Dawn of a New Era

Chapter 654 628: The Current State of Humanity (Part 2)

"Atmosphere Manipulation (Super): 20.01%."

He expelled all the air from his belly, and with a thought, the atmosphere within a radius of several dozen meters was rapidly cleared, leaving everything in silence.

Silent.

Incredibly silent.

There wasn't a trace of sound at his ears.

His body began to float under buoyancy.

The vacuum domain and he were one, a system, akin to him being inside a vacuum bubble with a radius of about seventy to eighty meters, quickly floating upwards under the buoyancy of the air.

He suddenly threw a punch, discovering that his sensitive skin still felt a subtle resistance.

However, the resistance was so slight that it was almost imperceptible without careful sensing.

Clearly, this wasn't an absolute vacuum.

Of course, absolute vacuum doesn't exist in this world; even in the void of space, strict vacuum doesn't exist, as matter is present at a density of roughly two atoms per cubic meter.

"I wonder if it can block lightning?"

With a thought, Chen Shouyi's body began to swell, quickly transforming into a Giant over sixty meters tall.

The buoyant body falling from the sky suddenly halted and plummeted straight to the ground.

His feet hit the ground, shattering rocks and raising a cloud of dust.

He examined his body; the transformed form would typically have energy overflow with arcs of electricity jumping across it, but now no arcs appeared.

"Looks like there's some effect," Chen Shouyi mused. "However, the lightning of the God of Lightning clearly won't just have this kind of power..."

The world brightened suddenly.

He looked up towards the distant sky, where dark clouds gathered and lightning streaked across.

"Talk about thinking it, and it happens?"

He dismissed the domain of vacuum and then, in a burst, stomped the ground hard, causing the mountaintop to explode instantly. At the same time, his towering form soared skyward.

With every step he took, sparks of light appeared, and shockwaves burst in mid-air.

He seemed like a Demon God descending upon the world.

Atmospheric manipulation increased to 20%, making the confining force of the atmosphere more frightening. Walking on the solidified atmosphere felt like walking on actual solid ground, with massive reactive forces supporting his eight-thousand-ton body to advance at supersonic speeds.

"Boom boom boom..."

Continuous rumbles, like the earth shattering, the dense cloud layer above, disrupted by such terrifying forces, began to stir violently.

"Boom!"

A bolt of lightning flashed in an instant.

The forked currents, like the claws of a Death, looked dangerous and chilling.

Chen Shouyi's expression didn't change.

Perhaps due to the Giant's perspective, these lightning bolts, even if they were five to six meters thick, appeared only as thick as his arm.

"The lightning might at most injure me, but not be fatal," he thought silently.

He stomped once more, facing the thundering dark clouds.

Then, a slight tingle came to his scalp; before he could react, a lightning bolt struck his body instantly.

"Oww!"

His body stiffened; arcs of electricity danced on his massive frame, producing wisps of blue smoke. Fortunately, he recovered in less than 0.1 seconds, completely unharmed.

Natural lightning usually carries energy in the range of several hundred million joules to several billion joules; some giant lightning bolts can even reach several hundred billion joules. These numbers in the billion range sound terrifying, but when converted to units understood by common people, they're only tens, hundreds, or thousands of kilowatts of power.

Many people have seen lightning strikes, which commonly break a tree, but the energy isn't as big as imagined.

Transformed into a Giant, one punch carries the energy equivalent to a hundred thousand kilowatts, a hundred tons of TNT, enough to shatter a mountain peak.

With his current strength, conventional weapons, except for nuclear missiles, at most can inflict minor injuries.

As for tens, hundreds, or thousands of kilowatts of electricity entering the body, it doesn't constitute life-threatening or injurious impact, the main effect is on the bioelectric balance of his nerve system, causing body stiffness.

A few seconds later, his entire body was already immersed in the clouds.

Lightning struck frequently against his body.

"This is the spot!"

He rapidly cleared the air, forming a vacuum domain swiftly, calming everything down.

Lightning hit the air barrier, blossoming beautiful electric flowers, as if bestowing mysterious patterns upon it, dazzling and enchanting, within the vacuum domain feeling only a slight static charge without much impact.

Feeling this remarkable effect, Chen Shouyi's face showed joy.

...

After testing, Chen Shouyi didn't linger, flying rapidly.

A day later, he stepped out of the Spatial Passage, inhaling the familiar scent of Earth, a sense of fondness arose within his heart.

A legendary Barbarian guarding the passage immediately prostrated upon seeing Chen Shouyi, respectfully saying, "Honorable one!"

The other Barbarian strongmen, seeing this, quickly knelt to the ground.

"Oh, you know me?" Chen Shouyi glanced at him, his mood calm.

"My master issued a divine decree, having seen your image, instructing us that if you should come, we must treat you with utmost reverence, as if... he were here himself!" The legendary Barbarian spoke, trembling involuntarily.

This unbelievable divine decree was simply unimaginable, a ceremony reserved for equal or higher beings.

Chen Shouyi nodded, ignoring him, striding out of the passage.

It was now Earth's evening, a scene of bustling peace and tranquility on the streets, the air thick with the Domain of Faith.

Looking around, seeing things as they were three months ago with little change, he felt relieved.

"Sawadikap!" exclaimed a Young Lady wearing a golden crown and dressed in Tai Buddha Country's traditional garb, respectfully stepping beside Chen Shouyi, her hands clasped slightly in a serene, sacred manner, with a subtle hint of joy on her face.

"Honorable one, you have finally returned!"

Without a doubt, this was the God of Conspiracy dressed as a woman.

Her true form was really getting eye-piercing, becoming more "humanized."

Chen Shouyi showed no surprise, turning, suppressing discomfort to look at her: "How are things now?"

"After Yan State was occupied by the Lord of Lightning two months ago, there's been no movement since." The God of Conspiracy frowned slightly, solemnly said, "Maybe they're intimidated by the European Union's super-nuclear warheads."

Chen Shouyi glanced at her upon hearing this.

Her intelligence was quite proficient.

Regardless, he wasn't concerned, because it was merely a Barbarian God with Weak Divine Power, and he could effortlessly kill it now.

"What's the word?" Chen Shouyi asked casually.

"When the Lord of Lightning captured Yan State, the European Union dropped a super-hydrogen bomb to intimidate. Since then, that entity hasn't taken any actions," the God of Conspiracy respectfully said.

Chen Shouyi pondered.

The European Union was only a step away from Yan State; with Yan State's downfall, the European Union would be the first to bear the brunt, so deterrence was reasonable. Regarding the death toll from the super-nuclear bomb dropped, at the critical moment, nobody cared about such things.

War ceaselessly intensifies, never at its most frantic.

Wondering about the degree of deterrence effect?

Chen Shouyi didn't engage in further conversation.

In a sudden stomp, he shot skywards.

Prepared from the last lesson, the God of Conspiracy swiftly retreated, but was still blown over by the shockwave, clothes torn apart, her golden crown vanished, revealing her figure.

However, even these slight humiliations didn't bother her.

Moreover...

She was already accustomed to it.

Upon landing, she looked at the dot in the distance that was Chen Shouyi, her expression serious:

"This terrifying human has become even stronger!"