A trillion years later.
Rachel's plan was long-term. Reaching many supreme grandmasters or even quasi-omniscient masteries would take considerable time. Many rank 13s, who lived for ungodly numbers of years, still didn't have even one supreme grandmaster mastery, let alone quasi-omniscient mastery.
Of course, Rachel's resources are far more abundant than anyone else in the universe, so her progress would be much faster.
Still, not even many rank 14s, with all their grandeur and resources, had achieved quasi-omniscience; Achieving quasi-omniscient mastery would take some time.
...
A trillion years later.
Can a mortal even imagine a trillion years? An average human, in an average world, lives at most 150 years. Most kingdoms and countries fall before reaching 1000 years; 1000 years is already enough for a culture to develop from the ground up. 10,000 years is sufficient for new races of humans to develop.
A species can transition from hunter-gatherer to advanced in that relatively short 10,000 years. Of course, that is only possible if the species is a free culture and not constrained by Alive's default settings.
100,000 years are so long that nearly nothing mortal can survive it; even stone writings would have a hard time surviving. A mortal civilization would face great challenges uncovering the past beyond a few thousand years, let alone a hundred thousand years.
One million years is enough for monkeys to evolve into humans; it's so long that it's no longer comprehensible to mortals. One may think they understand, but truly grasping it is something only geniuses may achieve.
Ten million years are so long that even some low-grade mortal mages may have trouble understanding; for example, Alex III, an 'immortal' vampire, could not handle living that long and spent most of his time sleeping. It can be said that forcing one to survive for 10,000,000 years with only a human brain is a form of torture; one would be haunted by memories of many loved ones lost and continue to be lost over the years.
For these long years, one would have a far easier time if emotions were removed; in fact, this is what happens to most people. For various reasons, including the effect of pure energy, one would lose one's emotions and become more like a robot, which in turn helps them tolerate many years.
To begin with, those able to advance in their ranks and survive for so long are those with mental issues, honestly. Meditation is not easy; it's boring. One can sit in one place for thousands of years and stare at the wall, slowly gathering energy. Only those insanely motivated, with unimaginable willpower, and ruthless to themselves and others have the slightest chance to withstand it.
One hundred million years is the average lifespan of a rank 9 human mage; anyone living this long is no longer understood by ordinary people.
A 'youth' only 100 years old has no chance of understanding the thought processes of someone that old. In general, no matter which path one starts at, be it a demon, angel, cultivator, mage, etc., after living for 100,000,000 years, all end up in the same place: doing everything for one's goal, without any emotions, kindness, or care for anything else.
It can be said that the road of cultivation is just a process of filtering out all emotional beings and allowing only robotic, rational people to pass. Of course, as with all filters, some would slip through, but the absolute majority who pass are ruthless and cold.
One billion years are beyond mortals; some mortals, such as rank 9 demons in some worlds, may be able to live up to this point, but, in general, mortal brains are not enough to handle a billion years. There have been cases of mortals losing their minds as a result of living for too long; many mortals deliberately remove their memories and upload them to external memories to avoid such issues. Mortal brains, like mortal bodies, have a maximum capacity; once someone uses up all of the capacity, it can cause very serious issues.
Ten billion years are already far beyond mortals; it is actually the average age of rank 10 immortals. Rank 10 immortals, which have one complete law, usually advance to rank 11 before 10 billion years.
One hundred billion years are very long, but there is no material difference from 10 billion years; mortals cannot imagine such long times, and for immortals, time no longer matters, so whether it's 10 billion or 100 billion, nobody cares.
The same is true for 1 trillion years; there is no material difference from 100 billion years; for immortals, it doesn't really matter. The average age of rank 11s is far, far, far higher than just a trillion; after all, rank 11 is a big barrier that very few ever can pass. Most would get stuck in rank 11 for an unimaginable number of years, leading to the very high average age for rank 11s.
For most rank 11s, 1 trillion years is not even a moment; it's like a blink in the life of a mortal.
Immortals are no joke; they usually avoid fights and only go on; at this point, their brains are no longer the same as mortals; they don't get bored, don't get lonely; they can, with no issue, live in a cave for trillions of years. Of course, if the cave can survive for that long.
Time is only for mortals; for immortals, time is really nothing. There is no heat death for the universe, no end of hydrogen and whatnot; the universe has a stable source of energy, the creation, which endlessly provides energy, with no end to it.
A rank 15 is endless, and that is by itself incomprehensible even to many immortals; it means that no matter how long passes, creation never ends, never reaches its bottom, and never extinguishes.
...
Rachel's hosts in this universe—Zagronan, Bertha, Lee, Lana, Milan, Emma, Saviour, Jack, Alistair, Dyer, Louis, etc.—were all exceptional cases that, with her help, advanced like a rocket; for that reason, they retained much more of their 'mortalness' than the norm. They didn't go through the same filters that usually rule out emotions, but even they started following the same path with time.
A trillion years is unimaginably long; one cannot maintain their emotions and remain sane.
...
Jack was in a literal cave in the middle of a rank 9 world, with his eyes closed. He was one of Rachel's hosts with something special; he had an original system that had amazing abilities.
Rachel categorized the systems into three types: one is an Empty shell, the other is original, and the other is her system.
Original systems have a direct link to the gray energy's tributary and can directly draw energy from it. Empty shells, on the other hand, are not connected to the gray energy at all and are dependent on other systems, usually her own, to sustain themselves.
Her own system is basically inside the core of gray energy and is nearly indistinguishable from it; she can draw massive quantities of gray energy using her system and can exert a tiny bit of control over the source of gray energy using her system. As for why only a tiny bit, that's because she is only rank 14; it's impossible to exert complete control over a quasi-rank 15 with only rank 14.
Still, her tiny bit of control over a rank 15 is incalculably better than that of other rank 14s who only draw a bit of creation energy from the creation; that's why Rachel is so much more powerful than even very old rank 14s. In the end, energy is everything; not even universal laws are as important as energy; as long as one has enough energy, no kind of law can stop them.
Jack had a cheat ability; when hurt, he would get stronger. At first, his ability was limited and was an active ability working only when he activated it, but now, it's a passive one, always active.
It is literally impossible for anyone to kill him, as he would only get stronger the more people try harming him. His weakness was sealing techniques, as those wouldn't strengthen him and could have dire consequences.
For a very long time, it has been common sense that nobody can resist a universal law without using a universal law; Jack has broken that iron rule. Now, he can defeat weaker rank 13s without using any universal laws. If one thinks carefully, it should not be strange; after all, Jack's system is drawing from the endless tributary of gray energy; of course, he could defeat rank 13s. But it's still amazing to see someone resisting a universal law using only their physical body.
Opening his eyes, he looked up, and the whole cave, which was under a massive mountain, crumbled, yet the mountain didn't fall. Only the passive air pressure emitted from Jack's mouth was enough to keep everything intact. It kept a balance between not blowing away everything and not letting things fall.
Stretching out of habit, Jack stood up and started walking down the mountain.
This world is one Jack casually made with only some incomplete laws; usually, such worlds cannot survive long in the chaos, but, with Jack residing in it, not even chaos outside could dare to get close; it was repelled with only his passive pressure.
Normally, rank 13s rely on universal laws and don't leave spells passive, as it would cost them. But, Jack isn't using any universal law; he can walk around without care for expenditure; his system takes care of the maintenance cost.
After coming down, he went to his house. After a few minutes, someone knocked.
"Come in!" he said.
A woman with red hair, quite beautiful from most perspectives, came in, looking distressed.
"Jack-sama! Please come out! The village chief is looking for you!" she said.
Jack nodded and stood up.
This rank 9 world is a dream world. Over the past trillion years, Rachel's hosts' jobs were to create and grow dream worlds and feed them to her when they matured. Jack, as one of her prominent hosts, was also expected to contribute dream worlds.
Slowly walking, Jack reached the village chief, an old man, cleanly shaven, not matching the ancient theme one might expect of a village chief.
"Jack-dono! The Kampaku have sent troops to look for you! Please leave here; otherwise, you might be captured," the village chief said with a pained face.
Jack said calmly, "How can I leave? Kampaku would never leave you guys alive after he found out you guys helped me. As the hero of the time, it's my duty to protect you!" He said with a righteous tone.
He continued, "Just last night, through cultivation in Mount Takai, I was enlightened; now, I am confident to defeat anyone that Kampaku may send!"
"But, Jack-dono! He wouldn't just send swordsmen; He would send crossbowmen, and many of them, in addition to cavalry. Please, leave now, Jack-dono!" the village chief insisted, almost begging for him to leave.
Just before Jack could say anything, someone screamed, "Village chief-sama! Kampaku's men are attacking the west gate!"