Goddess Kaleidoscope

"Uh...why?"

"I'm not entirely sure about this either. It's possible that the male mortal's seed isn't strong enough, but my guess is that female gods simply don't possess the same reproductive abilities as female mortals. After all, for a god to create new life, all it takes is some divine power. However... considering you have the primordial fire, perhaps you could give it a try!"

"...Let's talk about that later. By the way, what about the water god?"

"I'm resting and it's not convenient for me to see guests at the moment."

"You did it to her..."

Don't ask.

"alright."

Wisely, Ludger didn't press the matter further. As he got up to leave, Kumirad suddenly spoke up behind him.

"I'll ask those two little mice when I have time. They were imprisoned in the Land of Fire for three hundred years, so they should know quite a bit. My intuition tells me that Melchiorda's plan is not the optimal solution. This world has existed for billions of years, and civilizations have risen and fallen. There's no reason why the key to maintaining the world's operation should be replaced every one or two thousand years. There must be a better way."

"Thank you, I'm starting to get started."

"That's good. I'm still looking forward to studying your child."

"You son of a bitch..."

After bidding farewell to Kumirad, Rudd went straight to the labyrinth. Upon arriving, he saw the snake girl Hydra playing with two little goddesses riding a giant spider over three meters tall – a scene both heartwarming and chilling. Especially when Hydra saw Rudd and immediately charged towards him at at least 80 miles per hour, Rudd's scalp tingled with fear!

"Master, you've arrived!"

"Ah, here it comes. Keep this guy away from me."

Keeping some distance from the seemingly completely tamed giant spider, Lude called over Ikaven and Adai, took out some snacks he had prepared beforehand, and said that he wanted to sit down with the two little guys to eat and chat.

Seeing the snacks that Lude brought out, Ah Dai clapped his hands happily. Although the little guy was still quiet and had a silly expression, he was obviously much more lively than when he came back from underground.

Ikaven, on the other hand, remained the same as always. She said, "I am the great God of Plague, don't even think about trying to fob me off with this rubbish," but while she was saying this, she kept glancing at the snacks and swallowing, clearly not as disdainful as she claimed.

In the small garden of the maze, the twins of death and plague were crunching on cream biscuits. Lud, with a fatherly smile, poured a full glass of grape juice for each of the two little girls. Although he had many questions he wanted answered on this trip, he wasn't in a hurry.

"Is it good? Take your time, I brought a lot."

"Hmph! Cricket... cricket... a little snack, don't think you can bribe us so easily..."

Because her mouth was stuffed full of cookies, Ikavin's cheeks were bulging like a hamster's, and her speech was a little slurred. Lude wasn't annoyed at all; instead, he smiled and took out a handkerchief to wipe her mouth.

It has to be said that these two little goddesses are quite innocent; their naive appearance reminds Lude of Aina from back then.

However, this is also something that Lud is somewhat puzzled by. The reason why Aina is so simple is because the initial source of her faith was the earliest group of settlers in Pine Town. These villagers are honest and simple, but also have a bit of a small-farmer cunning. In addition, the "divine design" that Lud initially established laid the foundation for a kind-hearted character, which is why Aina's initial personality was formed.

The rat-made gods clearly didn't intend to create two naive and innocent creatures; in the later stages of the war, when things became urgent, they even resorted to blood sacrifice to accelerate their growth.

During the War of the Gods, both Karius and Figorae fought Ikaven when he went berserk. According to them, Ikaven at that time was completely irrational, incapable of any communication, and exuded an astonishing evil power!

But three hundred years after the war with the gods, when Rudd entered the land of fire and saw the imprisoned Ikaven, the little guy not only regained his rationality, but also did not exude any so-called evil aura, as if he had been purified by some mysterious power.

Under Lud's questioning, the two loli goddesses began to fully recount their experiences over the past three hundred years since entering the Land of Fire.

Since the two were sharing the same body at the time, their souls had to take turns on duty. Therefore, each soul held half of the memories and could only communicate to a limited extent during the handover. After that, the soul that was taking a break would fall into a deep sleep and would be completely unaware of what was happening in the outside world.

Fortunately, although each of the two little ones only has half of their memories, the pieces together are still quite complete, including the part about when they were born and went berserk.

Icavin even proudly claimed that she kicked a big blond guy's ass hard, making him scream.

When talking about the chaotic period at the beginning of their birth, Ikaven and Adai both said that they felt a lot of pain at that time. The two souls of one body were already chaotic enough. The newly born souls were almost instinctively fighting each other for control of the body. At this time, a third "voice" suddenly appeared, wanting to take over the body and make the two original ones stand aside, which further aggravated the chaos.

Upon hearing this, Rudd realized that the third voice must be the method the ratmen used to control Ikaven, which was also the reason for his rampage. Ikaven was subsequently besieged by the gods and thrown into the Land of Fire.

When asked about her first visit, Ikaven only remembered that it was pitch black, but there were some scattered fireflies in the darkness that guided her to a dead tree, where she then collapsed.

Ikavin didn't know how long she slept after that faint, but when she opened her eyes again, the annoying noise in her head had disappeared, and the surroundings were no longer pitch black. The once withered giant tree had come back to life, and many golden leaves and sparks had grown back.

Rudd deduced that during Ikaven's coma, the giant tree, which was almost withered at the time, absorbed some energy from her, thus giving her a second life. However, Ikaven was quite certain that the absorbed energy was not divine power, but rather the part that made her feel unwell.

A long time passed after that. Since the Land of Fireseed did not have a day-night cycle for reference, Ikaven and Adai could not determine how long they had been inside. However, until Lud appeared, the Fireseed Giant Tree did not show any obvious changes in appearance, nor did the large lump in the hollow tree hole.

At this moment, Ah-Dai brought up something that caught Lud's attention.

Ah-Dai told Rud that every time she fell asleep during her shift change, she could always hear someone softly humming a lullaby to her. Although she didn't understand a single word of the lyrics, the melody was very beautiful. She always thought it was Ikaven, but Ikaven was surprised and said that he couldn't sing at all, and was even off-key!

In other words, there were other beings in the Land of Fire at that time, but this being only communicated with Ah-Dai.

This made Lude wonder if the giant fire tree actually possessed self-awareness, and that it had guided the ratman god to him, showing particular favor to Ah-Dai, one of the two souls. Unfortunately, Ah-Dai was truly foolish, taking the other's communication as a lullaby and falling into a peaceful sleep.

Of course! This is just Lud's speculation, after all, he had been into the Land of Fire before, and he didn't see any other beings there.

Surely... she didn't like him?

"It seems I still have to go there again."

"Ah! You're going back? That awful place has nothing, you can only eat tree bark when you're hungry, I'd rather die than go back there again!"

The mere mention of the Land of Fire awakens many unpleasant memories for Ikaven. In fact, if it weren't for the delicious-smelling cookies that Rudd brought out, she would never want to bring up that prison that she found so unbearable to recall.

In contrast, Ah-Dai really wanted to go back again, especially after she learned that the one who had been singing lullabies to her wasn't Ikaven. She wanted to go back and see her friend whom she had never met before, and Lud also had the same idea.

Without further ado, Ludd didn't want any unforeseen complications and decided to set off for the Land of Fireseed immediately. Fortunately, the three sisters had already completed a fast tunnel leading directly to Hearthglen, greatly reducing the round trip time.

Lud knew that although the three gods had agreed to give him some time to investigate, it didn't mean they would give up using Melchiorda's old method to save the world. He had to come up with a new, more suitable plan as soon as possible to make them truly change their minds.

Ah Dai had no objection to Lu De's request to accompany her, but she was unsure whether she could go back in after she came out. After all, the Land of Fire Seeds was a forbidden zone where even gods could not enter. She had entered by sheer force, and her own strength alone was probably not enough.

But Lude thought that maybe it was worth a try; perhaps that mysterious being would open a door of convenience for Ah-Dai.

Riding in a minecart leading underground, Ludwig, accompanied by the twin gods and his elder sister Atropos, arrived at the Hearthstone ruins once again.

Compared to their last trip, the three sisters have now built a base here as a transit point for traveling from the surface to the Land of Fire.

Atropos proudly introduced the large elevator that they had repaired to Ludron, noting that they had not only restored it to normal operation but also made many improvements and upgrades.

Especially the lifting platform, the original platform was just a big iron plate, and the dwarf miners could only stand or sit on the ground while riding it, without any consideration for comfort.

So the three sisters made a rather extravagant upgrade to the elevator platform, turning it into a luxurious private room. The room was incredibly spacious, with high-end sofas, coffee tables, and even air conditioning, all to ensure that their beloved "Master" would be comfortable and at ease when going down to the underground.

The group sat down in the private room. Ikaven and Adai immediately rushed to the snacks prepared for them, while Atropos took the initiative to sit next to Lud, wishing he could stick his whole body to him, calling it "close protection".

Lude thought to himself, "You're definitely sticking close to me, but that biting expression of yours doesn't look like you're trying to protect me at all."

After a ride of more than an hour in the elevator, Ludwig and his group arrived smoothly at the bottom of the passage, where the second of the three sisters, Croto, had been waiting for a long time. Behind her was a steampunk-style aircraft.

Since this place is located deep underground, the power of the gods will be increasingly suppressed as they approach the Land of Fire. The last time Ludwig and his companions came here, they relied mainly on Nidhogg, a powerful black dragon with its own dragon might, so they didn't have much trouble passing through the underground world.

But Nidhogg wasn't an employee of the Pantheon, and Rudd felt bad about bothering this family-oriented dragon. So he had the three sisters, who loved inventing, create a vehicle that could be used in the Underworld without relying on divine power. That's how the thing on Croto came about.

The aircraft built by the three sisters looks like a submarine with wings at first glance. Its earthy yellow paint makes it stand out somewhat in the darker underground world.

However, Croto said there was no need to worry. Although the airship looked yellowish, that was actually the color of the surface repellent coating. Most creatures underground would definitely avoid it if they saw it.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency, I've test-flown it several times before, and I've killed all those fools who didn't know what they were doing (thumbs up)!"

"..."

Although somewhat uneasy, Lude still got into the cockpit of the aircraft. Krotto took over the piloting duties, and the female driver stepped on the gas and shot off, the acceleration was quite strong.

Thanks to the previous exploration, the exact location of the entrance had been successfully determined, so the aircraft was able to take the best route straight to the target and quickly arrived at the crack in the huge stone wall.

Just as Lud had predicted, the entrance was open to him, an unbeliever, and Ah-Dai was also given preferential treatment by some mysterious force, allowing him to pass through the rift with Lud, while others could not.

This differential treatment made Ikavin very unhappy, even though she didn't really want to go back.

After telling the others to wait outside, Lude led Ahdai back into the Fire Seed Land. The process of entering was the same as last time; the immediate feeling was that after taking only a few steps, in the blink of an eye, they were standing in front of that giant tree again.

Lude first observed the giant tree. It had been more than three weeks since he last came in, but there was no change in the tree's appearance, nor in the tumor inside the tree hole. This indicated that the giant tree was not weakening very quickly, but he didn't know how much longer it could hold on.

Confirming that the giant tree's condition was unlikely to worsen in the short term, Lude instructed Adai to try contacting the mysterious voice by sleeping under the tree. Lude even brought in a comfortable thick blanket and a velvet pillow from outside.

However, after trying them out, the little guy didn't choose the two expensive bedding items. Instead, he showed a strong preference for Lude's thighs. After snuggling into his arms for a short while, he started making contented purring sounds like a small animal.

Unsure if this trick would work, Lude could only lean against the tree and wait patiently. He thought about how busy he had been lately, with all sorts of big and small matters, both official and personal, piling up one after another. It was a rare moment of peace and quiet.

Before he knew it, Lude, who was leaning against the big tree, also felt a little tired. Seeing that Ah Dai was sleeping soundly, he also planned to close his eyes and take a nap. As a result, he fell asleep as well after a short while.

In a hazy, half-awake state, Lude seemed to see Ah-Dai fast asleep on a pile of gold leaves, and beside her, a pale golden phantom was swaying, as if trying to wake the sleeping Ah-Dai.

Instinctively, Lud wanted to step forward to hear what the phantom was saying, but as soon as he took a step, the phantom sensed his presence and then jumped up and ran away like a frightened cat.

In an instant, Lude woke up from his dream, knocking over Ah-Dai who was sleeping on his lap. Lude looked around and stared blankly at the sleepy Ah-Dai. He then realized that he had probably unconsciously synchronized with Ah-Dai's dream, and that the white phantom was the guy who had been singing to Ah-Dai all along.

From a third-party perspective, Lud could basically confirm that things were indeed as he had guessed: what Ah-Dai heard in her sleep was not a lullaby, but a message that the white phantom was trying to convey to her, but because of the language barrier, it was mistaken for singing.

Thinking about it this way, that white phantom must be very frustrated, muttering to itself for hundreds of years, but the mouse just couldn't understand it at all!

"Hey, you were just sleeping, did you hear that singing again?"

"Ah."

Ah-Dai nodded, then, as if remembering something, added that he had made a point of listening to the other person's singing this time, and was able to subtly understand some of it, but only some of it. Therefore, Ah-Dai had no idea how to describe what he heard.

Seeing Ah-Dai racking his brains, Lu De wondered if he could ask Ah-Dai to pass on a message to the phantom, asking it to come find him. However, Ah-Dai helplessly replied that it was impossible, because in the dream she could only hear but not speak. She couldn't even open her eyes to look at that guy, let alone pass on a message for Lu De.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Ludwig and Ah-Dai had no choice but to return empty-handed from the Land of the Fire.

Their current predicament is quite unsolvable. Ah-Dai cannot understand the language used by the mysterious being at all, and in the dream, Ah-Dai is a plant mouse that cannot respond in any way, making communication impossible.

Fortunately, Lud was not at a loss. During the second test, he suddenly had an idea. So he asked Ah Dai to try to remember the pronunciation of the language spoken by the mysterious being after entering the dream, and then repeat it to him after waking up. Finally, he successfully recorded part of the content.

After four consecutive attempts, the mysterious entity disappeared. Whether it was tired or frustrated, it was impossible to contact it. As for Ah-Dai, he had slept several times and was so energetic that his eyes were practically glowing. It would be difficult for him to fall asleep again anytime soon.

After the two withdrew from the land of the fire and returned to the surface, Lud immediately sought out Kumirad and read aloud what he had recorded, placing his hopes on this knowledgeable elder. However, Kumirad shook her head after listening, indicating that she couldn't understand the language either.

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"Is that strange? There are many things I don't know. During the golden age of this world, all three continents produced intelligent races and gave birth to a myriad of civilizations. Some have continued to this day, while others have vanished. Some civilizations never even communicated with the outside world from birth to death. How could you possibly understand the languages ​​they once spoke?"

"Uh... does that mean the trail has gone cold again?"

"Not necessarily. I know an old... a lady, who might be older than any of us living gods. Maybe she knows."

"Who?"

"Queen Isabella of the Dragon Clan. She is the oldest and first dragon in this world. Legend has it that dragons are not native to this world; their ancestors crossed dimensions, left some offspring here, and then went to the next world."

"It sounds like an invasive species."

"Yes and no, because dragons are both wanderers and lawkeepers. They have always followed ancient covenants, sowing seeds in various worlds to protect them from invasion by extraterrestrial demons. So, you'd better keep your labyrinth discreet. Those lazybones won't bother with a few stowaways, but if they mistakenly believe you have a demon's lair here, then..."