George Washington flipped his palm, and the Eternal Star instantly fell into the Cosmic Well, just like tossing a small stone into the calm surface of a lake. The Cosmic Well, filled with mysterious antimatter energy crystal cores, actually rippled with dazzling waves.

“There’s a reaction... I was right after all...”

George Washington’s tense mood was instantly soothed, replaced by eager anticipation. Based on his previous numerous tests on the Cosmic Well, he knew very well that the Eternal Star had indeed taken effect.

You should know that before this, even when George Washington gathered the top ten strongest warriors of the empire to strike the Cosmic Well with their combined might, it had never produced the slightest reaction.

For thousands of years, the Cosmic Well had never shown even the slightest fluctuation, but with the fall of the “Eternal Star,” it began to change. Waves of energy so powerful they took one’s breath away spread out from the Cosmic Well as the center. Even someone as supremely powerful as George Washington had to use eighty percent of his strength just to steady himself within these massive energy waves.

But as the energy waves radiating from the Cosmic Well intensified and their range gradually expanded, first the Soul Temple, then the Imperial Palace, and eventually the entire Imperial Capital, and even Duran Star itself, were all encompassed.

Not everyone possessed the overwhelming strength of George Washington. In just a few breaths, the vast Duran Star was stripped of all life under the onslaught of the destructive energy waves. Only George Washington still struggled to hold on, half-kneeling before the Cosmic Well, his eyes filled with despair.

“Why, why is this happening...”

A destructive energy almost comparable to that of a white dwarf collapsing into a black hole erupted wildly from the Cosmic Well. The peerless George Washington didn’t even have the chance to ask another “why” before he and Duran Star were reduced to the tiniest specks of dust in the universe.

And this was by no means the end. That day, with Duran Star as the center, all planets within a diameter of five million light-years were reduced to dust, and the mighty Zuma Empire of the Podol River System was wiped out forever.

Driven by his desire for the elders’ immortality, George Washington had touched a forbidden domain far beyond the reach of his civilization’s current level. Indeed, the “Eternal Star,” as an object of miraculous power, was sufficient to activate the Cosmic Well. But at the moment when two parallel spaces were connected, the Eternal Star shattered under the immense backlash of traversing space, breaking into more than ten fragments that fell into another universe.

With the sudden loss of the “Eternal Star’s” balance, the Cosmic Well was instantly flooded with matter and antimatter energies from two different spaces. Unable to withstand it, the collision of these energies triggered a terrifying interstellar explosion. Of course, this explosion, which destroyed billions of planets, occurred in the universe where George Washington resided, since the Cosmic Well existed in that space.

Chapter Two: Blade Tomb

In the winter of 2877, Brian Carter, having just received his end-of-term report card, rushed home, which was only two kilometers from school, because in half an hour the finals of the sixth world tournament of “Blade Tomb” would begin. As a devoted fan of “Blade Tomb,” Brian Carter would never miss such an exciting grand final.

Speaking of “Blade Tomb,” the highly realistic fighting game that swept the Federation, one must mention the existence of Skynet. As early as one hundred and thirty years ago, Skynet, regarded as the greatest invention to improve the quality of the entire population in a millennium, was created.

The ancient Internet was completely abandoned by the federal government. As a revolutionary invention, Skynet allowed humanity to accomplish almost anything without leaving home—yes, anything you could imagine could be realized through Skynet.

Equivalent to the old identification documents, every citizen of the Federation was assigned a Skynet receiver at birth. It was just a bracelet-like device, yet its performance was a thousand times greater than the terminals of ancient times. If a public opinion poll were conducted on what modern humans could not live without, Skynet would undoubtedly be the only answer.

Back home, Brian Carter dashed into his room in a few quick steps and pressed the activation button on the Skynet receiver on his wrist. Three seconds later, he had already entered his own personal Skynet space.

The design of Brian Carter’s personal Skynet space fully reflected his obsession with “Blade Tomb.” It was a space of about a hundred square meters, and all the furnishings were ancient weapons that could only be seen in museums—sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, forks, whips, staffs—an impressive array.

“Only two minutes left...” Brian Carter quickly connected to “Blade Tomb.” After entering his personal ID, Brian Carter’s character appeared in the audience stands of the “Blade Tomb” grand finals arena.