Age of Gods

At first sight of Bibi Dong, Wu Ling was utterly stunned. She was undoubtedly the most beautiful woman he had seen across both his lives.

Her brilliant golden ceremonial gown fit her perfectly from head to toe. The dazzling attire shimmered with precious light, adorned with more than a hundred red, blue, and gold gemstones. The Nine-Curved Purple Gold Crown atop her head radiated countless rays of light, while she held a two-meter-long scepter inlaid with innumerable gems.

Her fair skin and nearly flawless features made her seem exceptionally different. Especially the invisible nobility and holiness she exuded, which inspired an irresistible urge to worship her.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, noble, elegant, and serene. It seemed every lovely word could be used to describe this woman.

Especially considering the timeline, she was only thirty-six years old. Though she had already passed the prime of a woman's beauty, the passage of time had not left the slightest trace upon her. Instead, it had added a touch of grace and dignity to her.

"Wu Ling, kneel!"

Beside Wu Ling, Gui Mei, who had already bent over in a bow, quietly rebuked the dazed Wu Ling.

Wu Ling suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly dropped to one knee. He quickly explained, "I was overwhelmed by Your Holiness's beauty just now, so I inadvertently offended you. I beg Your Holiness to forgive me."

If anyone else had dared say such words, their head might have been separated from their body the next moment. But the one who said them was merely a six-year-old child, and everyone present could sense the sincerity in Wu Ling's words. Thus, Bibi Dong did not pursue the matter too harshly.

"Since you have only just arrived, I will spare you this once. If you offend again, you will certainly be punished."

Although Bibi Dong spoke sternly, Wu Ling still caught a trace of pleasure in her voice.

Bibi Dong was a woman, after all. Even if she harbored world-weary thoughts, she was still merely a world-weary woman. And as long as she was a woman, she would care about beauty.

Wu Ling felt greatly reassured and hurriedly replied, "Thank you, Your Holiness."

After replying, Wu Ling recalled that one reason Bibi Dong rarely displayed her Martial Soul in the original story was because it was too ugly.

Just imagine it: a beautiful woman whose lower body transformed into a ferocious spider, with eight spider legs covered in dense green fur. The fur was coated in green corrosive slime, while her upper body was wrapped in pitch-black armor. Not only did armor grow across her face, but two pairs of compound eyes grew beneath her eyes.

Forget any woman—even Wu Ling, a man, found it somewhat hard to accept.

In the FGO game, there was a mage class, and many mages had changed their very mode of existence. If he could later draw a Magus with research abilities and make up for Bibi Dong's flaw, her favorability should rise by a great deal. Even if his impression of Bibi Dong remained merely ordinary, she was still a qualified backer.

But that was only one of Wu Ling's plans. His immediate priority was gaining Bibi Dong's approval.

While his thoughts wandered, Gui Mei had already stepped forward and reported Wu Ling's circumstances to Bibi Dong without holding anything back.

When she heard Gui Mei describe Wu Ling's move, even her usually impassive face rippled slightly.

"A mere ordinary Taillow, with a hundred-year Spirit Ring, actually involved space! By all reason, that should be impossible. But Gui Mei could not be lying, so there was only one possibility: this little fellow's Martial Soul was extraordinarily special."

Seated upon the throne, Bibi Dong looked down at Wu Ling, who was still kneeling below, and asked, "What is your Martial Soul ability?"

Facing Bibi Dong's question, Wu Ling did not conceal anything this time, though some necessary alterations still had to be made.

"Reporting to Your Holiness, my Martial Soul is called the Heroic Spirit Disk. Its ability is to summon Heroic Spirits to possess me, allowing me to gain their abilities."

"Heroic Spirits?" Hearing this term for the first time, Bibi Dong frowned in confusion.

Seeing this, Wu Ling promptly explained, "Your Holiness, the term Heroic Spirit was conveyed to me by my Martial Soul itself during my Martial Soul Awakening.

"As for what Heroic Spirits are, according to the information I received, they are roughly the souls of heroes after death—Heroic Spirits, for short."

"Summoning the souls of the dead... Aside from space, it even involves life and death?" Bibi Dong glanced at Gui Mei, but he merely shook his head slightly, indicating that this was also the first time he had heard of it.

She looked at Wu Ling and continued asking, "Then what kind of person can be called a hero?"

"Reporting to Your Holiness, one must leave their name in history and possess a legend of their own through their own strength or wisdom."

"A legend of their own... Then... does the founder of Spirit Hall count?"

When she said this, Bibi Dong's expression was incomparably solemn. Even Gui Mei beside her lowered his head, pretending not to have heard.

Yet upon hearing this question, Wu Ling was not the least bit nervous. Instead, he raised his head slightly and said somewhat awkwardly, "Your Holiness, they must leave their names in history through their own strength."

"Their own strength? Does that mean strength is what matters, and titles do not count?"

"No, Your Holiness. Because Soul Masters increase their strength by killing Spirit Beasts and absorbing Spirit Rings, no matter how powerful a Soul Master is, they cannot become a Heroic Spirit."

Hearing Wu Ling's explanation, Bibi Dong's expression relaxed, though she said with some disappointment, "If they are not Soul Masters, how can they leave their names in history? Could they merely be somewhat stronger ordinary people?"

Wu Ling shook his head upon hearing that. "Your Holiness, ordinary people can also become strong."

"Strong?" Bibi Dong's voice turned colder, because she felt that she was being toyed with.

"Do you know what a strong person is? Do you understand the power of the strong? Not everyone with a little strength can be called strong. Do you understand?"

Despite Bibi Dong's increasingly cold words and sharp questions, Wu Ling's expression did not change as he continued answering. His calm bearing was nothing like that of a six-year-old child.

"Your Holiness, the strong people I speak of may possess some physical strength, but they are not merely strong in terms of power. Allow me to give an example. Paper is used extensively in our daily lives. Does Your Holiness know who invented paper?"

As a Soul Master, Bibi Dong did not usually pay attention to such things, so she knew nothing about it. Only after thinking carefully did she realize that she had no memory at all of such a person.

By now, Bibi Dong, whose mind was already quick, had noticed something amiss. It was not only the inventor of paper—she had no impression of the inventors of many common items either.

One or two would have been understandable, but once there were so many, Bibi Dong immediately sensed that something was wrong.

"Your Holiness, you probably have no impression of any of them. That is only natural, since they were people from the previous era. It is perfectly normal for someone of this era not to know them."

"The previous era?!" Bibi Dong's eyes widened in shock. She had just wanted to continue questioning him, but then seemed to think of something. Bibi Dong abruptly rose to her feet and swept her sleeve, and the entire hall was enveloped by her Soul Power.

Bibi Dong glanced at Gui Mei again. Understanding her intent, Gui Mei used Soul Power to block off his five senses. Once she saw that everything was prepared, Bibi Dong turned her gaze back to Wu Ling.

Under Bibi Dong's gaze, Wu Ling slowly began to speak. "According to the information, I call that era—the Age of Gods!"