Lake!
Male, age... If you only count the years before he crossed over, Lake would be twenty-five this year. But if you add the years after crossing over?
Uh...
Let's put it this way.
Lake could probably be considered a man who has witnessed the Big Bang itself.
Thinking back to how he crossed over, Lake couldn't help but feel tears well up in his eyes. He had heard of people crossing over by jumping off buildings, falling asleep, or even dying...
But have you ever heard of someone crossing over by simply walking toward a hotel with a girl they just met, stepping right into the starry sky out of nowhere?
That's exactly what happened to Lake.
Fifteen thousand three hundred sixty years and forty-five days. Probably only Lake himself knows how he got through it all. Only he knows how much effort he put into preserving his handsome face, all to make sure that girl would still recognize him when he finally made it back home.
Finally.
After a full fifteen thousand three hundred sixty years and forty-five days, he ambushed the old man Time in the Grand Canyon, stole his great clock, then raced to the Void, took down the Void clan, and snatched their Void energy.
...Oh, right.
What happened after that?
Lake blinked. He remembered that when the great clock collided with the Void energy, it did indeed open a path to the outer universe, and he stepped through it.
But...
Wasn't his set destination supposed to be Room 3801 of the Home Inn Boutique Chain Hotel, No. 32 Chunfeng Road, Yuhang Town, Eastern Country?
What was this woman in front of him—who looked like a mix of Megan Fox and Scarlett Johansson—doing here?
Wait!
Lake's brows furrowed slightly as he suddenly recalled something. When he was using the great clock and Void energy to cross the cosmic bridge, it seemed a new god had appeared. After that, he was hit by some unknown energy blast and crashed.
Could it be a cultivator from his homeland?
Lake's mind raced with possibilities.
Michaela, holding the baseball bat, heard Lake's English with a faint East London accent and couldn't help but zone out for a moment.
Not an alien?
No, wait, didn't he just ask if this was Earth? Could it be an alien planning to invade Earth?
Michaela's eyes narrowed, and she suddenly felt an urge to run. Jesus Christ, it really is an alien—what do I do?
Lake snapped back to reality and looked at the silent Michaela, frowning again. He repeated, "Woman, where am I?"
Skill: Ahri's Charm.
Lake, known as the Miracle of Valoran, didn't earn that title for nothing. To put it simply, anything others in Valoran could do, he could do too. Anything they couldn't, he could still do.
How else could he have earned the title of "Miracle"?
This charm, originating from the nine-tailed Ahri, used to work only on men. But after Lake mastered it, he altered its properties to target women instead...
Under normal circumstances, this skill was unbeatable. Back in the day, when the Moon Goddess and the Sun Goddess cornered him at the highest peak of Targon, Lake used this skill to dissolve their anger in just three days and three nights.
And then...
He slipped away once again!
But this time, it didn't work. Michaela, standing across from him, stared at the tied-up Lake with a wary expression, saying nothing.
Lake's frown deepened.
Could it be that the laws of this universe caused his ability to fail?
That didn't make sense.
Just then.
Ding!
Lake glanced down at the starry necklace around his neck—a gift from his girlfriend Soraka, shimmering with multicolored light. Michaela, still holding the baseball bat, couldn't help but look at it too.
Buzz!
A burst of multicolored light projected outward, illuminating the air. It slowly unfurled, revealing a virtual woman with fair skin, stunning beauty, and an elegant aura.
Agatha!
Crafted specifically for Lake by the great inventor and overweight recluse Heimerdinger, using the starry necklace gifted by Soraka as its vessel and powered by Soraka's blessing of the stars. Thanks to Agatha, Lake had been able to evade trap after trap set for him in Valoran, ultimately snatching the great clock from the old man Time amidst an army...
"Agatha!"
Lake looked at Agatha, who opened her eyes—a perfect blend of all the best traits of his many girlfriends—and said, "Report the current situation."
Agatha, hovering in midair, directed her gaze at Lake.
The next second.
Ding!
Agatha vanished, and the display shifted rapidly as her analytical voice came through.
"Analyzing current location."
"Locating the great clock..."
"Location failed!"
"Locating the Void core..."
"Location failed."
Lake gave a slight, wry smile, "Stop trying to locate Valoran. Analyze our current position and perform a spacetime lock."
The great clock and Void energy had split apart the moment they collided, like the Dragon-Slaying Saber and the Heaven-Reliant Sword—shattered into two halves. They were no longer the top-tier artifacts of Valoran.
Agatha reappeared, acknowledging his command. Data cascaded like a waterfall across the projected interface once more.
The next second.
Buzz!
A dazzling star map unfolded before Lake's eyes.
Lake focused on it and breathed a sigh of relief. No reason other than the fact that he spotted Scorpio on the starfield—his zodiac sign, still in its familiar place, unwavering.
He was home.
Lake felt a wave of comfort. His ten thousand years of effort hadn't been in vain.
But...
When Lake's gaze landed on the observation point marked on the star map—or rather, a tiny spot next to the glowing dot—his relief faltered.
A flat Earth with a round sky?
What the heck was that? The Heavenly Court?
Lake's eyes fixed on the "flat Earth, round sky" spot as he said, "Agatha, analyze that place."
Agatha replied, "Yes, receiving starfield data. Receiving... Received. Beginning analysis of target location. Analysis complete. Proceed with display?"
"Display it!"
"Yes, initiating display. Ding! Detected divine fluctuations within the target. Calculating divine power levels... Calculation complete. Based on known database estimates, within the target: one high-tier deity, one mid-tier deity, two low-tier deities..."
"...Deities?"
"Yes. Additionally, I've detected a powerful fluctuation here as well."
"Here? Earth?"
"According to the starfield data records, our current location is known in the starfield database as Planet C-53, Terra, and Midgard. Heimerdinger embedded a code in my core prohibiting interference with other civilizations. Apologies, I cannot access further information about this planet at this time."
"...Terra?"
"...Midgard?"
"...Planet C-53?"
Compared to the code Heimerdinger had left in Agatha's core, Lake's attention was no longer on that. As he muttered these names to himself, they started to feel increasingly familiar, as if he'd heard them somewhere before.
And.
As Lake looked at Michaela, whose expression was growing more and more dazed, she started to seem increasingly familiar too.
The next second.