Throne of the North.

Chapter 774 The other half of the divine power that disappeared; the only thing capable of giving birth to spirituality is the human soul.

Regarding the past.

This wasn't the first time Ryan had heard that the Primordial Essence of the Old Ones still existed on his spiritual panel.

It was stolen from the ghoul Hobii. When they cooperated with Surtur of Twilight, they stole some divine essence, which is why the name appeared in the suffix.

The energy possessed by the gods is called Tai Su.

Just like water, which can be either saltwater or freshwater, so too does the concept of "plain" or "plain" water seem to have different characteristics.

[Eternal][Old Days][Twilight] Ryan believes that the latter [Twilight] may be of a slightly lower rank. It comes from Surtur of Twilight, but Surtur is not the only one in the Twilight faction.

The categories of the primal elements that appeared on the spiritual panel made it clear to Ryan that, just as there are different distinctions within the great deities, there are also different distinctions.

As for the same affixes, the blessings of "Giant Mammoth" and "Storm" are of even lower rank and cannot be compared with the previous few powerful affixes.

Ryan hadn't expected to hear words from the "Old Days" from these ravens.

What does "[the past]" represent?

Ryan asked curiously, and the crows, their eyes gleaming, spoke in unison:

"can not say."

"Hard to say."

"It's not good to say it."

With their terrifying intelligence, they had already found the answer they wanted from Ryan's reply.

“Stranger, do not call them by name casually. The fact that you do not know the answer to this question means that they are not dead. The sleeping gods are destined to awaken. We are telling you that you will be marked by them, which is not a good thing.”

Kledal thought for a moment, seemingly feeling that this wasn't a good idea, since Ryan had given them a lot of information, and then said...

Winter is not over yet; the wind and snow remain ever-present.

For a moment, the scene fell silent. These ravens simply wanted an answer, and as for Ryan, he seemed to have no idea how to continue asking.

The ravens possess wisdom and knowledge, yet they have no desire to know unnecessary information. Ryan's doubts about this world were also clarified by the ravens' few words.

Mikragard, the name of this world, lies beneath the North. The once-great continent has been shattered, and they fight against the northern winds and snow with boiling magical energy, preventing this world from falling into utter desolation.

However, the cost of this is rising sea levels and the tearing apart of the land.

They told the villagers that the mainland was too far away for ordinary people to cross, but in reality, this was to reassure them. If the common people had no hope, this "tribe" of a few hundred people wouldn't last many years.

However, from the perspective of these raven spirits, they were not actually lying.

However, their perspective is confined to the realm of the extraordinary. The land they speak of is not actually the continent of this world, but rather an alternate dimension. Due to spatial barriers, ordinary people naturally cannot cross the 'ocean of the void'.

The scattered islands are protected by wizards, or rather, the ravens of today, but they are practically worlds apart.

The ocean is vast, and the crows can fly extremely fast, but this is not an ordinary means of transportation. Normally, it would take at least ten days to reach another island where the crows reside from this island called the Blue Sea Islands.

This is unavoidable; the oceans in this world are not turbulent, and while there are no obstacles, the ships also lack power.

Moreover... this sea is not peaceful.

The boiling magical energy, constantly in a state of volcanic eruption, breeds many terrifying magical beasts in this magical environment.

After Ryan gradually came to understand the basics of this world, he began to think about his own purpose.

First, his need upon arriving in this other world was naturally for spiritual blessings. The ravens were cautious in their words and actions towards great beings, leaving Ryan unsure of where to obtain spiritual blessings. After all, according to the ravens, the only thing the gods left for this world was the raven bodies they inhabited.

The second objective, of course, is the population of this world. The rule of the population represents an increase in Ryan's spiritual balance, which is the foundation of his existence. He will never complain about having too many people.

Further down lies the resources of another world. It is a vast world with terrifying resources; otherwise, how could the land of the Frozen Territory alone support so many extraordinary beings?

Finally, the topic of conquest comes down to gaining the qualification to open the next alternate dimension.

In terms of priority, Ryan can only access the third option to obtain the special resources of this world, whether they are magical beasts in the sea or extraordinary treasures that survive amidst the boiling magical factors.

"If I were to buy those villagers from you, would you sell them to me?"

Ryan asked the ravens in this way, but all he got was a refusal.

"We need these people to handle the trivial matters for us."

Of course, the wizards couldn't do everything themselves. They were raven priests, not savages. Over the years, they had developed a symbiotic relationship with the villagers.

Otherwise, given the nature of the ancient wizards, a number of several hundred people would probably have survived for more than a year under their control.

"but……"

After hesitating, Kredar said:
“When we no longer need them, we can give them to you, stranger.”

Ryan's subordinates possessed formidable extraordinary abilities, naturally earning them equal respect, which piqued Ryan's curiosity.

"You've lived for so many years, how am I supposed to know when you won't need them anymore?"

Kledal glanced at Ryan, his gaze unusually wise.

“Young stranger, you don’t need to test us. We live not just to live. The great gods have given us bodies to inhabit and long lives, naturally for a purpose.”

"Your ability to open the spatial portal indicates that our Mikragard leaf has been rejuvenated and is making its final efforts. Since the space can be opened, it means that some forces that should belong to this world are about to return."

"What do you mean?"

"When the interplanetary war of the gods began, the great god of Mikragard, the being of wisdom and magic, had already foreseen the defeat of that war, so He stripped Him of a portion of His authority."

"To do this, He cut His own body in two, and the ravens we roost in, these immortal bodies, are formed from the half that He cut off."

"However, for great beings, the body is never their most important part; what is most important is always the source they possess, the authority in the primordial chaos."

"Half of His authority, or rather, half of His power, was banished from Mikragard."

"We suspect that He is using this method to leave himself with hope of recovery."

"We can provide half of your body."

Kledal pointed to his own raven-like body.

"If only the power contained within this half of the body returns, then the great god will be revived."

Ryan discovered that these ravens possessed a level of understanding of the gods that surpassed all other extraordinary beings on the continent of Norris. They were so close to the gods that they seemed to have absolutely no reverence for these great beings.

Krödl's tone remained calm throughout.

"So, you live only to wait for the world to return?"

Not entirely.

As a meticulous wizard, Kledal never speaks anything that is not absolutely certain.

"We do not share the same ideals."

"The Life and Gale Wizarding Cult I represent is waiting for this, but there are many ravens like me in Mikragard who may not be willing to offer this body."

“However, all of us ravens understand that this is unstoppable.”

"In the ocean of knowledge, we understand a principle: every seemingly generous gift in the world has a price tag attached to it."

"We have gained immortality, but the price we paid is to offer a flock of crows as a sacrifice someday in the future."

With a wise look in his eyes, Kledal said, “It seems that we live eternally in the body of the gods, and at the same time, we are also the bodies of the gods, maintaining half of their vitality through the souls of us wizards.”

"eternal life."

"It is a gift from the gods, but also a prison for the soul."

Ryan looked at Kledal curiously and said that they were wizards, but more like scholars and philosophers.

"Won't your minds become twisted over such a long period of time?"

Ryan looked at the villages in the distance of the island. If the lord who ruled the territory was mentally ill, these villagers would have been killed long ago.

"Stranger, what do you take a wizard for?"

Klerdar burst into laughter.

In our pursuit of truth and our becoming wizards, we long ago twisted our souls. We turned ourselves into madmen, creating within our own bodies to gain greater power. We implanted the scales of magical beasts beneath our skin, replaced our own blood with the fluids of dragons, and so on…

“You see us as ravens, but when we were human, we never looked like humans.”

"Beneath the skin of every wizard lies a disgusting monster."

"However... you're not wrong either."

"However, while the gods give us eternal bodies, they also deprive us of the spirituality that belongs to the human soul."

Ryan froze on the spot. Spirituality?
This was the first time he had heard the name of a spirit from anyone other than himself.

“What is spirituality?”

Kledal stared at Ryan with his vertical pupils, his eyes filled with a new kind of scrutiny.

"I am a wizard, a sage, assisting the great gods in wielding a sliver of the power of knowledge."

“Stranger, you can never hide from the embodiment of wisdom.”

"The fact that you can appear in Mikragad means that you understand what spirituality is, which is the knowledge hidden in the authority of the gods."

Kledal seemed to see through Ryan, but he didn't delve into it further.

"But don't worry, this has nothing to do with me."

"If you are fortunate enough to acquire knowledge and roam in the ocean of knowledge, you will understand that the more you know, the more torment you will experience."

"The human soul is insignificant; knowing too much is not necessarily a good thing. This is also the curse that the extraordinary world places on wizards."

"Spirituality can be said to be the origin of the soul."

"It exists only in the soul, a complete and independent soul."

"Within the World Tree Pan-Dimension, there is only one race that meets the criteria of being 'complete and independent'."

"Humanity?"

Ryan said that.

"Yes, humans, but that doesn't mean that life other than humans doesn't have spirituality. Beasts also have souls, but the souls of beasts are not independent and complete enough. Therefore, the spirituality contained in the souls of beasts is also fragmented."

"Apart from humans, whether it is a dragon or an ant, it is simply a matter of the degree of fragmentation. Even among plants, the same classification applies."

“Some special substances can be condensed into complete spirituality by collecting this fragmented spirituality.”

Ryan thought of the several spiritual plants he possessed.

What's the use of spirituality?

"do not know."

"Hard to say."

"It's not good to say it."

Several ravenous creatures fluttered into view.

"Then why is it that only humans can give birth to a complete and independent spirit? Is it because the human soul is complete and independent? Why is the human soul like this?"

Ryan asked a three-in-one question, which actually required the same answer.

This time, however, the ravens gave only one answer.

"It's not good to say it."

Ryan clenched his fists. When had he, Lord Ryan, ever suffered such a loss?

But he held back.

The presence of six legendary mage towers on these blue islands signifies that these six witch ravens were once legends throughout the long history of this world.

Moreover, this is not the most crucial point.

Most importantly, it's the knowledge they reveal.

"Do you possess a great deal of knowledge?"

“A vast, endless, multi-dimensional world, everything you know and everything you don’t know, above the dust and below the gods, all ‘knowledge’ is stored by the great gods.”

“We obtain the physical body created by His origin and grasp a trace of His authority. This is the key to unlocking the ocean of knowledge and breaking the seal.”

What librarian and His staff.

If having an elder in the family is like having a treasure, then now he has six treasures.

They know everything in the world, both extraordinary and non-extraordinary, from how rice grows from the ground to why the stars in the sky shine.

If I can suppress them, is it possible to gain access to the vast amount of knowledge in their minds?
Ryan felt that this was probably unlikely, because the ocean of knowledge was being manipulated by the power of their bodies, and that power was controlled by them but did not belong to them.

In other words, we need to find the great being of this world, then beat that 'He' up and make Him tell us the knowledge we want.

This……

"Young stranger, now you understand that knowing too much isn't necessarily a good thing, right?"

Several crows stared intently at Ryan; in their view, Ryan's mind was far too active.

"The more you know, the more you want to know. In this process, you will have countless thoughts because of the activity of your soul, and you want to find the answer to each of your thoughts."

"But with each answer you get, you'll think more, and there will come a moment when your soul can't handle the massive amount of pheromones."

"The human brain can die if it is overactive."

"Becoming a wise person is not so easy."

For the first time, Ryan felt that his intelligence had been completely outmatched.

Everything he did on this island, even the thoughts in his mind, were known to these ravens. They gradually made Ryan give up his greedy desire for the ocean of knowledge.

Is this the power of wisdom?

Ryan stared at the ravens, flames burning deep within his pupils, forming the outline of a dragon. His legendary aura spread, forcing him to communicate with them with a calm soul.

"Yes, that is wisdom."

(End of this chapter)