Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 54: Otherwordly

As the settlement came into view, Nera and Rio could be seen chatting over a drink.

It didn’t take long for them to realize that Alchemy and Gravana had returned.

At first, Nera smiled and waved at her Goddess, but that smile vanished whenever she saw Gravana.

How she saw petite, almost childlike Alchemy before the hulking Gravana is a mystery that the greatest detectives won’t be able to solve.

"Ah, Welcome Mr. Rio. I’m sorry I wasn’t here to greet you."

"Hohohoho. It’s fine~ I was chatting with Young Nera’s excellent theories. What kind of enlightened mind would it take to come up with such thoughts as this Schrodinger’s Cat? Even I can’t fully understand the intricacies. I must ponder this more later!"

"Really, Nera? quantum physics?" Alchemy gave her aid a concerned look.

She couldn’t even begin to comprehend where Nera could’ve learned quantum physics from. Alchemy sure as hell didn’t know anything about it.

{It’s convenient. It’s so hopelessly complex that he won’t understand it. I could always give him practical information like how to make a steam engine or gas-powered vehicle.} Nera responded to Alchemy through telepathy.

Alchemy let out a defeated sigh. She was glad Nera was competent enough to think about such things while making small talk, but she hated that Nera was competent enough to refute her with facts and logic.

"I’m glad. Thank you for keeping Nera company. I worry about her future with only me and the other kids around."

"Eh? M-Mother Goddess?! What’s that supposed to mean?"

"What? Is a parent not allowed to worry about their child’s future... Prospects."

Nera blushed profusely, her snow-white skin only making it even more apparent.

The two interacting caused Rio and Gravana to look at each other before simultaneously laughing. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

{Please stop embarrassing me in front of Old Man Rio! What if he thinks less of me?}

Alchemy chuckled as she walked past Nera.

’As I thought. Although her intelligence is high, mentally, she’s a teenager. Maybe around 14 or 15, about? How cute.’

As her thoughts progressed, Alchemy’s eyes widened.

’Wait... What? She’d only be a decade younger than me! I’m not a mother; I’m too young!’

Alchemy let out a fake cough as she pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind.

"Right; since you’ve come, I believe I’ve promised to show you something interesting."

Rio nearly jumped in anticipation but managed to stop himself. Unfortunately for him, everyone present was equivalent to a superhuman and had the senses to match, catching it.

Alchemy was glad that Gravana and Rio were simple to get along with, even if they were a bit much for her.

With the group in tow, she led them all to the [Chrysalis Nexus].

Gravana had a hard time getting in as the door was too small. The entrances to most of the Verminae buildings were quite large since the units got quite big later on, but even then, those with the truly monstrous frames like Nera in her [Gigant Form] and Gravana still struggled.

Immediately, Rio’s eyes widened in shock upon entering the building. The unique architecture was already enough to intrigue him, but what he saw was more than he could imagine.

When Alchemy mentioned that she had something interesting to show him, he was a little doubtful. While he did not doubt that Alchemy and Nera were brilliant minds, it was clear that they didn’t have anything in the way of resources to utilize said minds entirely.

Yet here he was, standing in a building that looked like a weird cone on the outside but was actually a multi-roomed white square box multiple times larger on the inside.

He had never seen a material so pristine. If not for the green fluorescent lights that lit the place, the walls would be as blinding as the sky during a snowstorm.

Not to mention the numerous large objects and small trinkets that were neatly placed around. He wasn’t sure what they were used for, but they all emitted a tiny amount of energy. It differed from the magical energy monsters used, or Divine Mana, which humans were blessed with, so he chalked it up to Divine Power.

After reaching enlightenment, he became susceptible to such powers, though he had never felt them before now.

Regardless, the fact that they gave off energy meant that these objects were most likely important.

"Ali had told me you had control over space, but to this extent? Are you truly a fledgling Goddess?" Rio asked, causing Alchemy to smile confidently.

"Yup. I don’t even have a proper [Domain] yet. If this much is enough to shock you, wait till you see what these toys are capable of."

Even Gravana was shocked. He didn’t know about this complex stuff like the difference between Divine Power, Divine Mana, and Mana, nor did he care about what these objects did. What he did know, however, was one thing.

Spatial Manipulation was the power of transcendent beings. A realm he dreams of reaching every single day.

Walking over to the microscope, Alchemy beckoned Rio to look into it, placing the [Assassin Bird Feather] under it for him.

He approached the tool slowly, tilting his head and examining it the entire time. He understood its use rather quickly; farsight magic was a reasonably everyday [utility magic], and it functioned similarly with an invisible knob you could turn with your magic to determine the distance you could see.

This, however, wasn’t magic. He placed his eye up to the microscope and looked at the feather. He could see every individual barb that made up the feather. Then he turned the knob on the side of the device, allowing him to see even smaller pieces of the feather.

Shapes that he couldn’t make any sense of. He knew they made up the feather, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn’t make any sense of it. Not to mention the bacteria he saw swimming around and the minuscule mana particles dancing about

"So, how is it?"

"It’s... It’s..." Rio had trouble getting the words out. What could describe this?

Amazing? Fantastic? Awesome? All good words to describe it, but they weren’t descriptive enough. They didn’t encapsulate how he truly felt about the Microscope.

"It’s... Otherworldly..."