Chapter 1 Gungnir

Gungnir, also known as Gungner, is one of the most famous divine weapons in Norse mythology. Odin, the King of the Gods, used this weapon to fight his enemies and maintain the order and authority of the entire God Realm with its supreme divine power. This spear possessed powerful magic; it would always hit its target when thrown, able to kill any enemy from afar. The runes inscribed on its surface could bind oaths and contracts, ensuring that vows made before Gungnir would be fulfilled. These are the myths and legends surrounding this legendary divine weapon.

"Most of it is nonsense. This gun is just sturdier and can fire guided energy missiles," Vivian said as she took the tip of Gungnir from Hela. The sharp metal still gleamed with a cold light, and wisps of energy floated on its surface, as if Odin's power still lingered. "I know at least six people who have escaped Gungnir's guided missiles, and the part about binding oaths is even more far-fetched: it's simply because Odin was the sole authority in the Nordic region at the time, and no one dared to deceive him."

"Why is the... tip of this gun in your hands?" Hao Ren asked Hela curiously. He now had some understanding of Norse mythology, and he knew that Hela was not close to Odin in the myths. In fact, as the daughter of the evil god Loki, she completely stood on the opposite side of the Aesir (or rather, the Vanir) in Ragnarok. Although the ancient myths differed from the truth in many ways, the general direction was still believable.

Hao Ren didn't know why such an important relic of Odin would be in Hela's possession.

"Asgard is destroyed," Hela said expressionlessly. "Does my dispute with the Allfather still matter? In that battle, all the gods were losers. Only the Demon Hunters achieved their goals. After I discovered that the Nordic gods' infighting had given the Demon Hunters an opportunity, I only wanted to bring out the family's heirlooms and survive. All I could take was this fragment."

"How can you find the Nine Realms with the tip of Gungnir?" Hao Ren asked curiously.

Hela revealed a look of reminiscence: "Because its other fragments are still somewhere in the Nine Realms. Before the Allfather was devoured by Fenrir, he wanted to kill the monster from inside the giant wolf's mouth. He pierced Fenrir's jaw with the spear, and the tip even protruded out. Then his divine power exploded, and the spear shattered into three pieces. One piece was tightly held in the Allfather's hand and blown away, one was stuck between Fenrir's teeth, and the tip fell in front of me. After taking out this fragment, I could always feel it resonating with some distant place... This is a weapon with a soul. It instinctively seeks to be reassembled."

Hela shifted her gaze from the tip of Gungnir and looked into Hao Ren's eyes: "I once tried to reopen the Nine Realms based on the resonance of the spear tip, but with my strength and knowledge, I couldn't find the trajectory of this resonance line, and I almost attracted the Demon Hunters. But you should be able to—I talked to Mimir, and he mentioned that you have some special methods. The old giant suggested I give this to you. He has always been the Allfather's advisor, so I decided to trust him one more time."

It turned out that even without Vivian's request, Mimir already knew that Hao Ren could use this thing: Hao Ren was looking for the spaceship that Mimir had ridden in, so the old giant had discussed it with Hela in advance.

"I have to thank the old man for his kindness." Hao Ren took the fragment from Vivian's hand. He found that this seemingly sturdy metal was almost weightless, like a piece of warm jade in his hand. A slight vibration constantly came from the depths of the fragment. He immediately took out the Data Terminal to scan the structure of the fragment and found that there was an incomplete energy circulation system inside this thing. Although it had been damaged for thousands of years, this system was still working.

The Data Terminal shook its body: "This thing can be sent to the spaceship. This unit will design an amplifying antenna, which is estimated to amplify the signal of this piece of iron to the entire solar system. If the Nine Realms are still floating near Earth, then we can find them."

Hao Ren quickly and solemnly put the metal fragment into his personal space, while Hela asked curiously: "Although I don't mind... but what do you want to do with the Yggdrasil space chain? If it's for wealth and power, I advise you to give up as soon as possible—nothing will be left in that place."

Hao Ren smiled: "To seek the mystery of your origin in this universe."

Hela silently looked at Hao Ren for a while, and found that she could not see any desire for power and wealth in this man's eyes. If it had been her in the past, she would have investigated this question thoroughly, but now all the enthusiasm and flames in her heart had been extinguished. The former Goddess of Death just nodded silently, turned back into a wisp of smoke, and disappeared silently as she had come.

"So lifeless..." Lily suddenly popped out, muttering to herself.

The ancient tree Gangludr shook its branches: "The old ones are all like this, after all, they are old."

When Hao Ren heard the old tree's words, he subconsciously glanced at Vivian a few times. The youthful and radiant Countess turned her head to look at him and gave a bright smile: "What?"

...It was strange to say, almost every ancient one Hao Ren had seen had a rather dull temperament, or to put it bluntly, a "sense of the vicissitudes of time." Even if Hesperides and Hela looked young, their temperament was no longer young, but only a certain real super-ancestor in the family...

Hao Ren thought for a while and felt that Vivian's youthful and compelling girl style of seventeen years old mainly had two reasons. One was that her bloodline was powerful; after all, she was a split body of the Creation Goddess, and ten thousand years was really nothing. The other was that she was too forgetful, and many life experiences were gone after a night's sleep...

"What are you looking at?" Vivian was getting goosebumps from Hao Ren's gaze. "Why does your gaze remind me of Hesperiana..."

Hao Ren: "..."

Two days later, Hao Ren believed that the situation in the sanctuary was clear and stable, so he prepared to leave.

He originally planned to take Mimir with him and then arrange for the old giant to meet with the guardians of the Dream Plane at an opportune time, but later Mimir stayed in the Athens Sanctuary. There were still many things Mimir had to do now: he was a legendary ancient elder with high prestige among the alien groups. During the meetings in the past few days, his wisdom and knowledge had played a great role. He had unknowingly become a key contributor to the establishment of the Shadow Council, so naturally he couldn't just leave.

Moreover, he was still a consultant to the Demon Hunters in terms of identity. Now that the hunting war was over, the Demon Hunters' sensitive identity and the current situation all destined that they and the aliens could not send representatives to meet each other, at least in the short term, so Mimir, this special existence, became a bridge for communication between the two sides. Originally, this "middleman" should have been the trio of Hao Ren, Vivian, and Lily (that is, the dog couple combination), but Hao Ren was in a hurry to return to his unit to submit a report, Vivian was in a hurry to go home to clean up, and the great First Saint was a husky—the important task could only fall on the old giant.

Of course, he would not put aside Mimir's affairs. As long as the matter here was slightly settled, he would start arranging for the old giant to meet with his compatriots. Mimir himself had no objection to this arrangement: guardians were a species with a strong sense of responsibility, even if they lost their memory. Compared with meeting their compatriots, Mimir could not let go of the work at hand.

After all these messy things were finally settled, Hao Ren got the peaceful rest he dreamed of. He first returned home and slept soundly for a whole day and night. After suddenly relaxing, he was in a great mood and didn't even pursue the issue that "Gungnir" had damaged all the sofas while staying at home, and he ignored the fact that Bean's teeth marks could be seen on all the furniture in his house. After a big sleep replenished all his energy, he immediately took the work report and his amazing discovery in Colossus to find his boss.

Raven 12345's mansion was still the same. Hao Ren was very pleased to find that his boss's house was intact this time. It seemed that at least no explosion accidents had occurred in the past two days. Under the guidance of the arcane servants, he saw his female superior in that gorgeous and spacious office.

The goddess was concentrating on studying something behind the table, and a bowl of leftover instant noodles was placed on the corner of the desk. After Hao Ren entered the door, Raven 12345 immediately raised her head and greeted him casually: "Yo, Hao Ren, are you done busy?"

Hao Ren suddenly felt a touch of emotion: how many days has it been? His boss has finally returned, and this is finally not a substitute...