Chapter 70

Grrrrrr…

Because it’s so huge, even after entering the tenth tier and climbing even higher, the sight of the so-called “Black Dragon” leisurely swimming across the Pacific is still vivid.

So… I have to catch that thing, huh?

“…….”

But how? By what means?

How on earth am I supposed to catch that massive thing unless it’s a balloon or some flimsy straw?

Honestly, there is a way, if I’m completely honest.

It seems that my mental self reflects the state of my physical self. So, if I were to break the seal outside and regain my power, my mental self would also gain the same strength.
Then I could wipe that dragon—or even the granddaddy of dragons—clean off the map.

But how am I supposed to do that? If I got caught by that suspicious chain that Shia descended from the sky on, who would take responsibility?

In the end, it means I have to catch it with my current strength… and honestly, no matter how many little mobs I beat to level up, it doesn’t feel like that’s even remotely possible.

“Ha….”

As I sighed, calculating this and that, fake-Shia riding on my back lightly tapped my head. That’s exactly like her.

“Huh? Why?”

‘You don’t have to catch it.’

“…What?”

‘You don’t need to catch it. Why bother?’

“Ah…!”

I slapped my knee at this “Columbus’ egg” level stroke of insight.

Right. The point isn’t how, it’s why.

Why on earth do I even need to catch that thing? Do I absolutely need to regain that so-called “Pure Spiritual Power”?

Sure, if I defeat those final bosses, I’ll gain incredible power. Maybe I could even regain my previous rank while keeping the seal intact.

But even if I got that power, what would I use it for? Wipe out annoying kingdoms and empires in a demonic spree? Or conquer the continent and become the supreme emperor?

Why go through all that trouble?

Well… there is one thing I could use it for: beating the Demon Kings scattered across the other continents.

But even then, why should I do it? I already saved the Northern Continent—didn’t that more than earn me my keep?

My goal is ultimately peaceful living… well, not “poor and peaceful,” but living comfortably and enjoying life. And for that, I’ve probably caused more trouble than necessary… but still, that’s basically it.

In other words, having that power isn’t bad, but it’s not worth dying and sweating bullets to get it.

Ah, of course, I’ll keep leveling up by defeating small mobs. No risk, only rewards—why wouldn’t I do that?

“Right. No need to catch it.”

I stroked fake-Shia’s head, who had just opened my eyes, and nodded.

My heart felt lighter. Ah, so this is what “the courage to run away” feels like.

“Alright then. Let’s ignore those things… fake-Bel. We went to the Moon last time, right?”

Nod.

“Have you ever been beyond that?”

‘No.’

“Then we still don’t know the size of this mental realm, do we?”

‘No.’

“Alright. Let’s go see it.”

‘…You want me to ride you?’

“Uh, yeah… let’s avoid weird phrasing, okay?”

‘Anyway.’

“Right. Neither I nor fake-Shia can fly.”

Strictly speaking, it’s not that we can’t fly, but rather that we have no way to generate continuous propulsion.

‘Can’t be helped. I am curious too.’

“Good. But since we don’t know how far we’ll go, let’s get things in shape first.”

I began the “craft” work I’ve grown quite accustomed to over the past few days.

“Hmm… Let’s start with a carbon frame…”

For reference, in this world, if you want something, it tends to grant it—but if you add logic, details, and process, the effect is far more dramatic than just wishing, “I hope this happens.”

For example, saying, “I want a Lamborghini!” isn’t as effective as specifying the design, color, specs, and understanding what structure or engineering would be needed to make it happen. The result comes faster and with better quality.

“Since aerodynamics don’t matter in space… the only design requirement is dream factor!!”

And thus, the Gundam equipped with fake angels as a generator and thruster was born.

Ta-da. Applause~

What kind of Gundam is it? Naturally, a New Gundam. I only acknowledge the Universal Century!

Fake-Bel watched as I and fake-Shia happily boarded the Gundam (empty inside of course), rolled her eyes once, then gave up and took a seat on the back thrusters.

‘Good. Let’s go.’

“Sword God, let’s gooo~”

“Be quiet.”

And with that, fake-Bel “lifted” the New Gundam, spreading its circular radiant rings, and shot forward with incredible speed.

KWAHAHAHAHAHAK!

Slowing down gradually, fake-Bel pressed the brakes once more and, like a bus driver giving announcements, spoke:

‘Mars. Please wake up.’

“Wow… fast.”

As I’d noticed before, fake-Bel’s speed was terrifyingly fast.
It took only seven hours to travel from the Moon to Mars—meaning we were moving at about 3% of the speed of light.

Being a (former) engineering student, I did a quick calculation. At this speed and mass, the kinetic energy alone would approach fifteen times that of Little Boy. In other words…

“…At this rate, even ramming it with just my body could probably wipe out a whole city.”

Fake-Bel let out a soft snicker and shook her head.

‘Please do not equate the laws of physics with mysticism. Even though you’ve crossed into a two-civilization world, you still haven’t shed your biases. If we’re going to nitpick, shouldn’t we start with the fact that you can breathe without oxygen here?’

“Hmm… fair point.”

I accepted fake-Bel’s scolding, hugged Fake Sia, and stepped out of the New Gundam. Before my eyes loomed a massive planet.

“Wow… there really is Mars? I thought Earth alone was big enough… but it’s actually fully realized here? I thought a mental world was already huge if it’s just the size of a house—this is kinda absurd.”

‘I’m a bit surprised too. Even by my standards—or rather, the archangel Yuribel’s standards—this is hard to comprehend.’

.
.
.

I had fake-Bel land on Mars.

Crunch…

My feet touched the dry ground, kicking up dust.

I shivered slightly at the thrill of stepping onto Mars for the first time. Was this how Columbus felt when setting foot on a new continent? Or maybe it’s closer to Neil Armstrong?

“Wow… I’m experiencing a Mars trip here that I could never even dream of on Earth.”

Of course, there were far more incredible things scattered across this world… but still, it’s Mars. That Mars. How could a man not be moved?

See this, Mr. Musk?! I did it first! You should worry more about your electric cars!

My sister was your fan, so I even bought your company’s EVs and even rode the Doge trend! It was terrible! The Doge crashed! Do you know how much ranting I had to listen to because of you!?

“Sister in the beyond… I’ve finally avenged the Doge on your behalf. Rejoice.”

I rode fake-Bel around Mars. The barren world of unfamiliar colors stretched endlessly.

Sometimes from the surface, sometimes from above, as I enjoyed the scenery, fake-Bel—who had been flying me without complaint—suddenly muttered:

‘It’s not exactly the same.’

“What?”

‘Since my base is on Earth, I’ve surveyed Mars before. I still retain those memories. But this Mars is different from what I remember.’

“Different? How?”

‘Because you don’t actually know what Mars looks like.’

“Hmm…?”

‘This world is basically based on your experiences and knowledge. Do you remember Mars in full detail?’

“Of course not. At most, I saw a few photos and peeked at Google Maps.”

‘Exactly.’

“So what fills in what I don’t know?”

‘We correct it as best we can using the information you do have. What else would we do?’

“Even though it’s full of absurdities, that’s kind of realistic…”

‘Well… even just having it made correctly is remarkable. Your Imagery is rendering two entire planets with a level of detail indistinguishable from reality.’

After finishing our tour of Mars, we climbed back into the New Gundam and set course for the outer Solar System.

“Sword God, let’s go!”

‘…Please don’t do that. It feels too much like it’s actually a vehicle.’

And so we traveled through the pitch-black void for seventeen hours straight.

Goooooo…

…Before me appeared Jupiter.

‘Mars, Jupiter, Saturn—aligned in a “planetary alignment”—so we arrived faster than expected.’

I let out a low exclamation of awe at the overwhelming size of Jupiter.

“Wow. Jupiter… the size really is something else.”

“Shall we go down?”

“Can we even go down?”

‘Of course.’

“Then let’s go.”

With that, fake-Bel slowly descended toward Jupiter.

Jupiter filled the view, overflowing beyond the edges of my sight. The Great Red Spot gradually grew larger. Now I could begin to understand, even just a little, why there’s such a thing as “Jupiter phobia.”

But… as fake-Bel prepared to enter Jupiter’s atmosphere, she suddenly stopped midair.

‘…I can’t feel any gravity.’

“What?”

‘This means it’s just a hologram.’

“…Huh? Really?”

To prove it, the angel descended toward Jupiter again. What unfolded before my eyes was astonishing.

The more Jupiter came closer, which had seemed perfectly clear and vivid from afar, the blurrier it became—and eventually… the image started breaking into pixels.

“What… what is this?”

‘Well, thinking about it, it’s only natural.’

“Natural?”

‘Unlike Mars, Jupiter is a planet with very little information available. How much do you know about Jupiter? I mean photos, videos, or other knowledge.’

“…Almost nothing. It’s a gas giant mostly made of hydrogen and helium, with insanely high pressure. Also… strong radiation and magnetic fields, and fast rotation that causes crazy storms. And maybe a few fragmented images or videos centered on the Great Red Spot. That’s about it, right?”

‘Do you think that’s enough information to reconstruct an entire planet?’

“Yeah… impossible.”

‘Exactly. And it’s unnecessarily huge. Being large means it requires far more resources to process. So, I guess it was easier to just treat it as a hologram.’

“Wait. So that means…”

‘Yes. The same likely applies to the other gas giants as well. There’s almost no information, and of course, there’s the resource issue too.’

Right. Normal people like me only know Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as “planets with rings” or “gas giants.” The only photos available are a handful taken by satellites. Expecting fully realized planets with such scant information? That would be downright thievery on the Imagery’s part.

“Hmm. Okay. Still, since we’re here, let’s keep going.”

And roughly 22 hours later…

Saturn.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the holographic Saturn with broken pixels.

Ah, one unique thing: unlike Jupiter, Saturn’s rings were properly rendered.

‘Rings aren’t that hard to implement.’

“99.9% water, so just make a bunch of ice chunks to shape them, right?”

‘Yes.’

Fake-Bel flew around the rings, picking up a few ice chunks and bringing them to me.

‘See?’

“They look identical. Wait… is this—?”

‘Yes. They reused the same source. It’s just a way to conserve resources.’

“…Then why not just make the rings holographic too?”

‘Perhaps your subconscious has some attachment to Saturn’s rings. Saturn has to look like this… so this is the compromise.’

“So, a real ring around a hologram?”

‘Probably. This Imagery really works hard in multiple ways.’

“Well… I did dream as a kid of walking along Saturn’s rings, so that makes sense.”

‘Exactly.’

“By the way, holographic Saturn has no gravity. Wouldn’t the ice rings just fly apart?”

‘No. You might think it’s realistic, but this is Imagery. Physical laws exist, not because reality dictates them, but because your Imagery wants them to.’

“So if necessary, physics can just be ignored?”

‘Yes.’

About two and a half hours later…

After moving roughly 0.5 AU (about 75 million kilometers) beyond Saturn, we finally encountered a “wall.”

Even though the starry sea stretched endlessly, a transparent barrier blocked us, refusing to let us pass.

‘This is as far as we can go.’

“…Yeah.”