Chapter 990: Pixel World

Lei En, feeling hopeful, let his consciousness settle onto the pixel icon.

Open!

In an instant, a space unfolded in Lei En's view—a cube about ten meters on each side, its volume roughly equal to the Nebula Ring. Yet unlike the Nebula Ring or a Dimensional Space Ring, Lei En felt he could enter it.

"Half‑plane?"

Lei En was astonished; with a thought, his whole body vanished on the spot.

"I'm in!"

He discovered he could sense every detail of the space without using his eyes, as if it were his own soul space.

However, it had no connection to his soul space; the two existed independently.

The space's volume was about a thousand cubic meters; the floor, walls, and ceiling were gray‑white, divided by straight lines into one‑meter cubes.

Lei En looked down and found he had also become a block person.

His head was square like a box, his torso a rectangular prism, and his arms and legs turned into long strips attached to the body. Muscles resembled stacked bricks, skin tones were blocky and distinct, the mithril armor he wore clung like a sticker, and even his eyes became squares affixed to a face that resembled a QR code.

Everything inside the space was pixelated—no curves or bends; every object's edges were straight lines and every corner a right angle.

A world made entirely of grid pixels!

"Whoa!"

Lei En blurted out a compliment, "It really turned into 'My World'!"

He sensed his bodily condition, feeling no discomfort, but soon realized he had lost his casting ability; all Elements were unusable, and his strength and defense dropped sharply, becoming like an ordinary person, as if reverted to his original form.

The sudden loss of great power left Lei En somewhat unadjusted.

"What good is this?"

"Playing a game? Building a world of one's own?"

His gaze swept the empty Pixel World and immediately landed on the center of the floor—the only native object in the space.

A brown cube.

It measured one meter on each side; its four faces bore pixel patterns of varying line shades, and the top face was etched with a 9‑grid.

"Crafting table!"

Lei En was instantly thrilled.

He had downloaded "My World" but, before he could start playing, he was transported to the Ai Lun E Si world. His knowledge of the game was scant, yet he knew it featured a crucial crafting table. In the game, almost all items—weapons, armor, materials, tools, and so on—are crafted at the table; it is the game's core.

Lei En stepped forward, extending his blocky hand to lightly touch the table surface.

Immediately, the crafting table's functions transmitted into his mind.

It was indeed a crafting table, but not merely for making items; it combined synthesis, enhancement, enchantment, and alchemy into a super crafting table!

As long as materials are placed and the recipe is correct, the table can produce the corresponding item.

It can forge weapons and equipment.

It can also enhance existing weapons and armor to boost their power; enchant items for extra effects; or insert materials to alchemize potions.

Beyond alchemical items and potions, it can create anything lacking supernatural power—chairs, pens, fishing rods, food—any object that exists or does not exist in the world, provided there are enough materials and the proper recipe.

Lei En's heart hammered a few times.

This is outrageous!

The crafting table's potential exceeds imagination, representing limitless possibilities.

He seemed to see Thundercast Celestial Soldiers donning standard Legend Grade armor, wielding matching Legend Grade weapons—gods blocking gods, demons blocking demons!

And this is only the crafting function.

Lei En was eager to try, attempting to retrieve something from the Nebula Ring, but found he couldn't extract it.

He could only leave the Pixel World first, rush back to the bridge, pull out Baro Flame Demon Brukantik's Decapitation Sword and a large cache of alchemical materials, and then those items vanished into thin air. Sending items into the Pixel World works much like using a Dimensional Space Ring, perhaps even faster.

Re‑enter the Pixel World.

Lei En saw that everything he had sent in had become pixelated by this world.

The Decapitation Sword turned into a massive pixel sword made of red blocks; its shape was odd, but its material remained unchanged. Here, a substance's properties are not altered—you can still feel them—but they seem sealed, unable to manifest.

Lei En placed the Decapitation Sword on the crafting table.

The heavy, massive sword shrank dozens of times in an instant, becoming palm‑sized and landing in the central slot of the 9‑grid.

Five options appeared in the upper‑left corner of the table: "Craft", "Enhance", "Enchant", "Alchemy", and "Disassemble"; only "Enhance", "Enchant", and "Disassemble" were lit, the other two unavailable.

Lei En's eyes lit up.

Baro Flame Demon's Decapitation Sword is a Legend Grade weapon, yet it can still be enhanced or enchanted!

The final "Disassemble" option was also unexpected.

He selected "Enhance"; the table prompted that he could add more materials or move the sword to another slot. Different materials, quantities, qualities, and placement all affect the enhancement outcome, and it might even fail.

A numeric value appeared behind the Enhance option.

Success Rate: 0%

Lei En casually tossed in a few materials, filling the entire 9‑grid.

The displayed success rate kept fluctuating, jumping between 5% and 10%, never exceeding 10%.

"So low..."

Lei En brushed his blocky chin.

The materials he used were all precious; such a low success rate could be because the Decapitation Sword's quality is already high—mid‑range even among Legend Grade—or because the materials don't match the sword, making enhancement difficult.

Improving the rate requires trial‑and‑error with recipes or inserting better‑suited materials.

"Never mind, let's try it first."

There was an arrow to the right of the 9‑grid; Lei En reached out and pressed it, but nothing happened.

The crafting table indicated missing necessary materials.

"Necessary materials?"

Lei En was momentarily stunned, carefully feeling the information transmitted to his mind by the workbench, and only then understood what to do. He immediately opened the phone interface; the phone's functions worked here as usual, and he saw an arrow button appear next to the Soul Power Pool icon.

Pressing the button, the power immediately began to drain.

In the Pixel World, Lei En saw the result: a translucent cube coalesced into shape and fell into his hand. It had six faces and twelve edges of equal length; inside flowed a pale blue energy. Holding it, he could barely feel its weight, as if it were a perfectly cut square diamond.

With the power input, gemstone after gemstone condensed and formed.

"Energy block?"

Lei En was shocked to his core.

These pale‑blue block gems were actually condensed Soul Power; each contained ten units of energy, pure beyond measure, and seemed able to be absorbed directly when held, converting into mana or Soul Power.

"If anyone besides me could absorb its soul energy…"

Lei En couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly.

If that were true, these energy blocks would become the world's most precious diamonds; once outsiders learned of their effect, countless people would be willing to spend their fortunes.

Ten units of energy may seem little, but that's measured by his own standard.

Thus a single energy block could let a legendary transcendent instantly rise one level, and for transients below legend, enough to raise one rank!

Lei En didn't test immediately; after thinking, he called this energy block a "Soul Energy Diamond," abbreviated Soul Diamond.

Soon, a thousand units of energy were converted into one hundred Soul Diamonds.

He placed one Soul Diamond into the nine‑grid, replacing one material; the success rate instantly doubled to over 20%, then he added another Soul Diamond, and the success rate rose again.

"The more Soul Diamonds you put in, the higher the success rate?"

Lei En inserted them one by one; indeed the success rate kept climbing, reaching 33% after ten Soul Diamonds, after which there was no further effect—adding more made no difference.

Enhancement!

He pressed the right‑hand arrow again; this time the workbench reacted.

A burst of light enveloped everything in the nine‑grid; after a few seconds it faded, the other materials vanished, leaving only the Decapitation Sword in the center.

Lei En picked up the Decapitation Sword, and his face instantly darkened.

Enhancement failed.

"One‑third success rate; failing is normal." He could only console himself that way, never admitting he was a jinxed player.

"Fine, I'll try again later."

Lei En felt a pang of regret for the alchemical materials and Soul Diamonds, and kept studying the workbench. He discovered that besides "Disassemble," all four functions of the workbench could accept Soul Diamonds to boost success rate. The more Soul Diamonds inserted, the higher the rate.

Each use of the workbench requires at least one Soul Diamond.

"That's a hassle…"

Lei En furrowed his brows; one Soul Diamond equals ten units of energy, a ratio far too high.

Adding the materials for crafting, enchanting, and enhancing magical items made the cost steep, so mass production of magical items was impossible; at most he could produce high‑quality weapons and armor on a small scale for a batch of Thundercast Celestial Soldiers, Mage Clones, and Dark Angels.

Soul Diamonds have another, more important function.

They can expand the Pixel World!

Earlier, when Lei En held a Soul Diamond, he received this information.

He watched a Soul Diamond's thought stir; the cubic gem dissolved like foam, its pure energy merging into the space, and the Pixel World changed instantly, extending a volume outward from a corner of a wall.

"Exactly one cubic meter."

Lei En nodded.

Then he quickly calculated: one Soul Diamond equals ten units of energy, so ten units of energy can expand the Pixel World by one cubic meter. The Pixel World's initial volume is one thousand cubic meters, ten meters on each side, about the size of a great hall.

Expanding to a side length of twenty meters would add seven thousand cubic meters, requiring seventy thousand units of energy.

Expanding to a side length of one hundred meters…

"Sss…"

Lei En inhaled a cold breath; this would need a full ten million units of energy.

Exponential growth of spatial volume!

He returned to the bridge, sat in his chair and contemplated. He had thought the Pixel World resembled a divine realm, making him invincible here, but now it seemed unlikely.

A deity's divine realm is enormous.

The book *Path of Deification* records that even the smallest newly‑born divine realm exceeds ten square li.

The most powerful deities have realms comparable to a plane.

Some even span an entire plane!

Expanding the Pixel World to a side length of one hundred meters is almost impossible, still hundreds of times smaller than the smallest divine realm; it resembles more a domain.

Yet it is an extremely terrifying domain!

Lei En speculated that even if a deity entered the Pixel World, they would become a pixel‑block being, lose most of their great power, and fall from the clouds to the mortal world. As the master of the Pixel World, he could use weapons and gear forged on the workbench to easily defeat invading foes.

The problem is how to draw enemies into the Pixel World.

He tried several times and found the Pixel World cannot unfold outward like a domain. It seems to exist independent of the Prime Material Plane and countless planes, anchored by its own soul, yet has no spacetime coordinates, and he alone controls the sole entry and exit.

If it cannot unfold, enemies cannot be enveloped inside.

Nor can a portal be opened.

Although the Pixel World can contain living beings, the target must consent; any hint of resistance Willpower will cause containment to fail.

"Hmm…"

Lei En's gaze scanned the phone interface, icons appearing one after another, when he suddenly saw a brand‑new icon.

It looked like an abstract snarling maw.

"Devour!"

Lei En's eyes lit up.

This is the new ability obtained by fusing the demonic soul of the giant phagocytic worm; it can devour matter and digest it into the energy it needs, and it can also send matter to a designated space.

An idea formed instantly.

He operated the "Devour" Element, and an instant wave of hunger surged, his stomach feeling like a bottomless pit that could digest anything he swallowed.

Only in, never out!

Lei En's first reaction was, "I won't ever have to use the bathroom again?"

Then, the Pixel World unfolded before his eyes, and he tried to designate it as the transmission space for devoured matter.

Success!

Lei En stood up, swelling to over five meters tall, took out a refined iron ingot weighing over a thousand pounds and shoved it straight into his mouth, gulping it down in one bite.

He didn't digest the iron ingot; it vanished as soon as it entered his esophagus.

In the next instant, the iron ingot materialized in the Pixel World, becoming a square block.

Seems it really works…

Lei En was overjoyed.

Thus, he only needs to swallow enemies into his stomach to forcibly transmit them to the Pixel World, where he can slaughter them at will. Although his own size is far smaller than the giant phagocytic worm, he can enlarge up to fifty meters tall, open his mouth fully, and still engulf very large targets.

The scene looks terrifying.

Moreover, some enemies look so disgusting that they're hard to swallow.

Lei En muttered to himself, "I should try to avoid using this move; if I eat something I can't digest, it'll be a death sentence."

While thinking that, he retrieved that iron ingot again from the Pixel World and swallowed it once more.

This time, he chose to digest.

The heavy metal was digested in the blink of an eye, converting into a flow of energy that spread throughout his body; Lei En directed the energy into the Soul Realm, but his soul power was already full, so the energy quickly found another outlet, and a square portal appeared at the roots of the World Tree, drawing everything into it.

Immediately, Lei En sensed that the Pixel World had expanded slightly in volume.

The increase was infinitesimal, barely perceptible—perhaps not even a cubic centimeter—but Lei En was certain it had truly expanded!

"Can it really work like this?" Lei En couldn't help but widen his eyes.

(End of chapter)