Evil Thing

Half a day later, Ryan returned to the Spirit World Core.

Mount Sinai was as peaceful as ever. Aside from Ryan and the First Generation Spirit World Angels he had personally created, hardly any life could approach this place. The light of the seven Crescent Moons bathed the area, making it look somewhat similar to the Eternal Night Land.

Lady of the Night's domain was different from that of the Lord of Darkness. Eternal night did not mean there was no light.

"An evil spirit—or perhaps calling it an evil thing would be more appropriate."

"Although it's merely a pure spirit, this method of directly merging with source power seems like it might not be limited to spiritual beings."

After casually dismissing Lyanna, who had come to greet him, Ryan sat inside the Elas Temple and watched Eclipse gather and scatter without form, drifting unpredictably. He felt pleasantly surprised.

A creation with such tremendous power that could also be produced quickly was indeed useful. Other gods could not do this, because beings that directly fused with source power possessed no intelligence. Their thoughts were completely chaotic and insane. Even the master who created them would have great difficulty controlling their actions.

But Ryan was different. As the de facto master of source power and the creator of the Spirit World, he could control these lifeforms through other means.

"Gaia of later generations once gave birth to Typhon to express her dissatisfaction with Zeus and proclaim her power. Perhaps by then, I can also place two Ancient Evil Things on Mount Olympus and see how this God King who sowed his seed throughout the world will deal with them."

Lightly tapping the armrest of his seat, Ryan was very satisfied with his creation.

Nurturing a god required time. Even with a powerful Divine Office, one needed sufficient potential to bear it, as well as ample time to accumulate divine power. These evil things, however, were born powerful. Like the Hundred-Armed Giant, they reached their peak the moment they were born.

The only flaw was that, perhaps because it had fused with Chaotic Source Power, Eclipse had grown even stronger, but was also faintly rejected by the laws of the present world.

The essence of chaos was originally waste expelled by the order of the present world after "legislation." Even after fusing with other things, it was still disliked by the present world.

It could be said that these evil things could only remain in the outside world temporarily from then on, or else they would need to use some method to cut off the laws' perception of them. Otherwise, the longer they stayed in the present world, the stronger the realm's suppression would become.

Only a few places were exceptions: the edge of the Underworld Soil, the ends of the oceans and sky, and the domains of the three Primordial Gods. Like the Spirit World, those regions were not included in the present world's jurisdiction. Eclipse naturally would not be affected there.

"An Ancient Evil Thing of the Spirit World, an indescribable one wandering between reality and illusion. This is becoming more and more interesting."

"I wonder whether the humans of later generations will regard the depths of the Spirit World as a terrifying forbidden land where Evil Gods roam everywhere."

Shaking his head with a smile, Ryan felt somewhat expectant.

......

Tearing open space, Ryan threw Eclipse into the Fifth Layer of the Spirit World.

For a Spirit World Lifeform with power comparable to that of a True God, if it possessed intelligence and reason, it could naturally roam freely throughout the Seven Layers of the Spirit World. Eclipse, however, clearly did not qualify.

Compared to ordinary lifeforms, it preferred staying in the chaotic and disorderly deeper layers of the Spirit World. To creatures like it, the first and second layers were inherently somewhat "narrow."

This "narrowness" was not spatial, but conceptual and spiritual. When in the shallow layers of the Spirit World, an evil thing that could not restrain its power like a True God would instinctively feel bound. Moreover, its very existence was an unstoppable disaster to non-divine Spirit World Lifeforms. Thus, unless necessary, Ryan did not intend to let it move freely.

He would simply leave it in the fifth or sixth layer of the Spirit World. To the mindless Eclipse, even if it wandered for ten thousand years, it might still merely be going in circles, unable to comprehend the chaotic spacetime of the deeper Spirit World.

After dealing with the newly created evil thing, Ryan took out the Codex of Creation.

Compared to before, the Brass-Colored Ancient Book had clearly gained many more patterns. They were manifestations of the rules of the present world. The book had not grown thicker, but Ryan knew that its "number of pages" had increased by roughly one-third.

After this "legislation," the components of this Creation Artifact had been thoroughly completed.

From now on, it no longer needed to remain in the source-power pool of the Spirit World. Instead, it could serve as one of the Spirit World's cores, assisting Ryan in organizing its rules and fusing source power.

This single Divine Artifact was enough to make the Spirit World's rules and order more than thirty percent stronger at their original level. Externally, the Spirit World's expansion accelerated greatly. Internally, when other lifeforms entered the Spirit World without permission, the realm's suppression of them also grew stronger.

It could be said that against existences below Intermediate Divine Power, Ryan did not need to act. Relying solely on the Spirit World's own chain of laws, he could easily suppress them.

"It's just that the Codex of Creation isn't an offensive Divine Artifact. Its power leans more toward support than direct combat."

"Otherwise, even if Hyperion's divine power had fallen to Level 16, with the Mother of Light assisting him, I could have suppressed him head-on. Why would I have needed to go to all this trouble?"

Shaking his head, Ryan knew that the key issue was that he had been busy fusing source power, increasing the Spirit World's size and the upper limit of its Divine Offices, leaving him little time to accumulate divine power.

Forcing Hyperion to lower himself this time had also required favorable timing, terrain, and people. Otherwise, with his current Divine Power Level of 12, it would truly have been difficult to defeat someone using a support-oriented Divine Artifact.

The farther divine power levels progressed, the greater the gap between them became. Below Great Divine Power, the type of authority and the number of gods were the keys to victory. Two or three True Gods with Weak Divine Power could defeat one with Weak Divine Power of a higher degree; a Divine Office inclined toward combat could let a god fight above his level like the protagonist of a fantasy novel, defeating many opponents alone.

But upon reaching the realm of Great Divine Power, a difference of two divine power levels was basically enough to fight two opponents at once while maintaining the upper hand. Moreover, gods who could reach this stage generally did not possess weak Divine Offices.

"Once I finish absorbing the source power of Khaos's fire, I wonder whether I can nurture a Divine Artifact specialized for combat. Zeus has his thunderbolt, and Cronus has his Scythe. I should have a weapon of slaughter belonging to me as well."

"The power of fire is indeed rather immense. I hope I can completely absorb the related concepts before Cronus's eldest daughter is born."

With a sigh, Ryan continued devoting himself to the great undertaking of digesting source power.

As far as being a god went, Zeus had it the easiest. He was either abusing his authority or on the road to finding a princess, queen, or goddess. How could he compare to Ryan, who had barely enjoyed a few free days since opening the Spirit World?

But sighing was one thing. Clearly, it was not yet time for Ryan to relax. Once the gods related to Khaos were born one after another, unless another god as easy to deceive as Cronus appeared, he would no longer be able to plunder the world's resources as recklessly as he did now.

Strengthening the source through the Spirit World's own operation was nowhere near as simple as taking it directly. So before that happened, Ryan naturally thought, If I can plunder it, I might as well plunder as much as possible.