Dan sat upon his stone throne within the separate dimensional space from which the Inner World was governed. Before him stretched an enormous map formed from a vast black network that covered every corner of this immense world.
"It seems the process is proceeding smoothly."
He murmured to himself as he watched the countless streams of information continuously shifting and changing in response to everything happening throughout the world at every passing moment.
The map before him was not a geographical representation of the Inner World. Instead, it depicted a hidden network woven into every part of it, extending from the farthest reaches of the Outer Continent to the deepest floor of the Tower. None of the beings living within this world could see it or even perceive its existence. It silently operated in the background, unseen by all.
Its purpose was simple.
It continuously collected the emotional spiritual energy emitted by every living creature throughout every moment of its existence. Whether human, Gray Dwarf, Hand Lizard, beast, or any other living race, every creature constantly released spiritual energy influenced by its emotions, feelings, and mental state. The hidden network silently captured that spiritual energy without interruption and gathered it together.
There was, of course, a reason behind this.
Dan intended to use this vast reservoir of accumulated emotional spiritual energy as part of his grand design.
The idea had been inspired by the workings of the Pure Land within this world, particularly by the process through which demonic entities such as Mōryō sealed by his daughter-in-law Hinako and the malevolent being imprisoned within the cursed box, whose existence had recently plunged the outside world into turmoil, had originally come into being.
At their core, those entities had been born from the accumulation of negative emotions and spiritual energy released by living beings over countless years within the Pure Land, eventually reaching a critical mass from which those demonic existences emerged.
What Dan intended to create followed the same fundamental principle, yet differed in several crucial aspects.
Rather than relying on the chaotic and uncontrolled accumulation that occurred naturally within the Pure Land, he employed a structured and carefully directed collection system governed entirely by his hidden network.
Nor did he intend to create demons from this reservoir at least not now, and certainly not during the current stage. The purpose he envisioned for this gathered spiritual energy was entirely different and connected to other projects whose time had not yet arrived.
What made this undertaking truly extraordinary was the Inner World itself.
Its immense Outer Continent, combined with the colossal Tower containing four thousand separate paths and countless floors, formed a realm so vast that the amount of emotional spiritual energy collected from the innumerable living beings scattered throughout it would reach unimaginable proportions.
The Casimir Effect magnified that accumulation even further.
While only a relatively short period passed in the outside world, thousands even millions of years flowed within the Inner World. Across those endless ages, generation after generation of living beings lived, struggled, rejoiced, feared, suffered, loved, hated, dreamed, and despaired. Every moment of every life released emotional spiritual energy, all of which the hidden network silently gathered.
By the time Dan finally set his grand plan into motion, millions of years would have already passed within the Inner World.
And millions of years in a world teeming with countless living beings meant an accumulation of emotional spiritual energy beyond imagination.
When the proper moment finally arrived, that immeasurable reservoir would allow him to carry out his design with flawless precision.
*****
Hello, dear readers.
I hope you're all doing well, enjoying your summer, and drinking plenty of cold water especially during the intense heatwave. I also hope this story has brought you at least a little enjoyment.
We've nearly reached the end of the foundation-building phase. Very soon, after wrapping up a few remaining important events, we'll finally move into the main storyline of the original work, beginning with the Warring States Era.
I believe we've succeeded in creating a deep and solid foundation upon which we can build everything that follows without running into inconsistencies or feeling that something is missing. In fact, I think we've created such a rich setting that it could even support entirely new novels taking place within the same universe.
So, if any of you ever feel inspired to write your own story in the future, don't hesitate to freely use anything that has been established in this work.
I also imagine that most of you have already guessed the kind of world that will eventually emerge from Dan's long-term plans especially after the rather significant hint contained in this chapter.
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If you are enjoying this work and would like to read the upcoming chapters , you can access the advanced chapters on P*atreo*n.
P*atreo*n :Aaron4dicard
I publish several chapters there before they are released here, you can join through the link p*artre*on/Aaron4dicard Thank you to everyone who reads and supports the work .