He was imprisoned in Nibelungen for a thousand years, only to find out upon his release that he was

"...More than that."

It can't be simply described as acquaintance; it's more accurate to say they were hostile towards each other.

Ishtar, the mistress of the heavens, is in charge of harvests and fertility.

Ereshkigal, the mistress of the underworld, is in charge of corruption and death.

This is no longer just a matter of elemental counters.

"That's great! It's a rare opportunity to reunite here. You two should catch up later."

"She probably ended up here just like you, without any apparent reason!"

“That’s how it is in Nibelungen; sometimes all sorts of people or things wander in by mistake. And this one just arrived and ran into Odin… she’s unlucky.”

As Lu Ming spoke, he smiled and helped Ishtar, whose expression was so gloomy it could drip water, to the side, making sure she faced Ereshkigal directly.

Clearly, Lu Ming had misunderstood something.

At that moment, he was completely oblivious to the sudden chill in the air; he only felt truly happy today.

He'd been imprisoned in the Nibelungenlied for decades, and now he'd finally met some new friends to share his time and the burden. Wow! Shouldn't he open a few bottles of champagne to celebrate?

Ereshkigal, not wanting to face Ishtar, immediately looked away and muttered to himself:

"Unlucky? Hmph... We who found her are the unlucky ones, aren't we..."

"I wouldn't say that. I was preparing to 'clear my daily tasks' at the time. I wandered around a few times without encountering any monster respawns. Then my luck came—I happened to find them having a team-building activity with their boss Odin at the highway exit."

Lu Ming's tone was as light as if he had just returned from a walk, "I immediately decided to play guerrilla warfare with these enemies, and then find an opportunity to assassinate Boss Odin... Saving her was just a side effect."

"Wait, you've encountered enemies again? Are you injured?" Ellie asked with concern.

And why describe rescuing someone as picking up something? They even picked up a mortal enemy instead! The goddess sighed, "Won't this happen again?"

Ishtar chuckled inwardly upon hearing this. This man fought recklessly, constantly overloading his circuits. He could kill an ordinary magician ten or even nine times over, yet he recovered after only a few minutes of rest. What was there to fear about getting injured with someone like that?

"Injuries are nothing! Although Odin and his henchmen are numerous and powerful, making assassination difficult, they can at most defeat me tactically, but they cannot completely destroy me strategically!"

"A man is not made for destruction. A man can be defeated but not destroyed!"

"What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!"

Lu Ming said. In fact, during the previous battle, while he was focusing all his efforts on dealing with Odin, he was ambushed by those lackeys more than once or twice.

They hacked him open with axes, they pierced his flesh and bones with crossbow bolts, but he was utterly fearless. What did it matter if he bled? What did it matter if he broke his bones? Decades of guerrilla warfare had made him understand and accustomed to the fact that the road to a successful assassination was destined to be full of thorns.

He may suffer a minor injury, but with his iron will and unwavering spirit, he will force his body to heal itself!

Anyway, ever since he was pierced by that bastard Odin's spear on the first day, he's been living like this ever since. If he didn't have this kind of will and awareness, he would have collapsed long ago.

"Oh, oh..." Ai Lei was momentarily speechless, feeling both confused and impressed. She had no idea what kind of famous quotes Lu Ming was spouting this time.

As he spoke, Lu Ming had already remotely opened the trunk of the Maybach.

"By the way, Ellie, there are some new varieties of flowers I brought in the car. I searched all over the place before I found them."

"Hey! You actually remember this!"

Ereshkigal exclaimed in delight, and immediately abandoned his concern about his arch-rival Ishtar.

She happily took the flowerpot from Lu Ming's hands, her face radiant.

She had previously discovered that this so-called Nibelungen world, while seemingly similar to human cities in its environment and furnishings, was actually perpetually dark and lifeless, as if veiled by a gray filter.

Although it was better than the dark and empty underworld where she used to live, she was still inevitably disappointed on her first trip to the mortal world.

A couple of days ago, Ereshkigal mentioned to Lu Ming in casual conversation that it would be nice to have some flowers to add some color, and he never expected that Lu Ming would remember it.

"Oh right... I've basically finished the 'safe house' you've been talking about. You can consider it a small gift from the goddess in return!"

The goddess of the underworld carefully held the ornamental flowers in her hands and said gently, "If nothing unexpected happens, we won't have to worry about enemy attacks here anymore. We can find one or two enemies to test it out when we have time."

Compared to Ishtar, Ereshkigal, though also suppressed by the rules, has not been completely reduced to a mortal.

She guessed that the environment here might be similar to the underworld she governed, so some of the "base construction" ability was still there.

This base, established in this way, is equipped with a full range of functions, including early warning and reconnaissance, hindering attacks, and intercepting space-transfer type intrusions. In addition, it can also enhance one's own strength.

If Ereshkigal were still powerful, she could even use it to summon the Seven Gates to materialize the underworld, causing enemies to die instantly.

Now, all we can do is give the testing qualification to Lu Ming.

Lu Ming was delighted and very satisfied upon learning of the results.

"Not bad, good job, even better than the ones at the academy!"

What a miserable life he had lived for decades before meeting Ereshkigal!

It can only be described as having no fixed abode and being constantly on the move!

We must remain highly vigilant at all times, guarding against the sudden arrival of Odin's pursuers, and even more so against Odin himself launching a surprise attack through "space creation".

Because he clearly remembered that "space creation" was one of the "Seven Kingdoms," the highest realm of alchemy in the Dragon Clan's setting, capable of interfering with space through alchemy. Angers was forced offline by Odin's underhanded trick of space creation.

If he had been born at Kassel College, he could have rested peacefully.

The large alchemical matrix set up by the Night Watchmen beneath the academy has several functions, including shielding against spatial openings, providing early warnings, blocking enemies, and amplifying one's own spiritual power.

Now that Ai Lei has created a similar site, it looks almost the same, giving him a great sense of security and drastically reducing his stress.

What else can be said?

As a partner, Ereshkigal is the best!

As for Ishtar? ...Uh, what a piece of trash.

"This is the right situation now. We need attackers, and we need defenders... Ereshkigal, if the two of us work together, how can we possibly defeat them?"

Lu Ming felt inexplicably gratified, feeling that his future was bright.

Hades, who was unexpectedly showered with praise, could hardly contain his delight, his rosy lips curving upwards and shallow dimples appearing on his cheeks.

But she still maintained her divine demeanor with great poise:

"Of course! As the goddess who rules the land of death and protects the mountains, I am second to none in this matter!"

The goddess of the underworld, who always considered herself unloved, finally felt a sense of triumph and let out a soft hum.

Although I was inexplicably summoned to the present world, possessed a human body, and then ended up in this godforsaken place to be imprisoned.

But compared to her lonely imprisonment in the underworld during the Age of Gods, at least here someone genuinely treated her like an indispensable companion and even brought her her favorite flowers. How wonderful!

Thank you, fate, for arranging all of this!

—Odin: Look, she even has to thank us!

Ereshkigal's eyes sparkled with delight, darting around, but then he suddenly felt something was missing. That's right, he couldn't forget Ishtar.

She turned her head and glanced at the certain useless goddess, then began to berate her:

"So, when you're going to team up, you need to find reliable people. Unlike some people who just love to show off, cause trouble, and sabotage, they're useless at other times."

Ishtar: "..."

You're asking for it! Are you crazy?!

Volume 1: Chapter 4 You think you know more about alchemy than I do?

While the two goddesses were putting on a deeply moving drama of sisterly love, Lu Ming had already attracted the hatred of two shadowy monsters.

He always has a high level of drive and never leaves fatigue and stress for the next day.

After all, we must be prepared for any eventuality—what if there are vulnerabilities in the safe house? What if Odin does the opposite and, after discovering that they have set up a safe house, personally leads a team to search for vulnerabilities and break through the defenses?

Lu Ming couldn't sleep soundly unless he witnessed the results firsthand.

After all, even if he could go without food or drink for decades, exchanging blows with Odin and his monsters in Nibelungen, he would still get injured, bleed, and get tired.

As an ordinary person, he is still unable to get rid of his weakness of sleeping.

Whoosh!

The heroic warriors let out shrill howls, braving the gale and breaking through the rain curtain in an instant, like two raging black gusts of wind.

The runes on their Viking battle axes and short swords shimmered, and they chanted unknown ancient magic incantations, radiating an astonishing aura of arrogance...

But in Lu Ming's eyes, it was nothing more than a sign that the alchemical domain on the equipment had been activated and his own spiritual power had been unleashed.

They've been rivals for decades; he knows all the tricks these kinds of guys have inside and out!

"Who the hell gave you permission to howl? And your howling is so awful, you're all muted!"

Lu Ming gave a low shout and activated his administrator privileges.

It was as if ancient incantations were uttered from his mouth and resounded in all directions. In an instant, an invisible domain expanded outwards from him.

"—!"

The guy opposite him seemed to fall silent instantly. The surging, flowing magic stopped and dissipated, the runes on his weapon went out in the blink of an eye, and even the divine aura surrounding his body dimmed.

The situation immediately reversed!

After all, combat is a very brutal thing.

It is sufficient for only one party to use its capabilities normally.

This time, it was Lu Ming's turn to rush forward. He swung his broadsword to deflect the axe blade while simultaneously punching to block attacks from the side.

Then, with a side kick, he easily sent the first approaching heroic warrior flying!

The fierce attack ripped through the misty fog in the air, even blowing away a conspicuous ring of air...

It was the kind of scene where a father beats his son, a grandfather beats his grandson, and that old rabble beat up Ishtar.

The sister goddesses finally had no choice but to stop their dispute and come to watch the battle.

Ishtar's beautiful eyes flickered. "Speaking of which, that eye... is it a Gold-level Mystic Eye? What are its effects?"

Ereshkigal shook his head. "Not necessarily. It might just be a change in eye color caused by the activation of power. The more important thing to pay attention to is the 'domain' around us that rewrites the rules of reality."

"I already know that."

Ishtar squinted and said, "According to human magic, that great mystery that rewrites the world with its own laws... is called a Reality Marble."

This man doesn't look like he's of divine blood, nor does he seem to be a proper practitioner of demonic arts.

Is this ability to dissolve mysterious enchantments his own invention and his reliance on resisting the god Odin?

The way he used the overload magic circuit to unleash his power would normally be suicide for a magician, but he recovered in just three minutes.

Even the Fantasy Species wouldn't dare to play like this so easily—the Fantasy Species also has a similar structure (Return of the Gods, equivalent to the Magic Circuit of the Gods), and once overloaded, it's tantamount to self-destruction.

"But if we switch to a fantasy species, the 'Fairy Domain' carried by a fairy of the Ariana level is actually based on the same principle as a Reality Marble, and it's even closer to what Lu Ming demonstrated!"

Even when it comes to knowledge of magic, Ellie is uncompromising.

Although the knowledge she was showing off actually came from the person she possessed, a single woman in her late thirties with excellent magical skills named Rin Tohsaka.

"Oh, you sound like you know him a lot? But you've only been here a few days before me." Ishtar's tone was still infuriating.

Ereshkigal snorted softly, toying with his golden hair. "Ah, right, right, I don't know that much, but... I know more about you than you do."

"Really? I'm starting to get interested in him."

Ishtar's words, whether intentional or not, sounded like an invisible provocation with ill intent.

Sure enough, even though he was forced to be imprisoned in Nibelungen, he still couldn't bear to live peacefully with the gloomy woman.

"What do you mean?"

"Hehe, 'the dark side of me,' you shouldn't misunderstand my style, right? Once I see a treasure I like, I'm the type who won't hesitate to snatch it! -- Of course, you don't have to take it to heart, I was just saying it casually."

"That same old trick of stealing men like toys? Dream on. Lu Ming doesn't even look at you. Go ahead and humiliate yourself if you want..."

Ai Lei said that, but the smile disappeared from her eyes.

……

With Ai Lei's technical support, Lu Ming won with exceptional ease. He then lured wild monsters to test the other features of the safe house, but found no vulnerabilities.

But his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and a deep melancholy lingered on his forehead, as if he were dissatisfied and worried.

"Was there any oversight in my arrangements?" Ellie asked, looking very concerned, her hands clasped together against her chest.

"No, very good, Ellie, you did a great job. It was I who realized I had a problem!"

Lu Ming shook his head, flipped his hand to take out his horizontal sword, and in his other hand he held the Viking battle axe and short sword commonly used by Odin's minions.