Odin had now weakened to the point of nearing death. This was not only because he had suffered grievous injuries during Ragnarok. More importantly, after being severely wounded, he had sat on this Iron Throne for twenty-three centuries straight—not only failing to recover, but constantly having his strength and vitality drained by the starship's shield.
The ship's shield itself was powered by the onboard reactor. However, because the ship's control system had gone offline, Odin could not seize control of it. He had therefore needed to input an additional supply of energy from outside to control the entire defensive system—and that additional energy was now almost costing him his life.
Even Odin himself had probably never imagined that one day he would sit on a throne like this, nearly paying for the protection of those "crude, weak, ignorant native creatures" with his life.
"Maintaining the shield is an extremely arduous task." Odin's voice echoed through the surroundings. His body was still sealed inside the crystal, and under the illumination of the flowing energy, his entire body seemed to be shrouded in a faint glow. "But I feel that I ought to do something. Humanity worshiped the 'gods' for thousands of years, remaining loyal even after Ragnarok. Yet the gods they worshiped were actually not much nobler than they were... A sense of responsibility made me sit here, and it stopped me from giving up several times."
"I've seen true gods," Vivian said bluntly, voicing what she really thought. "True gods capable of managing an entire world—you people were never gods. You fell far too short. But honestly, now that you're on the verge of death, you've finally done something a god should do."
"We came here for this ship..." Hao Ren looked at the enormous shadow beneath the Iron Throne.