Chapter 248: What If The Gods Returned?

’This guy is a walking disaster. I must remind all my descendants to never offend him, or once he grows up, he alone can destroy the entire country.’

Raiden was quiet for a moment before he replied.

"Me?? I am just a simple farmer; don’t mind me."

Then he asked the question that had been bothering him since the beginning.

"Please continue with your storytelling. Lastly, you also said something about the Ashen Ones or ’their protector.’ What exactly do you mean by that??"

Valcoric’s expression changed.

The playfulness in his eyes disappeared completely. His posture straightened, and his eyes became sharp, like someone who was marching towards his death.

"Shhhh," he said slowly, "some words hold Power, Divine Power. You shouldn’t utter them unless absolutely necessary." The guy spoke very solemnly.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Raiden felt confused.

"How much do you know about the Ashen Ones??" The man didn’t answer, throwing him a question instead.

"Not enough. Also, what do you mean I can’t say it? You are speaking their name very easily. Can’t I do the same? Say their name: the Ashen O—"

"STOP!!!"

Raiden jumped out of his skin after hearing the sudden shout from the guy in front of him.

"Damn it, brat, when I say, Don’t speak of their names, why don’t you hear me?!!" Valcoric had a half-scared, half-furious look on his face as he spoke those words.

"All right, all right, calm down. I won’t say them, okay?? But at least, can you tell me why?" Raiden asked curiously.

"I was getting to that before you interrupted me so rudely in between."

The man sat down once again before he started retelling the story.

"Some words hold divine powers unlike any other. The Ashen Ones is one of them. I am able to speak the name because I am strong enough to hide from their gaze. You are not, so every single time you mention them, you will inevitably end up attracting their gaze upon you."

Raiden felt dumbfounded after hearing these words.

"Damn, have you seen this about it??"

"Why would I joke about something like this, you fool?! I don’t have that wish. Hell, I wouldn’t even want to discuss this topic if I didn’t have to. It’s only because of you that I...sigh... just leave it. Anyways, where was I? Yeah, did you know that humans only occupy a tiny corner of this world??"

"I have studied about it, yes." Raiden nodded his head.

"So you should know what they call the unclaimed wildlands."

"The Ashen Planes," Raiden spoke very calmly. He had already made the connection before.

"Exactly. I’ve been sleeping for a while, so I don’t know how much the situation has changed on the outside, but remember one thing: rather, it’s one law of this universe that cannot be changed, no matter how much time passes: ’The Ashen Ones Are Supreme’."

Seeing the confusion hanging on Raiden’s face, Valcoric spoke once again.

"I think it would be better if I explain it with a story." Hearing the word "story," Rose, who had been sleeping coiled around Raiden’s neck, woke up and fixed her piercing eyes on the man, causing him to tremble involuntarily.

Taking a moment to calm himself, after a second, he continued speaking.

"Long, long ago, when there was nothing in this world: no sky, no land, nothing. There was just a single teeny-tiny droplet. The droplet of desire."

"The Droplet of Desire, the desire of what??"

"The desire ’To Be’."

Hearing these words, Raiden fell silent. He couldn’t comprehend it.

"From that droplet of desire arose the first being ever created in the universe. We called him The Ashen One. And that Ashen One created the entire world: space, time, planets, stars, everything. But even after creating a universe, he felt alone, for he was the only being present in the entire world."

"So, to fight his loneliness, he created beings, other powerful beings, the beings who shared his Primordial Bloodline."

"For a period of time, there was nothing but peace reigning on this planet for hundreds of thousands of years, until one day that is. One day, his own children grew tired of being stuck at the same level. They didn’t want to follow the status quo. They wanted to be strong, stronger than their creator himself. So they devised a plan:

A Plan To Kill The Creator God Himself."

Valcoric left its words hanging in the air as he gave a dazed Raiden time to think and adapt.

"They wanted to kill the creator of this universe??? Is that even possible? What happened next??" Raiden rapidly fired one question after another.

"Hell if I know." Valcoric shrugged in reply.

"Huh??"

"What do you mean, huh? These records are millions of years old. Do you expect me to have known everything that happened so long ago?? All I know is that all the gods, all nine of them, along with their creator, the Ashen One, were never seen again, and they left behind all one person to rule this world on their behalf."

"The bloodline of the descent of the Ashen One." Raiden finished his sentence.

"Correct. The Ashen Ones lived here, ruled over the jungle, and prospered for hundreds of thousands of years and grew into a big, terrifying family. Half of them live in the wilderness, still ruling over the Wildlands while the other half live in the human realm. For those who live in the human realm, they have a guardian with them: the guardian who protects the bloodline of the Ashen One."

Valcoric’s gaze grew complicated once again as he threw a glance at Rose, who seemed to have fallen asleep while hearing his boring story.

Raiden didn’t notice his gaze, or maybe he didn’t care as he fell into a deep thought. Talking with this guy gave him a lot of answers, but now he was left with even more questions than before.

Who was The Ashen One? What happened to him?? How were they connected to his family? What about the bloodline inside Sylvia, and why didn’t he have any? The deeper he thought about it, the more numerous the questions became.

"Well, that’s about it. That’s all I know, and that is all I can tell you. I have fulfilled my role and our bargain. Now it’s your turn to help out with my descendant." Valcoric’s voice rang out in his ears, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Of course, I will help her, even without you telling me so. She is my friend after all."

"Friends, huh... You are a good lad, so I’ll tell you some bonus information so you can be prepared for the future events. Do you think those gods that were created by The Ashen One- what do you think happened to them??"

"According to you, it has been millions of years, so maybe those gods are dead?" Raiden asked carefully.

"Are they?" Valcoric’s smile was thin and humourless. "Or did they just... Leave? Did they go somewhere else? And if they come back, who will be there to stop them?"

Raiden’s whole body froze as he heard it. He didn’t have the answer to this question.

He had a feeling nobody did.