Over the next decade, the entire planet changed dramatically, as all the minor cults and kingdoms got absorbed into the Veritas Empire.

From Frigia to Gea then Blue Xi and the Red continent, a single world government was established. This mainly meant same language, laws and currency. Local rulers remained mostly the same people, only their titles changed, like say from First Lord to Second Lord, then taking oaths to the Empire's ruling family, thus allowing the Legion first pick on local recruits and materials.

The Legion had protocols and manuals for such events, guiding new planets into becoming more civilized and productive. Trade, education, administration and military were systemized and subsidized to various degrees. Large cities could support a university and a few high schools, while small towns would be supported into establishing primary schools.

The Wall Guard, Guardians and other military orders were integrated into the Legion proper, and the former Patriarchy began to export people to a few more continents as soon as enough troops could be trained and assembled as defensive forces for the colonists.

Mining and metal industry became the focus of this new civilization, aided by huge farms for bamboo growing and concrete factories. The Legion maize plantations were spread near every town and village, as it could be cultivated almost anywhere.

In another century the civilization level rose to be comparable to 19th century on Earth, with some local varieties like domesticated eagles the size of a passenger airplane.

God Pef focused on Void Dao during this period, often voyaging the solar system to explore distant asteroids and planets and bring back rare minerals or elements, which were then gifted to Lady Lin or Saint Firali to experiment with. The lunar base grew into a huge city and shipyard, and the main center of Lacrima's Sky ranked or higher cultivators who could use their innate gravity manipulation to live normally.

Pef's speed and blink distance increased steadily with use, reaching 1000 kilometers in a single jump. The new Void Formation arrays could amplify that jump a thousand times, and thus a viable propulsion system for spaceships was born. If those spaceships were the same size as a human.

Sure, the void arrays could be and were grafted onto Pef's armor, but to move a ship these arrays would need to be much stronger.

This challenge was also solved by Pef. Sure, our main hero wasn't a genius inventor, but his powers allowed him to duplicate and enlarge the void formations a thousand times as well. Enough to power a kilometer long voidship.

Then, as soon as the radio was invented by a local, Pef announced to the world he will depart towards another galaxy, as soon as the lunar shipyards finished outfitting the first voidship of the Legion.

As one could imagine, this voidship had little to do with the Earth spaceships from Pef's memories.

Most ship systems were based on magical formation arrays and the very structure of the ship was simply made from a scooped-out Monarch eel. A modernized magic eel, of course. Air scrubbing, lights and temperature, and a thousand various controls were all formation and magic array based, printed with gold and platinum on the walls and commanded from main bridge via a holographic interface.

Inside the bridge of the voidship, Firali and Cellia were applying the last touches. Pef and Lin were testing the holographic navigation array, based on Lia's insights into the Dao of Light.

"I think it's ready, beloved husband." Lia mused as the hologram came online, depicting the local galaxy's stars with bluish light and their ships' projected route in orange.

"It certainly looks ready. Let's hope it won't burn out on us midway..." Pef answered, not so convinced.

From the console next to them, Cellia rose and glanced at her husband. "You realize you do not actually need a voidship to fly to this Demon Galaxy. Blink is enough. Your inner world can sustain 20 people now."

Pef nodded and grinned. "Yeah, of course I know. But I wanted a ship. Who doesn't want a spaceship? Plus, the knowledge of building such ships will remain as my legacy. I expect the entire galaxy to be colonized and full of humans when I return." he explained with a smile.

Firali blinked with both eyes, and nodded to himself, admitting that the work on the voidship had been the most inspiring project he ever endeavored. He gained so many insights now, he was close to his own ascension.

The new Dao of Metal was wonderful, and complemented his original Dao of Fire perfectly. And with Volcanis now anointed as a Legion smith, his own path was set.

He would follow Volcanis as a Legion smith and help humanity develop better machines and tools. Even if this Legion cultivation demanded him to get married. For some reason. As if he needed a woman. Hmph!

Lia knocked lightly on Pef's belly and soon vanished inside his dantian, joining the rest of crew.

Cellia stepped next to Pef and gave him a short hug. "Safe travel, damn idiot. I'll make sure young Deng becomes a Monarch till you return. At least one Xi should learn the sword properly." she whispered then vanished away, blinking outside the ship.

Firali patted him on the shoulder, then flew away leaving the ship through an airlock.

"Yeah, he's not a verbose man. Now, what was the magic word? Ah... Engage!" Pef proclaimed heroically to the empty bridge.

'Inject 100 qi into the ignition array, sir. You don't have ensigns to do it for you...' the glove advised him in a matter-of-fact tone.

Pef blushed slightly, then proceeded to manually ignite the propulsion.

With a swirl of qi, the voidship rose from its cradle and sped off, starting the long journey. A second later, a thousand arrays pulsed and the ship vanished, to reappear a million kilometers away.

Pef checked the holomap, then pulsed the engines again. Nine million pulses later, about nine trillion kilometers spinward, he took a short break.

After eight hours of nonstop jumping, the first lightyear of the journey was finally done. Only a billion lightyears were left. Galaxies are far away, who knew?

He took a deep breath, recharging his qi. On his inner chart, his total qi reserves had grown by 10.

Damn cultivation. It was so hard. At least, his Void Dao kept growing from constant use. Other abilities and stats also during the trip. To maintain a pleasant inner core world, he had to satisfy the visual, tactile and aural demands of the crew. Female crew, all with crazy and absurd demands.

That mean his Dao of Illusions gained immense progress, and his mental abilities were finally and slowly growing as well. Very slowly.

A thousand years later, Voidship One came to a stop, in another galaxy.

Some of the crew rushed out from the inner world, happy to escape the confines of the island. It was a slightly larger island now, and waves and leaves finally sounded normally, but it was still hard to bear.

"Oh, Lin...look! We're in another galaxy!" Lia exclaimed in an uncharacteristically happy voice.

They both rushed to check the holomap, then ran to the armored viewport made of Saint tooth enamel, sliced from a certain Rock Worm's tooth. It seemed they liked the new stars.

Aria remained next to Pef, hugging him with one arm. 'I'm close to my own Ascension. I want us to land, somewhere with plants.' she asked in a qi transmission.

He glanced at his green haired wife, measuring her with his coresense. She was really close indeed.

'Okay. It will take a year or so to reach a habitable world. Meanwhile, stay on the bridge and upgrade your core. Use only gold and platinum though.' he advised Aria with his own qi pulse.

Lia and Lin flew out, checking the ship's skin and arrays for damage, while Qin and Yuan stayed silent and just walked around the ship.

Pef sighed looking at the pair. Poor Qin had never properly recovered from the worm assault at Lacrimosa, her mind still damaged by the huge loss of life in the catastrophe and her own injury by a Harvester messenger.

He looked inside, noting another wife just staring at the inner sea, by herself. Xie was hurt too, maybe even more. Her twin soul, Xia has attempted to subvert her body and was destroyed in the attempt, leaving her feeling lonely and betrayed. With this new tragedy, her cultivation has staled, barely reaching Saint rank and not growing anymore.

Pef's avatar knelt next to Xie and hugged her gently. "We're landing soon. Maybe some beasts will come and try to eat us. Wanna come out then?" he asked in a soft tone.

A flash of brutal savagery glinted for a second in her eyes. "Let's hope we find some spiders. I could eat some." she replied with a sad and grim voice.

Pef laughed. "There's my girl." They stood in silence afterwards, watching the blue waves, crashing against the shore, relentless and eternal.

The next day, Pef changed course slightly. Yellow suns tended to have more life bearing planets, and he picked the nearest one. Another year later, the voidship arrived in orbit of a small verdant planet.

Below, on the surface his senses discovered life. And not just any life. Cultivators.