In the absence of the pseudo god of death, the battle quickly ended. Especially considering that Odin swung his sword a few times in the direction where the other members of the wizard council were fighting...
After the war was over, Asmodeus did not remain in Westeros—he didn't have the time. He handed over the management of local affairs to the officials in the Adastra Department of Administration.
Thus, he, along with all the high wizards except Valchar, missed the news that somehow, a couple of undead had slipped into Winterfell and killed Sansa and Bran Stark...
The wizards also missed Jon Snow's mourning.
At this moment, Asmodeus is standing in front of the former Ministry of Magic of England. Around him are only a few close subordinates and companions from the wizard council. The entire area within a five-kilometer radius of the Arch of Death has been evacuated on Primis's orders. Although, many people have gathered beyond the barriers, deeply curious about what is happening.
"Hey, system, connect me with Primis." "Ding! Connection request accepted. Connecting to Primis."
Asmodeus once again entered the strange state where his consciousness is in a dark space, and in front of him hovers a sphere of light.
"Now, can you explain to me what this merging is all about? You're not planning to swallow the second world right now, are you? Give me some time to stabilize the situation on the two new continents. Besides, we already have issues with setting up a system to adapt the natives to our order.
And as for the internal problems within our own society—don't even get me started..."
This was indeed the truth.
Although the destruction of the energy network helped avoid wars with the oils, and the mana rings largely prevented clashes based on whether one was a muggle or a wizard, the issue of social norms accepted in different societies remained unresolved.
Moreover, due to the shortage of workforce, aside from Europe and England, Asmodeus cannot keep a clear handle on what is happening in the other lands.
In North America, things are relatively under control, but the problems in Mexico, Latin America, and especially the Middle East persist.
In a way, this situation is advantageous for Asmodeus. Wars between various ethnic groups benefit him because they prevent wizards from regions outside of his control from being persecuted. Since these wars now use magic, natural-born wizards hold an advantage, and the armies of countries like Iran, Israel, and others now consider natural wizards as indispensable members. However, society as a whole has not yet fully transitioned to the new way of life...
Yes, at present, hunger has completely disappeared from the world—there is no one who can't afford food or clean water. A branch of the High Wizards' Council, called the "Disaster Prevention Service," is actively operating worldwide. The people assigned to this department are mostly former members of public organizations who genuinely want to help others—not just humans, though. This organization also manages the creation of blood donor banks for vampires, the cleanup of certain sea areas where mermaids lived but had to leave due to an oil tanker spill. All individuals involved were thoroughly vetted and evaluated, and of course, these initiatives are directly supported by the financial department of the council.
However, the financial aspect of life is facing problems as well...
Simply put, there is far too little money—or rather, gold, or gold galleons—in contrast to the population. The dollar, once a stable currency of the past, can no longer be used because it is too easily counterfeited by wizards.
Thus, even with the massive infusion of gold from Asmodeus and Nicholas, there still isn't enough gold in the world to ensure at least 1,000 gold coins per person. As a result of the limited number of gold galleons on the market, Nicholas allocated several dozen Philosopher's Stones to gold production, but even that hasn't been enough to distribute widely.
The goblins even tried to steal one of the Philosopher's Stones, which recently sparked a scandal across the world...
In short, due to this production scheme—gold + magic goblins = gold galleons—prices fluctuate wildly. On the day when a new batch of gold galleons is released, the value of galleons drops, and when they're spent, the value rises again.
For example, it's not hard to find price differences for the same product by several multiples in the U.S., where the population of non-magic users is larger. This isn't a logistics issue. The problem lies in the fact that in England and France, the two sources of galleons, the financial system is overflowing with galleons, while the rest of the world suffers from a severe money shortage.
So, in some countries, one galleon can now buy a couple of tons of wheat, while in England it only buys two kilos...
Moreover, social problems persist.
In the previous world, there were far more professions than just farmers, government officials, and goods producers...
Now, however, the world has reverted back to the 19th century—or even earlier. The service industry remains, but the massive IT sector has vanished. And all the jobs previously provided by the IT sector have disappeared as well. Not everyone is willing to give up their previous professions and switch to farming or livestock breeding, especially since these two markets have quickly become saturated.
As a result, the world now has a huge number of unemployed people who have access to food, their own homes, and other necessities, but no jobs to occupy them.
How do these people have access to food and housing?
Although not everyone has fully transitioned into full-time farming, with magic, growing food for oneself is a simple task. The same goes for building houses, especially since many buildings were damaged in the catastrophe, and many people are rebuilding their homes in the same locations where they used to live.
The unemployment problem is severe, and the higher the number of unemployed men aged 20–30, the greater the chance for conflicts to arise over any issue, as is common in any society.
This is why territories fully controlled by the council are heavily patrolled by Aurors. While there are no active confrontations at the moment, the likelihood increases every day. I won't even start on the state of the entertainment sector...
With the lack of adequate video transmission technology, except for the highly inconvenient magical mirrors, 99% of sports that used to be broadcast on TV can now only be watched live. Movie theaters have been replaced by simple theaters and magic-infused performances.
In short, the world feels like it has entered the stagnation period of the Soviet Union—everything seems to be there, but there's really nothing.
As mentioned, in England, where the two largest wizarding schools and the druid tribe are located, the situation is much better. After all, all scientific gatherings, research, and innovations in the magical world now come from there.
But the rest of the world...
To put it mildly, it's chaotic.
Thus, for Asmodeus, who thought everything would be easy, but realized otherwise, playing at war with ancient knights has become a way to escape from governmental affairs and indulge in a distraction.
But now Primis didn't give him the time to resolve current issues before new ones emerged, and he doesn't know what to prepare for...
"Asmodeus, don't worry. I decided to slow down the absorption of the last part because I can see that you're struggling to handle everything at once. But while I was observing my separated continent, I found something interesting—and you helped me greatly by getting rid of that pseudo-god.
In short—remember how I mentioned that the world I'm currently watching is riddled with spatial holes?"
"I remember."
"Well, I analyzed the spatial coordinates of these entrances and exits! And because you freed my subdimension, I now have the ability to open stable channels to other worlds! We can quietly steal some origin and rules!"
Asmodeus: " (・・ ) ?"
"Wait, stop! Step by step. What is a subdimension, what does it mean that I 'freed' it? Why do we need channels to other worlds, and what are 'rules' and 'origin'?"
"Uh, how can I explain this simply...
A subdimension is the non-material part of me as a world. This dimension can have many uses; for example, you can store large amounts of mana there just in case...
However, a long time ago, I decided to use it to store the souls of the dead—those who couldn't become ghosts. In a sense, my subdimension is the local afterlife.
The problem is that when I passed through the spatial barrier, along with the loss of the continents, I also temporarily lost connection to the subdimension. But a subdimension can't exist without me, so while I couldn't control it, it couldn't completely leave me either.
The issue is that during this brief period, while I was gradually recovering my strength to reabsorb the dimension, someone managed to reach the heart of it and began to control it—though in a very limited way...."
"Um, can I ask how long a 'short period of time' is?"
"Well... a couple of hundred years, maybe a thousand."
Asmodeus: "(¯ . ¯٥)"
"Alright, never mind. There's something else that's bothering me right now. You said that the souls of the dead from this world are sent to the subdimension?"
"Yes, that's right. The souls of wizards can exist in my dimension for a long time before they dissipate or I choose them for reincarnation—well, at least I used to do that..."
"Wait. You can send a soul to reincarnate? And what do you mean by 'dissipate'?"
"Well, the souls of wizards gradually turn into mana and return to the world... although that hasn't happened for a long time because that bastard was stealing mana!!!"
Asmodeus silently watched the glowing orb, which was speaking with frustration.
'It's amazing you haven't been torn apart as a planet... You can't even keep track of your own territories...'
At this point, the glowing orb flew straight up to Asmodeus and said,
"It seems like you're thinking something rude."
"Ahem, it's just your imagination. Alright, so what's the deal with reincarnation? Does that mean you can bring people back to life?"
Strangely enough, the orb wobbled from side to side, as if shaking its head.
"No, reincarnation as you understand it is different. I can send a soul into the body of an embryo so that the wizard lives another life. But all the soul's memories are erased in the process. It's a new person, just with a stronger soul, because the process of forming the embryo's soul strengthens the old one rather than creating a new one from scratch."
"The process of soul formation?"
"Too complicated to explain. Ask me when you're able to create a world."
"..."
"Is there really no way to bring someone back to life?"
"I don't know. I've never tried. If you want, I can pull out a few souls for you, but I don't know how you're planning to preserve them. Souls that haven't become ghosts disintegrate very quickly in the material world. That's just how the rules of my universe work, and I'm not going to change them—it's too costly..."
"So, if I ask you, you can provide me with the souls of the dead later?"
"Yes, but within reasonable limits."
"Deal. Now explain what 'rules' and 'origin' are."
"Well... rules are the foundation of a world—the laws it follows. The more complex the rules, the more powerful the world is. Simply put, wizards can use mana to minimally mimic the rules. They sort of copy, reproduce, and even alter them.
For example, in my world, the rule is that fire doesn't burn underwater. But a magical flame can burn underwater. That's because wizards create their own rule. By studying mine, they modify it and use mana to implement it."
"How does magic work in other worlds, then? I didn't feel any problem casting spells in the Marvel world. The same goes for Dumbledore and the others."
"What do rules have to do with this?"
"Well, you said we learn the rules to reproduce them. So why can we replicate them in another world without the rules of that world?"
"Um, as I mentioned, mana enacts the rule that you, as a wizard, created. So it doesn't matter what world you're in; as long as the rule doesn't contradict one of the supreme rules of that world, you'll be able to use it.
This means that, regardless of which world you are in, the local rules won't affect magic—except in rare cases with very powerful worlds where the rules are too complex, and incorrect reproduction might cause a failure or trigger an unexpected reaction. But so far, no such high or complex rules are available to wizards in this world. Let's say... the rules of the universe here are at a thousandth level, and wizards haven't even reached the first."
"...."
"This is the first time I've heard someone so gently insult an entire civilization."
Primis: "╮ (╯ ▽ ╰) ╭"
"Alright, then what is 'origin'?"
"It's like the primordial energy of the world... the source of creation... It's too complicated to explain in human language..."
"....."
"Fine, forget it. Why do you want to steal rules and origin? Don't you have enough of your own?"
"Well, as for the rules, 'stealing' is an exaggeration. It's more like a student copying from another student during an exam.
Worlds regularly create, update, and strengthen their rules on their own. But doing that... it's so BORING!!! Constantly creating rules is exhausting work, but it has to be done for the world to strengthen itself. That's why many conscious worlds sort of peek at other worlds' rules to make it easier to continue developing new ones.
And now that we have access to other worlds, we can spy on their rules!"
Primis: (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b
"But isn't that punishable?"
"Well, it's not considered polite, but it's a common practice for different worlds. Besides, rules aren't as important as origin."
"???"
"So, you're asking me to steal something unimportant and something important at the same time? Tell me, what is 'origin'?"
"Hmm... well... it's kind of like the energy that feeds the world, the multiversal energy. It's like water and sunlight for a blade of grass. But for a world to use it, it has to process it, which is a lengthy process but one that's constantly happening. I can't explain more—you wouldn't understand..."
"?!"
"Okay, then how can you steal this energy?"
"Well, most worlds, especially those with a single timeline like mine, purify the energy through the emotions of their inhabitants. More specifically, they contaminate the energy with the emotions of beings from their world. For strong emotions, many worlds orchestrate certain events to increase the emotional output and speed up the contamination process."
Hearing this, Asmodeus gave Primis a strange look.
"Hey! Don't look at me like that! I didn't write the story of Harry Potter!!! That was that bastard! He wanted to start a war between Muggles and wizards for low-grade faith energy!!! Oh, how I hate him!!! How I wish your friend's sword hadn't outright destroyed his soul—I would've tortured him for a couple of millennia, then sent him for reincarnation to give him a life worse than death!!!"
Hearing Primis cursing, Asmodeus felt a chill run down his spine. He realized it was best not to die in this world—who knows what could happen if this vengeful orb decided to write a bad story with him as the main character.
"Then how do I steal origin and rules?"
"With origin, it's simple. You just need to alter some events the world is directing, change the outcome of the story, and so on. I'll be able to tap in and steal a bit of origin."
"!!!?"
"And what if they notice? Have you thought about what will happen to me?!"
"Don't worry, I'll take just a tiny bit... You have no idea how low the energy conversion efficiency is. Energy equivalent to what it takes to destroy a continent is just the normal average loss in the process. And if it's a hostile world, I'll quickly pull you out."
"What about rules?"
"That's even easier. Magic—in all worlds where magic exists, it's the simplest way to access the rules. You need to find books, knowledge about magic, and so on."
"So, did you copy the rules of Asgard and Kamar-Taj when I brought their books here?"
"Of course."
"...."
"But by the way, the Marvel world is a bit strange. Even when my consciousness entered that world during your transition, I didn't feel any rejection. Normally, worlds react quite aggressively when the consciousness of another world invades theirs... At first, it was the same with Marvel—I felt the danger—but then, in a single moment, that world kind of winked at me, like a friendly gesture, and stopped resisting."
"Uh, maybe the world's creator accepted you?"
"Maybe, but given the situation, I want to build a stable channel to that world. The rules there are delicious, and the origin energy too..."
"????"
"Did you manage to eat the origin of that world too?"
"What did you expect? It's so big, and I'm so small... I don't think I ate much. In fact, your actions sent far more energy into oblivion."
"?"
"You altered the history of that world. I didn't get to eat much of the origin, so when you redirected that nuclear bomb, the excess energy just returned to the multiverse. Honestly, I thought the creator of that world would be furious about such a massive loss, and I was ready to run fast..."
"Oh, really!? You were planning to leave me behind???"
"σ(￣,￣〃) "
"Well, I wouldn't have been able to save you in that world, and I can't afford to lose more continents... but I promise, next time, I'll protect you. You're a really good representative."
"Representative?"
"Yes, yes. Those whom worlds send to other worlds to copy rules—we call them representatives. We grant you privileges, and in return, you give us rules and origin."
"..."