Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

“It seems he is not as honest as he used to be, just more adept at judging the timing and situation than his foolish brother,” he said.

“If you need, I can take care of him right now.”

The tone was serious; although most deities of Olympus were unaware that the Nether Moon used to be considered the ‘main entrance’ to the Spirit Realm, Hades’ presence at their doorstep was still seen by Liana as a provocation.

Clearly, Liana had not paid attention to what the other had done to the wraiths before, because to her, that bit of Power of Faith was truly insignificant.

For Laine himself, the role of Faith was actually quite limited; after all, he was only slightly lacking in Divine Power, but foreseeably, it wouldn’t take long before this shortcoming would be made up for as the intelligent life on the world grew more prosperous. Thus, whatever Faith flowed to him, besides half going to the Civilization Slate, the rest he directly shared with Liana.

Compared to that, those mere ten thousand wraiths indeed had little presence.

“There’s no need for that; the wraiths are also your believers, after all. If Hades has some good suggestions, it’s not unacceptable,” he said.

After pondering for a while, and considering that Liana generally lacked experience in making decisions on her own, Laine decided to treat this as an experience for her to handle.

“Ande, Liana has to go out for a bit; slow down, and let’s wait for her together,” he called out to the little fellow on the side and, after receiving an affirmative response, Laine finally cautioned Liana:

“This matter, decide for yourself. Whether you agree or refuse, it’s all up to you.”

“No matter what choice you make, I will support your decision—just remember to come back quickly; Ande’s dinner cannot be missed.”

“Understood.”

Nodding in response, clearly, to the two of them, Hades’ matter was not as important as the first meal in the human tribe.

······

On the earth, the Divine King’s marriage was still in progress.

While Zeus’s invitations reached all the deities of Olympus, he somehow forgot to include Hades.

This was not intentional. In fact, since the Underworld was self-contained, rarely interacting with the outside world, and other deities of the earth did not like its environment, coupled with that previous invitations to the deities of the Underworld were often rejected, it gradually became common for them to forget about Hades.

However, Hades did not care about that at all.

Overlooking the earth from above the Fields of Truth, the Underworld was, as always, desolate and tranquil.

Pale lavender moonlight shone on the gray land, countless white bones wandered aimlessly, instinctively absorbing the masterless Magic Power scattered in the moonlight.

Among the wraiths, occasionally some would awaken intelligence. But they would quickly be found by the few deities patrolling the Underworld and then taken to the Fields of Truth.

The wraiths with intelligence constructed buildings and temples there, worshipping the Nether Moon, and then reluctantly showing respect to the lord of the Underworld. Hades saw all of this, but there was not much he could do.

In fact, Hades discovered the existence of Faith even earlier than his brother who ruled Olympus, but the discovery was of no use because the wraiths were not humans.

Wraiths do not reproduce, and those with intelligence are few and far between, amounting to only tens of thousands to date. Furthermore, the vast majority of their Faith flowed towards the Nether Moon.

“Faith—”

With a sigh, Hades felt somewhat helpless.

Unlike humans, the lives of wraiths hardly have any external demands. They don’t need to eat, rest, and there are no enemies here, leaving them to revere only life and death.

The Nether Moon gave them life, so they worshipped it zealously. Theoretically, Hades could threaten them by offering death, but he hesitated.

The gods were still exploring Faith, and Hades was not sure if pure coercion would garner it, so after thinking it over, he decided to adopt a different approach.

He planned to establish a hierarchy among the wraiths, set up an Order, and teach them to obey. He would grant the wraiths a path of ascension, emulating the Divine Court of the mortal world to establish a kingdom for the deceased, over which he would reign as king.

When his own laws penetrated every corner of this Undead Kingdom, and when they all acted according to his commands, then whether they prayed to him or not would become irrelevant.

But all of this was predicated on having a sufficient number of wraiths, and the only one who could achieve this was undoubtedly the Goddess of the Nether Moon, who spread the moonlight.

So, Hades watched the wraiths’ every action, all to draw the attention of the ruler of the Nether Moon. Unfortunately, that aloof goddess seemed to care little for this power, and to date, hadn’t given it any notice.

“Minta, do you think the Goddess of the Nether Moon has felt the Faith?” he asked.

“Although not numerous, these wraiths are not few either,” Hades mused, questioning himself while turning to the Nymph behind him.

This Naiad, who followed him for a long time, seemed to have developed other intentions, but he wasn’t particularly interested in these matters. Conveniently, this one-sided infatuation might deepen her efficiency in her duties, so Hades left it to continue unchallenged.

“Sorry, your Majesty, I do not know,” she said.

Looking respectfully at Hades, who had his back turned to her, Minta knew he was not really asking her.

Despite all the efforts, congregating all the wraiths that worshipped the Nether Moon together, gathering them above the Fields of Truth near the Divine Palace of Hades, even having them build crude temples, the avatar of the Nether Moon seemed oblivious, not sparing it a single glance.

At this, Minta couldn’t help but feel angry at the goddess’s insensitivity. Even if she was also a Principal God with great Divine Power, she shouldn’t ignore her lord like this.