Nigel stopped on a planet that was filled with beasts of enormous size, barely evolved primates, and an ever more weird life.
"You sure you want to be here?" Nigel asked as she looked around. It would take a few hundred thousand years before humans were civilized enough to live in a well-established society.
"Yeah, it's fine. I won't be here for long anyway," Ning said.
"Alright. I'll be leaving then. I'll see you in the future," Nigel said.
"Sure, thanks for everything."
Nigel flew away in her spaceship, living Ning in the prehistoric-looking world. He remembered her words and decided to spend some time unlocking the next set of energies.
Chemical energy specifically needed him to witness a million chemical reactions. He had already started on this, but there hadn't been much to it.
Ning went out and found a place where he could stay for a while. Although he didn't need to worry about that as he would be just a point in space, he didn't want to be in a place where he would either be buried or be in a volcano when he arrived back.
Ning flew into the air, far enough that no change would cause him a problem, but at the same time low enough that the space he would disappear to wouldn't slip away from the planet as the further he went from the planet, the less it had its hold on it.
Once he was in the perfect spot, he teleported into his Inner world.
He arrived in the vacuum of space, but as the god of this world, he didn't need to worry about his body freezing or dying in space at all.
He teleported onto the small island where his family was staying and looked around to see the various things that he wouldn't have otherwise expected to see here at all.
His mind scanned the entire world, surprised at how much it had changed.
"It looks so… medieval," he thought. The world had gone through many different cycles and was at the starting phase of one of such cycles. However, somehow the humans didn't look that different, despite it being over a hundred thousand years since the last time he had been here.
'How did they not evolve even the slightest?' he wondered.
Emma appeared in front of him first and pointed at him. "Why do you look like papa?" she asked.
Ning smiled. "Because I am your papa," he said.
"Why do I have two papas?" she asked.
"You only have one papa," Ning said as he grabbed her and picked her up. "Your papa and I are the same people, you know."
"Same?" Emma asked.
Ely and the rest had realized that he was back as well and were walking out. One by one, everyone appeared outside, very confused as to why there were two Nings.
Ning looked at the small village-sized number of people, with many that he had never even seen before. The only ones he recognized even were his grandmother, uncle, brother-in-law, and his two cousins. The rest from what he could guess were their spouse, children, and grandchildren.
"Hey everyone, I'm back," Ning spoke.
Everyone looked confused and looked at each other. They then looked at Ning that was with them and waited for an answer.
"I told you guys that I have lost the system before and that I was just a normal person," Ning said. "I had lied. That is the real me who had been taken away by someone powerful. We decided to lie so you wouldn't get worried."
Ning looked at his own clone with a weird look on his face. He had never expected them to have lied about him the entire time he was missing, but when he thought about it, he would have done the same.
He was him after all.
"I'm back now, so no worries," Ning said and moved on. "Let's go inside, I want to hear about everything I missed in the many years since I've been missing."
Everyone was still weirded out by there being two Nings, but the more they understood what was happening, the less they questioned their decision.
They couldn't imagine what it would have been like living so many thousands of years knowing that one of them was out there being tortured by what could only be considered a real god.
"At least you are back now. You can live here happily with us," his grandmother said.
Ning smiled. He was happy that his grandmother was still alive. He would've expected her to be, but reality still made him quite happy.
His uncle was there too to talk.
Ning met with his cousins-in-law who had some idea about his system, but not enough to make them understand what exactly they were witnessing.
He talked a bit with Chase and her wife, as well as the children before everyone returned to their own place, leaving Ning and the rest alone.
"I'm sorry they had to lie to you too," Ning said as he looked at Blue, Night, Sorlus, Saphandra, and the rest.
Saphandra seemed to not be as intelligent as she once was, and the other 3 spirits were in an even worse situation. They had lived hundreds of thousands of years without any Spiritual energy to use, so any abilities they did use only made them worse.
He decided to buy some more spirit spaces and have them restored in there for a while.
"You don't have to be sorry. I'm just happy you are back, master," Blue said.
Sorlus nodded as well. He was big now, looking like a middle-aged man if anything. Ning was still the same, not speaking at all.
He only nodded and said nothing.
Ely looked towards him and asked, "do you want us to tell you everything? Can't you just learn everything from him?"
Clone Ning nodded. "Yes, that will be quicker and easier," he said.
Ning thought for a moment and nodded. "Very well then," he said. "System, link our memories."
