Promise

Promise

As before, the mountains and rivers flashed past beneath his feet. In just half a day, Ryan had crossed a third of the continent.

Beside the cave where he had departed, Ryan accepted three stone tablets from Gaia.

"These are the promised items."

Earth Mother handed Ryan the stone tablet symbolizing Fate. It had been the witness to their wager when they first met.

At the time, Sky Father and Earth Mother had simply never seen a god this weak, so they had taken an interest in Ryan.

They asked about Ryan's Divine Office. After receiving his answer of Prophecy, Uranus had paid it no mind, while Gaia had assumed that with such Weak Divine Power, he probably could not prophesy anything at all.

So Ryan had been struck by an idea and declared the birth of the Twelve Titans on the spot, then made a wager with Gaia.

If he could prophesy the Primordial Gods with such weak power, then these three stone tablets, born alongside the world, should rightfully belong to him.

The result was obvious, so Ryan accepted his winnings.

"Your prophecy was correct." Earth Mother once again admitted her mistake. "The Divine Decree Stone Tablet should rightfully belong to you."

"Your honesty is the true virtue."

Ryan gave a slight bow and accepted the stone tablets.

It had to be said: the gods of this era were nothing like those of later ages. If this had been Gaia in Zeus's era, she would never have handed over a Divine Artifact so easily.

The two of them chatted for a while longer before bidding each other farewell.

As they were about to part, Gaia hesitated, but finally asked:

"Prince Ryan, as Earth Mother and God Queen, I should not be asking this question."

"But I still want to know. Is the war between children and their father truly unavoidable?"

Gaia was somewhat saddened. She did not even know which side she should stand on.

"That is something you must ask yourself."

Ryan did not answer her directly. Instead, he gave her a promise at the very end.

"If one day you can endure no longer and intend to make a final decision, you may come find me again."

"When that time comes, I will try to think of a solution for you, as repayment for the virtue of your keeping your promise."

"I will. Thank you again."

Earth Mother thanked him gently, though she had no idea who the object of her being unable to endure any longer was.

Perhaps it was her child. Perhaps it was her husband. On this matter, she intended to ask her sisters.

Though Ananke, as one of the Three Aspects of Lady of the Night, never interfered with Fate and was not personified at all like her true form, Nyx, Gaia still hoped to receive some hint.

Lost in thought, Earth Mother hurried away, returning in the direction of Divine Mountain.

She had to think carefully about where she should go from here.

······

Ryan slowly closed his eyes and immersed himself in the world within his body.

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

The matter was more or less settled. All that remained was to wait. For now, he needed to sort out the path ahead.

Within the body formed from Divine Flesh, Time Sequence, Spirituality, Prophecy, and the power of the Moon existed simultaneously, yet remained clearly distinct.

But apart from the source of Spirituality, which he had completely mastered, the rest were merely Divine Offices bestowed by Khaos.

If he had not arrived early enough—earlier than the Five Primordial Gods—even Spirituality would not have belonged entirely to him.

His otherworldly soul would only have been devoured by the world that had already formed the Laws of the Soul, which would then return to him a Spirituality Divine Office equal to those of the other gods. Once the true God of the Soul was born, he would lose his power, and the best outcome would be becoming a subordinate god.

That was the difference between a biological son and an outsider. So if he ever got the chance to use Spirituality to devour Khaos's power, Ryan would show no mercy.

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

After glancing over the other three Divine Offices, Ryan silently weighed his options.

Unless something unexpected happened, the source of Spirituality would devour them long before the relevant gods were born. Once something entered his stomach, no one should even think about taking it back.

Of the remaining three Divine Offices, the Moon was the weakest.

If divided by level, it could barely support a Weak Divine Power at Divinity Level 1.

As its time of existence increased, the Moon's power would grow stronger, but it would never become very powerful.

After all, it was merely an empty shell. Concepts related to time were encompassed by Time Sequence, and the Moon itself was not a real celestial body. If it were not opposite the sun, it might not even count 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."

As he pondered silently, Ryan glanced again at the illusory moon hanging in the sky.

By then, it would have lost its purpose. Once it became part of Spirituality and broke free from Khaos world's control, Ryan had a few other ideas.

With the Moon's arrangements settled, he moved on to Prophecy.

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

As for the remaining gods, whether Themis or Phoebe, they possessed prophetic abilities only because they had once held the Divine Decree Stone Tablet.

Now that the Divine Decree Stone Tablet was in Ryan's hands, those few likely would not get the chance. Thus, in the short term, he did not need to worry that the birth of a new god would cause the world to divide the Divine Office of Prophecy.

"This Divine Office can exist a little longer. Even a merged Divine Office can still grow stronger, but without Prophecy to conceal it, my identity as the God of Spirituality will inevitably be exposed."

"Still, I'll have to judge the situation when the time comes. If everything proceeds as I expect when Uranus is deposed, then there won't be anything left for me to agonize over."

"Only Spirituality—the source Divine Office that exists alongside me—is my true support in this world."

After casually arranging the Prophecy Divine Office, whose strength was roughly at Divinity Level 5, Ryan shifted his attention to Time Sequence.

In the future, he would probably make several Great Prophecies. He would simply continue using this Divine Office as the cover placed out front.

"Divinity Level 9, and it's still rising."

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

"But forget the Four Seasons for now. The Calendar can be incorporated into Spirituality. After all, it has no physical form. But the Four Seasons are part of material change."

"If they cannot be fused into one, then even if I create them ahead of time, once the Three Goddesses of Chronology descend, ownership will simply change hands."

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

But no matter how powerful this Divine Office became, its eventual fate would not change. Moreover, Ryan would not touch any part involving reality.

Otherwise, no matter how well things developed now, once the Twelve Olympian Gods took their places, the symbolism of the Twelve Months would be directly divided among them.

Once the Three Goddesses of Chronology were born, the power of the Divine Office would be cut in half.

That was what made Khaos world so absurd. Pontus, Hyperion, and even Earth Mother Gaia had all been powerful ancient gods, yet the birth of new gods had continuously divided their Divine Offices, ultimately causing their strength to plummet.

So Ryan decisively intended to merge all of them with Spirituality. As for what the Twelve Main Gods would do after losing their Divine Offices, that had nothing to do with him.

Did Iapetus and Mnemosyne not continue living just fine? Those two Titan seniors had no objections. Did the gods of Olympus really dare to make a fuss?

Having taken the crucial first step, Ryan was brimming with confidence about the future. Once Zeus ascended the throne, as long as he could become a Great Divine Power, Zeus would not rashly make an enemy of him.

Zeus was, after all, the God King most skilled at relying on the "power of the masses."