Within the Underworld, something like the resonance of piano strings traveled upward along an invisible anchor line, leading straight to the Sea of Imaginary Numbers.
Splash!
Amid the surging waves, a majestic being with emerald-green Earth's Touch sprouting from her head rose from the depths. In her upturned palm, she gathered a spirit of light in human form.
"Good morning, Tiamat..."
The greeting transmitted through a resonance of consciousness traveled into the fingertips of the Origin Goddess, tightly bound by the anchor line.
"Where were we yesterday? Right! That tsundere goddess Ereshkigal!"
"You have no idea how awkward her personality is. She says she hates trouble and hates humans, yet she works harder than a bee every day, endlessly making Spear Cages."
"I figure she sensed that the Mesopotamian world was about to meet its end, which was why she was mass-producing these tools for protecting souls."
"What leaves me even more speechless is that it would have been one thing if she worked herself to the bone, but she dragged me, a snake, into daily overtime too. That's utterly inhumane!"
"And she never once met the Spear Cage quota she set herself! Can you believe that?"
"In the end, either she ran out of mana, the Garuda Spirits caused trouble, or another batch of souls needed housing. Something always went wrong at the critical moment."
"Then the next day, you'd see her hugging her blanket and rolling around on her bed..."
Amid the mountains of the Underworld, the ancient snake that had skipped work and slipped into a crack in the rocks coiled into a ball within the quiet gap, closing his eyes as he chatted away with Tiamat in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers.
"Besides that, she's recently become obsessed with digging tunnels toward Uruk on the surface whenever she has spare time. The way she sneaks around is like a marmot whose fur stands on end at the slightest sound."
Lin Xian's vivid comparison amused him, and the little menace quietly snickered as he flicked out his tongue.
But as he spoke, the ancient snake raised his head and gazed solemnly at the black vault of the Underworld.
"Tiamat, I don't know why, but even though you withdrew, the alliance of the Three Goddesses that destroyed Mesopotamian civilization in history still formed."
"According to the dead who have recently poured into the Underworld, they are carrying out a hunt against humanity."
"Forests, oceans, Demon Beasts, goddesses—wherever one looked, humanity was surrounded by enemies."
"There have even been large numbers of sightings of the Eleven Demon Beasts on the surface..."
"This is clearly an authority only you possessed. I don't understand why it still happened..."
Lin Xian fell silent for a moment, then tilted his head upward as though listening, seemingly waiting for some sort of response.
Yet Tiamat, floating upon the Sea of Imaginary Numbers, simply remained still, her gaze hollow and pale.
After a long while, the ancient snake slowly lowered his head and let out a faint sigh.
Most of Origin Goddess Tiamat's authority and divinity had already transformed into the framework that created the Mesopotamian world.
The opening of the Hole of Heaven allowed her to come into contact with the real world, while also briefly restoring a trace of her emotions.
If history had continued according to its predetermined course, perhaps Tiamat would have reclaimed her Divine Foundation step by step as she destroyed the world.
But at the moment she encountered that yearning, the goddess who had fallen into becoming a Demon Beast had somehow overcome the instinct of her beast nature and personally sealed the Hole of Heaven.
Lin Xian recalled the silhouette he had seen in that white space of consciousness, as well as the deep sorrow on Tiamat's face at the time.
A gentle ripple spread through his serpentine pupils. He lowered his head, flicked out his tongue, and murmured softly.
"Mother Goddess, actually, the choice you made wasn't only because of me."
"No matter what betrayal you suffered, no matter what harm you endured, you still loved those children. You still loved humanity, didn't you..."
"So you suppressed your beast nature and chose self-sealing, self-exile..."
Tiamat in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers gave no response, but Lin Xian vaguely felt the anchor line connecting him to the creator goddess tighten for an instant.
It was as though that pitiful existence had lightly curled her finger.
The ancient snake grinned. The guilt he had felt over Tiamat degenerating into a beast once more because of that choice eased somewhat.
"Don't worry. Since you love them so deeply, I'll follow your will and ensure Mesopotamia escapes disaster."
Then, a deep, ghostly gleam flickered in his slightly opening and closing serpentine pupils.
"But in exchange, the Sumerians will have to make a small sacrifice and change..."
The main reason his own Origin Mother Goddess could not return was that the authority and Divine Foundation sustaining her existence had been stripped away.
And her beastly side as the Mother of the Evil Dragon had also been feared and rejected by humanity.
What if both of those problems were solved?
Even if the billions-of-tons Ark of Life sunk in the Sea of Imaginary Numbers could not be pulled back by a single anchor line tied to a World Bubble—
Then he would use a hundred! A thousand! Ten thousand!
Even a hundred thousand! A million! Ten million!
As long as he changed Tiamat's fixed image as a "great calamity" and reshaped the divinity of her radiant side.
Could the worship of the entire Mesopotamian region, the shared faith of all Sumerians, truly fail to call back this Origin Mother Goddess?
That was the inspiration the line in his mind had given Lin Xian!
Even if he were to bring Tiamat back, it absolutely would not be in the form of an evil beast reviled by all.
Setting this pitiful Mother Goddess against her children, forcing them to slaughter one another in bloodshed until a victor emerged—
What a tragic ending! What cruelty!
Since the future had already changed, anything was possible.
Then why couldn't it be a win-win for humans and gods?
Having broken free of conventional thinking and found another path, the ancient snake hissed and flicked out his tongue within the crack in the rocks. He could hardly wait to rush to the surface and preach to the Sumerians.
But when Lin Xian lowered his head and looked at his black scales and slender body, he had no choice but to temporarily abandon that tempting plan.
With how he looked now, he wanted to compete with the Gods of Babylon for territory?
Heh. Secretly clearing Tiamat's divine name of slander and building a foundation on the surface for this Origin Mother Goddess's return was a hell-difficulty task.
It was precisely by killing Tiamat, the Origin Mother Womb, that the Gods of Babylon had established their great achievement of opening heaven and earth and creating humanity.
What Lin Xian wanted to do was tantamount to completely denying the legitimacy of those gods.
Never mind whether his little schemes would catch the gods' attention and get him struck dead by lightning afterward.
Even if those lofty beings really were blind and deaf, that did not mean Lin Xian himself would be safe.
Humans in the Age of Gods could teach him how to be a snake at any moment.
That's right, "be" as in "being cooked."
If he rashly appeared in a Mesopotamian city, some household short on food might immediately catch him, skin him, pull out his tendons, and stew him into snake soup.
The kind of scene that was extremely brutal!
And he had only just made an enemy of Gilgamesh. If he went preaching now, who knew whether that golden guy would be so generous next time and spare him again.
After all, the Heroic King had never been particularly fond of gods.
Of course, there was an even more important point.
Humans in the Age of Gods were not so easy to fool. Infiltrating Sumerian civilization and earning their trust would be the first major obstacle.
With the Beast Calamity raging so fiercely now, if he wanted to accomplish all this smoothly—
At the very least... he had to be... human, right?
Tsk, there was still a long road ahead...
Lin Xian looked at the tip of his raised tail. His slender body drooped, and harsh reality extinguished much of his enthusiasm.
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