"W-What?" Varian's jaw dropped.

After Prince Shak's team went in, the System did tell him that Synthetic Worlds like these were used by big powers to hold their army.

Since galactic battles were stretched over light-years of distance, the mobility of the army was always an issue.

Despite their ability to transport people between two large distances, Teleportation gates weren't preferred for elite armies because these gates could be manipulated and the armies would die in the space cracks.

And even teleport gates needed time to prepare for long teleportation of big numbers.

Unlike them, Synthetic Worlds were pocket armies. A powerhouse can easily travel long distances in an extremely short time. And then they can release the army from the Synthetic World.

Of course, thanks to the scarcity of these worlds, only the elite of the elite armies had this privilege.

But that's the main usage of Synthetic Worlds.

As for incorporating other worlds and growing?

"Grow? Grow to what? And isn't just taking the planets and stars from the Universe going to mess things up?" Varian tilted his head in confusion.

"The very purpose of cosmic seed is to devour the universe and create a new universe," the blue-eyed god said in a tone that subtly contained pride.

"W-Why? I-Isn't the universe already there?" Varian asked with genuine curiosity.

A short silence ensued before the gods turned to each other and a muffled sound reverberated in the space.

...They seemed to have laughed at his question.

Varian didn't understand what was funny about his query nor did they bother explaining or even replying to it. They just continued on, "And the experimental knowledge we're referring to are the lands where we left our powers in this world. It's a laboratory that's supposed to give ample amount of observations to make progress in that particular avenue."

Varian's eyes flashed and he understood exactly what they were talking about.

Twilight Zone was the lab of Life & Death. The other two were the labs of Space & Time and Order & Chaos.

The place that literally killed him and pushed them to the brink of despair was a mere laboratory!

Varian sighed deeply.

If the three avenues were mastered, a new universe could indeed be made, or could it?

But even if it's possible, why bother? What are the implications?

Varian shook his head and threw those thoughts out of his mind. Even these gods tried and failed while he's not even a Sovereign for fuck's sake!

"The future will be...interesting," The three gods said at the same time and the space flashed white.

The next thing Varian knew, he was standing in an endless flower garden, and beside him were his girls.

"Huh?" Varian looked around and felt an invisible connection with the sky, earth, flowers, and everything here.

He closed his eyes and sensed this connection.

The inner region, the outer region, this whole world was now connected with him. Every grain of sand, every floating cloud, every flower, every beast, they were all connected to him.

With a single thought, Varian could order rain and wind. With a single order, he could kill all beings of this world. With a single whim, he could change the structure of this very world.

Even the World Will was subservient to his will.

"Rain," Varian muttered and water droplets began to fall from the sky.

"...What happened?" Sarah opened her eyes and looked at Varian in confusion.

Without answering, Varian turned to the flower field and ordered the flowers to change color.

The flowers shook but except for a few that had this feature, the rest didn't change their color. They couldn't.

'I can't order the unreasonable? Got it.'

Varian pursed his lips and snapped his fingers.

The space around them twisted and the three appeared in front of the palace.

The palace was quickly turning into dust and by the time they appeared, half of it was already gone.

"Varian, what's happening?" Sia asked.

After the final trial, she was resting and when she opened her eyes, this was what she saw.

Varian winked at her and said, "I am the master of this world,"

With a snap of his figures, the palace burst into a cloud of dust and four bubbles shot out of it and landed in front of them.

"Wha?"

"Didn't we lose?"

"What happened?"

"Guide?"

All of the participants that went inside came out. They thought they were dying when they failed the trials, but in reality, they were being imprisoned. The palace authority was going to conduct some 'experiments' following the final instructions of the gods.

The experiments would go on for decades and the participants would spend all alone in a lonely dark place bound in place. They'd be kept just alive but they're no different from dead.

Many of these went crazy in just a year or two and committed suicide. The ones that survived died as the experiments got riskier.

All of their broken souls turned into flowers that bloomed in this land. The same flowers of the endless gardens between which Varian and others were now standing.

Varian glanced at the 'princes', the 'hybrids', and the 'Sovereigns' with a smile.

After becoming the master of this world, he learned of their actions so far and gained a lot more insight into them.

"You! How are you still alive?! I saw you die!" Sapphire Duchy's Prince gawked at the man beside him.

"Your highness, I was indeed killed, but why am I here?" Sapphire Duchy's Sovereign muttered.

"Kill? Even I was killed..." Sapphire Prince's face paled as he looked at the people around him.

All of them were having similar conversations. And the conclusion was evidentall of them failed in the eighth trial or earlier and they all died.

And then they turned to the only odd ones in the crowdthe guide and the two beautiful girls with him.

"Y-You! Why are you here? Where are we? Did you also take the trial and fail?" Sapphire Prince rambled.

"Speak," Emerald Prince gripped his sword and decided to attack Varian in case of any hostility.

Prince Shak, on the other hand, frowned.

His senses were telling him, no, they were screaming at him. Something with this guide changed.

He had no idea why he was feeling that way. Maybe it's just the gaze of the man that's so confident or maybe it's his ability to remain so calm under their scrutiny. But something was very, very off.