Extraordinary Voyage-Chapter 879 - 756: Coincidence and the Beginning of Action
Crackle, crackle...
The blazing white lightning pierced through the vast bottom of the clouds, akin to a furious azure dragon plummeting towards the inner ring of the Royal Capital of Ariane Country, but just as it was about to touch the ground, it abruptly shifted from extreme movement to extreme stillness.
The dazzling brilliance receded, and a tall figure floated gently to the ground like a leaf. It was a dignified young man in a red brocade robe, with sun-like radiant golden hair and a god-like majestic build.
"Your Majesty!"
The soldiers stationed in the city fell to one knee to welcome their King, with no one daring to inquire why the esteemed Divine Son returned early from Oyufemos Country or where his entourage had gone.
Their endless might, as radiant as the sun and as thunderous as the heavens, was unmistakable, leaving not a shred of doubt about the King's identity in their minds.
The Divine Sons often acted independently, so what was the fuss about this time?
It also spared "Ariane" from needless chatter.
During the few days as a guard, Aiven not only extracted the King's genetic information through the drinking vessels he used, but had already perfectly mimicked his demeanor.
"Hmm."
He raised his chin slightly and hummed softly, then proceeded directly into the Engineering Institute located in the inner ring, which controlled the majority of the Kingdom's technical documentation.
Faced with the scientists from the Engineering Institute who came out in haste, "Ariane" unyieldingly ordered:
"Bring me all the technical data on 'rune lock,' 'floating battleship,' 'single-person flying device,' and 'magnetic ore.'
Everything in this country belongs to the Divine Son, and no one dare refuse any form of his command.
"As you command, Your Majesty!"
Rustle, rustle...
Aiven sat in the chair reading the materials swiftly as if he were in his own study at White Swan Castle. Merely scanning them, his brain, akin to a supercomputer, had already recorded all the information verbatim.
The time had come to the day before the meeting of the Ten Kings.
On that shocking night of realizing the true relationship between this ancient civilization and the Ancient God, Aiven extracted all intelligence from the minds of the Ancient God's followers with minimal effort, especially from the well-known "Blasphemous Cultists."
As long as it didn't harm the Ancient God and the Church or touch on prohibited matters, limited information exchange wouldn't lead these utterly enslaved unfortunate individuals to instant death.
Through this, Aiven not only confirmed his discovery but also learned from their mouths that there were still three similar Epochs-preceding Civilization Remnant Races in the Broken Star Sea, all of them targets for the Ancient God's followers!
The task was to collect the nails of these Remnant Races as raw materials for a certain important project, though they were unclear about its specific purpose.
According to the Zorjin Calendar inherited from the Kuma Empire, from ancient times to now, those four civilizations were: Gendaya Civilization, Ehecoatl Civilization, Muriyan Civilization, Zongderilic Civilization, and the modern human civilization known as "Tonatiuh Civilization" last.
Combining their intelligence with his knowledge, Aiven had some conjectures.
The "Spirit Realm Tide" follows an epoch as a large cycle and the moon's movement as a small cycle, with each large cycle resulting in a drastic transition.
The deeper the connection with the Spirit Realm, the more severe the impact.
Therefore, during the change of epochs, the greatest effect was on the intelligent beings connected to the Spirit Realm through the sea of collective unconsciousness and the various levels of Extraordinary Creatures and Extraordinary world.
In the most recent one, the Civilization Main God "Ocean's Incarnation" Amphitrite was the first affected to such an extent that even her name had not survived. The True Gods with powerful strength, despite trying to save themselves, fell, slept, lost control, or fractured...
The middle-level, including Demigods, suffered the worst, nearly perishing entirely from the Extraordinary World. In contrast, some of the ordinary humans, the least noticeable, managed to escape, becoming the ancestors of modern humans.
Like a large enterprise gradually growing, when the building is about to collapse, the top management is the first to be blamed, and the backbone staff over 35, having devoted their entire youth, are too deeply rooted in the company.
However, upper management without direct responsibility could switch companies using their skills, abilities, and connections, with a chance to start over. The lower-level personnel could more easily find a new home, as their small vessels were easy to steer.
Both are similar principles.
Theoretically, the most orthodox and powerful current Civilization Main God "Primordial God" Tirentius is an impersonal god. Perhaps those True Gods who peered into history learned a lesson.
From the birth of life on this planet, genes have been unbroken, spanning from ancient times to now through the "Life Tree."
Humans living in modern civilization, strictly speaking, are also remnants, having gone through all the epoch cycles since the emergence of intelligent life on this planet.
But they were powerless humans at the time, unaffected much by the Spirit Realm changes, most likely those serving the noble citizens as a slave class.
As for these noble citizens and Divine Favored, living seemingly carefree, they also have hidden worries, and here is by no means a paradise to escape turmoil.
After helping Jelos out of trouble, it was the best plan to slip away early.
Although there's only a scanty introduction, Aiven still found some seemingly coincidental quirks from those lost civilizations, uncertain about their value.
He already knows his Spirit Realm Beacon corresponds to "Zongderilic Civilization: Poseidya City."
Olivia's Spirit Realm Beacon corresponds to "Tonatiuh Civilization: Chichen Itza Pyramid." The Kuma Civilization represents himself, while Tonatiuh stands for all civilizations of this epoch, including Atrean, Nimaster, and Anuma People.
It wasn't just the two of them. During exchanges, Aiven also found out that another inheritor of "Adventurer's Blood," Jelos, had his beacon anchor ground corresponding to the "Muriyan Civilization: Uruk Great Temple."
That means the projections from the Spirit Realm closest to the three recent epochs became the beacon anchors for the three of them, making it difficult to explain away as coincidence.
All of this ties into "Adventurer's Blood," into the "World Behind the Door," into the gift from "Ocean Goddess" Thetis, into some mysterious World Consciousness... there's definitely a connection.
Half an hour later.
Temporarily setting aside this intelligence, possibly topping the world in Mystical Knowledge, Aiven, who scoured most of the Engineering Institute's data and gathered plenty of "mountain copper," once again transformed into lightning, soaring into the sky.
"In the end, snatching is the only way to resolve the issue."
The data on the rune lock and [Key] was actually found earlier from Oyufemos Country. With no intelligent external enemies around, the level of defense for these things wasn't too high.
But it's like having the technology for an anti-theft lock in an apartment building; each household's key differs. Having the lock-making technology doesn't mean having the lockpicking ability.
Plus, working with souls, Aiven feared accidentally ruining Jelos and would truly end up having to craft a whole new one for Stephanie.
Technological insights from other countries didn't provide more beneficial references either.
The only path remaining now is to seize the key from Oyufemos through force!
Being the host comes with this downside: while others can occasionally go out to revel after acquiring a favorite dancer, he needs to stay behind and accompany most of the brothers.
The [Key] that controls all slaves hangs on his waist, and no one could steal it right under a Divine Son's nose. They, being Divine Sons, also don't require resolving personal issues. Throughout these three days, Aiven hasn't found a suitable moment to act.
Luckily.
After making the plan, he was already prepared for two scenarios.
Now, the closest stop to Oyufemos Country, Ariane Country, has become Aiven's final stop; previously, he secretly visited the other eight countries in various identities.
Since there's no chance, chances must be created.
Activating [Flesh Altar] with the life-energy-rich [Bronze Talisman] function, then using [Creator's Blood] to concoct, enabling large-scale troop production in a short period.
Every nation produced two hundred agility-type [Flesh Puppet: Assassin] with a life span of only one day in this short time, and special bacteria carefully formulated were put into the drinking water of every Royal Capital.
In this aspect, he was far more professional than the "Crowned Demon" under the "God of Rotting Flies," the "Corrupt Odorous Crawler." Non-lethal, but would cause unbearable itching special bacteria silenced and penetrated each resident of the Nine Royal Capitals.
Sufficient to create chaos forcing a King to act.
That night.
With one hour remaining before midnight on August 1st, also when the dinner gatherings were the most fervent.
With arms provided by Aiven, the seasoned military munitions dealer, the fully armed Stephanie and First Mate Lam were hiding outside the Grand Arena, ready to act at any moment.
After returning to Oyufemos Country and switching shifts, Aiven, consistently posing as Actaeon alongside Ariane.
He glanced at the ten Kings present in the round hall, particularly focusing on Oyufemos, the main target, then at the "Data Visualization" displaying time, gently whispering a word in his heart:
"Action starts!"
