(Cao Cao POV)
Two days have passed since I gave Luke the Fleece, and from the talks he has had with his mom, his mental state has definitely improved. I mean, for a guy whose life seems to be on an endless downward spiral, it would definitely improve someone to have some good to balance out the bad.
So, as I sat on one of my islands, I tried to use the energy that I learned from the fleece to grow plants and promote different forms of food production.
I took the sheep that I borrowed from Polyphemus and gave them an island to do their thing and to provide food, so I didn't have to take care of them myself. I used the replicate of Polyphemus that spawned after my monsters killed the original.
The Cyclops wanted to tend to his sheep for eternity and then let him do so, but he shall never be able to truly enjoy it. And as I watched my magic promote growth across the multiple islands, I smiled, watching the sun in this dimension fade as the moon reappeared.
It's simply nice to have something to call your own little slice of the world, and while I have been training and my clones constantly practicing various arts, I took some time to relax.
Another benefit of becoming the ruler of this dimension is that I control how quickly time passes here. What used to be one month in here was a week out there that has evolved to where I can control the time passing by. Recently, I've made the time pass one to one as it's much more convenient to talk to others and not have to wait months on end.
And it was actually a recommendation from my Master to do so, as even she said it was unhealthy to live faster than most people, but I will make use of it once I require it. Speaking of which, three, two, one.
"Cao Cao! Help me!" I hear Scylla ask as she squashes me into a hug, and I would be remiss to say that the hugs were not nice.
It's such thoughts that make me truly regain a perspective on such things as my power and control over various energies increases, as well as the abilities of my eyes. I can see how this world forms its own reality, and that reality is made more towards gearing women to mentally understand the need for a harem.
Other worlds have much more rigid universal laws that do not promote harems in any way unless they have been manipulated by other sources to believe otherwise. Put more simply, this universe was quite literally made for people to have harems, and while I am hesitant to have one, given my prior experience, I knew that she would not want me to live alone forever.
It reminds me of a conversation I once had with her when we were watching our favorite anime together if we were ever reincarnated or isekaied, we were trying to get specific races in a harem, and while she favored elves, I was more for fox and cat girls. But after enough "convincing," she saw things my way.
My thoughts seem to reach Scylla as she asks, "Is everything alright, Cao Cao? You see, distant?" I sighed and actually hugged her back, to which she giggled and smiled at the attention.
Truly, you can see what isolation has done. Such small gestures mean so much to her. It's honestly quite adorable if not for the fact that she seemed older than I was, but I don't want to get choked by tentacles and serpent heads.
"I am alright. Just thinking of my next move as trying to plan around beings that have lived longer than I had been an idea is rather cumbersome to the mind."
My reply seems to satisfy her as she is then grabbed by Scathach and pulled back, but her hands remain on my shoulders, and as she gripped me for dear life, I looked to Scathach and said.
"Master, you have been training her for days now. Give her a break, and she may still not be completely in tune with her changes just yet." My Master gives me a look but then breathes in and lets go as Scylla cries in relief.
'My hero once more! Thank you, Cao Cao!" She says while crying as Scathach just sighs. I smiled at this quiet moment, but looking at my LP stores, I saw that they had increased to 29,765,200, and I realized that I could buy something new. I used four million LP to buy something that, while it may not provide immediate benefits, will pay dividends later.
Smart atoms from Invincible, which was an aspect of their biology that allowed Viltrumites to be so strong as they could directly manipulate these atoms to provide them with a variety of abilities other than their strength. My smart atoms will provide me with abilities such as adaptation, an enhanced healing factor, natural flight, and an ability to produce a field that defies the laws of physics.
Overall, it's just a general boost to my capabilities, but the main reason I bought these was to give them to others eventually when I can study my own biology; imagining a group of friends all immortal and growing in strength over time is an amazing thing. For now, though, it was enough, but before exiting my LP stores, I used my synthesis ability to combine all my defenses into one, and it will be known as adaptive defense.
Overall, it cost me ten million to combine these skills into one, but it was worth it, and I also used a thousand LP to make a status screen to keep track of my skills.
[ Name: Cao Cao ($!%@#%@$)]
[Race: High Human/Campione]
[Current Rank: Peak God Class]
[Martial Arts: Fist Of Cutting Whirlwind/ Flowing Rock, Taijutsu, Rokushiki]
[Weapon Arts: Techniques Of Seol Jihu And Yu Ilhan]
[Physical Abilities: Healing Factor, All Seeing Eyes Of God, Singing, Massage, Demon Brain (Baki),]
[Mental Powers: Telepathy, Telekinesis, Mental Acceleration/ Partitioning (Tensura)]
[Magic Systems: MCU, Human Magic (DXD), Magecraft (Solomon's Crest), Authorities (Campione), Holy Magic (DXD), Chakra (Naruto), Haki (OP)]
[Resistances: Adaptive (Current Defenses: Drain, Soul, Reality, Curse, Trace, Destiny, Madness, Mental, Corruption, Instant Death, Paradox, Poison, Possession, Environmental, Magic, Physical/Pain, Conceptual, Copy, Entropy, Negation, Divinity, Elemental, Sealing,)]
Basic and simple, and while it may seem like a lot, mostly because it is as I am juggling so many various abilities that I may need to combine these abilities more later. But that is for future Cao Cao. I truly do not envy that guy.
Exiting my mental acceleration state, I look at the two of them, staring off into the distance as the stars that I made in the sky, but the world itself is about as large as half the Earth horizontally. There is no sky or sun or moon, but the moon was already there while I made the sun using human magic and my dimensional ruler skill. Even at its lower levels, I am able to manipulate this space as if it were clay in my hands.
Eventually, I will learn how to extend the space and make my own little universe in my pocket and maybe even a Multiverse eventually and see my LP stores down to 14,764,200, but even now, I can feel the cells in my body changing and adapting to my other resistances and improving them slowly but surely.
So now, with every day that passes, I passively grow stronger, if only by 0.001%, but with the skill improving and my body accepting the cells, this will pay dividends.
Thankfully, Scathach and Scylla were tired after training, so I got up and summoned a grill and some meet from some of the sheep. By the way, using life magic, I'm essentially able to create meat suit clones, so infinite food glitches are acquired. Seeing me get up and start cooking, I am finally able to start grinning at this shougeki no soma cooking skill.
And while I cooked one of my favorite meals that being Kuyrdak, which has some sheep liver and mutton with some onion and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper, the smell was immaculate, and I could see Scylla's eyes starting to water from the cut onions, but she and Scathach watched with almost a trance like visage.
So I decided to make it a bit more fun as I did a couple of knife flips while roasting over giant fires, among other things, yet my skills would inform me of the optimum movements on how to cook the food, from how long to heat the meat to how much to season it. The smell made both of them sit at the table immediately as I summoned it while I chuckled at their antics.
But after thirty minutes of preparing enough food, I placed down two plates, and to say that people can inhale food is an understatement as they began to cry in joy at the taste well, other than Scathach, who was trying her hardest to appear regal while chugging through the food.
And as I ate my own food, I did admit that it was nice to eat a meal I was familiar with while Scylla ate through all the food from seconds to thirds and fourths, but I was satisfied with watching them and eating my own portion.
After they finished the food, Scylla got on the ground and kneeled while saying, "Marry me?" Scathach's eyebrows twitched as I smiled at her question and grabbed all the plates.
"Oh, I thought I was already yours from what you said earlier. But I am happy you both enjoyed the food and take this as some motivation to train more Scylla and if you don't, well, this may be the only time I cook for you both.
I could see the two begin to crack like glass at my proclamation as my Master immediately took Scylla and teleported to the nearest island to continue their training so that they could eat more of my food while. Scylla began to scream in the distance, and I simply continued my meditation and focused on my body while the smart atoms integrated with my form.
It was similar to putting on a warm sweater, but over my entire being, after a couple of minutes, the feeling faded, but the strength remained.
After exiting the Land Of Shadows and placing multiple warding spells and electronic interference spells, I shot into the air, and as the height increased, my heart began to race in excitement, and soon the blue skies faded into blackness as the world shrank beneath me.
After a couple of minutes of flying upward, I turned around and saw a truly wondrous sight.
Planet Earth in its entirety was right in front of me, and the pure enormity of the planet was absolutely stunning. With my enhanced senses, I could see the Earth spinning, albeit very slowly, with storms forming over various parts of the world, and I admit that I took multiple mental pictures for the future.
I simply floated there with my arms extended outwards and simply floated through the vacuum as, due to my environmental and elemental resistances, I could float through space for three weeks if I did not go into combat.
And for an hour, I simply floated above the planet, simply taking in the view, and as I saw the moon in the distance, I flew towards it at speeds even I was surprised by.
As I approached the natural satellite and saw the American flag on one part of the moon, I landed and manipulated the Earth using an earth jutsu, sat down, and stared at the planet.
But even with the view and the pure scale of it all, what made it even better was the pure and utter silence, as it was not only the absence of light but also the absence of sound. Humans have evolved to be able to tune out noises our brains assume are annoying or unnecessary, yet here, there is simply nothing other than my own thoughts.
Forming a small photograph in my hand, I placed it next to me and said in my mind, "I made it my #%^##^; I wish you could be here with me, but I'm doing better now, so I hope you out there somewhere living your own dreams."
Wiping my face, I heard Celestine ask (Cao Cao, I am used to you doing ridiculous things, but why are you in space?! Don't you know in space, no one can hear you scream!)
A small chuckle made its way to my face as it turned into utter laughter in my mind. Celestine sighed in exasperation while Cato was stunned by where I was.
But before I could fly back, I noticed something: a hurricane just formed out of nowhere and was heading toward the East Coast of the U.S. There are few beings who can do this and are stupid enough to do so.
"Zeus."
I then rocketed towards the eye of the storm.