Return Gift

"Thank you for your gift."

It seemed the Lord of Darkness had not caught Ryan's implication, as his expression did not change. After only a brief pause, he reached out and accepted the point of light in Ryan's hand.

Unlike the myths of later ages, once the Lord of Spirituality was born, no life that he had not permitted would appear in this world. All things with souls possessed spirituality, but not everything with spirituality possessed a soul. Thus, souls were encompassed within spirituality.

In the original course of events, even without the help of Iapetus, the Lord of Souls, Nymphs—natural Elves—could still have been born into the world. But now, without Ryan's permission, only the gods could become exceptions.

After all, gods were different. The structure of divine spirits was peculiar, and Ryan did not really understand its inner mysteries.

"What about mine?"

Lady of the Night, who had been watching from the side, suddenly spoke.

Ryan was somewhat surprised. He had thought the couple were intimately united, especially since nothing as tragic as Gaia's calamity had ever occurred between them.

"Don't look at me like that." Nyx noticed Ryan's surprise and explained with some displeasure, "He and I aren't really husband and wife. Those God Children are offspring conceived by our true forms."

"I thought the 'Seer' knew everything—"

This time, Ryan was genuinely surprised. Whether in the myths of later ages or in the history he had witnessed in this world, Lady of the Night had rarely appeared in person. Most of what he supposedly knew about Nyx was merely speculation.

No wonder the Twin Gods of the Night did not seem to care much about their offspring. They had never received the treatment normally accorded to children of the Primordial Gods. As it turned out, in their eyes, these so-called "descendants" were merely products born when their true forms were Summoned by the world.

Having personally witnessed the process by which Primordial Gods took on personalities, Ryan understood that, to ancient gods who possessed self-awareness, the true form and the self could not truly be equated.

That was also why, although Ryan often mentioned Ananke, he had never cared about her in the same way.

The three aspects of a true form and its incarnated personality could not be treated as one and the same. Nyx could indeed mobilize the power of Fate, but she herself could not see the entirety of destiny.

"I'm truly sorry. This was my oversight." Without dwelling on Nyx's veiled sarcasm, Ryan used the power of Spirituality to condense another thousand or so Soul Embryos.

He sent the Embryos drifting toward Lady of the Night, but mixed among them was also a small glowing object.

Behind her ever-changing veil, Nyx seemed to twitch the corner of her mouth, but she still reached out and accepted it.

"Not forgetting to snatch things from Khaos for even a moment." Lady of the Night became sarcastic again, looking nothing like a Primordial God. "You certainly know how to manage a household."

"I had no choice. If only the world respected the gods' sovereignty over their Divine Offices, I wouldn't have resorted to this."

Ryan made no attempt to conceal his purpose. He intended to seize part of the origin of the stars before all the Star Gods.

This particular one was somewhat special, however, which was why he hoped Lady of the Night would hang it up herself.

"The Earth Mother of the present, the Sea God, the Sun God of the future—even the Divine Office of the Moon that I once controlled. Whenever I see them torn apart by the power of the world in the future, I find myself troubled by how to escape the world's control."

"Fortunately, I succeeded."

Physical stars would still be born, but the concept of "stars" belonging to them would be erased, turning them into celestial bodies with light, corresponding to the God of Lightless Celestial Bodies Coeus.

At present, starlight was not much different from pure light, but in the future, Ryan would personally give them a distinction.

"But I can wait a while before hanging it up." Lady of the Night was completely unapologetic. "As long as the corresponding gods are born, your theft won't take effect."

"Yes. If that's what you intend to do, then please, go ahead."

Ryan spread his hands, unconcerned.

Khaos's "uncertain Fate" was already completely within the Spirit World. Not to mention the origin of Fate absorbed during its birth, the Spirit World—and Ryan himself—were products that should never have appeared according to Fate.

So if Nyx wanted to wait for the corresponding gods to be born, she would probably wait until the destruction of the world and still see nothing.

"Hmph!"

Nyx was somewhat angry, and she did not need to hide her feelings.

Nearby, the Lord of Darkness found it somewhat amusing, but he still tried to mediate. "All right, Nyx. Since you're still here, I imagine your thoughts are the same as mine."

"Let's get to the point, Lord of the Spirit World. We want to know how you seized source power from the hands of the world."

No god wanted to be controlled. It was just that they had never known there was another option. But Ryan's success had undoubtedly shown them a direction, which was why Nyx and Erebus had remained here.

They wanted to follow his example and become gods beyond the world's control.

"It's very simple." Facing the Lord of Darkness's question, Ryan held nothing back. "Possess an origin beyond the world's control, connect to it through space-time and Fate, and cast yourself in as the first matter. That's how the world is born."

The void that carried the world, the matter and Spirituality that formed all things, and Fate—these were the world's four pillars.

A god's body could replace Spirituality and matter to a certain degree. That was also why the creation of the Spirit World had succeeded.

"The question is, how did you obtain an 'origin beyond the world's control'?"

Nyx was dissatisfied with Ryan's explanation. What he had said was completely useless, like the "three steps for putting an elephant in a refrigerator."

If she possessed such an origin, why would she have come to ask him?

"Then I have no way to help you. I was simply born with it. I was born earlier than all of you—you know that."

Facing Lady of the Night's questioning, Ryan shook his head with a smile. "Why do you think my power is so weak despite being the first ancient god?"

"It couldn't be because the world dislikes me, could it? If so, why would it have nurtured me?"

Nyx fell silent. She had never considered this question before. But now, she understood as well. In Khaos, the powerful were not necessarily ancient, but the ancient were mostly powerful.

Erebus was also somewhat disappointed. If it was merely related to the time of his birth, then he truly had no way to solve the problem.

It was like how the Primordial Gods each had part of the world as their true forms and could freely choose the extent of their incarnation, while the later New Gods could never accomplish the same, no matter what they did.

So if Ryan's uniqueness was likewise because he had been born early enough, Erebus could only accept it.

"Then it seems we're going to return empty-handed today."

Erebus sighed. He had never intended to pester Ryan endlessly.

After all, once Ryan had successfully opened the Spirit World, he was destined to become an existence on equal footing with him. Given Erebus's degree of incarnation, he existed in the form of his true body most of the time, so he did not want to do anything to Ryan.

In the end, Ryan had not stolen the Darkness Origin. Khaos belonged to everyone, while what belonged to Erebus himself was his alone. This matter had nothing to do with him.

In fact, before leaving, he had planned to give Ryan a gift to ease the tension caused by blocking his door.

"Prince Ryan, sorry for disturbing you today. To express my apology, I also have a gift to give you."

Erebus beckoned, and a mass of Black Mist appeared in his hand.

The Black Mist churned and shifted, but in the Lord of Darkness's hand, it had no chance of escaping his control.

Ryan faintly sensed that it seemed to be an emotion of extreme intensity.

"These are the negative emotions of my nephew. They shook the world's origin and caused me to give birth to many offspring."

"I was worried about how to deal with them before. Now, they're yours."

After accepting the Black Mist, Ryan felt the most intense emotions from before the God King's Abdication.

These were not merely negative emotions, but also a father's hatred for his son and a King's murderous intent toward a rebel. Emotions alone were not frightening, but when they were born at the moment the God King was replaced, they became even more powerful despite their already extraordinary nature.

This emotional power was indeed useless to the Lord of Darkness. Perhaps his children could make use of it, but Erebus clearly had never truly regarded them as his children.

As for Ryan, once the Spirit World transformed these emotions, he could use them to forge a Divine Artifact or breed a monster capable of threatening a True God. When facing the Twelve Titans, they might also have unexpected effects.

"Thank you for your return gift." Ryan put away the Black Mist and said with a smile, "This really was a pleasant meeting."

"Hmph!"

Lady of the Night responded with a cold snort, while the Lord of Darkness answered with a smile. In any case, the conflict that might have erupted ultimately ended peacefully.