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Back in the divine plane, inside a cave hidden within a blazing volcano, there was a familiar burly giant of a man.
This was the Blacksmith God, Hephaestus!
It appeared that Hephaestus had left the massive blacksmithing chamber he had made Zhen Shi's bow in and moved to a fairly small dark room.
However, rather strangely, he was huddled in a corner of this room, under a table cloaked by dark shadows. It was almost as if he was hiding from something. Something horrifying and fearsome...
Clang! Boom! Clang!
The cavern shook as if the world was facing a terrifying earthquake, and the epicenter was extremely close-by.
But, Hephaestus continued to remain hidden under the table, holding on to his knees.
After all, he was just a poor innocent god, (ᵔᴥᵔ), following proper safety protocols in the event of an earthquake.
He had nothing to do with the drama going on outside this room...
But, suddenly, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned his head and looked towards a specific portion of the cave wall.
He continued to watch as if he was entranced and intrigued by the shape of the rocks on the wall...
However, his eyes glowed in a mysterious manner, suggesting that what had caught his attention was not the wall, but something far far away...
Even more strangely, his mouth slowly curled into a grin.
And finally, his eyes returned to normal. But he was unable to stop himself from smiling.
Hephaestus shook his head and muttered with a grin, "Fellow Daoist 'This handsome and scholarly self' is truly one of a kind! To think that gods like him actually exist!
Instead of being mad at the fact that I was unable to make use of his materials for his weapon, he actually gave me such a wonderful chance to get rid of my 'pent-up' rage!"
He couldn't help but laugh in glee as he continued, "The idiotic prince who decided to become a follower of the family wrecking war-headed brother of mine, must've enjoyed getting whacked in the ass by my mallet!
To be capable of finding a follower of Ares so easily, that fellow Daoist is truly not a simple figure. And this was in a mortal world of humans no less!"
His laughter ended abruptly, as he muttered in a more serious tone, "But, even if he was a follower of Ares, I couldn't bear to kill him...
That prince must've lived a terrible life... His soul was suffering... Two lives that ended too early...
Ugh... I truly hope that fellow Daoist 'this handsome and scholarly self' wasn't expecting me to kill the prince..." and heaved a heavy sigh.
He shook his head as if to clear his mind, and laughed nonchalantly, "But as a God, such annoying mortal matters are irrelevant to me!
In the end, I can only hope that the fellow Daoist can forgive me if I acted improperly. Even so, my debt to 'this handsome and scholarly self' is rapidly increasing. I should figure out a way to settle it, somehow..."
Just as Hephaestus thought this, the sounds of the 'earthquake' intensified.
Clang! Boom! Crack! Poof!
A portion of the cavern roof was suddenly shattered as rocks collapsed down into the small room launching out a cloud of sand and dust.
At the same time, two figures emanating earth-shaking aura jumped into the room.
A loving lustful request, "Ahh~ Hephy, babe, so that's where you were! This annoying sister of yours has been troubling me! Help me!"
An angry enraged roar, "Raargh! Perverted blacksmith so that's where you were hiding! You want me to leave right? Just let me take responsibility for the poor child! Even if he came from the two of you,*cough*, you and this crazy great-grandmother of ours will ruin him! Let me take care of him!"
Poor Hephaestus felt a terrible headache coming on.
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"Ugh..." Zhen Shi groaned as he hurriedly stood up in confusion. For a moment he even wondered if everything had been a dream...
But then he looked around the empty pavilion with only the green pill cauldron, the rusty black furnace, the blacksmithing items, and skill books, which quickly brought him back to reality.
Throwing aside his idiotic thought and noticing nothing new in the pavilion, Zhen Shi looked up at the sky through the central garden. He noted the setting sun partially covered by clouds and bathing the garden in pale golden light.
The dreary lonesome sight of the sunlit garden and the stream trickling into the koi pond created a strange sort of calmness, causing Zhen Shi to feel as if he had missed something important. Thus he couldn't help but feel stifled...
Shaking off those feelings, he was just about to call out for Myne and Vivienne when...
"BOO!"
A loud shout from just behind him.
He hadn't been expecting it and was rather surprised. But... he had always prided himself in acting calm in such situations. And since the aether wasn't transmitting a sense of danger, he was able to remain calm and passed his spiritual sense behind him to identify the perpetrator.
With a simple smile, he turned around while saying, "Hello bro Myne! What was it that you just said? Is it some form of strange night greeting from a far-away land?" with 'genuine' curiosity.
Myne scowled in annoyance, "Night greet my ass! Do you have the reflexes of a dead snail? Shouldn't you have jumped in surprise allowing me to make fun of you?"
As Zhen Shi continued to remain 'confused' and 'innocent', Myne's scowl worsened.
But... suddenly he grinned mischievously and instantly threw two duffel bags at Zhen Shi with great speed, much faster than when he threw the knife that 'impaled' Lance, one after the other.
Zhen Shi was only slightly surprised before he quickly activated
Boom! Boom!
An explosion of air sounded out sending waves of wind throughout the pavilion causing the plants in the garden to shuffle about.
Zhen Shi was awestruck by this legendary mage's physical strength which had actually pushed him back despite the draconic body... and he now had one foot inside the garden!
Still, he calmly put down the two bags while transforming his hands back to normal. He was rather curious with regards to the contents of the bags and so glanced questioningly at Myne.
Myne was more than happy to oblige as he pointed at one bag and began to explain, "Well... That is a bag of books with basically all the techniques that Vivienne taught you. She asked me to bring them to you. But surprisingly, despite your advanced knowledge of materials, she also put in a book on herbology. So I was forced to do the same and you'll find a book on mineralogy as well."
He then pointed at the other bag, "As for that, that contains all the pill refining ingredients she brought from the market hall."
Zhen Shi nodded absently, as he was rather distracted and was greedily eyeing the huge collection of books in front of him, just waiting to reveal hidden knowledge...
Myne proceeded to ignored Zhen Shi's strange attraction towards the pile of inanimate books and spoke out with a grin, "So I suppose you don't need this other thing she asked me to give you?"
Zhen Shi hurriedly changed his focus, turning to look at Myne and beamed an innocent smile.
Even for books, he wasn't going to give up free stuff!
Myne scowled again but still proceeded to bring out a small pouch with complex symbols etched upon it. Owing to the rudimentary knowledge from the systems skill book 'for dummies', Zhen Shi immediately recognized them as engraved formation talismans.
But before Zhen Shi could activate his golden eye and appraise it, Myne spoke out in answer, "So this is the spatial treasure made by yours truly. Like any other spatial treasure, it is not possible to store living creatures within it. But, you can store anything which is not living and kicking! That means corpses are acceptable as long as you don't exceed the space limit.
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This is a spare I had, but," Myne patted his chest proudly, "it still contains as much space as this entire Island, and comes with the added bonus of slowing time to a thousandth of ordinary time! After all, this was something I made before I was sealed in the valley and had perfect control over the law of time..."
Zhen Shi's eyes widened as he began to consider the value of such a treasure.
Myne nodded in agreement and replied, "Indeed. This is a treasure that would even cause true sovereigns to wage war!"
He frowned seriously and continued, "Thus treasures like this are extremely dangerous when we have such low cultivation. So I have engraved great amounts of stealth formations and invisibility enchantments on to this."
But Zhen Shi frowned as he could easily appraise this item with
Myne was surprised. He truly had not expected this brother of his to be capable of detecting this spatial treasure despite the hordes of hiding formations and enchantments used...
'Damn it! This must be another ability of his overpowered special physique! I truly feel sorry for the others of his generation...'
While he was still feeling rather annoyed, Myne patted his chest and answered the question proudly, "That is due to one of my cleverest creations! If you could see through even that, you might as well just go and call yourself omniscient!"
Myne continued with shining eyes, "I assume you still remember my Eyes of fate? While I have no control over them, they allow me to peep into the secrets veiled by the cloth of reality... to observe the beautiful and ample truths of the world!"
Zhen Shi was speechless, 'Why are you talking like that!? That innuendo... It almost makes the legendary mage sound like a legendary perverted peeping tom!'
Noticing Zhen Shi's weird gaze, Myne coughed and cut his explanation short, "As I said before, my eyes can peer behind the curtain of reality. And as the owner of those eyes, I have seen this curtain of reality many times. So I performed many experiments and replicated that principle into a special type of stealth magic enchantment... It is impossible to be seen through! It is magic far far beyond the common-place Sovereign tier!
But despite the magic's powerful stealth capabilities, it did not coexist with other enchantments making its applications rather limited...
So I had to makes use of another abstruse principle...
You know how swords have scabbard, blades have sheaths, bows have quivers, and so on? Based on the same principle, I created another bag with the strict purpose of sheathing the spatial bag and hiding its nature!" while bringing out a completely ordinary-looking leather-pouch, which had no tell-tale signs of applied formations or enchantments...
Zhen Shi fell into deep thought, 'No wonder
But, that last principle sounds like utter bullshit! It just sounds like a lazy way of making use of that stealth enchantment to hide something...'
Despite these thoughts, Zhen Shi wasn't going to be ungrateful and criticize a free gift horse to its face. So he remained respectfully silent.
Instead, he asked curiously, "So if it is a magic far beyond the Sovereign tier, does that mean you can't use that enchantment anymore?"
Myne replied matter-of-factly, "Of course I can! Wouldn't it be pretty pathetic if the creator of a spell couldn't use the said spell? But... it does take around half-an-hour to prepare and won't last too long, unlike the enchantment engraved on this bag which should last indefinitely..."
Suddenly, he scowled in displeasure and asked in an annoyed tone, "Bah! Do you want this or not?"
That got Zhen Shi to put the mysteries of Myne's magic aside as he hurriedly nodded with an innocent face.
Myne grinned in satisfaction as he handed out the two bags, which Zhen Shi immediately connected on to his belt, with the spatial pouch placed within the ordinary leather pouch.
Examining it with his golden eye, he had to admit that he was now unable to appraise the spatial treasure...
Myne nodded in satisfaction and spoke out, "So I don't know why Vivienne wanted me to give you that, especially when I figured you already have a spatial treasure..."
Zhen Shi grimaced, preparing to blame a 'certain someone'...
But thankfully, before he could, Myne continued to speak, "Either way, Vivienne now owes me a favor. I can turn it in for literally anything! Thanks a lot, bro! You're the best wingman!" while clapping onto Zhen Shi's back in happiness.
But, seeing how Myne was flexing his married status in the face of his single self, Zhen Shi didn't know whether to laugh or cry!
Ignoring Zhen Shi, Myne continued to speak rather seriously, "Vivienne is still contemplating about what happened, but she'll probably be fine by tomorrow. As for those runes... it's better if we know less about them for the moment."
He turned to Zhen Shi and asked, "Based on the entire event, why do you think we fainted?"
Zhen Shi paused in thought and answered curtly, "Well, it's rather obvious that the fainting was due to exhaustion of the mind and spiritual energy. I think... the fainting is linked with our knowledge on the meaning of the runes.
Vivienne was familiar with the rune and must've used it with no problems before. She only collapsed after I told her the meaning of the rune. And I already knew the meaning, so my collapse also aligns with that conclusion. But, while it makes sense, I can't be sure of it..."
Myne nodded, "Yes. That does make sense. Back then, many counterfeiters made use of Sis Nimue's symbol, very easily without any problems... I assume that her rune also has some meaning?" and turned to Zhen Shi for an answer.
Zhen Shi nodded and began to explain, "Yes. That rune means Birch..."
But Myne hurriedly shushed him, "Shut up kid! I just wanted a nod or something in simple confirmation! Not for you to list the rune's entire family history and show off your knowledge! For now, the less we know about these runes the better."
Zhen Shi unhappily gave in to Myne's request, but spoke out seriously, "Fine. But I still feel that the conclusion is half-baked. We'll need more evidence."
Myne shook his head in disagreement and explained, "No, I'm sure of it. I've tried copying Nimue's symbol myself and I was completely fine back then. But when I copied Vivienne's rune after I learned it's meaning from you, I fainted as well."
Zhen Shi gaped. He started to laugh out loud with tears leaking from his eyes, "Wait... what? The great mage fainted as well? Why the hell did you join us when you knew what would happen? Were you feeling lonely? Aiya! This is too hilarious..."
Myne grimaced and shouted, "Shut up. At least I woke up before you."
Even so, Zhen Shi had to struggle to stop himself from laughing. And when he finally did, he suddenly asked with serious eyes, "Myne, tell me, did you wake up before or after Vivienne?"
Myne who was curious by his sudden serious tone, answered immediately, "Before her."
Zhen Shi nodded wisely, "Okay... Then we have two possible reasons for that. I believe you are more powerful than Vivienne. So, either the person who was stronger, that is you," pointing at Myne, "woke up sooner. Or, the person with the least understanding about the rune of flowing water, that is also you," pointing at Myne again, "was affected less by the spiritual exhaustion and so woke up sooner. And it's obvious the actual reason was the latter!" finishing with a victorious grin.
Myne grimaced and spoke up, "I disagree. It's obviously because I'm the most powerful! Don't get a full head just because you know some symbols."
Zhen Shi laughed out loud and answered while wagging his index finger in Myne's face, "For some reason, I feel that your input regarding that matter is biased."
Myne laughed as well, "Well I feel that your input is based too!"
Zhen Shi grimaced as Myne's words were true... and so he decided to change the topic, 'Wait! I also saw a similar rune on the talisman of a girl, her name was Sun Rou," and quickly explained how she had made use of a Sun sword talisman.
Myne couldn't be happier with the change of topic himself, and so, muttered while in thought, "Well, I obviously don't know this Sun Rou..." and shook his head, "And I don't know this Saint Sun Soul either. Do you remember anything else?"
Zhen Shi was silent for a while before he replied, "Oh yes, her father was apparently the city lord of the Solingrad city!"
Myne's eyes glowed as he spoke up, "Solingrad! But it's in the far reaches of the Northern Ice Lands... Back in my time, that was the name of the village of the Sol Warband, one of the most powerful warbands in the Ice Lands. I suppose they must've established the city later on... Still, I'm surprised that you're so well-traveled."
Zhen Shi shook his head, "Nope, I've never been there. I met Tsun Rou and that Saint Mud face close by. But they teleported away..."
Myne couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at 'Mud face', but spoke in surprise, "Teleported? This 'mud face' must have only been that City Lord's spiritual incarnation but was still capable of teleportation?
At the very least, he must've been a Lesser True Sovereign! Even I couldn't teleport us to Solingrad without a few months of preparation to create a teleportation formation!
Still, I wonder why he left that soul transformation idiot of that Xue Yue clan alive. He blatantly insulted this 'Mud faced' city lord, but was still allowed to live? How peculiar..."
Myne's eyes glowed in sudden understanding and spoke with a knowing grin, "Let me guess, were you playing around with his daughter? Isn't it obvious why he did that? He must've been unhappy about your actions and so decided to let you die!"
Zhen Shi grimaced and shouted, "FUCK! So I was right to be mad at that fucking mud face! He isn't any Saint, he is a Demon! Even Mud face is too kind, he is a true Shit-face!"
Myne laughed out loud at this statement. However, he turned around and spoke as if he was preparing to leave, "Well, anyways let the matter of the runes rest for the moment. I'm going to try to appease Vivienne and you should practice--"
Weng!
But suddenly his eyes transformed, and the darkness of his pupils spread out covering his entire eyes, resulting in a rather eery set of pitch-black eyes.
And almost instantly, his eyes reverted back to normal.
Zhen Shi asked excitedly, "Wait, was that your X-ray-fate vision? What did the words of fate reveal this time?"
Myne turned to him with curious eyes.
Nevertheless, he replied, "Ordinarily, I never reveal the words of fate to others. But since I only know one Zhen Shi, I believe this is completely related to you. So I will..."
As Zhen Shi listened with growing intrigue, Myne spoke out, "These were the exact words of fate, 'Very soon, the one named Zhen Shi will be granted the most valuable treasure of an Empyrean God. If he accepts, his path will change and he will reap ample rewards. But he will also face a penalty and close out the other paths... So choose wisely!' Bro, do you know what that means?" and finished with a question.
Zhen Shi innocently shook his head. He truly had no idea...
Myne nodded and muttered while in deep thought, "The words of fate are seldom this descriptive... Most of the time it's only a few words. The times that I have received divinations as large as this can be counted on one hand... This is almost a full-blown prophecy! And it's completely related to you!"
He shrugged in confusion and continued, "Not to mention that fact that it is supposed to come to fruition. It literally said, VERY SOON! So does that mean a god will pop up, throw you his most valuable treasure with a happy smile plastered on his face, and leave with a strut in his walk?
Or will there be an Earth-shattering battle that'll leave you with a perfect opportunity to gain the treasure?
Also what the hell is an 'Empyrean' god? And weren't the gods supposed to be unable to enter the mortal planes...?"
Zhen Shi was just as confused. He hadn't expected such a strange and descriptive divination from the words of fate...
In the end, he too could only give up and arrive upon Myne's 'wise conclusion' which was nothing more than a guess.
Unless...
'This Divination refers to the divine IOUs from gods! Could it mean that I will be granted the most valuable treasure of an Empyrean god? And it's supposed to be pretty soon too! But... what's the so-called mysterious penalty?'
Despite this new revelation, which made more sense than Myne's conclusion, Zhen Shi was still confused.
'How could Myne's divination be so closely related to myself? How could fate be interested in little old me?'
It was almost as if there was a cosmic force controlling the strings from behind the stage...
Immediately, Zhen Shi turned to the most obvious perpetrator and asked accusingly, 'SYSTEM, this is your doing, right?!'
System: ( ͡ᵔ ͜ʖ ͡ᵔ )