The world within the Shadow Realm seemed to be tinged with a dark filter, as everything within it appeared a tone darker than in the main continent.
In the sky hung a permanent solar eclipse, and the earth was gray and dull. The realm seemed to be an inversion of the main world.
After Louie entered the cave, his vision blanked out. When he could see again, he made out an endless gray scene that was devoid of life.
“The Shadow Realm!”
Louie said in a deep voice.
He looked around and found himself and the army in what appeared to be a deep valley.
Louie’s heart thumped. He grasped the soil on the ground with his claws and closed his eyes to feel the life force within it.
The energy was lacking in some respects, but it was enough for the cultivation of crops.
Over the past few months, Louie had become more and more knowledgeable about the requirements of running a city. And so upon landing within the Shadow Realm, his first thoughts pertained to its suitability for long-term settlement.
‘If this place is secluded enough and safe enough, this could be used as a production base. I can’t keep relying on Earth for important resources like food… Unfortunately, it seems security might be an issue.’
Thinking about the patrolmen that died, Louie knew that unless he could get rid of the latent danger within, it was impossible for him to establish a secret base for growing crops.
The exit of the dimension was too close to Dragon City, and so Louie could hardly leave it be. He needed to take direct action. Now that he had lit up the divine authority of magic, he didn’t have to solely rely on the godhood anymore, so he personally led the exploration of this place.
“Send out scouts to find if there are any living creatures nearby. The rest of you take a break.”
When his orders were passed down, the army immediately mobilized. The leader of the scouts assigned manpower and scattered them in all directions. The rest of the people maintained vigilance while resting in preparation for any potential crisis.
“The Shadow Realm… Connecting dimensions is becoming more and more difficult.”
Sisna looked at the grey world with a complicated expression and sighed, “After the Era of Disaster, the gods disappeared. The connections between the major realms have thus thinned. Except for some powerful mages who can travel alone, it is almost impossible to connect realms at such a scale.”
Hearing Sisna’s lament, Louie thought about the history of the world and the existence of the Shadow Realm.
The Shadow Realm was an existence that mirrored the main continent. That meant it was just as big as the main continent. Therefore, Louie was not interested in their exact location.
The Shadow Realm completely wrapped around the main continent. If anyone wanted to go to a different realm such as Hell, Abyss, or Heaven, they would need to pass through the Shadow Realm.
There were even some professions, such as assassins, who hid in the Shadow Realm and used it as a hiding spot before revealing themselves in the main world and assassinating their targets.
After the Era of Disaster had passed, many Gods lost the faith of the people. Only a small number of Gods were still able to give divine blessings, while the rest fell into a deep slumber.
Those myriads of sects and religions had hidden in the shadows because without the blessing of the Gods, they had lost their powers. Even the human kingdoms and empires had lost their faiths. Only the Theocracy gathered most of the faith from humans while the rest of the world was a desert of faith.
This was the current era, an era without faith.
There wasn’t much recorded about the Era of Disaster. People only knew that it was a cataclysmic event involving the multiverse. Many realms were wrecked in that catastrophe, and even Heaven and the Abyss. The stars that symbolized the Gods also fell from the skies like a meteor shower. Most of the life in San Soliel had also perished.
The current civilization of San Soliel was born from the ruins of that cataclysmic event. Those who survived it and lived to the present day were very few in number. That’s why history was also called the ‘lost history’.
Louie knew that the cataclysm was caused by an invasion from outside the Crystal Wall System. Those invaders were the Terran Civilization.
“It’s said that the Kingdom of the Goddess of Night is somewhere in the Shadow Realm…”
Lysfer suddenly spoke with faint excitement in her eyes.
“Put away your greed. Even if it is the ruins of a God’s kingdom, mortals should not covet it casually.”
Louie’s calm words dispelled Lysfer’s greed. She bowed her head to show respect.
‘In fact, I also want to go to that kingdom and explore it. I might even be able to find a divine weapon. It’s just that this place is so big that it’ll likely take ages. It’s also said that the Goddess of Night is a very secretive God. It won’t be easy to look for it,” Louie muttered.
At the same time, he thought of the current Theocracy. The Theocracy did not solely believe in one God but multiple Gods. In addition to their belief in the Goddess of Morning, they also believed in the Goddess of Night, the God of War, and the God of Love and Beauty.
These four Gods that were not related to each other were actually strung to a single religion. There were definitely twists and turns to this.
According to what Louie knew about the history of the world, before the era of disaster, the Goddess of Morning, Goddess of Night, and Silver Moon Goddess were enemies. However, as symbols of night and day, the Goddess of Morning and Goddess of Night finally united. Together they became a religion along with the God of War and the God of Love and Beauty. These four Gods covered a wide array of divine authorities.
‘The origin of the Theocracy is quite problematic. Perhaps the existence of the Theocracy was created by the remnants of the Gods.’
Louie had a hunch that a turning point in the current era would soon arrive. It would be the best era in some ways but also the worst era in others. It was the time where the Gods were recovering and quietly waiting for the time when the stars returned to their places!
‘That’s why I must become the protagonist of this era.’
Louie’s eyes narrowed and had no more doubts about the future.
At this time, a scout returned and reported, “Milord, we found a village in that direction!”
The scout did not know how to distinguish the directions in the Shadow Realm, so he just pointed with his hand.
“You found a village?”
Louie thought for a moment, “They are likely natives of the Shadow Realm. How many people are there, and how strong are they?”
“I didn’t dare get too close, but based on observation, the village isn’t very big and appears dilapidated. There are only some wooden fences and no proper walls or defensive facilities.”
The scout accurately reported to Louie. Louie raised his head and ordered, “All troops, set out. Let’s head to the village to find out more information about the Shadow Realm!”
The soldiers quickly got up and marched at an orderly pace.