Chapter 3 - As the World Changes, As do the People

Ten years, it had been an entire ten years since anyone had come back to Earth. Ever since that supreme voice spread its will across the entire world, no one had ever gotten back to Earth since then.

Ten years, from the perspective of a god, it was only a mere blink of an eye but for mortal men, it was long enough to forget. As everyone returned, whether they accepted or rejected everyone came back to where they initially were.

The streets were filled with people geared up with armor and weapons non-naive to Earth. They all looked at each other with wariness and fear initially but one sentiment reigned supreme.

"I'm back! Hahaha! I'm finally back!" A grown man wearing the hide of a mystic beast immediately broke down in tears as he looked at the woman right beside him. "Mom, I'm back…"

"My child…" The woman wearing the clothing of a normal villager embraced this man wearing highly powerful clothing without any sense of shame. "I missed you."

"Mom, I missed you too!" He just broke down into tears, ignoring the gazes looking at him. He didn't care, he had been taken away for ten whole years against his will and now he finally returned back to his family. "Where's dad?"

"Haha, child, don't worry about it too much. He should still be at work right now…" A sudden beeping noise could be heard as her phone rang. Despite not using a mobile phone for an entire decade, her muscle memory kicked in as she opened it up, "Honey, where are you right now? I'm coming over at once!" The mother merely smiled and gave him the location.

Families were reunited as they all came together to reminisce about the adventures they all had. Such a sweet scene made countless people cry out in joy. Some families were stacked with every single member managing to reach an unbelievably high degree of mastery while others had every single member be a normal person.

They shared their highs and lows with each other. Some even shared a bit too much which caused a bit of laughter escaping from those that listened. Everyone finally returned, all the drama had to wait since everyone was finally back.

As soon as the people who once used to have great power and authority returned with nothing but the skin on their backs, it caused a drastic shift in authority in this chaotic world. Though as much as people were happy that they returned, there were also others who were angry that their utopia was taken away from them.

With no social order being established nor any viable punishment that could be enforced, chaos shortly ensued. It was every man for himself.

"Kekeke! It's finally time for revenge!" A twenty-five-year-old young adult sinisterly smiled and walked in a certain direction. "Ten years! For ten years I've struggled in that damned world! Countless deaths, countless sacrifices but… it's finally worth it. All you bastards that bullied, time to pay the price!"

The world he arrived in had a very cruel theme, sacrifice. He needed to sacrifice something to gain power. Whether it was something he owned like his wealth or even something as personal as an eyeball. He needed to give to be able to take.

"I sacrifice my blood! Great Demon God V'fier, search for those who I seek!" He roared out loud letting everyone else around him realize that he was genuinely bad news. "Hmm? It's much weaker… so unbelievably that much weaker, barely even a fraction of my peak…"

The radius of his search was only half the city, something that would've made his previous self laugh out loud at how feeble he had become. "Nevertheless, I finally them. Those three…"

"Y-You t-there stop!" A female girl held a wand in her hand. From the looks of it, she was gathering up all her strength, barely even able to keep herself together. "S-Sir, please don't act like that. I've seen people regret their choices after taking their revenge. C-Can we talk about it first?"

The young man who had called out for a sacrifice slowly walked up to her, "Talk? I've gained all this power so that I could kill. Not talk." He stared down at her, raising his palm as he faced it on her. "Naive."

"Great Demon God V'fier, I sacrifice my blood, show those before me my memories!" A dark and ominous aura surrounded him and immediately assaulted the senses of every single person beside him. Within the blink of an eye, they had all managed to recall this young man's past experiences.

The young girl who was clutching onto her wand fell down as all the memories and sensations that were accompanied by that memory were imprinted into her very being. "I… ah… hah…"

"So, do you still want to stop me? After seeing everything?" The young man's expression hadn't changed one bit, letting the young girl in front of him finally understand just what he had gone through.

"I… I don't… hah…" Her mind wasn't ruined by the sacrificial magic nor was it corrupted as an effect. She was currently in shock due to the memories that the young man had shown her. "I… won't stop you. Go ahead." She clenched her fists knowing what she just said was wrong yet for some reason, she couldn't refute that what they had done to him was far too cruel.

"Anyone else?" The young man didn't care about his reputation. He had done everything he could possibly do to become strong. He was on the cusp of completing his quest, all he needed now was for people to leave him be.

Those near him couldn't say anything. The injustice that they experienced was far too traumatizing to speak about. Such cruelness coming from kids was well beyond what they could understand.

Seeing no one go against him, he walked off to his destination.

"Wait!" The girl who tried to stop him spoke out once more. "I'll come with you."

The young man didn't care, "Suit yourself."

Such a scene occurred all over the place, even causing previously well-mannered people to change. Every single scene had something primal about the person finally taking center stage, their motivations were on full blast.

On the other side of the world, in Japan, in a small cottage lay an old man. "I'm getting too old for this. Oof!" He stretched out his back and slowly walked forward, basking in the morning light. "He was right, it would be utter chaos when we get back. I guess it's time to form my unit again, let's see how long until we take over the world. This reminds me, Hashu if you're still watching over me, I'll show you that my sword has already reached a level that would even make gods afraid. This time, my unit, The Seven Supreme Swords, will do its job and slay the gods. This I promise you…"

Meanwhile, in the whimsical place of London, a middle-aged man was casually sipping his tea. "Hmm, exquisite. Home brew just can never get replaced. Isn't that right, Madame Dolores?"

"Yes, master." A female maid was attending to this middle-aged man. He doesn't seem to have gotten anything great from his expeditions.

"Bah, Madame Dolores! There's no need to lower yourself like this! A princess like you should learn to behave like a proper noble!" The middle-aged man tried to bring her down and let her relax yet was only met with resistance.

"I cannot let our kingdom's savior be disrespected. Master, although you may be the greatest mage of our world, it is safe to assume that there could be potentially stronger worlds out there."

"Ohoho! Madame Dolores…" The middle-aged man snapped his fingers, causing the entire space all around them to stop. His power was so grand that he stopped time itself. "Now that we're here, why not welcome our guest?"

"Yes, Master." Dolores walked over and opened the door, only for a rough-looking person to show up with a massive grin on his face. "Sir, would you care for a drink?"

"Mmm, nice figure." This person looked at Dolores from the bottom of her legs, slowly examining her until his eyes finally reached face brightly colored eyes. "Say old man, how much are you selling this one?"

"Well, let's see. She's a true and proud noble, her heritage makes it so that her strength is no trick and her beauty cannot be understated. So unless you have a true mana stone, I'm afraid you aren't getting her."

"Gahahaha! A true mana stone you say?" The rough-looking man heavily grinned and opened his mouth wildly. He took out a pure white stone from his own storage and brought it out. "Will this do?"

The middle-aged man's eyes widened in pure shock, followed by an extremely insatiate lust for this item. "Ahem… Madame Dolores, it had been a pleasure being served by you. Yet it seems as if this is where we part ways."

"Master, you need not feel bad. I'm now considered your property, just say the word and I will follow." Dolores bowed down with a calm expression on her face and wholeheartedly agreed.

The rough-looking man threw the true mana stone towards the middle-aged man and conjured a slave mark on Dolores' cheek. "Submit."

Dolores unhesitatingly answered, "I submit." An unknown power suddenly pierced through her soul, as if her very being was being devoured and reformed to serve a greater purpose.

The middle-aged man's eyes were filled with pure ecstasy as he tried to retain his calm, "I'll be seeing you around. Treat Madame Dolores properly for me will you?"

"I don't think I can. But I can show you how well-trained she'll be when I'm done. Hahaha!" The rough-looking man laughed out loud, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was going to have his way with her. "Oh yeah, if you ever find beauties like this in the future. Be sure to call me, I'll buy them off based on their looks."

"I'll keep an eye out, ciao." The middle-aged man took a single step forward and immediately disappeared.

On the lower part of the globe, in Africa, a black-skinned man followed along with his countless summons immediately surrounded and took it over by storm, "This will be my kingdom! Follow me and you will prosper! Defy me and you will die!"

Voices of distrust were immediately drowned out by sheer oppressive force. The people fought back using their own self-acquired abilities yet for some reason, the self-proclaimed king immediately reinforced his own forces with even more mythical beasts and creatures.

This led Africa to be split in two, the Kingdom of Adami and the Revolutionary Wings. A tyrant taking control of an entire continent for his own amusement against the people who are fighting for freedom and their livelihoods.

Numerous other situations occurred on Earth in such a short period of time that the previous political and social climate was twisted into a form that one could only describe as anarchy. The strong protected the weak while the weak followed the strong from behind. No one was safe from the immediate change when they all came back.

People were saved as well as killed, and life as everyone knew changed to such a degree that they could barely call Earth their home anymore.

One month, it was all the time the world needed to understand who was strong and who wasn't. Within this single month, numerous associations and alliances were formed. For as many that were formed, as many fell. It became a dog-eat-dog world that could only be salvaged by those strong enough to be able to hold on their own.

Of course, there were still those who didn't care and still minded their own business. They had either lost all emotional connection to others or they just couldn't handle seeing the world they loved be ravaged like this.

As the developing powerhouses finally started to make a name for themselves, another devastating occurrence happened. Earth, the world they had always thought to have been the same, suddenly encountered a new change. No one knew why or how it occurred but numerous holes within the ground suddenly sprouted out.

These holes within the earth were termed as 'Dungeons.' They were named as such for the sake of simplicity, thinking about it too much was a waste of energy. These dungeons that sprouted out showed low-quality materials that they could only obtain from other worlds.

Despite how terrible the quality was, what they saw was only on the surface. What would they find out if they dug deeper? Everyone was curious to find out. From everyone fighting against each other to create a name for themselves, everyone suddenly diverted their attention to these dungeons.

What's more, the Earth that they had thought to have been kept the same, suddenly expanded. Scientists who were still alive found this phenomenon to be similar to how a seed would sprout once a single droplet of water. Once news of this expanded out to the world, the Earth that everyone had known was reforming itself into something much grander than anyone could've ever expected.

"This is it, this is our Golden Age!" Numerous developed associations and groups were formed. They were all thinking the exact same thing.

~~~

On a deserted island.

"Helena! We're starving! Food! Food!" Nue was poking Helena's face as her stomach grumbled.

"For a cosmic entity to be hungry, have you no shame?!" Helena was so pissed at Nue suddenly ruining her concentration. She had been doing something quite important, if Nue interrupted at the wrong time then something could've gone extremely wrong.

"But… I'm hungry…" Nue pouted and faced Harry. She narrowed her eyes in malice and immediately hopped off towards Cain.

"Nue, I'm still cooking alright? Stay still!" Cain had caught a few fish from the sea and brought them in. He had been carefully seasoning them to a perfect degree. "Here you go, Nue. Remember, don't eat the stick."

Nue nodded and took all twenty skewers that Cain had made and stuffed them in her mouth. She ran away doing god knows what.

"She's definitely going to eat the stick." Cain sighed.

"Master, her stomach is strong, don't worry about-"

"I made those sticks. They took a bit of effort." Cain looked back at the remaining materials he had on hand.

'Man, I was going to reuse those.' Cain regretted.

"Oh god, she's going to die!" Harry immediately ran off right after her. "Nue, Master is being serious! Don't eat those sticks."

"No! Mine!" Nue ran off to this island, trying to escape Harry. "You'll never take me alive!"

"Why did it suddenly become life and death? Nue, spit those out right now!" Luckily for Harry, Nue got stuck in quicksand and was caught by Harry. She protested by immediately stuffing everything in her mouth and gulping it all down.

Nue burped and blankly stared at Harry. She then immediately frowned and poked Harry's eye. "Escape."

"Nue! I'm being serious this time! You'll actually die!" Harry ran one more time while holding his one eye with his hand.

Helena scoffed at Nue's nonsensical actions and continued focusing on a small replica in front of her. "A little bit of this… a little bit of that… and perfect!" The previously small crystalline blue orb turned into something of a monstrosity. The previously compact space suddenly turned massive and grotesque, expanding to a size that no mortal would ever dare to be able to understand.

"And… that's all I can do." Helena finally sighed in relief as all she needed to do now was let Earth develop naturally. Or as naturally as it can. Helena stretched her limbs and got to where Cain was cooking some fish.

"That looks tasty as always. Is it ready?" Helena arrived right behind Cain and leaned on his shoulder.

"In just a bit, Nue already took a lot that I made earlier." Cain continued on cooking as he usually did. "This batch should be a lot better since I took a bit of chef liberty to add in something that should make this tastier."

"Ooh, can't wait." Helena felt a disturbance as Nue ran past them.

"Swipe." Nue took as much as she could hold in her hands but not before Helena took one skewer and held it in her hands.

"Just so you know Nue, don't need to tell us what you're doing! We can clearly see that!" Helena roared out her grievances before focusing back on the task at hand.

"So, are you really going to be a merchant? What are you even aiming for with that? Wealth? Authority? Or just doing what you want." Helena took a bite and immediately had her eyes widen. "Holy, that's so good. Hold up, don't answer yet let me finish this first."

Cain smiled and looked at his status window.

[Host: Cain Ex

Power Level: Absolute

Mastery: (Hidden)

Body: (Hidden)

Points: 593]

Up to this point, Cain had never realized just how far he had already made it. The Power Level still hadn't made sense, all the skills he had mastered were so long to list that he decided to not reveal them anymore, this also applied to his body's constitution. The only thing that was even remotely relevant anymore was his points.

"I guess, I want to see what it feels like to lead for once." Cain looked up at the sky that hadn't changed at all.

Helena was blankly staring at him as her mouth was stuffed, 'Is he actually thinking of ruling everything now? Was about time he figured that out.''

Within his own personal civilization, Cain had always been following right behind Helena the entire time. For him to finally show some backbone meant that at least he was growing as a person.

"Think about it, if I become a merchant then you're here to protect me! I can make all the mistakes in the world and keep on trying." Cain looked in the distance as Nue was trying to gulp down as many skewer sticks as possible while Harry was trying to stop her with all his might.

Harry pulled up his sleeves and tried to reach into Nue's mouth only for her to bite down. "Revenge."

'Never mind, he's still an idiot. Though… possibly a sweet idiot.' Helena tuned out the two troublemaker's voices.

From afar, Harry's screams for help were being ignored. "I know you both can hear me! Master, please! Your only disciple's going to lose his beloved arm! Ahh!"