Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 108 First Encounter with a Stranger

Argreed tried to pry open the thick stone door with his bone hands, but failed. Although his skeleton body provided terrifying defense, his strength was no match for a warrior of the same level due to a lack of muscle. The stone door in front of him probably required a body of at least paladin level to open.

Fortunately, Agreed was a magician. He used summoning magic to summon a giant earth elemental golem, which helped him open the gate and respectfully invited him into the royal tomb.

As soon as Agreed stepped through the gate, the stone figure immediately released its grip, and the imperial mausoleum gate automatically reset and closed. Then, deprived of Agreed's magical power, the stone figure collapsed to the ground and turned back into a pile of rubble.

Argreed entered the tomb and followed the downward steps to the underground space, where he finally saw the royal tomb chamber of the Orc Empire.

Argreed surveyed the long corridors leading to the various coffins and, after careful observation, discovered some unexpected signs. Some of the traps in the tomb had clearly been triggered, and some coffins had already been looted.

Even Agreed was surprised by this unexpected situation and wondered who was so bold as to steal the royal tombs of the Orc Empire.

Orc thieves are ruled out first, as they would never dare to target royal tombs unless they wanted to leave the Orc Empire. Tomb raiders from other kingdoms would also avoid Orc tombs, as it is well known that Orcs are one of the poorest races. Their burial goods consist mostly of bone ornaments and some strangely shaped jade stones, with very few valuable items. Who would be so foolish as to come here for money?

Filled with questions, Agreed continued forward, devouring all the bones in the coffins. Soon, he encountered the tomb raider—who was actually human?!

A man was holding a strangely shaped compass and chanting incoherently, "Search for the dragon and divide the gold by looking at the winding mountains..." (Agreed didn't understand the rest and didn't remember it, only the beginning).

Agreed then walked up behind him and asked suspiciously, "Friend, what are you doing here?"

The man was startled and, upon turning around and seeing Agreed, immediately shouted, "A ghost!"

The tomb raider then took off running, but Agreed casually grabbed him and pulled him to his side. He then stared intently at the tomb raider with his empty and eerie eyes and questioned him.

Why are you running? If I wanted you dead, you would be dead already.

Upon seeing this, the tomb raider immediately knelt down, kowtowing and apologizing, "Please forgive me, I had no intention of disturbing you. I thought it was just a beginner's quest, but who would have thought... this is truly an accident."

Agreed asked again, puzzled, "A beginner's quest? Ah, I see. You're a stranger here."

"Stranger?" Now it was the tomb raider's turn to be puzzled. What kind of new term was this?

Agreed explained, “Visitors from other planets, worlds, or even unknown universes are called ‘strangers,’ but you prefer to call yourselves ‘transmigrators,’ and most of you carry something called a ‘system,’ am I right?”

The tomb raider broke out in a cold sweat, feeling as if he had been stripped naked and exposed. He thought to himself, "Damn it, how does he know all this?"

Agreed knows all this because he absorbed all of Tutankhamun's memories and knowledge. Strangers are actually quite common in the multiverse. Agreed even knows why Strangers appear. The root cause of these transmigrators from other universes is actually the fall of gods.

When gods fall, their life core, the 'divine essence,' shatters and scatters throughout the multiverse. The divine essence is like a fruit, and the fragments of the divine essence are like seeds. The meaning and value of each fragment of the divine essence is to nurture new gods. The Strangers are those fragments of the divine essence that accidentally merged into the River Styx in their universe. Then, the lucky ones just happened to merge with the fragments of the divine essence and were reborn through this, being drawn by divine power to other universes.

The fragments of the divine essence will transform into many wondrous things to enhance the host's strength. Most human outsiders will possess an item called a 'system', but don't mistake this for a good thing. The energy within the fragments of the divine essence can only elevate you to the level of a demigod at most. If the host works desperately and diligently, the best outcome is to become a 'god-level powerhouse'.

The so-called divine abominations are beings that possess some divine power but are still somewhat lacking in the level of gods, occupying an awkward position between demigods and gods. However, it is not impossible for them to rise to the next level. But if you are a stranger chosen by a fragment of a god, I can tell you clearly that if you want to become a god, you must rely on internal devouring!

What does this mean? It means that if a divine abomination wants to become a god, it must constantly hunt down other divine abominations and outsiders to seize their divine status and power. This quantitative change leads to a qualitative change, allowing it to step into the level of a god. Otherwise, other paths to advancement are useless, because divine abominations rarely receive the nourishment of faith power, nor do they know natural god cultivation methods like the Styx Soul Forging. Taking the minor path of technological gods would be a waste of their talents.

To be honest, many fragments of divine essence actually contain the remnants and will of deceased gods. So in most cases, strangers either become tools specially cultivated by the remnants of gods for reincarnation, or they are found and devoured by some divine evils in advance, ultimately dying in the womb. There is no such thing as a good thing without a reason in this world. Many things are actually a combination of opportunity and danger.

In fact, no one in the multiverse has ever reached the level of a god through a system. Most happy endings are just beautiful stories imagined by people who have heard the stories of strangers. Reality is never beautiful and can even be cruelly terrifying.

Getting back to the main point, the tomb raider tremblingly kowtowed to Agred and said, "Senior, as long as you don't kill me, I will repay your kindness even if I have to be your slave. Please, please don't act rashly."

Agreed stared at him expressionlessly and asked, "Your system lets you rob tombs?"

The tomb raider nodded frantically and said, "Yes, yes, it's all its fault. Please forgive me this time."

Agreed let out a chilling laugh, then continued, "You can rob this tomb as long as you don't touch the remains inside, and I'll spare your life, but you have to do me a favor."

The tomb raider fawned, "Please tell me, I will certainly do my utmost to help you."

Agreed instructed, "I want you to find the burial grounds of the dragon race and tell me its location. If you find it, contact me with that." As he spoke, Agreed's bony hand clamped down on the tomb raider's arm like a vise, and at the same time, a skull-shaped pattern appeared on the tomb raider's arm like a tattoo.