Chapter 292: A place of safety 1

One Month Later

I opened my eyes.

The complete magic circle had finally been formed—not on the ground, but inside my right eyeball itself, causing it to glow with a golden hue.

"I did it."

I clenched my fist in satisfaction. I still couldn't believe I managed to pull it off in such a short amount of time.

But I couldn't take all the credit. Without the abilities the system had given me, especially the Hive Mind, this would have been impossible. It had handled nearly 70% of the work.

The Hive Mind had divided the countless calculations among thousands of thought processes, allowing me to analyze, adjust, and rebuild the formation at a speed no ordinary magician could ever hope to achieve. What would have taken years of research had been compressed into a single month.

Now that the magic was complete, all that remained was to move my territory into my new artificial world.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take the entire territory with me. My current limit was only a 5-kilometer radius, but it was fine. Most of the important facilities were already within that area, and I only needed to leave my outer walls behind.

It was a little disappointing. I had spent a long time expanding my sanctuary, and seeing those formations disappear felt like I was abandoning a part of myself. However, the payoff was worth it.

'It's time.'

Just to be safe, I ordered everyone to evacuate the entire place. No biological beings could remain within 5 kilometers of me. If I failed and the whole area ended up being torn apart, the structures and items could be rebuilt and replaced, but lives could never be recovered.

After a few days of preparation, I was now standing at the top of the mountain, inside my observatory, which also happened to be the central point of my sanctuary.

Surrounding me were countless cores containing immense power, along with crystals that had been filled to the brim by my people.

"Father, are you sure about this?"

Shadow's voice echoed in my head. She had matured enough that her words were now much more coherent.

"Don't worry. Just trust me. I'll make sure to succeed here and save everyone. So just wait there with your mommies, okay?"

She didn't answer right away.

"Okay?"

"Yes, Father."

I closed my eyes and started the casting.

The circle in my right eye burned hotter, and gold light spilled out from it, pouring into the ground below me.

The cores around me lit up one by one, feeding their stored power into the same stream. I felt it rushing through my body like a river breaking a dam, and I forced myself to stay calm and guide it instead of letting it run wild.

Thanks to the formation I had already laid out before meeting with Hexor, the long and tedious task was shortened significantly. I no longer had to start from scratch. Instead, I simply layered the new formation onto the existing one.

However, even after that, my energy reserves were draining at an alarming rate. The only advantage I had was my breathing technique, which absorbed energy from the surrounding cores far more efficiently than normal mana absorption.

It kept my reserves from running completely dry.

From this point on, it was no longer just a matter of power. It became a test of endurance and control.

Pain came soon after.

It started in my chest, right where the thread connected to my soul, and spread out fast.

This was the part Hexor's formula warned me about. My soul was being pulled thin, stretched to cover a space far bigger than one person's soul was ever meant to cover. I gritted my teeth and kept pouring power into the circle anyway. Stopping halfway was worse than not starting at all.

"Keep going. Don't stop."

I wasn't sure if I was talking to myself or to the spell.

Soon, my right eye began to bleed. It was the catalyst for everything—the physical vessel that would contain my artificial world.

My vision blurred. Blood started running from my nose too and I didn't bother wiping it.

Halfway there.

The cores around me started running dry, one after another going dark and cracking apart, spent completely.

When the last one emptied, I felt the drop immediately, like a rope snapping out.

'Not yet. Almost done.'

The glowing ground turned solid gold, then white, then so bright I had to close my eyes. The light pressed against my eyelids like sunlight through skin.

Then, all at once, it stopped.

Silence.

I opened my eyes. Where my territory used to be, there was only a crater now, five kilometers wide, scooped clean out of the earth like something had taken a bite out of the world.

No walls. No shrine. No buildings. Just empty ground and dust still settling at the edges.

My territory was inside the artificial world now.

I simply stared at the empty space in front of me. A month ago, this place was filled with life, movement, and the sounds of construction. Now it looked like nothing had ever existed here.

'I'm not done yet.'

I landed on where Alexa and the rest where waiting.

They all looked surprised by what they had just witnessed, but I didn't bother explaining. It would only go over their heads.

I simply touched the caged animals and activated the spell again. This time, the transition was much faster. The animals were instantly absorbed into my eye.

Closing my eyes, I examined my artificial world. I couldn't enter it physically, but I could observe it. Just as I had expected, the animals died.

It meant I made a miscalculation.

The failure was disappointing, but it also gave me valuable information. The artificial world was stable enough to exist, but it lacked something necessary for life.

There were countless possibilities, but now I had a place to conduct trial and error.

Thankfully, mastering the spell so quickly had bought me something precious.

Time.