Chapter 21 Return Gifts

"...Thank you for your gift."

It seemed like The Dark Overlord hadn't picked up on the underlying meaning of Laine's words; his expression remained unchanged. He simply paused for a moment before reaching out and accepting the point of light from Laine's hands.

Unlike the mythology of later generations, when the Master of Spirituality was born, no life would appear in this world without his permission. For every soul that exists must have spirituality, but not all that have spirituality must have a soul; hence, the soul is encompassed within spirituality.

In the original trajectory, even without the help of the Titan Iapetus, known as the Divine Child of the Soul, natural spirits like Nymphs could still be born into the world. But now, without Laine's permission, only gods could be the exception.

After all, gods are different. The structure of deity is very peculiar, and Laine didn't quite understand the mysteries within.

"What about mine?"

Nyx, who had been watching from the side, suddenly spoke up.

Laine was somewhat surprised. He had thought the relationship between this couple was close and united, as there had never been a tragedy like that of Gaia between them.

"Don't look at me like that," Nyx sensed Laine's surprise and explained somewhat discontentedly, "He and I aren't really husband and wife, those Divine Children are the offspring of our true forms."

"I thought 'The Foreseer' knew everything—"

Now Laine was genuinely surprised. Whether it was the mythology of future generations or the history that Laine had witnessed in this life, Nyx rarely made an appearance. His understanding of Nyx was more conjecture than knowledge.

No wonder the Twin Gods of the Dark Night seemed not to care much for their offspring, who never received the treatment that children of Ancient Gods should have. It turns out, in their eyes, these so-called 'descendants' were just products of their true forms answering the call of the world.

Having personally witnessed the personification of the Primordial Gods, Laine understood very well that for ancient gods who had already developed a sense of self, their true forms and their individual selves were not one and the same.

This is also why, although Ananke was often on Laine's lips, he never really cared about her either.

The three aspects of the Origin and the personified incarnation could not be equated. Nyx indeed could harness the power of destiny, but she herself couldn't see the fullness of fate.

"I'm truly sorry, this was my oversight." Without taking Nyx's sarcasm to heart, Laine used the power of spirituality to condense thousands more soul embryos.

He let these embryos drift toward Nyx, but in addition, mingled among them was a small glowing trinket.

Behind her ever-changing veil, Nyx seemed to twitch her mouth corner, but she still reached out and accepted them.

"Never forgetting to snatch from Chaos's hands," Nyx commented sarcastically again, not at all like an Ancient God, "You truly know how to manage a household."

"It's necessary if only the world respected the sovereignty of gods over their godhood, I wouldn't have to resort to this tactic."

Laine didn't shy away from his purpose, he intended to secure a portion of the Origin of stars before the collective God of Stars.

But this particular star was a bit special, so he hoped Nyx would personally hang it in the sky.

"Now, Mother Earth, the Sea God, the forthcoming God of Sun, and even the godhood of the Moon which I once controlled. Whenever I foresee them being torn apart by the powers of the world in the future, I worry about escaping the control of the world."

"Fortunately, I succeeded."

The physical stars would continue to be born, but their association with the concept of 'star' would be erased, becoming Lightful celestial bodies, corresponding to Coeus, the Lightless Celestial God.

In the present, starlight and pure light hardly differ, but in the future, Laine would personally endow them with distinction.

"But I could hang it later." Nyx said ungraciously, "As soon as the corresponding deity is born, your theft will no longer be effective."

"Yes, if that is what you plan to do, then please do as you like."

Laine spread his hands indifferently, not bothered by it.

Chaos' 'uncertain fate' was already entirely within the Spirit Realm. Not to mention the origin of destiny absorbed during the birth process, the Spirit Realm, even Laine himself, is a product that should not have appeared in destiny's design.

So if Nyx intended to wait for the corresponding deity to be born, she might wait until the world's Destruction and still not see it happen.

"Hmph!"

Nyx was somewhat angered, and she didn't feel the need to hide her emotions.

To the side, The Dark Overlord gave a slight chuckle, but he still spoke up to mediate:

"Alright, Nyx, since you're still here, I assume your thoughts are probably aligned with mine."

"Let's get straight to the point, Lord of the Spirit Realm. We want to know how you stole Source Power from the hands of the world,"

No deity wanted to be controlled, but before they simply did not know such an option existed. However, Laine's success undoubtedly showed them a direction, and that was precisely why Nyx and Erebus were still here.

They too wanted to follow suit and become gods beyond the control of the world.

"It's simple." Facing The Dark Overlord's inquiry, Laine was completely open:

"To possess a portion of Origin beyond the control of the world, link it with space-time and fate, throw oneself in as the very first matter, and so the world was born."

The void that carries the world, the matter that constitutes all things along with spirituality, plus fate, these are the four pillars of the world.

A deity's body can, to some extent, substitute for spirituality and matter, which was why the Spirit Realm was successfully established.

"The problem is, how did you obtain 'an Origin beyond the control of the world'?"

Nyx was unsatisfied with Laine's explanation; it was complete nonsense to her, like 'the three steps to put an elephant in a fridge'.

If she had such an Origin, why would she need to ask him?

"Then I have no way to help, it's innate to all. I was born earlier than all of you, and you know that,"

Facing Lady Night's questioning, Laine smiled and shook his head, "Why do you think, as one of the earliest Ancient Gods, my power is relatively weak?"

"It's hardly because the world finds me unpleasant; if that were the case, why would it nurture me?"

Nyx fell silent, having never considered this question before. But now, she realized that in Chaos, the mighty were not necessarily ancient, but the ancient were mostly mighty.

Erebus was also somewhat disappointed. If it was only related to the time of birth, then indeed, he had no solution.

Just as the Primordial Gods each have a part of the world as their very being, they can freely choose the degree of personification, but the later new gods can never achieve this.

So if Laine's uniqueness was also because of being born early, Erebus could only accept it.

"It seems we shall return empty-handed today."

Erebus sighed. He did not plan to be persistently annoying.

After all, once Laine successfully established the Spirit Realm, he was destined to become a being of equal standing. As Erebus mostly existed in his original form due to his degree of personification, he had no desire to do anything to Laine.

In the end, Laine hadn't stolen the dark Origin. Chaos belonged to everyone; what Erebus possessed was truly his own. This matter had nothing to do with him anymore.

Even before leaving, he intended to give a gift as a way to ease the awkwardness of his imposition.

"Prince Laine, I regret the disturbance today. To express my apology, I also have a gift for you."

Erebus beckoned with his hand, and a swirl of darkness appeared in his palm.

The dark mist churned and changed shape, but under the hand of The Dark Overlord, there was no chance it would escape his control.

Laine vaguely sensed that this might be an extreme form of emotion.

"This is my nephew's negative emotions. They shook the Origin of the world and led to the birth of many of my offspring."

"I had previously been troubled about how to handle them, but now, they're yours,"

Receiving the mist, Laine felt the most intense emotions of the Divine King before he was deposed.

This wasn't just negative emotion; it was the hatred of a father for his son, the deadly intent of a king towards rebels. Raw emotion isn't frightening, but when born at the moment of the Divine King's change, the already extraordinary became even stronger.

Such emotional power was indeed useless to The Dark Overlord; perhaps his children could use it, but Erebus clearly did not truly consider them his offspring.

As for Laine, once the Spirit Realm transformed these emotions, he could use them to craft a Divine Artifact or give rise to a monster that could threaten the True Gods. Faced with the twelve Titans, they might have a different effect.

"Thank you for the reciprocal gift," Laine said with a smile, putting away the mist: "This has truly been a pleasant meeting."

"Hmph!"

In response, Lady Night gave a cold snort, while The Dark Overlord met her with a smile. Regardless, what could have potentially been a volatile confrontation, ended peacefully in the end.