Yuan Tong

Chapter 1674 On the Matter of Origins

Chapter 1 The Goddess's Bewilderment

The Creator Goddess was dumbfounded when she saw the box of stuff Hao Ren produced.

Frankly, Hao Ren thought anyone would be dumbfounded upon seeing such a box of things.

The Creator Goddess, Leah, had imagined so many things and guessed at so many solutions, but even her wildest imagination couldn't have connected it with supplementary workbooks and exam papers. Looking at the textbooks and exercise books radiating divine power, the newly awakened goddess suddenly felt like she might not have slept enough. She blinked, trying to find a hint of a joke on Hao Ren's face – but she was destined to be disappointed.

"Are you... serious?" Leah asked with a stiff expression, "This is what you said could quickly increase my power?"

Hao Ren bent down, taking out the exercise books and textbooks one by one from the box: "Look, there are ones on divine arts, ones on divinity, ones on controlling your own power, and ones on analyzing world rules and divine laws. Creation studies and destruction studies take up the most space, and each subject has ten *jin* of exercise books... I'm telling you, your weaknesses can all be made up for here. After studying, your overall power will increase by at least fifty percent. I'm not kidding – knowledge really is power!"

"I know knowledge is power, but it's not calculated like that..." Leah muttered, casually taking a thick book Hao Ren handed over. The title and cover motto were written in unknown characters, but because it contained divine power, the information in the book could be displayed even without understanding the writing, so she easily understood the meaning of the cover: "Dissection and Reassembly of Laws – Introduction," Elementary Education Department of the Pantheon... What the hell... Hey?"

As she spoke, she opened the cover of the book, and the power contained within was instantly released. The vast amount of information compressed and stored in the words on the pages immediately appeared before her. Leah's expression froze at that moment. She held the book like a statue, enduring the baptism of knowledge she had never encountered before, until Hao Ren waved his hand in front of her, and she suddenly woke up.

"Hey, wake up, wake up," Hao Ren called out from the side, "How is it? Do you understand why knowledge is power now?"

"This... this..." Leah stuttered, "Is what's said here true? This knowledge can actually be... can be expressed so clearly? These things have actually been summarized to this extent?!"

"I've only looked at a small part, and I'm not a god myself, so I can't say how much weight the knowledge here carries, but one thing is certain: this knowledge has been accumulated, summarized, and compiled by countless gods over countless years. It's that simple, that clear."

Leah blinked and plunged her head back into the big book, her emotions unusually agitated: "That's right, it's that simple and clear! These things... these things I've vaguely thought about before, I've encountered many of the things mentioned here, but I never thought they could be explained like this... Amazing! Where did you find these treasures? These are priceless..."

Hao Ren waved his hand before she could finish: "My boss found them at a used bookstore – although she bragged to me that she used a lot of connections to import these advanced textbooks from the Starfield God Realm, I found a small ad for wholesale used books in the box."

Leah: "...Eh?"

"Don't be so surprised. Didn't I tell you? Beyond this world, there are endless worlds, and there are three ancient divine systems... well, at least two of them have super ancient histories. These gods should have accumulated some life experience over the years, at least more profound than what you've managed to cobble together here," Hao Ren said with a chuckle, "Don't mind my bluntness, but this place of yours is just a backwater in the entire void, and you haven't received a formal education, so you've been so embarrassed by a mere Lord of Rampant Madness. My mission is to make up for your shortcomings..."

Leah's face was full of embarrassment: "...Hehe, hehe... so it's my fault for being in a backwater..."

Hao Ren also felt that the atmosphere would definitely become awkward if he continued, so he quickly changed the subject: "Ahem, actually, you don't need to worry about this issue. Although our place is a bit remote, you still have a lot of potential. Aside from anything else, the fact that you can self-study and create a Termination Network without ever going to school is already quite remarkable..."

It would have been better if he hadn't changed the subject, because as soon as he did, Leah's resentment almost materialized: "Hehe, so it's my fault for not going to school..."

Cold sweat dripped down Hao Ren's forehead: "It can't be helped! How could it be your fault? I'm telling you, you actually have a very impressive background. Do you know where you came from?"

His words finally cut off half of Leah's resentment. The goddess felt that her biggest mystery in this life was her origin. She was born in a desolate universe without knowing why, turned it into a thriving place without knowing why, and then her family fortunes declined and her career collapsed without knowing why. Everything she did in this life was without rhyme or reason, and the source of all this was the moment she opened her eyes in the primordial ocean of the Creation Star – from that moment on, this question had always lingered in her heart.

"Where did I come from?" Leah asked eagerly, her eyes wide, "You actually know the answer?!"

"Checking your family history caused a lot of people a lot of trouble," Hao Ren smiled slightly, and seeing that this goddess, who had inherited her mother's style quite a bit, was about to hit someone, he quickly continued, "Actually, you should have been a member of the Starfield Gods – it's just that your birth was completely an accident..."

Before he could finish, Leah exclaimed, "My parents eloped? The gods are into that too?"

Hao Ren had been brewing his emotions for a long time, wanting to talk about the heroic deeds of the Dark Valkyrie when she was wounded in battle and lost her divine blood, but the goddess's words shoved all his emotions into his trachea. His eyes widened: "Cough... who said anything about eloping! I haven't even..."

"Ah, you don't need to say anything, I know this kind of thing shouldn't be publicized casually," Leah interrupted Hao Ren with a knowing expression, "My parents had a child out of wedlock, right? I can actually accept that... Eh? Is it even worse? My god... my family is such a mess?!"

Hao Ren felt that if he didn't interrupt this goddess, she would start imagining things that would require censorship, so he waved his arms vigorously and loudly stopped Leah's outburst: "Stop!! I haven't said anything yet, and you've already imagined it like this! Your birth was an accident because your mother was..."

He then told Leah the whole story with his fastest speed and strongest ability to compress words, including how the Dark Valkyrie was injured, how she found a desolate place on the edge of the battlefield to rest, and how a drop of divine blood gave birth to a god... By the time he was done, he felt like his tongue was cramping, and Leah in front of him was staring blankly.

After a moment, Leah's eyes moved, and she woke up: "You spoke too fast just now..."

Hao Ren had just picked up a water glass to wet his throat when he spat it all out with a *poof*: "Poof—"

"But I understood everything."

Hao Ren thought he was lucky he didn't take a second sip, or he would have had to spit it out again – was this goddess doing it on purpose?

Leah took a breath, her tone filled with emotion: "I really didn't expect it... I've guessed at the reasons for my birth, even speculating about the origin of the universe, but I never thought I would have come about like this... A drop of divine blood? No wonder..."

Hao Ren carefully observed Leah's expression: "What do you think about your origins? Do you feel a little... disappointed knowing that you're just a drop of blood, and a forgotten one at that?"

Leah thought for a moment, then suddenly clenched her fist and waved it, her expression particularly excited: "From what you're saying, my mom is super awesome, right?"

Hao Ren: "...?" This reaction isn't right!

"I'm not petty, why would I care about those details?" Noticing the expression on Hao Ren's face, Leah glanced at him, "Although I was indeed abandoned outside for many years – it's not because they didn't want to care, but because they really didn't know, so who am I going to blame? And now you've come, right? Your arrival proves that someone cares about me, so I have even less reason to blame anyone. Besides, I've been persevering alone for so many years, it's better now than before..."

Hao Ren was sincerely convinced: "You're very open-minded."

But after sighing, he had an answer in his heart: The Dream Realm was full of troubles, and the Creator Goddess had been struggling here alone for so many years. If she wasn't open-minded, she would have died long ago. What need was there for the Lord of Rampant Madness to torment her?

"That Dark Valkyrie... is indeed a very powerful god," he continued, "She's on the Starfield and Xiling god registers, and she has a high rank on both sides. Her combat power is also ridiculously strong, and she's also a top student – in fact, she participated in writing some of the textbooks in this box. As for you... you can't really be considered her complete 'daughter,' after all, you evolved from a drop of her blood, but you're not a standard clone or summon either, so the neighborhood committee in the God Realm filed a report giving you two a mother-daughter relationship..."

Leah pinched her chin: "Emmmmm... What's a neighborhood committee?"

Hao Ren's forehead was covered in cold sweat: "It's in charge of personnel... Don't ask me why it's called that name, the way of thinking of those big shots above us has always been refreshingly unconventional."

"Okay, I understand," Leah thought for a moment, then raised another question, "Since you've found my... 'mother,' when can I see her? Or rather, does she want to see me?"

"She's very concerned about you, but you can't meet for the time being," Hao Ren said truthfully, "On the one hand, the Xiling Divine System is currently engaged in a campaign, and the Dark Valkyrie herself is one of the important commanders of this expeditionary force. She can't skip work to see her daughter while she's fighting tooth and nail on the front lines. On the other hand, the crisis in the Dream Realm is far from over. Before this universe returns to stability, it's best if we don't give it any more stimulation."

"Okay, okay, I understand," Leah raised her hand to indicate that she understood the situation, then turned her head to look at the box of books, "So... knowledge is power, eh?"

Hao Ren nodded solemnly: "That's right, knowledge is power."