1579  Meanwhile III

"Do you know of the Butterfly effect?" the man asked as he looked out at the dark horizon. If there were others in his company, there was no evidence of it, for no one responded to him.

"The Butterfly effect suggests that small changes in initial conditions can lead to vastly different outcomes. For example, a flap of a butterfly's wing in one galaxy can cause a cup of hot chocolate to cool down quicker in another."

"I'm not sure… that's how that's supposed to go," someone finally said, the doubt in their voice easily identifiable.

"That's not the point. The point is… we're in this situation, we have a once in a lifetime opportunity here, but I realize that there really is no better option. It's frustrating. We've been given the ultimate gift but… but it's dangling right in front of us, yet we can't take it."

No one else in the room spoke. Not all of them agreed with the man in this particular circumstance, but they didn't know how to voice their opinions.

The man kept looking into the distance as if some answer would come from afar, riding on a white horse, and solve his problems. But that wasn't how things worked. He would have to solve his own problems.

"When we came to the Midnight Inn as refugees, when the Earth was invaded and we were left with nothing, it was an immense loss. It was a loss we have not recovered from to this day! Yet it was also the greatest opportunity we have ever gotten!

"A land filled with spirit energy! Access to amazing cultivation techniques! Rare resources growing on the trees right in our backyards! Exposure to the greatest powers and civilizations in the Origin realm! We got it all! It was a huge price we paid for it, but we got it all!"

Vigor filled the man's voice as he monologued, yet as he approached the end of his sentence, his energy seemed to fade.

"But what's the point?" he asked helplessly. "Every civilization we meet, humans are weak and pathetic. They have clear disadvantages in their cultivation, and they have to do double the work, use double the resources only to achieve the same results. Only the Jotun empire is different, yet even they are nothing but puppets for another. It is a failure of an empire. In this universe, the human race has nowhere where they can claim to have an advantage… nowhere but the Midnight Inn."

Slowly a flicker of some deep emotion passed through the man's eyes, and he turned to look at the people in the room.

"In the Midnight Inn, humans are not weak. In the Midnight Inn, humans grow stronger faster than anyone else. They have the backing, the resources, the potential, they have everything! Everything except… except the will to do anything with that power. They just want to… want to serve others."

The man said the last sentence with distaste, as if it was the most disgusting thing he'd ever heard.

"Look, boss. There's nothing we can do about it. Just living in a Minor realm connected to the Inn is a huge boon. Why don't you just-"

"Just nothing!" the man roared! "These goddamn peace hippies don't know the treasure they have! If instead of an Inn, they just mobilised an army they could be the strongest human force in the realm. Heck, they could start setting the foundation for expansion, take over more realms. Instead, they just smile and greet peasants weaker than them. It's disgusting."

They could cultivate, they could grow stronger, live however they wanted, and no one would persecute them. But for those who had ambition, it was like the fiercest prison. They had not the strength to face the Inn, nor could they live in it, yet they also lacked the courage to leave it behind.

08:26

Everyone in the room just exchanged glances but said nothing. Their boss… he was a man who wanted conquest, but was trapped in a place he could do nothing. For anyone who wanted a peaceful life, the Inn was an absolute paradise.

They could cultivate, they could grow stronger, live however they wanted, and no one would persecute them. But for those who had ambition, it was like the fiercest prison. They had not the strength to face the Inn, nor could they live in it, yet they also lacked the courage to leave it behind.

"But I have a plan," the man said, quickly calming down. "We're going to infiltrate the Inn. We're going to get jobs there, and become a part of their- huh? What's this?"

The man suddenly paused his speech, and moved his hand in the air in front of him, as if he was interacting with something.

"Of course I have grand ambitions," the man said, as if responding to a question no one else heard.

Before anyone could ask him what he was talking about, the man disappeared, startling the group. They tried to look for him, call him, send him a message or contact him in any way. Yet they only received silence in response.

Suddenly they felt afraid, as if the Inn had punished their boss. The days passed and they never heard from their boss again, nor did they ever mention him either. It was an event that went mostly unnoticed, like a single flap of a butterfly's wing.

Through some strange coincidence, no one realized that similarly, all across the Origin realm, many ambitious people disappeared. Yet being ambitious was not enough. Everyone who disappeared just happened to be in a position where no one would notice their absence.

No one noticed the slight silent shift in the realms destiny. The Karma of the whole realm remained relatively unaffected, so there were no traces for anyone to detect. For all intents and purposes, such an event never happened.

As such, no one noticed when a relatively mundane realm in the universe - one that was destined to never reach full maturity - suddenly gained a hundred trillion new living beings. All of them had the Grand Conquest System, and all of them had one hundred followers to begin developing their territories, and set off on a conquest to establish the strongest civilization.

The boss who had just been complaining about the wasted potential of the Inn began to smile as he understood more and more about his situation. After all, alongside the system, the territory and the hundred followers, he'd also unlocked the ability to refine anything he touched into its purified form.

That, especially for a cultivator, was a very strong ability.