Mythology: Spiritual Ruler

The nine kingdoms are hanging on the World Tree, but they are not unconnected. Just like the famous Rainbow Bridge connects Asgard and Midgard, the human world, the Iffinger River is the boundary between the Aesir Realm and Jotunheim, the kingdom of giants.

In addition, Jotunheim and Midgard are also connected. It is a terrible iron forest that separates the kingdom of giants from the human world. Only a few mountain giants often travel between the two.

However, just as Ryan did not see the Rainbow Bridge in Asgard, perhaps it has collapsed due to the destruction of the world. And the unfrozen river Iffinger, now only has a dry river channel.

One side of it is still connected to Jotunheim, and the other side is the endless void. Ryan stepped directly into here with this old connection.

Standing on the edge of this broken world, he can even observe the collision between the fragments of the world and the power of Chaos, and obviously, the resistance of this world is already very weak.

"What is this?"

While rushing towards the extremely conspicuous roots of the World Tree, Ryan found some interesting things on the land of Jotunheim.

Unlike the man-made objects of Asgard, the giants of Jotunheim still maintain a primitive life. Therefore, from their scattered ruins of civilization, Ryan did not find anything useful except these in his hand.

A stone crystal, which looks a bit like a large heart, contains an extremely condensed earth element breath and some divine power.

It was buried in the ground, like a grave, but the energy it radiated was very conspicuous, so Ryan easily discovered its existence.

"This is the heart of a stone giant, a creation between elements and matter. They can be used as sacrifices, props for casting certain spells, or for other purposes."

"As a former giant, I didn't study this in depth. After all, this is the corpse of our kind. The Aesir gods in Asgard regard them more as decorations and honors to represent their military strength, with the exception of the gods of Vanaheim."

Although he was killed by the Vanir gods, Mimir still praised them highly. His head was able to remain alive after being sent back to Asgard, thanks to a mysterious spell.

"They have secret rituals and spells that even Odin would be amazed at, and Thor's power is helpless. Mjolnir's power is indeed unmatched, but his master knows nothing about these exquisite technologies."

"In Vanaheim, this kind of heart was made into a powerful puppet by them, and it became famous in the war with Asgard. But I don't know how they did it. Just like Odin has never been able to learn the spell of "immortality", many secrets of Vanaheim are not spread to the outside world."

Nodding, Ryan said he understood.

Puppet technology sounds good, but that's not what he wants. After all, what he is best at is creating life rather than sophisticated structures. If Ryan tries to make a puppet, he probably can't compare with the knowledge accumulated by others for tens of thousands of years.

He doesn't have the memory of later generations to refer to these special spells and alchemy techniques.

"I see. So, these are the hearts of the frost giants and fire giants?"

After flying for a while, special heart cores rich in elements and divinity are not uncommon here, and Ryan soon found two more.

However, the remains of the fire giants are particularly rare, perhaps because in mythological records, they mainly live in Muspelheim, the country of fire, and worship Surtur as their leader.

"Yes, it seems that you are very interested in them. Maybe I can take you to the place where the giants bury themselves later."

"Most of what you find here are heart cores scattered outside for various reasons. Not only are they few, but there are basically no remains of powerful giants after their death."

Without any sense of shame for taking outsiders to the cemetery of the same race, Mimir suggested on the side.

"That's great. After dealing with the problem of the world tree roots, we will go to the place you said."

Putting away the heart core, Ryan had one more goal on the road. Without deliberately taking a detour, he collected all the special crystals he could sense.

Unfortunately, in the realm of elements, frost giants can symbolize water, mountain giants and fire giants can symbolize earth and fire respectively, but there are few giants that symbolize wind in Scandinavian mythology. It must be said that this is also a big flaw.

After quickly passing through the sky, I don’t know how long it took. Under the guidance of Mimir, Ryan successfully found the target of this trip just below the main root of Yggdrasil.

However, just like the Urd Spring in Asgard, under the flourishing roots of the world tree, the famous Fountain of Wisdom was also not spared, and it even "died" more thoroughly.

On the barren and dry ground, the grass and trees have died. A little breeze blew, and the splashing dust made the sky more dim. A few thin dead trees trembled in the wind, unable to bear the trembling. The originally holy spring pool has turned into a dark pit, muddy and silted, and there is no bright water splash anymore.

A section of Yggdrasil's roots hangs over the spring pool, with bloodstains scattered on it. Perhaps in the distant past, Odin sacrificed himself here.

After coming here and carefully sensing the surroundings, Ryan couldn't even find the seeds left by the spring. There was only an uncomfortable breath dissipating in the surrounding air.

"Sir Ryan, the Fountain of Wisdom is spiritual. Perhaps in the previous disaster, it instinctively attached itself to something nearby and restrained its own breath."

Mimir's huge head reminded him.

"Maybe it drilled into this root system, or maybe it merged into the depths of the earth. It may take some searching to find it."

"You're right. In fact, I have found it."

Looking at the desolate and dilapidated land under his feet, Ryan couldn't tell whether he was happy or angry. Under the pit, there was a strange breath that was obviously different from the surroundings.

It was somewhat similar to the traces left in the Golden Palace, but it was also very different. Not surprisingly, it was the eye of Odin's sacrifice as Mimir said before. So Ryan stretched out his hand and gently waved at the pit.

The next moment, the mud rolled, and a white pupil slowly floated up from it and flew towards Ryan's palm. However, just as it was about to fall into his hands, something strange happened.

The dark pupils were originally scattered and lifeless, but in an instant they became condensed and crazy. Countless strange voices echoed in the surrounding space, and shadows rolled from the shadows behind Ryan and entangled him.

"Be careful!"

Mimir hurriedly reminded him when he saw this. He didn't expect this to happen.

He was just a head, and he had lost all his extraordinary powers. It was impossible for him to leave here alone. And this Eye of Odin, who had self-awareness at some point, was obviously not an easy existence to talk to.

"It doesn't matter. Its essence is very high, but its power is too scattered."

Faced with the sudden change, Ryan was not panicked. For him, it was not difficult to judge whether an existence was conscious. Although the consciousness of the Eye of Odin in front of him was extremely chaotic and evil, it was undoubtedly conscious.

The tentacles transformed from shadows penetrated Ryan's body from behind, but there was no sound of piercing objects. Behind the eyeball, another Ryan appeared quietly at some point.

He didn't even look at the Eye of Odin that was constantly emitting filthy spiritual fluctuations, but grabbed it fiercely in the air.

"Swish-"

The next moment, the eyeball in the distance was instantly shattered. It turned out that it was just an illusion. The real Eye of Odin was held directly in Ryan's hand. Because it was imprisoned, it struggled and jumped wildly, and a strong ray shot out from its pupil, but it hit Ryan's palm, but it had no effect at all.

Around it, blood vessels have extended out, as if they want to pierce into the body of the god in front of them and suck his flesh and blood, but this also failed and was easily blocked by the faint light on the surface of the palm.

But watching all this, Ryan's face has become serious. He can feel the terrible power hidden in this little thing.

It just hasn't been able to completely integrate everything into one, a bit like when Ryan just opened up the spiritual world in his early years, he gained a lot of power in a short period of time, but he hasn't digested these things thoroughly, otherwise Ryan asked himself, he might not be able to take down the other party so easily.

"What are you?"

Flipping the eyeball in his hand over and letting its pupil face him, Ryan asked slowly. In any case, it should be conscious, and with consciousness, it can communicate.

However, the result disappointed him. In his spiritual perception, the thinking of the Eye of Odin was still chaotic and violent. It had its own simple logic, but this logic obviously did not include communicating with the existence it regarded as food.

Around Ryan, the shadows also turned into various lives, rushing towards him fearlessly, and then turned into ashes the moment they approached his body.

Even if it was just an eye, the power it showed at this moment was extraordinary. If it was not in this world where the root collapsed, but in the world of Chaos, Ryan had no doubt that it could pollute millions of miles of land in an instant, and the rays in the pupils could also shoot down the stars.

Of course, that was before the birth of the law suppression of the present world. However, whether such a twisted life would care about the law is still a question.

"Do you know what's going on?"

After observing for a while, but having no clue, Ryan looked at Mimir on the side.

At this moment, this strange eye was still emitting various rays from the pupil, but only the spiritual rays were the most powerful.

That chaotic and crazy spiritual will reminded Ryan of Hyperion, the sun god who was transformed into a ladder to the gods by him.

".The final origin of the Fountain of Wisdom seems to have merged with the eye sacrificed by Odin, so it has gained endless knowledge and hazy consciousness, but this will never make it like this, because the knowledge obtained from the spring is orderly."

Looking at the Eye of Odin in Ryan's hand, Mimir was not very clear about this.

"Maybe this is related to the destruction of the world, Sir Ryan, this is the only thing I can see."

Said a lot, but it was actually some nonsense. What Mimir knew, Ryan could also see.

The Fountain of Wisdom probably has no chance to be reborn in the spiritual world, because it is now completely integrated with this mutated Eye of Odin, and is also mixed with other powers.

The spring water brought knowledge, and the eyeball that was originally used as a sacrifice for the owner brought sacrifice, burden and shadow. The last power of the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil brought life, and the external power distorted them together in the end.

Knowledge became crazy, sacrifice became killing, burden became depravity, and shadow was combined with life. One was activated, and the other contained curse and pollution.

And as a creation of the Nine Realms, although it does not have the immortal essence like Chaos's innate gods, the mixed power is extremely terrifying. It is suspected to be related to the death of the world, and therefore has obtained a similar status.

Immortality is the most basic characteristic of this level. The immortal nature of the gods is precisely because of the gift from the complete world that Ryan is helpless against it.

"It needs to be divided."

Whispering to himself, Ryan realized that it might be difficult for him to use this power directly, and he needed to use some other methods to deal with it. And the most important thing is that he does not intend to let the power in this eyeball continue to merge.

It is better to separate such a dangerous thing. If it is allowed to completely integrate everything, it may become a special existence that is a little higher than the powerful divine power. At that time, if you want to suppress and use it, you don't know how much energy you have to spend.

After making a decision, Ryan's hands immediately appeared black and white. The essence of [Reincarnation] has never been the combination of [Life] and [Death], but the transformation and cycle between the two.

At this moment, under his control, the black and white colors connected end to end, slowly leaving a mark on the Eye of Odin. From then on, it will continuously extract the power of its host and turn it into the power to seal it.

This seal is very rough, but it is enough to temporarily seal this awakened eye. As for more sophisticated seals, Ryan himself does not know.

"Next, it's time to cut down the tree."

Sighing, there is no doubt that in front of Ryan, the roots of the second world tree are not very alive, and everything it has left has been absorbed by the Eye of Odin.

Therefore, Ryan had no choice but to cut down the broken roots as before, and then put them all away. After all, even if it lost its vitality, it was still a rare treasure in the world.

"It seems that Yggdrasil is completely dead. Compared with these two places, the roots of Niflheim cannot exist."

Seeing this scene, Mimir also sighed. Compared with the two interfaces explored by Ryan, the main root of the Mist Country has been eaten by the poisonous dragon Nidhogg. Even if there is no collapse of the nine kingdoms, it is destined to be destroyed, let alone now.

"Maybe, but no matter what, I have to go and see it."

"And it is really dead, which may not be a bad thing."

Soon, Ryan collected this root.

"Time is running out. The progress of the nine kingdoms being eroded by Chaos should be almost the same. Unfortunately, I originally wanted to go to Vanaheim to see the top magic skills of the Nine Realms, but now it seems that I will not have this opportunity for the time being."

Lian's tone did not have much regret. After all, the nine kingdoms and smaller fragments were eroded and swallowed by Chaos, not directly destroyed. If you can't see it now, you will have the opportunity to see it sooner or later.

"Where is the cemetery you mentioned? Is there any valuable place in Jotunheim?"

"Of course, please follow me. In fact, in addition to the place where the powerful giants are buried, there should be something worth noting in the place where Bergelmir, the ancestor of the frost giants, lives."

Mimir immediately showed Ryan the way.

For the past tens of thousands of years, he stayed alone in the dead golden palace, knowing nothing about the changes in the outside world. But now it seems that there are probably no living things in the nine kingdoms.

Now the only thing he wants to do is to leave this dead place and go to the world where the outsiders are.

······

"Tear——"

There is no medium to transmit sound in the dark void, but the tearing sound is clearly audible.

On the dark blue fragment, a scratch appeared, and Ryan took a step forward.

"Is this the world where Sir Ryan is? Is this the beginning of creation?"

Having just explored two areas, Mimir floated beside Ryan. He looked at the quiet void and felt a little surprised.

Before, Ryan entered Jotunheim directly from Asgard, because the two had a connection before they separated, but if you want to enter the Land of Mist, you have to transfer in the void.

Therefore, Mimir still knows where the fragments of his country have come to. He thought that there was a complete world full of vitality outside the fragments, but he didn't expect it to be such a scene.

"No, this is outside the world. The real Chaos is not worse than the nine kingdoms, and it is even much larger."

Responding casually, Ryan glanced around.

The scattered fragments have disappeared, leaving only the main body of the nine kingdoms. However, the chains transformed by Chaos' rules are more dense, and I'm afraid the remaining ones won't last long.

Focus on Svartalfheim, which is where Erebus entered before, and is also the home of dark elves and dwarves (gnomes). They are good at forging and have a unique spell system. However, Ryan found that even through a barrier, he could notice that there seemed to be an empty space there.

Obviously, unlike Ryan, who was purposeful, the Dark Lord took the simplest and most brutal solution - he probably "uprooted" the places that looked valuable.

However, this also made him slower than Ryan. If nothing unexpected happened, he should have just left here, and his second goal

"Repeated?"

Looking at Niflheim, the Land of Mist, which had obviously just been entered, Ryan did not feel any urgency to be entered by someone first.

If he really came for treasures in the first two realms, then the last one was not. In the myths of later generations, it was because Nidhogg gnawed off the roots of the World Tree that brought about the Ragnarok of the Gods. Now the "Twilight" of the Nine Realms is even more terrifying. What kind of changes will happen here?

"World Tree"

Feeling the existence of the Eye of Odin in his sleeve, Ryan cut open the boundary wall and stepped into the Land of Mist.

No matter what it is, he must see it. Moreover, this time, someone got there first.

So the next moment, when Ryan stepped onto the land of Niflheim, what came into his eyes was the sky full of black and red.