Chapter 961: Chapter 961: A Reunion with Old Friends in the Lower World
Separated from Ishtar, Erebus had a clear destination in mind, and he also wanted to learn what had happened since his departure from the Genkai.
Naturally, the best way to gather information was to seek out an old friend.
In Zeus’s familia, Zeus sat on a sofa, watching Erebus, his old friend, across from him.
"I never imagined I’d see you again in the Genkai."
Facing this old acquaintance, Zeus showed no coldness. Upon hearing that Erebus had arrived, Zeus didn’t focus on the fact that Erebus had once led Evilus. Instead, he welcomed him with wine and beef.
Erebus first took a gulp of wine, savoring the fiery burn that made him involuntarily squint his eyes.
"Genkai is still the best. I never imagined our next meeting would be down here, not you coming back to Tenkai with me hosting you."
After Erebus’s return to Tenkai years ago, he had assumed that he’d have to wait until Zeus also returned to Tenkai to have such an opportunity. He hadn’t expected to find another chance to meet in the Genkai.
"It’s all thanks to you. Raising the ’Child of the World’ with Hera in Genkai—it’s a miracle you kept such a secret."
"Ahem!"
Zeus, who had been drinking, accidentally inhaled the wine and coughed hard.
After calming himself down, Zeus looked at Erebus with resignation.
"Was that just a joke, or were you serious?"
"Hmm... probably just a joke."
Erebus knew that neither Zeus nor Hera could possibly be aware of the "Child of the World." The ’World’ herself likely wouldn’t have revealed it to them easily—otherwise, her plan to raise the child would have been exposed.
"Once certain things are exposed, everything changes. If you had known, that ’Child of the World’ might never have been born."
"Oh~ So you already knew that much?"
"Isn’t it obvious?"
Erebus was deeply interested in these matters, so naturally, he pressed his friend for more details.
Zeus was slightly surprised, but he didn’t deny that Erebus’s judgment was correct. If he and Hera had known the secret Bell hid, Bell likely wouldn’t have become the "Child of the World."
If this "Child of the World" could be born so easily, Meteria would have given birth to Bell long ago. There would be no need for countless trials and experiments across parallel worlds.
"He said it himself—it’s a journey to gather himself. Conquering the dungeon was a trial the world gave him, and also a stepping stone."
"Maybe everything the ’World’ did before this was to create exactly these conditions."
After pondering Erebus’s conjecture, Zeus nodded in agreement.
"I believe it was intentionally arranged. Bell’s birth, and his growth—it all looks like a plan, yet so much of it is beyond planning."
"If everything could truly be planned, Meteria wouldn’t have gone through so many struggles."
Zeus couldn’t be sure of the exact details; probably only Meteria, Bell, and another ’World’ knew the full story.
"Enough about that."
Erebus purposely cut off that line of conversation, as he was far more interested in the new world.
"This business of creating a new world—is it for real? My old friend mentioned something about giving us gods a chance to grow. Is that for real too?"
"Yes, absolutely."
"Tsk~ That’s playing with fire."
With Zeus’s confirmation, Erebus began to think about how the entire world order would be reshaped.
Granting gods the opportunity to continue growing—such an opportunity was immensely important.
If even one god had ambition, the world’s structure would change completely.
"But giving the gods room to grow... won’t that just stir up trouble again?"
Zeus gave a slight nod.
"Trouble is inevitable. But the key is what happens after it erupts. As long as things don’t spiral into disaster, even genuine chaos can be contained. Besides, that kid already explained the situation. There’s no internal conflict among us now, but external dangers are undeniable."
"If internal strife gets too big, and that boy simply lets go, the newly created world will undoubtedly be devoured by the ’Miniature World’ lurking outside, its Eye of the Tiger on us. Not just the new world, but even those gods sharing our names—yet possessing higher divine status than us—will devour us to advance further."
"Therefore, this time everyone knows the boundaries; they won’t cause too much trouble."
Zeus was certain that in the new world, everything desired would have to be fought for. No longer could one simply snatch what they wanted, as they had done in the past.
In an environment where everyone needed to vie for what they needed, "strife" was inevitable.
However, just one day before, at the banquet, Bell had already explained the situation outside. This had drawn a clear line under the gods’ conflicts. Bell would certainly not intervene in conflicts that stayed within the boundaries. But once that line was crossed, things would turn ugly.
Zeus even believed Bell wouldn’t need to do anything special—just exiling a god from the world would seal that god’s fate.
It was precisely because he recognized this boundary that Zeus was confident the gods’ struggles would never breach it, no matter how fierce the fighting became.
"So it seems your child has made thorough preparations for this ’bottom line.’"
Although Erebus didn’t know exactly what Zeus meant by the "bottom line," he didn’t press for further details.
Future developments could be uncovered gradually; for now, confirming the existence of this "bottom line" was enough.
"By the way, you must be aware of the news that we gods are to relinquish our Authority, right?"
Just to be sure, Zeus asked.
"Of course I know. My old friends mentioned it earlier. But this is similar to how we seal our divine power in the Genkai. Whether we have Authority or not doesn’t make much difference now."
Erebus took the idea of relinquishing Authority rather lightly. After all, to him, whether he had Authority or not made little difference.
Moreover, he understood the reasoning behind it, so he fully agreed with the decision.
"Starting out in the new world without Authority might actually be a blessing. At least everyone won’t arrive with immediate tasks—like reshaping their divine essence or figuring out how to regain Authority. That’s certainly better than our current predicament."
Looking at Erebus’s cheerful expression, Zeus shook his head slightly. His worries had been unnecessary—the young man understood the situation perfectly well.
