A massive tentacle made from flesh and blood drilling out of a dazzling underwater sun was definitely a bizarre and surreal sight, but Charles somehow managed to make it happen.

The radiant sunlight emanating from the sun became even more dazzling upon sensing the threat. The extremely high temperature roasted the massive tentacle into a big lump of charcoal.

However, it was futile. Two, three, four, and more tentacles rushed out of the sun and were roasted in an instant. The radiant sun was eroded by the pitch-black tentacles that engulfed it in the blink of an eye, transforming it into a black sun.

At this point, the glowing orb's actions were futile. A violent tremor ran across the sea as the glowing orb exploded into five rings. The five rings could feel the danger and instinctively fled, but their efforts were destined to be in vain.

The wriggling tentacles that had grown out from inside the glowing orb converged and merged, becoming a snake that slithered through the rings and immobilized them.

As Charles stared at the rings that seemed to be made out of light, he suddenly found them to be a bit familiar. His eyes narrowed as the scenes in his mind were projected into reality.

The glaring halos resembled Dawn One above Hope Island.

Dawn One looked very similar to the halos, and the only difference between them was that these halos had no inverted triangle in the middle of them.

Specks of light that resembled starlight seeped out of the halo and floated over to Lily like fireflies. Having recovered her power, Lily's face was no longer haggard. She burst out of the sea and hovered next to Charles. She felt much better; she no longer felt so cold.

Having lost the power that they had seized from Lily, the halos eventually revealed their true colors and emitted a faint, translucent blue glow.

"What are they?" Lily asked hesitantly.

"They're ghosts. Except for Dawn One and Dawn Four, which eventually became the Light God, the other Dawns are dead," Charles said, explaining the identity of the halos to Lily.

Charles stroked his chin and added, "Actually, these things can still be considered human. After all, human souls are needed to create one of these things. More specifically, three people are necessary as materials to create one Dawn."

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Lily stared at the struggling halos. She subconsciously wanted to plead for their sake, but in the end, she remained silent.

"Ignore them for now. Let's go back to business and do what we must do. And I hope you haven't forgotten why you came here in the first place," Charles said and turned around. He faced the desolate sea surface and raised both hands toward it.

A violent earthquake ensued, and every inch of seawater before them seemed to be trembling. Amidst the powerful earthquake and the roaring of colossal tidal waves, the island at the bottom of the sea rose to the surface.

Charles brought Lily onto the island and looked around at the island where the Light God was born.

The second-generation Foundation must be protecting this place, and they must have placed some kind of seal here. Otherwise, it'd be impossible for these things to remain impervious to the passage of time,

Charles thought.

As soon as he set foot on the island, he immediately discovered things that Lily couldn't perceive.

Could it be that they also wanted to create their own Light God? Or is it as simple as them wanting to commemorate their colleagues from a thousand years ago?

"Mr. Charles, it's going to be very difficult for us to make use of this place. We need the so-called Divine Blood, and we also need to learn every piece of knowledge on this island. There's also—"

"Do you really think I haven't considered those things before I came here?" Charles asked, interrupting Lily. Then, he raised his hands and gouged out his eyes.

Moments later, dark-red spiders the size of eggs crawled out of his eye sockets. These spiders once served as Charles' eyes, but now, they had become bizarre-looking creatures covered in tumors.

The pattern resembling an eye on their back was no longer just a pattern. It had become a real eye pervaded with so many blood vessels that the entire eye was dyed in a crimson hue.

A myriad of these spiders crawled out of Charles' eye sockets, and there were so many of them that they transformed into what looked like a dark-red carpet that soon dispersed toward the nearby buildings.

The spiders disappeared into the buildings, and a few moments later, tentacles and appendages poked out of the windows of those buildings. Some detached houses even rose from the ground and used their recently grown legs to meet up with their companions.

In the blink of an eye, the island changed drastically in appearance. The facilities remained the same, but the machinery all over the island had been transformed into machines that seemed to be made out of flesh and blood.

The transformed machinery functioned through the consumption of organic matter instead of electricity.

Huge tentacles burst out from the ceiling and hung in the air. Red and blue blood vessels proliferated throughout the island. In no time, the entire island became a part of Charles.

Grotesque mouths manifested and opened at once, devouring every computer and document throughout the island. In the proverbial blink of an eye, every piece of knowledge became known to Charles.

Whenever he stumbled upon incomplete knowledge, he would cross-reference whatever he knew a long time ago to complete the puzzle.

Soon, the technology and knowledge that the Foundation had used to create the Light God became known to Charles.

Lily's gaze was complex as she looked around. The person in front of her was becoming more and more unfamiliar in her eyes.

"Unfamiliar? Remember that I'm not your captain. Your captain is on the other side," Charles remarked. He stuffed the eyeballs in his hand back into his eye sockets.

"I know, but since you've already become like this, the Mr. Charles over there should be more or less the same as you, right?"

"No, he's different. Your Charles isn't as powerful as me, but in a sense, it might be a good thing. He can be slower," Charles said.

Just then, his figure staggered and collapsed to the ground. It seemed that he could no longer maintain his human form as the scars all over him split open at once, revealing writhing lumps of flesh and blood and deformed, shriveled eyes.

"Mr. Charles, are you okay?" Lily asked, sensing something amiss with Charles.

The head that had split into two shook forcefully at the same time. "I'm fine. There's just too much knowledge here. I briefly lost control upon mastering them, but it's all fine now. I knew this would happen. I've set aside some time, and there are still two days left until I completely lose control."

Lily's pupils constricted. "You're going… to die?"

"No, to be precise, I'm going to become a god. I've already done everything that I can. You're my final contingency plan, and I'll leave the rest in the hands of the other Charleses."

Charles sounded calm, but Lily couldn't be as calm as the former.

The Charles in front of her had paid a price far greater than she had imagined.

"I'm not so weak that I need someone to comfort me. Before finding me pitiful, you should think about yourself first."

"Think about myself first?" Lily asked, sounding confused.

"You've already forgotten? The human brain really is prone to forgetting things. Think about how the Light God was made. One person isn't enough to create the Light God. Back then, seven people were needed to create the Light God."

The dozens of eyes all over Charles all looked at Lily at the same time.

"Who are going to be the six remaining people?"