What Morpheus said wasn't complicated at all for Erina.
After all, Erina was a modern person who had received a scientific education. She knew that the sun would eventually become a white dwarf after its death, and that the universe would one day succumb to entropy and fade into silence.
These were basic scientific facts.
The issue, however, was that this process was far too protracted.
It typically unfolded over tens of billions of years, or even hundreds of billions.
Compared to such immense timescales, humanity was insignificant, and even gods were no exception.
Morpheus continued, "The universe will die, and worlds are no different—they'll die too."
"It's just that the manner of death varies. Some worlds perish alongside the universe, but others succumb to external forces, like cosmic explosions, planetary collisions, world-ending spells, and so on."
"The Gourmet World met its end due to an external factor."
"As for what that external factor was, the Gourmet World doesn't have detailed records. It simply died one day, its body shattering into pieces and scattering everywhere."
"One of those world fragments—the Gourmet World you entered—was drawn toward the current Earth and gradually approached it."
"Barring any surprises, this world fragment will collide with Earth in a few hundred years."
"No one knows what will happen then."
"Perhaps the two will fuse together, or maybe they'll both be annihilated. It's impossible to say."
"In a bid for self-preservation, the Gourmet World pulled you into it, hoping you'd grow quickly enough to prevent this catastrophe."
Upon hearing this, Erina asked curiously, "Lord Morpheus, do worlds have consciousness too?"
"Of course they do."
Morpheus nodded matter-of-factly. Humanity had the inhibitory force Alaya, Earth had the inhibitory force Gaia—why shouldn't worlds have consciousness? That would be unfairly discriminatory.
"However, the Gourmet World is ultimately just a world fragment. Its world consciousness is nearly destroyed, leaving only some instincts behind."
"That's why it chose you."
If the world consciousness still possessed the ability to think, it absolutely wouldn't have selected Erina.
No matter how talented Erina was, she was still just an ordinary person.
Choosing a god of cooking or a hearth deity would have made salvation far more likely.
Unfortunately, it was reduced to mere instincts, which ended up benefiting Erina for nothing.
Erina felt vaguely looked down upon.
But she had no proof.
She decided not to dwell on it and instead asked, "Lord Morpheus, can I take the delicacies from here back to the real world now?"
"Of course you can." Morpheus smiled and nodded. "The Gourmet World belongs to me now. You can take whatever ingredients you want."
As he spoke, he snapped his fingers.
A massive pile of gourmet items was transferred over by Morpheus, appearing out of thin air before Erina.
Pine nut corn, cream mushrooms, chocolate mushrooms, bacon meat, whale tongue flowers, macaroni grass, bamboo fruits, spaghetti grass, tiger puffer poison mushrooms, wrapped bone corn, strawberry rice, leader chestnuts, diamond crabs, lobster fish, and more.
Hundreds of varieties were laid out before Erina.
Each one weighed over a hundred pounds.
But compared to the abundance within the Gourmet World, this was barely a drop in the ocean.
"You can take all of these back."
Erina couldn't carry so much on her own, so she simply stored them all on the platform Morpheus had constructed.
It had been imbued with temporal stasis, ensuring that any food placed inside would never spoil, no matter how much time passed.
It was perfect for use as a refrigerator.
Moreover, Erina had her own room on the platform, ideal for storing these delicacies.
Once the items were stowed in her room, Erina immediately invited Morpheus to Totsuki Academy.
She wanted to use these ingredients to prepare a lavish feast for him.
Morpheus readily agreed.
However, as they headed to Totsuki Academy, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd forgotten something.
...
Meanwhile.
At the Cat's Eye Cafe.
The middle sister of the Kisugi trio, Hitomi Kisugi, was sprawled across the table like a lazy cat, her sharp cat-like eyes fixed on the two women before her.
The eldest of the Kisugi sisters... Rui Kisugi.
And the youngest... Ai Kisugi.
The two stood like they were facing a formidable enemy, each positioned on opposite sides, staring intently at Hitomi.
"Move aside, meow."
Hitomi yawned, lazily addressing Rui and Ai.
Rui didn't budge. "Give Hitomi back."
Ai chimed in from the side, "That's right, you ungrateful hindering cat. Get out of my sister's body right now."
For god sake, she'd never seen anything so utterly bizarre.
Even now, it felt unbelievable.
Two days ago, when she returned home from school, her second sister had told her about being possessed by a hindering cat.
At the time, Ai thought her sister was just joking.
What hindering cat? The world couldn't possibly have something so absurd.
It had to be her sister trying to scare her.
However, that very night, something happened that shattered her worldview.
That day, Hitomi had been worried about the possession, so she insisted on tying herself up with ropes.
Her older sister and she couldn't dissuade Hitomi, so they agreed.
They'd assumed Hitomi was just being paranoid, but who could have imagined that as soon as midnight struck, Hitomi's pupils changed—from human eyes to cat pupils.
Even more incredulous, a pair of cat ears sprouted from Hitomi's head.
Her voice changed too.
"Let go, meow. You humans, let go right now, meow."
Though every word ended with a meow, making it sound awfully cute, Ai found it anything but adorable—it sent chills down her spine.
Her sister had really turned into a cat.
No, more precisely, she was possessed by a cat.
Even her appearance had altered.
Ai was stunned at the time, only snapping out of it when Rui slapped the back of her head. She rushed forward to try and subdue the struggling Hitomi.
But the moment they touched her, they felt their strength being siphoned away.
If not for their regular exercise and decent stamina, they might have perished right then. At the last moment, they managed to push away their cat-possessed second sister.
From that point on, Ai didn't dare touch her second sister again.
But the worst part was that after absorbing their strength, the possessed sister used her nails to sever the ropes binding her and escaped.
Then, she vanished in a flash.
This left Rui Kisugi and Ai Kisugi in a state of utter panic.
***
Bonus Chapter:
100 Power Stones = 1 BC
300 Power Stones = 2 BC
500 Power Stones = 3 BC
700 Power Stones = 4 BC
1000 Power Stones = 5 BC
***
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