" And Young master be sure to bring this with you " Vedrfolnir handed Ikuta a branch from Yukina while Ratatoskr prepared his bag " This will make everything so much easier " " But there's no flower " " That's okay the queen bees are smart enough to know that coming here earl would benefit them "
" Queen bees ? I thought queen bees are only a few " " Normally but not these bees , they make lots of ambrosia which preserved their lifespans , Aristaeus had taught these bees very well when he was taken to live with the gods but sadly the man died which made all of these all the more easier to get the Ambrosia "
" Won't I anger the god's stealing their food ? " Ratatoskr hope on Ikuta's shoulder " Of course they won't , you are the patronage to the child of a world tree , if anything you are the one who is allowed to get angry at them for doing something against you "
" Ratatoskr , do not teach the young master such things " Vedrfolnir said " Oh relax Vedrfolnir , I'm sure young master has enough sense on which god he is allowed to be mad at " Vedrfolnir hated how Ratatoskr is technically right because he saw how well Ikuta defined justice .
" Fine , But if you try to do such a thing you will have to be careful about the gifts that the Olympians issued " Ikuta was confused " Gifts ? " Vedrfolnir nodded " Yep they're the same kind of skills given to the otherworlders that came to this world "
" Who gave them then ? " " Hera , this is also how they were able to get different blessings even though none of the gods were around because the bestower the artifact Hera uses was still intact "
" Wait how do you know this ? " " I left a small part of myself while my body froze it observed whatever occurred after Ragnarok so you may ask me anything although there is a limit since that can only contain so much memory "
Ikuta thinks it has to do with his father but he did like that he knows more about the otherworlders now " So is there something I should do about the gifts ? " " Not at all young master these gifts are at the hands of the weak mortal minds who can't comprehend their abilities except for a few though "
" Few ? " " I'll tell you another one time " Ikuta created the portal and walked into the forest . He looks around holding the branch and waving it around " What did Ratatoskr pack for me ? " Ikuta rummaged through his bags remembering that Ratatoskr had planned to give him things that helps .
" Oh it's this " the music box that had Orpheus . He remembered the stories about Orpheus and the inhabitants of nature which was mainly the satyrs and nymphs until the satyrs joined society ' where are they ? ' Ikuta went to a river " Water nymph are you there ? "
Ikuta stares at the waters and hears the leaves rustling " Who are you ? " Ikuta turns to see a Dryad with her hand on a tree . Ikuta remembers the greeting that he should follow when speaking to a nymph " I'm Ikuta Seishin , a patron of Yggdrasil's child " Taeda releases her hand from the tree and greets back .
" Hello Ikuta , My name is Taeda Pinus , what are you here for ? " " Uhm the bees , do you know any bees here that belong to Aristaeus " Taeda was stunned to hear what Ikuta was here for and since she didn't hear any lies during his introduction she said " I see you are here to take them ? "
" Is it going to be bad for it ? " Taeda gathered her courage and lowered herself to her knees and bowed " Please don't take them away the forest needs them to flourish " Ikuta thinks about the forest and Taeda's reaction ' I did hear bees are very important but I didn't think they were this important ? '
" I don't have to take them , I'm only here for the ambrosia but since I have this branch they will know even if I don't tell them I'm Yukina's patron , plus as much as possible I want to keep Yukina a secret " ' This Yukina must be Yggdrasil's child ' " Then allow me to lead you to the bees "
Taeda brought Ikuta to the location of bees " Pardon me for asking but is there a reason you need Ambrosia ? " " I need to give it to someone they said they really need it " Ikuta passed the trees and started to see bees . A bee spotted the branch he held and flew to him buzzing around him .
" We are close " Taeda said and more bees start to fly around Ikuta . They reach a field full of flowers and a few trees , Ikuta looks at a giant beehive " Wow "
A group of noticeably large queen bees flew to Ikuta " Hello Patron of Yggdrasil's child " the Queens said " oh hello uhm Vedrfolnir told me I can get Ambrosia from you "
" We will gladly give you that but if possible , please allow us to live by her child's side " ' This was easy but ' Ikuta turned to Taeda who hoped that the bees could stay " Do all of you have to go ? What about this forest "
" We have been living here to wait for Yggdrasil's child , So we never thought about the forest " " How about this then " Ikuta formed a deal and said .
" Since you only wish to be by Yggdrasil's child then it's best if you only bring the best bees right ? " " Yes we would " " so how about you leave some of the bees in here and let them tend to the forest if the forest improves you can bring more and leave the developing bees here "
Taeda felt grateful to hear about Ikuta's efforts and the Queens spoke with each other to see that this request was definitely reasonable and worked in their favor .
" Alright then we will do so Patron , but for now you said you need Ambrosia right ? " Ikuta nodded , he watched some bees buzz to the queens who danced to them .
" Oh and I don't need all of them just fill this jar up " " Okay Patron " Ikuta watched the bees fill up the jar with Ambrosia honey " Patron will you stay with us or are you in a hurry ? " " Hold on let me see first " Ikuta checked on the Voidlings to see them still staring at the map .
" I guess I can " " Excellent we will make sure you will feast then " Ikuta was surprised about what the queens said " Then I will take me leave " Taeda faced Ikuta and without making her lips say "Thank you"
Taeda leaves and Ikuta wonders how valuable the queen bees are " Can I ask a question " " You can ask any questions Patron " " How valuable are you in this forest ? "
" Very valuable Patron , after most animals have either turned into livestock or intelligent by the core and alchemist only the insects were left to tend to the forest "
" So there are other insects ? " " Of course like the poor girl Arachne , the gods had to always claim that all that a human could do was their gift " " At least she proved that her gift wasn't Athena's she did won " " Yes she certainly did "
Ikuta watched the bees bring food and asked the queens more questions " Is there other makers of Ambrosia ? " " Of course , there were we were just the surviving ones but our loyalty was to Yggdrasil when she was alive and never towards the Olympians or the Aesirs "
" We had benefited from her flowers and were able to make Ambrosia , our keeper Aristaeus tended to us and carried many of our hives away during his travels "
The stories that the queens told him were very interesting " We traveled together with Aristaeus , he sold some of our honey to buy a farm , he allowed Arachne to follow us and even fed her some of our Ambrosia , but Ragnarok was very harsh but we survived although when Aristeaus ventured to Nidavellir together with Stork the blacksmith he never returned "
Ikuta thinks about his travels and knows that Aristaeus would be very helpful in making more Ambrosia " But the house is too small " " Here you go Patron make sure to feast in all of these " Ikuta was surprised by the amount of fruits he was given " Unfortunately we don't have meat " " It's okay "
Ikuta ate his lunch happily and By the time he was ready to leave " We are here Patron ready with the Ambrosia should you need more " Ikuta was surprised how they instantly offered the valuable honey " Okay " the swarm of bees followed Ikuta through the dark flame arriving at home .
' Yukina how was Hestia's response ? " ' She said she gave you a blessing she says she'll make it much stronger if you have more ambrosia " ' what was the blessing ? " ' She only said a few words something like "may the flames bring you the warmth of home" "
Ikuta thought the blessing was weird and asked the bees for more Ambrosia which they willingly offered ' Ikuta put the honey inside and Hestia took it and drank more and took the leftovers and poured it into Demeter's mouth .
Meanwhile , Ikuta put his hand on the stove " Is my hand not on fire because of her blessing ? " " It isn't burning or anything " Ratatoskr said " Does that mean I can pass Muspelheim then ? " " Yes but there is no need to exhaust all of Hestia's blessing for that " Vedrfolnir said .
" For now rest kid you have done a lot " " But I still need to get Eikthyrnir " " oh it's not like you will run out of life force spring " " actually we might " Ikuta said " the Voidlings are always trying to make sure they have plenty of energy to use and have been staring at me "
" I see so you really need Eikthyrnir? " Ikuta nodded and Vedrfolnir thinks about the nine realms " Then you would have to gather the end pieces of the Bifrost and eventually you can go to Mount Olympus "
Ikuta was sure he could get the end pieces during the end of the year school break " But how about you head to the underworld right now " Ikuta was surprised since he thought he would go to the underworld last " What ? "
" You don't have to die I just have to teach you how to project your soul or a part of it would be fine , this is what Odin uses to make his crows and wolves " " Wow so I can make one too ? "
" Yes but it would be the same as removing a part of yourself unless , of course , it's too hard but I can teach you a simpler kind of projection , dreamwalking "
Ikuta was excited about it " I'll do dreamwalking then " " There are some drawbacks like you need to be sleeping more , it won't harm your body that much but if you are dreamwalking you would be awake so you will need more sleep if you dreamwalk all the time "
Ikuta's friends arrive and stare at Mimisbrunnr " So this is the well of knowledge ? " Ikuta nodded " It looks so clear " " Don't touch it okay , Vedrfolnir said you will get a big headache if you do " Pyra looked at the bees " Do you make honey ? "
" Oh yeah , it just came here recently " " Do you have any honey right now then ? " Nisse asked craving something sweet " No I don't really know how to get it the usual way " Ikuta answered " Then just get it the unusual way " Ezio said .
Ikuta looked at the honey and made sure nobody was in the way and quickly dashed to grab a good junk . At the kitchen they extracted the honey and made some warm honey water " This is really good honey " Amber said .
" This is really good " Ezio finished setting up the game " Okay let's start one game " ... " Yeah get rekt Ikuta " Ezio said " I was winning " Ikuta said ... " see you at school Ikuta " They waved back at him preparing for the finals that's in the second week of December .
Ikuta finished eating dinner and prepared to sleep while Vedrfolnir instructed him on how to dreamwalk . Ikuta closed his eyes doing the dreamwalk , while Vedrfolnir watched his consciousness taken to the underworld or Helheim .
Ikuta opened his eyes to a giant underworld " Wow " he said as he looked around the strangely beautiful underworld . Surprised to see the underworld less gloomy than it was depicted , he walked to a river and turned around to see Cerberus .
" I'm really here " Ikuta walked and felt something in his pockets " Coins ? " He looked around to spot someone " Are you the ferryman ? " The ferryman turned to face Ikuta " Oh a child has ... no wait you aren't dead "
" Yeah I'm dreaming and Thanatos is Hypnos's twin brother so sleeping is like dying but I wake up " The ferryman was confused by Ikuta's logic " And here I even bought some money so can you take me to the other side"
The ferryman was hesitant but seeing the amount " You're right sleep and death are practically the same it would make sense for Thanatos and Hypnos to be twins "
Ikuta sat on the boat and the ferryman took him to the underworld " What happened to the underworld ? " " It got better more and more great inventors moreover the currency used here is the valuable minerals since anything underground is the property of the underworld "
He looks around wondering who ruled the underworld " So who ruled the underworld ? " " Hel or Hela you can call her by both names " " Not even Hades and Persephone ? " " Nope those two gods have died in ragnarok we couldn't accept their souls because that's just how some gods are "
" So only Hela is the god here ? " " No there are other gods like Dionysis who revealed that he was Zagreus for example " Ikuta was amazed by how peaceful the underworld seemed and finally arrived at the other side .
' First , I need to make sure to get the orange piece , Since I'm at the underworld I can just look at it ' Ikuta felt something appear on his hand and looked at the watch ' I have to be back by this time ' Ikuta was worried about what he needs to get and searches for the orange light with Odin's eye who remains hidden .
' Oh found it ' He spotted the small amber chunk that absorbed the orange light of the bifrost and headed for it . he found a note and read it that told him "Enjoy the underworld as much as you want" Ikuta was surprised how laid back Vedrfolnir was about his trip but accepted it either way .
He dug into his pockets to find some gold guessing it might be made from Draupnir's ring and another note "Ikuta make sure you buy a lot of things to bring back home with that gold I gave you"
He assumes this might be his father who asked him to bring such things but is worried about what to bring back home in the first place considering that whatever he brings back will be seen so instead he decides to search for knowledge which his extra eye reacted with some excitement .
" Yeah yeah I know so first let's look for some dwarves " With the eye he followed and arrived at a big workshop hearing yells from dwarves . Ikuta wondered how he could get someone to realize he was around .
' Of course I have an extra eye surely I'll stand out ' Ikuta removed the spell and the extra appeared peering at the workshop forcing everyone to feel the gaze of Odin .
They turned to see Ikuta wondering why he had an extra eye that showed that Ikuta was present " Young man who are you ? " Brokk asked " I'm Ikuta I just came here to visit but I want to place an order " Brokk looked at Ikuta up and down .
" How did you get Odin's eye ? " " It tried to latch on me so I made space for it , I don't really like to show it all the time " " Then please cover it not many are used to having the gaze of Odin in them "
Ikuta did so and Brokk took him to his workshop " So what are you here for ? I'm sure someone who managed to obtain Odin's eye couldn't possibly be dead " " Yep I'm currently dreamwalking right now , my body is still at bed "
" So why are you in the underworld ? " " I'm here to get the orange light or at least the small amber that's on it , but I was told I can spend some time in the underworld as long as I head back which shouldn't be a problem so I came to the forge , but it was hard to get someone to notice me and I didn't think Odin's eye could do that "
Brokk watched the eye's location " So what kind of item do you want me to make ? " " I was thinking about something like draupnir " " As in the ring that made the gold in your hands ? "Ikuta nodded " But instead of gold does it work on apples ? "
" Apples ? Of course not " " A golden apple then ? " Brokk was confused how that would work " Alright we'll make a draupnir apple then " " Oh you don't have to bring gold " Ikuta sent a note and got the golden apple "
" I already have one " Brokk was surprised to see the apple he reached out with shaking hands and touched it " This is an apple that is made of gold yet isn't just apple shape " He pressed on the surface to see that despite being a golden apple it had features of an apple .
" Can you like make this one multiply ? " Brokk cleared his surprise " Ahem , I will do it but I will need plenty of gold so " Ikuta dumbed his pockets of gold " Are these enough ? "
Draupnir looks at the amount of gold that was stored in a small enchanted pouch " I think it would be this way you can expect the golden apple to multiply by a lot when you get it back , come back in five hours "
" That seems a bit fast " " Because I have been working on my skills in the underworld for a long time plus one hour is for visiting the nymphs and convincing them to help " " Okay then I'll come back later "
Ikuta was glad that he got Brokk to be able to agree but then wondered something . The workers look at Ikuta passing by them in deep thought ' Why do I know that he's Brokk ? '
He thinks it might be thanks to Odin's eye that gave him this information but didn't like getting that kind of information crammed into his head unknowingly .
' How do I control that flow of information then ? ' He sat beside the orange amber that absorbed the orange light contemplating for any answers " I could try to turn it like those game appraisals but I don't know how "
He plans to ask Vedrfolnir about it and grab the amber and pocketed it along with a note saying he'll be staying for a while .
He asked for directions from any gods and met Dionysus or Zagreus according to the inhabitants " Ahahaha join the party " there was a loud party going on in one part of the underworld where Ikuta felt very uncomfortable with the loud noises of adults enjoying everything .
' I shouldn't have come here ' " Oh there you are possessor of Odin eye " Dionysus waved at Ikuta whose attention was turned to him " I heard you were looking for me " " Oh yeah I am " Ikuta created a silencing barrier between them .
" Not a fan of parties ? " " Nope right now I'm supposed to be sleeping but I'm dreamwalking " " Oh I see you certainly do have out-of-body experience just like me " Dionysus said which likely refers to his past life as Zagreus .
" So what did you come here for ? " " I was just curious how Midas has the gold touch " " Oh that story well I just granted that wish but I'm sure any mortals won't ask me the same since they're smarter now " Dionysus drank some wine and sobered a bit to enjoy the taste .
" Oh you even have Auntie Hestia's blessing " " That's because I gave her some Ambrosia " " What !? " Dionysus was surprised he quickly sobered himself " I think I was too drunk how did you get aunt Hestia's blessing ? "
" I gave Ambrosia " " Ambrosia ? Do you have more ? " Ikuta was surprised how useful Ambrosia actually is " Of course it won't go unrewarded , what do you like ? You're a kid and smart enough to have Odin's eye and know about me so not being drunk or transforming touch is probably out of you "
Before Ikuta could say he didn't have any Dionysus said " Oh how about this I will give you the knowledge of changing it's an ancient art that only the alchemist could do that great alchemist who lengthened the lifespan of the unblessed humans "
" What ? " Ikuta was surprised to hear that Dionysus had that kind of knowledge " Don't be surprised Midas asked for a gold touch which I was able to grant and you know already about the Midas touch probably so you want to keep it in control "
" So you can give me that ? " " Yes of course as long as you give me a delightful ambrosia " " okay , it's honey so I don't think it's nice to just drink it "
" Oh Honey ambrosia perfect then if you get me that I can make mead will you be willing to give me some in exchange for the knowledge of change ? "
Ikuta was worried if it would be enough " How about I let you taste it first " " Taste it ? " Ikuta extracted the memory and showed it to him " Amazing you have that kind of Ambrosia ? " Dionysus analyzed the contents of the ambrosia and decided the amount .
" How about this ? " Ikuta looks at the amount " It's a lot but I can get it " " Perfect when are you going back to sleep ? " Ikuta showed the time he needed to rest .
" I see and how about when you will sleep next ? " " not sure if I'll be dreamwalking for a while plus I gave a lot to Hestia and the bees just move "
Dionysus wasn't exactly going to wait to get his honey to make mead out of " If you have the nature affinity you can make flowers grow , after all , that is how honey is made " " So I'm supposed to ask Demeter for it ? " " I'm not sure if you can find her in the underworld " " Oh I know "
' I already checked ' " You know ? " " I'll see you then I still have to pick something up " Ikuta waved goodbye to Dionysus and went to the blacksmith .
" Hello kiddo here is your golden apple " Brook showed Ikuta the golden apple with runes around it " It will multiply on its own and since this isn't entirely made of gold if you give me some gold I can enchant it for you "
" What should I pay you with ? " Brokk think about it " Of course in gold you can pay anytime but if you take too long then you'll have to pay for the interest rate " Brokk showed a smile and Ikuta checked the amount ' I kinda wanna learn this '
Brokk sensed his desire for knowledge seeing how similar Odin and Ikuta are " you can learn under me " Brokk said Ikuta felt tempted knowing that his failure to learn the law made his deal with the situation with power " I'll think about it I still have so many things to do " Ikuta paid the fee to avoid the interest rate .
" Good what's a few days compared to centuries in the underworld " Brokk was very confident that Ikuta would learn from him . Ikuta sat on the boat with the ferryman and faced Cerberus .
" Someone had dreamwalk to the underworld " Richard said facing the entrance of the underworld at the bottom of the sea inside a temple of Poseidon with the Mimic inside a more powerful pandora box spell ' Whoever it is I will be able to get them '
Richard waited for a long time but as time passed he became exceedingly worried ' something is wrong ' he knew dreamwalking to the underworld is very hard since an out-of-body experience is very rare . Yet whoever was doing it was able to stay in the underworld for that long .
He was prepared to trap the soul who was dreamwalking . Ikuta played the musical box and made Cerberus fall asleep . Richard hears this song knowing what that was " Cast the Pandora's box now !! " The black mages united to cast the spell Richard taught them .
A box made of black mana was constructed and spell runes were drawn to it . Ikuta stepped to the gates and all the souls that wished to escape did so . Ikuta felt a powerful wind blow him and his hair up .
But Dreamwalking was different than the souls that escaped , So Ikuta was able to pass unnoticed but took note of the location of the temple and returned to his body to rest .
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