Chapter 295: The Origins of the Human God, and the Mystery of Rudeus and Wood's Birth

When Rudeus looked at the pixelated face of the "Human God," his instincts told him not to trust this being.

Due to a misunderstanding, Rudeus found himself captured by the beastfolk for committing the supposed crime of molesting the "sacred beast."

Although the misunderstanding was eventually cleared up, Rudeus still had to endure some hardships because of it.

This incident made Rudeus start to believe that although the "Human God" didn't seem like a good person, some of what he said might be true.

At the very least, the "all-knowing" claim appeared legitimate, and it was possible the "Human God" had some sort of special ability, perhaps something like foresight.

After a few more encounters, Rudeus began to believe in the "Human God's" omniscient abilities. When he felt utterly lost, Rudeus finally reached out to the "Human God" for help, asking how he could find his family.

Seeing Rudeus take the bait, the "Human God" was inwardly delighted. To avoid arousing suspicion from the ever-cautious Rudeus, the "Human God" planned to offer him the most effective solution on his first plea for assistance, hoping to secure Rudeus' complete trust.

However, when Rudeus mentioned his younger brother, Wood Greyrat, and asked for his whereabouts, the once-confident "Human God" froze completely...

No, it was more like he was utterly dumbfounded.

That's because the "Human God" had no idea who this Wood Greyrat was! In all the futures he knew, there was no trace of such a person!

The so-called "Human God" was certainly not a benevolent entity. This being, known as Hitogami, was a mysterious figure with an unclear origin.

After the death of the Creator God in the void, Hitogami found and claimed the void for himself. He absorbed the remaining power of the Creator God's corpse, replacing the weakest of the gods, the Human God, or rather, he consumed the original Human God and gained divine power in the process.

Hitogami's goal was to become the one and only god in the world, but for that to happen, the other powerful gods stood in his way.

The greatest of these obstacles was the "Dragon God," the strongest of the gods, who was Hitogami's primary rival.

In order to achieve his goal, Hitogami plotted to kill the Dragon God's wife, framing the four realms of the Beasts, Seas, Sky, and Demons for the crime, hoping the Dragon God would destroy those realms in retaliation.

Following this, Hitogami sowed discord between the Dragon God and the Five Dragon Generals, eventually causing four of the Dragon Generals to fight the Dragon God. In the final battle, Hitogami ambushed the first Dragon God, leading to the destruction of the Dragon Realm.

In his dying moments, the first Dragon God sealed Hitogami in the void, only accessible with a secret treasure of the dragon race.

Because of this deep-seated hatred, each successive Dragon God became the eternal enemy of Hitogami.

Hitogami's power was rooted in the "laws of the world," granting him an exceptionally strong ability to foresee the future, allowing him to see the fates of up to three people at once.

While he could not foresee the futures of the Dragon God or those who possessed certain secret treasures, he could see the futures of others, which allowed him to masquerade as an "omniscient and omnipotent" being.

As for why Hitogami targeted Rudeus, there was a specific reason for that too.

Hitogami's future vision allowed him to see countless timelines, and in all of them, he eventually triumphed over the Dragon God.

That is, until Rudeus—an anomaly—appeared, which caused the "future" Hitogami knew to shift dramatically.

In the future that Hitogami had previously foreseen, Zenith and Paul were never supposed to have a son named Rudeus Greyrat. Rudeus was a child who was meant to die young.

However, since Rudeus was a reincarnator, he survived when he was supposed to perish, and what's more, he unknowingly inherited part of the power of the Demon Dragon King, Laplace, further preventing Hitogami from controlling his fate.

Laplace was another key figure in this saga. He was the adopted son of the first Dragon God, one of the original Five Dragon Generals. But after Hitogami's schemes, the Dragon God destroyed the four realms, and the Dragon Generals turned against their master.

The battle between the Dragon Generals and the first Dragon God resulted in the Dragon Realm's destruction. Laplace, who was the only one to uncover the truth, survived.

However, during the second war against Hitogami, Laplace fell, and his soul split into two parts. One part became the present-day Technique God, the strongest among the Seven Great Powers—Laplace.

The other part of his soul ended up in the countryside where Zenith and Paul were hiding.

As a result, the unborn children of that village, including Rudeus, Wood, and Sylphie, inherited the "Laplace Factor."

The Laplace Factor granted them unparalleled talent in magic and immense magical reserves, even allowing them to perform chantless magic.

However, due to the influence of the Laplace Factor, Wood and the others were unable to generate battle aura.

In short, Hitogami was the villain in this grand scheme. His ambition to become the sole god drove him to deceive the Dragon God into destroying the four realms and later cause the Dragon God's followers to turn against him, resulting in the destruction of the Dragon Realm.

As for how Hitogami managed to deceive the first Dragon God, it was quite simple—Hitogami was the Dragon God's father-in-law.

The woman Hitogami manipulated the first Dragon God into killing was actually his own daughter!

Now, with the realms of Beasts, Seas, Sky, Demons, and Dragons destroyed and the first Dragon God dead, the only thing left for Hitogami to do was to break the seal, at which point he would become the world's one true god.

In all the futures Hitogami had foreseen, the current Dragon God wasn't a match for him. That was, until Rudeus, who was never supposed to exist, appeared.

Hitogami believed Rudeus was the key. If he couldn't eliminate Rudeus, then his only option was to slowly manipulate him into standing against the Dragon God, just as he had once tricked Laplace and the other Dragon Generals into opposing the first Dragon God.

However, when Hitogami tried to use his future sight to gain Rudeus' trust, Rudeus' first question threw him completely off balance.

In the futures that Hitogami had foreseen, Rudeus was not supposed to survive. Yet in this timeline, Rudeus had lived.

That wasn't too much of a problem, though. Despite Rudeus being an anomaly, Hitogami had a good idea of why Rudeus was imbued with such strong destiny.

Even though Rudeus was special, Hitogami could still see his future, which allowed him to offer Rudeus useful advice in the past.

But when it came to Wood Greyrat, there was no sign of him in Rudeus' future.

There were only two possible explanations for this. First, Wood Greyrat might have already died, which would explain his absence from Rudeus' future.

The second possibility was that no such person as Wood Greyrat existed in the world at all.

However, based on what Hitogami had gleaned from Rudeus' memories and the information from Eris and others, it was clear that this Wood Greyrat was real.

And what's more, from what Hitogami could see in Rudeus' memories, Wood—Rudeus' younger brother—was somehow even more extraordinary than Rudeus himself!

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P/S: If you are interested, you can read up to chapter 400+ at p@treon.com/Betek (@->a)