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"I believe that Asgard's achievements in the arts today owe a great deal to your system. Your incredible spirit of outward exploration has brought you plenty of experience and material, which has supported your national culture..."
Loki thought for a moment and felt that what he said was not wrong. The wars waged by Odin indeed laid the foundation for Asgard's initial accumulation. The powerful strength of the Father of All Gods is the guarantee that Asgard can live peacefully.
So he nodded and said, "Every Asgardian worships the Father of All Gods. He is both our monarch and our father. Under his protection, Asgard has been able to make progress in all aspects..."
"No, no, no, I don't mean Odin... not the Father of All Gods. I mean your system is very good."
"System? Do you mean the monarchy?" Loki was a little confused, not understanding what Dario was saying.
"No, I mean your system of constantly exploring outward, plundering resources, and enriching yourselves."
Loki appeared a bit embarrassed because, although this issue is not openly discussed in Asgard now, most people know that it is done out of necessity.
On one hand, the prophecy of Ragnarok looms over them, and staying weak means death. On the other hand, it was mainly because Odin had a hot temper, continuously waging wars for the sake of warfare, which was also a personal interest of Odin or rather the interest of those Asgardian brutes.
Their natural inclination towards battle means conflicts would go on endlessly. But now, reflecting on it, continuing in such a way is indeed not a solution.
So, when they stopped their external conquests, although many people had their criticisms, after some time most of them accepted reality. Thor's rule became increasingly stable.
Now that Dario brought this up, if not for his overly sincere tone, Loki would have thought he was being sarcastic.
After all, in interstellar society, there have always been those who bring up old grievances, wishing to unite various civilizations against Asgard. Thor is busy like that every day, dealing with at least eighty percent of the hidden threats brought by such people.
After some consideration, Loki said, "The martial spirit of the Asgardian people meant that for a long time, we did not resolve issues through peaceful means. While this earned us a formidable reputation, war also brought considerable harm to our people..."
This was not an excuse. While Asgard is strong, the battles over the years were not always smooth, and quite a number of gods died. The debts to the World Tree grew, leading to the consequence of Hela, and eventually, even Odin lost heart, so it can't be said that it was a one-sided victory.
"No, no, no." Dario quickly waved his hand and said, "Your race is so strong, you should rule the universe. I even think you haven't done enough. I hear there are still three great empires in the universe that you haven't defeated. How can you stop now?"
Loki really couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic. Was this even sensible talk?
Fortunately, Loki had seen a lot in grand settings. He flashed a very standard social smile and said, "Asgard has never aspired to rule the universe. In the era of peaceful engagement, we also achieved significant social accomplishments..."
To which Dario surprisingly snorted, "Why does that sound so much like those Chinese? It seems the Prince is still lacking. If the Divine King Thor were here, he would surely support my view."
Loki clenched his fists. He prided himself on not being a very violent person, but now he could somewhat understand Thor's approach of resorting to a punch in uncertain situations.
Loki was now certain that this Dario was truly foolish because one cannot fake such a sense of stupidity.
Why doesn't Asgard rule the universe? If they could, why wouldn't they? If any race has the capability to rule the universe, would they choose not to?
"I really find it hard to imagine a race as superior as yours exists in the universe. Strong physical attributes, even stronger divine power, an almost invincible leader, and not a single useless or dragging individual. You are virtually born for victory..."
These words left Loki with mixed feelings.
When you mention strong physical qualities, you never talk about fertility rates. When you mention strong divine power, you never talk about the straightforward thought process. When you mention invincible leadership in combat, you never talk about political and diplomatic skills. When you mention not worrying about survival resources, you never talk about the World Tree's debts.
Watching Dario still lavishly praise Asgard, Loki's interest waned.
He had already realized that this person was not praising Asgard, but was praising a dream civilization possessing the Kree Empire's population, the Skrull Empire's technology, the Shi'ar Empire's geographical location, Asgard's individual quality, and the human power cap.
If such a civilization truly existed, then what purpose would the Universe administrators like Eternity have?
Loki had tried to interrupt Dario and provide some explanations, but the other party simply wouldn't listen. He only believed in his perceived facts and didn't care about the actual circumstances.
As for why Asgard cannot rule the universe, the reasons are many and varied. Besides the trouble with the World Tree, the strength of the three great empires, and the opposition of united civilizations, the main issue is still with themselves.
The God Clan's lifespan is too long, reproduction is too slow, and the population of the main race is just too, too, too small. Spread across the universe, they wouldn't even be a drop in the ocean. Dispensing Asgardians evenly across the universe, statistically speaking, the probability of encountering them is zero.
Some might wonder why not learn from the Kree Empire and go for a clone army expansion. But whether it's the Kree Empire or the Skrull Empire, their individual soldier capability is low. Even counting all equipment and even their per capita escort ships, they are still low-level, unable to compare with the energy level of Asgard's individual soldiers.
You can't clone the God Clan, which means you have no advantage in fighting other races. But cloning the God Clan would be no different from the efficiency of God Clan's natural reproduction. Where would the vast energy needed to create so many high-energy individual lives come from?
Even taking a step back, if you could somehow create them, the rate of entropy increase would become absurd, one could even say it would be a cosmic doomsday machine.
The limit for Asgard is dictated by the universe's limit. As long as this universe does not plan for a major update, Asgard's limit is where it stands, with no room for improvement.
Such strength makes ruling the universe impossible and even becoming the fourth great empire unfeasible. Otherwise, why would they choose to retreat gracefully?
Odin also realized this point towards the end of the wars, which is why he chose to let go. Otherwise, with his temper, wouldn't he have wiped out all the civilizations not aligned with Asgard across the universe?
Loki thought any rational and sane person should be able to perceive this. He had even seen similar viewpoints on the human internet.
While their speculations about Asgard were not entirely accurate, the theories as to why Asgard didn't advance further were infinitely close to the truth: that the universe doesn't need a stronger Asgard.
When even ordinary netizens can see this clearly, why can't this standout among humans? What is clouding his vision?
The next words from Dario provided the answer.
"I think since you rule the Nine Major Kingdoms, all the civilizations here can be considered subordinate to Asgard. Earth is the same. In fact, we are closer to you. You should choose to embrace us..."
"Wait a moment," Loki couldn't hold back. He interrupted Dario, saying, "Why do you think Earth would want to become a subordinate of Asgard? How could Earthlings think like that?"
"Of course, they don't think that because they're not even aware. The fastest way to develop civilization is not by painstaking exploration, but by allowing Asgard to conquer Earth..."
Loki couldn't help but interrupt again: "You want Asgard to conquer Earth?"
"Yes. Actually, I'm quite puzzled why you haven't done it yet. Although the resources in the Solar System are indeed scarce, the position of Earth should still be quite important. Directly ruling here would bring you much more benefit than harm. Human living conditions would also improve."
"Are you serious?" Loki even felt a bit of despair, he said, "How is Asgard going to conquer Earth?"
"Haven't you conquered many other civilizations? They are all more advanced and stronger than Earthlings. How you conquered them, just conquer Earth the same way."
Loki suddenly realized this Dario seemed unaware of Earth's true strength. But that shouldn't be the case, logically speaking, someone at his level shouldn't have such limited information.
Others might not know, but surely he knows Stark, right? Surely, he knows the Iron Demon God, right? That's something even ordinary netizens are aware of. Eddie's documentaries are popular on major websites worldwide, featuring high-definition frontal shots of the Iron Demon God.
Excluding Earth's special status and factors like the universe administrators' concerns, just dealing with the Iron Demon God, Asgard doesn't have complete assurance.
Because with sufficient energy, the limits of the Iron Demon God are the limits of Stark's imagination. The Iron Demon God uses energy, while Asgard would be sacrificing the lives of the God Clan. With such a small population, even losing one is a pure loss.
"I understand you would face some obstacles. Those so-called superheroes who believe they're acting for the good of humanity would resist fiercely. But that wouldn't amount to anything. Because the majority of humans are extremely weak, and they would be hindered by them. As long as you have the determination to destroy Earth, they wouldn't dare to oppose you."
Loki completely didn't understand his logic anymore. He said, "Do you mean we can use the weaker individuals among humans to threaten the superheroes, allowing us to rule Earth?"
"That's right, exactly that!"
"But have you ever thought about why Earth is still governed by humans and not by some other strong civilization?"
"Because you're protecting Earth," Dario spread his hands and said, "The Nine Major Kingdoms are your territory. Other strong civilizations cannot enter. How could they rule Earth?"
Loki was momentarily speechless. Wow, his logic even formed a closed loop.
Then he seriously considered the possibility of such a plan succeeding and discovered that this was a problem solved by mages hundreds of years ago.
The Demon God wanted to invade Earth, but the mages wouldn't allow it. The mages' approach was: although we can't defeat you, we can defeat ordinary people. If you insist on coming, we'll die along with the ordinary people, and in the end, nobody gets anything.
But the prerequisite for such actions is that the Demon God truly needed Earth. However, Asgard doesn't need Earth.
There is no important resource on Earth that Asgard can use, the place is too small to accommodate the God Clan, and its location is too remote, almost beyond the twelfth ring. Even adding an engine to run around, the paint job isn't flashy enough. What would they do with Earth?
If Asgard found Earth even slightly useful, Odin wouldn't have used Midgard as a place for exile for thousands of years, tossing all sorts of rubbish here, and even throwing Thor here for causing trouble.
Loki sincerely presented his query. Dario, as if it were a matter of course, said, "It is your responsibility to foster progress among every civilization in your dominions. Don't you want to rescue those ordinary Earthlings still struggling for survival?"
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