车生活

Atop Mount Othrys, Cronus returned to the palace, waving his hand to dismiss the Nymphs standing by.

On the day humans were created, many plants in the vicinity of Mother Earth’s dwelling were also bathed in the breath of spirituality. Their accumulation was already sufficient, but their spiritual power was still weak. Now that their deficiency had been replenished, they transformed and emerged one after another.

The Nymphs were born of nature; they had no divinity but possessed longevity. The gods were fond of these beautiful creatures and took some back with them, and Cronus was no exception.

This resolved an issue that had long troubled the Divine King—he no longer had to handle everything personally. Therefore, he slowed down the notion of bestowing divinity upon humans. Compared to now, Cronus planned to wait until humans died and then promote those he valued in the name of reward.

“You must have seen it, humans have learned ‘Sleep’ and begun to ‘Dream,’ and even that human leader has learned new skills in his dreams.”

“He calls that repository of knowledge the ‘Civilization Slate,’ which doesn’t seem like a natural creation.”

Behind the bedroom, the Heavenly Empress Rhea walked out slowly, her golden hem dragging on the ground.

“I know. It’s nothing more than someone else’s scheme, a shame I still haven’t seen through it. From his previous choices, humans themselves are not important. Or rather, it should be said that humans might indirectly achieve his some purpose.”

“Fate, what a mysterious power it is, always leading the gods on the correct path.”

Shaking his head slightly, Cronus reached out and embraced his sister, sighing deeply.

Nyx and Laine, the only two deities who presided over fate, were not at his disposal, or else he would not be so vexed.

The prophecy from the past and the curse from the Father God had never been cast aside by him; instead, they drove him to pursue power more urgently.

“It’s good that you know.” Nodding, Rhea leaned on her husband comfortably.

She’d just used an excuse to come over. Cronus’ attention to Laine had long been evident, and these humans, especially the first human, were always closely watched by him. In this regard, Rhea didn’t need to remind him at all.

Compared to human affairs, perhaps due to the influence of the Queen of Gods, she desired to bear their own Divine Children with Cronus, just like her siblings. But many years had passed, and due to his apprehension about the prophecy, Cronus had always refused.

But such refusal was meaningless; bearing deities was one of the responsibilities given to the Divine King by the world. Cronus could delay it with other methods, but only delay it.

“Do you think there’s something special about these humans?”

Gazing down the mountain, Cronus did not notice Rhea’s emotions.

He was pondering in his heart what he might have missed.

Creating dreamscapes, imparting knowledge—what could he gain from these humans, or does the fact that ‘humans gained knowledge from the Lord of the Spirit Realm’ have some special significance?

“Perhaps it’s purely for the dreamscapes, or the divine offices associated with that knowledge?” Rhea conjectured.

In the entire Chaos World, aside from the Primordial Gods, only the two of them knew that Laine could devour Source Power.

Among the other deities, even Hyperion, who had suffered greatly, only thought it was the power of two generations of Divine Kings that allowed Laine to take away the Moon’s concept and shake the divine authority of the Sun.

“Perhaps, at least ‘Dreamscape’ and ‘Sleep’ are indeed powerful authorities.”

“I even have this vague sense that the gods can ‘Sleep’ and ‘Dream’ now.”

Nodding, without any other ideas, Cronus could only express his agreement.

But he still felt that this wasn’t Laine’s true intention. After all, what did skills like smithing and weaving really amount to, compared to the real powers of a natural priesthood?

Compared to the power of a natural priesthood, human cultural priesthoods such as smithing and weaving were pitifully weak. Aside from some use in crafting Divine Artifacts, they were essentially worthless.

Even Cronus knew that beings like the Cyclops, even without any form of godhood, possessed the ability to forge Divine Artifacts, a power inherited from Mother Earth.

“To gift civilization with the ages, and to gift the ages with civilization… ha, perhaps he is more suited to be the God of Language than Mnemosyne.”

After laughing, Cronus couldn’t help but think of his sister, whose whereabouts were unknown.

There were rumors that she had attempted to visit Mother Night but, sadly, had never been received. It was said that she later visited the Abyss but ultimately dared not to take even half a step further.

The last time he heard of her was when Iapetus’ youngest son, Atlas, was born. She reportedly stumbled upon the young deity, freshly born just a few decades ago, and for reasons unknown, she was chastised by this new god.

Afterward, her figure vanished, and the gods heard few rumors about her.

“How about it, do you plan to look for her?” Rhea asked, seemingly reading her husband’s thoughts.

“There’s no need. Actually, it’s quite good for a deity like her to live in seclusion.”

“To have the noble status of an Ancient Titan God without the matching strength, and to top it off, a proud personality. In a world where new gods are emerging more and more, that’s not a good thing.”

Shaking his head, Cronus had not much to say about his weak sister. Besides, compared to others, he was more concerned about himself.

As the Divine King, he had already preliminarily possessed power. If he expanded his divine authority once more, claiming half the starry sky, a third of the lands, or a portion of the seas, he could truly solidify his standing in the realm of Divine Power Level 20.

But as for the authority of a Divine King, he was still far from it.

“The starry sky,” Cronus whispered, “be it the seas or the mountains, each has its Principal God. They have great power within their respective domains, but the starry sky is different.”

“In this world, there is no inherent deity born to rule the starry sky. The sun is the most powerful celestial body in the starry sky, but that doesn’t mean it should naturally be the master of the stars.”

If there isn’t a suitable reason, the Divine King can’t just directly move against his Titan kin; doing so could easily provoke the sensitive nerves of his brothers. But now, there was a suitable candidate on the Mount of the Gods. Through him, Cronus might also gain a following.

“Coeus has always been disinterested in power. Lightless celestial bodies are just like his godhood; he’s always uninterested in bustling places.”

“But, compared to him, Phoebe is not one to favor solitude.”

“Let’s go, let’s meet with Crius. The God of Stars is a common descendant of him and Hyperion; how could the God of Sun rule alone?”

“And as for his second son, Perse, I think the Goddess of the Morning Star would suit well as his wife.”

Cronus, arm in arm with his Queen of Gods, hurried to the dwelling of the God of Meteorology.

Though he knew that after the God of the Stars, Astraeus, and the Goddess of Dawn, Eos, had given birth to their offspring, Crius had already struck a deal with Hyperion—for the Wind Gods to belong to Meteorology and the Star Gods to the Sun—he did not care.

He believed that if given the opportunity, his brother would not mind either.