Chapter 25: The Aika Clan

Walking into the palace, even without candlelight, the interior was as bright as day, for the four walls of this palace were constructed from spears, their sharp tips flowing with a cold light.

The dome of the palace was made of golden shields, and on each seat rested a set of exquisite and sturdy armor—a gift from the dwarves, prepared with Odin’s assistance, for the guests who arrived here.

Odin, as the Allfather, had a hand in most divine portfolios throughout Norse mythology, including war, kingship, death, storms, fear, wisdom, magic, and more, and he excelled at them.

For example, he could intercept the souls of human heroes from Hel’s grasp, gathering valiant mortal warriors and transforming them into Einherjar.

This magical palace housed countless Einherjar; in life, they were all extraordinarily brave warriors.

They didn’t necessarily have to be heroes; as long as they fought bravely in battle and died in war, they qualified to become Einherjar.

Odin established Valhalla to withstand Ragnarök, so numbers were an extremely important criterion.

As for quality, it could be compensated for through endless training over a long period of time.

“You humans truly are an excellent civilization,” the one-eyed old man spoke.

“You are truly worthy of me mobilizing the power of my entire kingdom to build this palace for you.”

“You seem to know a great deal.”

Li Ruoyi followed behind Odin.

Although Odin had used his power to heal his wounds, blood still trickled from his nose from time to time.

“But I don’t have that much time to listen to you right now.”

“Are you worried about your love up above?”

A strange smile graced the corner of Odin’s mouth.

“She’s not exactly my ‘love,’ but I must protect her.”

Li Ruoyi turned his head away, clearly a little embarrassed.

“Haha! Love is humanity’s most wonderful treasure, which is why I installed such a program in the Valkyries.”

Odin laughed heartily as he touched the tip of Gungnir to the massive metal gate before them.

The gate opened for him and Li Ruoyi with a tremendous roar.

“Rest assured, Successor; time here is completely frozen,” Odin said, walking to the throne at the end of the room.

“And opening that gate to the dragon’s lair requires the spear in my hand.”

As he sat down, a massive storm of magic power swept through the entire room, and countless images, brought to life by this power, formed incredibly clear projections.

This was Odin’s throne from Norse mythology.

Legend has it that this eternal king of Asgard sat on the High Throne (Hliðskjálf), from which he could see all nine worlds.

It seemed the legends were true, and perhaps even insufficient to describe the scene before Li Ruoyi’s eyes.

From Odin’s projection, it was clear that, just as when he had left, Rhein and the others were still far from reaching the Golden Gate at the end of the passage.

“I believe we have ample time to discuss the knowledge I possess,” Odin began.

He sat on his throne, his majestic figure a sight that all the words of the Norse language could not fully describe.

“First, I want to know what a ‘Successor’ is.”

“A question that gets straight to the point.”

Odin leaned back on his throne.

“It is a protection program established by Aztec-rethus of the Second Civilization, who believed that humanity is a civilization worth continuing.”

“The object of succession is the scythe in your hand—the End of the World.”

“You all always speak in such obscure ways, both you and Alestasia,” Li Ruoyi complained.

He sat cross-legged on the cold floor of the great hall, clearly thinking it would be tiring to stand while listening to Odin’s explanation.

“Then I shall first introduce the civilizations before humanity,” Odin began.

“This will be a story of an origin you have never heard, one that humanity cannot fathom.”

“So, you are gods?”

“No…”

Odin’s gaze turned toward the entrance of the great hall, as if his eyes were seeing into the distant past.

“We simply came earlier than you.”

“The First Civilization was a civilization from beyond this planet. They were the creators of the stars; they created this planet. Their history has always been shrouded in mystery to us.”

“Just as you know of Tiamat of Mesopotamia, Pangu of the land of China, or Brahma of the land of India, they all refer to them.”

“After creating this planet, they remained here forever due to hunger and became the Great Source of the planet. This is the origin of the stories of separating heaven and earth in various creation myths.”

“Their bodies transformed into seven successors; they are the seven gods of the Second Civilization.”

“Gods who came even earlier than you?”

Li Ruoyi found it somewhat difficult to accept the knowledge Odin was imparting.

In his knowledge—or rather, humanity’s knowledge—there was no history earlier than Odin.

“You could say that. In the Norse mythology recorded by you humans, isn’t there mention of the giants in Muspelheim?”

Odin tapped the floor with his spear, and a projection formed by magic showed a giant enveloped in flames, holding a massive sword.

“This is the fire giant king who brought about Ragnarök—Surtr,” Odin said, his eyes growing a bit hazy.

“And also one of the seven members of the Second Civilization who created our civilization, Surtr-rethus, who governed destruction.”

“So, the Third Civilization refers to the Norse gods?”

“It refers to all the gods in all the mythologies recorded by you humans.”

“We are the Aika race, the third highly developed ancient race to have appeared on Earth, active in the ancient era known as the ‘Light of Aika,’ tens of thousands of years before the rise of the most ancient human civilizations. We were called the Aika God-race by you, the earliest humans whom we supported.”

“Do you mean that Zeus of Greek mythology, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva of Roman mythology, and even the gods of South America and India are all your kin?”

“Yes.”

Odin nodded in agreement with Li Ruoyi’s point.

“We were simply the regents who governed different regions of the planet before you.”

“We, the Aika God-race, are the Third Civilization of this planet. We were the civilization created by the Second Civilization to help them manage the world. The crests of you magicians are the result of the Aika technology we developed.”

“Aika technology?”

Li Ruoyi was a bit puzzled; he found it hard to believe that the gods of human mythology relied not on supernatural divine power, but on an unheard-of, ultra-prehistoric technology.

“The magician’s crest is the most praiseworthy achievement of Aika technology; it is a device we researched that can be implanted into a living body to connect to the power of the planet’s Great Source.”

Odin pulled open his clothes, revealing his chest.

Similar to Li Ruoyi, there was a vortex mixed with lightning where his heart was located.

The gilded patterns on his body originated from that constantly contracting and expanding vortex.

“Then this heart—the Heart of the Human King—is also a result of that so-called Aika technology?”

“Wrong. That is the craftsmanship of Norman-mont-rethus, who governed creation in the Second Civilization.”

“Then what is this Fifth Civilization you mention? Us humans?”

“Correct.”

Odin’s voice was particularly proud.

“Over the past thousands of years, we discovered a simian civilization known as Homo sapiens. We suppressed the development of that civilization and very radically replaced the genetic makeup of a certain pre-existing primate on Earth to create humans.”

“And so, the Fifth Civilization—humanity.”

“You created us?”

“Indeed.”

The scene formed by magic changed once again with the tap of Odin’s spear.

It showed images recording the interactions between the most ancient humans and the Aika God-race.

“The form of you humans, a capable and easily tamed workforce, was decided by the Aika God-race council at the time.”

“We created you in our own image. We created you in order to survive.”