Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

"Speaking of that stele... I almost forgot about it."

Looking at the ceremonial patterns of no apparent use, Laine suddenly recalled the broken stele that he had tossed into the depths of his collection long ago.

In Odin’s Treasury, he had successively acquired the Draupnir, the divine sword Laevatein, the Rune Scriptures of The Origin Text, a poison and its antidote based on the poison springs of Niflheim, and the grudge of the primordial giant Ymir.

Some of these items had been used, while others had not to this day, but anyway, Laine knew what they were for more or less. The only exception was that broken stele obtained at the same time, which, from the moment he acquired it, he never understood what it was for. Even under his scrutiny, it seemed nothing more than an utterly ordinary object.

Laine had even tried to destroy it once but quickly stopped after only wearing away a corner. He realized that this stele was not, as he thought, some ’unfathomable divine object’ with the property of indestructibility, despite its ordinariness.

On the contrary, all its properties proved it to be nothing more than a stone—albeit possibly an old one. However, since it wasn’t an object from Chaos World, Laine couldn’t accurately judge the years it had endured.

If this object hadn’t appeared in Odin’s Treasury, collected along with other treasures by that Otherworldly Divine King, probably no deity would have given it a second glance. But there are no what-ifs, so even though he couldn’t tell its purpose at that time, Laine still kept it well preserved.

Actually, Laine took the Otherworld Divine King very seriously in his heart. His journey through the Nine Realms made it clear that this world didn’t seem to be as described in the Scandinavian mythology. Quite the contrary, there were significant differences.

If Chaos World had embarked on a completely different destiny because of his presence, then the changes in the Nine Realms were undoubtedly closely related to Odin, who had foreseen the end of all things. So much so that when Laine saw Odin’s figure again in Athena’s memories, he felt it was only natural.

This one-eyed Divine King, who rode the eight-legged horse Sleipnir, must have some secrets unknown to others, and perhaps this stele was related to them—or maybe not, but in any case, it must be something valuable.

But now, remembering it again, Laine realized he should probably retrieve it. Because unlike before, he now had a new tool.

"Hmm... I remember it being over there."

With some memory effort, Laine found that stele in a secluded palace on Mount Sinai, where it had been placed and never again removed.

Since he wasn’t sure what was special about it, Laine couldn’t be certain whether the Laws of Chaos would affect it. Thus, in that secluded palace, he artificially created an environment with rules similar to those of the Nine Realms.

So, with a wave of temporal fluctuation, the broken stele appeared before Laine. However, as with every time before, he couldn’t see anything wrong with it.

Not attempting anything futile, Laine lifted his hand, and a droplet materialized by the Creation Force fell directly into his palm. The Temporal Divinity that constituted the foundation of the Spirit Realm trembled slightly as if resonating with this primal force.

It was its presence that allowed the ’droplet’ to be used and not be utterly untouchable like it would be in two separate dimensions. However, Laine didn’t plan to use it for anything right now; he was simply maintaining the contact and once again looked towards that utterly ordinary stele.

The worn surface of the stele seemed to have once had some text, but it had long since become blurred and difficult to discern. Previous inspections often ended here; it didn’t show any peculiarities. But this time, from a higher perspective, Laine felt he might actually have seen something.

"Is this... a marker?"

It was a mark as incomplete as the stele itself—or a coordinate, sign, or something else.

There was no doubt it was something with directionality, and the location it pointed to was not presented as a coordinate in time and space. Laine found it hard to describe this way of presentation; anyway, it was indeed a guide. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

And it seemed to exist in the same location as the stone, but the latter seemed to be just a carrier for the former. Indeed, it was just an utterly ordinary stele, becoming significant only because of this marker, for some reason falling upon it.

"So what is this marker for, who left it, or is it naturally formed? And Odin, why did he have such an object? "

With eyes slightly narrowed, Laine felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity looking at this strange marker. It seemed he had had some connection with this thing, yet he had absolutely no recollection of it.

"Interesting, if it’s a trace that only world-level power can detect, then how did Odin perceive it? Or perhaps he didn’t see this marker at all, just like me before, knowing it’s important but not why."

Speculations flashed through his mind, then were swiftly dismissed.

Perhaps when the Nine Realms still existed, this marker had not been as dormant as it is now; these guesses had no evidence after all. And since Odin was already dead, no one could know what he thought. So Laine stopped pondering, merely enduring the pressure that the contact with the ’droplet’ placed on him while he contemplated what he should do.