The Underworld.
In essence, it had already reached a small limit and was now in a stable development phase.
Hades had come to understand his true nature and no longer entertained strange thoughts. He had reached the pinnacle of the God-King level. What lay ahead was steady progress, a step-by-step advancement—this was the core of his focus.
For Hades, the path forward was clear. As long as he followed it methodically, he would advance. As for the other gods of the Underworld, they too seemed unable to advance further in the short term.
With Aether, Ceres, Kharon, and Moira stepping into the God-King realm, the remaining deities of the Underworld found it increasingly difficult to move forward. Mephisto was the only one with potential for advancement in the short term. The others, however, would need much more time.
As for the four divine beasts representing earth, water, fire, and wind, they were helping the World Tree progress even further. Earth and water had already been acquired, and traces of fire had been found. As for wind? Hades already had a plan.
In short, the Underworld had fully entered a period of stability. Especially with the birth of the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone, it seemed to have reached a completely stable phase. Achieving further progress in the short term? That would be nearly impossible.
The Underworld was now in a state of complete peace.
Naturally.
During such a period of peace, new actions needed to be taken. The gods have infinite time, yet not enough at all.
While the lifespan of gods is indeed infinite, each one is bound by fate. Even Erebus and Nyx, the ancient god couple, are no exception.
They too are bound by fate. The end of the mythical world is inevitable, and this serves as a death sentence for the ancient gods. When the world of myths is destroyed, they too will face their demise.
But...
Death.
Who truly wants to welcome death? Obviously, no one does. It's simply impossible. No god, no human being is willing to face death willingly.
This is undeniable, and it is even more true for the ancient gods.
That's why the ancient gods choose to "invest" in others. For them to reach the level of the Absolute God on their own is almost impossible. The best, and only, way is to choose a god to invest in and follow them to break free from the shackles of fate. Otherwise?
There would be no other way out!
And...
Persephone wasn't planning on sitting idly by. Instead, she intended to expand and explore—specifically, to explore a second mythical world.
The Crystal Wall Gate!
Once upon a time!
Erebus and Nyx had given Hades a divine artifact. For any god wanting to explore other mythical worlds, they must cross the crystal wall system and step into the Sea of Chaos.
But!
The Sea of Chaos is incredibly vast. Setting aside the difficulty of exploring and crossing it, the sheer size of the Sea of Chaos alone would take countless years to traverse. Perhaps, all you'd find are countless small worlds. The chances of encountering another mythical world are incredibly slim!
However, the Crystal Wall Gate links directly to another mythical world.
Now.
Persephone planned to explore this other mythical world. This was also why Hades said failure was inevitable. Exploring a mythical world successfully? How could it be that easy!
This was an extremely difficult task. Exploring a mythical world has always been a challenging endeavor, almost like walking on a tightrope.
After all.
This is a complete mythical world. In this world, Hades is a God-King, and not just any God-King, but one of the most powerful. Yet even he, no, not just him—even his father, the invincible Titan King.
Is it possible that Cronus fully explored this mythical world? Obviously not! This is not a joke but a solid fact. Impossible is impossible.
This is reality.
For Persephone, however, she would be an outsider and an invader in another mythical world. That's why failure was inevitable. But sometimes, failure doesn't mean a bad outcome.
It would be a whole new mythical world. Even if the exploration failed, if they obtained enough divine treasures and benefits, wouldn't that be considered a success?
And this!
This was the essential point from the beginning. One should never approach this mission with the mindset of guaranteed success but instead with the expectation of failure. That is what truly matters.
Hades understood this well, and so did Erebus and Nyx.
Even Persephone was well aware. She knew her exploration was destined to fail, but as long as the rewards and benefits were sufficient, then, fundamentally, that was success in itself. Undoubtedly, that is the case, right?
The conversation between them remained calm.
In the end.
Erebus and Nyx left one after another. The conversation had reached its conclusion, and Persephone began contemplating, thinking over various matters.
Hades quietly watched Persephone and asked in a calm voice, "Persephone, what are you pondering?"
Persephone responded gently, "Husband, I'm merely thinking about how far that other mythical world has developed. What stage has it reached?"
Her thoughts were important. For any mythical world, the time of its development is crucial.
For example.
The mythical world where Mephisto originally resided had already perished. Meanwhile, Hades' Greek pantheon and mythical world had just entered the Silver Age, perhaps not even that. They had just completed the end of the Golden Age and had yet to embark on the Creation Era.
From this, it's clear that the development stages of mythical worlds are vastly different. And at different stages, the benefits they can bring also vary significantly.
Sometimes, if the timing is right, the rewards can mark a true success!
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