Not far away, in the Golden Humans' tribe from before.
Flames still blazed into the sky, windblown sand swirled, and a scorched smell spread through the tribe.
The aftershocks of Jiang Yang's battle with the Sphinx had inevitably reached parts of it. A third of the tribe's crude houses had been burned down or blown apart.
Fortunately, there had been no casualties.
During the battle, Jiang Yang had consciously drawn the Sphinx away from inhabited areas.
As dusk approached, Jiang Yang and the other two crossed the smoke-blackened grass and entered the small tribe again, while the Sphinx was left where he was.
At the sight of the three arriving, the tribe's golden people grew excited and knelt to pray for the Gods' protection.
They did not recognize Jiang Yang, but Apollo the Sun God and Poseidon the Sea God were famous, mighty Gods in the Olympus region.
The tribe even had statues of them enshrined for worship.
Now, seeing those two noble, great chief Gods walking behind Jiang Yang, they felt even greater reverence.
This must be an incomparably exalted God, more exalted even than the Sun God and the Sea God!
As Jiang Yang walked through the tribe, he looked at the golden members of the Human Race kneeling on either side and silently made a comparison.
In fact, the Golden Humans' basic physical constitution was far better than that of the Old Humans before the apocalypse.
Their men were all tall and powerfully built, while their women were tall, slender, and athletic.
Ordinary people among the Old Humans were not even half as physically strong as they were.
If practically all the surviving Old Humans today had not been awakened individuals of A-Rank or above, with no ordinary people left, they might truly have lacked the awareness to act as Gods.
They were extremely well adapted to Earth's post-apocalyptic environment. Although the savage Earth now harbored all kinds of ferocious beast populations, they remained the overlords of the land.
Yet there was one thing about them that reassured the Old Humans: their intelligence was generally low.
Thus, very few of them could grow to reach A-Rank, and only a handful across the entire world had reached King-Rank.
The intelligent mutants among them all had features extremely similar to those of the Old Humans. Once discovered, these people would almost invariably be taken away by the "Divine Clan," given the title of a God's dependent, and never return to their own tribes.
Under such conditions, it was already exceedingly difficult for the Golden Humans to struggle their way to the early city-state era.
And even that had only been achieved in Sumer, with Gilgamesh's help.
No wonder so many people had told him since he awoke that the Golden Humans were humans destined to be eliminated.
Thinking as he walked, Jiang Yang strode straight to the tall wooden frame, light gleaming in his golden eyes.
The little girl with the eyes of a God was still hanging from it, barely clinging to life.
"Jiang Yang, is this mortal child the person you said you wanted to take away?"
Poseidon asked in surprise.
"Yes. She has eyes like ours, too."
Jiang Yang flicked a strand of flaming Sword Qi from his hand. The rope on the wooden frame was severed, and the little girl fell into his arms.
She weakly opened her eyes, revealing, just as expected, a pair of golden-brown eyes without vertical pupils.
"I see. The research institute over at the Norse Refuge needs mutant Golden Humans like this. The closer their features are to ours, the better."
Apollo spoke with understanding. He clearly also knew about the research into human races being conducted in the Norse region.
"And look."
Jiang Yang brushed aside the little girl's golden hair. Her ears were rounded and smooth as jade, too. She was small and thin, and her other physical features were exactly like those of the Old Humans.
"She really does look like us!"
Poseidon sighed.
"If we didn't know she was born here, she would practically be one of our own."
Apollo also spoke with feeling.
"So I'm taking her with me."
Jiang Yang nodded, picked up the little girl, and walked over to the white-haired elder who had stood before the Sphinx earlier.
"Elder among mortals, I wish to take this girl away. Is there anything you need? I will give it to you in exchange."
Seeing a God personally deign to ask him, the white-haired elder immediately felt immensely honored.
He dropped excitedly to his knees and said loudly.
"Your exalted..."
"Sword King."
Apollo prompted from the side.
"Your Highness, Sword King, I hope you can leave behind an object imbued with your divine power to become an heirloom treasure of our tribe."
"That's simple enough."
Jiang Yang nodded. Looking at a stone nearby, he drew it over with a gesture and held it in his hand.
Golden flames began rising from his palm. With heaven and earth as his furnace, he began refining it in the heat.
Soon, a sharp, precious sword appeared in his hand, and he planted it in front of the white-haired elder.
"I bestow this sword upon your tribe."
The tribe's white-haired elder was overjoyed.
"Thank you, Your Highness! With this sword, our tribe will no longer fear the savage beasts of the wilderness. Oh, Your Highness, does this sword have a name?"
"Since I forged it from a great stone, let it be called the Sword in the Stone!"
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