By Then, You’ll Have Lived Long Enough

If time could be turned back, it would not need to be much—just ten minutes.

If someone had told Howard then that this world was not so simple, that human power could let one travel through different universes and even parallel universes, Howard would probably have laughed in contempt. If someone had told him that magic existed in this world, Howard would definitely have advised them to see a neurologist.

Let the doctors at the hospital thoroughly examine whether there was something wrong with that person’s brain. As everyone knew, magic challenged the boundaries of science to the greatest extent possible. Their relationship was like that between idealism and materialism—pitifully incompatible, even mutually contradictory.

Howard had always received a materialist, scientific education. It was a model recognized throughout the world, and it had created countless miracles. At such a young age, Howard himself already stood among the very best in this field.

But time could not be turned back. At this very moment, Howard felt that his worldview—even everything he had learned throughout his life—had suffered a devastating blow. The culprits were these two people, who had appeared in his room through some inconceivable means and were now using methods that could not be solved with equations to place him inside an independent space.

They had even used an energy that looked like fire to create a complete, vast, and strange nebula map. These were things he had never seen before, things that, in his mind, science should not have been able to create for hundreds or even thousands of years. Yet they had fully appeared before him now.

"Is this magic? What a great thing."

Howard muttered to himself. Though he had regained his composure, it was only on the surface. Only he knew the storm raging within his heart. No scientist would have reacted much better when faced with such a shock. Some might even have suffered a collapse of faith and died on the spot.

"It is indeed great, but it is even harder to master than science—especially when it comes to creativity."

Josh nodded. With a light wave of his hand, all the silver flames in the Mirror Space vanished, as if they had never appeared at all. All that remained were Howard, whose expression was still somewhat vacant; Josh, looking calm; Natasha, who seemed lost in thought; and the blonde woman, who still wore an expression of enjoyment.

"Are you… a god?" Howard murmured.

A god? Josh raised an eyebrow. Only then did he understand why so many people liked showing off. The feeling of successfully pulling it off was so damn satisfying! Looking at Howard’s dazed expression, Josh found it highly amusing. He wondered what it would be like when he met this man’s son in the future.

"He probably won’t be much better than his old man, either."

Josh thought maliciously, but he still explained, "A god? Sorry, not yet. In my world, gods are merely people like us who gradually explore the truth of the world and strengthen themselves. Once their lives undergo a qualitative transformation and reach a higher level, becoming everlasting beings, that is what we call gods."

"So, in your eyes, gods are merely lifeforms with a higher level of existence, whose power—or magical ability—is stronger?" Howard asked in disbelief.

"Of course. That is all."

"Alright. That is truly incredible."

"Otherwise? What did you think gods were like?"

"At first, I believed that beings like gods did not exist in this world." Howard did not quite know how to put it. "But after meeting you, I realized that I might have been wrong. Even so, I thought gods should be omniscient and omnipotent beings."

"Omniscient and omnipotent? You think too highly of them." Josh smiled indifferently.

"One person I knew was once the absolute pinnacle of our world. Even he could not know everything, and he still died. Of course, by your standards, among ordinary people like you, he could indeed be considered almost omniscient and omnipotent."

"Ordinary people…"

Howard nodded. In the eyes of someone like Josh, no matter how advanced his scientific knowledge was, he was still just an ordinary man. Perhaps the only thing special about him was his brain—smart and flexible. Howard even began wondering what would happen if he learned magic.

"By the way, Lord Josh, may I ask what you need from me?"

"Well, how should I put it? I actually came to ask for your help." Josh rubbed his chin and directly stated his intentions.

"You need my help?"

Howard wondered if he had misheard. Only after confirming it again did he become certain that he had not gotten it wrong. That left him utterly confused. A lifeform walking toward godhood wanted help from an ordinary mortal like him? That was difficult to understand.

"What is so strange about that? Not to mention that I have not reached the level of life you call a god. Even if I had, it would not mean I could do everything or excel at everything. Right?"

Only then did Howard nod. He understood that point well. Since even gods were not omniscient and omnipotent, they must have their shortcomings. The Eastern saying, "Every profession has its specialty," described it perfectly. Perhaps even gods were only powerful in a particular field.

"What do you need me to do?"

Howard immediately asked. He was even beginning to wonder whether he could make some reasonable demands of the young extraordinary being before him. Howard was a businessman; that was nothing unusual. Moreover, he had noticed that Josh did not seem to view everyone else as ants.

If that had truly been the case, Howard felt that even if he could help, he definitely would not. Though the cost of doing that would probably be rather steep.

"Mm, it is simple. I want you to help me develop my territory," Josh said directly. "Of course, you will not need to stay there all the time. Just go over whenever you have time, treat it like a vacation, and handle planning, design, and finding ways to provide some good equipment."

"What?"

Howard had no idea how many times he had been shocked today. He had probably been more shocked today than he had been in his entire life! Help develop a territory? What kind of cosmic joke was this? Someone with such magical abilities wanted him to help develop a territory?

"Is that strange?"

"Of course!" Howard had no idea what expression he was making, but he felt as though he was being played. "The magic over there is so advanced, and you can even fucking travel through the universe to other worlds, yet you want me to help develop your territory? Have you even looked at our technological level?"

"The technological level here is indeed garbage." Josh’s single sentence nearly choked Howard to death.

"Then why did you come looking for me?" Howard rolled his eyes.

"That is only compared to Earth in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately, I did not leave a spacetime gate in that world. There is also Earth in the nineties, but unfortunately that world is also called the Wizard World. Half of it is magic and half is science, and both sides are terrible."

Josh shrugged helplessly. He had indeed considered the Wizard World, but when he had been in its ordinary world, he discovered that its technological level seemed even worse than that of his previous world. Of course, it would have been enough for basic construction, but Josh planned to find someone more capable, so he had not made any moves in that world for now.

"Besides, why do you think life and production standards in a magical world would be better?" Josh could not understand that at all.

"It is actually much like the novels you read. Our world is relatively backward. Whether it is production standards or living standards, to put it plainly, we are probably about the equivalent of your Middle Ages. Do you understand now?"

"But your magic has already surpassed the limits of technology, at least for now."

"You can think of magic as the weapons of this world. Who would use magic for no reason to figure out how to make ordinary people live better?"

Josh rolled his eyes. These scientists could be rather amusing sometimes, though they were indeed worthy of respect. To be honest, using magic for construction or agriculture would definitely be far, far stronger than technology. But the reality was that magic was a weapon for protecting oneself and killing enemies. No one planned to use it for anything else.

"Besides, in our world, mystical power is the dominant force, so there is no technology tree at all. That means we are extremely backward. Now that I am a lord, if I had never visited other worlds, I probably would not care. But now…"

"Now that you have experienced so many worlds dominated by science, you no longer want to live such an apparently ignorant and backward life?"

"No. I cannot stand days without air conditioning or heating, without electricity or the internet, where even communication requires writing letters! Of course, it will also make life better for my people."

Alright, Howard understood now. The man before him was not really trying to improve the lives of the people in his territory. He simply wanted to live more comfortably himself. As for those ordinary people in the territory, they were merely incidental. Howard truly did not know how to evaluate such a lord.

"Of course, I will not make you run around for nothing, my friend." Josh smiled. "I will let you come into contact with magic. You can learn alchemy and enchanting, provided you have the talent. Otherwise, it will be a waste."

"Alchemy and enchanting?" Howard scratched his head. "Can that let me travel through the universe like you?"

"You can try creating something in that area. If you truly have the talent, at the very least, you will not need to worry about your lifespan."

"Anything else?"

"Here is some advice: do not be too greedy." Josh looked at him speechlessly. He actually thought the compensation was not enough? Was he joking? Then Josh immediately thought of something else. "Oh, right. I saw your lifeline. On some day in the future, you will face an assassination attempt, so I will give you something to save your life."

"Of course, the life-saving item is calculated separately. When you face that assassination attempt, you will not die, but I will take you away from this world. Then you can work properly for me."

"If I learn magic, can I not withstand that assassination attempt?"

"You can, but by then you will be in your seventies or eighties. Even if it might not show on the surface, I think you will have had enough of this world by then, so you can leave it."