While Arthur was biding his time as he waited for his qi to be refilled up to full capacity, something else was happening at a much higher realm than he could ever hope to enter. Though, it’s not like he hadn’t entered the place before. After all, this realm was the place he had entered in order for him to be reincarnated.

Inside the Purgatory, Theresa dazedly looked at the computer screen in front of her, going through list upon list of names that told her whether someone had accrued more good karma in their life or more bad karma. Fortunately, as a goddess of reincarnation, looking through names before deciding whether to send them off into the wheel of reincarnation or not was not much of a problem. After going through lists for millions of years, it was basically second nature to her.

Eventually, after a few more hours of going through name lists, Theresa eventually closed the computer monitor as she stretched her back, feeling like her back would break at some point if she continued to stare at the monitor in front of her for a bit more.

Scratching her back as she stood up from her seat, she pressed a button on her desk, signaling to the others that she was unavailable for now as she was going to take her scheduled break. After making sure that no people on the path to reincarnation would enter her office room while she was taking her scheduled break, Theresa lightly nodded in satisfaction before heading out of the room, making her way towards the communal space where the other gods and goddesses of reincarnation were taking their scheduled break.

Surprisingly, the Purgatory, which was considered a place only filled with despair by most people, was actually a technologically advanced world when compared to a planet like Earth. However, unlike Earth, which purely relied on human ingenuity to achieve feats that would normally be impossible, the Purgatory instead focused on creating technology that relied on something even better than that.

The power of gods.

With that in mind, most of the technologies that normal people thought were necessary did not exist in the Purgatory. In fact, the computer monitors the gods and goddesses of reincarnation interacted with were just for show, allowing those that just recently died to still feel a sense of similarity. Though… that was only for the division that interacted with people that had similar technological advancements as Earth. Naturally, it was different for the other divisions.

After making a medium-sized cup of coffee for herself, Theresa quickly added a packet of creamer and sugar into it before slowly mixing it, taking a sip before letting out a sigh of satisfaction. “As always, coffee in the Purgatory is always the best.”

Taking yet another sip, she then walked further into the communal space, eventually finding a few people that she knew. With them waving at her with a hint of excitement, she headed to where they were with a light smile on her face, knowing very well what they were going to say to her once she arrived.

“So, how’s work, Theresa?” one of the few people she knew asked her just as she appeared in front of them, a woman named Clarisse. Just like Theresa, she was part of the goddesses that dealt with reincarnating people from planets similar to Earth.

“Oh, you know. The usual.” Theresa shrugged her shoulders in response. “It’s not like we would always get to see interesting things appear in our office everyday.”

“To be honest, I think I’d be better off if I had your work, Theresa,” said a man all of a sudden, prompting Theresa and Clarisse to chuckle in response. The man's name was Jasper, also part of the same division as the two, yet he focused on handling people that were a bit more… eccentric.

“Well, I’m sure Clarisse wouldn’t mind taking over your shift for an hour or two,” Theresa said as she gave Clarisse a wink, prompting Clarisse to profusely shake her head as she replied, “Nuh-uh. I’d rather do double of my work right now rather than take over Jasper’s work for an hour.”

“Since you two aren’t willing to take on Jasper’s line of work, then why even bother tossing it back and forth between one another?” said another man who had just arrived in front of the three. His name was Verio, someone from another division in the Purgatory, but had the same type of work as Julius.

“Let’s save that topic for later,” Clarisse said in response to Verio’s words, soon eliciting nods from everyone as she told them, “For now, let’s get something to eat.”

With that, they headed to the part of the communal space where anything the gods and goddesses of reincarnation desired to eat would be available. After the four of them grabbed their typical assortment of foods, they headed to the dining hall, seating themselves near a decently large table as they started to converse once more while eating.

“So, how’s everyone’s progress regarding the project?” Verio was the first one to ask among them, bringing up a topic that the gods and goddesses of reincarnation had only gotten involved in recently.

The New Cosmos Project.

According to what the higher-ups of the Purgatory told them, the New Cosmos Project was a program that was necessary for every being in the current multiverse as they were told that…

Their multiverse was on its way to collapsing.

Naturally, almost everyone could not help but feel a hint of fear and panic from this piece of news, even if they had nigh-infinite lifespans. After all, once the multiverse collapsed, then any remaining lifespan they had would become useless… unless if they had another place to reside in.

And that’s where the New Cosmos Project came in. From how the higher-ups in the Purgatory explained it to them, the New Cosmos Project would allow them to create an artificial multiverse that would never collapse. Although it seemed like an impossible feat from the perspective of the various gods and goddesses of reincarnation, the higher-ups assured them that it was possible, only needing them to contribute by… reincarnating people into objects necessary for the progression of the project.

The higher-ups told them that they would only need two types of objects in order for the New Cosmos Project to become a success. The first object would be entities of law, while the second one would be…

Entities of energy.

With that in mind, Theresa actually reincarnated Arthur into an entity of energy. More specifically, an artificial spirit vein. But of course, there were multiple types of energy in the multiverse, prompting her to reincarnate other beings that were suited for other types of energy like mana, vitality, occult energy and so on.

However, all of these reincarnated people had one thing in common. They did not have a lot of good karma, nor did they have a lot of bad karma. According to the higher-ups, only these people would be accepted by the place where the New Cosmos Project would be done.

“So far, so good.” Theresa was the first one among them to answer Verio’s question. “I’ve already reincarnated about 30 or so people into entities of energy. In fact, one of the new ones I’ve reincarnated is already close to reaching the first stage of advancement.”

“Oh? How long has it been since that being was reborn?” Clarisse could not help but ask with curiosity.

“Around two weeks or so,” Theresa replied, eliciting jealous looks from the other three as Verio could not help but say, “It seems you’ve obtained quite the talent.”

“I was just lucky.” Theresa chuckled in response. “How about you guys? What kind of people did you reincarnate?”

“Well, if you’re reincarnating people into entities of energy, then I’m reincarnating people into entities of law,” Clarisse was the first one to answer, giving off a slight air of confidence as she continued, “About half of the 50 people I’ve reincarnated have already reached the third stage of advancement.”

Just as she thought everyone would look at her in awe, Verio decided to douse her confidence in cold water as he asked in response, “And how long did that take them?”

“Er… uh… 10 years?” Clarisse said with a forced smile, making her wonder as to why she was so confident in the first place.

“Well, if you think my people are so bad, then how are your people faring, Verio?” she asked soon after, wanting to bring Verio down a peg or two.

Unfortunately for her, she would not get the chance to do so as Verio calmly replied, “Unlike your people, all of my entities of energy and law are already in the third stage, with the slowest one among them taking 3 years.”

“Well, I’ve only reincarnated 10 people so far that I think are fit for the New Cosmos Project, with most of them being entities of law. Unfortunately, they’ve only reached the first stage of advancement, with the slowest among them taking three months,” Jasper could not help but say, wanting to contribute something to the conversation.

After that, they talked a bit more about the project, with Theresa deciding to become silent all of a sudden. Although she had told them that she had already reincarnated 30 people for the project, in reality, the remaining 29 were just people she had just recently reincarnated. Other than that, Arthur was the only one among them that had really made any progress.

Sure, she may have felt a bit of schadenfreude from what she did to Arthur. Though, that was just her normally hidden sadistic tendencies showing their true colors. For the most part, she hoped that Arthur did his very best. After all, not only was his life at stake, but her life, her friends’ life, basically everyone’s life was at stake. Plus she did feel that bad that she had gone against his wishes, even though she could read his mind while asking him those questions.

‘I wish you the very best of luck, Arthur,’ Theresa muttered inwardly. ‘I hope you don’t become angry at me once we meet again.’

While she inwardly wished for Arthur’s wellbeing, the others were holding a conversation on a topic that caught her fancy.

“Speaking of which, I filed a suggestion to the higher-ups on enhancing a certain module for the entities of energy. Specifically, the ones that are inclined towards qi,” Verio said, prompting the other three to listen to him.

“What module are you talking about?” Theresa could not help but ask.

With a light smile, Verio responded, “Three words.”

“Spirit Generator Module.”