Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

249  Chapter 59 Time Dragon

Mystery carries 'weight,' even if it is just a fragment of memory, and the closer to the source, the more apparent this phenomenon becomes.

As previously mentioned, at the level of the world, matter, energy, and information are equivalent to each other, and some things of very high essence also possess similar characteristics. The Rune Scriptures are exactly like this.

When Odin had completed the sacrifice of himself unto himself, and 'picked up' these runes from the Spring of Wisdom—runes which could decipher all things of the world—He thought He could become the master of the world. However, He gradually realized that He simply could not bear the 'mystery's' weight.

If the problem faced by Chaos, the Primordial Gods, was that They could not withstand the continuous assault of the full mighty power and had to walk the world in incarnations to maintain Their personas, then Odin faced a similar issue.

His own soul and memory simply could not carry all the secrets of the Rune Symbols. Unlike the Primordial Gods, however, the Rune Symbols would not damage Odin's soul; they would just dissipate on their own because the vessel was not perfect enough.

The Divine King of Asgard could almost foresee that the great power of these runes would gradually fade from His memory until it weakened to a level He could fully endure.

Odin naturally couldn't accept this situation. How could the fruits of His near-death efforts simply fade away? Therefore, to preserve His achievements, He thought of a method.

The World Tree Yggdrasil—its power is unquestionable. If it possessed wisdom, then it would be the most powerful deity in the world. So Odin plucked its most vigorous leaves, both young and old, and fashioned them with the bark into special paper, then branded the runes from his memory onto it.

This branding was not mere copying; it was a transference of the 'mystery' they possessed. The result was a success; the power of the Rune Scriptures no longer faded, it was permanently left in The Origin Text. Odin relearned the secrets of the runes that He could comprehend by observing The Origin Text and then spread its existence.

However, in the realm of the arcane, the more it spread, the further from the origin it became, and the more its power weakened, so the power of Rune Symbols often varied greatly. In the hands of certain beings, they could predict the future and forge Divine Artifacts, but among mortals, they even gradually became mere common symbols, retaining only a faint symbolic concept.

The runes are still those runes, but the 'mystery' contained within is entirely different.

"So, the runes on The Origin Text could also be considered as the source of the nine realms' scripts?"

Feeling somewhat amused, Laine recalled a certain language and innate script deity of the past, who, of course, he should now refer to with her new name, the Mother of Demons Moya.

It seems that, in the grand scheme of things, he really is fated with the matter of writing. Perhaps the scripts of the Spirit Realm are destined to evolve step by step in his hands, ultimately becoming the entity that interprets the mysteries of all rules in the world.

Without haste in perusing The Origin Text, Laine looked towards Mimir.

"Continue, then. What's next?"

With the first treasure being so precious, Laine became even more interested in Odin's vault.

Although the power of the Rune Scriptures greatly diminished due to the changing of the world, what Laine valued was not the power. He needed information, the analysis of the world's rules within, and the original runes in The Origin Text would undoubtedly help him accomplish this step well.

"That one, that ring, it is Odin's Draupnir."

Without any suspense, following Mimir's indication, Laine noticed a lush and dazzling ring.

He had heard about it in later myths—it was the Divine Artifact given to Odin by the dwarf brothers Sindri and Brokkr in the incident involving Sif's golden hair.

These dwarf brothers, like Chaos's Hephaestus and the Cyclops, possessed transcendent smithing skills. Besides Draupnir, the hammer of Thor, Mjolnir, was also one of their masterpieces.

"An ornament is also stored in Odin's vault?"

He casually asked. As for the fact in the myths that this ring was destroyed, Laine was not too surprised; that might have been a replica.

"In the eyes of mortals, Draupnir is just a treasured possession capable of replicating itself, described thus to reflect Odin's brilliance and greatness. In reality, it is a byproduct of the exploration into the highest realms of Alchemy."

In response to Laine's skepticism, Mimir immediately explained:

"One of the ultimate achievements of Alchemy is to master the core of material transformation. In the eyes of such beings, a handful of dirt and a chunk of magic metal are indistinguishable. Of course, Draupnir can't do this; it can only perform the transmutation of ordinary items, such as changing stone to gold, or self-replication."

"Changing stone to gold... I can easily do that with Divine Power as well." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Summoning Draupnir, Laine had little knowledge of Alchemy, mostly just some principles from later times which are somewhat true but not quite.

And as for altering the properties of materials, or immortality, or creating souls, he himself could do it, so he naturally had never taken an interest in the birth of Alchemy.

"It's different. Changes under the effect of Divine Power are changes under external force. The Divine Power consumed to transform a bowl of running water into a gold nugget differs from transforming it into magical spring water, but Alchemy is different."