Chapter 193: Chapter 36 Puppets, Sailboats, and Chessboards

“If that’s the case, I will make sure the souls in this—this River of Oblivion are well taken care of.”

Although the Underworld is vast, and the newly-born Styx River has visibly begun to stretch out its tributaries, Hades found overseeing it a trivial matter.

After all, the gods have already confirmed it. The belief born from solitary souls, compared to their living days, hardly exists; hence, it seems that no one would come to snatch such things in large quantities. Even if left unattended, it’s unlikely anything would happen.

“It had better be so.”

Tilting her head, Liana noticed a red light approaching in the distance.

It seemed to be a deity from above, but it would take a considerable amount of time to reach here. The Underworld may not be as vast as the surface, but it had now expanded significantly.

“Starting today, the unclaimed magic power released by the Nether Moon will triple, as promised. As for how to build your ‘Undead Kingdom,’ that will be your own affair.”

With the silver mirror in hand, Liana did not linger any longer. Under Hades’ gaze, her figure gradually became ethereal and finally disappeared without a trace.

At the same time, the expanding Nether Moon slowly returned to normal, yet the magic power contained within its moonlight had indeed tripled.

Though the concentration had only tripled, the impact on the emergence of wraith intelligence was more than tenfold. Now, the biggest issue had become how to acquire as many skeletal remains from above, especially those of humans.

“Bronze Humanity… alas, they have much life left.”

Muttering to himself, his intended goal eventually materialized, but looking at the Styx River beneath his feet and the empty Fields of Truth, Hades’s heart was filled with a complex mix of emotions.

No, it wasn’t entirely empty. It seemed the Goddess of the Nether Moon had shown some mercy to those wraiths who worshiped her, so despite the havoc wreaked by the previous two deities’ skirmish, they were still relatively unharmed.

The only truly unfortunate victims in the Fields of Truth were his own palace.

“You, go find someone to rebuild my Divine Palace. Construct it on the eastern side, a bit farther from the River of Oblivion.”

With a casual command to his maid, Hades immediately transformed into a grey light and darted towards the edge of the Underworld where Hestia approached.

Apart from those with authority in the Underworld, it was no easy task for other deities to travel from the Underworld’s border to its center, and he couldn’t just wait idly at the heart of the Underworld for Hestia to arrive.

Soaring through the air, Hades felt a bit of a headache coming on. He now needed to figure out a way to deal with his sister, preferably without letting her find out what he was up to.

Today’s struggle would certainly have drawn the attention of the Olympian Gods, and Hades didn’t want them to become aware of the wraiths’ existence prematurely. The Underworld had been of little interest before because it lacked benefits, but if it suddenly possessed value, it would inevitably attract the gods’ scrutiny.

“Let’s go with that—let them laugh for a while.”

After flying for a while, Hades finally thought of a good strategy. The best way to cover something up wasn’t to hide it clumsily, but rather to distract people with another matter, far more captivating.

A story like ‘The God of the Underworld fell in love with the Goddess of the Nether Moon, was spurned, and suffered a severe blow with his palace wiped away’ would serve well. As for whether this would make him the laughingstock of the Olympian Gods, Hades no longer cared much.

A moment’s honor or disgrace was trivial; when lacking power, he could relinquish even the Divine King’s throne, let alone a small matter of reputation.

Once he completed his plan, those deities would naturally learn to keep silent.

He adjusted his expression, trying to look as pitiful as possible. In the distance, Hestia’s silhouette was now faintly visible.

…

The next day.

Seismic disturbances ceased near Mount Olympus, affecting some oceans at most. Under the suppression of present powers, the Bronze Humanity’s domain remained as peaceful as ever.

Last night, in a remote corner of the tribe, Ande had waited very late for the ‘big sister’ who had left halfway through to finally return, leaving the young boy quite famished.

But this wasn’t what Laine had asked for. He wasn’t there to enforce laws and mistreat children. There was no intent to ‘test’ Ande, and even the ‘children’ of the Bronze Humanity couldn’t truly be considered weak.

In fact, after realizing that Liana had somehow gotten into a fight with Hades for unknown reasons, Laine had signaled that it was okay to start eating, but Ande had insisted on waiting.

Little Ande was warm-hearted and kind. He didn’t want the ‘big sister’ to eat leftovers alone, so he was determined to wait for Liana’s return. Laine could only sigh at this decision—different folks, different strokes. Freed from the constraints of thought, the personalities among the Bronze Humanity had also become varied.

There were arrogant ones like Priest Ossen, some who sneered and mocked Laine’s request for shelter, and naturally, there were those like Ande, who was full of kindness towards everything.

Laine, however, did not know whether Ande could maintain such kindness when he grew up, as the Bronze Humanity faced their destined end. Maybe he could, but more likely he could not, yet Laine didn’t care. He wasn’t there to select the virtuous, and whether Ande became good or evil in the future was immaterial. Their fate was only intertwined for the time that Laine remained in the human tribe.