章 21: Sculpting Peaks and a Pocket World

After over two days of running, it was night again, and I could tell Luna was exhausted; I assume it wasn't exactly a pleasant ride. I set her down and helped support her as she regained her footing after so long.

"How about we stop here for the night," I said.

She nodded.

"So, they're dead now. What do you think you want to do?" I asked. I plan to ask if she wants to come with me unless she says outright she's going somewhere else.

She looked at me, blinked a few times, then started laughing and suddenly hugged me, gave me a quick kiss, and shouted, "They're dead!" She continued laughing; I was shocked but I guess it's just sinking in now that I said something. Then she started crying, balling her eyes out, her crying and laughing at the same time resulted in hiccups.

"Sist- *hiccup* -er they're- *hiccup* dead," she said between hiccups and sobs. Sounds like a story I'll have to get later. After a while, she fell asleep, and I sat down, leaning against a tree, placing her on the ground with her head in my lap for a pillow.

---

I knew she woke up when she started rubbing her eyes with her fists. I heard her stomach growl, so I bought some rice and steak from the store for her to eat. When she opened her eyes and looked up at me, her face turned red.

I tapped her on the nose. "If you look at me like that, I'll start teasing you, or you can eat some of this delicious food."

At the mention of food, she bolted up and grabbed it, looking starry-eyed at the rice and steak, then immediately shoveling it down. I just had to smile as I waited for her to finish. In no time flat, the plate was empty. I took it back and devoured it; she watched it disappear, and I could tell she wanted the answer to the question she asked two months ago about me making and unmaking stuff.

"Okay, I'll explain. All things are composed of energy. I can break down everything into its base energy and also make somethings using it. And no, it's impossible to teach others to do it."

She thought about it for a bit but then shook her head. "I'll think about it later."

I then decided it would be a good time to ask if she would come with me. "Would you like to come with me? I don't know where we would go next, but I'd be happy if you came along."

She looked to the side and nodded.

I stood up and offered my hand to help her up, which she accepted.

"Alright, we should probably get going again. Should I carry you, or no? I think we are far away enough now to be fine either way."

"I'll go by myself."

She started walking but in the direction of the sect. I grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Not that way," I pointed in the opposite direction, "that way."

After a little bit, I asked, "Last night, is there a story to another reason why you wanted them dead?"

She nodded and looked sad. "I had an older sister; they tried to do the same thing to her."

I nodded, I understood. She didn't have to say more.

---

After walking for about two weeks, we made it out of the forest on the other side. We decided to go west from there since there seemed to be some mountains in that direction that we could live in for a while.

It took about a week to reach the mountains, and when we reached there, I used my devour skill to clear out a living space in the base. It was pretty hidden from the outside and just looked like a small opening; you couldn't see inside because of how I'd designed it to go back and forth a few times before reaching the main area.

The inside was cozy with a bed, fireplace, table, and kitchen. It was quite a nice place to live, and we quickly got used to it. I wanted to get stronger as fast as possible, so my job was to work on devouring the surrounding mountains. I bought some grade 5 stones for Luna to absorb also.

I had fun carving and drawing on the mountains as I devoured them away, sometimes I tried to make Mt. Rushmore a monument from earth, other I replaced the faces with super heroes or cartoon characters. Not gonna lie though, sometimes my art was a little less appropriate, like the giant eggplant or a peach.

---

In what seemed like no time at all, but was really a few years, the mountains were gone, and the area was flattened except for an odd-shaped house we lived in. Now I could devour the surrounding mountains easily.

I'd far surpassed legendary ascension, and Luna was in early legendary ascension due to all the stones I'd given her, well, also she is a genius so i can't take all the credit. Even if you gave a normal person unlimited stones they'd never reach that point.

I found a village on the other side of the mountains, but they just ignored the missing mountains; terrified of offending whatever existence erased the mountains if they went to investigate.

After the mountains were gone, I started on the land going away from the village.

---

After a few more years, there was a giant chunk of the planet missing, and I felt I could just devour the rest at any time.

This whole time, Luna never went outside, just staying inside and constantly absorbing the stones I gave her. She didn't look like she'd aged at all due to the massively increased lifespan of legendary ascension.

'Kitty, what is my lifespan? I know it's increased, but by how much?'

[You would be considered a pseudo-immortal as your cells still die but are replaced as soon as they do; once you are a real immortal, they will no longer die. So your lifespan is infinite.]

Awesome, at least I don't have to worry about dying of old age anytime soon.

I couldn't wait to see Luna's reaction to the missing landmass. Even though I could devour the planet at any time, I didn't want to since Luna was still here.

'Kitty, can I take Luna with me to the next world, or do I need to stay here for a few hundred years then move on?'

[You can create your own space, like a small world that is tied to your soul; she can live in it]

'Is it in the shop?'

[Yes, I'll open the page for you]

The system shop opened to a page where a private world was for sale. After reading the description, I thought it would work perfectly, except I wouldn't be able to open it unless my power was high enough in comparison to the world I was in, so I couldn't let her out into that world until I increased my power enough.

It was expensive, but after devouring so much of the planet, I could afford it. It was sold by the radius and could be increased in size at any time. The initial cost was 100 just to create the space and bind it to my soul and then another 10 per square foot. After buying it, I upgraded it to have a 100 sq foot circle of land inside.

I entered and found it was just a flat patch of dirt with a diameter of about 11 feet and a barrier so no one could walk off the side of the world. Outside the barrier it was blank, giving an unusual feeling of looking into nothingness, a real abyss. This will work nicely; I expanded it a bit more and added a small house with a bed and some furnishings.

'Kitty, what else can I do with this world?'

[There are many different options; the most useful are probably setting the timescale, and increasing the density of Qi/Astral Power/Mana/etc, effectively upgrading the world, but this will cost more energy]

(A/N I really need a name for these Qi/Astral Power/Mana/etc when I refer to them as a group, so I'll call it "lesser energy" the idea I've had in my head is these things are a less pure form of the energy Max uses for power, hence lesser energy. Comment if you got a better idea.)

'Please show me how to do these.'

The system interface popped up to a world management tab, and I adjusted the timescale to be slow inside compared to the outside world so even if I was away for a long time, Luna wouldn't get too lonely. I didn't adjust the density of lesser energy to the next world level as the cost was massive; I'll do that after I devour the entire multiverse I'm in now.

I think it's time to explain more to Luna and show her the small world if she is willing to go with me.

I entered what remained of the original mountains that we used as a house. Luna was sitting on the bed absorbing a stone.

"Luna. I was thinking maybe it's time to see some new sights. Though first, let me explain some things then you can ask whatever you want."

"Alright, go."

"So I want to go to another world, and I want you to come with me." She frowned, and her face hardened; I could tell she wasn't happy thinking someone else would leave her again, but she didn't say anything yet. "If you don't want to go, I'll stay here, though. I'm hoping to go to another world and explore and have fun. I'd also like to one day find a way for you to become an immortal." Her face softened, and a beautiful smile bloomed. "I'll take that as a yes. Also, I'm not originally from this world."

She looked a little surprised. "That explains somethings; can everyone in your world do what you can?"

"Nope, I'm the only special one!" I winked and gave a thumbs up.

"I-I'd like that." Her cheeks turned slightly pink.

I smiled. "Okay, before we go, I want to go back to the sects and collect some techniques that might be useful, especially the high-grade ones. Oh, well, hang on a minute."

I realized a problem. The system inventory couldn't store non-system items, and my pocket world was too small for them and Luna.

'Kitty, is there a way I can store more items in the inventory?'

[You can open an inventory space for usage by purchasing it in the store. I'll open the page for you.]

The interface showed some information, 1 energy per 10 cubic feet and no living things, plants that have been picked, and the dead don't count as living. I opened a hundred cubic feet of space to use.

"Okay, I figured it out. Shall we go?"

"Yes, let's go pick up some books."