Cloud made his way to his personal "Dimensional Furnace" chamber—his private vault for storing various spoils of war.
"Sigh, being a Sovereign is exhausting," he groaned, flopping onto a small mountain of divine artifacts and enchanted blades. He casually picked up a crystal that radiated a faint blue glow and began toying with it.
This was none other than the Space Stone fragment—the one that had once shown Cloud glimpses of the Avengers.
Now, through his Sovereign's vision, this tiny crystal appeared as an infinite repository of spatial laws, a "code library" composed of countless dimensional rules.
The concept of "space" here wasn't like the flexible, malleable thing in the KOF world that could be easily torn or distorted by qi. It was more like the underlying logic of the universe itself—ones and zeros, absolute and incontrovertible rules.
It told you that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line. But it also told you that with sufficient authority, you could simply overlap those two points entirely.
"Interesting..." Cloud's eyes sparkled with an explorer's gleam that had been absent for quite some time. "It's like an action game veteran suddenly discovering a sandbox game where you can write your own mods and scripts. This is way more entertaining than dealing with daily harem drama."
Just as he was thoroughly enjoying himself, the System's voice echoed in his mind—now upgraded to an insufferably sycophantic AI butler mode.
[Ding dong~ Good afternoon, my most respected, magnificent, handsome-yet-brilliant Dimensional Sovereign!]
"Speak normally," Cloud said irritably.
[Ahem... Reporting to the Sovereign,] the System's voice instantly became professional. [The Space Stone in your possession has been detected. Its law-source points to a brand-new dimensional universe with extremely high energy levels and far greater dimensional complexity. According to database comparisons, this universe's civilization level and energy systems far exceed any world you have previously encountered.]
A holographic star map unfolded before Cloud. Among the coordinates, one marked "Marvel-616" blinked with an enticing glow.
[System recommendation: You may expend one million Source Points to construct a temporary dimensional corridor to this coordinate for a... friendly academic exchange visit.]
"Academic exchange? I like that term." The corner of Cloud's mouth curved into his signature pre-mischief grin.
[However,] the System's voice took on a warning tone, [I must inform you, Sovereign. Your Dimensional Sovereign powers are constructed from the laws of all the worlds you have conquered and analyzed. Upon entering a completely new, higher-dimensional world, that world's law barriers will strongly suppress and reject your powers.]
[Simply put, many of your reality-warping abilities may temporarily fail or be severely weakened. Your System panel will also enter power-saving mode while it re-analyzes the new world's rules. Your current situation will be akin to a max-level player with legendary gear suddenly jumping into a brand-new game version where most of your equipment turns gray and you need to start farming from scratch.]
"Oh? Farming with debuffs?" Cloud's eyes lit up even more. "Doesn't that make it more interesting? I've been bullying noobs in the starter village for so long that my bones are getting rusty. Time to hit the endgame maps and stretch my limbs."
"Decided!" He slapped his thigh. "I'm heading to this Marvel world for some sightseeing!"
...
When Cloud announced his decision to "take a business trip to the neighboring universe" at the family dinner, the atmosphere at the table instantly transformed from "Great Drumstick Scramble" to "Inquisition Tribunal."
"Absolutely not! It's too dangerous!" Mai Shiranui was first to slam the table, sending certain impressive assets into turbulent motion. "You just retired, and your injuries—" (mostly from being dragged around shopping) "—haven't even healed properly!"
"Cloud, please reconsider," Chizuru Kagura's expression was equally grave. "An unknown world powerful enough to suppress even your abilities harbors incalculable risks."
"If you go... take me." Leona's response was, as always, brief and to the point.
"I wanna go too! I wanna go too! I heard other worlds have more ice cream flavors!" Kula waved her spoon, eyes sparkling with stars.
Facing his agitated harem, Cloud's head swelled to twice its size.
It took him a full three hours, deploying every ounce of his eloquence (plus personalized "promises" for each girl—limited-edition bags for Mai, alien-flavored ice cream for Kula, researching new-world tea ceremony with Chizuru, etc.) to finally calm these "sweet burdens."
In the end, amid the reluctant farewells of his beloved harem, Cloud embarked on his new journey.
Before leaving, Chizuru Kagura solemnly pressed into his hand an "Emergency Cross-Dimensional Communication Talisman," crafted from a fragment of the Yata Mirror and inscribed with complex runes. "If you encounter true danger, crush it. No matter how far, we will come to bring you home."
As for Mai Shiranui, eyes rimmed with red, she stubbornly forced upon him an enormous bento box wrapped in the most luxurious fabric imaginable.
"While you're out there—no flirting with other women! Also, eat on time! And don't you dare complain about my rice balls!"
Cloud looked at the bento box, larger than his own head, torn between laughter and tears. He knew it was packed with the heaviest love and worry this tsundere ninja could express.
"Don't worry. It's just a business trip. I'll be back soon."
Cloud gave each of them a heartfelt embrace, then resolutely turned away. Using the Space Stone fragment as his key, he tore open a dimensional rift into the unknown.
The crossing was far rougher than he'd anticipated.
He felt as though he'd been tossed into an industrial-strength tumble dryer set to maximum spin.
The massive law barriers of this world pressed in from all directions like hundreds of millions of tons of seawater.
His "Dimensional Sovereign" body, confronting these higher-order rules, actually felt a hint of pressure.
His powers were being rapidly "formatted" and "downgraded."
"Interesting... this world's firewall is pretty high-level."
After what felt like an eternity of tumbling, a sliver of light finally appeared.
THUD!
Cloud felt himself falling from a great height, landing on a pile of something soft that emitted... well, a rather peculiar sour stench.
He scrambled out of the heap of garbage bags, dusted himself off, and found himself in a narrow alley—dark, damp, and covered in graffiti.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"