"There are still two thousand years left—I can't waste them."
Rosen calculated the remaining time and decided to use it to further refine and elevate his Eternal Holy Body.
But if he simply let the two thousand years pass like that, he knew he would regret it in the end.
The reason was simple—there were some things he absolutely had to understand before the universe was destroyed.
First and foremost, he had to find out: what exactly lies beyond the universe?
According to his deductions, when the old universe is destroyed, it will collapse in on itself using the Universe's Heart as a singularity, triggering a space-time implosion. The devastating force generated by that collapse would mean certain death even for a Primordial Lifeform that remained inside.
So before the new universe is born, they must leave the old universe and survive outside of it for a period of time.
The Sacred God Temple had collaborated to build the Heaven-Burning Star Palace for the express purpose of surviving beyond the universe.
As for how long it would take for a new universe to be born from the corpse of the old one, no one could say for sure. Therefore, the longer they could survive outside the universe, the better. And only by actually making contact with the environment beyond the universe could they accurately devise the best survival strategies.
Rosen arrived at the edge of the First Star Ring Universe. Ahead of him was darkness that swallowed all—he could see nothing beyond it.
Even with the Creator's Eye, now fused with the Root Source Eye, granting him vastly enhanced perception, he still could not see through the absolute darkness ahead.
Logically, the more the universe expands, the more fragile its outer layer should become.
But in reality, the opposite was true. The more the universe expanded, the stronger its outermost boundary grew. It was like a rubber ball submerged in the deep sea, gradually inflating into a balloon—if its surface didn't simultaneously grow stronger during expansion, it would be instantly crushed by deep-sea pressure.
Why did the outer boundary become tougher as the universe expanded? Despite extensive research by many Eternal Beings of the Sacred God Temple, the answer remained elusive.
So far, three main theories had been proposed.
The first theory suggested that the surface of the universe had never actually grown.
From start to finish, what existed in the deep sea was still just a rubber ball, not an inflated balloon. The surface of the universe never fundamentally changed; it was the space-time inside the ball that expanded. Thus, the phenomenon of universal expansion was merely an illusion perceived by lifeforms within the universe.
From beginning to end, what expanded was just internal space-time.
The second theory posited that outside the universe wasn't a void but some kind of special substance.
When the universe was small like a rubber ball, its surface area was tiny and thus attracted little of that special substance.
As the universe expanded into a balloon, its surface area increased, and it absorbed more and more of the special substance. This substance, once fused with the universe's boundary, would reinforce its strength—and the more it fused, the stronger it became.
The third theory was a more recent one, developed in recent years.
The universe itself transcends the Primordial World. Since even the Primordial World could integrate the Immortal Will, then a universe that has integrated the Will of the Universe itself might have boundaries that not only possess immortal properties but perhaps even surpass immortality.
Maybe the boundary of the universe had always been breaking apart, but due to possessing characteristics even greater than immortality, it could never truly be destroyed.
The increasingly powerful boundary at the edge of the universe might not be a solid wall at all, but a collision zone where external matter smashes into the universe's boundary. The destructive force in this collision zone is so overwhelming that it forms an impenetrable barrier.
Whether any of the three theories were correct, or whether the truth lay in something even more bizarre and inconceivable—
There was only one way to find out: verify it personally.
Rosen had considered using force to pressure the Chaos Holy Gods into revealing what lay outside the universe, but even if they dared to speak, he wouldn't dare believe them. He had no way to determine whether they were lying about something this critical.
He released the Doomsday Ark, and the Miracle Sequence immediately upgraded it to the Eternal level.
Still not enough.
So he fused the Sea of Miracles with the Doomsday Ark, enhancing it through mutual symbiosis and further upgrades.
The Doomsday Ark, now reinforced into a Primordial Sacred Artifact, unfolded its Doomsday Barrier and advanced forward, delving deeper into the boundary of the universe.
The universe's boundary wasn't a physical wall like the Mysterious Study Room, but a unique obstructive structure composed of laws as rebar, space-time as framework, and energy as filler. This barrier formed the very foundation of the world—strictly speaking, it was even more important than the universe's origin itself.
The Doomsday Ark sailed through the void for several days, its speed steadily decreasing, its forward motion growing more and more difficult.
Rosen observed the space ahead and found that the concepts of time and space were becoming increasingly blurred.
The concept of space grew so indeterminate that no matter which direction one traveled, it might still feel as if they were standing still.
The concept of time also became vague—he might think he had been advancing through the universe's barrier for several days, but in reality, only a few seconds might have passed outside… or perhaps several decades. When combined with spatial distortion, it was even possible that hundreds of thousands of years could go by without ever crossing the universal barrier.
Rosen expanded the Creator Domain and projected the power of the Root Micro-Universe into it.
Relying on the laws of the universe, he forcibly stabilized the distorted space-time at the edge of the barrier.
Of course, the better approach would have been to use his Immortal Will to take control of the laws that formed the universe's barrier.
But when he tried, he failed—his Immortal Will was rejected and expelled by those universal laws.
Had it not been for the protection of the Creator Domain, he would have been left with no choice but to blast open a path by brute force.
Under the escort of the Creator Domain, the Doomsday Ark continued its advance. But as time passed, the power of the universal laws within the domain gradually weakened, because the uncontrollable laws within the barrier itself grew stronger and stronger.
Rosen had no choice but to convert the Root Source Seed into more Universal Source Seeds in order to stabilize the laws of space-time within the Creator Domain.
Thus, after several decades of persistent effort, the Doomsday Ark finally managed to cross the universal barrier—difficultly, but without danger.
Rosen had expected the barrier to be incredibly perilous, filled with chaotic, destructive space-time storms and other such threats.
Unexpectedly, there was nothing but the vague, distorted concepts of time and space—no other danger at all.
On reflection, this made sense. The universal barrier was the shell of the entire universe. If this shell were unstable and turbulent, it would mean the entire universe was fragile. How could such a flimsy shell support the weight of the whole cosmos? Not to mention, he was piloting a Primordial Sacred Artifact across it.
Rosen activated the Creator's Eye in advance and closely observed the outside the moment the Doomsday Ark passed through the barrier.
But the instant he saw it, all his excitement and anticipation vanished.
He had imagined countless possible scenarios for what might lie beyond the universe.
Perhaps an infinite sea of energy, like the Source Dark Sea. Or maybe a realm similar to the Origin Sea of the universe. Perhaps he would find lonely universes drifting through a vast void. Maybe it was even the palm of a supreme being?
He had considered all these possibilities, even the idea that the universe was a world created by a higher existence.
After all, within the Root Micro-Universe, there were lifeforms in small pocket worlds who had no idea they lived in an artificially governed mini-universe.
Rosen had imagined countless possibilities—but never once had he imagined what he now saw.
It was, indeed, an endless void. Pitch-black and dotted with only a few scattered lights.
The background of the space outside the universe looked almost identical to the starry sky within the universe.
But the lights dotting this endless dark void weren't stars. They were universes.
Everywhere Rosen looked—both near and far—he saw nothing but universes. Their numbers rivaled the stars inside his own universe, possibly even greater. Trillions upon trillions, so many he couldn't even begin to calculate how many existed in this darkness.
If it were just the sheer number of universes, Rosen's heart might not have grown cold so quickly.
What truly terrified him was this: every universe he saw was a destroyed universe.
All of them—collapsed universal barriers, dead silence, desolate and lifeless. God only knew why these infinite universes had all met such an end.
Rosen looked in every direction and found only a single intact universe—the one behind him.
He tried to study it a little longer, but then realized that the universe behind him was moving away.
The Doomsday Ark immediately gave chase—and it took hundreds of years to catch up.
Rosen discovered that just like stars in the night sky, the countless universes in this endless void were also in motion. And their speeds were astonishing. He pushed the Doomsday Ark to its limits, and still it took hundreds of years to close the gap of just a few minutes' delay.
Only now did he finally understand the mindset of those Primordial Lifeforms who once transcended the universe.
They must have seen the truth beyond the universe—and so they had mimicked what they saw outside.
They transformed the original flat-and-dome structure of the universe into the modern cosmic starfield, modeling each star after the countless ruined universes they had witnessed beyond.
Rosen also finally understood why they hadn't killed the Universal Will or destroyed the universe itself.
Because beyond the universe were endless, ruined universes—
And this one… was the only intact one.
In such a context, the value of this lone surviving universe became immeasurable.
Rosen also came to understand why those transcendent Primordial Lifeforms had never returned.
He had stayed in the void for just a few minutes, yet the Doomsday Ark had to chase for hundreds of years to catch up.
Those Primordial Lifeforms had left the universe countless billions of years ago. Who knew how far the universe had drifted in this dark void since then? Trying to lock onto its location and find their way back—how could that be easy?
It was even possible that those Primordial Lifeforms no longer wanted to return.
After all, with so many destroyed universes out there, who could say how many of them still held unclaimed resources?
If those universes were rich in resources, wouldn't it be better to gather them and use them to evolve a small universe into a great universe?
Or perhaps… they had already perished in the endless deep void.
Among infinite universes, there was only one still intact—all the rest were destroyed.
Whatever force had annihilated those universes might still linger within the shattered remains.
Perhaps, while exploring those ruins, they had met their end and could no longer return.
Rosen took one last long look, then turned the Doomsday Ark around to return.
He had thought the space beyond the universe would be extremely dangerous—but aside from the endless deep void, he hadn't directly encountered any threats.
The only thing worth worrying about was that during the destruction and rebirth of the universe, it likely wouldn't pause within the endless void. It would keep moving at high speed. Without a vehicle at the level of a Primordial Sacred Artifact, one might be left behind by the new universe—forever unable to catch up.
No wonder the Chaos Holy Gods hadn't taken the Divine Hall of the Sacred Gods seriously.
With the Celestial Flame Palace alone, they simply couldn't keep pace with a new universe hurtling through the endless deep void.
From the very beginning, the Divine Hall of the Sacred Gods had been disqualified from the competition for the new universe.
When the Doomsday Ark once again crossed the universal barrier, Rosen felt completely at ease.
Though he hadn't encountered danger in the deep void, that place had no laws, no energy—nothing but emptiness. Being there was like a fish out of water, struggling to survive in a vacuum.
While he could survive thanks to the Root Micro-Universe, which sustained him like a life-support system...
If real danger arose, relying on the micro-universe alone might not be enough.
Because if the micro-universe were sufficient to survive out there, the Primordial Lifeforms wouldn't have gone to such extremes to slay the Universal Will and drain the universe's essence just to transcend it.
They must have discovered something that required far greater power to survive—hence their actions.
Rosen was still contemplating various possibilities when, all of a sudden, something felt wrong.
He was beginning to forget everything he had seen outside the universe. Not just his memory—everything recorded by the Fate Bronze Book was vanishing.
The paintings he had drawn during those centuries aboard the Doomsday Ark, all depicting scenes from beyond the universe, were also beginning to fade. At this rate, in just a few days, he would forget everything about what lay outside.
Rosen tried every method he could to stop it, but none of them worked. He couldn't preserve the memories.
In the end, with no other choice, he only managed to retain two key pieces of information:
One, that survival beyond the universe required a Primordial-grade vehicle.
Two, that one could only survive by obtaining the new universe.
These pieces of information didn't involve the true face of the outer void, which was likely why they alone were preserved.
Even though he had spent centuries and only retained that much, Rosen still felt it had been worth it.
Because without even that knowledge, during the destruction of the old universe and the birth of the new one, even if he delayed by just a moment in the endless void, catching up—despite piloting the Doomsday Ark—would take decades, perhaps even centuries.
And that amount of time might be enough for the Chaos Holy Gods to determine victory and seize control of the new universe.
One misstep would mean total defeat—and that was the greatest takeaway from his crossing of the universal barrier.
Rosen was already thinking about how to make the Doomsday Ark faster. But after trying all sorts of methods, none worked—because the Ark had already reached its speed limit. To go even faster, he would need power that exceeded even the Primordial level.
His memories soon completely faded—but the tasks he needed to do, and the things he needed to be cautious of, remained firmly in mind.
After quietly returning to the Origin Sea of the Universe aboard the Doomsday Ark, Rosen resumed his efforts to create a new Primordial Sacred Law.
This new sacred law was extremely unusual. It required long-range attacks. Once launched, the attack must not involve any laws. It had to conserve energy to the greatest degree possible. It should focus on disruption rather than destruction. In short—every single requirement was abnormal.
A sacred law created under these conditions would likely be crushed by any Eternal Sacred Law.
But Rosen still proceeded to deduce and develop it—because this was a warning he had personally written in the Fate Bronze Book. It was a warning so deeply etched into his memory that there could be no doubt of its importance—second only to strengthening the Doomsday Ark itself.
(End of Chapter)