Man on the ark, forced to become king

Without a doubt, Ursus's army is completely finished. No one lifted a finger; they all died at the hands of their own magic. From the mobilization of the entire population to the extravagance of the military, to the internal strife among the nobility, and then to the transplantation of demonic fragments... It has to be said that Ursus does have its own unique understanding of self-destruction, second only to Columbia, which is engaged in crazy scientific research.

Now, they've come up with something new, which is most likely something that has never appeared before in any country before.

War mages... This batch should also be a new type that appeared along with the new inner guards, otherwise, given the history of this type of soldier, it is impossible that no one knows about their magic.

Perhaps it's not something very new?

Anyway, Lin Lu felt a sense of familiarity with the thing below her, not in its physical form, but in a deeper, more fundamental way, like...

Lin Lu thought for a moment, then rubbed her chin with her free hand, reached out and pulled. Soft golden light rippled in layers, and a girl wearing only hot pants and a tube top was pulled out of thin air. Her neck was grabbed by a hand, her tail burning with small flames drooped, and her big purple-red eyes were full of confusion.

She was in a very relaxed state when she was arrested, and her posture was quite indecent, with her clothes being unusually revealing—although she was usually a little better dressed, she was now not even wearing shoes.

Fortunately, there was only one man present, and the rest were women of similar age... or at least they looked about the same age, so it wasn't too embarrassing.

However, there was still some awkwardness.

His purple eyes darted around, quickly scanning the crowd and taking in the surroundings. He grinned, revealing sharp little fangs, and his eyes narrowed, suddenly turning dangerous.

"If you don't give me a proper reason, you can imagine the consequences."

Anger doesn't always have to be expressed through shouting and yelling. Sometimes, the more silent and calm you are, the more terrifying it can be.

This is the current state of things.

Without even a word, they suddenly dragged her out of her house, carrying her by the arm. Doesn't she, the Goddess of Forging, have any dignity?!

"Consequences? What consequences?"

Lin Lu placed the glaring girl on the ground, completely disregarding Nian's threat. Not only was she unafraid, she even teased him, her face practically screaming, "Go ahead and bite me if you dare!"

"Humph!"

Nian snorted, crossed his arms, and sneered, "I'll tell Lani and Xi about this. You can just sit on the ice plains and starve these days. There's no place for you in the family anymore!"

"Theresia, you'll be on our side, right?"

"I didn't do anything, don't worry, I'm definitely in cahoots with you!"

Theresa nodded with a smile, but what she said made Nian roll his eyes, his expression almost breaking down. He poked Lin Lu's nose with his fair finger: "If you don't know how to use idioms, don't use them! Humph, anyway, you can go sleep on the floor!"

"Are you threatening me with this?"

Lin Lu reached out and pulled the girl's petite body into her arms, patting her head with a smile.

"Xi is soft-hearted and definitely won't play along with your nonsense. Besides, if you ask her to do that, she'll definitely be more than willing to go against you."

"..."

The yearling made a token struggle, wagging its tail back and forth, its face grumpy and speechless.

She had to admit that this despicable guy was right; Xi would definitely not do as she thought and would definitely go against her.

Ugh! How annoying!

"You think you can control me with this?"

Lin Lu smiled smugly, patted Nian's head, and manually turned her around to a different angle.

"I brought you here for a good reason. We've come up with something quite interesting. If you don't mind, show us its true form so we can compare?"

"My true form? I am my true form right now!"

Nian's voice instantly rose, and he glared angrily.

Generally speaking, the behemoth deities can only unleash their strongest power when they manifest their true beast form; their human forms are merely disguises to facilitate their movement through the world.

But the New Year and the Evening, which have been completely integrated into the Golden Tree, are not like that.

Their connection with the Golden Tree is very close. Their authority has been integrated into the Golden Tree's system, and they no longer need to rely on the bodies of giant beasts. After the plan regarding the Year was finalized, they completed the separation from their predecessors ahead of schedule, and recently they have completely separated from the Year and become completely independent life forms.

The power they wield now comes from the Golden Tree. Although they retain their former authority, strictly speaking, they are no longer giant beast deities, but true humans.

The original body is now nothing more than an unconscious shell, thrown into a warehouse to be put to use. There is no question of it showing its true form.

Of course, they can still manifest as giant beasts if needed, but that is similar to the prayer of the Crucible, just like Skadi's Crucible Orca, which does not have a physical form.

Having grown accustomed to the human form, Nian didn't want to become like that.

She had no choice before; in fact, she didn't think that look was particularly attractive.

"Uh, it seems so."

Upon hearing this, Lin Lu realized that there was indeed such a thing, and felt a little embarrassed. She quickly changed the subject: "If it doesn't change, it won't change. Look over there, doesn't it look familiar?"

"You rascal... what new gadget have you come up with this time?"

Nian subconsciously looked over and was immediately startled.

The giant Originium block lying on the ice field was still shrinking, but its complete outline had already appeared. It resembled a giant bear, but had three heads, a snake's tail, and an eagle's wings, like some kind of monster recorded in strange legends.

Metal fragments and stark white bones form the skeleton, while crimson veins cover the enormous body. Faint light can be seen flowing within them, eventually converging at the heart. Densely packed, grotesque human faces are pieced together to form a sphere, expanding and contracting like a heart.

It was still an inanimate object, but in Nian's eyes, that enormous Originium body already possessed a quality—the quality of a god.

Or rather, a behemoth.

A colossal beast bearing the name of a deity was taking shape before her, and she had no doubt that it might actually come to life at any moment.

Creating gods.

The first person I thought of this year was Lin Lu.

After all, in her mind, no one but the Golden Tree could do such a thing.

However, Lin Lu immediately dismissed her guess and shook her head.

"It wasn't me. It was the war mages of Ursus. They cast a final spell, wiped out their own army, and created this huge piece of Originium."

"We initially thought they had mastered the technology of artificial Originium or artificially creating natural disasters, but now it seems they're playing a much bigger game."

Lin Lu was genuinely surprised. He hadn't expected Ursus to be able to do something like this—creating a colossal beast deity using magical means. This was incredibly ambitious. Even Columbia, the most daring organization in the field of scientific research, hadn't dared to do it—or perhaps they had considered it but failed.

But Ursus succeeded, or at least halfway. Regardless of whether the thing could actually come back to life, they had created a body with the characteristics of a behemoth, and they hadn't even used any complicated methods—just a spell and the sacrifice of an entire legion.

Compared to what is gained, such a price is perfectly acceptable.

To be honest, he was somewhat tempted by such technology and couldn't understand how those Ursus sorcerers managed to do it.

If mastering artificial Originium and artificial natural disaster technology was enough to make the countries of the continent keep their eyes on Ursus, then the emergence of artificial gods would allow those countries to directly launch wars to seize them at all costs. Even if they couldn't do that, they would still destroy Ursus, which possessed this power. The Gallic Empire of that time was the fate of Ursus.

However, what is puzzling is that war mages should be a special force directly under the emperor, just like the inner guards. If they had this ability, why would the emperor need to be so careful and manipulative with the nobles in the country?

Even if they can't be used as combat power, they still have the means to perish together with each other, which is enough. They are not as passive as they are now, where a slight misstep could lead to falling into the abyss and being smashed to pieces.

What are they really thinking?

The more Lin Lu thought about it, the more he felt that Ursus was a country that was really hard to understand. The war with Colombia hadn't even started yet, but this country had already given him a big surprise.

"It is indeed a giant beast. There are some differences, but the essence is the same. I can't be mistaken."

In this regard, Nian was full of confidence. She had been a god for thousands of years, how could she possibly mistake something that was the same as herself?

But this thing...

"However, this thing should be unconscious, or rather, soulless. This is a very important point. Without this, it shouldn't be able to truly come to life. I don't know exactly what it will become in the end."

"A semi-finished product? A product with immature technology? They should be proud of themselves for being able to achieve this. This is no ordinary technology."

Lin Lu rubbed Nian's hair, lost in thought.

"Um...shouldn't we think about how to get rid of this thing? I have a bad feeling about this..."

Remianne said weakly, touching the pink halo above her head, feeling uncomfortable and extremely uneasy.

With women on either side of them...aren't these people standing here a bit redundant? She could even be a third wheel, which makes it even more awkward.

These women were standing right there, and they didn't even try to be discreet. How could they be so blatant and unaware?

In the delicate atmosphere, Remien thought for a moment, moved to the side, and hugged Fiameta, immediately feeling much more comfortable.

Yes, that's it, that's the feeling.

"what are you doing?"

Fiameta's attention was also focused on the massive body that was gradually taking shape below. Noticing her friend's movement, she tilted her head, her big eyes full of confusion.

"This seems to help me blend into the atmosphere better!"

Miss Angel gave a righteous explanation, only to have her hand, which was hanging on her waist, slapped away without mercy by Fiameta.

"Don't make trouble!"

"We are not capable of handling this thing."

Grandia was startled from her reverie by the commotion caused by the two of them, and wisely spoke up.

She glanced to the side and found that she seemed to be the only one who looked normal. Laurentina had her head down, seemingly lost in thought, while Skadi had her head held high, staring blankly in Lin Lu's direction with empty, vacant eyes. Her expression could only be described as eerie.

stare--

The atmosphere seems even more off now?

"Well, we do need to think of a way, but not to destroy it directly. This is a very valuable sample."

Lin Lu also felt the gaze piercing straight at her from behind, coughed lightly, and released her arms from Theresa and Nian.

He didn't think he had done anything wrong. What was wrong with being intimate with his wife?