At first, when he heard these terms, Ye Meng Jia De was somewhat befuddled. He felt like a secluded expert who opened his eyes to find the world had completely transformed.
Wasn't Earth supposed to be a desolate, forgotten place where not even birds would waste their droppings? What were all these things on the ocean's surface? What were the ones on the land? What were the ones in the sky?
Although he possessed wisdom far beyond most, he lacked the ability to foresee the future. He never imagined that in just a few thousand years, the human race would have undergone such drastic change, resulting in this tiny planet prospering tremendously.
Yet, this failed to attract Ye Meng Jia De. He was solely focused on returning to Asgard for revenge. After a lengthy and confusing conversation with The Sanctum, Ye Meng Jia De finally understood what was currently happening.
Humans had established a bizarre organization to facilitate communication and offer services to various cosmic sorcerers, and they had even amassed a large clientele.
Faced with Earth's current status, Ye Meng Jia De, who felt increasingly out of sync with the times, eventually decided to contact The Sanctum. But this crafty serpent didn't immediately pay his fees. Instead, he incessantly chatted with customer service, procuring useful information. Every time the topic of payments or membership recharge came up, he would swiftly divert the conversation.
One day, as he was chatting with customer service, their conversation abruptly halted. "I apologize, Mr. Ye Meng Jia De," the representative said, "You have an urgent communication request. Would you like to accept it?"
"An urgent communication?" An alert Ye Meng Jia De retorted, "No, I don't know any sorcerers."
"Very well." The representative moved the receiver away slightly and said to someone next to them, "Please tell Lord Loki I'm sorry. The client that he requested for a call has declined... a coup d'etat in Asgard? A competition for the throne? But..."
"Wait a minute!... Who?" Ye Meng Jia De inquired from his end. The representative seemed still to be speaking to their neighbor. Raising his tone slightly, he repeated, "Who did you say was calling?"
"Oh, I apologize. It's Lord Loki. Loki Odinson."
"Odinson?" Ye Meng Jia De slowly exhaled, then stated, "Please connect the call."
"Hold on... uh, I'm sorry, for the time being, you do not have the permission to make cross-dimensional calls. This feature is only for members. Would you like to recharge your membership?"
Were he to have hands, Ye Meng Jia De would undoubtedly be scratching his head frantically. After half a day of vexation, he finally conceded, "All right, membership. You cunning humans, how do I top up this membership?"
"Firstly, you need to find a proxy on Earth, project your power into them and have them present at The Sanctum to transfer the power to us. We will then register your name in our membership database..."
Ye Meng Jia De was starting to get a headache. He didn't know who to select as a representative. It seemed like an important role but not significant enough to risk revealing himself on Earth.
At that moment, he suddenly thought of the worshippers who had been constantly offering their faith to him. The power to absorb faith and compete for believers was an inherent instinct in every cosmic sorcerer. He thought, as these people were willing to believe in him, he should choose a proxy from among them.
Without much thought, Ye Meng Jia De chose the most devout believer.
Indeed, it was Shiler Rodriguez, the compiler of the Helada Bible, a renowned literary and religious critic, and the Head of Hydra American Division.
The process of cosmic sorcerers choosing proxies is basically the same: they sneak into humans' consciousness while they're sleeping and perform a ceremonial whispering incantation. Like Xeseon, who directly took the person away - that was only employed by sorcerers confident in their own strength, unafraid of any trouble The Ancient One might pose. Most sorcerers would still exercise caution.
Out of fear for Odin, Ye Meng Jia De also chose not to adopt such radical measures, but to employ the mental projection technique instead.
Ye Meng Jia De's initial attempt at mental projection was very successful. He found himself in the mind of a human doctor in an empty, fog-filled room, looming over a small human figure.
Just as Ye Meng Jia De was about to speak, he noticed the human was looking at him strangely. This did not resemble the gaze of a disciple towards a god, but rather a human looking at a plate of food.
However, Ye Meng Jia De quickly overlooked this oddity. His communication with Shiler was extraordinarily smooth. Deceiving, tempting, executing strategies – none of these tactics he had imagined were necessary. This human seemed unsurprised, almost prepared, by his presence.
Ye Meng Jia De sensed something was off but was desperate to discover the current situation in Asgard, and ignored all the oddities. Thus, he succeeded in recharging his membership and connecting with Loki.
"Ye Meng Jia De, have you truly awakened?"
"Indeed, young prince, why did you seek me?"
Loki spoke rapidly, "Listen, Ye Meng Jia De, I need your help. My brother and I are competing for the throne, the position of Father of All Asgard Gods."
"Currently, many support me. This includes the captains of 13 out of Asgard's 20 fleets, the deputy commander of the royal imperial guards, along with many Asgard generals and their warriors."
"However, my brother Thor has become even more powerful. He has acquired a new divine office and a new divine position. Odin stands by his side, I am on the verge of failure, but I'm not willing to accept it."
Ye Meng Jia De heard Loki speak with bitter resentment, "The Father of All Gods is unjust. He has never given me a chance from the beginning. But still, I've managed to gain the support of nearly half of Asgard's populace on my own."
"But it is still not enough, I need a more powerful force that can determine the outcome. Ye Meng Jia De, I know that you play the role of killing Thunder God Thor in the prophecy understood by the Father of All Gods. Whether that prophecy is true or not, it at least proves that you can deal with him..."
"When I heard from the Holy Sanctuary that you have awakened and they have contacted you, I must say, perhaps this is the magic part of that prophecy because my decisive battle with Thor is imminent. I need your assistance, Ye Meng Jia De..."
"Come, come to Asgard, fulfill your mission, help me ascend to the throne. The prosperity of the Nine Major Kingdoms will eventually belong to me and you."
Ye Meng Jia De felt a strong emotion surging in his chest. When the destined prophecy falls, a powerful sense of mission surrounds him. Immediately he asked, "What should I do?"
"Listen, you've just awakened, and your power may not be enough to face the Father of All Gods and Thor directly. But you were born in Midgard, this is an incomparable massive advantage, we all know that humanity has its own unique qualities."
"Ye Meng Jia De, you must develop your belief amongst humans, gain more believers, so that you can obtain more Faith Power, restore your strength, then you can help me with the counterattack on Asgard..."
Ye Meng Jia De's voice rose and he said, "So now we are allies, right?"
"Exactly, the Father of All Gods once banished you to Earth, and my own brother, Thor, also wants to expel me from Asgard. We must join forces and show these arrogant father and son that they are wrong!"
"Asgard does not belong to them, but to us!"
After this call, that very night, Schiller once again saw Ye Meng Jia De in his dreams, he barely managed to hide that high tower in time.
Ye Meng Jia De gave him a pile of tasks, basically organizing the religion, rallying believers, having them pray devoutly, and so on.
To be honest, Ye Meng Jia De doesn't think this ordinary human can handle this heavy task. He is wise enough to understand that developing a religion and collecting faith are not things that can be accomplished overnight. But Ye Meng Jia De is not a short-lived species like humans, he can wait for hundreds of years.
But who would have thought, after just three days, Schiller contacted him and told him that everything was done.
He has a complete organization called Hydra, has religious scriptures called 'Who is Helada?', he even has the Heresy Tribunal and its assassins, named Grant Ward.
Ye Meng Jia De was kind of stunned; he thought it hadn't been three days, but three hundred years. But Schiller's explanation almost convinced him.
Divided into nine, united as one? It does sound pretty believable. Did I really do this in the past? Did I forget it because I slept too long?
But Schiller also brought up his own difficulties. The development of the entire Hydra organization has gone on for too long, there are too many people, and too many of them have forgotten God's teachings. However, the Heresy Tribunal power is not enough, there is no way to judge those heretics who have forgotten their roots...
Ye Meng Jia De thought, this could work, I'll grant you power so you can just kill them all, right?
But Schiller said with great difficulty that dead people can't provide faith power. It would be even better if they could be converted.
And then, Schiller came up with a plan for Ye Meng Jia De, in simple terms, it was, "Why don't you frighten them in their dreams? Maybe they will convert to you?
Those who still refuse can be dealt with by Grant. This way, the organization's structure can be greatly simplified, only retain the very best believers. Even if only ten thousand remain, they would provide an abundance of Faith Power.
Ye Meng Jia De discovered that his handpicked pope seemed to be getting ahead of himself in this matter. But he didn't think too much, as far as he was concerned, these tiny creatures stuck on a little planetary surface wouldn't create much fuss. Even if the growth was slow or a failure, it wouldn't matter, just wait a few hundred years and a new batch would grow.
Carrying this thought, Ye Meng Jia De did as told. He went into the dreams of a few Hydra leaders singled out by Schiller. He emphasized to them the fact that Hydra was an indivisible part of Helada since ancient times. In essence, he showed his true form and said, "I am Helada, you can believe it or not, if not I'll eat you tomorrow."
For various reasons, the vast majority chose to convert, and those hardliners were eliminated.
In this way, the original Hydra that had over a hundred thousand members worldwide was refined into less than thirty thousand Helada believers. Even though more than twenty-nine thousand among them didn't truly believe in Helada but only because these beliefs were beneficial to them. But there were still too many to count, so quite a bit of Faith Power was provided.
Now everything is ready, just waiting for Loki to shout "Odin has long been a tyrant!" and the rallying call for the counterattack on Asgard war will be sounded.