Chapter One: A World of Trouble

"Sigh—" Feng Xue let out yet another weary sigh, hugging a hefty textbook titled "Five Years of Animation, Three Years of Fanfiction" as he began to read once more.

As a transmigrator who, after sixteen years in this world, still wasted his days in a basic academy, Feng Xue couldn’t help feeling dejected. Compared to his peers in the same situation, who were saving the world as early as twelve or thirteen, he seemed hopelessly behind. By his current age, most of them would have completed their legendary quests and started their own dynasties.

That said, the power system and social structure of this world were both complicated, and his starting point was far from ideal. It took him quite some time to adapt.

The continent Feng Xue lived on was a plane, resting atop a dimension—yes, it wasn’t a sphere. It was said that some mythic-level being had "created" it directly (with power rankings as follows: Reality Level—Mundane, Exceptional, Extraordinary; Fantasy Level—Heroic, Epic, Legendary; Mythic Level—Saint, Demigod, True God; Law Level—Manipulator, Master, Sovereign; each level subdivided into upper, middle, and lower stages).

In fact, this continent was just one layer among many in a multi-tiered world. Once someone ascended to the mythic level, their very presence would unconsciously alter the environment around them. To prevent such beings from destroying the fabric of the world, they were required to leave the material plane, claim a demi-plane, and erode it into a continent of their own. Feng Xue’s continent was just one of countless such layers.

A demi-plane was a world with its own worldview and ecosystem, but one that relied on other worlds for its existence—in short, a two-dimensional world. Whether novel, movie, game, animation, or even oral legend, as long as someone knew of it, it could become a demi-plane. Due to certain rules, whether fan-made or canonical, the events that occurred in these demi-planes were identical; only combat power and subtle differences outside of the plot varied. (For instance, in the same Naruto demi-plane, one world might be mythic-level with Kaguya Otsutsuki as an alien from a higher civilization, while another might be extraordinary-level with Kaguya just an ordinary person who consumed magical treasures.)

In this world, the way to become stronger was to erode a demi-plane with one’s own domain, then absorb other demi-planes, using their laws to perfect oneself, until the original demi-plane could sustain its own ecological balance. These continents would float, stacked by rank, with the stronger (in terms of creatures, resources, population, etc.) residing closer to the bottom.

When a mythic-level being’s continent grew strong enough, they could descend to the lowest level of the Babel World, the primordial origin continent—Earth itself. (Yes, this world is what Earth might become after countless years in a parallel development—see the prologue for details.)

At that point, the mythic being would attempt to merge their continent into the planet. This was no easy feat, for the Earth at the base had long since awakened planetary consciousness. Only those who had grasped the laws could break through its defenses, so only Law-level beings could truly merge their continent with the planet.

As Earth absorbed more continents, it grew ever larger, granting those who merged their lands with it even greater boosts—such as easier comprehension of universal laws. At that stage, these Law-level beings became truly immortal.

With the fusion of countless worlds, Earth had grown so immense that it shed the sun’s shackles, becoming the most independent celestial body in the universe. It boasted a law-sun created by a light-wielding sovereign, abundant water from a water law master, periodic gravitational shifts from a gravity law user, and even its rotation and revolution had ceased entirely, replaced by alternation of day and night orchestrated by the laws of time and light/darkness. (Note: These law-wielders were not all human—gods, great beasts, demons, spirits, elves, orcs, even magical beasts from fantasy worlds were included.)

Since the structure of the floating continents looked like a tower stretching from a colossal Earth, the whole arrangement was called the Babel Tower, and the world itself became known as the Babel Tower World. (The name was, in truth, just to distinguish it from Feng Xue’s former reality.)

Of course, all this was far removed from Feng Xue’s current reality.

The different layers of the Babel Tower exerted different suppressive forces. The stronger one was, the closer to Earth they would reside. The closer a continent was to Earth, the older it was, and the more dangerous it became. If the upper continents were populated by kittens and puppies, then the lower ones housed Godzilla—magical versions, at that. As for Earth itself? Only ancient dragon species, whose mere presence could trigger natural disasters, could survive there. (Don’t use Monster Hunter as your reference—those dragons are just juveniles, and even then, hunters only manage to drive them away, not defeat them. Don’t be fooled by how easy it looks in games; in the lore, they’re world-ending beings like Groudon and Kyogre in Pokémon.)

Typically, those living in the uppermost layers, the so-called Ninth Heaven, were the most fortunate. These were the newborn worlds recently shed by mythic beings (though "newborn" in this context could mean hundreds of years, but mythic beings with their own continents had already escaped the limits of mortality). The average power level was low; even ordinary reality-level humans could live peacefully, and those seeking strength could train and move gradually to lower, more dangerous continents as they progressed (upper-layer residents could freely descend, but returning required at least Fantasy level).

Feng Xue, however, was not so lucky. His current incarnation was born in the middle reaches of the Reality-level continents (only Reality-level continents saw the birth of new children; even those from Fantasy continents wishing to have offspring would return to Reality-level, since even the safest Fantasy continents had gravity at least ten times that of Reality level). He lived on an Exceptional continent—which meant only Exceptional-level warriors could live normal lives there.

What did "normal life" mean? Eating when hungry, sleeping when tired, finding a job, traveling for leisure.

Anyone below Exceptional could only huddle in Safe Zones (facilities unique to each continent, usually located within cities; in fact, only places with Safe Zones could become cities, since only there were those below the continent’s level protected from energy radiation and hazardous environments. However, gravity and similar conditions were unaffected), living quietly as schoolchildren.

This might sound abstract, but if you imagined the Babel Tower as an online game, it made sense. The higher the continent, the closer to a beginner’s village; the closer to Earth, the higher the level. Toss a level one newbie into a level fifty capital and they wouldn’t last a step outside, not even from the wild environment, let alone monsters. Exploring demi-planes would be out of the question.

So, to survive here, one had to at least reach Exceptional level.

At least Feng Xue wasn’t born on an Extraordinary-level continent.

This brings us to the world’s power system.

Thanks to an ancient civilization, humanity had gained an innate gift embedded in the soul—a Concept.

Later, by drawing from countless demi-planes, humans developed two more paths—Soul and Origin.

Combined with the physical body, these formed the Four Elements of Apotheosis—the Four Gates of Divinity (with due thanks to Lady Canghai’s worldbuilding and that ever-unfinished "Endless Ice").

Concept was akin to an energy-based talent. It represented "Qi" among the Four Gates, though energy here was more like superpowers than traditional magic. Instead of controlling energy types, one focused on a concept—say, fire manipulation might be based on combustion, heat, or explosion. There were also branch concepts; for instance, aging and youth were subdivisions of the Time concept. These branches were suppressed by higher concepts, and at the same level could even be directly overwhelmed. Unlike water and fire, which could counter each other if strong enough, branch concepts were always restrained by their root—unless one reached Law level and grasped the source law, reversing the hierarchy.

Concepts were not limited to elements like water and fire. There were abstract ones like vector, mirror, illusion, or even sword, teacup, or other objects.

Cultivating this talent meant deepening one’s understanding of the concept, or venturing into demi-planes to devour (or learn) similar systems, until one could form an energy cycle in harmony with the world. This cycle wasn’t like the internal circuits of martial arts, but more like the innate state—becoming a part of the world’s energy cycle, drawing directly from the Great Source (the body was a small source, the world itself the Great Source), thus achieving boundless energy.

Soul was self-explanatory—the abstract essence holding human emotions and memories. Through cultivation methods (e.g., Zanpakuto, Nascent Soul), one could refine their soul, eventually reaching a flawless state, allowing reincarnation even if the body died, bypassing the mysteries of birth.

Origin referred to one’s connection to the world itself, the core of the Four Gates. Here, every person was tied uniquely to the Earth—a force deeper than ego or instinct. As one grew stronger, this bond intensified. When it reached a critical point, the cultivator could touch their Origin and awaken a Personal Reality (worldview), gaining a unique innate ability and building their domain upon it. Touching Origin while retaining sanity was the basic requirement for reaching the Fantasy level.

However, Origin was perilous, as it significantly influenced personality (causing "reversal impulses"). Overcoming this was the trial of the Heart Gate. Some prodigies could touch Origin at birth, but unless their Origin was one of the rare stable types, tragedy often followed—young minds could not withstand the reversal, with disastrous results. Still, the power was so tempting that humanity found ways, through other worlds, to master Origin in advance. (Note: Early Origin discovery methods came from the Nasuverse demi-plane; early awakening methods from the Index demi-plane. Due to immense calculation requirements, few attempt them. There are also techniques for partial Origin use via Gourmet Cells, Zanpakuto, etc.)

As for the body, it simply referred to the physical form—mastery meant filling every cell with energy, achieving rebirth from a drop of blood. This was the easiest gate, as everyone (unlike non-humans, who followed other systems) was the same, even practicing the same technique.

This body-forging art was called the Tempering Method. It sounded ordinary but was immensely powerful—its strength depended entirely on the user’s Concept. With elemental Concepts, the body could become elemental; with weapon Concepts, one’s body might become a living weapon; with abstract Concepts, extraordinary applications became possible (think of it like Devil Fruits: elemental is like Logia, weapon is Zoan, abstract is Paramecia).

As for Feng Xue’s own Concept, it was something between abstract and elemental…

PS: This chapter repeats some of the prologue, because I know some people skip it.