Dimensional Descent

The ship of the Evergreen Goddess believers streaked through the vastness of space. In just a few hours, they entered the range of EarthX1's solar system, a bright yellow sun hanging a long distance away.

The trip had been exceptionally smooth. They had long since calculated the least turbulent root and due to Ieme's ambition, he had used up a large amount of accumulated Evergreen Force to ensure that they would be ahead of everyone else.

Though Aderlard was right to be worried about the other religions that had come to the Milky Way, especially after they had monopolized much of the galaxy for so long, that didn't mean that they didn't have any advantages.

Due to the fact their Temple was located here, they could make use of years of accumulation to accomplish things these other two religions could not. As such, they had a head start on everyone else, even though this head star cost them centuries of accumulation.

In Ieme's estimation, though, it was all worth it.

In a religion, one was able to rely on your God for certain things. These things could be asked for in Prayer and the return you received would be a function of your piousness and your offerings. Piousness was often measured by what level you had reached in a religion, each one having their own ranking system. As for offerings, for the Evergreen Religion, it was a measurement of Evergreen Force.

Evergreen Force could be accumulated through meritorious feats, sacrifices and offerings of treasures. These could then be converted into units of Evergreen Force which could be put toward Prayer.

Having been rooted in the Milky Way Guild for so long, the Evergreen Religion had most definitely accumulated large amounts of Evergreen Force and they had a home field advantage the others would not have as there were certain complicated penalties associated with Prayers involving events that were too far away.

Without overcomplicating matters, the fact was that Ieme had sacrificed much of their Evergreen branch's previous efforts all for the sake of EarthX1, because the world was simply too perfect for them.

What better world could there possibly be for their Evergreen Religion to thrive than one with such lush greenery? And this was a sentiment that even those who had disagreed with Ieme's methods immediately agreed with the moment they laid eyes on the beautiful planet hanging upon nothing.

EarthX1 was filled with crisscrossing rivers and two soft ice caps delicately covered with soft snow. The rest was nothing but endless greenery with trees so tall they threatened to pierce through the atmosphere and puncture a hole through it all.

Ieme stood with a dignified expression on his face as he faced the wide glass windows. But his heart jumped and leapt with joy. Even from here, he could feel the rich Wood Force even as it slowly grew more and more powerful.

Calming himself, he took a deep breath.

"Follow the plan. Land at point A and take root. Our first priority is to build our Shrine to her Holiness. In that way, this will become the new main base of our Evergreen Religion in this galaxy."

"Yes!"

The ship shot around the planet before descending at a preselected location.

Back when EarthX1 had yet to enter Earth's Fold of Reality, Ieme had long since scouted out the region. Then, through Prayer, he located the best location to build their shrine.

The ship came to a grinding halt after descending through the atmosphere. Its pressure caused the waves of water beneath it to separate and spread, almost flooding the opposite banks.

Unsurprisingly, the Evergreen Religion was also very much invested in protecting nature. This wasn't only a fundamental root of their teachings, but it also had selfish foundations as well. After all, if they destroyed the greenery, the Wood Force would weaken and so would they.

'Accumulating Evergreen Force in this place will be at least three times faster than normal.'

Ieme stood on the helm of the ship, his underlings having already gotten to work. While the ship hovered above the water of the large river, on the coast dozens of brown robed individuals sat beneath the trees in silent mediation. At first, it seemed like nothing would happen, but very quickly, Wood Force began to accumulate and the already large trees actually began to grow.

The branches began to reach over and intertwine with one another. Even the thinnest grew thicker than a man's waist. At the same time, even branches from two separate trees began to fuse as though they had always been one. It was an astonishing sight to see.

Very quickly, these intertwining branches became elaborate tree homes that carried an elegance even beyond normally built estates. And, at the same time, they didn't disrupt the natural ecosystem even one bit. If one looked closely, it even seemed that the trees had been strengthened.

How could they not be? The brown robed men and women had all been using Fifth Dimensional Wood Force to help these trees grow while many of the trees themselves were still within the Fourth Dimension.

"Help the shrine take root. Once this is finished, we can be said to have taken a strong foothold…"

Ieme directed traffic. Once he was satisfied, he fell to his knees in deep prayer, the bark on his forehead beginning to shimmer as the blessings of the Evergreen Goddess began to strengthen their Fort to an extreme. If it had already been powerful before, now it had a certain enigmatic character to it that was difficult to deal with.

Just as Ieme was about to put the finishing touches, investing even more Evergreen Force into their new home, a shout caught him completely off guard.

"Four-Layered Hand, Sir! The distance!"

Before Ieme could lose his temper, his pupils constricted. Without a sound, half a dozen boats moving at hundreds of kilometers an hour appeared over the horizon. They were already within a kilometer before anyone had noticed anything.

At the helm, a young man with pale violet hair stood at the edge of the ship, his gaze narrowed.