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*****
"Could he have gone traveling in the Chaos?"
George hesitated for a moment but still stepped forward toward the villa.
The world of The Sorcerer's Apprentice was a Single Universe world; he had not detected any signs of a Multiverse. Therefore, the Creator of this world would at most be at the peak of the Universal Level, but more likely hadn't reached the peak yet—somewhere around the mid-tier level seemed about right.
Logically speaking, even if the Creator were deliberately hiding from him, George wouldn't have failed to notice anything at all.
That left only one conclusion: the Creator of this world was not in his own world but had gone traveling in the Chaos.
To confirm this, he decided to forcibly enter the villa and take a look.
As soon as he reached the villa's entrance, a powerful barrier barred his way.
"If the Creator were here maintaining it, I wouldn't be able to break such a powerful barrier. But since the Creator isn't here and no one is maintaining it, then I'm sorry."
George reached out and tapped the barrier, outputting his own World Power. In less than three seconds, the barrier crumbled and disintegrated.
At the moment the barrier shattered, a virtual projection of a young man appeared before his eyes.
"Hello, intruder. I am Zero, the Creator of this world.
"If you are seeing this recording, it means I am already dead.
"I could not withstand the temptation. After reading the storybooks from different worlds that Hongjun gave me, I decided to leave the world I created for the first time to go and see the Chaos.
"However, I was worried that the world I painstakingly created would be implicated and destroyed along with me, so I left it behind.
"If you are a powerhouse who grew up in my world, then inherit my world and cultivate well. Until you have the ability to create a second world, do not follow my example and travel into the Chaos without authorization.
"If you are merely passing through my world by chance, I am also willing to gift my world to you. I only hope you can treat the world I created with kindness."
"It seems the Chaos is truly dangerous!"
Watching the image vanish inside the villa, and recalling what Ilúvatar had said previously, George decided to temporarily change his mind and not rush to explore the Chaos.
Originally, he had planned to send his clones into the Chaos as early as possible so they could regroup and fuse to advance at any time.
But after seeing this recording, he felt it was better to play it safe. He would wait until his strength reached the peak of the Universal Level before considering merging the clones.
Otherwise, if his clones were lost in the Chaos, it would be a terrible pity.
However, it was also possible that he was overthinking the danger.
There was a massive difference in strength between a Creator carrying their own world with them versus leaving it behind and traveling alone.
If the Creator of this world had taken his created world with him, he might not have been killed so easily.
So, George didn't know whether to call the guy too kind or just too foolish.
"Hongjun again? Could it be..."
At this moment, George suddenly realized a problem.
Ilúvatar of Middle-earth said Hongjun had visited and left behind many books from other worlds. The Creator of this world, Zero, said the same thing.
Did this mean that Hongjun had visited all the worlds where his clones currently resided?
It made sense. If Hongjun hadn't been there, how could there be storybooks of those worlds? How could so many books be left behind?
If that were the case, did it also imply that his transmigration to Marvel and his ability to create clones in different worlds were related to Hongjun?
It was precisely because Hongjun had visited those worlds that he was able to manifest clones there.
According to the lore of the Prehistoric (Honghuang) setting, Hongjun seemed to be the master of the Three Pure Ones (Sanqing). The Moral Heavenly Worthy (Daode Tianzun) among the Three Pure Ones specialized in a divine ability called "One Gas Transforms into Three Pure Ones."
Perhaps his clone ability was a branched, modified application of that divine ability.
"Forget it, thinking about it so much is useless."
George thought about it and decided that guessing blindly was a waste of time. Regardless of whether it was Hongjun or not, he had to work hard to become stronger.
Only by becoming strong enough could he solve the mysteries surrounding him.
"Since you've put it that way, I will gratefully accept."
Bowing towards the large villa, George quickly connected his own world to this one.
His world had only just formed; the planets within were still evolving life and had not yet reached the stage of creating civilization.
While this world wasn't considered incredibly powerful, it was still much stronger than his own.
If the Creator were present, there was absolutely no way George could devour this world.
But now that the Creator was dead, this was an ownerless world. As long as he spent enough time, he could slowly devour and merge it into his own world.
In this way, not only would his world expand significantly overall, but he would also gain a second Earth and sun. Various laws would also be strengthened and perfected.
Because this world no longer had a Creator or any powerful entities, this process of slow devouring and merging would not have any impact on the original lifeforms of this world.
They wouldn't even notice it happening.
"It seems not everything can be synchronized."
During the process of devouring and merging, George discovered an issue regarding his clones.
Originally, whenever one clone's strength increased, the other clones would receive a synchronized boost.
This applied to the physical body, spirit, energy, the creation of a world, and even leaps in life essence.
But now, as George devoured the Sorcerer's Apprentice world, causing his own world to expand and his strength to grow, he noticed a discrepancy.
Although the worlds of his main body and other clones also expanded, their increase in strength was not equal to that of the clone in this world.
The reason lay in the fact that while this clone's world expanded, it also gained a complete Earth, including the life on it, as well as the sun, moon, nine planets, and many other planets that had not yet birthed life outside of that Earth.
However, the Earth, life, and sun of the Sorcerer's Apprentice world would not appear in the worlds of the main body and other clones.
Therefore, their growth in strength was naturally inferior to the clone in this world.
It was understandable, actually. While the strength of the main body and clones was synchronized, it was limited to the "self" and could not synchronize external objects.
For example, if the main body acquired a gun in the Marvel Universe, the clones in other worlds wouldn't possibly acquire the same gun.
He had devoured and fused with the Sorcerer's Apprentice world, so that world's Earth appeared in his Small World.
If that Earth—along with the same lifeforms, Balthazar, and Dave—appeared in the worlds of the main body and other clones, that would be too strange.
This meant that upon reaching the Universal Level and continuing to develop, the strength of his main body and clones would no longer remain consistent; there would be differences.
But that didn't matter. In the future, when the main body and all clones fused, all their strength would be stacked together anyway.
(End of Chapter)