Simulate the universe, starting with speedrunning Greek.

Seemingly sensing the doubt in their hearts, Night said, "It's alright, it means you don't have to die—Loki! But you have to answer one question for me first."

Loki immediately showed a horrified expression. The clever Loki understood the Night's coded message: a correct answer would save him from death, but a wrong answer would still mean certain death!

Loki swallowed hard, the smile he habitually wanted to show on his face suddenly disappearing.

Chapter Forty-Seven: He is the Sun King, the primordial light, the lord of all things.

Loki's fate of destroying Norse mythology was inevitable. This can be seen as a cycle of rebirth, from the destruction of the second generation of gods to the birth of the third, aligning with the Norse concept of a world constantly undergoing destruction and rebirth. Logically consistent! Completely reasonable!

Getting back to the main point, while Ragnarok and Loki are inextricably linked, Loki doesn't pose a significant threat to humanity. His pranks aren't purely malicious or benevolent; his targets are usually gods of equal rank. On the contrary, he's quite friendly towards humans, even descending to Earth to guide mortals out of slavery when they plead for help.

Loki had rendered immense service to the Aesir, but after the death of the God of Light, Odin punished Loki by turning one of his children into a wolf, which then killed the other. Loki himself, though bound by oath not to kill, cruelly had the intestines of his dead child ripped out and woven into a rope, which he used to imprison Loki in a cave. A venomous snake was placed above his head, dripping venom day and night that corroded Loki's body, causing him unbearable suffering.

Loki's first wife, the goddess of fidelity, pitied her husband and held up a cup to stop the venom from dripping. But when the cup was full of venom and the goddess poured it out, Loki would let out a painful howl. His once handsome face would then be disfigured and mutilated.

Of course—since you killed someone's son, it's no wonder Odin was so ruthless towards Loki, seeking personal revenge. The biggest problem with their oath was precisely the lack of a clause prohibiting harm to each other's families. Loki's ultimate fate was that when the World Tree was being devoured by a dragon and Odin's magic weakened, Loki escaped and, in revenge, perished alongside the guardian of the Bifrost.

But none of this has happened yet...

Night: "Are you the god of fire who creates glory, or the evil god who brings destruction...?"

Loki's destiny as an Aesir god was to overcome this tribulation. In reality, Ragnarok wasn't entirely a curse originating from the world, but rather a sacrifice necessary for the gods who would rule it in the future, a sacrifice they had to make to achieve glory. The price was to shine under the guidance of fire, and to be destroyed within it as well. The final result was the mass death of the gods, even leading to the destruction of the world itself. Therefore, calling it a curse is not unreasonable.

The night does not fear Loki—Loki's destiny does not conflict with humanity's; in fact, for humanity, the fire that Loki symbolizes is a necessity for human civilization. However, this god's temperament is too unpredictable, making him an unsuitable ruler.

Loki: "!! I can bring prosperity and flourishing to your race. I swear to the world by my divine status that I will never do anything to harm humanity... otherwise my soul will suffer the pain of being devoured by venomous snakes!" To survive and stay, Loki was really going all out, making such a harsh oath.

"You can't do anything that harms humanity?" But what exactly constitutes harming humanity? That's an incredibly broad scope. Even with Loki's intelligence, he might unknowingly do something that indirectly harms humanity, leading to the backlash of his oath. Yet, knowing this, he still made the promise, demonstrating his utmost sincerity.

"Great protector of mankind, please tell me your name! If you are still not satisfied, I swear to the world that I will become your god." Seeing that Night seemed unmoved, Loki gritted his teeth and uttered an even harsher condition.

Now it's not just about staying, it's about survival. This strange witch, nurtured by this strange god, could demote him from god to human with a single spell, stripping him of all power. A god without power is as powerless as a tiger without teeth. In his current state, he absolutely cannot survive against a powerful supreme god.

So—becoming a god means that even if his divine status is naturally below that of the main god, and even if he becomes stronger in the future, the main god will still have absolute suppression over him. In fact, some of the power in his divine status will become someone else's property, which can be taken away and used at will. But he wants to live, to survive, and to see more interesting things. He cannot die and does not want to die.

Finally—this time, Night relented. To turn the very culprit who would cause Ragnarok into his own god? This might be a good opportunity to plant someone within the Aesir, and also a way to contain Loki and make this flame more controllable.

However, thinking of his own name, and the name of the World Tree that Odin once knew, he was careful not to let Odin associate his name with the being who had taken away the throne of the world king. He thought of the era in which the First Flame burned that he had established, and the newly recruited number one henchman and god of fire.

He has developed an inseparable and intimate relationship with fire, so—just like when he created the pseudonym Griffith, let's start a new one, let's call it…

“Gwyn—my god’s name, Gwyn—!” Night finally spoke, uttering a name that Ash, who was standing to the side, found unfamiliar, but she was smart enough not to show anything unusual at this moment.

(Gwyn—? Why did the teacher say that name to Loki? Was it just teasing, or was there some special reason or meaning?)

Meanwhile, Loki immediately began to swear an oath to the world, willing to become a subordinate god of the night and be subject to its control.

The oath was quickly established, proving that the other party had not deceived him and that the other party's divine name—his real name—was indeed 'Gwyn.' This relieved Loki considerably. Since it had succeeded... now I'm at least half one of our own, right? They won't kill me again, will they?

What Loki didn't know at that moment was that when he swore an oath to the world, he was essentially swearing an oath to Night itself, with Night's personal authorization as the administrator—'What God's name is, isn't that just a matter of Night's thought?'

Thus, a god who should not exist in the orthodox mythological world began to appear at the beginning of the Norse world, and even fit the identity of Night as the king of the world perfectly.

Who is Gwyn? — This name originates from the creator of the First Flame Age and the Age of Fire in the neighboring Souls world; the First Lord of Cinder; the ruler of the gods; the founder of all things and the realms of Lordran and Anor Londo. He is the first among the holders of the Four Primal Lord Souls. He is also the First God who created the world.

...—A being known as—the 'Sun King,' the 'Primordial Light,' and the 'Lord of All Things.' And Night, inextricably linked to the sun, is now the ruler of the Norse world—isn't he also the Lord of All Things?

Chapter 48 How awesome is it to have the gods pay for everything without spending a penny?

In the beginning, there was nothingness, no sky or earth, everything was chaos.

In a world that begins much like the Norse mythology, there exists a Chaos Lord known as the Ancient Dragon. Countless hours passed, and several humanoid beings crawled about until the First Flame appeared, giving rise to duality. It brought 'difference' to the chaotic chaos. From nothingness to existence, from yin and yang, cold and hot, life and death, light and darkness, time, space, soul… everything gained 'conceptual' distinctions because of the First Flame. Then, the war of the gods began, ultimately ending in the defeat of the Ancient Dragon, after which Gwyn, the Sun King, ushered in the Age of Fire.

Gwyn, the Sun King, a god whose name should not exist in this world—appeared for the first time in this Norse version of the Souls universe.

Gwyn's prototype and image are said to be derived from Zeus in ancient Greek mythology and Odin in Norse mythology, while his weapon, the Sun Spear, is derived from Zeus's thunderbolt or Odin's Gungnir (also known as the Great God's Declaration). It is a spear of lightning that, once thrown, will surely hit its target.

The armor of the Silver Knights under the Sun King's command was inspired by the helmets of the Silver Knights under the Catholic God. The 'horns' on the helmets of the Silver Knights represent angel wings. The White Order drew inspiration from Catholicism in reality. The Silver Knights with angel wings represent the angels surrounding 'God,' and the model of the royal city of Anor Londo was modified from the Milan Cathedral, a Catholic church, implying that Gwyn is Jehovah, or 'God.'

One name connects almost all the legendary powers and images of the most famous pantheons in Europe, and Night has a rather tumultuous connection with these beings. Not to mention, the current position of the King of the Norse world was seized from Odin, the King of the Gods.

On the other hand, although his identity was exposed, Loki finally got what he wanted. Although he failed to become the leader of humanity, he was able to continue contributing to the human race and shining brightly.

With the attitude of using them to the fullest extent possible, Night assigned Loki several tasks to help humanity survive better, and even instructed him to keep an eye on the movements of the Aesir and report any major events to him in advance.

Of course—saying it's about "movements" really means seeing when Loki himself wants to cause trouble and having to warn him beforehand. He's practically involved behind several major plot twists in Norse mythology. Especially the forging of the spear Gungnir.

His savior's divine blade can contain countless divine artifact concepts, unfolding into a mandala array. For Ye, there's never enough divine artifacts, especially weapons like the Great God's Declaration, used by a god-king. With a wild, unclaimed UR card right before his eyes, how could Ye resist grabbing it?

At this point, while Night was driven by a fearless, reckless borrowing mentality, seemingly unafraid of death, Odin and the others knew that in the new world, obtaining anything required equivalent sacrifice and devotion. One reason the gods allowed Loki to join the Aesir was that they discovered he was the only being who could acquire various things without paying any price. They considered him a cheat code, a bug in the world, constantly using him for advice. Whatever Loki proposed, the gods would agree to, and afterwards, they would divide the spoils he obtained.

Even if bugs occur too frequently on the game server, it will trigger the automatic virus scanning and removal functions. Not to mention that Loki is the source of Ragnarok. The gods seemed to gain everything through Loki's help without paying anything, but in the end, didn't they all pay the price with their lives, dying completely after Ragnarok?

However, the Night is certain that the gods are still unaware of this situation. And they have still managed to bring Loki into the Aesir's ranks, suggesting that their intentions, like those in the mythology, remain unchanged. Furthermore, there is a script in the primordial runes that allows the target of sacrifice to be transferred.

Thus—he could even arrive at this equation. The gods commanded Loki to find artifacts and treasures, and Loki would hand them over after finding them. However, after this transfer—the poison of destiny brought by obtaining these artifacts and treasures still needed to be paid for by the very gods who originally made the request to Loki.

If we view the sacrifices for power as a monetary transaction, the gods paid (or even sacrificed their lives) Loki for the secret treasure that would lead to the rise and prosperity of the divine race, only to have the night steal it—but this is a deal where money is spent and there are no refunds. Even the gods themselves are unaware of what they have already sacrificed.

Oh, the feeling of spending money without having to pay is simply indescribably wonderful... If I weren't concerned about my image, I'd want to adopt the same sunny smile as the six-year-old mentally challenged child, oops, I mean, the card-playing king Malik next door... kimoji!

On the other hand, since Loki, the one chosen by the people, could not be king, then a new king was needed to lead them. Loki still looked regretful, seemingly unwilling to give up, and kept saying, "Let him do it! He absolutely won't mess things up."

However, the more Loki assured Ye that he was right, the less likely Ye, who knew the absurd and comical things Loki had done in the myths, would allow him to become king of mankind. If he were to become king, mankind would probably wake up the next day to find themselves all bald.

To quell his ulterior motives was simple: just find someone who could control Loki to be king. And so—

Night: "I will become the first king of mankind, and Ash—you will be the queen. As my successor, you will now take over all affairs of the kingdom. You will be the master—and I will be the assistant..."

Like the pharaoh of ancient Egypt, who was both god and king, he had already been the Roman emperor once, though he mostly made the decision to become the first king on nights of war. But he only held the title as a symbol of honor, handing over all matters to Ash. He only assisted Ash in the early stages where Ash was unable to make decisions or did not understand, and then removed Ash once Ash had fully matured.

Perfectly—becoming a king and becoming a sage who leads humanity forward do not conflict, and the added advantage of this status even allows for better implementation of policies.

"Me... to be the queen?" Ash opened her mouth wide in surprise. Ah, this... is...—Suddenly being assigned such an important task, but thinking that Night would be there to help her, Ash felt much less pressure.

"Shouldn't, maybe—there won't be any problems?" Thinking of Ye's assistance and guidance, Ash felt more confident. There was nothing in this world that Ye didn't understand, not even the King's Way. She firmly believed this. If she couldn't do all this well with Ye's help, wouldn't she be utterly incompetent?

Okay—it's decided! She's going to be queen!

Since saying those words to Ye before, Ash, who still feels like she's about to die whenever she thinks about it, doesn't have the courage to say similar things again, especially now that humans have begun to reproduce and develop in these newly emerged second-generation humans... There's no longer even an excuse for the need to develop the species.

Desperate to find achievements and accomplish something significant to cover up her embarrassment, Fan was putting in a lot of effort. She had been forcibly enduring these past few days, otherwise she wouldn't even have the courage to talk to Ye. After all, she had said those wicked things before, so how could she continue to stay by his side if she didn't achieve some brilliant results?

I just got off the train and need to take a day off to rest.

I just got off the train and need to take a day off.

I just got off the train, so I'm asking for a day off to rest.

I just got off the train and need to take a day off.

I just got off the train, so I'm asking for a day off to rest.

I just got off the train and need to take a day off.

I just got off the train, so I'm asking for a day off to rest.

Chapter 49 Ash: I don't want to die from overwork! Oh, and let's give Loki some more work!

"Your Majesty, these are the design plans for the northern city wall of the royal city, created by the workers..."

"Too crude... How can the royal city ruled by the supreme Sun King be housed within such simple and low walls? Raise the height of these walls tenfold."

(“Sun King”: This does not refer to the power of the night symbolizing the sun, but rather to the people’s reverence for the night, which is as supreme as the light of the sun in the sky; therefore, to distinguish Her Majesty the Queen from the Creator, another title for the great Lord when he is king, people spontaneously and respectfully call him the Sun King; Sun King—Gwyn!)

"But what about the materials..."

“Don’t worry about the materials—tell ‘Loki’ that he will be in charge of all the materials needed to build the royal city. I’ll give him a month, no—seven days, no… that’s still too much. Three days! With his abilities, three days will be enough.”

"Three...three days?"

"Hmm? Is something wrong?" Ash looked at her fellow humans with a tone that was both dignified and polite, patiently inquiring with a questioning gaze. She had enough patience to listen to all different opinions.

however--

"...No, your order is absolutely correct." Although the humans on the other side couldn't believe that anyone could produce such an exaggerated amount of material in three days, ten times taller than the high wall originally planned to be built with stone; but since Her Majesty the Queen, who was personally appointed by the Lord, said so, it must be reasonable.

'It must be that Loki possesses a special talent that even they are unaware of!!' That's the only explanation. The simple, primitive Norse humans... the second generation of humans unconditionally believe in their master, and naturally they will also believe in Her Majesty the Queen, whom their master personally appointed. Therefore, no matter how unreasonable the order may be, it must have its own logic in their eyes.

For mortals, such a command would be an impossible miracle, but for Loki, a god, although the request was still absurd, he was very intelligent and, according to what Night had said about Loki's talents, Ash had always made the most of them.

As Ye said, Loki's talents far surpass those of ordinary gods; he could easily be considered a hundred times the caliber of a god-level 'labor force'. And for a god, if he couldn't even gather enough materials to build the royal city in a month, it would be incredibly inadequate. Considering his hundredfold talent, three days seems excessive. Such a useful free laborer should be assigned to perform more tasks!

"Your Majesty...!"

"Your Majesty—..."

"Hey?! Everyone line up and deal with them one by one in order! Don't rush in at once, I can't handle so many things at once. The construction of the royal city and the worship of the Sun King are the top priorities. Do it in this order, these are the most important."

"Your Majesty, these are the stones we have chosen for the construction of the royal city... Please take a look."

"Hmm, the rest is fine... but let's change the forging material of the royal palace to the magic gold treasured by the dwarves; I heard that the Asgardians' upcoming palace will use this kind of gold (which is of the same origin as the gold of the future Rhine)..."

"I see—I understand, Your Majesty!!" The humans, upon receiving the order, were not annoyed that their proposal had been modified; instead, their eyes lit up with undisguised approval. Since it was a palace being built for their great lord, the Sun King Gwyn, it naturally couldn't be inferior to the Asgardian palace. Given humanity's deep reverence for the night, they would never refuse if they knew of better materials; in fact, they would gladly use the world's most precious treasures to build the palace for the night.

"But—we don't have enough treasures to exchange for enough gold to build a palace, and none of our people know or associate with the dwarves..."

"It's alright—let Rocky go. If it's him, there won't be any problem," the Queen said with absolute certainty and confidence this time.

She couldn't guarantee anything else. But she had heard from Night about obtaining gold from the dwarves; it was Loki's (future) specialty. Several artifacts of the Aesir and that special magical gold were brought back to them by Loki. It could be said that without Loki, the Aesir, apart from their naturally powerful bodies, would be completely impoverished.

The person who received the order left satisfied. Soon after, a large group of people crowded around.

"Your Majesty...this is—"

"Your Majesty—! I have another report to give!"

Amidst a cacophony of sounds, Ash resumed her high-speed work. 'So being a queen is this arduous and difficult thing?' Just as the girl was frantically busy, drenched in sweat.

The civilization of the second generation of humans has just begun to rise, and the Midgard world is currently showing a thriving scene everywhere.

As a civilization in its early stages of development, and with the guidance of several deities, even without directly introducing future technological civilizations into the present era, human civilization has developed rapidly, far faster than it could have figured things out on its own. It is no exaggeration to say that a month can cover the development time of hundreds or thousands of years.

The development of human civilization always stagnates for a considerable period in a certain era, before taking another leap forward at a moment of inspiration. Sometimes, what limits the speed of civilization's development is not human wisdom itself, but a new opportunity for discovery. For example, when humans discovered and learned to use fire, they left behind the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, and entered the Bronze and Stone Age of fire.

Therefore, even in less than a few months, human civilization began to develop in a respectable manner. After the construction plan for the human capital city named Anor Londo was established, the establishment of the capital city, the setting of kingdom laws, people's livelihood, and sacrifices, among many other matters, were also put on the agenda.

Because of this, Ash became busy immediately after taking office. Even though she was very patient and meticulous in handling every matter, her workload not only did not decrease, but increased day by day.

In contrast, Ash had accumulated many questions she wanted to ask Night, while the human subjects below, after being assigned various tasks, were also highly enthusiastic. In their exploration of their respective fields, they discovered many problems, transforming into curious children, constantly asking questions. Ash could solve some of these problems with her own knowledge and wisdom, as Night had taught her these things...

Some she simply couldn't manage, so she could only save them up and ask Ye about them later that night.

This intense workload, coupled with the fact that she had only been queen for a short time, already showed signs of overwork and was working herself to death...

Even the workload that would frighten the Knight King of the neighboring Moon World, who single-handedly handled every aspect of the kingdom to the best of his ability, is probably only something that Gil Jiao Yulu of the Mesopotamian Plain could handle and give a thumbs up to.

Currently, among the entire human race, besides Night, the creator, Loki seems to be one of the few who possesses the wisdom to help her handle various affairs. But how could Ash possibly ask the creator for help?