Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 164 The Teyvat Chronicles (3)

When exactly did my thirst for knowledge begin to grow stronger?

As he lay dying, Ahmar recalled the time he spent with his teacher, and he realized that it was perhaps because his teacher always seemed to be able to answer his questions.

My first encounter with my teacher was shortly after his birth, when he instinctively took in those humans struggling in the desert.

He used his innate power and wisdom to protect these humans, and over time, a human city was built deep in the desert. He naturally became the leader of this city, and at some point, the humans stopped calling him by his name and began to respectfully address him as the Red King.

It was at that moment that the teacher appeared, and she overwhelmed him with her absolute power and wisdom. He was willing to become her student, and thus his city welcomed another deity.

"How about I give you a name?"

After hearing about her student's troubles, Kiana offered this advice.

"name?"

"Well, since you want your subjects to call you by your name instead of Red King, and the humans below dare not, then you have no choice but to give yourself another name, right?"

"In that case, please grant me a name as an alias for my travels in the world."

"It's not an alias, it's the king's name. Remember, the king's name is equivalent to a divine name; it will have unexpected uses when you need it..."

"...Hmm~ Judging from your starfish-like hairstyle, I'll call you Atum."

"..."

To this day, Ahmar still doesn't understand why his name is related to his hairstyle, but I do use it, teacher.

Ahmar originally did not want to use the name Kiana gave him, but for some reason, using his real name prevented him from gathering the forbidden knowledge into his body. Helpless, Ahmar had no choice but to use the name Atum as a price to absorb all the forbidden knowledge into his body.

"Obelisk, Osiris, and Ra, you three have really worked hard."

Ahmar showed a complicated expression when he saw the three teachers giving him their families.

These three were gifts from their teacher to celebrate their successful completion of their apprenticeship. They were three familiars created using the three elements of thunder, fire, and water as a base, and the teacher also gave them the power to control them.

If it weren't for these three, their city might have been swallowed up in an instant by the forbidden knowledge that erupted, leaving no survivors.

The return of the three of them signifies that the task I entrusted to them has been completed. The survivors have been escorted to a safe location, and the pollution caused by forbidden knowledge within the city has been resolved by Ra and Bouyel, who came to provide support.

He himself would be responsible for sealing all forbidden knowledge into his own body from the throne. In return, the name Atum would be forgotten by the world, and Bouyel would probably exhaust his power because of the forbidden knowledge.

However, it doesn't matter, as the demons in the Sumeru region have already been wiped out. Now, of the three remaining gods, only Buyer will soon be left, and it's only a matter of time before he becomes one of the seven rulers of the Sky Isle.

Looking back now, I realize that Sky Island's invitation to become the Grass God was perhaps a ploy to lure out my teacher, but I refused.

Moreover, the teacher was truly cunning, managing to link the existence of these three familiars with the name Atum. Although sacrificing Atum's name wouldn't prevent future generations from forgetting him, it would also ensure that no one in the future could command these three familiars.

All the backup plans he had laid out around these three relatives had completely failed, and he could only pray that such a disaster would not happen again in the future.

This is bad; my consciousness is about to give way!

Ahmar sat alone on his throne, looking up at the sky. The dark sun cast an ominous light upon the land, but with Buyer's efforts, the dark sun was gradually dissipating.

In his hazy state of consciousness, Ahmar vaguely saw a familiar silver-white figure flash before his eyes, and then his vision went black as he fell into eternal slumber.

As the earth shook violently, a gigantic maw swallowed Ahmar whole, along with the throne, leaving only a long body that meandered and coiled on the ground before finally disappearing into the sea of ​​sand.

Is it really okay not to see him one last time?

Not far from the territory of Ahmar, Buyer, who had already dealt with the forbidden knowledge, looked at the silver-haired woman beside him and asked. Now, Buyer had exhausted all her power and turned into a child-like form. If she wanted to see the appearance of the person next to her, she could only look up at her.

And this person was none other than Kiana.

After her conversation with Apep, she moved around the Sumeru region until she met Ahmar and the city he had founded in the place where she and Nidhogg had once lived.

Out of curiosity, Kiana entered the city, and because she did not conceal her presence, she was mistaken for an enemy and driven away by Ahmar, who arrived at the scene.

However, Ahmar at this time was just a newly born demon god, without the powerful strength that would be praised in later generations. He was defeated by Kiana in just a few breaths.

Unwilling to give up, he charged forward again after Kiana released him, only to be captured by Kiana once more.

This cycle continued for a hundred days, and the legendary Hundred Days' War, which would later be known as the war, ended when Ahmar was exhausted.

The one-sided battle was indeed caused by some misunderstandings, but after Ahmaar's several defeats, he realized that Kiana had no ill intentions.

Ahmar was unwilling to give up because of his damned competitive spirit; he felt he had to win at least one move to vent his anger.

And then, that was it. In that hundred-day duel, Ahmael didn't even manage to touch Kiana's clothes, let alone win a single move.

Furthermore, by leveraging the power of the Herrscher of Reason and linking to the Imaginary Tree, Kiana once again outsmarted Akhmar in terms of knowledge through cheating.

And so, Ahmael was completely captivated by Kiana and became her student.

At first, Kiana could answer the questions Ahmael asked on her own, but as the questions became more and more profound, Kiana had to start to rely on the power of the Herrscher of Reason to help her understand them, and finally simply connected directly to the Imaginary Tree to copy the answers.

Realizing that this situation would continue indefinitely, Kiana quickly found a reason to have Ahmar graduate.

As a disciple, Kiana created the three Phantom Gods from her previous life using the colors and power attributes of lightning, fire, and water. As for why water was included... don't ask, it's because Obelisk is blue.

Because these three were obtained in a way that differed from the historical methods she had observed, Kiana bound the right to use these three gods to the name Atum in order to ensure that no one in future generations could control them.

Yes, Kiana doesn't intend to bestow the Herrscher of Reason's power upon Ahma this time. The main reason is that she was too lazy to teach him initially, so she simply gave the power to Ahma, letting him use its power to understand that knowledge. The result was that the forbidden knowledge erupted, causing unprecedented pollution.

The effects of this persisted even when he himself was saving Teyvat in the future, and it even became a chronic problem.

Furthermore, since he already possessed the power of the Herrscher of Reason, which had been analyzed by forbidden knowledge, he no longer needed to grant Ahmar the power of the Herrscher of Reason again, following the historical precedent.

After all, one's goal is to change the future, not to create a time loop, so steps that don't significantly affect the course of history should be avoided as much as possible.

After completing all this, Kiana began preparations to travel to the next point in time. Of course, in the eyes of others, Kiana disappeared for a period of time. When they met again, it was during the era of the Three Gods, and she became friends with the other two gods through Ahmar's introduction.

After a relatively easy period, Kiana left a warning and departed, but it seems that the warning had no effect.

"No, Ahmar has brought this situation upon himself. All I can do is offer that warning. Moreover, Apep needs someone to torture it and let it know that the power of the abyss and forbidden knowledge is not something it can pursue at will."

"How ruthless! They even use their own students."

“Since you are the embodiment of the World Tree, you should know about me. More than Ahmar, I wish to save Teyvat from destruction.”

Now Kiana finally understands Kevin's hardships; the path to saving the world is never smooth. The reason they were able to pass the test of the cocoon is because the previous civilization had made all the necessary preparations for them.

Kiana is now walking the same path Kevin once walked in order to save Teyvat, and Alicia says she doesn't want to see Kiana follow in Kevin's footsteps.

Even Kevin in the Origin Land is the same; the path he walks is not suitable for Kiana. There is no doubt that Kiana has now strayed from her true self.

Kiana understood this, of course, but she was truly tired of this destined, lonely, and long road.

If she hadn't frozen her heart, she probably would have collapsed long ago when Nidhogg died.

However, Buyer's reaction exceeded Kiana's expectations. Buyer tilted his head and looked at Kiana with a puzzled expression.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you just a fragment of that being, like the other demons?"

Kiana looked at Buyer in surprise and asked, "What did you say?"

"Is not it?"

"Hehe, so that's how it is!"

At this point, Kiana had also realized what was going on. It seemed that someone had deliberately hidden her information on the World Tree, so in order to make up for the logic, the World Tree automatically assigned the knowledge that she was one of the fragments of Fanes to people who did not know Kiana. Now that the World Tree has been modified by Fanes, the only people with this authority are Fanes herself, her four shadows, and Buyer.

Since Buyer didn't know the specifics either, and based on the information Istaru revealed to him in the future, it was Fanes who was behind it.

"Fine, whatever you think, I should go now. Oh, and one more piece of advice: when you get back, remember to check the World Tree more often. The erosion of forbidden knowledge is far stronger than you think."

After saying that, Kiana left, but this time she didn't rush to the next time point. She followed Apep's trail and found it again.

However, Apep doesn't look well right now because the forbidden knowledge related to devouring Ahmar has erupted within it, instantly corrupting its energy core and causing Apep to be in immense pain and weakness.

Even the powerful vitality that the grass element was so proud of proved useless in the face of this pollution. Apep could only watch helplessly as he grew weaker and weaker until he died.

"It's really embarrassing!"

"You've come..." Appepp was so weak that he barely had the strength to open his eyes. "What, did you come to see me to get what you deserved?"

Kiana sighed and silently reached out to heal Apep. In the end, Kiana still couldn't bear to see others die in front of her, especially when she still had the ability to save it.

A moment later, Kiana withdrew her right hand, and Apep finally had the strength to get up. Just as Apep was about to thank Kiana, she stopped him.

"Don't rush to thank me, your condition is still very bad. My method can only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. There is just too much forbidden knowledge in Ahmar's body. Even though I helped you purify it once, a lot still remains. You will need to eliminate the pollution caused by the forbidden knowledge yourself."

"However, I don't think I can hold on until then."

For the first time, Apep regretted his impulsiveness. Now, only he and Prometheus remained of the Dragon King, but Prometheus was merely clinging to life and would soon die completely.

By then, only he and the second-generation Water Elemental Dragon King with the inheritance will remember the grudge between the Dragon Clan and Sky Island. However, the prophecy is far away, and Apep's resentment towards Sky Island is growing stronger, even affecting his rational judgment.

Perhaps Amon saw this point and that's why he made that deal with me. I never expected that Amon would still care about humanity until his death.

Once I die, a powerful burst of grass element will erupt in Sumeru. While the rainforest of Buyer will become uninhabitable as a result, the desert will be different. It will transform from a desert into an oasis or even a rainforest, and Buyer will simply need to relocate the humans there.

However, this plan also has a drawback: it requires the individual to die at this point. The longer it drags on, the more the herb element will accumulate in the individual's body in order to survive, and the more severe the effects of death will be.

At that point, it won't just be a matter of the rainforest no longer being habitable. But I doubt Buyer will actually live to see that day.

Thinking of this, Apep glanced at Kiana without leaving a trace. It really couldn't understand why Kiana would save it knowing that this would be the final outcome.

"Are you wondering why I saved you? It's not just me who wanted you to live; Buyer felt the same way."

Before the words were finished, Buyer's small figure appeared in front of the two of them.