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Back in the divine realm, there was a straw hut hidden within a dark and gloomy forest, where no man nor god dared to trespass. Inside this straw hut was a bearded old man wearing an ordinary broad hat and a simple dark brown cloak. However, his right eye was missing... and despite his shabby appearance he carried an indomitable aura...

The old man's undivided attention was placed upon a table containing various oddities and trinkets. And as if to accompany him, at a corner of the straw hut lay a pair of dormant wolves each with a crow resting upon their heads.

Suddenly the old man turned around and asked, "Huginn, has anything interesting happened since last I checked?"

Instantly, one of the crows stood up and opened its beak. But remained silent as if it was in an awkward situation...

The one-eyed old man sighed heavily and spoke out, "No need to worry. You may speak freely. Who has done what this time?"

Huginn the Crow finally spoke out nervously, "I-In preparation for your Lordship's return, the other Gods hired a Jötunn(Giant) mason-worker to improve the defenses of the Pantheon Hall. However, the Jötunn wasn't willing to agree unless all the gods agreed to a bet; if he were to finish the construction of the Pantheon Hall in less than one year, he was to be allowed to spend a night with Lady Freya as payment..."

The one-eyed old man stared sharply causing poor Huginn to shiver in fear. As such, the Crow hurriedly explained, "H-However, Young Master Loki stepped up and assured them that he would take care of the matter."

The old man raised an eyebrow and whispered icily, "And? Did he?"

Huginn the Crow nodded rapidly, "Yes. Yes. The Jötunn was making use of a powerful stallion that was twice as strong as himself to assist him in the construction process. And Young Master Loki took it upon himself to distract the stallion and cause the Jötunn to fail."

The one-eyed old man calmed down and continued with a nod, "Well that isn't too bad. They seem to have managed the matter well. Why were you hesitant to speak?"

Huginn the Crow was silent for another moment, before he finally continued, "T-The problem arises later on. In order to distract the stallion, Young Master Loki transformed into a Mare in heat and seduced the Stallion. His scheme was a roaring success and the couple ran off into the forest to spend several sleepless nights--"

At that point, the old man interrupted him and spoke angrily, "Enough! No need to recount a tale of shameless bestiality! Get to the point!"

Huginn nodded and spoke meekly, "Long story short, Young Master Loki is now pregnant and stuck in the form of mare until he gives birth."

The one-eyed old man rubbed his glabella in annoyance, "That child has no sense of shame and is always giving birth to troublesome creatures... Just this time, he's the one being forced into giving birth! And most importantly... what will he give birth to this time? Another world-eating serpent? Another god-killing wolf with a troublesome prophecy attached to it? Or another goddess of death? Why can't it ever be something helpful...?"

The old man continued with a shake of his head, "Ugh. I'm in a bad mood now. Tell me you have some other news to distract me. Otherwise, that tale might just leave me in a bad mood for the next few centuries..."

Huginn the Crow nodded hurriedly and spoke in relief, "I do, my Lord. There have also been rumors of a powerful hidden God who was able to inspire Hephaestus and get him to forge a weapon for himself... And according to Hephaestus, that weapon is his best creation! Definitely one of the most powerful divine weapons in the universe!"

A spark of excitement rose into the Old Man's single left eye, "Oh? Why would a hidden god make a move right now? Could he be confident of his power and be planning to make a name for himself? And for even that kid Hephaestus to have such a high opinion of this weapon... I wonder how it will match up with my Gungnir?"

The one-eyed old man asked curiously, "By the way, how is the God of 'Cloud Farts' doing with the fact that his own Blacksmith God went and made a new Cosmos Tier Weapon for a stranger?"

Huginn seemed to be taken aback for a moment, before he continued respectfully, "Lord Zeus, is naturally enraged. Mount Olympus has been suffering under exceptionally horrifying thunderstorms during the last few days..."

Hearing these words, the one-eyed old man began to guffaw loudly while grabbing on to his stomach.

He only stopped laughing after several minutes passed, during which Huginn remained respectfully silent.

Rubbing out a tear of laughter from his single left eye, the old man spoke in a cheerful tone, "Good, Good! I should meet this wonderful newcomer! Where is the fellow now?"

Huginn the Crow frowned unhappily and explained guiltily, "This-- My Lord, I have scanned the entire divine realm but was unable to find his location even with Munnin's help. But... we were able to find that his Daoist name is 'this handsome and scholarly self', and that he made use of a piece of divine paper to contact Hephaestus. On this paper, it was written--"

But the Crow was interrupted as a familiar mystical paper suddenly appeared within the room. On it, there was a single phrase, ~IOU~.

The one-eyed old man couldn't help but smile as he thought, 'Oh? So that fellow has decided to contact this old lord himself? This newcomer is truly praiseworthy! He has potential!'

But to his surprise, the piece of paper shone a brilliant beam of light on to the table full of strange trinkets and vanished immediately with one of them in tow.

The old man's one working eye began to twitch, ಥ_ರ, as he remained speechless at the 'praiseworthy' actions of the newcomer.

Slowly coming to terms with what had happened, the old man finally roared in rage, "What handsome and scholarly? That fellow is a shameless scoundrel and a thief! How dare he steal from my collection of divine treasures? He'll have another thing coming if he thinks that I, Odin, will let this go!"

But he calmed down almost instantly and ordered out, "Huginn go out with Munnin and search the entire Divine Plane again. I don't care if the other gods are annoyed, go and find him!"

Next, he turned to the now awoken wolves and ordered, "Geri, Freki, personally command the Valkyrie Corps and launch a large-scale search. Also, inform the Pantheon about the thief and get my son, the one who isn't in labor, to help out as well."

As the pair of crows and wolves dashed out of the straw hut to carry out their Lord's orders, Odin turned to the skies and whispered with one excited eye, "Newcomer, let's see how you handle this..."

However, he touched his chest with a painful eye and muttered, "But the aura of that white paper... could it be...?"

🐺🐺🐺

Zhen Shi, who was oblivious to the storm rising in the divine plane, was hard at work trying to figure out how he could use the Boombox to help Myne and Vivienne. Thankfully the System rang out with a notification.

Ding!

Divine Boombox: The latest technology in music! An item personally crafted and worked on by the All-Father God Odin. The Boombox may be used to play ANY type of music at a level that is capable of putting ordinary divine musicians to shame! Not suitable for offensive purposes, however. [The user is truly fortunate to receive an item from such a high-tier god!]

Despite the System's claims, Zhen Shi couldn't help but be displeased by the old-school radio-like music player and thought, 'What latest technology? If so, where is the Bluetooth functionality? And why is it so unnecessarily huge and bulky? And most importantly why is it colored like a rainbow pop tart?'

Nevertheless, he was satisfied with having received an item from the leader of the Norse Pantheon. Most importantly he also had an idea about how he could use it...

As such, he spoke out, "Brother Myne I'm ready to help out. While you conduct your healing process, I will put on some music which will be of great use to you."

Myne was impressed, 'Music? Could this brother of mine, be one who follows the path of Musicians as well?'

But his impression was immediately defecated on, as Zhen Shi brought out a huge eye-blinding multi-colored hunk of cuboidal shaped metal.

Myne was speechless, 'What the fuck is that monstrosity!? Are you trying to blind me so I can focus on your 'music' better?'

Although the boombox was a divine item, it gave off no special aura leading to Myne's disbelief. However, he posed no objection, thinking that his brother had perhaps felt helpless and wanted to do 'something' to help out.

But, he couldn't help but feel a tinge of displeasure in his heart as he thought that this item might distract him and lessen his chances of success...

Nevertheless, he nodded at Zhen Shi and began the healing process while summoning a terrifying law of time. As the law swerved and twisted around his body, his appearance blurred and began to mysteriously shift among those of a wise old man with a long snowy beard, his original middle-aged appearance, and that of a small child with a fearsome aura and pitch-black eyes.

Even with the Vermillion Dragon Body that had previously survived a law-tier attack, Zhen Shi was forced to retreat quite a bit under the effect of this law.

Having retreated, he placed the divine boombox on his shoulder and pressed play. Since Myne was going to be performing a dangerous healing process, Zhen Shi figured that enhanced concentration and a calm mind would be useful. As such, he had picked some random Chinese Instrumental Music to be played out of the boombox...

As the divine nature inherent to the boom box was mixed into the amazing sound of the flute, lute, and zither, a gentle sound akin to the sounds of nature slowly spread out. This music appeared to be capable of penetrating into one's mind bit by bit and settling in the deepest part of one's soul.

Myne who had been preparing to begin his law sacrifice was immediately spellbound by this amazing music. His worried eyes couldn't help but slowly shut as the melody played out. His tensed body completely relaxed, his mind was freed of distracting thoughts as he brought out all the time law he could manage. And just when he was about to proceed with the sacrifice...

Vivienne who had previously lost consciousness stirred and slowly woke up! But this time, under the effect of the relaxing music, her mind was free of the tampering of the divine curse.

Seeing the law surrounding Myne she was tempted to prevent him from performing the sacrifice, but... under the effect of the divine music, her mind was extremely clear. As such, she instantly realized his feelings and decided to support him instead. Thus, she too summoned every bit of water law that she could.

Amazingly, the water law and the time law entwined with each other, like two lovers that had been forced apart and had met each other after ages... and formed a mesmerizing dual law... a beautiful mix of the collarless time law and the deep blue water law...

Zhen Shi couldn't help but think that this was what the River of Time would look like in reality...

Myne had initially been reluctant to force Vivienne into sacrificing her law as well. But in the end, his face broke out into a pleased smile. Vivienne smiled back as well...

At this moment, under the effect of divine music, their minds were free of the sorrow and the problems of the past. And so, without a single regret, they finally began the law sacrifice!

Instantly, a terrifying eerie presence manifested and began to greedily absorb the 'river of time'. Under its effect, the dual law began to disappear for good...

At the same time, a golden light shone down upon Vivienne's body and nourished her wounds while causing a miasmic aura; the remnant divine curse, to be eviscerated.

Just like that, the law was sacrificed and Vivienne was healed!

Surprisingly, by the time the dual law was completely sacrificed, Myne's appearance had settled down at the initial middle-aged appearance. As such, both he and Vivienne looked to be about the same age.

However, while the healing had been a success, both Myne and Vivienne felt a feeling of profound loss, as if something inherent to them had been lost... But once they looked at each other, their hearts were instantly filled with hope and satisfaction.

As for Zhen Shi, after starting the music, he had turned off and returned to his normal self wearing only a pair of ripped pants. However, he had been dumbfounded by the deep effect of the music on both Myne and Vivienne. This was because he had heard nothing special and just some normal music. It was almost as if the divine music had no effect on him...

As such, he concluded, 'Of course! How could some simple music from a boom box influence this handsome and scholarly self? I suppose it only affects those who are unrefined and haven't listened to the greatest music of all time! System, I'm sure you fall into that category...'

System: ب_ب

Putting that matter aside, and the Boombox back into the System Inventory, Zhen Shi looked at the lovey-dovey pair of Myne and Vivienne. He was rather satisfied with the happy ending that the two of them had received despite the tragic legends he was familiar with.

Nevertheless, he coughed loudly, instantly breaking the reverie of the reunited couple and said with a smile, "You two should get yourselves a room!"

Immediately, the Myne and Vivienne separated in embarrassment.

Myne smiled at Zhen Shi and said, "Brother of mine, that music of yours is truly divine! While the instrument is unseemly, the music is awe-inspiring! If it wasn't for that, I don't know if the two of could've survived! We are truly thankful!"

At the same time, both Myne and Vivienne noted deep in their hearts to never forget Zhen Shi's generosity and help.

Ding!

The user has gained 50 OP!

Zhen Shi was speechless at the fact that they thought that the Boombox was an instrument. Nevertheless, he grinned and replied nonchalantly, "It's nothing much! We're brothers after all aren't we Merlin?"

Myne scowled, "Who the hell is this Merlin? I am MYNE!" but he paused as a sudden realization hit him.

As such, he asked in embarrassment while scratching his head, "This... the two of us have already become sworn brothers, but I'm afraid I don't even know your name?"

Vivienne was speechless, 'How do you even become sworn brothers without knowing the other party's name? It's a good thing that Zhen Shi is a good kid... or this old lover of mine could've been taken advantage of!'

Zhen Shi was speechless as well, 'Fuck! That is indeed true! I didn't say and he never asked! System, this is all your fault!'

System: "..."