Becoming the God of a New World

The guildmaster was not someone easily fooled, and Anbaixiu had prepared himself for that. Even so, the old schemer's stubborn shrewdness was somewhat unexpected. He had gone straight for the jugular right from the start. "Guildmaster, are you questioning me? You're clearly trying to pry a way out of here from my lips." The guildmaster said placidly, "It amounts to the same thing. Telling me how to leave would prove your sincerity, wouldn't it?" *The old fossil certainly knows how to calculate.* Yet Anbaixiu had no fear of answering this honestly. "You know as well as I do that this place is a divine dumping ground. Ordinary methods can't get you in here at all. I only managed to reach this banished realm by stumbling across a peculiar spatial link. Come up to the surface with me and take a look; you'll understand what's going on." The guildmaster's single eye rolled around twice. "Very well. Let us see what is happening, then." With that, the translucent, tentacled aberration flew straight upward. The guildmaster's current form was unique and could no longer be understood through the lens of ordinary biology. Lacking the ability to phase through solid walls, Anbaixiu had no choice but to retrace his steps and return to the surface on foot. The guildmaster hovered silently amidst the rubble. Anbaixiu could not read the expressions of a one-eyed monstrosity and had no idea whether the sight moved him, so he got straight to the point. Pointing toward the sky, Anbaixiu gestured at the marshland overhead where the slaadi lived. "That marsh up there is home to a colony of slaadi. Those creatures can construct spatial conduits linked to the outside world, which is how they hunt and breed. I slipped through on a stroke of luck and leapt from the swamp down into these ruins. You should be able to tell whether I'm telling the truth." The guildmaster fixed his single eye on the overhead swamp. After a long moment, he said to Anbaixiu, "Indeed. Every word of that is true, yet you are still holding back a great deal. Though, I imagine that is merely to maximize your own gain. Let us cut straight to the point: can those slaadi send me out?" Half-truths seemed ineffective against the guildmaster; the old man always seized upon the crux of an issue with effortless ease. "How would I know?" Anbaixiu replied candidly. "All I can say is that it's possible. After all, since I got in, there has to be a way out. But the real problem is: even if the slaadi can tear open a spatial portal, can you actually leave this city, Guildmaster? If not, you surely don't intend to drag the entire city back with you, do you?" The guildmaster's soul was merged with the magic circle beneath the sewers. Moving from the sewers to the surface was one thing, but he could never leave the City of Alchemy at will. The guildmaster pondered this for a moment. "So long as I obtain the relevant data, I can construct a much larger spatial conduit myself." Going from zero to one might require luck and inspiration, but going from one to ten was something the guildmaster was confident he could resolve with enough time. That was the unshakeable confidence of a legendary alchemist. Anbaixiu countered, "Then you would need to link the City of Alchemy with that swamp. There are barriers separating the different landmasses; it won't be that simple." The guildmaster lowered his gaze to look down at Anbaixiu. "Do not tell me you went through the trouble of coming here just to tell me that. You are not a reckless person. Out with your plan. Ever since my transformation, I have grown weary of such tedious probing." Anbaixiu was sorely tempted to point out that his arrival had been a complete accident, but after a second thought, he changed his tack. "Your patience has certainly dwindled, Guildmaster, but you're just as straightforward as ever. That's right—since I've come, I've already figured out how to resolve the issue. Lend me your mana so I can cast World Weaving. That will bind the two landmasses together into a single whole. Once that's done, those slaadi will be like corpses in an open grave—I'll just have to crook my finger and they'll march right over." Anbaixiu understood the magic circle beneath the City of Alchemy intimately. Beyond transforming the guildmaster into an artifact capable of casting unlimited Wishes, it could also store vast reserves of mana. Originally, that mana was meant to fuel the circle, brute-forcing data analysis for Wish so the caster could usurp authority over worldly laws and realize their desires. With the remaining matter in the City of Alchemy, triggering a second Wish was nearly impossible. But if it was merely converted into raw mana, Anbaixiu estimated that sacrificing another half of the city would yield plenty to cast World Weaving. Hearing this, the guildmaster scoffed. "World Weaving? By yourself?" In the guildmaster's eyes, even if Anbaixiu possessed that private space capable of manipulating time, he was still an unrefined, bargain-bin legend. Far from casting World Weaving, he would be lucky to pull off a Meteor Swarm. Yet the past was in the past. Anbaixiu was no longer the sham he once was. The Golden Throne could massively amplify his spellcasting ability; his only reluctance lay in wearing it down through excessive use. With the guildmaster providing mana, Anbaixiu could slash the spell's cost down to a single percent. Anbaixiu said with supreme confidence, "You're an alchemist—wizardly matters would only go over your head. In any case, this is my plan. Do you agree or not? If not, I'll head back up to the marsh right now, capture a slaad, torture it until it opens a spatial portal to send me back, and leave you here to rot among the ruins all by yourself." The guildmaster wanted to refute him. Although an alchemist, his understanding of magic was not inferior to any wizard's. He merely lacked the innate talent for spellcasting, yet on a theoretical level, he surpassed the vast majority of legendary wizards. Had this been earlier, the moment Anbaixiu claimed he could cast World Weaving, the guildmaster would have expelled him without a second thought; the person capable of deceiving him had yet to be born. But thinking rationally, the lich had not suddenly appeared here merely to squander his mana for no reason. World Weaving was likely genuine, even if the lich was keeping much hidden. What was it? Could this be another scheme? The guildmaster could hardly be blamed for his suspicion; Anbaixiu's sudden appearance was simply too far outside the bounds of reason. "Tell me," the guildmaster pressed. "Did you come here truly intending to help me leave? What is your actual goal?" Anbaixiu countered, "Leaving is impossible, Guildmaster. You must have guessed as much by now: you were banished to this world by the gods. They will never tolerate an artifact capable of unlimited Wishes. It would plunge the entire world into endless chaos, and the matter consumed by each Wish would drive creation toward collapse. "Even if I helped you return to our world, how long could you stay? What's to stop them from banishing you a second time?" The guildmaster fell silent. Anbaixiu's words had struck him right where it hurt. When all was said and done, he was merely a mortal who had aspired to godhood and achieved a modicum of success. Even with unlimited matter and unlimited Wishes, he could never stand against the gods, because Wish had its upper limits and could barely influence deities. The guildmaster asked, "Then what do you mean by coming to find me?" "Simple: I came to help you realize your dream. Guildmaster, you were willing to sacrifice your own blood relatives; what could possibly be left in that world for you to cherish? Your lifelong desire was to become a deity and prove alchemy's omnipotence. Haven't you already achieved that? "Even the gods were forced to banish you, which proves they acknowledged your power. Now that your wish has come true, why obsess over returning to the original world? If you stubbornly force your way back, the gods might lose their patience and unite to obliterate you. Once they erase your existence, in a few centuries, no one will even remember that a genius named Gary Watts once challenged the gods and succeeded." Listening to Anbaixiu, the guildmaster fell into deep contemplation. Those words were undeniably persuasive. The guildmaster was not arrogant enough to believe he could defy true deities, let alone a greater god like the Lord of Knowledge. "Then what is it you actually want to do? I do not understand," the guildmaster inquired. Having accepted Anbaixiu's previous words, he temporarily abandoned the thought of returning to their original world. Anbaixiu chuckled softly. "It's quite simple. Since you're already a god, does it really matter where you live? Look at this chaotic realm: it is filled with things exiled by the gods. Aside from the slaadi, there must be other dangerous races out there. Guildmaster, if we link all these floating landmasses together, it wouldn't be much smaller than our original world, would it?" Understanding dawned on the guildmaster. Anbaixiu was suggesting that he unite the fractured domains of this chaotic void to forge an entirely new world! The proposal made the guildmaster's eye light up. Having reached his current state, ordinary ambitions held no appeal for him. Yet uniting this chaotic world and reigning as the 'god' of a new realm—that was an objective that actually ignited his fervor. As long as there were enough intelligent races, the guildmaster could re-establish his Alchemists' Council here, pioneer new branches of alchemy, and perhaps one day ascend to a greater deity. Then, he would no longer have to bow to the whims of the gods, free to travel wherever he pleased. The guildmaster turned to Anbaixiu. "Very well. I understand your vision. If you have not lied to me, I will give you my full support." Anbaixiu replied with utmost sincerity, "Naturally. Why would I lie to you? I can't take you back anyway, so what would be the point of coming all this way just to spin a yarn?" "Then what is your plan? What do you intend to reshape with World Weaving?" the guildmaster asked curiously. Anbaixiu smiled mysteriously. "You'll see in a moment. I guarantee you won't get the short end of the stick. Do you trust me? If you do, let's begin." The guildmaster hesitated no longer, thoroughly swayed by the magnificent vision Anbaixiu had painted. He truly wished to become the new god of this chaotic realm. The already ruined City of Alchemy shuddered once more. Bricks and masonry vanished piece by piece as physical matter was transmuted into boundless mana. One of the guildmaster's tentacles wound around Anbaixiu, channeling that immense surge of mana steadily into the lich's body. Without a moment's hesitation, Anbaixiu summoned his Golden Throne, preparing to weave the fabric of the world.