Chapter 180
Lu Chuan waited for the Father of Nature to elaborate.
“That place is strange,” the Father of Nature began, first establishing its peculiarity. “In this world, I can feel some higher existence watching me at all times—I’m sure you’ve felt it too. But when I probed that location, I felt no such gaze. Furthermore, the place often produces unexplained fluctuations. Yet whenever I investigated right as they appeared, I found nothing unusual at all. And that is the strangest part.”
As a god, he had personally gone there yet discovered no clues—that alone was absurd. Everything in existence must have some cause.
The Father of Nature had immediately realized that the place might hold the secret to his further advancement. Conveniently, other gods on his level had all been gravely wounded by Number 6’s attacks and were in slumber, so he didn’t fear discovery. Unfortunately, despite years of investigation—sending humans in, even attaching a fragment of his consciousness to them—all attempts had ended the same way: no one ever returned, and his consciousness was severed the instant it entered.
Now, by telling Lu Chuan of the place, he hoped to use Lu Chuan’s abilities to probe it. After all, Lu Chuan was “just” a human, with a limited lifespan, not someone who could truly compete with him.
But then again—Lu Chuan hadn’t changed in appearance even after all this time. Was he really a mere human?
The Father of Nature wasn’t sure anymore. Still, the words were already spoken—there was no taking them back.
“Fine. Tell me where it is.” Lu Chuan stopped his attack decisively. “But if you want me to investigate it for you, you’ll have to give me something in return.”
“…I’m telling you the location. That’s not enough? You still want more?” The Father of Nature sneered. “If you went looking on your own, you could spend a lifetime and never find it.”
“Whether I find it or not is my business. But whether you give me something in return—that’s a matter of principle.” Lu Chuan spread his hands innocently. “Don’t try to trick me. The place you described definitely exists, and is surely even more mysterious and well-hidden than you say. For you to honestly tell me about it, it must be extremely dangerous. You clearly want me to test the waters for you. That makes you the one asking for help—so me demanding a little something is perfectly reasonable.”
He held up his hand, thumb and forefinger pinched to show a tiny gap. “Just a teeny bit. I promise I won’t ask for much.”
“What do you want?” The Father of Nature ground his teeth. Despite having leveled up several times, talking to Lu Chuan still felt like being dragged back to when he was just the lowly Plague Rat. Did this human not understand the awe-inspiring might of a god?
“Same as always—some godseed fragments.” Lu Chuan smiled. “You don’t have much else of value I’d dare to use anyway. But godseeds—don’t cheat me. I want lots of them, and not rejects. At least give me some strong ones.”
“Forging a godseed is extremely difficult,” the Father of Nature said, his eyes red with frustration. “The higher a god climbs, the fewer seeds we can condense. In all these years, I’ve only managed five.”
“Then I’ll just take four,” Lu Chuan demanded without hesitation. “I’ll even leave one for you as protection. Don’t look at me like that—if you refuse, I won’t go to that place. And when my god-eating friend comes, I’ll bring him straight to you. Do you really think you can withstand that?”
Thinking of Number 6’s strength, then back to the sly Lu Chuan before him, the Father of Nature forced himself to calm down.
“Fine. Four it is. But you must go investigate immediately.” Inwardly, he felt relieved. Fortunately, he had claimed earlier to have only five seeds—when in truth, he had ten. Lu Chuan must not find out.
“Deal. I just need to wrap up some other matters first, then I’ll head out as soon as possible.” Lu Chuan nodded. “Give me the location, I’ll assess the distance and time, and decide what to bring along.”
After they parted, they agreed to meet again the next day at the location, where the Father of Nature would use divine power to teleport Lu Chuan close by—saving him the trouble of traveling alone.
The god had originally planned to hand over the seeds in installments, but after Lu Chuan’s protests, he unwillingly gave all four at once.
[Host, that filthy rat lied. He has many more seeds.] #888 huffed. [He may look like a high god, but in truth he isn’t. He hasn’t gained a unique godhead, not even the ability to cross worlds.]
Gods only became truly immortal after reaching the level of a high god. Lesser gods rarely revived once slain. High gods had their own dominion and godhead, could command subordinate deities, and possessed time-space traversal—though the exact form depended on their domain.
Above high gods were concept gods, then true gods, and above even them, only the cosmic laws remained. All gods were born beneath those laws.
[That rat leveled up within the realm of the God of Time. He may wield high god strength, but lacks its essence. If he leaves the Time God’s domain, he’ll fall back to a mid-level god.] #888 rambled on. [At that point, dealing with him will be far easier.]
“No rush, System,” Lu Chuan smiled. “He’s still useful to us. We’ll deal with him at the end. If he’s telling the truth, we might really find a weakness in this whole Time God instance—and a way to escape. If so, there’s no need to keep running loops in every timeline.”
[Everything as you command, Host.]
Back at his base, Lu Chuan summoned his subordinates. He instructed them to spread word that he was entering slumber and would be stepping away from business. If he didn’t return within two years, they were to make the mass-production method for calming potions public, so all investigators could access them.
Then he prepared a locked chest, filling it with some gold and artifacts. At the last moment, he added a few godseeds.
“System, if I use my defense skill, can I transfer part of the God of Wealth’s protective force onto this chest—so no one can destroy it?” Lu Chuan asked.
[Theoretically yes, but maintaining it long-term will consume a lot of gold.] #888 replied cautiously. [Can you manage it, Host?]
Clutching his chest in mock pain, Lu Chuan groaned, “It’s fine, I’ve still got that whole Dragon of Gold instance stuffed with treasure. You can’t make big gains without spending small change. I can handle it.”
[Shall we begin now?]
“Wait—first I’ll use an item to disable my hearing. If I can’t hear the system notifications, I won’t know how much gold I’m losing.” Lu Chuan muttered, fooling himself.
…Fine.
888 thought his host had actually improved—he’d been spending a lot more money lately. Maybe it was thanks to that golden dragon instance giving him a new sense of security.
The God of Wealth’s ability activated.
Gold in Lu Chuan’s system space began vanishing as golden radiance layered over the chest, concealing even the godseeds’ aura.
After a while, he stopped, and the shimmering glow slowly faded.
[Wow, Host. You don’t realize your own progress—your very power can now manifest as wealth aura.] #888 was stunned. How had his host advanced so fast? Not only could his soul now self-repair, but even his power was aligning more and more with the God of Wealth.
“It only went unnoticed because I used it so little,” Lu Chuan mused. “I already have my own power seed, plus an entire Infinite World’s fortune. Honestly, my growth has been rather slow.”
If other god candidates heard him, they’d surely dogpile him.
“Alright, I’ll bury this chest for now.” Lu Chuan continued. “That way, if in some timeline I run out of items and gold again, I’ll at least have a stash to dig up instead of ending up empty-handed.”
Once all preparations were complete, Lu Chuan returned the next day to the meeting spot with the Father of Nature.
The god was already waiting, and immediately teleported him to the designated location.
“You’re not coming with me?” Lu Chuan asked before setting out.
“No need. You can go.” The Father of Nature smiled faintly. “I’m not like you. My body can’t withstand intense battles. Without a suitable mortal vessel, I can’t descend to the human world for long anyway.”
The other party had found a reasonable excuse for himself, but Lu Chuan knew this stinky old rat simply wanted to enjoy the fruits of others’ labor without taking any risks.
The Father of Nature also knew Lu Chuan was aware of his intentions, but neither of them would expose each other’s schemes.
The god’s power seed wasn’t that easy to obtain either. By linking to Lu Chuan’s eyes through the seed, He could see whatever Lu Chuan saw. If Lu Chuan discovered some secret, He could teleport to Lu Chuan in an instant via the seed and snatch all the benefits.
Thinking of this, the Father of Nature connected to the visual feed of His power seed.
All He saw was pitch-black.
