The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 40, Section 39: Hearing the Way in the Morning

Elian's fingertip moved once more, pointing to the outer rim of the giant ship.

"This is the outer plane."

"If the inner plane represents the basic elements that make up the world, then the outer plane represents the spirit, ideas, concepts, and direction of development of the world—all metaphysical things."

"It is precisely for this reason that the outer plane is called the plane of ideas—symbolizing the eternal opposition between good and evil, order and chaos."

"The gods we know and their kingdoms mostly reside in outer planes."

"When an intelligent being dies—whether on our continent, on other smaller continents, or on other planets lacking civilization—its soul will travel to an outer plane that aligns with its own ideology, or to the kingdom of the god it worships."

"Therefore, the outer plane is also known as the plane of gods, or the afterlife!"

El-Erian looked at the chiefs who were prostrate on the ground:
"In past magical experiments, you may have already discovered that there is a concept called [faction] in this universe."

"The universe will assign each living being to a camp based on the goodness or evil, and the tendency of disorder in their behavior. For example, a good person who is naturally free will be judged as disorderly good."

The two women, Helen and Gutt, lowered their heads simultaneously, recalling their past research.

“That’s how it is,” Helen said.

"The alignment of each creature seems to be detectable by specific magic, and it also affects interactions with some supernatural forces."

"For example, some magical weapons enchanted with good power are more effective against creatures of the evil alignment."

"I remember, my alignment is... Lawful Evil?"

El-Erian was not surprised by the result.

In fact, in the current floating city, most high-level mages have been judged by the universe to be of the evil faction because of their past atrocities.

He himself belonged to the lawful evil faction when he first transmigrated. However, due to the reforms implemented over the past year, which have helped a large number of civilians on the surface, his faction has finally shifted towards the good side.

In this fantasy world, alignment is a natural law, entirely dependent on the judgment of the universe's will.

It has absolutely nothing to do with personal perception or the social standards of the current era.

For example, even in countries or times when slavery was legal, keeping slaves was still considered an evil act!
"That's right. The outer plane I just mentioned is the concrete manifestation of the faction."

El-Erian continued, his fingertips tracing patterns across one outer plane after another.

"Each faction has its own corresponding outer plane."

"For example, the [Heavenly Mountain] symbolizes lawful good, the [Wildlands] symbolizes chaotic good, the [Mechanical Realm] symbolizes lawful neutrality, the [Chaos Sea] symbolizes chaotic neutrality, the [Nine Hells] symbolizes lawful evil, and the [Bottomless Abyss] symbolizes chaotic evil..."

"Furthermore, at the boundary between the two factions, there will be more subdivided dimensional spaces. You don't need to know about these for now..."

"Among them, those outer planes that represent the good side can be collectively referred to as the Celestial Kingdoms."

"In the evil plane, the demons of the Nine Hells (lawful evil) and the monsters of the Abyss (chaotic evil) are engaged in an eternal blood war—symbolizing the eternal opposition between chaos and order since the beginning of creation..."

When he mentioned the demons of the bottomless abyss, Elion paused slightly.

He knew that it was the source of the disaster that would destroy Eldoron 30 years later in history.

El-Erian's fingers moved again.

"In addition to the inner and outer planes, there are more transitional or mapped planes."

"For example, the Fallen Underworld, which represents the shadow of the world... uh, it's still called the Shadow Dimension or the Shadow Demi-Dimension..."

"For example, the Fairy Wilderness, which symbolizes a brighter reflection of the world..."

"For example, the astral plane and the spirit realm as transitional planes..." "When we cast the etherification spell, we feel as if we have entered a parallel space. This is actually entering the spirit realm. This is how the spell works..."

Gutt and Helen listened attentively, like two patient students.

The dimensional relationships described by Elian perfectly match the mechanisms of many past magical experiments connecting to other worlds and the operation of various spells.

This convinced them that what Elian said was indeed the truth of the universe!
They, and indeed all the mages of Eldoron, have been unable to fully comprehend the theory of a unified universe over the past 300 years and through more than a dozen generations.

Surprisingly, in this very setting, Elian stated it so naturally.

"I see..."

Guter gazed at the slowly rotating, philosophically beautiful giant wheel projection and suddenly laughed.

He never imagined that the truth he and his colleagues had pursued their entire lives would be revealed by their very opponent, the one who would be judging them, just before their final trial.

In another sense, could it be considered that he died without regrets?

"Thank you for your generous sharing. Is this the result of your research, Your Majesty?"

Gut smiled sadly: "Now I understand the difference between us chiefs and you, the Supreme Mage."

“This is not my achievement alone,” El-Erian said.

What he recounted was the answer that, in real history, after the magical empire of Eldoron and its subsequent destruction, generations of mages and scholars, through countless dimensional experiments and explorations of other worlds, paid the ultimate price of tens of thousands of lives.

"Your Majesty's achievements will surely be recorded in the annals of Eldoron," Helen said with a wry smile, then fixed her gaze on Elian's clear, deep, dark eyes.
"But what does this have to do with the question I raised?"

She remembered that her question was—

What does El-Erian really want? What is he pursuing?
"Of course it does."

Elian pointed to the wheel projection in the air:

"So, now you know what this is?"

"【Great Wheel】".

Gutt and Helen simultaneously recited the name of this cosmic plane model.

"No,"

El-Erian said.

"This is the territory of the empire."

The two of them were stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting Elian's answer to be like this.

Of course, even so, at this moment they felt that Elian was just using a relatively exaggerated description.

This means that the Empire will travel to one or two of these planes in the future, explore them, and occupy a small portion of those planes.

Elian continued:

"As you know, the Elven Royal Court in the west occupies the most fertile and beautiful land, the fairy forests brimming with natural magic, and the richest mithril mines, monopolizing the most abundant resources on the entire continent."

"And we can only fight with orcs, goblins, and kobolds in this wild land of the East, fighting for scraps that the elves would disdain."

“There is no future in competing with the elves on this prime material plane.”

"Therefore, we must set our sights on a more distant horizon, looking towards the stars and the sea, towards other dimensions and spaces!"

(End of this chapter)