Simulate the universe, starting with speedrunning Greek.

When Gwyn created humanity with heavenly fire and told them from the beginning that the world was doomed, and taught them to pass on the flame, that one day in the distant future, the power of this flame would help them survive a world without the light of the sun, and that even in a more distant era after this universe had died, humanity would rely on its own will and strength, on this flame of civilization, to carry on to an even more distant era—at this point, the giants' brains had completely shut down.

The sheer volume of information initially left them feeling bewildered in their moment of fear, but their anxiety quickly escalated when they discovered that Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight, still possessed the strategy to conquer this inevitably ruined world!

No, impossible...!

That's impossible. The moment the world (planet) dies, everything else should perish along with it.

How could any living being survive after dying in the Norse universe?! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

That was utterly insane! The giants simply couldn't believe it. But Gwyn, the glorious creator of humankind, proclaimed that the Age of Fire had begun! Human civilization would be passed down from generation to generation, and he told them there was no need to worry about the so-called prophecy of the end of the world.

Until the distant future shatters fate, humanity will finally reach a new future that even the gods cannot fathom or foresee. In that vision—the voice of the god of humanity is so firm and resolute.

It was as if he were stating an undeniable, established fact! As if he were completely convinced that the 'future' that no one else, not even God, could see truly existed.

That kind of confidence is infectious, and you subconsciously want to believe it.

But—could that be? Even the mighty gods couldn't weather the twilight of world destruction; the frost giants felt fear and unease about the future. Yet, the humans in that scene held unwavering faith in the words of their creator, showing no fear even though they knew the end from the beginning. Instead, they seemed purposeful, diligently and passionately developing their civilization, steadfastly determined to pass on the spirit of fire and the era as conveyed by Gwyn.

Among the original giants, the intelligent giants, upon learning of this future, completely abandoned thinking and development. In any case, no matter how much they developed and became stronger, they could not change the inevitable fate of their demise, so what was the point of their efforts?

Some chose to give up, while others, in their uncertainty, chose to persevere (Odin) – hoping that even if that future came, it would be sometime in the distant future, but these were all expressions of helplessness in their hearts.

Only humans—! They are weak, yet possess an incomparably vibrant life force. After learning the truth… their power is far inferior to the two great gods, yet they chose to resist! Even to transcend—! They wanted to try to overcome that trial and forge their own future!

Is it a case of ignorance breeds fearlessness?

Chapter 109: The Earth, Forged with Fire and Steel, Undergoes a Double Bombing! I'm telling you, this is 'real'.

Is it ignorance breeds fearlessness, or do they simply not understand how weak their power is compared to that ultimate calamity? Is it just youthful arrogance that makes them fearless?

No, it seems like neither. It seems like both, but even if they are, the spirit that burns within them is something that we (the Frost Giants) and Odin and the others do not possess.

They lack the courage of humans.

But isn't this all for nothing? Just as the giants Skarmory and the others began to doubt themselves...

They heard another deep, calm question: "Why can birds fly?"

"—Do you know why I call myself the Sun King? Or rather—do you know why birds can fly?"

Then, scene after scene unfolded, as if this mental world was beginning to malfunction, rapidly changing into all sorts of different scenes.

Various scenes of a dilapidated world, unique to the art style of the Souls universe, suddenly began to appear before the giants.

In an instant, the giants' attention and focus were once again drawn to the scene.

What are those?

In those countless fragments of the 'future', they seemed to see the moment when the sun fell and the world came to an end, and the choice of the Sun King—he chose to ignite himself as the new 'sun' and pass on a flame of light.

In the initial flame, the king who burned himself transformed into Chai Xin, who sustained the world. Because of the choice of the god of humanity, the arrival of the deep-sea era was indefinitely postponed.

Then—things changed! The fruit the giants saw changed.

The Sun King's selflessness brought light back to the world, but it also caused the world to stop moving forward and stop changing... The world was forever frozen at the moment when Fimbulwinter began.

The Age of Fire has truly begun! Its initial birth in Norse mythology was a proclamation, but the true start of the Great Age will come at the end of the world, in the search for an infinitely extending lower realm…

Since the Sun King, the world has been trapped in a cycle of constantly needing to be built upon by 'firewood'. Even maintaining survival is extremely difficult in this era, let alone moving forward...

At the same time, people also heard the explanation about the significance of the Sun King's existence.

Why do birds fly?

'Because they wanted to fly to the heavens.' In a daze, they saw the distant future through the years, and that was the conversation between the Sun King and the heavens.

His erudite, wise voice, weathered by time yet still magnetic, whispers answers in their ears like a friend.

"When the final meteor fell in the Cretaceous period, only the free bird was able to escape its predetermined demise."

"Some people fly only to fall, but I will fly into the sky and fall to greet my victory."

"To prevent the sun from setting, I flew into the sky and stole your light. I will melt and fall into the sea. But to take it back, you must fly to a place higher than me!"

So—the scene changed, and the giants saw more.

In that era, countless people followed in the footsteps of the Sun King, embarking on the path of passing on the first flame, just to continue the life of the Norse world. After overcoming countless hardships, they arrived before the Sun King to receive a portion of the first flame and burned together.

Chai Xin has come and gone, except for the Sun King who has never been completely consumed by his strength and is waiting for someone who can truly lead humanity out of this vicious cycle...

The rest of 'Chai Xin' are all dead!

They should have been called 'heroes' in the epic, beings who burned themselves to illuminate the world, but in the end, one after another they died in the dust that no one cared about.

Those who painstakingly became 'Kings of Cinder,' burning themselves like fuel, went from initial brimming with confidence to gradually turning to ashes in despair. Yet, when the world needed them, they rang the bells—

Even from the ashes that have been burned to ashes, some still rise from the dead and continue on the path of rekindling the flame.

until...

Finally, at some point, there was a 'ash' that wasn't even a living being, an existence that was already uncombustible waste, yet it once again transcended the miraculous and ignited itself to become the Lord of Cinder.

Yes, the title 'Lord of Cinder' is the best interpretation of the names of these people in that scene.

This time, however, humanity transcended the 'dream' woven for them by the Sun King and chose to extinguish the flames, because they found a way for civilization to continue to survive even without the sun's radiance. Finally, through countless trials and tribulations by countless generations of Lords of Cinder, they discovered a miracle—a way for civilization to continue even after a planet dies.

Thus, human civilization has reached a new dividing line.

When this generation of Lords of Cinder and humanity chose to extinguish the First Flame, the Sun Lord also chose to respect humanity's decision. The obsession with maintaining the last flame dissipated along with it. As humanity's guardian, he fulfilled his duty of guidance and protected their growth as fledglings. Now that humanity has finally grown up and is capable of standing on its own, he has chosen to let go, allowing humanity to continue its own choices and forge its own future.

And in the very next moment, as the flames were extinguished and destroyed by the closing of the palms, the world was plunged into complete darkness.

When the Fire Keeper, chosen as the successive Lords of Cinder to assist them during the 'Age of Fire,' asked so gently and anxiously, 'Lord Ash... are you still there?'

Ash's response offered her a glimmer of warmth in the darkness.

Because these are fragmented images, the giants cannot see exactly how humanity survived the darkness and loneliness of the deep-sea world after it had completely lost all light.

But they saw into the distant future that even the era of the deep sea could not bury humanity to extinction.

After an unknown period of time, 'light' reappeared in the world—artificial light…

But by then the planet had already perished, and what came into view again was a desolate land, devoid of life, hardened like steel and devoid of vitality.

And the planet's resources have been exhausted and depleted, the land is no longer suitable for growing food, the atmosphere is no longer as suitable for life as it used to be, and even animals are dying one after another. As the last primates, humans still wander in the hazy, cracked wilderness, suffering in the silent grayness, yet they still declare themselves alive.

Finally—what the giants saw was that future swept across the entire world in an instant, but they could no longer find any gods, giants, or even elves and dwarves; only humanity remained alive.

But just as they were about to explore something further, the scene before them suddenly vanished.

Sullivan stopped the giants from instantly "following" the series, and then asked meaningfully again, "So now... do you understand? The reality of the world..."

The images etched into their DNA from the moment they were born allowed the giants to be absolutely certain of the reality of some fragments of Ragnarok. Then they brought out a future that was not in the prophecy, such as the linking of the fire and the steel earth, and other settings, and fabricated it.

When a future that is half true and half false, a future that is a mixture of truth and falsehood, completely fills the 'blank' part of the future prophecy that was originally blank.

Meanwhile, the giants, who had already been thoroughly misled, were still immersed in the vast, magnificent, and awe-inspiring yet oppressive vision of the future.

Is this—the 'reality' of the world?!

Chapter 110 The Human Race's new season record is available; Tongtian Dai, come and hug him!

Stunned... so terrified that it gave them goosebumps, making the giants think that nothing was more terrifying than death.

Now they have finally come to a new understanding. What is more terrifying than death is knowing a future that has transcended death!

How could that be?! Are those scenes real?

Humanity has truly accomplished what neither the frost giants nor the gods could: survive after the world's death?

The final wasteland and apocalyptic atmosphere convinced them that if a planet were to truly die one day, it would likely look like that.

But if this is true, doesn't it mean that these higher life forms are outmatched by mere humans?

Sudden--

Skarmian asked with awe and urgency, “No, that’s not just the future. It’s a future that has changed. It belongs to new possibilities! You have found a way to break the prophecy and open a new path!”

Skarmia is one of the few intelligent beings among the Titans. She once tricked Thor three times with a teleportation technique and survived. This even made Thor question his own existence, doubt his own strength, and develop infinite awe for her.

Faced with a giant whose defenses couldn't be breached no matter how hard he attacked, as if he were being bitten by a mosquito, it's normal for Thor to doubt his own power and exaggerate the power of Skarmia in his mind.

At this moment, Skarmia was unaware that he had begun to fall into the same psychological trap as Thor in the myth, whom he had once tricked, and began to internalize himself, infinitely exaggerating the status of humanity and the Sun King in his mind.

Human nature (intellect) usually holds great awe for things that cannot be understood. Before fully comprehending the nature of this power, based on their consistent understanding of the world, they will apply the power they imagine to the other party.

At this moment, the Sun King's actions in those scenes evoked a sense of awe that made Skarmonia completely 'deify' him.

He thought of many things... The prophecy that Odin initially saw must have only shown the vision of the world's eventual destruction.

But what about the Sun King?! He could see even more...

Not only did Sulyvahn show them the root cause of the world's destruction and restore it to its original state at the beginning of time, but he also provided the answer he had found—a way to break this deadlock! He even personally showed them the 'strategy line' (the world line where humanity broke the deadlock)!

Awesome!

At that moment, Skminia had only one thought in her mind. Simultaneously, subconsciously, she felt an urge to cling tightly to this powerful figure—not just cling, but to cling to him completely!

Even Odin, the king of the gods, was powerless to defy fate, but the Sun King did it, paving the way for the future of the race he created.

You're saying that humans are awesome, not the Sun King, and that humans will have the last laugh?

No, that interpretation of the message conveyed in these images is far too superficial. The truly powerful one is clearly the Sun King, the creator of humankind!

A man who ushered in the Age of Fire, buying humanity enough time and planting seeds of hope in their hearts, telling them that one day they could overcome all hardships.

And humanity truly created a miracle, living up to his expectations. This required immense faith and support, and the Sun King's initial declaration had an absolutely indispensable impact on humanity.

Even when the man finally chose to let go, it was out of respect for human will and a willingness to let go, rather than because he had burned out prematurely!

He outlived all the Lords of Cinder and all the gods—as the first Lord of Cinder and a deity, he somehow survived to the end. If he hadn't chosen 'suicide,' Skarmory seriously doubts that the Sun King could have continued to burn.

What kind of stabilizing force is this?! The new season is about to begin, and the human race's performance is on the table! What kind of incredible, massive leg is this?!

What's even more chilling is that if 'passing on the fire' can ensure the continuation of the world, then it shouldn't be just humans who can continue into the future. Yet, in the final future, only humans will survive, and other races won't even be able to benefit from it.

So—this raises another question. What caused the world's destruction was not just cold and loneliness, but some other calamity. Darkness alone could not kill the gods and giants.

He seemed to have vaguely seen some scenes of divine wars before, in which various gods, giants, and various fantastical creatures appeared.

It could very well be a massive war that sweeps across all of Northern Europe! And in a total war, not only must humanity be protected to the very end, but one must also have the strength to ignite oneself to illuminate the light for humanity.

Just how much strength does this require?!

Consider the difficulty of protecting the weakest human race in the game "Nothing Gold Can Stay: Age of Myths," where the challenge is similar to winning the war against the sixteen races. This roughly reflects Skarmia's feelings towards the Sun King.

Like a drowning person grasping at the only straw in an emergency, Skarmia subconsciously had the idea that submitting to the Sun King might not be a bad thing. From initially having to seek the Sun King's protection to survive due to the circumstances, to now even having the thought of not wanting to leave even if he was driven away, this inevitably arose in the mind of every giant.