Oran Continent, deep within the Death Mountain Range.
At the center of the mountain range stood a giant tree, fifty meters in diameter and a hundred meters tall.
"Click, click, click."
The sound of footsteps on dry leaves was very clear, and a figure carrying a large wild boar approached from a distance.
Upon reaching the giant tree, Jiang Hao casually tossed the wild boar onto the ground.
"Ah, I finally gathered enough souls. System, I'm back."
He unslung the bow and arrow from his back and set them down, not forgetting to call out to the air.
As he called out, a mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
"Detected that the host has completed the mission—collecting soul power. You have now obtained the authority to summon Earth Will. Do you wish to activate it immediately?"
Jiang Hao did not immediately choose "Yes" as everyone might have expected. Instead, with a hint of playfulness, he chose "No" through his consciousness.
"How about that? Surprised? System, or rather, should I call you Earth Will? Or Nuwa? Gaia? Or something similar?"
Jiang Hao crossed his arms, looking like he was just playing around, and continued to confront the "air."
However, there was no other movement in the area except for himself.
Jiang Hao was not in a hurry. He scooped a ladle of water from a nearby wooden bucket and drank it heartily.
It wasn't until he had drunk his fill that a voice resounded in his mind again.
However, it was no longer the emotionless mechanical voice from before, but a maternal female voice.
"How did you guess?"
Seeing a reply, Jiang Hao put down the ladle and smiled, saying, "It's not hard to guess. I've read at least eighty, if not a hundred, system web novels. In fact, I've always been wondering, what exactly is the system? Although netizens have many discussions, I think the most fitting explanation is that the so-called system is actually the embodiment of the World Will."
Having her identity guessed, the voice in his mind showed no displeasure and continued, "You are very clever, truly worthy of being the human I chose. So, human, what is your purpose in revealing my identity?"
Facing the Earth Will's question, Jiang Hao shrugged and said, "No purpose. I also know that you didn't send me here on a whim. If it's convenient, I hope we can be more frank, so I'll understand better when I'm working later. Even if I accidentally die, I'll die knowing, won't I?"
The voice in his mind fell silent again for a few seconds.
"You want to know the truth? You should know that the truth often comes with cruel reality."
Jiang Hao did not speak, merely continued to wait.
Perhaps sensing Jiang Hao's resolve, the gentle voice spoke again.
"Between worlds, there is also the law of the jungle."
As this sentence echoed in his mind, this cruel reality made Jiang Hao's originally playful face turn serious.
"If two worlds discover each other, a collision will occur.
This collision is not peaceful; on the contrary, world collisions are extremely cruel.
The winning side will devour the losing side.
And you, Jiang Hao, I sent you here not to conquer this world for me.
Quite the opposite, I hope you can help the natives of this world resist the Devour (devouring) of another world."
As her voice spoke, scenes appeared in Jiang Hao's mind.
A black hole suddenly appeared in the azure sky.
Countless meteorites flew out of the black hole, turning into stone monsters after hitting the ground.
Then the scene shifted, and countless monsters roared, rushing into cities in groups, slaughtering the creatures within.
These monsters included fiery stones, rotting zombies, animal skeletons, and more, and their numbers were vast.
The humanoid creatures guarding the city, clad in armor and wielding swords, formed military formations to counterattack.
However, both their attack power and their size seemed somewhat powerless.
Until a muscular man, armored like a can and holding a greatsword, appeared.
With one sword strike, a massive slash was unleashed, instantly making more than half of the monsters on the battlefield disappear, barely stabilizing the humanoid formation.
Seeing this brutal battle scene, Jiang Hao fell silent.
These monsters were clearly of a mystical type, while Earth followed a technological path.
If an invasion of this scale were to happen on Earth, especially in densely populated areas like China,
Then…
But is it really just helping another world resist invasion?
Alliances?
Or profiting from others' struggles?
Understanding the beginning and end of the matter, these terms instantly popped into Jiang Hao's mind.
He didn't think Earth would do something thankless, helping other worlds resist invasion for no reason.
"This world is caught between us and another world. If it falls, then we will be next. You don't want the human world to suffer, do you?"
"Alright, since it's come to this, it looks like I have to do this job whether I want to or not." Jiang Hao took a deep breath and rubbed his hands over his face.
The seriousness on his face gradually turned somewhat fierce.
His eyes were firm, revealing a hint of madness.
The information provided by the system instantly gave him the same thought that the Chairman had when he sent troops into Korea back then.
Repel the enemy outside the world! The flames of war must not reach Earth.
Since there's no avoiding it, then let's do it!
"Alright, since you understand the gravity of the situation, let's proceed as planned.
Initially, I hoped you could summon the souls of human commanders to create a large number of soldiers through the Elf Ancient Tree to combat the otherworldly invasion.
However, it seems you now have a better method, so proceed with your plan. I look forward to your performance.
Oh, right, I will no longer personally communicate with you in the future. After all, if I were to descend personally, it would be too easy to expose Earth's location.
However, I will give you a little assistant. It possesses many abilities and also has a connection with me."
As the voice in his mind ended, a ball of light appeared before him. After the white light dispersed, a miniature figure appeared.
Jiang Hao looked closely and saw that this palm-sized figure was very similar to the legendary elves.
Before he could continue observing, the little elf blinked her cute big eyes.
Flapping her transparent little wings, she very lively flew to his face.
She circled Jiang Hao's head once, leaving a shimmering golden trail in the air.
"Hello, Master! I am the little elf Lilith," the little elf stopped in front of Jiang Hao, introducing herself in a charming manner.
Lilith flying in the air was indeed beautiful, and Jiang Hao almost reached out to grab her.
But after thinking about it, he decided against it.
She was such a tiny thing; he was afraid he might accidentally crush her.
"Hello, please take care of me from now on."
"Hehe."
After greeting, the little elf circled Jiang Hao again, then sat on his shoulder.
Jiang Hao didn't mind, as the little elf sitting on his shoulder had no weight at all.
He picked up a stone knife from the table and laboriously began to process the wild boar he had just hunted.
"Primitive society is really too difficult. This broken stone knife is hard to cut with."
Lilith dangled her little legs, watching the busy Jiang Hao, and couldn't help but remind him, "Master, shouldn't you summon the Earth Will first?"
Jiang Hao continued his cutting motion while replying, "No, I don't plan to follow the original plan and summon the consciousness of humans who died accidentally on Earth to descend here."
The little elf was puzzled but didn't press Jiang Hao on what he intended to do.
It wasn't until night fell, after Jiang Hao had finished a bland meal of roasted wild boar, that he cleaned up and entered the tree hollow.
As he walked into the tree hollow, lights automatically lit up on the top of the passage.
Upon closer inspection, these were not electric lights from Earth, but glowing objects resembling fruits.
As he went deeper, a fork in the path appeared.
Jiang Hao thought for a moment and still entered the left fork. As he went deeper, he entered a huge space.
The lights at the top of the space also lit up as he entered.
"Master, do you need to cultivate elf bodies now? You can directly instruct Lilith now, oh, I can help Master complete the operation."
The little elf saw Jiang Hao enter here and knew what he was going to do.
"Uh, why didn't you say so earlier?" Jiang Hao turned his head, looking at the little person sitting on his shoulder, his tone slightly reproachful.
"You didn't ask," Lilith looked at him with an innocent expression.
Seeing this, Jiang Hao didn't know what to say.
"Then let's cultivate five bodies first," Jiang Hao said speechlessly.
"Alright!" With a snap of Lilith's fingers, the walls of the tree hollow space began to change.
At the same time, Jiang Hao felt that the soul power he had collected in his body was rapidly depleting.
Simultaneously, five oval-shaped bulges appeared on the wall.
When the tree burls grew to about Jiang Hao's height, the front slowly split open.
Revealing a pale green liquid inside, still occasionally bubbling.
Jiang Hao walked to the nearest cultivation pod and reached out to touch it.
The liquid surface had a layer of something like tree resin, sealing the liquid inside.
Through this transparent window, Jiang Hao saw a humanoid object, even smaller than Lilith, already formed inside.
This little figure was growing rapidly with the gurgling bubbles.
"It's truly amazing, it's actually cultivated like this."
Seeing the entire cultivation process, Jiang Hao couldn't help but exclaim how wonderful the world was and how much he had learned.