Promise

Chapter 7: The Promise

Just like when he had set out, the earth and mountains flashed beneath his feet. In a mere half day, Ryan had crossed a third of the continent.

By the mountain cave where he had started, Ryan received three stone tablets from Gaia.

"These are the agreed-upon items."

The Earth Mother handed the tablets symbolizing fate to Ryan—the witness to the wager made at their first meeting.

Back then, the Sky Father and Earth Mother had simply never seen a god so weak, and so they had taken the initiative to find Ryan.

They asked Ryan about his Divine Office. After receiving the answer of [Prophecy], Uranus dismissed it, and Gaia also believed that with such weak divine power, he probably couldn't prophesy anything at all.

So Ryan had a flash of inspiration on the spot, immediately proclaimed the birth of the Twelve Titans, and made a bet with Gaia.

If he could, with such weak power, prophesy about a Primordial God, then these three tablets, born with the world, should rightfully belong to him.

The result was obvious, so Ryan accepted his winnings.

"Your prophecy was correct," the Earth Mother admitted her mistake once more. "The divine oracle rightfully belongs to you."

"Your integrity is the true virtue."

With a slight bow, Ryan took the tablets.

He had to admit, the gods of this era were nothing like those of later generations. If it were Gaia from the age of Zeus, she wouldn't have handed over a Divine Artifact so easily.

The two spoke for a while longer, then took their leave.

As she was about to depart, Gaia hesitated, but still asked:

"Lord Ryan, as the Earth Mother, as the God Queen, I shouldn't ask this question."

"But I still want to know—is the war between children and father truly unavoidable?"

Gaia was somewhat sorrowful; she didn't even know which side she should stand on.

"That, you must ask yourself."

Ryan didn't answer the question directly. He only gave a promise at the end.

"If one day, you can no longer bear it and decide to make a final choice, you can come find me again."

"At that time, I will try to think of a way for you, as repayment for your virtue in keeping your promise."

"I will. Thank you again."

The Earth Mother thanked him gently, though she didn't know who the one she 'could no longer bear' would be.

Perhaps it would be her children, perhaps her husband. On this matter, she planned to go ask her sisters.

Although, as one of the three aspects of the Lady of the Night, the fated Ananke never interfered with fate, and was far less personified than her primary aspect Nyx, she still hoped to receive some hints.

Lost in thought, the Earth Mother hurried away, heading back toward the Divine Mountain.

She needed to think carefully about where the future should lead.

Ryan closed his eyes slightly, immersing himself in the world within his body.

After the Earth Mother left, he returned to the mountain cave he had dug.

Matters were largely settled; all that remained was to wait. Now, he needed to organize the path ahead.

Within his body, composed of Divine Flesh, the powers of Time Sequence, Spirituality, Prophecy, and the Moon coexisted, yet remained clearly distinct.

But aside from the origin of Spirituality, which he completely controlled, the rest were merely Divine Offices bestowed by Khaos.

In fact, if he hadn't arrived early enough to be more ancient than even the five Primordial Gods, even Spirituality wouldn't have fully belonged to him.

His foreign soul would have been devoured by the world's already-formed [Soul] laws, returned to him as a [Spirituality] Divine Office equal to other gods, and then lost its power after the true God of Souls was born—at best, he would have become a subordinate god.

That was the difference between a favored son and an outsider. So, if he ever had the chance to use [Spirituality] to devour Khaos's power, Ryan would not hesitate.

"Sooner or later, I'll feed you all to [Spirituality]."

Glancing at the other three Divine Offices, Ryan calculated silently.

Barring accidents, before the related gods were born, the origin of Spirituality would have already devoured them. Anything that went into his stomach, no one could take back.

Aside from Spirituality, among the remaining three Divine Offices, the Moon appeared the weakest.

If classified by rank, it could barely support a Weak Divine Power of Divinity Level 1.

As time passed, the Moon's power would strengthen, but it wouldn't amount to much.

After all, it was just an empty shell. The concepts related to time were encompassed by Time Sequence, and it wasn't a tangible celestial body itself. If not for its opposition to the Sun, it wouldn't even qualify as a Divine Office.

"Before the true moon is born, I need to find it a new home."

"The Spirituality Moon and the true moon don't necessarily have to be the same thing."

Silently pondering, Ryan glanced again at the illusory shadow of the moon in the sky.

When the time came, it would lose its purpose. Once it became part of Spirituality and broke free from Khaos world's control, Ryan had some other ideas.

With the arrangements for the Moon settled, next was Prophecy.

In the original trajectory, there were quite a few gods in Khaos with prophetic abilities. But setting aside those whose prophecies were more like curses, only Prometheus and Apollo could be considered half-prophecy gods.

As for the rest, whether Themis or Phoebe, they only gained prophetic power because they once held the Divine Decree Stone Tablet.

Now that the Divine Decree Stone Tablet is in Ryan's hands, these few probably won't have that opportunity. So in the short term, he doesn't need to worry about the prophecy Divine Office being split off by the world due to new gods descending.

"This Divine Office can stick around a while longer. Even if a fused Divine Office can still be strengthened, without prophecy as a cover, it would inevitably expose my identity as the God of Spirituality."

"But I still need to decide based on the situation at the time. If everything goes as I envision when Uranus loses his throne, then I won't have to agonize over it."

"Only Spirituality—this foundational Divine Office that coexists with my very being—is my true reliance in this world."

Casually making arrangements for the prophecy Divine Office, which was roughly at Divinity Level 5 in strength, Ryan turned his attention to Chronology.

In the future, he would probably issue several more Great Prophecies, so he might as well keep this Divine Office as a front.

"Divinity Level 9, and still rising."

"If I can perfect the Four Seasons and create the 'Calendar,' I wouldn't even be surprised if the Chronology Divine Office reached Level 15."

"But I'll pass on the Four Seasons. The Calendar can be fused into Spirituality, since it has no physical form after all, but the Four Seasons are part of material change."

"If they can't be unified, even if I create them in advance, when the true Three Goddesses of Chronology descend, they'll only change owners."

It had to be said, compared to Spirituality, which was only at Divinity Level 6, Chronology was currently Ryan's strongest Divine Office.

But no matter how strong this Divine Office was, its final outcome wouldn't change, and Ryan wouldn't touch any part of it that involved reality.

Otherwise, no matter how well it developed now, once the Twelve Olympian Gods took their seats, the symbolism of the Twelve Months would be directly taken away.

The moment the Three Goddesses of Chronology were born, the Divine Office's power would be cut in half.

That was the absurd thing about the Khaos world. Pontus, Hyperion, even Earth Mother Gaia—they were all originally powerful ancient gods, but because of the birth of new gods, their Divine Offices kept splitting, and their strength plummeted.

So Ryan decisively decided to fuse them all with Spirituality. As for what the Twelve Olympian Gods would do if they lacked Divine Offices then, that had nothing to do with him.

Iapetus and Mnemosyne were still alive and well, weren't they? If those two elder Titans had no complaints, what right did you Olympian gods have to kick up a fuss?

With that crucial first step taken, Ryan was brimming with confidence about the future. Once Zeus ascended the throne, as long as he could become a Great Divine Power, the other party wouldn't rashly make an enemy of him.

Zeus—he was the God King who best knew how to rely on the 'power of the masses.'