"Alright, enough joking around.
Be serious."
Little mortal became serious,
"Yes, big sister !"
Big sister, after listening to his nonsense for a while, sat him on a swing in her garden, and started talking to him about serious matters.
"Little mortal, do you know why you were summoned here ?"
"Yes, I know."
"It's only natural that you don't."
"I said, I know!"
"Be quiet! You can't remember it yet, because your true self is still 3, and doesn't have access to that information yet.
I remember telling you about it when you ... sigh, forget about it.
I explain it to you again, so listen carefully."
"Sir, Yes, Sir !"
"And no need for military salute !"
"Yes !"
Big sister was feeling annoyed.
This brat was no longer normal with his chaotic memories.
The one she remembered wasn't like this at all ...
"Now and then, newborns will be summoned here to participate in their ceremony after coming back to life again.
The main purpose is for you to register in God's ranking list.
Except for you, there are six other newborns as well.
Newborns are the previous owners of incomplete universes, and they use a ritual provided by world law to gain another chance and be resurrected in the Mainland.
In normal circumstances, higher beings from an incomplete universe don't have a main law like others who were born in a complete universe.
They can only start searching and pick a random law they like to master.
But even so, it will never be like those who are born with a main law.
And another thing is birth treasure.
They don't have a birth treasure; if they are lucky like you, and if they are unlucky, their birth treasure will be an evil one, without a doubt.
Those with evil birth treasure mostly die or are devoured by it, and later the birth treasure itself, while making trouble somewhere, gets destroyed by other higher beings who bump into them.
Fortunately, we never encountered such an Evil birth treasure, and I only heard about it through the World Law.
And another problem with higher beings from incomplete universes is that they can't make their own castle, the stronghold that is created from their own imagination, supported by the characteristics of their main law, which is like a home and first line of defense.
But after you are reborn in the mainland, you have a normal birth treasure with you this time as a gift bestowed by world law, and you can master any new law, or just continue with the one you mastered in your incomplete universe ."
Little mortal listened attentively and kept nodding.
Big sister, who was interested in seeing his birth treasure, asked,
"Now show me your birth treasure,
I'm curious to see what you got. "
But Little mortal shook his head,
"I didn't bring it with me."
And then whispered,
"Don't tell anyone, but there are lots of thieves around here; they might snatch it!
Even other newborns' birth treasure is already stolen!"
Big sister knocked his head,
"Stop talking nonsense.
And why would you leave your birth treasure behind?
Because of some imaginary thieves? "
Little mortal looked away stubbornly,
"I have evidence!
When the time comes, you will see it!"
Big sister took a deep breath to calm herself down.
This kid's brain was in a mess!
"Anyway, what was your birth treasure ?"
Little mortal first looked left and right to see if anyone else was around!
Then said with a serious face,
"Don't tell anybody, but my birth treasure is an evil treasure!
It can devour the multiverse, mainland, and whatever it sees!
Let me tell you, my evil birth treasure is a maniac!
It is consumed by an unlimited amount of resentment!
In our first meeting, it started chewing at my heart!
Can you believe it?
I was so scared at that time-"
Big sister interrupted him,
"Alright, alright!
Enough with your stories... "
Unlike her Crystal, who thought that everything he said might be a scary truth, she thought he was back to bluffing mode, like when he was talking about catching those two higher beings, because his memories were getting mixed up with other memories that didn't belong to him.
"Let's get back to the main topic. "
"Sir, Yes, sir! "
"I said no military salute!"
"Yes..."
"Alright, soon, all of you need to gather for your ceremony.
There are some events there for newborns before registration.
You brats, opposite of other higher beings, don't have a universe, so if you die, then you die for real.
But a higher being with a complete universe, even if they die, can be resurrected while losing part of the law in their universe as compensation.
That's why older, higher beings will shelter you, newborns, after they sign a contract to protect you.
You only need to provide them with part of the law you comprehend in return; in return, they allow you to live in their universe, and, depending on your contract, they might even teach you their own law.
This will continue until you reach level 6, and depending on your contract, you can either leave them completely or stay with them.
Unfortunately, newborns aren't like higher beings, born in a complete universe, who start from level 6 from the beginning.
So, at your age, newborns are mostly level 3.
Either way, after you reach level 6, you need to return to the Mainland and then create your own castle.
Now tell me, who are you going to ask for 'shelter'?
You know my law is Entertainment, a 'Unique Law', so I can't teach it to you ."
Little mortal smiled confidently,
"I don't need shelter!"
Big sister furrowed,
"Why ? "
Little mortal said confidently,
"I have the strongest shelter in the multiverse.
I can even provide shelter to others!
Big sister, let me tell you!
My shelter is so advanced that even all of the higher beings in the mainland combined can't harm anyone in there!
The other day-"
Seeing him start bluffing again, big sister stopped him,
"Alright, enough... I take care of you myself until you choose a law, and then I find someone compatible for you.
Anyway, in your ceremony, there is a competition too.
And most importantly, we need to register your name in God's ranking list so you become a Mainland citizen.
This way, others in the list can't harm you, and if anyone tries to bully you, just let me know.
But pay attention,
When it comes to those in the ranking list, the only way to harm them is through a challenge; if you don't disrespect anyone, no one can challenge you!
However, if you insult someone and end up in the God's Arena after they challenge you, I can't help you anymore!"
Little mortal nodded,
"Alright.
And if someone bullied you, you can tell me.
Even if it is in God's Arena, I rescue you!
I even know a good judge, called Bredd!
Let me tell you, the other day, he even sentenced that sneaky guy to death!
Can you believe it! "
Big sister was so frustrated that she had the thought of kicking him away to where she found him!
It didn't matter what she said, this little boy was ready to follow the conversation with some ridiculous claims...
At this moment, a loud voice echoed through the mainland,
[ Newborn ceremony will begin soon.
Everyone, gather.]
There was no feeling in the man's voice, as if he were just going through a process.
Big sister picked him up and said,
"The voice you just heard was God of contract.
He is responsible for registration and the Newborn's contract.
Any higher being who wants to take one of you,
Need to tell him about the conditions for the contract,
And he will make one with his birth treasure,
Divine ink and brush.
This way, it is guaranteed that no one can break the contract and no one can cheat. "
Little mortal looked at her suspiciously,
"You sure about that?
No one's cheating? I saw this politician dude scamming children with my own eyes.
I have evidence... "
Big sister rolled her eyes at him,
"What are you even talking about? I used his services before, and it was fine.
And remember to not call him like that, he is the one who registers your name in God's ranking list later!"
Little mortal shrugged,
"Alright, and who goes first for the contract or registration ?"
"The last place in the match between newborns.
You need to go into a building called 'contract room', which no one can pry into for privacy reasons."
Little mortal nodded.
Big sister raised an eyebrow,
"Are you interested now?
If yes, I can find a friend to take you in."
Little mortal shook his head,
"Don't want to."
Big sister didn't mind,
"Alright, let's just go there.
You can see how things work.
By the way, I won't be able to accompany you; I need to cover the event itself.
But don't worry, I'm watching you the whole time.
If anything went wrong with those five, I'll beat them up for you!
You register and come back to me. "
Little mortal nodded obediently,
"Alright."
...
Neutral Ground.
A big empty ground, for higher beings, to gather in peace.
The mainland was indeed a vast ground; no one knew exactly how big it was, except a couple of older generations.
And the reason wasn't because it was too big to explore, but because it was divided.
Any place with a castle was a territory belonging to someone.
Nobody would go to someone else's territory, except if they had a business with the other party.
Maybe the only one who didn't mind others coming to her territory was the Entertainment Goddess, who had many higher beings around her territory.
Either way, nobody cared about the size of the Mainland, because, except for a couple of places, there was nothing special here to explore.
But what if a bunch of them needed to gather for any reason or make a deal?
Natural ground was made for events or gatherings like this.
This place was a big empty land without any castle close by; no one was allowed to bring their castles here.
There was only a platform at the center, with a building called 'contract room', which was naturally in this place for signing the final contract.
At this moment, on the platform of natural ground,
A group of people was standing.
An ice statue, known as Ice god.
A man in a green robe with green hair stood beside him, and around him, on the ground, all kinds of flowers were growing.
He was known as 'Nature god'.
A lady in a blue dress with blue hair, whose hair moved like sea waves, known as Sea Goddess.
Her Water law was so powerful that if you got close to her, you could hear the sound of roaring sea waves.
Beside her was a man with a twisted face, as if he had some mental problems, in an old rusty armor, messy black hair, with twitching eyes.
He was God of disaster.
And another man, or to be exact, a stone man, who was as tall as a small mountain, at least 10 meters tall, stood beside him.
He was God of Meteorite.
Close to the five of them was a group of seven children,
All three years old, looking slightly intelligent, but depressed.
They were the newborns who gathered here to be registered as the Mainland's citizens, and find a 'shelter'.
Two more higher beings were sitting on two chairs farther away, too.
But they were clearly not interested in getting familiar with these five, who were probably going to take five of the seven Newborns with them.
At this moment, the five 'God and goddess' had a secret conversation,
<100%, I still couldn't feel his presence.>
I saw a kid who I couldn't feel his presence passing by.>
After he registered here as a citizen, do you think he can hide from us?
It's not like he has anywhere to go.>
It doesn't matter how good he is at hiding, he can't be above world law.>
I just bribed that greedy guy to write a contract between him and the guy over there.>
I know one of them represents the God of Prophecy,
Because he was forced to leave for some reason, but who is the other one?>
<...>
I heard he shows up here every thousand years to take one of these newborns away.>
After the job is done, you can pay your shares.>
At this moment, they heard a woman's voice,
That sent a secret message to them,
To 'shelter' all of them,
Not even a single one should be without 'shelter'.>
The crowd raised their eyebrows,
Hearing it was a prophecy, no one doubted her words.
That man's prophecy was always correct!
Ice God asked,
The lady whose identity they couldn't determine,
Answered,
The crowd furrowed this time.
Guardians were a bunch that they didn't know about them too much, but the older 'gods' knew a lot.
They just went to clear a 'headquarters' with them in the past, and looked for things related to them once in Mortal's universe.
Their beef with him started because of that.
But the older gods never shared any detailed information about it with them.
At this moment, everyone on the Neutral Ground suddenly felt entertained...
And they all felt annoyed the next moment.
Entertainment Goddess was here...
The group of five turned to see the 'little brother' that she took away.
But he wasn't with her.
Even Entertainment Goddess was annoyed at this moment.
She was bringing him over, but on the way here, he suddenly said, 'I'll go there by myself.'
And before she could say anything, he was already gone.
She didn't even know how he disappeared from her hands!
She summoned the eyes of a certain higher being to search for him, but he was nowhere to be found...
So she came here to see if she could find him here.
But he wasn't here either.
Or was he?
At this moment, Little Mortal was actually walking around among these higher beings.
Not long ago, he arrived here.
He first went to the Puppet Master, looked at him in disgust, pointed at the small puppet in his waist, and left.
Then he went to the lady who was representing the Prophecy God, looked at her, and left while confused.
Then he came to the five people, and looked at them with eyes full of hatred, and started pointing at their birth treasures.
The small tree with Nature God,
The 'drop of water' with Sea Goddess,
A pair of gauntlets with God of Disaster,
And a stone with God of Meteorite.
He sent the same message to all of them as the one he sent to the birth treasure of Ice God.
Stay connected to him/her for now, and don't leave.
When I make my move, jump into the passage with the newborn, if there is any.>
After that, he went to the seven kids who were all the same age as him, and nodded to them one by one, as if he was satisfied with something and approved of another thing about them.
In the end, he stood there with the rest.
It was only now that Entertainment Goddess arrived, and an old man came out of the 'contract room'.
When everyone saw him, they formally greeted him,
"Good to see you, God of Contracts."
The old man nodded kindly,
"Hello, everyone.
I see we have seven newborns today.
Let's start with the competition first.
I can take care of the registration and their contract after that."
The crowd nodded.
"Alright, they are all three years old, so they should be at most level 3. I can handle it myself.
What does everyone think?"
The crowd agreed.
The most important thing now was the prophecy, and to shelter all of them.
Entertainment Goddess who was broadcasting the event at this moment said,
"There are only six newborns. Why does the God of Contracts say 7?"
At this moment, she had around 500 higher beings watching the ceremony live.
Question marks appeared in the chat.
Indeed, where is the missing one?
The old man with his kind smile said,
"Alright, we already have one newborn ready to fight.
Which one of you wants to take the challenge?
The fights are simple.
Losers can fight each other later,
And winners will be each other's opponents in the next round."
The crowd looked confused.
"There is already one newborn ready to fight?"
The old man nodded and said while pointing at the center of the small arena,
"This little boy here.
Can't you see him?"
The crowd, especially the five, gasped in unison.
"Even Assassin God isn't like this..."
"When did he even arrive here?"
Entertainment Goddess was speechless...
And so was her chat...
A little boy was there all the time, but no one noticed him.
A girl who saw a silly boy standing at the center of the platform walked over.
She had an icy aura, pale skin, and without knowing, you could guess that Ice God is going to take her in.
Her law was obviously ice.
God of Contract said,
"Alright, you can begin."
And the little girl immediately waved her hand.
The little boy, though, looked at the old man.
The little girl froze the little boy.
The little boy, while pointing at the 'brush and inkwell' hanging on the old man's waist, froze while saying a sentence to the old man,
"Begin what?"
Then he turned into an ice statue and dropped to the ground.
Thud
The crowd,
"..."
Big sister and her chat,
"..."
The little girl,
"..."
God of Contract was stunned.
He looked at the crowd and said,
"Who brought this kid here?"
And they pointed at Entertainment Goddess.
The old man looked at her with a questioning face.
Entertainment Goddess coughed and said,
"He is still lawless, and his memories are a mess,
You can leave him be."
God of Contract looked at the frozen boy and said,
"Well then, let him be for now..."
And the competition continued.
After some boring fights between little kids, who were obviously not in the mood for fighting either, the ranking was announced.
The point of this ranking was to gift them some law, and they could receive it after the registration with a child crystal from Entertainment Goddess.
After that, God of Contract said,
"Come into my room one by one from the last place to the first, for your registration and contract."
And he went back to his contract room.
A number appeared on its door.
[7]
That means number 7, the last place, can go in now.
The little newborns looked around to find the frozen little boy who was in last place.
But he was nowhere to be found...
They were at a loss.
Should they wait?
Should they search?
While they were looking for little mortal,
Inside the contract room, which was completely sealed from the outside, no one could see or feel what kind of contract was being made inside.
God of Contract walked inside while muttering,
"Who was the newborn? How could I not remember him?"
While confused, he walked towards a table at the other end of the room, and with each step he took, he seemed to shrink ...
"Huh?"
The now 'little' old man, who felt something was really wrong, was going to turn around, but saw that a hand was already pierced through his chest from behind...
He didn't even have the chance to retaliate because the inkwell at his waist opened, and the black ink inside it came out, covering his face!
And as if it wasn't enough, at the same time, another hand pierced through one side of his neck to the other side, and decapitated him!
All of this happened at the same time.
His own birth treasure betrayed him,
He was turned to when he was 3 years old,
A hand pierced through his heart,
And another hand was pierced through his neck while his face was covered in ink, so that he couldn't make a sound...
The little old man's body first turned to black liquid, and then disappeared into thin air.
Little mortal appeared behind him, looking nervous,
"I was almost exposed!
I forgot this Politician dude knows every single newborn!
Anyway, he can go resurrect for now.
Later, I take care of him for real."
Then he picked up the inkwell and brush that were left behind,
"Alright, let's write a good contract for my new employees."
....
Outside the contract room, while everyone was looking for 'number 7', they saw that the number on the door had changed from 7 to 6.
'He was already inside?'
Then the door opened, and the little silly boy came out.
He looked around in confusion at first.
But when he saw where Entertainment Goddess was,
He ran to her while shouting,
"Beautiful lady! Beautiful lady!"
The crowd didn't know what to think.
Silly, but with otherworldly hiding skill... What a combination.
The number 6 went inside.
It was a boy who felt depressed like the rest of the newborns.
They were already under another contract,
And they already lost their birth treasures.
To be exact, it was taken away from them the moment they were reborn, and they signed a contract not to tell anyone about it in exchange for their life.
It didn't take long for all the newborns to go in and come out after signing the new contract.
But they all had a weird look on their faces now.
They weren't as depressed as before, but puzzled and slightly happy, because when they went inside,
First, the old man wasn't there.
And second, there were two contracts there for them to choose between.
One was the one they already knew about.
They needed to function like a law generator for the higher beings of a complete universe and share 90% of the laws they absorbed from their universe.
And after they reach level 6, they must return 100% of the law they receive to be released from the contract...
But it was impossible.
They didn't have any universe, so how could they do that?
However, the other contract was quite different, and they all chose this one without even knowing who the offeror was.
[ -This contract will be witnessed by world law, not the law of the mainland.
-This contract is a secret between the two sides; you need to go back with whoever takes you away temporarily and wait.
-The newborn can't harm any creature in their new home.
-The newborn should listen to the order of the offeror if there is no harm for him/her in it.
-The newborn can't complain about the amount of law in their new home for the first 10 years.
-The newborn can cancel the contract if, after 10 years, there isn't enough law for him/her to absorb (without any penalty).
-The newborn doesn't need to share his/her law with the offeror.
-The newborn can keep his/her birth treasure, and if it's stolen, request it to be taken back.
-The newborn can't break the contract while there is enough law for him/her to grow in his/her new home.
-The newborn should keep the scam contract for now, until the rescue team arrives.]
The contract was so beneficial to them that it seems unreal.
The only reason for them to believe it was because world law was the witness.
No one, even the strongest gods, had the power to devise a contract or deal witnessed by world law, and at most they could affect or manipulate it indirectly for certain matters that involve lower-level creatures.
Either way, after they all came out, the higher beings took them away one by one.
Only the Puppet Master had some problems.
When he saw the other six take away their newborns,
He knew his newborn was that invisible boy.
And at this moment, he wasn't with Entertainment Goddess anymore.
He was missing again...
But he wasn't slow at all and summoned an army of puppets to find him!
Big sister, whose hand was being held by a small hand at this moment, was speechless...
What was wrong with this Puppet Master?
She didn't know that a certain little brother of hers was already sold to this Puppet Master.
At this moment, a glint of cold light flashed in Little Mortal's eyes, and he said,
"Big sister, when are we going back?"
"Wait for a while, I want to ask that old man about a good shelter for you."
Little mortal nodded and said,
"Bed."
A small bed manifested.
He jumped on it and fell asleep...
Big sister was at a loss,
"..."
She shook her head and looked away.
Little mortal opened one of his eyes sneakily.
When he saw her looking away, he first sent a secret message,
And then muttered,
"Send me back."
And the next moment, he disappeared.
The Crystal took immediate action and replaced him with a fake Little Mortal.