Red Dragon Tribe, Dragon Summit

The nine dragon lords congregated on the land mass floating above First Peak, but none rested on their dragon throne in Vaan's presence. They also didn't want their eye level to be higher than Vaan's if given a choice.

Thanks to the increased fire affinity and Fire Spirit Body, they were able to manipulate their bodies to an extent. As such, they reduced their sizes by one-third, increasing their body density and making them sturdier and more powerful.

However, the nine dragon lords were huge legendary creatures, to begin with. Thus, even with a one-third reduction in body size, they were still much bigger than Vaan.

Vaan never cared for such dragon etiquette, nor did it make any sense to him. It wasn't reasonable to make dragons lower their eye level than a human's.

"Alright, stop fussing around and take your seats. I have something important to discuss," Vaan urged.

Once his words were said, none of the nine dragon lords dawdled with indecision and hesitation.

"What is this important matter you want to discuss with us, Supreme Leader?" Astarot inquired.

"During my trip…" Vaan recounted Empyrean Scarletsea's story about the almighty foreign invaders and the general level of True Divinity.

Then, he mentioned his doubts regarding the high frequency of reincarnated beings on Pangea and his speculation on the destruction of countless worlds, which was most likely connected to Empyrean Scarletsea's story.

"It's like that," Vaan summarised before asking, "What do the dragon lords make of this? Does anyone know why these almighty foreign invaders appeared in this chaosverse or why they are destroying everything?"

"This…"

Astarot and the other eight dragon lords were greatly startled by Vaan's information and looked at each other with dismay and horror. They could also see the graveness in each other's eyes.

"Lord Narvim, of the nine of us, you are the most knowledgeable on the subject of our homeworld, Chaos," Astarot mentioned before requesting, "Please share with us your thoughts on this topic."

"Very well," Narvim acknowledged with a solemn look and a heavy heart. His gaze revealed his inner turmoil and doubts, but it was also clear he had some ideas or guesses. Still, he took a moment to contemplate where to start.

"I think everyone already knows Chaos has existed for a very long time, a hundred and twenty-eight chaos cycles to be exact, according to some sources. At the end of each chaos cycle, a new chaosverse inevitably becomes a part of Chaos. Then, a new chaos cycle starts."

Narvim's brief yet concise summary of Chaos's history received the nods of every other dragon lord present.

"However, not every new chaosverse entering Chaos is dominated by intelligent life. There are many reasons, such as overwhelming natural disasters and tribulations, for why the native intelligent life failed to achieve their peak evolution and dominate their chaosverse."

"But regardless of the reasons, once an ungoverned chaosverse enters Chaos, it would undoubtedly become a part of the Wilderness," Narvim stated.

"What is this Wilderness, Lord Narvim?" Vaan asked with curiosity.

"The Wilderness refers to a collective group of ungovernable chaosverses due to extremely powerful non-intelligent lifeforms, which were allowed uncontrolled growth when their chaosverses merged with Chaos, Supreme Leader," Narvim patiently answered.

The Wilderness was most likely overrun with non-intelligent lifeforms or lifeforms of lesser intelligence. Furthermore, while intelligent life in the Wilderness wasn't necessarily extinct, they were mostly primitives.

Any intelligent life or civilization that failed to achieve the level of interstellar travel and leave their home planets was considered primitive.

As such, by that definition, the current humans on Pangea were all primitives in the eyes of Chaos.

Vaan gradually understood how Gehenna viewed Pangea.

Since Pangea was considered primitive, Gehenna did not need to treat it equally. All of Pangea's resources were free to plunder, and all its life was theirs to enslave or destroy. Pangea had no right because it was primitive; it didn't have a divine-level protector.

Yet, Pangea had not been overrun by Gehenna.

Vaan originally thought it was due to the Fire Dragon God, as the Red Dragon Tribe had believed. However, one Fire Dragon God wasn't enough to deter all seven Great Devils.

He also suspected it had something to do with Golden Dragon Pangea, but he couldn't be sure either.

Crucial information was still lacking.

"Do you know how many chaosverses have become parts of the Wilderness, Lord Narvim?"

"I don't, unfortunately, Supreme Leader. Denizens of Chaos at our level don't have access to the latest news since we have only explored a very small, infinitesimal part of Chaos. It wouldn't be strange if any news we hear is already several dozens of chaos cycles old."

"I see…"lightsnovel

"However, I do know that during the era when the Lord of Chaos was still weak and young, there were only thirty-three chaosverses in Chaos, and twenty-one of them were part of the Wilderness then. So, using that as a reference, I would assume around eighty chaosverses are part of the Wilderness now."

lightsΝοvel

Vaan's lips twitched after hearing Narvim's guestimation.

Unexpectedly, even with someone as powerful as the Lord of Chaos ruling over Chaos, there were still so many existing wild chaosverses.

Perhaps the Lord of Chaos didn't care about the conquest of wild chaosverses?

"So, when I heard about the Supreme Leader's information, it had me wondering if some higher-level divine beings invaded this chaosverse to plunder resources," Narvim stated.

"It's reasonable to think of that," Vaan calmly nodded.

Indeed, since wild chaosverses were extremely powerful, targeting a weak chaosverse with an incomplete chaos cycle seemed like a matter of course if one wanted to acquire easier resources.

"However, this possibility has one major flaw – the power of the foreign invaders that destroyed Empyrean Scarletsea's Divine Realm,' Vaan mentioned.

"That's right, Supreme Leader," Narvim did not deny the fact and even wholeheartedly agreed. "This is also the part that confuses me after hearing about the power structure of the Divine Realm."

"A being that could become eternal in this chaosverse is far stronger than an eternal being from Chaos. And a being that could even surpass eternity would put them on the same level as the Lord of Chaos."

"However, the Lord of Chaos does not need to plunder the resources of any chaosverse. That's because if the Lord of Chaos wished for it, he could create any chaosverse and acquire any kind of resource he desired. His existence itself is something that has already transcended the very definition of existence as we know it. Well, at least, that was what I read."

"But moving forward, based on your description of the foreign invaders, none of them should be the Lord of Chaos. After all, the Lord of Chaos is of human origins, while these foreign invaders… Well, I don't know what they are either, to be honest."

"But if these foreign invaders are level on the same level as the Lord of Chaos, then it also doesn't seem like they are from Chaos. After all, they didn't come to plunder resources from this chaosverse. Instead, they are destroying everything – that goes the will of the Lord of Chaos," Narvim stated.

"If they are not from Chaos, then where could they come from?" Vaan frowned with puzzlement.

However, his question also puzzled the nine dragon lords. That was something they all wanted to know as well.

They did not know it was possible for anything to exist outside of chaosverses and Chaos. After all, beyond the boundary was only nothingness. Anyone or anything that entered the endless sea of nihility would be reduced to nothing.

"Perhaps these foreign invaders come from the Wilderness?" Khaleesi made a wild guess, even though she had no basis for it.

But apart from the Wilderness, which could possibly account for more than eighty unexplored wild chaosverses, she could not think of anywhere else that could accommodate such powerful destruction-

seeking unknown beings.

"That seems possible. Not much is known about the Wilderness. It could have all kinds of flora and fauna, even natural disasters, which Chaos had never seen before," Astarot added with a worrisome expression.

Many dragon lords were bothered by the fact there were Beyond True Divinity-level existences on the loose, seeking the destruction of everything in their wake.

However, their Supreme Leader's doubt regarding the frequent reincarnation in Pangea raised one very important question – how much of the chaosverse had already been destroyed?

"If Beyond True Divinity-level existences have been going around destroying all life for billions of years, I wonder how much of this chaosverse is still left?" Sixth Peak Lord Tyvrin asked.

A heavy mood suffused the entire Dragon Summit.

No one knew the answer, but they were all certain the chaosverse's time was quickly ticking. If the foreign invaders visited their world, it would instantly become a region of death. No one would have time to flee from a Beyond True Divinity-level attack.

Fleeing to Chaos seemed like their only option for salvation.

They had to raise their power quickly.

"What's with the heavy atmosphere? Given how barren this world is, I doubt those higher-level beings would know if there's any life here. Moreover, there are so many stars in the night sky. Isn't that a good indication that many worlds still exist?" Kemun with a baffled look.

However, Vaan could only smile wryly at his question.

Even if a star died, they wouldn't know about it right away. For example, a star dying over a thousand light-years away would also take exactly a thousand light-years before anyone on Pangea saw its light disappear from the night sky.

As such, using the stars in the night sky to measure the chaosverse's remaining life was not very reliable.

On another note, Kemun's words made Vaan realize something.