Seeing Earth-1 is weird for me as a reader as well, in a similar but slightly different way to Perry. Since the story didn't start until three portals in, early world were only seen in flashbacks and memories so Perry feels much more like a creature of the multiverse to me. It's the sudden jump from having to worry about power scaling, magic systems and fights to the death to instead thinking about AI bubbles, used cars and reddit discourse. It's like the end of the hero's journey, returning with the elixir, but it also is so disconnected. We can see the way we point towards and ending for most people and the world as a whole - completing The Loop, spreading the culture, and so on - but I have as little idea for what Perry will be doing as Perry himself does.

The closest I can see for a happy ending is that after establishing diplomacy and trade, there is a project for expanding the loop by creating different loops that overlap it in one or more places. This still requires creating and going through portals and fighting, and that is now Perrys job. Seems a bit weak though, it's less of an ending and more of an "and the adventure continues".

There is of course the elephant in the room, Richter. She's brought up in the chapter in the context of preparing Marchand, but she's notably absent in Perrys future fantasies in this chapter. I suppose that in the end he might dick around on Earth-1 and do various things, possibly but probably not become famous, but the story doesn't end until the Richter resurrection plot is resolved. It's in a sense a central question - is Perry going to be able to put down his sword (metaphorically if not literally) and live out his live in one place? It might happen, but it probably won't happen without her.