After leaving the whirlpool in the East China Sea, Ryan had a painting in his hand.
The painting is a work in progress, but he doesn't need to paint the rest. The passage of time and the changing times will add color to it.
This time when Ryan came to see Prometheus, whether it was the painting or the promise, he actually had no special purpose. He was just intrigued by his past memories and wanted to do this, so he did it.
As a god, he could do whatever he wanted. Many myths in later generations were simply caused by the ideas of a certain god or person, which then led to a series of changes.
And just as Ryan promised, if someone really worshipped him on the day when the Bronze Man was destroyed, that person would survive; if all humans worshiped him, the disaster of the God-King would become a laughing stock.
Although this is impossible given human nature, Ryan did decide so.
He avoided exerting his power in the real world, not because he couldn't, but because there was no need. Just as he once said, every attack in the real world would turn into a confrontation between the laws of the real world and the spiritual world, and each one would be stronger than the last. But Ryan didn't take the first one or two collisions seriously.
According to his estimation, there would not be many opportunities for him to take action in the entire Third Age.
"It's time to go back."
Ryan looked around and saw that in the spirit world, the angels were doing their respective jobs, and the god of sleep seemed to be working diligently to add bricks and tiles to the already perfect dream spirit world. He had gained a lot from this trip to the nine realms, and it was time for him to deal with these things.
However, there will be no urgent matters in the future, so Ryan will climb the mountain step by step along the passage he left behind, starting from the first level of the spiritual world.
·······
The fire that went out and reignited overnight, the sudden disappearance of the Creator, the loss of all kinds of magical gifts from God, and the beasts that began to attack humans. Within just a few days, all these changes caused an uproar in the Bronze Human Tribe.
Especially in the great temple dedicated to the God-King, although the face of the charred figure kneeling on the ground could no longer be seen clearly, people still figured out his identity after the retelling of the story by the person on duty that night.
The high priest Orson was one of the Creator's favorite students, but his current miserable condition combined with all these changes made people easily think that perhaps it was he who angered the gods, causing Olympus to bring such punishment upon him.
For a time, the old human order even showed signs of collapse, but because the time was still relatively short, people still worked and lived as usual out of inertia.
This is also thanks to the arrival of the holy fire, otherwise under the further punishment of those strange beasts with extraordinary powers and gods, this primitive human city would have fallen apart in an instant.
"High Priest, can we continue to keep this secret?"
In the former residence of the Creator, the priests of Aurora City gathered together. Faced with the current changes, they were also a little panicked.
Others may not know, but the priests can probably guess the whole story. The reason why the gods were angry was not just because of Orson, but because of the crime committed by all of them.
But for some unknown reason, which the gods did not make clear, they took the Creator away but turned a blind eye to the priests.
"Of course you can, there's no need to panic!"
Unlike the panicked other priests, Momon seemed very confident. Many people who knew him even felt that his face looked ruddy and more energetic than before.
"The Creator brought us fire, and the gods gave up further punishment on humans, so the matter naturally ended."
"I don't know if what you said is true, and whether God has forgiven us, but if so, do we still need to offer sacrifices to God?"
After these words were spoken, there was silence in the room. This was actually a very embarrassing thing to do.
After all, the gods' blessing has been taken back. Even if the punishment is eliminated by the Creator, it does not mean that they will get a response if they continue to offer sacrifices.
But if there is no response, and humans are used to getting rewards after offering sacrifices to gods, and now suddenly tell them that they are offering sacrifices to gods but will not get any benefits, will they really be willing?
But it was difficult for the priests to make a decision to stop the sacrifices directly. After all, whether this would cause the anger of the gods again was one thing, and if sacrifices were no longer needed, then the meaning of the priests' existence would be lost.
Even for their own sake, they didn't really want to end the sacrifice.
"I have thought about this matter. You don't have to rush."
Mo Meng moved slowly and steadily, as if he was confident in what he was doing.
"It is indeed easy to cause dissatisfaction if we just ask people to offer sacrifices unconditionally, so we have to change the way we say it."
"We need to tell others that not only has God taken back the gift, but the punishment they brought still exists."
At this moment, although everyone knew that Momon was lying, he looked like he was stating the truth.
"Wind, rain, wild beasts, frost, these are all part of the punishment. Only by devoutly offering sacrifices to the gods can we avoid disasters."
"But we all know that this is not actually--"
"Who said it's useless?"
Interrupting coldly, Momon looked at everyone present.
"If anyone gets hurt or dies, it's because he's not pious enough. It has nothing to do with us or God. And most importantly, the holy fire brought back by the Creator is still here."
"The new holy fire is different from the original one. It is not a flame that focuses on [protection], so it will only shock those beasts with powerful supernatural powers and keen perception, but this is enough."
"We are not only priests who communicate with the gods, but also guardians of the sacred fire, ordered by the Creator before he left. Except for us, no one knows that the sacred fire will not be extinguished and cannot be moved. Humanity can live in peace because of our existence. Isn't that enough?"
The place fell silent, the priests thought silently, and then nodded. Looking at this scene, Momen smiled with satisfaction.
He actually avoided the most crucial point, that is, as long as a real god comes, their lies can be exposed at any time, just like their tricks during the sacrifice. But not long ago, after drinking the bottle of blood that had been stored for many years, Momon saw the mysterious figure again.
From him, Momon learned a lot, such as that the Creator would never come back, that the gods would not let humans go, and the conditions that the mysterious man promised him.
If it were decades ago, he would have flatly refused; if Orson had died and Prometheus had left, he would have hesitated, but now, with no other choice, Momon decisively agreed.
Regardless of whether what the mysterious man said was true or not, there was one thing that Momen was very sure of, and that was that the God-King would not let humans go so easily.
If he had killed all the priests to vent his anger, it might have stopped there. But these accomplices were alive and well, how could the King of Gods calm his anger?
The only possibility is that he is waiting for an opportunity to solve the problem once and for all.
Momon understood the idea that he was a "big shot" among humans. What they liked to do most was to make everything look "legitimate" without endangering their core interests.
So now, since the gods are unreliable, Momon simply gave up on them. According to the mysterious man's instructions, he will try his best to ensure the stability of the human tribe and continue peacefully until the day when the gods intend to destroy them. After all, if too many humans die prematurely, it will also affect the mysterious man's "income".
His income was less, so the "dividends" he gave to his accomplices would naturally not be much.
"Since there is no objection, I will continue."
Although his mind was full of thoughts, Momen did not show it. He began to arrange the specific tasks.
"I will select a few people to go to several small towns outside Aurora and lead the holy fire there. This must be done as soon as possible. I don't want you to find that only ruins are left when you get there."
"Also, we need to build a wall, a real wall made of stone. After all, the holy fire can drive away those terrible beasts, but it will not affect ordinary beasts whose senses are not so sensitive."
"We also need to build the weapons and teams that are specifically designed to deal with those threats, whether they come from outside or wherever else."
"."
After all, about half a day passed. When he finished arranging the last thing, Momon stood up. Now he looked more decisive and aggressive than before.
"Everyone,"
Looking around, especially at the priests whose auras were somewhat similar to his, Momon said decisively:
"Whether we like it or not, everything is a foregone conclusion. The gods have given up on us, and the Creator will never come back. Only humans are left here."
"So from now on—"
"The fate of bronze humanity is in our hands."
His eyes were bright and Momen felt that he had never felt so good.
······
From this day on, great changes took place within the Bronze Man.
The holy fire was directed to various towns, and the strange beasts that had approached human settlements due to the dissipation of the divine aura retreated. The messengers holding the holy fire used this to publicize the changes in Aurora, and then established a new ruling system with the original priests as the leader and the craftsmen who had close relationships with them and had taught them skills as the core.
From then on, in human society that had lost its creator, classes no longer existed only in spirit, but also in material things.
Someone expressed dissatisfaction, but soon, he died in the mouth of a wild beast while out and about. Without weapons made by skilled craftsmen, humans were far from being able to defeat wild beasts with bare hands, so soon, everything returned to peace.
But the calmness is only on the surface. After all, with the loss of God's gift, perhaps the previous accumulation is not obvious now, but soon, due to the decrease in grain production and the death and injury of cattle and sheep during grazing, the overall harvest of mankind will drop sharply. The era when no one worried about survival materials will completely become a thing of the past.
By then, even food will become one of the problems that need to be solved.
But what is very interesting is that as the word of "Gods' punishment on mankind" spread quickly, some people who began to pay attention to the existence of mankind because of deceiving the gods suddenly discovered that although some people's faith in God weakened as a result, many others became more pious.
This made them suddenly realize that their previous understanding of faith was too shallow. Humans are different from gods. The threats to gods often come from other gods, but for humans, the world itself is dangerous to them. In this case, they couldn't help but have different ideas.
Maybe human beings don't need to live a very good life. It would be good enough if they stay like this.
God's gifts to mortals should be random, not fixed. It is for humans to pray for their favor with hope, not to exchange for a price.
However, the gods' attention to humans is only occasional, because the gods have long been aware of the king's thoughts. They saw Zeus' will in Pandora, who he asked the gods to create together.
In any case, even for the sake of the majesty of the gods, the God King would not allow the bronze humans who blasphemed the gods to reproduce and become the masters of the earth.
Therefore, they did not notice that at the edge of Aurora, there was a "demigod" in their understanding, who began to teach primitive, physical training skills to some people around there, with that place as the center.
Or, they were learning together. Because some people themselves only had a vague idea of how to gain this power, they were also worried about how to let others learn this ability.
After all, he was at the pinnacle of the mortal world when he was born, and his physique alone was only one step away from becoming extraordinary, so much so that when he first mastered this power, he didn't even think it was of any use.
So everything was carried out in a trial manner, and for a moment, apart from himself, there was no other human being who could generate power in his body, but their physical strength had improved significantly.
At the same time, in addition to studying this power, he also tried to understand the history of the last few hundred years and the deeds of the gods through various channels. He carved a stone slab in his home and often meditated silently in front of it, but he never went to any temple of the gods to worship.
This attracted the attention of some people, but this was a time of change, and many humans already complained about the disappearance of God's gift, and even hated God, but they did not dare to say it out loud, so in the end no one paid more attention to it.
In this situation, Ryan, who finally returned to Mount Sinia, stood at the core of the seven-layer spiritual world and took out the treasure house of Odin that he had put away.
"It doesn't have the function of self-destruction. It will only shake the space-time and make the things inside fall out. Is that right?"
Although he had said it once before and the result he obtained from personal observation was the same, Ryan confirmed it again.
He gained a lot from this trip, and he needed to arrange them one by one, but the first thing to do was to count them all, and Odin's treasure house was one of those 'blind boxes' where no one knew what was inside.
So the dragon egg was placed aside, and Ryan first took out the wooden sphere engraved with runes. It was not large in size, but for a creation of a God King, the apparent size was obviously of no reference value.
"Yes, in fact, I also participated in the refining of this treasure house."
Following Ryan into the spirit world, Mimir became more cautious.
He was glad that he didn't come to a place like the Land of the Dead, but the spirit world didn't seem to be much better.
"For some truly precious things, the self-destruction talisman text cannot really destroy them. Instead, it is better to use the power of time and space to send them to a pre-set place before the treasure house is opened."
"Of course, now that the Nine Realms have been destroyed, those set coordinates are also invalid. If we destroy it now, the things inside will just randomly float in the void."
The real void refers to the nothingness outside the world, but Ryan knew that this was not what Mimir was talking about. The void he mentioned was just a concept on the spatial level.
"So, are you going to open it now? Just let me study it for a while and I can find it."
"No need to bother."
Shaking his head slightly, no matter whether Mimir really didn't know how to open the treasure house or wanted to use it to demonstrate his own value, Ryan didn't intend to spend time on it.
This is the spiritual world. Even if Odin himself was here, he couldn't break through the space-time barrier of the spiritual world. The treasure house he left behind, even if its power increased a hundred times, would not have a second result.
Reaching out his hand, Ryan gently squeezed the wooden ball. The next moment, the space and time around the ball began to bend, and an invisible force acted on it.
On the wood texture, runes lit up one after another, and then went out. Rune runes explained the rules of the Nine Realms, not the rules of Chaos.
Although the rules of the two worlds are similar in some aspects, they are more different. Therefore, the defense of this treasure of the God King, which could be called one of the top creations of Asgard alchemy, was broken almost instantly, and then the warning mark inside was touched.
Buzz——
With a buzzing sound, the wooden structure of the ball collapsed visibly in an instant, and a familiar breath spread out. That was the power of the World Tree.
This sacred tree not only possessed a strong life force when it was alive, but also, as the support of the Nine Realms of Space and Time, it also had a very high affinity with space and time. At this moment, this power was activated and spread to the surroundings.
Then nothing happened until the entire wooden structure of the treasury collapsed completely without causing any damage to the surrounding space.
"this"
Mimir was a little speechless and a little shocked. In Scandinavian mythology, unlike Chaos, there is no real god in charge of time and space, only some beings are more or less related, such as Odin is regarded as the guardian of time and space, and the three goddesses of fate are sometimes also believed to have the power of time.
Therefore, seeing Ryan manipulate space so casually still shocked him greatly.
In the brief battle with the [Mother Tree of Flesh and Blood], Mimir thought he had understood the great power of this outside god, but now it seems that his power is not limited to [life] and [death].
"Okay, tell me what these are. Having been Odin's 'staff' for so many years, you should know a little bit about them."
As the treasure house was broken, the space inside also expanded and returned to its normal size. Looking at the things in front of him, Ryan did not rush to reach out, but asked Mimir beside him first.
Since it is something from another world, it would be better to let the 'locals' talk about it first.
"certainly."
The huge head suppressed his shock and looked at the objects floating in the air. Soon, he seemed to have discovered something.
"Mr. Ryan, have you seen the book?"
Looking for the source of the sound, Ryan noticed the ordinary-looking book.
"Of course. What does it record?"
There have been some speculations. After all, the value of books is to carry knowledge. What other knowledge could be so cherished by Odin? But Ryan still waited for Mimir to confirm his idea.
"That is the [Original Book], the first book made from the leaves and sap of the world tree Yggdrasil. In our world, there are many legends about it, but in fact, I am the only one who really knows what it is."
Some memories. As the guardian of the Fountain of Wisdom, Mimir sometimes wondered what he had gained from the spring. This could not clear the fog and show the real "wisdom". It was still nothing.
"Sir Ryan, it is the greatest achievement of Odin's sacrifice at the Fountain of Wisdom. It is also the source of more than 70% of the magic and alchemy of the nine kingdoms, and the original Rune."
"Odin took it out of his memory and used the world leaf, the only tree in the world that could permanently carry it, as its carrier. The final product he created is the [Original] in front of you."
Chapter 196 Time Dragon
Mystery has "weight", even if it is just a memory, and the closer you are to the source, the more obvious this phenomenon is.
As mentioned before, at the world level, matter, energy and information are equivalent to each other, and some things of extremely high nature will also have similar properties, such as the Rune.
When Odin completed his own sacrifice and "picked up" the runes from the Fountain of Wisdom that were enough to analyze everything in the world, he thought he could become the master of the world with this, but later he gradually discovered that he could not bear the weight of this "mystery" at all.
If the problem faced by the original god Chaos was that he could not withstand the long-term impact of the complete and great power and had to walk the world in the form of an incarnation in order to maintain his personality, then Odin also encountered a similar problem.
His own soul and memory are simply unable to bear all the mysteries of the Runes. However, unlike the original god, the Runes will not damage Odin's soul. They will only dissipate on their own because the carrier is not perfect enough.
The God-King of Asgard could almost foresee that the power of these great runes would gradually fade from His memory until it was weakened enough that he could bear it fully.
Odin naturally could not accept this situation. How could the results he had fought so hard to achieve be weakened? So in order to preserve his results, he thought of a way.
The power of the world tree Yggdrasil is unquestionable. If it had wisdom, it would be the most powerful god in the world. So Odin picked its most vital leaves, both young and old. He made them and the bark into special paper, and then imprinted the runes in his memory on it.
This imprint is not a copy, but a transfer of the "mystery" they possess. The result was very successful. The power of the Rune no longer faded, and it was permanently left on the Original. Odin re-learned the rune secrets that he could understand by studying the Original, and then spread its existence.
However, in the field of mysticism, the more it spreads, the farther it is from the original, and the weaker its power becomes, so the power of runes often varies greatly. In the hands of some beings, it can foresee the future and forge artifacts, but among mortals, it has gradually become an ordinary symbol, with only a few symbolic concepts left.
The runes are the same runes, but the "mystery" contained within them is completely different.
"So, the runes on the [Original Text] can also be considered the source of the writing of the nine kingdoms?"
Ryan wanted to laugh as he thought of a former god of language and innate writing. Of course, he should call her by her new name now, Moya, the Mother of Demons.
It seems that he is destined to have a connection with words. Perhaps the words in the spiritual world are destined to change step by step in his hands, and eventually become the existence that explains all the rules and mysteries of the world.
Summoning the [Original Book] to his side, Ryan looked at Mimir without rushing to look through it.
"Go on, what's left?"
The first treasure was so precious that Ryan couldn't help but become more interested in Odin's treasure house.
Although the power of the Rune was greatly reduced due to the changes in the world, Ryan was not interested in the power. What he needed was information, the way to analyze the rules of the world, and the original rune in the Original Codex could undoubtedly help him accomplish this step well.
"That one, that ring, it's Odin's Polymetallic Ring."
Without keeping the secret, at Mimir's suggestion, Ryan noticed a dazzling green ring.
He had heard of it in later myths; it was an artifact made by the dwarfs Sindri and Brokk and presented to Odin during the incident of Sif's golden hair.
This pair of dwarf brothers, like Hephaestus and the Cyclops of Chaos, possess extraordinary forging skills. In addition to the [Polymetal Ring], Thor's Hammer [Mjolnir] is also one of their masterpieces.
"Can a piece of ornament be hidden in Odin's treasure house?"
Asking casually, Ryan was not surprised that the ring in the myth was destroyed. Maybe it was a replica.
"In the eyes of the world, the [Gold Ring] is just a precious treasure that can replicate itself, which is used to highlight the glory and greatness of Odin. But in fact, it is a derivative product of exploring the highest realm of alchemy."
Facing Ryan's question, Mimir immediately explained:
"It is said that one of the ultimate achievements of alchemy is to master the core of material transformation. In the eyes of such beings, there is no difference between a handful of soil and a piece of magic metal. Of course, the [Gold Ring] cannot do this. It can only complete the transformation of ordinary things, such as turning stone into gold, or self-replication."
"Turning stones into gold. But I can also do this easily with my divine power."
Ryan summoned the [Golden Ring]. Regarding alchemy, he didn't know much, most of which were just some seemingly plausible principles passed down from later generations.
As for the so-called changing of material properties, or achieving immortality, or creating souls, he himself could do it, so naturally he had never been interested in the birth of alchemy.
"This is different. The changes under the influence of divine power are changes under the influence of external forces. The divine power consumed when you transform a bowl of running water into gold nuggets and into spring water containing magic power is different. But the alchemy is different."
"In theory, when you understand the most fundamental principles, the changes in everything will make no difference to you, because at a certain level, everything is 'equivalent'."
After a brief explanation, Mimir finally said:
"But this is just what I know. In fact, I am not good at alchemy."
"I see."
Nodding, Ryan put the [Gold Ring] on his finger.
"Equivalent exchange. Perhaps the ultimate goal of alchemy is to equate matter, energy and information, just like the world, from three to two, from two to one, until we grasp the original source."
"But probably no one or god can really do this. After all, it means that his wisdom can already understand the 'root', which is something even I can't do."
"Next."
Whether the so-called supreme alchemy exists or not is still a matter of debate, but Ryan can already see the ultimate of the gods and is on the road. Therefore, this ring is not very useful, it is just an introduction. At least for now, Ryan has no intention of studying the "technology" of this mythical world from scratch.
In addition to these two treasures, there are six other items in the treasury.
Two small bottles filled with unknown liquids and a crystal box filled with leaves - Ryan could recognize them without asking, they were the tender leaves of the World Tree, probably the leftover materials from the creation of the [Original].
There was also a box sealed with gray mist, a sword covered by a scabbard made of purple-green crystal, and a broken stone tablet.
"That sword is called Revatinn, which symbolizes victory and destruction. It was once the proton sent to Asgard by the Vanir gods. It was the sword of Frey, the god of sunlight and fertility. I heard that it later fell into the hands of the giants. I didn't expect it to appear here."
Looking at the sword, Mimir was a little surprised.
"Who knows, maybe Odin saw something too."
With a wave of his hand, Ryan immediately grasped the hilt of the sword.
When the handles touched, a fiery feeling came from them, which was not the warmth of sunlight, but the burning heat of fire. This reminded Ryan of a rumor: Frey, the god of sunlight, lost the sword in order to marry a giantess, and it eventually fell into the hands of Surtur, the master of the Fire Kingdom.
The leader of the fire giants reforged this artifact, and eventually used it to kill Frey, who had no suitable weapon, during Ragnarok, and even destroyed Midgard on earth.
This can also be regarded as part of the fate of Scandinavian mythology. The sword of destruction in the hands of the god of abundance eventually brought destruction to himself and the world.
But obviously, in these nine kingdoms whose fate has changed, the first half of the sword remained the same as before, and it fell into Surtur's hands, but the second half was not the case.
No one knows what happened in between, but it eventually fell into Odin's hands.
"Generally, even after being recast, it only touches the lower limit of the [High-level Artifact]."
"As a weapon, it is already very rare. Even Themis's Sword of Judgment cannot compare to it. But it is useless to me."
Making a soft comment, Ryan's fingers brushed against the edge of the sword, causing a slight tingling sensation.
With a casual throw, the magic sword flew across space and merged with a stone sword inserted in the bluestone.
That was the object to which the core priesthood of the Sun God was attached. Although the original stone sword was extraordinary in nature, the object it was attached to was just an ordinary stone, but now, it has changed its carrier.
From then on, its power was not only stronger, but also possessed some of the power of [Victory]. Of course, in contrast, the difficulty of using it increased further.
Not only is it cursed to burn one's body with the Great Sun, but only those recognized by it can hold it. For everyone else, it's just an indestructible stone.
"Go on, what's in those two bottles?"
Ripples appeared in space, and the stone sword and the stone platform it was on were moved into the belly of Mount Sinai, near the source pool that nurtured a number of divine artifacts.
After all, it is a divine artifact from the outside world. It will take some time for it to transform before it can become a part of the spiritual world. This is the case with most of these foreign objects.
".The two bottles contain a poison and its antidote, Sir Ryan."
"It is made from the refined spring water of Hvergelmir, the blood of the primordial giant Ymir, and some terrible things. Its toxicity is the most severe in the Nine Realms, and there is almost nothing that can stop this poison."
"But Chaos's gods are different from yours. Expecting a dose of poison to kill a god is probably too much to expect."
Looking at the two bottles, Ryan felt a sense of threat. Of course, this was actually an illusion. The unknown liquid could only threaten his divine body, and the body was the least important part of Ryan's strength.
However, having said that, Ryan still put the two small bottles away.
The effects of toxins are often long-lasting and hidden, but they may be useful at the right time.
"There are two last items. What is that stone tablet?"
The incomplete body of the stele and the unclear words make it difficult to identify its origin. But as a collection in Odin's treasury, it cannot be just an ordinary stele.
But this time, Mimir couldn't give him a satisfactory answer.
"I don't know where it came from either. It may be from Odin's own collection. At least in my long life, I have never heard of anything like it."
"As for the gray fog, it should be the resentment left by the original giant after his death. It should have turned into a curse, but in the end, Odin trapped it here."
The original giant Ymir, in Scandinavian mythology, is a character similar to the God of Creation. However, the only meaning of this "God of Creation" is to give birth to a group of giants and gods, and then be killed.
Even the dwarves and elves were transformed from derivatives of his body after death.
He tapped the stone tablet lightly with his fingers, but found nothing, so Ryan had to put it aside. As for the gray mist, there was no place to use it for the time being, so he simply put it away.
Finally, Llane looked at the Skull of Mimir, the otherworldly giant he had brought back to the spirit world.
The other party also looked at him nervously, and the giant knew that the role he could play had ended here.
"I took you away from Asgard, and you answered my questions. Now, we are even. Do you have anything else to say?"
Looking at the half-human-high head, Ryan asked calmly.
He didn't need such a head as an aide, but he didn't plan to let him leave. After all, Mimir witnessed his gains along the way, so it was better for him to stay in the spirit world.
And even though he seems to be very respectful to me now, there is a high probability that he is not an honest guy.
"If possible, I would like to stay in the spirit world and do something for you in return."
As a head without any resistance, Mimir knew nothing about Chaos. He only knew that he was in the spirit world, the kingdom of the gods in front of him, just like Odin to Asgard.
Although Ryan was quite polite along the way, Mimir judged the other party by himself, and he thought that the other party would not let him leave on his own. Besides, he didn't think that as a head, he would have a better life outside.
"However, I hope to have a body that can walk, rather than staying like this forever."
"You can stay, of course. As for what to do, since you were once a giant of wisdom, then you can take care of knowledge. I will build a library in the third spiritual world, and you will be the gatekeeper. By the way, you can also compile your past memories into books in your spare time and store them in the library. As for the body."
After a brief pause, Ryan finally gave a very interesting answer.
"Your body will be acquired by you. I will open the library to the public. Anyone who puts knowledge into it can obtain equivalent knowledge from it. You cannot actively harm any life that comes to the door, and of course, they cannot harm you either. This is the rule I set."
"But you can make an exchange with them. As long as they voluntarily lend you their bodies without deliberately deceiving you, then you can become the owner of the body. Everything is fair, isn't it?"
"You are right. I am willing to accept this result."
Although it was a bit disappointing, it was not bad. Compared to being a head forever in the Golden Palace, Mimir at least had the opportunity to move around.
I just hope that more people will come to this "library" in the future, instead of not seeing a single person for years.
"Very good, since you agree, then it's a deal. I will come to see you when I have time in the future."
Nodding, Ryan pointed.
In the Temple of Severaz on Mount Sinai, countless kinds of knowledge were extracted from the artifact in the fourth level of the Spirit Realm that stored the memories of all living beings and then turned into books.
Under the influence of invisible forces, they are displayed in sequence in a circular library that appears out of thin air, arranged in a spiral with no end in sight.
During this process, Mimir's skull was also sent into the hall of the circular library, and from then on, he became the administrator here.
With a wave of his hand, the library disappeared in the folded space and then appeared somewhere in the third spiritual world. A kind of fateful attraction was added to it. From then on, any life that thirsted for a certain knowledge might come here unintentionally, leave what they had, and get what they wanted from it.
At this point, all the chores were done, and Ryan's attention finally turned to the dragon egg he had brought back.
As a god who had personally created more than one life, Ryan easily perceived the characteristics of these dragon eggs.
They have not yet taken shape and may change at any time due to changes in the external environment. If Ryan had not isolated them from the interaction with the spirit world, this change might have already begun.
Undoubtedly, the better the environment, the more power absorbed during the hatching process, the stronger the newborn dragons will be, and even further, their offspring will also be stronger.
As the core of the spiritual world, Mount Sinai is actually an excellent breeding environment, but the power of the spiritual world itself is very complex. If it is left to breed on its own, Ryan does not know what kind of dragon will be born in the end.
In this case, how to shape these dragon eggs more specifically becomes an issue worth considering.
In terms of power and purity, the three powers of [spirituality], [reincarnation], and [order] are definitely the most suitable in the spirit world. However, the power of [order] is not unique to Ryan in Chaos, and for some reason, [reincarnation] is not suitable to be the original power of the new dragon clan. So looking at the two dragon eggs with the most vigorous aura in front of him, Ryan undoubtedly needs to find another suitable authority.
After thinking about it, it seems like a semi-finished product would be perfect.
"[Time], I have had it for a long time, but the artifact it created has not yet been born."
"It will take at least another era for it to be born as a [Artifact of Creation], which is only fitting."
Allowing authority to have a race that corresponds to it will undoubtedly help its evolution and perfection. Moreover, [Time] is the origin closest to the great level in the spiritual world, in addition to [spirituality], [order], and [reincarnation].
In terms of both strength and development, it deserves to be one of the choices.
"In that case, lucky guy, you are the world's first [Time Dragon]."
He stretched out his hand and one of the two dragon eggs in front of him changed its position instantly. It appeared in the heart of the sacred mountain, next to a ball of dark golden light. It was the embryo of the divine artifact that had been nurtured for an era.
The power of time began to infect the dragon egg, adding a few dark golden stripes to it, and the breath of life was also stimulated. At the same time, the power of the spirit world began to cleanse the essence of the dragon egg, turning it into a member of the spirit world before it was born.
When life has not yet been born, it is the best opportunity to change its source.
Artifacts and dragons will be a pair that complement each other. In the future, time dragons will be able to travel between time and space, pick up time fragments and return them to artifact embryos, or personally influence certain major events and create [historical nodes] to speed up the birth of artifacts. Conversely, the stronger the artifact embryo, the more complete the [time] authority of the spiritual world, and the time dragon clan will also gain more powerful power.
There may be many dragons in the future, but Ryan believes that the Time Dragon bound to the [Artifact of Creation] must be the most powerful one among them.
As for those with weaker auras, they can do whatever they want, just as they can add to the diversity of the dragon race in the world. After all, carrying power also requires potential. Apart from the two best ones, even if Ryan can find the right authority, they will only be able to obtain a small part of the power, just like Odin who cannot bear the complete Rune.
Chapter 197 Surveillance
Time cannot be tampered with at will. The more powerful the world is, and the more powerful beings it involves, the more so.
Therefore, before reaching a certain level, the difficulty and cost of "killing the past" and then "killing the present" is actually much greater than killing your enemies head-on.
Therefore, although the future time dragons can travel through the past and future, they cannot change what has already happened at will. They observe the future, but they cannot know which future is real, or what they see is not real, which is just a tiny possibility that cannot even be considered a prophecy; they see into the past, but it is more like watching a movie, and even if the existence involved exceeds too much, it will cause the "movie" to be blurred.
"But this is limited to the main body of Chaos. After all, there are too many gods here and the laws are too strict. If it were in other places, it would be much better."
Ryan's eyes penetrated through layers of obstacles and saw the void outside the world. As a god who was deeply involved in the process of the nine kingdoms integrating into the world, even if there was no active prophecy, fate still gave him feedback.
He could vaguely notice that the small fragments of the Nine Realms that Chaos Tunna had initially acquired had already begun to evolve. As time passed, they might become some scattered small planes, attached to the main body of the world.
Compared to the present world, the rules of those small planes are weak, and it is difficult for powerful life to be born. For such places where there is no high-level power, the Time Dragon can undoubtedly do whatever it wants. If nothing unexpected happens, that will also be their main place of activity in the future.
After all, as dragons, they are already powerful enough. But in the world of Chaos, the gods are the masters of the world.
"And you."
Ryan turned and looked at the other dragon egg, which no longer needed to be considered.
Spirituality itself is the most suitable power for it. What we really need to care about is how much it can bear.
The palm of the hand gently brushed across the surface of the dragon egg, and in an instant, the originally black eggshell turned white, and the whole body changed from pure solid to illusory.
The purest spiritual power flowed from Ryan's fingertips into the dragon egg, providing power for the unborn dragon. It began to break away from the material state and change into a form between virtual and real.
Once the transformation is complete, it will possess the powerful body shared by all dragons, and will also be able to travel between the mind and consciousness, and even dominate the elements and glimpse the future.
Of course, this is limited to itself. As the first one, it is always a little special, and its fellows may not have this ability.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Ryan unexpectedly discovered that perhaps it was because the spiritual power significantly enhanced the consciousness of the dragon egg. Even though it had not yet been born, it had already gained vague thinking ability.
It began to send a vague message, roughly asking for a name.
Originally, as Nidhogg's creation, each dragon should have a piece of "information" from him, which would serve as its unique name in the future. This was both a name and one of its anchors. But now, after being transformed by the spirit world, the dragon egg had lost this influence, so it instinctively needed a name.
"Want a name? Don't worry about the formal one yet. Since you haven't been born yet, you'll be called Bai."
Ryan said casually after looking at the eggshell that had turned white.
The dragon egg didn't know whether it was satisfied or not, it just shook twice.
"Then I'll take it as your satisfaction."
With a slight smile, as the two dragon eggs began to be nurtured one after another, certain rules of the spiritual world also changed.
Ryan had no intention of turning these two powerful real dragons into a "Dragon Mother"-like character, but since there was only one of them, there would naturally be a need for another method to give birth to the same kind. Ryan's idea was also very simple, just use the shell to lay eggs.
From now on, the same species of these two dragon eggs will not be born through reproduction, but will be born spontaneously through the convergence of time and spirituality.
They could appear anywhere, but are more likely to appear directly from the dead eggs of other dragons and directly replace them.
However, these "weak" fellows are inevitably far behind the kings of their respective tribes. For example, Bai Weilai's fellow tribesmen only have spiritual power, and the elements and destiny will not be with them.
For this reason, Ryan also gave them a unique name, [Mind Dragon].
"It looks like it will take quite some time. Let's wait."
It will take some time for the dragon egg to be born, but this is not long for the gods. If the passage of time here is accelerated, it is expected that Bai will be able to hatch before the destruction of the bronze humans.
So Ryan raised his hand gently and distorted the time on the sacred mountain.
In this case, he planned to wait for a dozen years, until this spiritually conceived dragon was born, and then consider its much weaker brothers and sisters.
During this gap, he took out Odin's broken weapon, the shaft of the divine spear Gungnir.
More than a decade in the chaotic time and space was probably enough for him to deal with this treasure from another world. Ryan did not intend to repair or preserve this artifact. After all, Gungnir had lost the spearhead that penetrated everything, and he did not value its power.
Ryan had another use for it.
······
Mount Olympus, the bedroom of the gods.
It has been a long time since the punishment of mankind. Sitting on a chair in the palace, Zeus gently rubbed his eyebrows.
In recent days, his headaches have become more severe.
The God King knew what was going on. His daughter was about to come of age, and she couldn't wait to come into this world, but as a god, she still needed a process, a process of "birth".
But Zeus was not a goddess after all, and he could not have given birth to her, so her power began to conflict with that of her father.
Zeus actually had a solution to this problem. As an immortal god, he was not a human being. At most, he could just cut open her body and let her be born. But in fact, the king of gods didn't really want her to come out.
Just as the prophecy said, "One will surpass the mother, and the other will surpass the father." This unborn child not only split most of Metis's [wisdom], making Zeus feel that his thinking was not as clear as before, but even this newborn had other divine powers. Undoubtedly, all this indicated that she would be an extremely powerful true god.
But this made Zeus more suspicious. After all, if such a daughter was obedient, it would be fine. But if she bore a grudge against him for swallowing Metis, he might have an extra enemy.
On the other hand, the God King thought of the "wisdom" that had not been granted not long ago.
Could it be that this daughter had seen something before she was born, and she didn't want "wisdom" to become the cause of human destruction, so she refused to use her own authority?
".Maybe I'm overthinking it. There is no god that can understand the outside world before being born."
Shaking his head slightly, Zeus seemed to let go of his worries.
With his own brothers and sisters as a comparison, Zeus knew very well what an unborn god could do.
Perhaps her rejection of her own invocation of authority was just a coincidence, or perhaps it was an instinctive reaction of the [Wisdom] theocracy.
"—Zeferos."
He suppressed his thoughts and realized that given the current situation, the child would not be born immediately, so the King of Gods prepared to deal with the affairs that had accumulated in recent days.
Following Zeus' call, a breeze blew by, and the god of the west wind, who was "highly employed" by the gods of two dynasties, came before him.
"Your Majesty, what do you want?"
Zephyros asked in a low voice with a respectful look.
"How's the thing I asked you to do going?"
Although everything had been arranged long ago, Zeus asked himself that it was not time to sit back and relax. He was not like he would be later, and there were many things in this world that he had to worry about.
Therefore, as soon as the gods left, he asked the god of the west wind to investigate the changes in the human tribe and the attitude of Epimetheus, the latecomer, for example, whether he had any complaints against the king of gods.
And most importantly, he asked this god who was good at exploration to follow Hecate, the goddess of the magic network. In today's mortal world, she is the biggest uncertainty. After all, Zeus still remembers clearly that when she fought with him, this goddess was not yet a god.
It is amazing that he could defeat a true god in his prime without relying on divine power, even if he was still very weak at that time.
"Your Majesty, I may still be lacking in strength, but in this aspect, no one can compare with me."
His expression was still respectful, but Zeferos' words were full of confidence. As a god who had secretly spied on the Lord of the Spirit World, Lady Night, and Mother Earth, even the God King could not compare with him in this respect.
What's more, the power of the gods on earth is now limited, and their perception ability has further decreased. In this case, Zephyros doesn't think that anyone can detect his existence.
"Your Majesty, humans are as arrogant as ever. Even though the gods have let them go, they still use the name of gods to deceive their own kind and make them obey their orders. They are really a group of ridiculous mortals."
"But I found that under the deception of those who called themselves 'priests', the faith of mortals did not seem to decrease much due to the loss of God's gift. Although some mortals became unfaithful, many also became more pious."
At this point, Zeferos was somewhat bewildered. He could see the result, but he did not understand the reason. Why did some mortals' faith in God become stronger even though they had lost the gift?
"And Epimetheus?"
There was no thought of explanation, Zeus had expected this. Mortals were different from gods after all, and they could not be treated with benefits blindly. While listening to the report of the wind god, Zeus could not help but think of the guy who prayed to him for eternal life but did not even have a trace of faith.
The mortal's name seemed to be Ao something, but that was not important. His soul would be imprisoned in that charred body forever, enduring eternal pain and torture from lightning. In a sense, this could be considered a kind of eternal life.
"Your Majesty, the god of hindsight is as dumb as the rumors say. I even overheard him say that Prometheus wanted him to stay away from the gods and humans before he left, but he didn't listen to his brother. He lived well with that god's creation and even had a daughter."
There was some disdain in his words. Zephyrus felt that if Epimetheus could be half as smart as he was, he would not have become a pawn without knowing anything.
"What about the clay jar that Hades sent?"
Zeus didn't really care about Epimetheus, he just asked the god of the west wind to look after him just in case. The only thing he really cared about was the "gift" from Hades.
Hades volunteered to take on the responsibility of destroying the bronze humans. If anyone disobeyed his instructions and opened the jar he gave them, the gods under his command would use disaster and plague to solve Zeus's troubles.
As for the price, he demanded that from now on, the corpses of all those who did not believe in the gods would belong to him, and the King of Gods agreed to this request.
However, for some unknown reason, his second brother, who had great ambitions but little talent, also got involved. Poseidon said that he also wanted to participate in the destruction of mankind.
Zeus thought that he probably thought that this behavior could make humans fear his power. But he never thought that there were more gods than just him. Hades lived in the underworld and had power that humans did not like. It was understandable that he gave up his positive image, but what about Poseidon?
But when he thought about it this way, it seemed hard to say that his choice was wrong. After all, his second brother probably wasn't very capable of playing the role of a majestic, fair and benevolent god.
"The gift from Hades was carefully kept by Epimetheus and Pandora. They did nothing extra except occasionally taking it up and looking at it."
Zephyrus said, standing in front of Zeus.
".I understand. I will take care of this matter."
After a little contemplation, since pure curiosity and desire to explore can be suppressed by reason, Zeus decided to add the desire to compare.
He believed that he and Eurynome's three daughters could accomplish this well.
What's more, the God King of Jars was actually very interested in the gift from the Goddess of the Dark Moon.
"And Hecate, what did she do?"
Finally, the God King turned his attention to the unstable factor.
He still couldn't tell what Hecate's attitude towards him was, nor did he understand how she wove the magic web. But Zeus was sure that she had a powerful artifact that possessed a power completely different from that of the gods.
"That goddess of the magic web, she and the moon goddess Selene went to the ruins of Mount Odilus together. They seemed to have done something there. I went there to take a look after they left."
After a moment's hesitation, Zeferos finally spoke the truth:
"Because I can't use my divine power, I can't break through the barrier that the goddess left there. It seems to connect the mountains and rivers there, and connect to the magic network, so I don't know what they did."
"After that, they went to the stars."
"It doesn't matter. It's normal that you can't do anything with the things she left behind. In the current world, there are few gods who can do anything to her."
Zeus was quite satisfied, as long as Hecate didn't wander around the earth at this juncture.
It would be troublesome if she suddenly became interested in bronze humans.
"You have done well. When the next generation of humans is born, I will allow you the right to spread faith among humans alone. This is my reward to you in advance."
"During this period of time, you will continue to be responsible for monitoring the area surrounding the human tribe."
"As you command, Your Majesty."
With a happy look on his face, Zephyrus knew what Zeus' promise meant.
Today, the Olympian pantheon's faith in humans is still in a state similar to "big pot rice". As long as there are powerful gods who know the secret of faith, they will build temples of different specifications and sizes in human tribes according to the level of their own divine power.
But this was not the case in the next era predicted by Zeus.
The gods were not harmonious to begin with. If they were forced to live in peace, the conflicts would only be directed at him, the king of gods. It would be better to let them fight each other. Moreover, although some gods were very powerful, they lacked wisdom, such as Poseidon. Zeus felt that if he relied on himself, he would not be able to get any followers.
In this case, let the gods bear their own profits and losses.
Moreover, with the faith and deception of the Bronze Men, the gods gradually discovered that humans who mainly believed in one god and only respected other gods would generate far more faith than those who believed in many gods at the same time, which further intensified their idea of separation from each other.
In fact, this discovery is also the "way to death" of Prometheus. The reason why the gods can discover this phenomenon is that some humans only believe in the Creator and have superficial faith in other gods.
However, these originally had nothing to do with the God of the West Wind. In the plan of the God King, only those gods who played an important role in the God Court were qualified to spread faith alone in the next human era, and Zephyrus's position was very embarrassing.
Although he became the chief of the wind gods with the blessing of the power of the God King, and also took on many of the duties of the original weather god, barely stepping into the middle level of divine power, and theoretically being a member of the 'higher gods', the God King could take back this power at any time.
Now, after getting Zeus' promise, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After receiving the order, the god of the west wind left the palace and disappeared into a stream of air. Behind him, Zeus nodded secretly.
The authority of the wind god was indeed useful in obtaining information. After all, even if the power of the gods was imprisoned on earth, it could not prevent the gods from transforming into their true forms. It seemed that neither Hecate nor Epimetheus had noticed his surveillance.
In this regard, the rainbow goddess Iris, who also often conveyed orders for him, was far behind. So in recent years, the God King had asked the goddess to serve the Queen of Heaven instead of always being by his side.
"I hope nothing unexpected happens. I don't know where my intuition came from."
Just before, when Prometheus was pushed to the East China Sea, Zeus was a little uneasy, so he sped up his plan.
He was so impatient to create Pandora and give her to Epimetheus that he actually showed a little impatience.
But not long after, as the master of Olympus, the God King once again had an inexplicable intuition. He felt that something seemed to be approaching this sacred mountain, and there was some kind of close connection between it and him.
Zeus spent a lot of time exploring this place, but in the end he found nothing.
"Maybe I should try another approach. Perhaps intuition can lead me to my goal better than divine power."
His expression changed slightly, and Zeus decided that after the matter with the bronze man was over, he would let his instinct guide him and see what caused his reaction.
······
With the integration of the Nine Realms and the imprisonment of Prometheus, the entire Chaos world became quiet again.
In other words, the constant occurrence of various events like those in recent years is something that has never happened in the past two eras.
Several years passed quickly and everything seemed so peaceful. Only a few people could notice the ripples beneath the peace.
Until one day, several visitors from Mount Olympus came to the valley where Epimetheus and Pandora lived.