You are very strong, but my painting style is better than yours!

But Augustus ignored them, took the cup, and tentatively smelled it. Finding nothing wrong, he smiled and asked, "Does this mean we can't leave once we drink it?"

This is the story of Hades and Pluto from Greek mythology, and the pomegranate is the key item that connects the two through cause and effect.

Seeing that the other person understood her joke, Iori felt relieved: "I thought that after the interstellar era, ancient myths would be naturally forgotten."

"That's generally how it is. In fact, there have been periods when tradition and history were neglected... But since we lost our home planet, we have cherished those things that remain in our memories."

The captain, with an air of composure, did not suspect any trickery. He generously took two sips of pomegranate juice and felt a sweet sensation flow from his lips into his body, instantly invigorating him.

Could this really be some kind of fruit from the underworld? — An incredible thought flashed through Augustus's mind.

Upon hearing him say that, Iori recalled some plot points from the "original work".

Although the anime "Heroic Age" appears to be a science fiction theme, it actually tells a "mythological story".

The Golden Clan, serving as a backdrop, possesses power that can be described as omniscient and omnipotent, even capable of creating stars and foreseeing the future... They seem to be able to transcend the flow of time and observe the universe from a higher dimension.

The entire Age of Heroes is an epic tale with a predetermined ending by the Golden Clan, and their "adopted son," the only one among the Iron Clan who has truly seen the Golden Clan—the protagonist "Edge"—is the chosen hero!

If you delve deeper, you'll find mythological references everywhere. For example, the heroine's name, "Dianneira," comes from Heracles' last wife, "Dianneira," and the hero soul "Belcros," which resides in the protagonist Edge's body, is based on Heracles himself!

Other examples include the "Twelve Covenants" corresponding to the "Twelve Trials," and the mothership Argo corresponding to the hero's ship in Greek mythology...

By the way, while humanity in this worldview appears to be facing numerous crises and driven to desperation by the Silver Clan, they are actually surviving with relative peace and are favored by the entire universe.

After all, this was a script that had already been written, and the final ending was a happy one for everyone, so there was nothing worth changing.

Moreover, Iori is currently carefully planning her actions and does not intend to follow the original plot completely, but she also has great concerns about the extent to which she should get involved and what she should change.

After all, he possesses powers that transcend fate; once involved, he would alter the original plot and steer it in a direction even the Golden Clan couldn't predict. It wasn't that he was afraid of the Golden Clan, but rather that the ending they had arranged was already quite good.

Iori is not some kind of great demon king. Although he has selfish desires, he usually chooses the path of mutual benefit and win-win, and rarely does things that harm others for his own benefit.

In this world, what he desires is the technological legacy of the Golden Race, including the technology to create stars and the analysis of cosmological models... As for how to obtain it, he must make good use of the original male and female protagonists, provided that the plot's direction remains unchanged...

This was the first time he had ever been so cautious!

……

The guests and hosts enjoyed themselves on the deck. Even the Reynolds Pirates, who were originally on the opposite side of Augustus, were called over by Iori. The three of them chatted about many interesting things, and the atmosphere became more and more harmonious (although to the other two, many of the things Iori said sounded a bit mysterious).

"Hmm~"

After gathering his emotions, Captain Augustus, seeing that Iori seemed to be in a good mood, chose to be honest with him.

"Excuse my boldness," the captain said cautiously, "Lady Iori, are you related to the Golden Clan?"

Iori put down her wine glass, her expression unchanged: "As you can see, I am just an ordinary human traveler."

"Even if you say so..."

Augustus looked around, and although he didn't say it explicitly, his meaning was quite clear.

"Heh~"

Iori thought for a moment, then didn't hide anything and said directly, "I'm not lying. I really have nothing to do with the Golden Clan. As you can see, this ship is more like a palace than a warship. I built it myself. It's just a larger 'camper van,' and I've never used it for space travel."

"Um...but!"

"If you're wondering where I got the firepower to annihilate the [Bronze Clan] anthill, you don't need to think about it too much."

Iori smiled slightly: "You can think of me as a more powerful superhuman. What you saw before was all caused by my own abilities."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The scene was deathly silent. Everyone was stunned at first, then looked at each other in disbelief, each with a "Are you kidding me?" expression.

In this worldview, there are indeed superpowered individuals among the human population, but most of them are mutations in the mental direction, such as telepathy, mind reading, or telekinesis. However, the strongest superpowered individuals are still within the category of "humans".

For example, Princess Deannara, who is seen as humanity's hope, is the strongest psychic in history. She can even sense events happening on distant shores on a cosmic scale, yet she hasn't displayed much destructive power. In fact, her physical strength is somewhat weaker than that of her peers.

Iori looking like this... is completely different!

"Your own strength? Or isn't it this warship's strength?"

Augustus and Reynolds both looked at Iori in shock.

Under their gazes, Iori extended a finger and lightly drew a line in the air—

"!"

"!"

Instantly, their eyes glazed over and their bodies stiffened. Those around them didn't realize what had happened; they were simply curious as to why the two had suddenly stopped moving.

Gradually, after a full ten seconds, when the guards' expressions changed, Augustus and Reynolds finally moved—they blinked.

"call!"

"Well!"

As if they had just realized they were still alive, the two subconsciously touched their heartbeats, slowly calmed down, and looked at Iori again with awe.

For a moment, they thought they had been killed... It was just a finger, yet it gave them the illusion that "everything in front of them had been severed."

This is neither a hologram nor hypnosis...

"Superpowers... I can't believe it. How can there be such a powerful ability user? I've never heard of such a thing before."

Augustus shook his head in confusion, feeling as if his worldview was about to be overturned.

...However, it is said that the Hero Race is capable of destroying a planet with their individual strength.

If this universe can give birth to such powerful life forms... why can't it be humans?

This must be what they call a miracle!

"There are still many things I don't understand, but since you consider yourself human, I feel it's necessary to invite you to Alteria (the capital planet)."

Augustus said sincerely, "Believe me, only the royal family knows how to receive a distinguished guest like you. Moreover, as an unprecedented superhuman, you will certainly be received by Her Highness the Princess. She is a wise woman and will definitely understand your thoughts."

"Wait a minute, hasn't Princess Deannaila already begun her expedition? Aren't the two princes now in charge of Alteria?"

Reynolds suddenly spoke up and asked, "Lord Iori saved our lives, and I cannot let him set foot in such a place, especially when Her Highness the Princess is not here."

Augustus frowned: "What do you mean?"

You should know this!

Reynolds, who had initially seemed to have reconciled with Augustus, was now unusually aggressive.

“Even if you want to meet with royalty, it can only be Her Highness the Princess. Other than that… Ah, I’m sorry, I lost my composure, Lady Iori.”

"It doesn't matter."

Iori waved his hand at Reynolds, who suddenly became panicked: "I wasn't planning on leaving now anyway, but I'm curious about your reasons."

Reynolds, you don't hate the Federation fleet that's hunting you down, yet you're so averse to the so-called royalty... Why is that?

"I do not reject royalty. Although the Venus royal family is not entirely innocent, they are qualified or even excellent as rulers."

As for the three members of this generation, Her Highness, there's no need to say more. Not only within the Federation, but even pirates like us, and even alien races, have benefited from her kindness... She is a wise and gentle adult, and you will understand when you meet her in the future.

However, Your Highnesses…

Reynolds subtly curled his lip, trying his best to hide his disdain.

"They are actually very talented people, with their own insights and influence in politics, economics, and technology. However... how should I put it, they are not people who can take responsibility, and they lack the ability to distinguish right from wrong."

I personally don't dislike them, but if you meet them alone, you'll definitely become a pawn in their political struggles—that's the kind of people they are!

"Insolence! Watch your words and actions, Reynolds!"

Augustus stood up, his tone stern, and his guards tensed up.

"A mere pirate has no right to judge royalty!"

"You don't have a problem with these remarks themselves, do you?"

"Iori said softly."

"Well!"

The captain's expression froze, while Reynolds laughed heartily.

Clearly, those in a certain position or who have personally interacted with the two princes know something about the matter, but they may not discuss it publicly due to their positions.

"Cough... They're just not mature enough yet."

Augustus sat down and said awkwardly, "They are excellent enough as ordinary people, but as monarchs... they lack magnanimity. But that's all. The two princes are not bad people."

As a monarch, incompetence is a sin, but what is even more frightening is a lack of self-awareness—Iori shook her head slightly.

"I have no interest in royalty or anything like that. I'll be staying on this planet building a shipyard for the time being, so I don't have time to meet any important figures."

"...Dockyard?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's what I mean."

A pale golden light shone in Iori's eyes, followed by a series of muffled thunderous sounds coming from below. Then the atmosphere trembled, and everyone felt subtle fluctuations sweep across their skin, like a weakened electric shock.

"Since we're going to forge something, let's make a furnace first."

"what happened?"

"Lord Iori... what did you do?"

Just then, a gasp came from the other side of the deck:

"It's a volcano! There's a volcano!"

What's so strange about volcanoes? This planet was just bombarded by an "asteroid," so frequent crustal movement is perfectly normal—Augustus didn't think much of it.

"A volcano is flying this way!!"

"……What?!"

Chapter 515 Uranus, the Machine God King.

Instead of rushing to explore the universe, Iori stayed on the surface of the half-destroyed planet for a month. During this time, everyone from the Federation fleet to the pirate crew felt that their worldview was being greatly challenged.

"what is that?"

"...cast in one piece, like 3D printing or something."

"Can warships be poured directly onto water?"

Sitting in the airship, everyone stared intently at the incomprehensible scene in the distance, unable to find any words to describe their feelings at that moment.

In the enormous crater resembling an asteroid impact, a majestic volcano stands tall, its "roots" deeply embedded in the earth's crust, connecting to the hottest torrents within the star's core, transmitting endless heat upwards, and illuminating the intricate stripes covering the volcano's surface.

It was a strange array pattern, like a fusion of integrated circuits and magic circles. Some parts were overly complicated, while others were extremely simple, leaving people completely baffled.

To call this thing a furnace... that would be a huge exaggeration!

However, in recent days, the group has witnessed the volcano extracting an immeasurable amount of heat, which is then transformed into golden-red flames in a form beyond human technological comprehension, melting things in the void that they cannot see at all.

But every day, golden liquid, radiating ever-changing iridescent light, slowly flows out of the volcano, shaping a "warship" bit by bit, like piling up sand.

They attempted to analyze it using state-of-the-art spectroscopy, and the result was a completely new substance that had never been recorded before. Although it looked like gold, it possessed incredible properties, much like the mythical metal Orichalco.

Of course, if Iori said this out loud, she would probably burst out laughing:

The "shell" of his warship is far more valuable than any Orichalcum steel!

What he puts into it every day are rare materials obtained in Chaldea, as well as various "local specialties" that can only be found in other worlds, some of which are even non-renewable resources like cultural relics.

In the mystical world, even a small piece of this ship could buy a small country!

As for Iori's forging process... what exactly is the fuel? What material is being forged? This is an unsolvable mystery for onlookers.

This is understandable, as Iori doesn't use conventional shipbuilding methods, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the scientific system of this world. Although they arrive at the same conclusion through different paths, to analyze Iori's methods, one would at least need to be a member of the Golden Clan who understands the essence of power.

He didn't just use a planet as an energy source; he also incorporated the secrets of the Earth Mother Goddess, integrated the construction ideas of the Greater Grail, and had the goddess of wisdom Athena personally oversee the transformation of that volcano into a true "furnace."

If this were in the mythological era, Iori would dare say that even Vulcan's "Mount Urken" would not be as good as his "Steel Furnace"!

After the outer shell was formed, the various internal devices began to be prepared (actually, there should have been a plan first, and then the outer shell was adjusted according to the requirements; Iori was a bit arbitrary).

What he wanted this time was not just a tool of war or an imperial palace, but a strategic hub that could serve as a "base camp," and even to permanently solidify the power of the "Solar Boat."