Chapter 370: Ch 370 : The Golden King

While the Demon Lords were trapped in a labyrinth of their own paranoid theories, convinced that Sunny was using the Pearl of Calamity as a celestial moving van, the Sovereign himself was far beyond their reach.

In the lightless currents of the deep void, Sunny was a blur of violet-gold intent. Every Void Step he took didn’t just cross space; it folded the very fabric of the bubble, bridging gaps between multiverses that would take a God years to navigate.

Efficiency was no longer a goal for Sunny; it was a fundamental law of his existence. He had already dispatched ten specialized teams into the dark, but that was merely the tip of the iceberg. Spread across the cosmic horizon were fifteen of his clones, each spearheading identical operations. In total, nearly 160 multiverses were currently in various stages of being conquered.

If Sunny had attempted to capture these realms one by one, he would still be tending to a single tree while the rest of the forest withered.

By delegating the harvest to his Pantheon, he had transformed a slow crawl of conquest into a simultaneous, multi-dimensional resonance. It wasn’t just about saving time; it was about evolution.

Each world integrated by his Gods gave them the Faith and experience necessary to eventually govern multiverses of their own.

Even though the Gods worked in parallel, the sheer scale of the task was immense, yet the efficiency of these Gods was undeniable. They were the cogs in a machine designed to swallow the bubble whole.

However, as Sunny’s external empire grew, a different kind of evolution was taking place within the Elsewhere of his soul.

Inside the Inner World, the chaotic storm of the Era of Friction had finally begun to settle into a structured, iron-fisted stability.

The epicenter of this new order was Veridia.

Anohara, the great-grandchild of the legendary Anaske, had achieved what many thought impossible: he had united the five continents and floating isles of Veridia under a single banner, the Cosmic Empire.

He understood that while The Gods had removed the Divine Safety Net, the Sovereign had not forbidden mortals from weaving their own net of safety rules.

Anohara’s reign was built on the foundation of the Imperial Mandate. He was wise enough to allow the Lone Wolves, those fiercely independent cultivators and warriors, to live outside his cities, provided they followed the basic laws of his constitution.

The rules were deceptively simple: no unsanctioned killing, no theft of merits, and absolute transparency in trade.

If a man felt wronged, he didn’t draw his sword; he took his grievance to the Imperial Courts, where high-tier telepaths ensured a verdict of Absolute Truth.

Gradually, under these rules, the localized killing and robbing decreased. Many criminals were branded as Wanted, forcing them to hide in the dark, cold corners of the world, constantly looking over their shoulders for the shimmering armor of the Imperial Warriors.

Under the empire’s shadow, new Kingdoms began to sprout, led by race leaders or those chosen by the masses, like some influential families created their own Kingdoms under the banner of Cosmic Empire.

Each kingdom followed the fundamental constitution of the empire, but they were allowed to implement additional local rules, provided they were passed by Anohara and the imperial court first.

The Orcs, for instance, demanded the right to hold life-and-death battles to satisfy their ancient traditions of blood and honor.

Because the Empire viewed killing as a crime, Anohara adjusted the rules for their territory: such duels were permitted only if both parties provided documented, soul-bound consent in front of an Arbiter.

In just two years of establishing this constitution, the Cosmic Empire had stabilized completely, turning Veridia into a golden beacon of civilization within Sunny’s palm.

But the System Forums still showed a high rate of crime in other worlds. The lifeforms beyond Veridia were still struggling to create a proper social structure, living in a state of perpetual Friction. Seeing this, Anohara made a grand decision: he would unite the entire Inner World. But for now he decided that he would only let those, who were willing to join under his barrier.

He created a forum of his own, a digital and spiritual embassy where leaders from across the multiverse could gather under the flag of the Cosmic Empire.

At first, many were skeptical. Why should they bow to a man on a floating island halfway across the multiverse, But slowly, the benefits of the alliance became impossible to ignore.

Veridia was the first world of Sunny, the God Emperor. It was the Primal Seed.

Because of the legendary contributions of ancestors like Thorn, Vel, and Anaske, the world was filled with Merits.

These merits had been passed down like genetic traits. Anohara was currently the richest mortal in existence, holding a balance of billions of Merits, a fortune many times greater than what a few-century-old Demigod would possess.

With this wealth, Veridia had become the industrial heart of the soul. Spaceships, magical techniques, advanced weaponry, and S-Grade artifacts were all produced in the Veridian forges.

Any world that joined the Cosmic Empire was given priority over these orders and a special Discount.

Seeing this, nearly 20 billion worlds joined the flag, seeking the prosperity of the Sovereign’s First Children. The remaining 30 billion worlds decided to stay independent, watching the growing behemoth with narrowed eyes and sharpening blades.

In one such independent world, nestled in the emerald mists of a distant sector, a secret meeting was being held in a dimly lit hall carved from a single block of jade.

“That Anohara…. He has united 20 billion worlds,” a soft, melodious voice echoed through the chamber.

The speaker wore a veil that obscured her face, but her eyes were visible; glowing with a mesmerizing, toxic green light that seemed to pulse with a hidden power.

“The news forums are filled with his face. If things do not change, he will combine every world in this multiverse, and we will be forced to join him just to survive. We will be ghosts in our own history. We must act.”

“Your Highness,” a minister replied, stepping out of the shadows with an oily, perpetual smile. “We currently have a hundred thousand worlds under our command. To the commoners, we are a superpower. But in front of that behemoth, our empire looks like a kitten standing before a dragon.”

“Your face tells me you have an answer,” the Empress noted, resting her chin on her hand. Her green eyes narrowed, reflecting the dim torches of the hall.

“Observation is your greatest talent, Highness,” the minister said, an evil grin spreading across his face.

“It is basic science: what the masses see regularly becomes their truth. These leaders see the benefits of Anohara because he dominates the forums. He has won the battle of optics. We cannot fight his wealth, but we can rot his reputation from the inside out.”

“How?” the Empress asked, her tone sharpening.

“We change the perspective of the people,” the minister whispered. “We ask our most trusted lifeforms to spam the forums with messages that demean his reign.”

“We will fabricate stories of corruption, of Merits being stolen from the poor to fund his luxuries. We will create leaks of Imperial cruelty. The more people see these fake posts, the more they will doubt him. We will turn the Golden King into a Golden Tyrant in the eyes of the public before he can even reach for our borders.”

The Empress leaned back, her green eyes reflecting the dark ambition of her advisor. In the Era of Friction, the wars were no longer just fought with steel and spells. They were fought with the very thing Sunny had given them: Information.

“Begin the campaign,” the Empress commanded. “Let us see how many Merits it takes to buy back a shattered reputation.”

As the minister bowed and retreated into the darkness, the jade hall felt colder. The Inner World was no longer a nursery; it had become a court of vipers, and the first Information War of the new Age had just begun.

Deep in the void, Sunny’s Divine Eyes flickered. Though he was searching for new multiverses, a fragment of his consciousness remained tethered to the System Forums of his inner world.

He saw the first ripple of the misinformation campaign. He saw the first leaked document claiming Anohara was a tyrant.

He could have deleted the posts with a thought. He could have erased the Empress and her minister from existence.

But he didn’t.

“Let the friction burn,” Sunny thought, a cold smile touching his lips. “A King who cannot survive a lie is not fit to rule my Empire. Show me your worth, Anohara. Or let the Jade Empress take your crown.”

These games of mortals were merely a drop of water to the war of the Gods, thus he decided to focus on the bigger picture and let the demigods handle his inner world.

With a final Void Step, Sunny vanished into the darkness, moving toward a coordinate that hummed with the resonance of an ancient yet at the same time a new Power.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep