Chapter 47
Translator: 549690339
In the great hall, Nereus continued to express his opinion.
Many deities actually didn’t care about the ownership of souls, and they didn’t understand the value of souls either. It was simply out of a mentality that they didn’t need to give anything, so they chose to wait and see how things unfolded.
Moreover, it must be said that Nereus’s subsequent views, at first glance, seemed to have some merit.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the soul is merely a creation of authority and is not some precious thing. To Prince Laine, it is like the sea water to me, or the rocks to Princess Ourea, inconsequential in themselves, as long as we don’t create too many, there is no burden.”
“Furthermore, I have heard that Prince Laine also possesses the Godhood of Memory? From this perspective, the souls of creations should belong to each deity themselves.”
A few heads nodded slightly, and, at least for the latter point, quite a number of gods showed agreement.
The souls of all beings contain memories, and no god wanted their secrets to be known by others. Perhaps, in an inadvertent moment, they might discuss something in front of a mortal that should not be known to them.
“But you can bestow divinity.”
Listening to the gods’ discussion, the Goddess of Justice spoke up.
“Letting too many creations be immortal is a burden for gods, but it is different for just a few.”
“As long as those selected by you to be immortal, the issue of souls returning wouldn’t exist.”
Faced with Themis’s suggestion, the gods fell silent. It wasn’t that they all hadn’t thought of this, but the few who did never pointed it out, after all, it wasn’t their souls that were being offered.
“Let’s try again.”
In the end, a deity proposed: “It’s just some souls; maybe Prince Laine will change his mind?”
This suggestion was met with agreement by some deities, and many more chose to give tacit consent. But this time, Iapetus refused to go again.
He had already served as an envoy once and had obtained a not-so-bad result, so the gods didn’t force him and instead sent Zephyrus, the God of West Wind.
Although the Wind Gods and the Star Gods were siblings, the bond of blood in the Chaos World was honestly not held in high regard by many gods. Compared to their maternal side, they were closer to Crius, the controller of meteorology, so even though the progeny of the Star Gods had followed Hyperion back to the Sky, the four Wind Gods still chose to stay behind.
Zephyrus accepted the mandate and immediately set out. He transformed into an invisible current of air, rushing through the crevices of the earth toward the Underworld. But this time, after more than half a month, when the Wind God returned, he was furious, stating that no deity had paid him any heed.
He had stayed in front of the Nether Moon for over a dozen days, exhausting every method to try to find an entrance to the Spirit Realm, but the result was obvious, so he had to return the same way he came.
“There’s no need to send anyone again.” The Divine King finally spoke; he had known it would come to this.
Only these foolish beings would think that Laine was willing to bestow souls upon life because of the gods’ requests. Since Themis had seen the lives in the Spirit Realm, he himself had begun to doubt it.
Laine was pleased to witness the emergence of life, Divine King was sure of that, but he most definitely had other desires, yet Cronus just watched the futile actions of the gods. Now, seeing the Wind God return without achievement, Cronus couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of pleasure.
Only the wisdom of the Divine King could uncover the true nature of certain gods, not like the others, who still didn’t know that some gods can devour the origin.
If Laine were here, he would tell Cronus, this is a sense of superiority akin to ‘everyone is drunk and I alone am sober, the whole world is muddled and I alone am clear.’
“The Master of Spirituality should rightfully possess the ownership of souls; it is a right granted by his Godhood.”
Casting his gaze over the gods, Cronus said unhurriedly:
“So if no one is willing to try and use his ‘power’ to change this outcome, then let it be settled as such.”
“In five hundred years, we shall together seek the Life Vase from Mother Earth, use it to create the bodies of beings, and then have Prince Laine bestow souls.”
“So be it,” Oceanus sighed.
Although he was also interested in the soul, it wasn’t enough for him to do something about it. After all, he wasn’t very clear about the true significance of the soul’s existence.
As for what Cronus mentioned about five hundred years later, that did not surprise him. The son of the God of Sun was destined to replace him in moving the Sun; this was already a foregone conclusion. Though everyone knew that even after five hundred years, Helios would still be no match for his father, it seemed likely that the Divine King was planning to take this opportunity to do something.
Among the many children of the father of star gods, God of Meteorology Crius, was his eldest son, Astraeus. If the King of All Gods were to enlist another God of Sun under his command, even the other Titans would have to acknowledge his qualification to intervene in the celestial space.
“Let it be decided thus.”
“We shall each create the life we desire and possess its entirety.”
“Those gods of the land shall create that of the land, those gods of the sea shall create that of the sea, with each minding their own business.”
The deities nodded in agreement. Neither the King of All Gods nor the Ocean Deity Sovereign wished to take the lead, and naturally, the rest were not inclined to undertake any superfluous actions.
With the matter of life decided, the feast was also drawing to an end. But at the last moment, a proposal by Cronus piqued the interest of the gods.
He proposed the creation of a special species, similar to deities, yet lacking divinity.
“Your Majesty, is it really necessary to combine the forces of all the gods to create a species?”
“Of course, it is,” Cronus said with a smile. “I intend to create a race in the image of the gods, one that worships us.”
“Even with the Life Vase, none of us are deities skilled in creation; no one could accomplish such a feat alone. But together, we can bring such life into being.”
“I agree,” Iapetus was the first to support the idea.
He had initially proposed the concept of creating life because his power was negligible among the gods. Rather than assert his authority before a host of bizarre and peculiar forms of life, he preferred the existence of creatures similar to himself but significantly weaker.
“Creating life like ours, would that not undermine the dignity of the gods?” a deity questioned.
“No, they will ‘die,’ but we will not. Although I have never seen what ‘death’ is,” Rhea, the Heavenly Empress, said, causing the gods to nod in agreement. This Goddess scarcely spoke, but since it was her husband’s proposal, she lent her support.
Cronus looked around at the gods with satisfaction and nodded. Regardless of Laine’s thoughts on ‘spirituality’, filling the earth with life under his rule would also serve to elevate his position as the King of All Gods.
Themis’s actions provided him with some inspiration. Although that individual who resided in the Spirit Realm was full of schemes and plots, as long as they were not aimed at him, he could still benefit from them.
Regarding his final proposal, in this regard, he in fact was on the same page as Iapetus.
As the King of All Gods, his status among the deities was still inferior to that of the Ocean Deity Sovereign and his two uncles. Even if the godhood of the God of Sun had not been divided and Theia was a few years away from a significant divine power, even Hyperion would have a more prominent presence than him.
In such a context, creating beings similar to the gods, and watching them worship him could also be a choice.
On the other hand, his Divine Palace was also in need of other life forms. Like now, having to personally take care of presenting food and nectar, Cronus likewise hoped for some creatures aligned with the gods’ aesthetics to take care of these menial tasks.
“Since no one objects,” Cronus concluded, “let’s draw today’s gathering to a close.”
“In five hundred years, any deity interested in this matter can head to the shores of the East Sea and then together visit Mother Earth.”
“Creating life is no simple task, and I guess you all will need some time to prepare.”