Time passes.

For the Dimensional Esophagus, the passage of time holds no meaning, yet for the exiles living here, continuously digested by the inexorable rules of the Endless World, it is a tangible experience, not wasted due to the twisting temporal discrepancies with the real Material World.

Unknowingly, an entire epoch has passed.

On the Dimensional Esophagus Bone Continent, the number of exiles from the Material World isn’t considered small. However, relative to the continent’s vastness, the temporal fault barriers, and the constant continuous digestion by the Endless World for various reasons, it isn’t considered large either.

Only in those gathering places formed by special rules can there emerge societies of exiles following different rules, attempting to evade the fate of being digested by the Endless World.

An epoch, ten thousand years!

Countless newcomers sealed into the Dimensional Esophagus have been digested, and many old monsters, unable to resist the Everlasting World’s balance digestion rule torrents due to soul extremes, finally became one of the numerous skeletons forever left on this continent.

For some exiles who have just adapted to the rules of the Dimensional Esophagus and are gradually growing, this epoch marks the initial stage of transitioning from a newcomer into an old monster.

This includes the Convergence Grounds of the Piercing Gate, one of the large gathering places of the Dimensional Esophagus, and the Oblivion Sorcerer Green from the Summit of Nine Peaks.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle...

The scarcity of resources, even for a wizard like Green, could only rely on the Philosopher’s Stone to concoct some simple seasonings, brewing a pot of mushroom soup as a little adornment in a monotonous and lengthy life, reminding himself that he is a wizard, a wizard waiting endlessly to leave the Dimensional Esophagus, rather than food to be digested by the Endless World.

The curling blue smoke rises. In Green’s laboratory, Mesocea’s eyes are bright. In the fleeting time passage, the two have at least become rare friends in the Dimensional Esophagus.

As the ruler of the First Peak at the Summit of Nine Peaks, enjoying all the rights of the Piercing Gate, the aftermath of Green’s battle at the Silk Underworld Palace has resonated within the Piercing Gate for an epoch, with the strong of the Second Peak having changed several times without attempting to challenge Green.

Considering time, more than 14,000 years have passed since Green became trapped in the Dimensional Esophagus.

And it’s been over 13,000 years since fitting Oblivion at the Piercing Gate, with the Oblivion surge reaching 475,000 degrees!

However, this is still far from satisfying Green’s needs.

"Breathe... inhale..."

Mesocea savors the mushroom soup, closing her eyes in full enjoyment.

"Every time I taste your mushroom soup, it’s a kind of grace and enjoyment from the Dimensional Esophagus, a testimony that I am still alive. It’s so wonderful."

In a tedious and boring life, receiving some praise from a talkative friend, under the slightly rigid, time-worn, and knowledge-accumulated face beneath the Green Truth Mask, a faint smile appears.

"If you like it, eat more. Compared to the mushroom soup made 150 years ago, it has some added meat fat this time, creating a brand-new taste."

Centuries pass in an instant. The Dimensional Esophagus offers no colorful life, seemingly never seeing hope. Over time, some people will choose to give up, quietly awaiting the fate of being digested by the Endless World.

"Mmm..."

A captivating, mellifluous sigh emanates from Mesocea’s throat as she drains the mushroom soup and, with a satisfied smile, asks again, "Oblivion Sorcerer, do you not consider it at all? Although we aren’t of the same race, with our strong vitality, there should be some possibility of producing offspring that exceed the fusion of our respective bloodlines." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Green shook his head and smiled, silently refusing, without further explanation on the matter.

"Alright."

Mesocea, with regret and lingering, softly said, "This time, the Lord of the Second Peak differs from before. He is the strongest who has grown step by step from an exile during this epoch, especially after challenging the Starfire Sprite 500 years ago and successfully becoming the Lord of the Second Peak in one leap, stronger than ever. I think it’ll be only a few hundred years before you face your first challenge. Are you ready?"

"There is no need to prepare for anything."

Green, not wishing to waste even a drop of mushroom soup, even sucked the humble bone spoon, and then, with a hint of regret, put away the utensils and said calmly, "I also took a look at that outcast. They are far from reaching my position. As for the future, it will only grow further away. Even if there are those who would redefine the rules of the Piercing Gate, it certainly won’t be them. They are still far from being enough."

Hearing Green say so, through these years, Mesocea has been deeply enamored with Green’s composure, erudition, and wisdom, the power derived from knowledge control rather than self-challenge and transcendence.

"With that in mind, I can enjoy several more millennia, indulging in this delicious mushroom soup, hmph hmph."

Mesocea chuckled teasingly yet twisted her serpent tail, preparing to leave.

As she was seeing her off, Green suddenly said, "With your strength, though the hope for the top three peaks is slim, there is still hope for the later peaks. Won’t you give it a try?"

"Is it necessary? Isn’t my leisurely life now precisely the treatment of the First Peak..."

With an ironic smile, Green shook his head and returned to the laboratory, making this centennial meeting a spice of life.

...

Soon, Green returned to the monotonous repetitive life.

Time is so long, Green no longer felt the urgency of the past, nor needed any sense of urgency. Doing a little here and researching a bit there every day, over a full epoch, Green has more than doubled the expansion of the Book of Truth, replacing the Ninety-Nine Unity Sword Array with the Balance Seal Technique.

At the most conspicuous spot in the laboratory, the corpse of an Abyssal Demon is immersed in a giant container filled with turbid yellow liquid, serving as Green’s wizardly honor and self-motivation.

In such a long time, some whimsical experiment guesses that were left incomplete due to time constraints, Green has explored them using limited resources during his leisure.

Green filled in gaps in his weaker areas, such as magic array knowledge, mysticism, and even mechanical knowledge, as a pastime in his boredom, spending considerable time on them.

Although achieving no significant accomplishments, he is no longer as weak as before.

Even the lower-tier natural Elemental Witchcraft structure adjustments have progressed, with Green enhancing his previously highest fifteenfold gyro element structure to a twentyfold collapsed vortex structure, successfully inducing natural phenomenon augmentation.

However, for Green at this moment, these are merely little tricks born of boredom.

On the experiment table, several small glass vessels contain chunks of fat cells, respectively, data collection experiment samples from Green himself and data specimens of the Abyssal Demon.

The Life Key’s research on Human Race’s restricted hereditary evolution has not gone as smoothly as Green once imagined. However, given the possession of the Abyssal Demon Ancestor’s vitality specimen as a reference, along with ample time, the slender opportunity multiplied by such an enormous time base has become full of potential.

At least, possessing the Face of Truth, Green has endless possibilities!

Thus, time continues to slip away while the unstoppable rule torrents of the Endless World proceed with the irreversible digestion of everything within the Dimensional Esophagus...