King Ghidorah's three heads turned slightly. His middle head's gaze was calm, his left head occasionally swept its gaze over the distant continent, and his right head watched Apekus. The scenes of the human world he had just seen in the projection still echoed in his mind: city-states where steam and magic intertwined, races of every description, and nations locked in open and covert struggles. They all filled the Titan newly arrived in this other world with curiosity.
Suddenly, he remembered Apekus mentioning that he had once formed avatars to venture inland and observe the development of civilizations across the eras. With a stir of his mental will, he spoke directly to Apekus, his voice carrying a Titan's deep rumble as it echoed above the coast.
"Right, you can make avatars, can't you?"
Apekus stiffened and hurriedly lifted half his face, his scarlet eyes filled with reverence. Countless tentacles swayed gently in a gesture of submission as he answered without hesitation, "Yes, esteemed Lord King Ghidorah."
"Then make one and let me see." King Ghidorah sounded casual, with a touch of interest in the spectacle. He wanted to see just what this ocean behemoth's avatars looked like, and whether they could move through a continent inhabited by humans and other races without arousing the slightest suspicion.
"As you command."
Apekus dared not delay. He immediately stirred the source power within his body that connected him to the ocean. One of the thickest tentacles on the left side of its body slowly rose, its charred skin peeling away to reveal deep-blue flesh beneath. Pale-blue light blossomed from its tip like a fluorescent jellyfish in the deep sea, gentle yet filled with mysterious fluctuations of energy.
The blue light gathered continuously along the tentacle, converging in midair into a humanoid silhouette of light. The silhouette twisted, contracted, and solidified, its blurred outline gradually sharpening as limbs, torso, and head took shape one after another. Blue energy became skin and clothing, and in just a few breaths, a complete avatar appeared before the two behemoths.
All three of King Ghidorah's heads leaned closer, his golden eyes staring unblinkingly at the avatar before him. A moment later, all three heads fell silent.
The avatar before him had smooth, pale-blue skin, but its head was unmistakably that of a fish, with a protruding mouth, wide fish eyes, and two long, slender barbels on top. Its body was upright and humanoid, but webbed membranes grew between its fingers and toes, and a short fish tail trailed behind it. Standing there, it looked both bizarre and comical, radiating a strong oceanic presence. No matter how he looked at it, it did not seem capable of walking normally through the city-states on land.
Looking at this bizarre fish-headed avatar, King Ghidorah found himself at a loss for words. His middle head tilted slightly, his left head narrowed its eyes, and his right head shook gently. Clearly, the avatar's appearance had left him utterly speechless.
Noticing King Ghidorah's silence and sensing that indescribable trace of emotion in his consciousness, Apekus immediately panicked. His enormous body trembled slightly as he hurried to explain, his mental will filled with alarm. "Forgive me, my lord. This is only one of my avatar forms. If you dislike it, I can form other types..."
As his words fell, Apekus stirred his source power again. The fish-headed avatar in midair dispersed, turning back into blue energy before gathering and taking shape once more.
This time, a dark-blue octopus-person avatar appeared. Its head was a miniature octopus head, with eight tiny tentacles in place of hair. Its body was likewise humanoid, its skin covered in slimy suckers. It swayed unsteadily as it walked, still carrying the bizarre air of a deep-sea creature.
King Ghidorah remained silent, offering no reaction.
Apekus hurriedly changed it again. A pale-blue merfolk avatar appeared, with a humanoid upper body and a fish tail below, fair skin, and long hair like seaweed. It was rather lovely, but it still could not escape the features of an ocean creature and could not possibly remain on land for long.
After several consecutive avatar changes failed to elicit any response from King Ghidorah, Apekus gritted his teeth and summoned his power again. Blue light flared, and an entirely new avatar appeared before them-this one had an upright humanoid body covered in fine, dark-blue scales, but its head was a miniature sea dragon's head. Its long horns and scarlet eyes were exactly like the head of Apekus's true body. Its bearing was imposing, and it even possessed something of a Titan's majesty.
At the sight of this dragon-headed avatar, King Ghidorah's three heads finally reacted. His middle head nodded slightly, and a trace of approval flashed in his golden eyes. This appearance was finally a little easier on the eyes, unlike the bizarre avatars before it.
But before King Ghidorah could speak, Apekus seemed to fumble in his panic. The blue light churned chaotically, and a round, slippery blue slime suddenly appeared in midair. It had no limbs or head, only a constantly writhing gelatinous body that rolled about on the ground, with nothing humanoid about it whatsoever.
"..."
King Ghidorah was utterly speechless. All three heads drooped as he looked at the blue slime before him. He truly could not understand this ocean behemoth's aesthetic sense or how he had come up with these oddly shaped avatars. Forget blending into a human city-state-even in the wilderness, they would draw crowds as curiosities.
Looking at the out-of-control slime avatar, Apekus hurriedly dispersed it. His scarlet eyes were filled with embarrassment as he cautiously explained, "My lord, these are all forms I used to walk the land in previous eras. The dominant races on the continent differed from era to era, and these avatars were shaped to suit the environments of their time..."
King Ghidorah raised a massive claw and tapped the ground lightly, his mental will carrying a measure of puzzlement as he asked, "Apart from that dragon-headed one, when you walked around on land looking like the others, how did people explain you? Didn't you cause panic?"
Instead, Apekus looked a little confused at this, seemingly unable to understand why King Ghidorah would ask such a question. His scarlet eyes blinked as he answered earnestly, "Why wouldn't they understand? Humans aren't the only intelligent race in this world. Beyond upright-walking humans, there are countless other humanoid races. They all possess intelligence and have established their own civilizations. Some even rule nations alongside humans. They've coexisted for a long time. These avatars of mine simply correspond to different races."
King Ghidorah was briefly taken aback. That had never occurred to him. On Earth in his previous life, humans had been the only dominant intelligent species, and after transmigrating into King Ghidorah, he had dealt only with Titan behemoths. Hearing now that this world contained many other humanoid races immediately piqued his interest. Curiosity flashed in his golden eyes as he pressed, "The people of this world really do look like upright naked apes, but what other races are there?"
"Like this one." Apekus immediately formed a slender humanoid avatar. It had pale-cyan skin, long, pointed ears, eyes like deep-sea sapphires, and a faint watery sheen at its fingertips. Its air was ethereal and elegant. "Humans call them the Siya. They're an ancient ocean race skilled in water magic and alchemy. They now live in seclusion within the southern coastal Liushan City-State Alliance, working with human merchant associations. They're the finest group of alchemists in the city-states."
King Ghidorah studied the Siya avatar for a while, then nodded, accepting this world's racial makeup. A world where magic and steam intertwined should not have had humans as its only intelligent life in the first place. Diverse races only made this world more interesting.
"Okay."
King Ghidorah shook his enormous heads, no longer dwelling on the avatars' appearances. Then he changed the subject, his tone carrying a casual request. "Right, this is a magical world. As a world administrator who's lived for hundreds of thousands of years and experienced sixteen eras, you must have collected plenty of good stuff, haven't you? Got any treasures? Bring them out and let me see."
Apekus froze, clearly not expecting King Ghidorah to ask for treasures so suddenly. His enormous body stiffened in place, his scarlet eyes filled with astonishment. Then he recovered and hurriedly nodded over and over, his mental will full of eagerness to please. "Yes, yes, esteemed lord. Of course I have quite a collection!"
"During the great purges in previous eras, whenever I saw things made from rare materials or possessing unusual powers, I would collect them along the way. After all, once those civilizations were destroyed, leaving such things in the world would only cause conflict. Some were also offerings presented to me by races and factions that worshipped me in the various eras. Accumulated over such a long time, they've become quite numerous."
King Ghidorah's interest immediately stirred at this. All three heads rose, and his great golden wings fanned slightly, stirring a breeze as he urged, "Then what are you waiting for? Bring them over now. Let's see what unusual things you've collected over these hundreds of thousands of years."
"As you command, my lord!"
Apekus immediately raised his head and let out a deep roar. It was not an attack, but a command calling to the ocean. The sound pierced the surface and traveled into the sea ten thousand meters below.
Instantly, the once-calm sea began to churn violently. The deep-blue water roiled as though boiling, and dazzling beams of blue light shone from the depths like stars fallen to the seabed. The light grew brighter and brighter. Then a massive tide surged in from afar, its waves dozens of meters high, carrying countless objects from the deep sea toward the coast. Not a single splash wet King Ghidorah's body as it precisely deposited all the treasures on the scorched ground.
King Ghidorah looked down to see the ground piled with wondrous objects of every kind, a dazzling array radiating different fluctuations of energy. There was gentle magical light, savage chaos energy, the cold texture of metal, and lingering traces of ancient divinity. Large and small, in all manner of shapes, they nearly filled a clearing along the coast.
The most conspicuous was an enormous crystal over ten meters in diameter. Pale gold throughout, it held flowing lights like a river of stars and radiated rich, pure mana. Even resting there quietly, it made the surrounding air mild and moist, instantly increasing the mana concentration severalfold;
Beside it sat a huge pitch-black orb, black mist coiling around its surface. Within the mist, the faint silhouettes of ferocious beasts roared, exuding violent, chaotic energy;
There was also a gigantic mech a hundred meters tall, its body forged from dark-gold metal and covered in ancient magical patterns, with red magic cores set into its joints. Though it had lain dormant for a long time, it still radiated a heart-stopping aura of war;
Besides these, ancient magic scrolls, divine-blood ore glowing blue, twisted fragments of chaos bone, precision components combining steam technology and magic, and gem-inlaid golden vessels lay jumbled together in countless numbers.
Apekus hurried forward, brushing slender tentacles lightly over the treasures as he introduced them to King Ghidorah one by one like a sales assistant, his tone respectful and meticulous. "My lord, please look. This enormous crystal is a Kebokopu Crystal, mined through the combined efforts of many races when the Chromis Sorcery System emerged in the First Era. It was the finest mana core of that age. Only three were produced throughout the entire First Era, making them extraordinarily rare. Even in the current Seventeenth Era, it remains priceless. Even a tiny piece would have tower mages fighting over it."
"This black orb is a Chaos Beast King Core from the Third Era, forged in combination with the finest magical items of that time. It can control chaos energy and is immune to most magical attacks. I confiscated it from a Chaos Beasts lair during the great purge that year and have kept it ever since."
"And this gigantic mech was the ultimate war-suppression weapon of the Fifth Era, known as the 'God of War.' That civilization devoted the strength of its entire nation to building this killing machine, which could rival a Ninth-Tier Legend. Back then, that civilization tried to use it against me, and I easily destroyed it, leaving only this intact wreckage. Its power still remains."
Apekus introduced them without pause. From the First Era to the Sixth, every treasure possessed a long history and terrifying power. All were the pinnacle creations of their eras' civilizations. Placed on the continent today, any single one would be enough to spark a bloody struggle among nations.
King Ghidorah listened quietly, his three heads taking turns examining the treasures, his golden eyes full of interest. These things could not improve his strength at all-after all, he was already a cosmic-level Titan-but they were quite interesting as collectibles. These wondrous objects bearing the history of the eras, in particular, deepened his understanding of this world a little further.
"Mm, not bad." King Ghidorah pointed a massive claw at the enormous crystal, the Chaos Beast King Core, the God of War mech, and several other treasures radiating unusual light, then said casually, "This one, this one, and this one. Keep them all for me. Take the rest of that miscellaneous stuff back yourself."
"Yes, yes, take them. Please, take whatever you like!" Apekus hurriedly nodded, without the slightest heartache. To him, these treasures were merely collectibles accumulated over long years, gathering dust in the deep sea without any use at all. Now that they could be used to please this terrifying foreign behemoth before him, they were being put to the best possible use. "These things are useless to me. They only take up space. If you like them, my lord, please take them all. There's no need to stand on ceremony."
King Ghidorah nodded, then looked at the pile of treasures and back at his own enormous body. His heads furrowed slightly as he asked, "Right, do you have anything that can hold all this? Some kind of spatial storage item, I mean. I can't exactly drag these things around."
"Yes, yes, rest assured, my lord!" Apekus immediately coiled a tentacle around a palm-sized device in the treasure pile and brought it before King Ghidorah.
The device was silvery white and thoroughly technological in appearance, with pale-blue crystals inlaid on its surface. It had no magical patterns, only precision mechanical gears and energy conduits. It looked like a technological creation of the Sixth Era, entirely at odds with this world's magical style, yet possessing an air of intricate craftsmanship.
"This is a technological creation of the Sixth Era. Outside of magic, they developed a purely technological path. This device uses spatial folding technology and contains an enormous storage space. Even that hundred-meter-tall war mech can fit inside easily. And even an ordinary person who knows no sorcery can control it with their thoughts. It's extremely convenient," Apekus explained carefully.
King Ghidorah looked at the compact device, his eyes full of wonder. He had not expected this world to possess such convenient technological creations, more practical than magical spatial items. His left head slowly reached over, and with a gentle curl of his snake-like forked tongue, he brought the spatial device before him. Then he stirred the psionic energy within his body and extended it into the device.
His psionic energy connected with the device's spatial core. Instantly, a vast, empty space appeared in King Ghidorah's consciousness, easily large enough to hold all the treasures along the coast.
King Ghidorah controlled the spatial device with a thought. The enormous crystal, the Chaos Beast King Core, the God of War mech, and the other wondrous objects he had selected on the ground instantly turned into streaks of light and were all drawn inside. The treasures that had been piled like a mountain vanished without a trace in an instant, leaving only an empty stretch of scorched earth.
He wrapped the spatial device in psionic energy and tucked it into a gap between his scales. Sensing the treasures stored safely inside, all three heads showed satisfaction at once, and a trace of pleasure flashed in his golden eyes.
"Not bad. This thing really is a fine treasure."
King Ghidorah swung his enormous heads and looked at Apekus, who was still prostrated respectfully. His tone grew a little more relaxed, and he found the collectibles of this other world, and this world full of unknowns, increasingly interesting.