After a thorough check, Liam placed Dante under Luna's supervision and also provided the fox some compensation, a food item he had packed for her from the food court floor. He then stepped onto the platform to start his work.
As soon as he stepped inside, a black colored barrier immediately popped up around him. Inside this cocoon of darkness, the nether felt even more pronounced.
Liam sat down in a meditative position, putting aside all the thoughts that plagued him. He let the nether wash over his body and mind, instantly feeling refreshed. Only after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and let out a breath of relief, focusing on the present.
"This should be the lowest setting of the platform." Liam pondered. He observed the array markings on the platform he was sitting on. The fairy had explained to him that the platform could be adjusted to get four different levels. F, E, D, and C.
Not so surprisingly, F-grade corresponds to the nether density on a F-grade planet. E-grade corresponds to the nether density on an E-grade planet and so on.
This was one of the reasons why Liam wanted to start with the nether array.
And now that he had firsthand experience, Liam was sure that their world was indeed no longer a simple F-grade world.
He took the crystal on the side and moved it on the array markings to crank up the platform to the next level.
The moment the platform shifted to E-grade, the nether concentration around him intensified dramatically. It was thicker, almost tangible, like a heavy mist clinging to every part of him. The energy was richer, filled with a deeper, more complex essence.
Liam closed his eyes and took a big breath of the refreshing energy. This was good but it was still lacking when compared to the density of nether he had experienced back on earth.
He spent a couple of seconds in this setting and then cranked up the platform one more time, taking it to the next level, the D-grade. Naturally, it was more expensive to spend time in the array as the level increased but he did not care about that at the moment.
The moment he changed the settings, immediately the nether's presence became overwhelming, a force so dense and powerful that Liam felt as if he just took multiple shots of expresso. It was as if he had stepped into a different realm altogether.
Liam embraced the intensity, allowing the nether to permeate his being. He could feel it seeping into every fiber of his body, strengthening him, challenging him to control and harness its might.
However, one more thing was also clear to him. The nether around him at the moment was almost the same quality as the nether he had experienced back home. This meant that their world was evolving into a D-grade world?
Liam frowned. This was good news but he had expected at least a bit more, perhaps turning into a C-grade world would have given them more opportunities. But maybe this was also for the best. Becoming a C-grade world or a B-grade world would have given them more opportunities but it would have also brought them a lot more attention, something they might not be able to handle if Liam was not there.
Either way, this was this. At the end of the day, all of this was conjecture so Liam decided to wait for the actual integration to see what sort of a world theirs would evolve to be.
Keeping this matter aside, Liam started opening the information packets one after the other to read a little. The store manager fairy from Tirnanog had given him all the manuals about basic mana cultivation and various other things, but he hadn't given Liam anything about the ruling forces of the myriad realms.
Perhaps he had assumed that Liam already knew these things or perhaps he did not think that such information was necessary for him at that time.
However, it was high time that he understood the world he was living in better.
Liam opened up the general information first and dove in. Instantly, he was shocked to his core. The things that he read completely blew up his mind.
"This is… " He was completely dumbfounded and shuddered in shock. The world he was living in was bigger than he thought. Much Much bigger!
Previously when he had read the information about the ten empires ruling their sector, Liam assumed that there were probably a few other sectors like his.
He wasn't particularly a star student in the class nor did he have the time to stare at the sky and wonder about the stars peppered around the vast cosmos.
So now that he finally focussed on the grand scheme of things, reality hit him like a thunderclap.
There were apparently decillions of galaxies scattered around in the myriad realms and among them, there were about a billion galaxies already integrated within the myriad realms system.
"Decillion…" Liam let out a big breath. How many zeros were there in this number?
Moreover, each of these galaxies had several star systems and a sector was essentially some of these star systems clubbed together with each other. Most often these star systems were clubbed together because of their proximity by the system itself.
Of course, the other reason was conquest. The powerful sectors wanted to conquer the other smaller star systems for themselves.
Liam found it very unsettling that their galaxy essentially had only four sectors, and that was because the fourth sector was extremely prolific and had been busy conquering the other sectors.
The four sectors of their galaxy were Xicta, Salia, Gloe, and Alea.
The report in his hand mentioned an event that happened several millennia ago where the fourth sector, Alea, known for its aggressive expansion and powerful ruling entities, suddenly stopped its massive conquest campaign and no longer tried to annex the neighboring sectors. This event reshaped the power dynamics within their galaxy, leading to a four-sector division and a precarious balance of power that lasted until the present day.