Chapter 133. Continent Wide Earthquake
Currently, Catherina is entering the final stage of her dragon life.
Cedric observed the elderly yet still lively Catherina and talked to her using [Divine Intervention:Word].
Without wasting time, he directly posed his main question.
[Are you interested in extending your lifespan? I intend to modify and upgrade your body to a special version of the dragon race I recently introduced to the world.]
Honestly, Cedric has prepared a special upgrade for Catherina. It took him a long time, but it is a masterpiece he created using most of the biological knowledge he had gained since becoming a god.
A long time ago, Cedric became curious whether he could upgrade a creature’s body, so he asked the System, and it said he could use GP to modify existing creatures. However, it would require a lot of GP, and there’s a chance the creature’s level might decrease.
Still, that didn’t stop Cedric.
The body he planned for Catherina is essentially similar to the v2 dragon. It has the v2 dragon’s breath ability and design. But if it was just that, Cedric wouldn’t call it his masterpiece. The reason he calls it a masterpiece is that, in exchange for making the dragon’s body almost infertile, slightly smaller than other V2 dragons, requiring a Level 4 soul to control, and probably decreasing its leveling speed. The body he designed has an extremely long lifespan. The System said the body’s lifespan could reach 3,000 years and increase exponentially as the level rises.
While at it, Cedric also learned that every creature’s physical lifespan is pretty easy to increase, but they still couldn’t achieve immortality like a god because their soul also have a lifespan.
Although the lifespan of a soul is much higher than the body’s lifespan, once the soul’s lifespan ends, the only thing that can help them is the lifespan fruit that increases both physical and soul lifespan, or obtaining a blessing from the universe like Lacius.
***
In the Crystal Cube world, Catherina, who had been busy browsing the internet while a servant brushed her scales, fixed her gaze on the screen that hadn’t appeared in a long time. After noticing the screen, Catherina dismissed the servant around her and inquired, “Why the sudden generosity?”
If only a few years had passed since the demon king was defeated, Catherina would assume it’s a reward for her efforts in defeating the demon king. But giving a reward after 300 years? Even a fool would question that, and Catherina isn’t one to be easily fooled.
[A small part is to thank you for defeating the demon king. I knew I took too long to do so, but I've been busy with other things. Besides that, I also want to ask you for a few favors.]
After Cedric asked for a favor, Catherina narrowed her eyes and said, “I knew it. What kind of modification is this? What is the new dragon you mentioned? What kind of favor are you asking for? And what will you do if I refuse?”
[Let me explain slowly.]
Cedric explained the dragons V.2 while showing Catherina images of them.
Compared to dragon V.1, dragon V.2 has a much sleeker design, but this doesn’t make it less imposing. Instead, it makes them appear more aerodynamic. He also discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the special body he plans to give her.
Honestly, Cedric kinda felt like a salesman as he explained the dragon’s spec to Catherina.
After seeing the V.2 dragon and knowing the special body Cedric prepared can greatly extend her lifespan, Catherina’s eyes shone as she nodded.
Seeing her nod, Cedric knew it was basically already a done deal.
He continued to answer Catherina’s other questions.
[The favor I ask of you relates to the giant ants beneath the dwarves' territory. Those demons have overstayed their welcome, so I plan to eliminate all of them. Before that, I want you to use the Adventurer Guild and Magic Association to rescue the kidnapped elves andd dwarves, because I can't control my power and might accidentally cause a disaster. I also want you to help handle the aftermath and take care of any survivors among the giant ants.
“How do you plan to attack?” Catherina curiously asked.
[Indirect earthquake.]
Before Catherina asked for more details, Cedric answered her last question.
[If you don’t want to help me, then I’ll still deal with the giant ants and ignore the casualties. As for you, I’ll still upgrade your body to the new dragonkind if you’re willing, but I won’t give you the special upgrade that greatly extends your lifespan.]
Catherina contemplated for a moment and agreed, “Alright, I'll accept your deal.”
***
In the Divine Space, Cedric subtly smiled.
“As expected, Catherina agreed.“
Honestly, he isn’t afraid that Catherina will decline his deal.
Before he started his research to create a new body for Catherina, Cedric already studied her personality.
Unlike Elisa, who has somewhat lost the will to live after Ghiana’s death, or Lacius, who’s extremely problematic, Catherina is somewhere in the middle.
She is definitely not against having a longer lifespan. After all, unlike Elisa, Catherina doesn’t have any deep ties with anyone, so she doesn’t fear outliving everyone. Instead, living a long time will give her more time to surf the internet, which she enjoys.
Then, unlike Lacius, who’s gone mad while seeking eternal life, Catherina is pretty chill about lifespan. For her, any extra lifespan is a bonus.
Furthermore, from how she acknowledged the promise to handle the demon king in exchange for being reincarnated in his world, or from her dealing with the Magic Association or other people, Cedric felt Catherina should be someone willing to do a fair exchange.
The main issue is her aesthetic sense. If she finds the dragon V.2 unattractive, Cedric might need to spend important time during the world upgrade to come up with a new design for Catherina. Luckily, she agreed, so he could start work immediately.
With Catherina’s agreement, Cedric used his GP to mold her body.
Upgrading something into something else is much more difficult than creating something from nothing.
So, the time it took to change Catherina's body into the special V.2 dragon is equal to the time it took for creating thousand of Mermaids.
Not only that, changing her body into the special V.2 dragon cost him 500 GP, a lot of stability, and also caused Catherina’s life level to decrease to Mid Level 4.
After ensuring Catherina’s upgrade had stabilized and fully followed his design, Cedric finally prepared to deal with the ants in the dwarf’s area.
He couldn’t directly kill them because the System had once stated that even his will to attack could be enough to damage the world itself. So, Cedric told the dwarves to evacuate the tunnels tomorrow, while using the favor gained from modifying Catherina’s body to make her and the Adventurer Guild rescue the dwarves and elves captured by the underground ants.
After three days, once Cedric saw all of the kidnapped dwarves and elves had been rescued, he made his move.
Cedric used his divine power to choose a perfect spot before creating a massive chasm between the kraken and the mermaid’s area. Thanks to his calculation, the chasm only caused minor damage to the surrounding krakens, but the same couldn’t be said for others.
Opening those chasms caused the world’s tectonic plates to shift. In a domino effect, by the time it reached the dwarf territory, the tectonic move caused massive underground damage, churning the ground like a soup stirred dozens of times.
Although not as extreme as the underground damage, the northern part of the continent’s surface is still filled with earthquakes of various sizes. Some even spread to elven and human areas.
Basically, half of the world experienced the earthquake to different extents. After half a day, many surface buildings in the dwarven area, as well as some of the elves’ trees, have collapsed. Meanwhile, all underground tunnels have completely caved in, resulting in the deaths of every ant and some dwarves who ignored his warning to evacuate.
The earthquake was so intense that nearly every mineral vein shifted location, with many surfacing or going further underground.
As promised, once everything had settled, Cathrina finally handled the aftermath by rebuilding all affected cities and sending the adventurer guild to eliminate the surviving giant ants. By this point, less than a day remained before Cedric’s world fully upgraded to Level 3.
He opened the stability panel for a moment to check the stability of his world.
[Stability: 9%
Note: Please stop intervening when your world’s stability has reached 5%, as it might cause lasting damage to your world that’ll continue even after the upgrade process has been completed.]
Expanding the continent and creating species cost him more than forty percent of his stability. Meanwhile, the remaining forty-something percent is used to upgrade Catherina's body and indirectly causes an earthquake that kills every giant ant.
Because underground giant ants prove to be too annoying an enemy and have been responsible for two demon kings: the giant ant queen and the flesh ball. Cedric is willing to spend more than half of his stability to gain peace of mind.
With the remaining 9% stability, Cedric thought for a moment before deciding to add more magical metals, magical beasts, and magical plants to his world.
He especially focused on giving magic metal to the dwarves’ cities that had been affected by the earthquake he caused. Which made them lose both their mine tunnel and the magic mineral vein.
After adding 300 GP worth of magical metal, minerals, and magical plants, Cedric finally paused and calmly opened his status panel while waiting for his world to finish upgrading.
[Name: Cedric Hills
Level: Pseudo Lesser Divinity (Actual level: Peak Level 6)
Law: None.
World: Crystal Cube World
World Level: 3
World’s Average Potential: Peak Level 0
GP: 1.194
Annual GP income: 16]
While waiting, Cedric checked the Crystal Cube world to see the races he just added.
After a few days, all the races he just created have gotten used to living in the world.
The fairies began to cheerfully play with each other, the mermaids also began to swim all over the place, the dragons had gathered together in a playful, chaotic melee battle.
Cedric only became speechless when he checked what the krakens were doing.
Unlike the other races, the krakens are now entangled together into a giant ball made out of constantly slithering tentacles.
Cedric observed the krakens for a bit longer until his eyes widened when he realized what was going on.
“You guys are just born recently and already got horny? Not only that, they’re actually doing it together! All fifty of them are doing it together at once?!” Cedric half shouted as his face turned aghast.
Turning a blind eye on Cedric’s shock, the System sent a mechanical notification while Cedric just thought of doing one last edit to the kraken to make them less easily aroused.
[Congratulations, your world has finished upgrading.]
[Warning, world stability has stopped being strengthened and has returned to normal.]
[Removing temporary stability meter function.]
“Well, guess I must make do with this kraken. I just hope no problem came out of it.” Cedric sighed.