Madman’s Retirement

No one could understand the implication of Grant's statement.

The child was completely left out of it, as he had been isolated from their little bubble when he had shielded the child from the goddess prior to the revelation.

He was merely reading the fairytales that Grant had provided him, in part to distract him, but also to open his eyes to the wonderful world of beasts.

The young man was the first to react, for denial was his first response

"Lies!" He hissed. "If these enemies existed, then where have they been all this time? Enemies from the stars?! These sound like the words of a madman!"

Though no one commented verbally, Grant could still see the curious looks in the eyes of others.

Where indeed is this enemy?

"Well, I am a madman. People recognized as much after the things I've done.

As for where they've been?

Off planet. They're not allowed in yet"

Not allowed? Are you saying perhaps that a greater force has stepped in?

"Not just greater. Greatest." Grant said, as a spark of reverence entered his eyes, before it flickered out just as quickly.

"It's one of the greatest laws in reality, one that has existed since the first civilization reared its head.

The law of sanctuary. The law that protects young civilizations, enacted by the universe itself, upon the existence of the first civilization, a planet is subjected to a period of protection in which no living thing from outside the planet may enter the planet's atmosphere.

In this way, the universe ensures that all young civilized races get their opportunity to grow "

What's the drawback? Isis asked, clearly believing there to be more to this.

And rightfully so.

"Well this "shield" as it were, exacts its price and absorbs 20 percent of the planets energy, thus lowering the ceiling of power for most things on earth. In fact, once you step outside our solar system, your power automatically grows by 20 percent, regardless of cultivation, and your ability to absorb energy increases by 20 percent."

Grant sighed. "Unfortunately, that also means you are then an external being, and thus not allowed back in. In fact, back in my universe, the monkey king Sun Wukong has already left the bubble and since then, hasn't been able to return."

Isis frowned. You sent one of the most powerful defenses of Earth out? She asked incredulously, and Grant could only shrug helplessly in response.

"A gamble. I told you, there's a ceiling on Earth, preventing all beings who reach the level of void refining from going beyond. Holding him here on the planet with that potential was just being foolish. so we sent him out on a new journey, journey to the west 2.0! Journey to the western galaxy! Sigh Who knows where he is. He left behind a life candle though, and last we checked, hes alive at least, and growing too. So it hasn't failed yet Whether or not it'll yield anything... is yet to be seen. "

Is it so bad that you must take this gamble? The goddess asked worriedly, and Grant chuckled wryly. "It is worse than it sounds. We are a young race. Elves, humans, dwarves, demons, whatever they are, to the beings in space, are one race. Earthlings. And we are far, far behind. Do you know the saying a lean camel is better than a horse? "

An eastern saying.

"One that holds water in moments like these. What Earth has is small civilizations compared to the immense empres that populate space. Even the youngest of them outpace us. Whether it is power, culture, scientific advancements, any and all aspects a civilization has, we're outpaced." Grant said, recalling how depressing it was when they found this out.

The revelation had even shocked his masters for a good decade as they realized the seriousness of the situation.

You speak as if you received this information from someone on the outside. Perhaps there is someone out there willing to help us? Isis asked, noticing how the information couldn't have been gained under normal circumstances.

"Yes well, there are ways to circumvent the atmosphere limit." Grant said, clearly proud.

"We experimented and found out that while living beings cannot bypass the borders, machinery can.

And if something on earth has connections to the outside, say a bloodline, then we can use it to communicate with the outside."

"There are outsiders on the planet?" The old elven lady asked curiously.

"Of course. In fact, Richard, that child you hold so dearly, has already become one." Grant said calmly, indifferently even, yet the elf Trenee reacted differently, clearly being quite shocked.

"What?"

"Yeah. A dragon. Dragons are outsiders. Colonizers of sorts." Grant said it so casually, yet he had dropped a bombshell.

The elf Trenee clearly couldn't believe it, as the guard beside her showed a look of disbelief.

The goddess on the other hand asked tentatively.

You said the shield came up when civilization began.

"Correct"

Then if something were to come beforehand... She petered off, yet the question implied in the sentence remained. Grant smiled in reaction to her revelation, happy to see her picking up.

"It would be allowed in. Of course, there are limits. The ancient rules dictate that colonizers are not allowed to form their own civilization.At least not true blood ones. It's why any civilization created by dragons are never purely dragon, or is in submission to higher powers, or not big enough to be considered a civilization like a clan. Otherwise they'd be cast out of the Earth by the rules and left to fend for themselves."

Is that why dragons have yet to dominate the world?

"Nah, that's cause they're nincompoops. Not a single one of them remembers their legacy. To be fair to them, given the first dragons landed around the early period of the dinosaurs, history was bound to cover that up."He added on. "Still nincompoops nonetheless."

Are there any other of these "colonizers?" She asked, looking for any other potential dangers.

So Grant answered, holding up two fingers. "Two more actually. Phoenixes and tentacle monsters are both foreign tribes who have long preceded the current era. The only ones who really know are those old enough to remember, and those with the right to know."

And which are you?

"Yesn't" Grant said humorously, trying to mimic those silly younger players he had often encountered.

The three before Grant shared the same look of confusion at Grant's modern taste of language, but ultimately Isis moved on, regarding it as part of the otherworldly culture, and not brainrot.

You do not seem worried about these three groups.

"That's because none of them are a danger to us. In fact, these two-" He said, as he conjured up two clay statues, of phoenixes and dragons, "- are of great benefit to us." He made a third on, this one in the shape of a large tentacle monster, vague and undefined. "Less helpful, but not dangerous. Probably." He tacked on there, with a look of unsureness.

"Probably seems worrying." The elderly elf Trenee noted, and the young guard looked even moreso.

"I'm not saying I believe any of this, but if so, these all sound dangerous. Civilization or no, any of these three wield major power on the planet.

Why aren't you suspicious at all?" He accused, and Grant smiled.

"Because two of these can be our salvation."

You refer to the dragons and the phoenixes.

Grant nodded. "You see, I have information on all three of these interstellar civilizations, but the most important thing here is their gods."

Isis frowned upon hearing this. You believe they are the key to our survival?

Grant corrected her. "Not survival. We'll survive. Well, the humans will. No, our salvation. It's more of a question of whom we'll serve." Grant said awkwardly. This was a hard pill to swallow after all. Even he had his own pride, and was offended at the thought when he first found out.

So he expected her next reaction.

To this, Isis looked serious and upset. Gods do not serve. She said firmly, showing the aura only a goddess could have.

"Then you will die." Grant said bluntly, ignoring the looks they had on their faces, as he squashed the clay sculptures.

They were upset, the guard clearly more upset than the other two, but unwilling to jump out of line.

"Do you know what the strongest ife form to ever appear on Earth was?" Grant asked, seemingly out of nowhere, yet clearly relevant to the issue at hand.

Isis responded, clearly knowing beforehand. The 6th realm

Grant nodded. "And can you guess what the strongest life form in the known universe is?"

To this, Isis could only remain silent, as Grant casually told her the number.

"14. The strongest entity to ever appear in universal records, is the 14th level.

Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Silence

"Earth has managed to produce 20 void-refining level beings, 30 if we're being generous and including those who are between the 5th and 6th level. And that includes all gods of faith who've reached that approximate level across all of its history. 30.

At this moment, only 15 of them are alive to my knowledge.

Those are good numbers." Grant admitted. "In fact, it's so good, that we'd be considered as strong as an outer rim colony of a high level empire." He said casually, backhandedly complimenting the Earth.

He paused.

"A low level empire has 40 at a time usually. And maybe 5 beings at the 7th level. " He said casually, pouring a heavy dose of reality on them.

He merely added fuel to the fire next. "And Gods tend to be the first rooted out you know. Empires always have religions, and for a god to grow, they need followers. Followers they can't afford to share with others. Like say, gods with similar domains of faith, who's people would worship the empire's gods easily once certain gods are gone." Grant said, with clear danger in his tone.

The young man was practically drawing his sword, yet all it took was Grant exposing his aura, and the kid practically fell to his knees.

"Look at you, a 3rd realm being and you kneel at the mere aura of a spirit transformation being. What are you going to do when an army of 6th realmers begin knocking on the doors?"

You haven't explained why the dragons or the phoenixes are better

"Because better the devil we know, then the one we don't. I've researched both of them, and I know them well. Very well.

Dragon, father of all dragons, is a 14th level being who has reached his level by the path of progenity.

The mother of ashes, the living star from which phoenixes were born from. 14th level. She also relies on the path of progenity

By the way, I found out that whenever a world like ours opens up, every empire willing to allow dragons and phoenixes as well as progeny above a certain blood concentration to leave without being interrupted, because they have no choice but to give the mother of ashes and Dragon face.

The mysterious one... Is mysterious. He cares not for his children, merely leaving them where he pleases. No one's sure what level he is, or even what he wants, but we're pretty sure he'll ignore earth. Mostly. "

Grant winced at this as he had to admit. "Of all the wild factors, he's the one we're worried about the most."

A weird, eccentric being to say the least. Grant would believe the two would get along quite well as 2 such eccentrics, but truthfully nothing was known about it, merely that it has seeded some of the great civilizations, yet never seems to come back for its children.

"As for why I believe them to be the best option? They're one of the most free groups, phoenixes as well. Lord Dragon doesn't maintain a tight control on his children nor his colonies, as long as they show deference and know to follow certain rules. You can see that in most dragons, given that none of them really need to worship him. Many competing gods have appeared amongst his children, like Bahamut and Tiamat from Earth, yet he pays them no mind. He merely sees them as his children.

The phoenixes are aloof. Though they are tighter in regulations, they usually leave their colonies to maintain their own matters as long as the proper tribute is paid once in a while, though we're more hopeful for lord Dragon"

These sound more like strenuous excuses. As if you're attempting to convince yourself of the good of the situation.

Grant threw his arms in the air helplessly. "They are the best deal we have."

Isis didn't have a response, because ultimately, she knew too little, and only knew what Grant had said.

How much time do we have until this invasion happens? Since she knew this much, she wanted to know about the time she had to prepare for the inevitable.

Grant paused thoughtfully. "Minimum, a thousand years." He finally estimated. "But it also may be as much as 2000 years. Your world is not my world after all. History may have played out differently and humanity could've easily developed a century or two after ours. I have the system currently doing the math as we speak. We should know soon enough."

Grant was still so calm about this, much to the confusion of Isis.

You don't seem too worried about all of this

"Well of course, I plan to be dead by then." Grant said, casually dropping the bomb.

Why else would he set himself a 600 year time limit?