The flying boat kept ascending, but the woman driving the vessel kept silent, instead observing Pef with a mix of curiosity and pity.

However, Pef didn't mind the silence, as this gave him time to observe the new universe, and more importantly it gave the glove time to do the same, but better.

The planet they were leaving behind was also a giant, covered in perpetual clouds and large storms, thousands of kilometers in radius.

'It is a gas giant! And someone has build a solid shell around it, creating a livable surface in the outer cloud layer.' the glove announced after a minute.

Pef nodded inward, a bit cautious. Stellar-scale engineering was nothing to scoff at. Not to mention, his coresense simply slid off the woman before him, a sure sign she was way above him in cultivation rank.

Although his qi sense could reach for millions of light-years around, he could find no sign of life, or civilization. Only old stars and barren planets. An empty universe, possibly chosen for this exact reason to hide their experiment?

"Wearing your wealth on the outside...are you trying to get yourself robbed and killed?" the woman spoke all the sudden.

Pef glanced at his scale armor, crafted from slices of precious Blue Jade. Then he raised his eyes to see the woman smile thinly. "Huh? This realm must be exceedingly poor, if Blue Jade has value here."

The high-ranked cultivator arched an eyebrow at Pef and shook her head in amusement. "Perhaps you'll live. My Master likes bold people."

The journey continued in silence again, as Pef digested the new information provided by his glove. A few hours later, the flying boat reached another giant pyramid and came to a stop.

The woman stored her boat and approached the transference portal while holding a metallic emblem in her hand. After a few seconds, she turned towards Pef. "Go on, my Master has been notified of your emergence."

Taking a last look around, Pef smiled at his escort. "My name is Pef Xi. I bid you farewell, til we meet again."

Then he poked the now-familiar cloudy gate and vanished.

Behind him, the Elder Goddess sighed and flashed away, returning to her guard post at the Quarantine Boundary, sinking beneath the clouds without leaving any disturbance. 'Another one, in the same century. Perhaps there's a chance?' she mused as she sat on her command throne once more, and a million identical universes sprang to life in her awareness.

Meanwhile, Pef awaited in the white fog, only this time without any tests or voices. A couple of days later, the fog once more condensed into a human shape.

"A Legion Soldier, this time?" the figure observed, sounding surprised.

Pef shrugged. Perhaps they were waiting for someone else?

"Can you still fight, with that nasty injury?" the fog voice asked, and an invisible finger poked Pef in his abdomen.

He glanced down, noting the place was the same that Reason has indicated once. 'A tier 7?' he wondered inward, as the previous gate guardian didn't notice his non-causal soul scar.

"I'd say, I can still fight because of it. I know I did win against a golith sting." Pef replied in a level voice.

The figure remained silent for a long minute. "... Your General has indeed proposed such a thing when we began the... Anyways, here are the rules. You will not leave the universe we're about to enter, not until I say you can. You will not mind-meld with anyone. You will not reshape, refold or nirhodhe any living soul, without my express permission. No killing...except in self-defense." the figure added after measuring Pef's armor with a dubious glance.

A round portal opened in the fog, and then the fog figure vanished, leaving Pef to walk outside on his own.

'What is...?' he asked his glove once he stepped outside.

'Nirhodhe means to absorb the suffering. It is a sure way to stop someone from entering the cycle of reincarnation.' the glove explained in a warning tone.

And with this warning, Pef was now free.

Free to explore the new world, with a couple likely deadly consequences if he messed with someone's soul.

Under his senses, the current galaxy exploded with signs of life and commerce, millions of spaceships crossing the void directly while smaller ships used the pyramid gate to traverse and vanish somewhere, most likely other universes.

The nearest system was a military base, evidenced by thousands of warships of various sizes and trillions of troops from thousands of species being trained in thousands of various environments, all located on a ring-shaped construct revolving around a giant yellow sun.

Pef wisely decided to avoid the training ring, at least until he figured out his place in this new world.

'Can you find any Legion base or artifact?' he asked his orange glove.

'There is one right there, a small recruiting camp on the Halo, the ones in desert camouflage.' the glove pointed out, almost sounding amused.

Pef focused his senses and indeed located the small camp, with less than a thousand low ranked recruits being drilled by a Saint rank instructor. Perhaps he could visit?

In a second, he Blinked and arrived beside this Saint, observing the man while remaining cloaked. The man wore a burnished plate armor and faded fatigues, while wearing a Legion neo-knife at his hip and a Legion glove on his hand.

"Again! Mold your Earth qi and soften the sand. Once you are bellow ground, dive and evade at speed and look for any sign of a target. Then, strike like you mean it!" the Saint instructor shouted.

As soon as the recruits had sunk under the hot sand, the Saint held his palm out, and released a hundred various creatures, from snakes to rabbits and lizards. The beasts spread out, running away only to be skewered by upwards strikes from spears or swords, although at least half of them escaped and ran off towards the horizon.

The Saint sighed in disappointment then turned sharply right towards where Pef sat invisible. "Senior is having fun at our expense? This is a Veritas Legion training ground!"

Pef smiled and released his Indigo cloak, as there would be no point trying to hide from the glove worn by the Legion Saint.

"Just observing your training methods, Soldier. No need to be upset." he explained with a grin.

The man measured Pef with wary eyes, while no doubt conversing mentally with his own glove. "You're also from the Legion, Sir?" the Saint asked sounding rather surprised.

Pef wiggled his gloved fingers in response. "I come from a distant universe though. Can't say I'm familiar with this place." he confessed with a careless shrug.

"...Right. Then, you're probably not my replacement." the instructor answered with a disappointed sigh.

"Having trouble getting supplies from high up?" Pef asked curious, while taking out some voidwine and godwine to share with his new comrades in arms.

"...I guess. The big war must be going poorly, as I haven't heard from the Elise Realm for a few decades." The Saint complained as he sniffed the unfamiliar wine.

Pef also drank a little godwine, enjoying the new dao particles adding minutely to his enlightenment. Sadly, he was by now too high-ranked for such cultivation aids to matter. Even pure Godbeast blood barely added anything to his cultivation, although it still helped a little with various daos, all 81 thousands of them.

But what was nearly worthless for him, it was a major boon for the Saint, who seemed to have received a major insight and sat in a lotus position to meditate.

'Let's give him a surprise!' Pef proposed with an inner grin, at which the glove only snickered as an answer.

In a minute, the low ranked recruits were collected inside Pef's inner world and rapidly if painfully re-trained by his Avatars to a modicum of Taichi cultivation and a minimal Sky rank, while being fed with qi pellets and other spiritual treasures found or bought during his travels. He still had a billion pills bought from the Archdevil's auction house, plus plenty of voidwine.

By the next week, when the Saint instructor opened his eyes with greatly increased cultivation and three minor daos near mastery, he found himself on a beach, and a thousand Sky ranked recruits waiting patiently in mid-air. A few of them had even achieved Emperor rank!

"Where is that Senior?" the instructor asked in a tight voice.

"...He left six days ago, Lord Nuwei. Said he wanted to explore a few galaxies nearby and he'll be back in a few weeks." one of them recruits answered in a proud tone.

The Saint clenched his fist, his glove completely unable to help him, for some reason.

"Well then. I guess we can skip a few stages and begin learning aerial maneuvers!" he decided out loud.

His recruits saluted and flew up, holding themselves in mid-air without any problems. The instructor sobbed inward, and flew up as well.