Ikuta looks at the room , decorations relating to the god . He reached the bed and saw Hypnos with his wings covering his eyes and took a seat at a chair by the bed ' okay here goes ' he felt a part of his soul split and dived into Hypnos's minds .
It was very dark inside and he yelled " HYPNOS !!! " The whole space shook and Hypnos started to dream " Ugh what are you doing in here ? " " I want to ask about the blessing you gave me "
" did you like it ? " " No I can't dreamwalk because of it ! " Hypnos yawns from being awoken and explains patiently despite Ikuta's loud complaints .
" The blessing was meant to make your sleep relaxing , dreams would be in the way in the first place you weren't supposed to dreamwalk that often " " but I have to , I need to go to the underworld " " Even the dead have much better sleep than you " Hypnos said with a tired tone and put his eye mask on .
" But I need to dreamwalk " " Don't worry you will dreamwalk in no time you just need to rest , you may not sense it but your body is exhausted from all that training you have been doing probably throughout your life , give it some time you won't need to dreamwalk anyways I heard that weapon they are making will take a while "
Hypnos pushed Ikuta's parted consciousness back to his body " Wow " Ikuta looked around thinking about the god's words ' I have been working very hard '
" Thanks , Hestia for showing me Hypnos " " It's a small gesture " Ikuta wondered what other blessings were given to him by the divine he freed and arrived at Muspelheim .
" This place is really hot " Ikuta looked at the norn protection rate impressed by how well it is ' maybe because they never used it ' Ikuta looked down thinking about what to do ' I was gonna get the souls but I don't have a good place to put it away '
Ikuta looked at the bodies of fire giants at the surface and wonder about the Muspelheim fire affinity he could take from them " No no no it's best to do it like this ... But I don't have anything that could do that " he wanted to learn from the fire giants' affinity or Muspelheim's climate to match his Niflheim ice affinity .
He sat on the fiery grounds , unlike the hot spring water source he didn't have an overview of the climate of fire mana right now but with Surtr's flames which act as the fire affinity Ikuta could use it as a base .
However , this was unlike making an affinity by absorbing it was more like he was fixing whatever altercations the otherworlder made .
He felt the fire mana beneath the ground burning the fossils that kept it burning and felt the heat . He senses through Surtr's flames to see a chunk of burning fossil supplying the fuel ' So that's Surtr's body ' he thinks of what he needs to make a proper fuel and remembers the golden apple .
' I mean that could work ' Ikuta looked around and decided he needed to find the most suitable coal for this ' Surtr's body is part of his flames already , but maybe I can make stronger flames by taking the primordial lifeforms inside Muspelheim ? '
He wished he could get the fossils under Muspelheim but thinking about the realm ' Maybe not it's not like Surtr's flames will go out it has been burning for a while ' he thinks of Vedrfolnir's explanation about how the lifeforms were frozen and burned ' Wait a minute '
" If the lifeforms were made as the base then what froze them ? " His answer for Niflheim would be the freezing cold of space but Muspelheim's was different .
" aha I know what I need " Ikuta used Gungnir to return to Niflheim and ran to the research facility " Hey did you finish making the copies " " yes why ? " " I'll be keeping the original "
Ikuta grabbed the books , taking them to the living room and read diligently until the next morning . Zhack walks down to see Ikuta reading ' What is he doing ? ' Zhack went down and sees what Ikuta was reading . The runes were on fire yet the paper didn't burn to ashes " Ikuta ? " " What ? "
Ikuta was still immersed in reading " What are you doing ? " " I'm trying to understand how it was possible for fire to burn the bodies when they were floating at Ginnungagap , it must be similar to why Niflheim had ice but space is already cold so it makes sense , so I'm planning to learn from Muspelheim's fire first like how it came to be"
Zhack thinks about it as well " Space is cold but where did the ice come from ... More specifically why is there ice ? And salty rime on Buri " " I thought of that too , I was gonna ask the souls I took from Niflheim , but they are still resting " " where are they right now ? " " In the abyss " " which is inside you , that's not a problem "
Ikuta thought about it " But I don't know how to store souls " " Why not ask Chara , she has been inside Valhalla for a while " Ikuta looked up and they walked to her room .
" Chara can you teach me how to store souls ? " Chara was drowsy but taught him anyway " Fine " Chara taught him about the runes that Valhalla was made to store souls .
" The material is also very important which is good if you want to do it for Harry " Ikuta thought of it and figured it would be fine " Can you enchant Harry for it ? "
" Are you sure you want Harry to get it ? " " The Niflheim sword isn't made of that material " " and isn't Harry the one who's using the sword ? " Zhack mentioned .
" Then let's ask Harry " .... " No , I already spent a long time with those souls I took from the black book , after I removed their knowledge about black magic they kept screaming at me every time , I thought I could handle but they were so annoying " " so that's a no Ikuta I won't be able to enchant an uncooperative sword " " Fine I guess I'll ask Hades later "
Ikuta used his living telephone again " Can you tell Thanatos to pick me up , I'm going to dreamwalk soon " " Alright I'll tell him " Nyx said and Ikuta was feeling more sleepy " good night guys " Ikuta fell asleep on Chara's bed and starts dreamwalking .
He looks at his own body and Thanatos by his side " Oh hello " Thanatos makes a sigh thinking about his old job and taking Ikuta to Hades " How does Hades make the new underworld " " he has his powers which he harnesses to create a new underworld , his ability to expand space is unmatched "
" Does he use runes for it ? " " No it is what you mortals think as an ability you are born with which only you can use " " Hmm can I get this power ? " " You can but Hades is very busy with the souls as of the moment " they arrived at an underworld with Hades trying to keep the voidlings in place .
" Stop you are not allowed to leave this place you are dead already " the voidlings still hit the barrier Hades set up " Argh you're just trying to kill yourself even more " " What's happening " Hades looked at Ikuta " Thanatos why did you bring a child with you "
" he's the kid who asked you to gather the souls of the lives in this space " Hades looked at Ikuta surprised to see him " I want to ask how I can create an underworld " " is that all ? " " I was also going to check how well you are doing "
" I'm doing fine but these Voidlings as you call them are very persistent at living " " okay then we can let them , I have plenty of life force to resurrect them and their bodies this way they can recognize the voidlings I have at home " " what you intend to do that ? " " I can't ? " " No you " Thanatos hits him with a shoulder .
" Yes you can but some of the souls are still weak and not ready to gain their bodies back " " so some are ? " Hades nodded unaware of Ikuta's intentions .
" Good then I'll ask Zhack to make a portal to this underworld so that they can see their family and can you give me the power to make space for the dead " Thanatos whispered to Hades " That's what he asked me to take you here for "
" Of course however I can't give you a lot " " It's okay just give me a little bit enough so that I can improve it " Hades tries to understand Ikuta's intentions ' If he wants a bit so he can improve it that means he has intentions to make use of it ' " I can give you that "
Hades showed him a little bit of his own power and Ikuta gladly absorbed it ' looks like the abyss didn't expand maybe it's too weak ? ' " Okay thanks I'll go back now " Thanatos took him back to his body and Ikuta woke up . He looked at the window that lit in Chara's room ' It should be lunch '
While heading out Ikuta thinks of the abyss ore ' dad said it can contain his power but it also contains his soul so doesn't that mean that Dad's power is his soul but how is he using so much . ' he shared this theory with the others ' I knew father was a powerful human but to think he was that powerful "
Locke was impressed and Ikuta wondered why his father always had two similar puppets that took care of them " What's for lunch ? " " Some apple pie "
Ikuta thinks about Muspelheim ' I'm should head to Nidavellir and make sure that the norn protection is covered that girl was able to go in and Surtr too '
' Zhack I need you to make a portal for me " ' got it " " thanks for the food , I'm heading off to Nidavellir " " What for ? " Chara asked " I need to patch the Norn's protection there " " Then I'll go with you " Chara said ' We can invite Locke too "
' But won't he destroy Nidavellir? " ' I'll make sure that doesn't happen " " I don't think we can go to Nidavellir with two of us , I usually use Gungnir to move but I can't do it with two " Chara also knew that they can't use the dark flame .
" We can use the Bifrost " Ikuta said " But the otherworlders already knew about it , they might think of a way to counter it " " Oh yeah they might do something about it , they did try to destroy asgard "
" Speaking of Asgard Zhack you still haven't given up the treasures of Asgard " " Come on it's not like you would need it " " Ikuta that golden apple of yours needs more gold right ? " " I mean I don't need it "
" Zhack you will give all the treasures that aren't enchanted to Sindri so that he can enchant them into the apple " " Ahhh come on " Zhack didn't really want to do this but considering that Ikuta was the one who had helped him .
" Fine I'll go to Sindri and give him all of these " " And Ikuta I can enchant the Bifrost to Gungnir with the book you bought , I had some experience of how it was used so I'm confident we can make it " " Oh okay then I'll go back to Muspelheim " Ikuta takes Gungnir but suddenly fell before he could past Niflheim .
Ikuta found himself in a familiar dark place with Hypnos's voice that had the same amount of energy as a child asking for five more minutes of sleep and asking him " What are you doing ? " " Huh Hypnos " " yes it's me " " why am I here ? " " I asked first what are you doing ? "
" Going to Muspelheim with Gungnir " " seriously ? I gave you that blessing so that you could rest but you don't even go back to sleep ? " " Because I have work to do " Ikuta felt something hit him out of nowhere " This is why Aunt Hestia is worried , you are overexerting yourself can you at least relax for even a day ? "
" But I have to get stronger " " If it is that hard for you I will force it myself which I don't like but Aunt Hestia would force me and you're lack of proper will catch up soon better rest now because you really need it " Ikuta didn't want him to untimely fall asleep and agreed to get a proper rest .
He covered a part of Hvergelmir and soaked in the boiling spring to relax . He threw the silk Arachne gave him on the couch and watched some TV while being a couch potato and looked at the time ' it's been an hour only ' he was wondering why it was so early even though he felt it was a long time .
He started a documentary about how different types of cheese are made and even started lying on the floor with the silk blanket " What are you doing ? " Zhack asked and Chara pulled him away " Ignore him Ikuta " Chara started whispering to Zhack " Hypnos suggested that Ikuta take a break "
" Why ? " " You may not see it but Ikuta has been a terrible at taking breaks while you were playing I could tell the reason he plays games wasn't because it's fun but a tear of his own skill , patience , discipline " Zhack remembers all the games and could tell that they needed skills .
" But there is lore there ? " " It's just what you would expect the more stories you read the better you can handle emotions " " What the hel I never knew that " " just understand that Ikuta is trying to laze around with the blessing of Hypnos making him relax "
" Finally you are resting I was wondering when you were gonna do that after all you have been doing " his father said while Zhack was trying to relate to Ikuta .
" With what he has been doing and training all the time it would make sense for him to be on the edge ... Bet he sleeps like someone could come out and ambush him although I agree sometimes monsters do pop up in the forest but this is his own home "
Chara and Zhack continued their work while Ikuta went out between where Eikthyrnir was stationed and where Mimisbrunnr was . He was rolling between Niflheim and his house out of boredom " What are you doing ? " The two trees were confused about Ikuta's behaviour .
" I'm trying to rest " ' Hypnos said that I have been working too much " " You have been working very hard before I sprouted " Yukina said " Really ? " " Yep you're friends are very different compared to you well except for Druk he is working very hard Nisse on the other hand seems so relaxed compared to you "
" Oh yeah she doesn't care if her grades aren't perfect at all but Druk wants to get perfect " " And you want to go beyond that " Yukina said " Huh ? " " Yeah you work so hard even compared to your friends " Yukina said while Fuyumi wondered who the friends were .
" I do don't I " All the homeschooling he did was already far from his age and the school's quizzes weren't that hard for him " But I still go to school , maybe having friends is nice " Ikuta got up and went inside .
He grabs a snack to eat while watching more TV documentaries about diary products and Zhack wonders about this " Vedrfolnir is the milk of the primordial cow Audhumbla a kind of aether ? " " Well I suppose it could be a kind of aether "
" How do you even name these things ? " " I don't I usually just wait for the mortals to give a name to their cattle I preferred the name of just milk but the gods seem to like adding ambrosia because aether milk isn't fancy enough "
" Heh gods " the day continues with all of them stuck at home and Locke with Harkness and Cithrel . Ikuta went to sleep and the next day Chara brought Zhack to Ikuta's room " He's asleep so ? " " He's gonna stay like that until he gets all of his needed rest " " why ? "
Chara sighed thinking about the blessing of Hypnos " like what Yukina says Ikuta works too much on his life , Hypnos's blessing causes him to experience this deep sleep which will likely last for a long time more than what one normally should "
" nothing we can do ? " " Nothing we can do but we can at least make sure whatever we plan gets by so I'm gonna need you to make sure that portal is done "
" How do we explain his sleep ? " " We'll get there when we get there for now we have to make sure he doesn't starve so tonight we dreamwalk back to the underworld and make a few enchanters work on the golden apple and if that's not enough I have a short term solution hopefully it will last . "
" That's a lot for us to do other than that" Zhack and Chara went down to have lunch while continuing the conversation ' First we have to remove the souls from his body I will take his Niflheim sword to Hades and have him enchant it " ' I am almost done with that portal but I don't really know the location "
' I will tell Thanatos about connecting it while I'm at it I might have to get some Yggdrasil wood again can you portal me to Mount Olympus I'll be right back " Chara disappeared to retrieve the wood while Zhack wondered why she needed Yggdrasil wood and asked .
" It's probably for Urdarbrunnr " " it is ? " " Yes , You're probably gonna ask why and it's only because the books that were given to Ikuta were meant for him and it's something he would be able to understand "
" What ? Why ? " " That's how runes are they are like a language when they are obtained by Urdarbrunnr and the ones that are in here are meant for Ikuta just like how some runes can be discovered by repetitive observation or by creating them yourself like making a new language which only you can understand just like the dark runes that young master studies "
" Won't anyone other than Ikuta have a harder time ? " " Obviously part of receiving knowledge from urdarbrunnr is that only those who they deem worthy will be granted the knowledge of runes which naturally is easy for them to understand but not for others think of it like a trial for those who want to learn it and thus must work hard to be able to understand it "
" Makes sense but do you need runes to cast magic ? " " No you have shown repetitively how you don't need it but using runes is helpful " Vedrfolnir pointed at Mjolnir " Yeah it does make enchanting easier "
Chara takes the wood and immerses it in Urdarbrunnr receiving a book with Runes she could understand ' It's better if I can get something else that isn't about the norn's protection '
Chara studies the runes while Zhack completes the portal and watched the voidlings appear . the ones Ikuta bought rushed into Hades's new underworld " Hey be careful some of them are very fragile "
Hades had to keep the voidlings in check considering some of their souls were weakened and Zhack returned to Chara who was able to breeze through the context of the books " This is unbelievable "
Zhack didn't bother since he knows he wouldn't be able to understand and Chara quickly tells him about her discovery " Seriously they are willing to do that " " The seeds of madness feed on their reason and sanity so they would do it "
" When you say it like that it makes a lot of sense that they would do this " " Yeah they really are willing to go that far " Chara focused on the books Ikuta bought " Didn't you wish for a similar book ? " " No why would I ? " " I don't know I thought it would be convenient "
" It's a waste for that and it's going to take a while for those otherworlders to reach their breaking point and make sure Ikuta rests well , we can feed him with the abyss banishment spell , just banish the water of Eikthyrnir it would be enough to feed him "
Zhack looked at Ikuta's bedroom door wondering how long he would sleep ' Say can we ask Harkness to visit Hypnos ? " ' No she said she's busy with a project of her own " ' Stork is busy at the underworld and Locke is can't be helpful at all "
' Just relax it's not the time yet and who knows what Hypnos might do if we don't relax " ' Seriously holding my body hostage just because I won't rest is something I expected a parent to do " Their parent watch Zhack standing looking like he zoned out and asked .
' why does Ikuta need rest in the first place ? " ' We already talked about this , he worked too hard " ' It's because of dad right ? " ' Yeah now that you mention it he did explain to me that when he was born he saw mother in their true form . "
...
" Hmm perfect my little kid is alive " the denier turned their back on Ikuta who looked at them with one single peep . Something inside their genes remembered the fear of the denier . Ikuta's bloodline had the deeply embedded fear that was extracted from the humans that fell from the denier's power .
The very last moments were recorded deeply into their genes composed of what the denier was . This was the first thing that Ikuta learned , that the being turning their back on him had killed countless and taught him fear . Ikuta cried as a baby out of fear and was picked by Claire and Louis .
" Awe he's crying " the more the denier spoke the more Ikuta learned " He's cute for a baby " as a baby that was crying Ikuta's eyes were shut his survival instinct kept hoping that the strong being wouldn't kill him fueled his cries .
" Quite the energetic baby too maybe he will grow like his siblings , gotta make sure to take care of him properly " Claire and Louis try to calm him down which he only started when the being started to leave . As a baby , he didn't have words to describe what he saw .
He felt curiosity wondering what that being was , fear from the blood related to humans that perished and finally a hope that he could survive . Every sleep had to be accompanied by both Claire and Louis who try to make sure he actually sleeps .
But when he wakes up he tries his best to be able to hope by training his body . Ignoring his father and learning just to keep hoping he could survive .
" And in order for him to keep training without destroying his training grounds someone imbued runes on his body to make sure of that sort of like your gravity affinity "
Zhack looks at the runes that revealed themselves on Ikuta's palms " That's a lot of runes " " Every rune on his body is made to restrict his strength which is why Hypnos had to give him his blessings " " Hypnos ? " Claire asked and Chara and Zhack kept their cool .
' hey do something " " Is that why Ikuta is sleeping " ' We are gonna have to tell them with him going to sleep like this " " Uhm hello ? " Claire asked pushing them further to a cliff " We met a few gods at Mount Olympus they gave us their blessing for helping them " " oh really ? "
Zhack nodded repeatedly trying to cover up his act " Yes we did and as for how to contact them it was kinda hard " " why did they give Ikuta their blessing ? "
" That's something we should avoid telling others " Chara said and Claire nonchalantly agreed " Okay I will not question why he is asleep but his friends might "
Claire leaves and the two look at each other " Estrea already knows so it should be fine right ? " " Yeah she will likely tell that happened but she wouldn't know the full story about how Ikuta was blessed "
' Nyx already knows about mother and Hestia already knows Ikuta's plans to keep what Nyx knew a secret , everyone already had the idea that god corpse was burned by sacred flame so we just say that somehow Hestia contacted us "
' that's a good plan "
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