Chapter 99: The Wrath of the Gods
"Your Highness Ulthar, what you're doing is very dangerous!"
Tyche seriously warned the god of the Polar Regions. "No matter how much you trust the loyalty of your believers, such a test rarely ends well."
Ulthar, the god of the Polar Regions, had a gloomy look on his face. "I had no choice. All the gods were cast out of their divine kingdoms by Eru and now walk on the earth in the form of saints. I was relatively lucky. I arrived in the North in time and found believers who gave me protection."
What was going on? There was no doubt that Eru Ilúvatar was deliberately stirring up trouble by doing this! Had he finally grown tired of these noisy gods and wanted to teach them a lesson?
Seeing that Tyche didn't seem to understand the reason, Ulthar took the initiative to tell her the deeper reason. "The Death Gods stole three Fate Tablets while Eru was asleep, trying to find the secret of Eru's transcendence over all gods from them! After discovering that the tablets were stolen, Eru was extremely angry. He thought that the gods had abandoned their duty of maintaining the balance between order and chaos and blindly pursued power, even ignoring the requests of their believers."
"So Eru demoted all the other gods to the Prime Material Plane and left only Helm, the neutral guardian god, to guard the passage from the Prime Material Plane back to the outer planes. Eru ordered each god to have only one saintly avatar, that is, a mortal body, and commanded them to retrieve the Fate Tablets."
Tyche couldn't help but marvel at Eru's bold move. With so many gods coming to the Prime Material Plane, those legendary professionals who were tormented by death and fear would surely go crazy with joy.
The power possessed by the saintly avatars of the gods was limited by their true forms. The saintly avatars of medium - level and powerful gods could protect themselves easily, and their churches on the Prime Material Plane also had considerable influence. However, the saintly avatars of weak - level and faint - level gods were not so lucky. The gods themselves were not a monolithic group, and fights between different factions were common. One could imagine the chaos on the Prime Material Plane.
"Your Highness Ulthar, do you have any new visitors?"
While listening attentively, Tyche's eyes moved, and she turned her head towards the snowfield not far away and asked softly.
Ulthar gave a wry smile. "The Winter Maiden, Auril. She is one of the Wrathful Gods and serves the Lord of Storms, Talos. Among the anthropomorphic gods, I am the only one whose divine sphere conflicts with hers. My faith in the North has been eroded by her in various ways, and I can hardly maintain the status of a weak - level god."
Tyche had a certain understanding of this Winter Maiden. This faint - level goddess controlled the divine spheres of winter and cold. She served the main god Talos along with the medium - level goddess of the sea, Ambar, and the faint - level god of bloody hunting, Malar. She was one of the few smart people among the Wrathful Gods.
Auril focused on her own power of cold. If it weren't for the successive crises that affected this goddess's plans, she would have advanced further and become an medium - level god that couldn't be ignored.
Accompanied by the howling snowflakes, the Winter Maiden Auril, clad in silver armor, descended. This goddess was fickle and vain. Her heart was as cold as frost, and most of her believers worshipped her out of fear. There was no trace of true love, noble sentiment, or honor in her heart. Her beauty was both cold and deadly, like a magnificent flower carved from polar ice.
This goddess landed on Ulthar's altar with an axe - like warhammer in her hand. The believers of the god of the Polar Regions fled in panic at once, not wanting to face this terrifying evil goddess.
The biting cold spread, making even the Northeners dressed in thick furs shiver.
Facing the provocation of the Winter Maiden, the god of the Polar Regions unhesitatingly unfolded his divine power domain to confront her. The powers of the two weak - level gods were evenly matched, and neither could defeat the other in a short time.
Tyche watched the two gods' domains confront each other without any intention of helping.
"Unknown deity, why do you get involved in their dispute?"
Tyche had sensed the fishy smell coming with the cold air from afar. Auril had invited the sea goddess, also one of the Wrathful Gods, to take action. This goddess, who controlled the divine spheres of the sea, sea breeze, sea current, and sea wave, was the most powerful deity in the ocean field. In the anthropomorphic god system, her only enemy was the Wave Lord, Valkor, who had the divine sphere of naval warfare. However, the Moon Goddess, Selûne, also took away some of this evil goddess's faith as the patron saint of navigators, which made Ambar somewhat frustrated.
All ships going out to sea were afraid of this goddess's capriciousness and offered sacrifices to her. If it weren't for the fact that Ambar's power was encroached upon by her unqualified main god, Talos, this goddess would have had a chance to unify the ocean field and advance to a powerful god.
But the old - fashioned medium - level goddess, Ambar, was not to be outdone either. She created shark - shaped beastmen as a counterattack and, together with the god of bloody hunting, Malar, divided the beastman divine sphere that was originally controlled by the Moon Goddess, Selûne, and vented her anger.
Now, this blue - green - skinned goddess, wearing a top made of shells and a purple cloak woven from jellyfish, appeared silently on the battlefield where the two gods with cold domains were fighting. Her fingertips had claws, her elbows had fins, her eyeballs shone with a pearly white light, her hair was living seaweed, and her mouth with sharp teeth exhaled a misty sea breath with a fishy smell, watching Tyche warily.
When it came to understanding the ocean field, how could Ambar be a match for Tyche? The original force of the ocean enveloped Tyche, and all the sea winds and waves couldn't pose any threat to her.
"Ambar, the truculent Deep - sea Queen. I remember your relationship with the Winter Maiden isn't good enough for you to trust each other completely. You're actually willing to pay a high price to ask a medium - level god to take action. It seems that today, Auril wants to make the god of the Polar Regions completely perish."
Tyche looked at Ambar with a smile on her face, paying no attention to her threats.
If Ambar dared to make the first move, Tyche would naturally not mind disguising herself as the sea goddess. But Ambar seemed to have also noticed the abnormality in the ocean field. The danger lurking in the air made her stop in her tracks out of caution.
This goddess from the Chaotic Evil faction never kept her word. Facing Tyche's gradually tightening encirclement, she turned around and fled without hesitation, ignoring Auril's situation to avoid danger.
Auril, who was fighting with Ulthar, didn't expect Ambar to abandon her so easily. She couldn't help but also pay attention to Tyche, who had made the medium - level goddess Ambar flee in panic.
The divine sphere of the divinity that Tyche possessed had been polished by the supreme divinity and the original force until it was seamless and integrated. However, Auril still felt a faint oppression from the cold power that was far above her own.
After obtaining the Entropy Divinity, the mystery of the temperature field was no more difficult for Tyche than primary school mathematics. The divine power scattered by the two gods' fight turned into a gentle spring breeze in front of Tyche. The dead cold turned into an entropy divine power that made the ice and snow melt. The frozen ground, which was harder than iron blocks, actually grew grass and flowers symbolizing life!
For the first time, the power of life favored the frozen soil of the North. Auril and Ulthar, who were fighting, separated instantly and looked at Tyche with solemn expressions.
Making the frozen soil grow grass wasn't anything surprising for the gods. Thanks to the transfer of the world - consciousness authority, these immortal gods all had the supernatural power to change reality! According to the different levels of divinity, the gods could easily influence all the natural environments around them.
But even the two gods specializing in the cold field could only maintain fertility on the frozen soil for a short time. Once they withdrew the divine power that changed reality, everything would return to its original state!
What surprised the Winter Maiden and the god of the Polar Regions was that these delicate plants grew so suddenly and harmoniously on this cold land without the protection of divine power.
"Respected goddess, I have no intention of being your enemy."
Seeing that the situation was not good, Auril took a few steps back and disengaged from the hostile state of confrontation with Ulthar.
Tyche ignored the inquiring eyes of the two gods and focused on the rapidly growing shrubs under her feet. Under her will, the low - lying shrubs bore fruits like blueberries, with a dark purple color that looked very tempting.
She reached out and picked a frost - covered berry. The sweet taste made Tyche's eyes light up. The sugar content of this fruit was very high, and it could be planted on a large scale as an economic crop.
"Winter Maiden, I have no intention of interfering in your grudge. But Ulthar has inadvertently done me a big favor, and I should also give something in return."
Tyche said with a light smile, "Leave, Auril. Fate tells me that you shouldn't die by my hand."
A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds and shone on the tip of Tyche's finger. A butterfly flew up from her hand, flapping its wings and refracting a rainbow - like luster in the rare sunlight of the North.
In this splendid light, Auril saw the illusion of her own fall. The main god Talos had encroached on her cold domain. Without faith, she was taken to the Astral Plane and became an insensible boulder.
"Thank you for your mercy!"
Auril bowed slightly to express her gratitude and left the territory of the god of the Polar Regions in a gust of wind and snow.
Ulthar was also sensible. As a lonely man, he didn't dare to actively pursue Auril. None of the Wrathful Gods were easy to deal with. If it weren't for his divine kingdom being adjacent to those of powerful gods such as the Earth Goddess and the Father of Oaks, Auril would have brought her allies to kill him and take away everything long ago.
The current situation was dangerous for all the gods. The gods of the Good Faction were also busy with their own affairs and had no extra energy to take care of the god of the Polar Regions. After all, Ulthar wasn't a vassal of any of them. In the past, the gods of Good were willing to shield the god of the Polar Regions from the threats of the Wrathful Gods out of their own pride as gods!
The reputation of the Wrathful Gods had always been bad. The natural - god system led by the Father of Oaks, Silvanus, had always been enemies with the Wrathful Gods. Out of face, they didn't want to see the Wrathful Gods kill their neighbor.
But now that all the gods had been cast out of their divine kingdoms, a god like Ulthar who hadn't joined any small groups had become a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Facing the continuous harassment of the Winter Maiden, he could only swallow his anger to protect himself.
Tyche didn't plan to be Ulthar's nanny all the time. She let the women and children in the tribe take care of this berry field and taught them how to extract fruit sugar from the berries.
The adult men in the tribe would contribute as hunters or guards. Women and children usually didn't have a high status in this primitive social structure. Tyche had already made up her mind. She would take the divine position of the protector of women and children. This Saintly Disaster was actually a rare opportunity for Tyche. At least there was a glimmer of hope for fulfilling the agreement with the Magic Goddess.
While Tyche was imparting knowledge, the Magic Net had quietly spread. The mages, whose status had plummeted, soon sensed the Magic Net, and they were overjoyed!
During the time when the Magic Goddess and the Magic Net disappeared, except for those arcanists and legendary mages who had found their own paths in the field of magic, almost all low - and middle - level mages couldn't even perform a simple magic trick. The moon - gate magic gods were also helpless. After the Saintly Disaster, they disappeared and rarely appeared in public. Without the protection of the Magic Goddess, these faint - level gods were busy with self - preservation and had no strength to protect the mages.
Mages had always been synonymous with wealth. Without the power to intimidate others, their fates could be imagined!
The high - level mages with mage towers could still barely survive. The mage towers connected to the elemental pools still retained a certain amount of firepower, and the spell scrolls they stored were also dangerous items. Even so, these mages who couldn't cast spells independently without the Magic Net were still forced to give up most of their interests.
This persecution of mages didn't ease until the gods were cast out of their divine kingdoms. The legendary professionals turned their targets and looked for the saintly avatars of faint - level and weak - level gods to seek deification, which gave the mages a chance to breathe.
Once again connected to the Magic Net, the mages, who were in dire straits, had an unprecedentedly pious faith in the Magic Goddess. This pure wave of faith immediately awakened the Magic Goddess sleeping in the Astral Plane.
Tyche's true form had already received the news that the Magic Goddess had regained consciousness through the Magic Net, and the causal line entangled on the divine fire also showed signs of fading.
The Northener avatar led the women and children to show their value. In this medieval - structured civilization with magic and gods, the value of seasonings was no less than that of an equal amount of gold! Especially the sweeteners that could bring happiness, the value of sugar was extremely high, and even some small nobles couldn't afford it.
The Sword Coast and Deepwater City near the North often had caravans coming to the tribe to buy furs. The shrewd merchants naturally wouldn't miss these sugar syrups that were frozen into blocks. They readily agreed to the old priest's request to exchange a large amount of food and weapons for the sugar syrups.
The goddess of wealth and commerce, Waukeen, was the patron saint of all trade. Most merchants believed in this goddess. These followers of Waukeen swore in the name of the goddess and reached a one - sided exchange agreement with the tribe.
For Tyche, she had brought back the lost divinity of the god of the Polar Regions and also gave him the sugar - making technology. The causal relationship between the two sides had been settled.
Merchants were always the ones who made money without loss. They brought the North's sugar and furs back to Deepwater City and could sell them at more than ten times the price. They didn't hesitate to agree to Tyche's request to take her to Deepwater City on the way.
After bidding farewell to the simple tribespeople, Tyche followed the caravan to Deepwater City. This prosperous city lived up to its reputation. It had the largest number of ports in the world, and merchant ships came and went continuously. In fact, the name of Deepwater City also came from this.
It was the largest cargo distribution port in the southwest! This city almost had temples of all the gods. Even the least - favored sea goddess, Ambar, and the Storm God, Talos, could get rich offerings from the merchants. These sea - going fleets often met all the requirements of the priests to avoid the anger of the Wrathful Gods.