Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 170: Chapter 25 Bronze

On a nameless plain, using the remnants of the old era, a new humanity was slowly crafted.

Although he was a witness, Prometheus didn’t notice at all what the material the Divine King had sent was made of.

After all, he had only ever handled the parts for making birds and beasts, and the portion used to create Silver Humanity had never been touched by others, as Mother Earth did not allow it.

With his brother’s help, Prometheus’s movements became swift. In just a few moments, he shaped a human. Epimetheus followed behind, endowing them with different potentials.

Some had extraordinary strength, others had keen observation, and some had swift reactions. Per the Forethinker’s request, each one was unique, possessing their own strengths that were memorable.

In the end, when humanity spread across the earth, several months had passed. Prometheus lifted a small bottle, which was sent by the Divine King, the origin of life liquid “extracted” from who knows where.

“Truly a perfect creation, may the respected Lord of the Spirit Realm grant you equally perfect souls.”

In silent prayer, the Forethinker turned the liquid into rain, sprinkling it upon the beings before him. In the silent transition, when the bodies of humans gained vitality, Samsara sensed the birth of new life and voluntarily provided the initial souls.

However, unlike other life currently, since humans were made by a deity and not bred naturally, their souls were naturally not arranged by the spring and renewal of Ononia. As Samsara turned, a new seed of the soul descended, and just like Golden and Silver Humanity, this third generation possessed consciousness, without past lives, they were their own original beginning.

“The first generation is Golden Humanity, the second is Silver Humanity, you are the third.”

“Bronze, Bronze Humanity is your name.”

Watching his creation open their eyes before him, Prometheus felt a heartfelt joy. It was not the emotion of a creator towards their creation, but more like a father’s affection for his child.

“I am your creator, son of the Titan god Iapetus, the Forethinker Prometheus.”

Looking at the confused eyes of Bronze Humanity, he said loudly,

“I have already given you language and awareness of the world. I, by the command of the lord of Olympus, King Zeus, have created you—”

“—What is this?”

“What is this?”

Before he could finish his sentence, almost in unison, Prometheus and his brother at his side exclaimed in surprise.

Just now, at the moment when humanity opened their eyes and saw them, both deities suddenly felt a force entwined around their bodies.

In the past, they had also felt it from Golden Humanity. But at that time, they were newly born, and their divine power was far from reaching the limit of godhood, so they didn’t pay attention to this weak force, as the enhancement it provided was not as strong as their natural growth in divine power as True Gods.

But now it was different, their divine power had long reached its limit. Yet for perhaps the first time, what was meant to be stagnant power due to the boundary of godhood seemed to pulse, advancing an imperceptible fraction.

No change in godhood itself, no shift in the strength of authority, but still an increase in divine power, an occurrence that was previously impossible. Feeling this change, Prometheus realized something astonishing.

Thinking of Zeus’s peculiar enthusiasm for humans, it was as if he understood.

“So this is why the Divine King had me create humans, I can’t believe I didn’t notice this power before.”

First surprise, then delight. Prometheus was joyful not only about the increase in power but also about the future of his creation.

He had listened to Epimetheus’s words before. All things must come to an end, humans are destined to perish, but now the existence of humans had value, so naturally, the deities would not let them die off. Perhaps soon, King Zeus would have him create females, perpetuating the Bronze Humanity forever.

And his own creations would thereby become immortal alongside the Deity Race.

“…Brother, they seem to worship you a lot.”

His reverie was interrupted. Prometheus frowned and turned to his brother beside him.

Indeed, the newly created humans were prostrating on the ground, worshipping the deity that created them. For them, everything was their first encounter with the world: the sun above, the earth beneath their feet, and the deity before them all inspired an innate reverence within them.

There’s nothing odd about that; it’s said that the same thing happened when Golden Humanity was born.

“That’s only natural, Epimetheus, since I am their creator, of course they will worship me. It’s a perfectly normal affair. Now, you stay here and protect them, I have to report back to King Zeus.”

With a wave of his hand, his younger brother seemed like he wanted to say something, but the Forethinker paid no mind.

First, he promised the newly born Bronze Humanity that he would return soon; then he soared into the sky, flying towards Mount Olympus.

The transmission of faith knows no bounds; it may diminish or be reduced, but once faith is spawned, believers can receive it from anywhere.

So when Bronze Humanity was born, this formless faith was transmitted outward. On Olympus, above the vast seas, in the Underworld, within the Spirit Realm—more than one existence took notice.

They all had one thing in common—they had reached the upper limit of divine power allowed by their godhood, and had more or less association with humans.

Some, like King Zeus, granted humans the right to exist; others, like Mother Earth, provided humans with a land to live on; still others were like the Sun, whose light was indispensable to humans; or, as ‘commonsense’, were directly imparted to humans by Prometheus upon their creation.

In any case, when they sensed an unnatural change in divine power, almost all deities were shocked.

The reverence of creatures could elevate divine power; this was actually perceived by some gods long ago. However, during the Golden Age, the twisted souls of humanity produced only negligible faith, not even matching the pace at which the divine power of deities naturally increased over time, so this was overlooked by the gods.

They thought it might, at best, speed up the rate at which their divine power reached its limit, but not break through it. Cronus, the only one who might have realized this, paid no attention either, since King Zeus’s authority far exceeded his weakened temporal divine authority.

But now things were different. An era had passed, the vast majority of deities had reached their peak, and the faith of the new humans was a hundredfold greater than before. They noticed this almost instantly.

Their divine power, long unchanged, had miraculously increased a bit.

“Hahaha… I see now!”

Atop Mount Olympus, in the empty grand hall, King Zeus laughed heartily. Unlike other deities still searching for the source of the change, he had directly pinpointed the Bronze Humanity he’d been observing for a long time.

In this moment, as he felt that wondrous power flowing towards him, he believed he’d finally deciphered the secret of Father God’s strength.

“I see now… I’ve finally understood. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize this sooner; otherwise, I would have never let Prometheus teach these humans about the existence of other deities.”

After some time, King Zeus collected himself. He pondered for a moment, then called out loudly.

“Iris!”

“Your Majesty, what are your commands?”

The Goddess of Rainbow, straddling the light, listened respectfully.

“Extend an invitation to my two brothers… Tell them that this creation born from my command… This is our shared fruit, but it is also exclusively the fruit of Olympus.”

“Go, and deliver the message as it is.”

Seeing the Goddess of Rainbow’s puzzled look, King Zeus had no intention of explaining; instead, he waved her off to carry out the task.

It was normal for her not to realize it. The Forethinker had only granted his creation the most basic knowledge, including the powerful divine forces of Olympus, and the most fundamental language and script. All other content, Prometheus had planned to teach humans himself in the days to come, but now he had saved King Zeus a great deal of trouble.

There are two sources of faith: knowledge with worship, or integral parts of life, becoming part of civilization, culture, and history.

Zeus’s two brothers belonged to the former, the Sun God, Moon God along with King Zeus, and Mother Earth to the latter—all of whom received faith. But the Goddess of Rainbow did not.

Just like Zeus’s foster parents far out at sea, since none of the criteria were met, there was naturally no response whatsoever.