Monsters: Evolving from Titans to Ancient Gods.

Chapter 171 Rick

The bright morning sunlight shone down, causing the sleeping boy to open his eyes. King Kong's worried gaze came into view.

"...?"

"!!"

The sharp fangs and needle-like hair instantly startled the silver-haired boy awake. He scrambled several meters away, staring in terror at the black behemoth.

But soon he remembered that it was the giant beast he had released when he accidentally broke into the laboratory and tried to escape.

If he remembered correctly, it seemed that it had carried him out of that city?

Suddenly, the sunlight shining on his face was so bright that he felt extremely blinded. He had never seen such bright light before and couldn't help but raise his hand to shield his eyes from the sun.

But once he had fully adjusted to the sunlight, the scene that came into view left him stunned.

Looking up, the once dark and desolate view became bright, and sunlight shone on this world riddled with holes, making the fragmented surface and the warship wreckage buried deep in black and gray stand out clearly.

In the sky that was originally shrouded in dark clouds, huge celestial bodies lay horizontally, surrounded by colorful star rings, as if they could be reached out and touched.

"If this is the world, then our people will not be afraid of the orcs when they go out to find resources."

The boy's mood gradually became depressed. He knew that this was the sun that his father and mother had been talking about, a sun that even they had never seen and that only existed in legends.

But his tribe perished in the aftermath of the dragons' battles with other races, and he was the only one who survived to witness this scene. Thinking of this, his vision blurred again.

The enormous beast seemed to sense his sorrow, and came forward, sat down beside him, and also looked at the long-lost sun.

It recalled the happy times it had spent on the island, and then thought of the nightmarish experience it had recently had, and felt a little like crying.

"you're awake?"

A voice sounded from behind the boy, causing him to turn around. A tall man came into view. He was very tall, with healthy tan skin, short black hair, and an ordinary face, but he exuded a mysterious aura.

"Ma...la?" the boy asked timidly.

Mara nodded, handed the food to the boy, sat on the rock, and watched the boy wolf down the food. King Kong stood to the side, drooling over the food, but dared not voice his opinion.

Mara pretended not to see it. King Kong was not going to die now. As long as the divine species did not take action themselves, no creature could kill it, not even hunger.

Since I won't starve to death, I might as well just starve.

But the boy saw the expression on King Kong's face. After a brief hesitation, he shared some of the food in his hand with King Kong, but King Kong shook his head.

It hasn't reached the point of stealing food from human cubs yet.

Seeing this, the boy said nothing more and swallowed the food with water.

"Let's go." After he had eaten and drunk his fill, Mara stood up and walked out of the cave.

The boy trotted up to the horse, following its steps, and cautiously asked, "Where are we going?"

Mara glanced into the distance and gave his answer: "Let's see how it goes first, find a place to settle down, and then migrate all the humans here."

The boy nodded, not asking how to relocate the humans. He was a smart man and roughly knew what Mara was, so he quickly followed.

King Kong watched the two figures disappear into the distance, then thought for a moment and followed them. It knew its own limitations; if it were left in the wild, it would quickly become food for other species.

As Mara and the boy traversed the rugged mountain path, the boy cautiously revealed why he had ended up in the territory of the forest elves.

He was a member of a tribe that lived in the nearby area, but his tribe was recently destroyed in the aftermath of a war between higher races, and he was the only survivor.

It appeared to be a group of dragons fighting against a superior race that looked like humans.

When he woke up, he was rescued by people from another tribe. During one of his outings, he was captured by the forest elves and taken to the forest, but for some reason, his shackles were removed. While escaping, he accidentally entered the laboratory where King Kong was.

Knowing he couldn't escape the forest elves' territory, he tried to rescue King Kong, but the price was that he was almost killed by the defensive spells.

Then came his encounter with Mara.

Mara looked thoughtfully in a certain direction upon hearing this, then asked, "Are you Rick?"

This information made Mara realize that this boy was very likely the protagonist of this era.

"Yes." The boy nodded obediently. As a god, it was not strange that he knew his own name.

Mara nodded. That explained it. No wonder a machine and an unborn god had recently appeared beside Rick.

Rick's escape from the prison was probably done by the machine-type creature that was constantly tracking him. His ability to release Kong, who was imprisoned by a powerful individual of the Forest Elf, and to escape alive was also undoubtedly thanks to that machine-type creature.

The Machine Race ranks tenth among the fifteen races, but their combat power is exceptionally strong, and even the Skywing Race would never provoke them.

Attacking a single individual is tantamount to declaring war on all mechs, inviting a swarm attack.

They are a standard mechanical civilization, sharing data and energy. Given enough computing power, they can even analyze the techniques of all races, including gods.

Defense, analysis, sharing, and counterattack are their standard battle plan. Once a move is used on one type of machine armor, all types of machine armor can use the same move and analyze its weaknesses.

Although it may not be as powerful as the original, it's not surprising that with such precise and efficient calculations, it can use a move even better than the original user.

Fighting them usually results in having all their skills stripped away, and there's a very high chance of losing and dying on the spot. So basically, no race wants to provoke them, allowing them to become neutral races.

They were the creations of the first divine species to be born—the God of Doubt—to answer their own questions.

However, because the machine beings at that time were too intellectually challenged, they were unable to answer God's questions, which caused the initial God to become withdrawn and then commit suicide, entering a long process of rebirth.

The god of doubt was not only the first god to be born, but also the first god to die. He died from excessive boredom, which led to his autism, and he then chose to commit suicide.

Mara led Rick on a journey through the wilderness, covering a long distance. Rick was very curious about this unfamiliar world.

However, as evening approached, Rick noticed that the clouds in the sky were gathering again, and faint traces of blackish-gray were gradually appearing in the sky.

Clearly, the sun's brilliance cannot shine on the world forever.

After a brief moment of thought, Rick finally asked Mara, the instigator, "Is it really impossible for the sun to exist for a long time?"

To this, Mara gave His answer: "There is no way. Tens of thousands of years of war have changed the planet's environment and climate, but if necessary, I can find a suitable area and leave a permanent gap in the clouds so that the sun can be seen at a specific time."

This planet is at the center of the universe, very close to the Star Cup, the origin of all things. It is not easy to have a permanent impact on the entire planet; only those who obtain the Star Cup have such power.

A wisp of black ash drifted down from the sky and landed in Rick's hand, startling King Kong behind him. But when he saw that Rick's expression hadn't changed, he became puzzled.

Rick was somewhat surprised by this, but he quickly realized what was going on.

Only the divine race could grant humans the ability to be immune to the harm caused by the remains of the dead; this must be the great power of Mara!

And that is indeed the case. This was just a small modification that Mara made to Rick and King Kong. Rick's potential is far from over, and he has a long road ahead of him.

This is also why Mara wanted to gather all of humanity. Mara could modify them to some extent, giving them power as well. Although it was different from Rick's modification, it was still powerful enough to be called so.

As for why we should do this?

Mara stated that what He is now carrying out is revenge for humanity, not for Himself; much of the hatred must be repaid by humanity itself to the races that have inflicted harm.

Only in this way can Mara gain the greatest power from the concept of revenge.

In addition, he needs some time to digest the power he stole from the Forest God.

The authority of life was the most suitable authority for Mara, but unfortunately, He was born tens of thousands of years earlier than Mara, which prevented Him from receiving this initial power.

Mara even wondered if, if he were to actually receive the power of life, the divine name he would receive would become Nag.

But that's alright, His adaptability to the authority of life is still very high, and it may not be impossible to digest it completely after a period of time.

As for the authority of other divine species, Mara said there was absolutely no need to seize it; it would be faster to directly seize the Star Cup than to digest that authority.

But before that, we need to find a way to restore ourselves to Titan-level form.

Mara, who had been a giant creature for nearly a thousand years, felt very awkward and uncomfortable with the human body shape and perspective.

He couldn't even stand this feeling after being a giant creature for a thousand years. I really don't know how Ultraman, who has lived for tens of thousands of years, adapted to their human form.

Under the setting sun, two figures, one large and one small, walked slowly, casting huge shadows. Even the approaching, perilous night could not stop them.

And behind them.

The girl's posture machine, Uc207Pr4f57t9, stood atop the mountain, taking in Rick's silhouette from afar.

She remained silent for a moment, her eyes scanning the torrent of data as she calculated the potential consequences of continuing. In the end, she ignored the warnings and quietly followed.

On the other side, a faint figure stood, the God of Games gazing at the boy, inexplicably feeling that something he had coveted had been taken away.

Chapter 172 The Elf Corridor and the Soul of Vengeance

At the edge of the continent, Mara, Rick, and King Kong stopped and stood before the plain nestled against the mountain, taking in the view of the plain below covered in black ash.

"Let's do it here."

Mara glanced around at the surroundings. The environment here was relatively suitable, and it was located at the intersection of human settlements across the entire continent.

Choosing this location allows for the gathering of people in a relatively short time.

As Mara stopped, Rick nodded, seemingly understanding.

Rick and Mara had different ideas. He thought the plains here had water sources and the mountains behind them were complex and connected by many canyons.

If humans lived here, they could grow crops in the secluded canyon and feed more people.

If attacked by orcs, they can escape to the canyon, using the terrain to limit the orcs' pursuit and attacks, allowing more of their people to escape.

This was the survival knowledge that Rick's father and the previous tribal chief who adopted him had taught him, or more precisely, the knowledge that a leader must possess.

Everyone could see that Rick was intelligent and suitable to be the next tribal leader, leading humanity to continue its miserable existence.

As Mara and Rick approached, an invisible wave spread in all directions, and the dark gray carpet on the ground melted away at a visible speed.

As the horse's footsteps fell, plants sprouted from the black and gray earth, revealing their tender branches and adding a touch of vibrant green to the land, symbolizing life.

Looking up, the scarred earth sprouted new plant buds one after another, the mottled green gradually spreading and growing at an extremely fast speed. In just a moment, it had grown to above ankle height and showed no signs of stopping.

Mara had by this point begun to take control of the power of life, and it was not difficult for him to do these things by virtue of that power.

Mara needed to restore a land where humans could settle, and without this authority, it would not be easy to feed all the humans even if they were moved there.

This is also why Mara went to the forest and killed the forest god as soon as he was born.

King Kong bent down and carefully looked at the sprouting plants. Never before in his life on Skull Island had he felt such curiosity about plants.

Rick found it unbelievable, but he quickly accepted it; for the divine race, these things were nothing.

Now, his most important task is to figure out how to explain all this when people from all over the world come here.

How can he explain to humanity that humans also have gods who can provide them with safe havens, so they no longer need to wander and worry about what they will eat next?