potential hidden within their species.

Liam knew better than to underestimate them. "They may look like nothing right now, but I’m sure they’ll become a threat in the future."

He continued scanning the planet, memorizing every detail he could before finally moving toward his next destination. The second individual was waiting somewhere beyond the stars.

Liam traveled through the darkness once again until another planet appeared before him. The moment he arrived, he was greeted by an ocean that covered almost the entire world.

For a moment, he wondered whether the entire planet was simply one gigantic ocean. Then he noticed something strange.

The land was floating.

Massive pieces of earth drifted above the endless sea, suspended in the sky by enormous flying fish that were so large they appeared bigger than the clouds themselves. Their bodies moved slowly through the atmosphere, carrying entire chunks of land upon their backs as if they were natural continents floating through the heavens.

Liam stared at the sight for several seconds. "This guy has an absurd imagination..."

He moved closer, examining the creatures living upon one of the floating islands. Eventually, he noticed humanoid figures walking across the land.

"Are those angels?"

The beings possessed humanoid bodies, golden halos hovering above their heads and large wings folded behind their backs. Their appearance was almost stereotypically divine, yet their actual physical capabilities seemed surprisingly weak.

Liam narrowed his eyes. "They look so weak right now. Is there some sort of debuff affecting them?"

He continued observing the planet. For an entire hour, Liam watched the angels and their strange world, examining their movements, behavior, environment, and even the massive flying creatures supporting the floating lands.

Eventually, however, his interest began to disappear. "Nothing unusual for now."

Liam left the planet and continued his journey. He eventually checked on the other members of the old chatroom, Lynx and Dr. Diagnosis.

As expected, both of their planets were still remarkably similar to what he remembered from his previous evolution, although their civilizations were noticeably less advanced than they had been in the future he knew. Liam remained cautious, examining their surroundings and searching for anything that might have changed.

Nothing immediately stood out.

Still, Liam refused to relax. He continued traveling.

For an entire day, his consciousness moved through the empty space at an absurd speed, crossing enormous distances that would have been impossible for ordinary beings to comprehend. He visited planets he remembered, searched for individuals he had encountered before, and examined civilizations that had not yet reached the level he remembered from his previous life.

The farther he traveled, the more paranoid he became. There were too many unknown variables.

The Fourth Evolution had changed something. The system did not recognize him properly anymore, normal boundaries no longer seemed to apply to him, and the existence of his previous evolution meant there were countless possibilities he could no longer dismiss.

Liam had already experienced what happened when he assumed the future would follow a predictable path. He was not going to make that mistake again.