Chapter 446: Damn, this is awesome! (The bonus chapter has been uploaded to the group file, please take it as you wish)
In the cave.
The thick stone wall blocked the howling of the wind and snow, and the faint light of the fluorite brought a hint of warmth. Odin's tense nerves relaxed a little, and he looked carefully at the surrounding environment.
The more he observed, the more surprised he became.
Not only is the environment here clean and tidy, but the furnishings and objects inside also have traces of very fine carvings. It doesn't look like the residence of a giant at all, but more like a stone house carefully built by a clan of gods.
No, the living standard is even higher than that of the gods.
The best his tribesmen could do was to polish some simple stone tools and sew some rough animal skins. Neither their aesthetics nor their technical level could compare to that of the giant's son in front of them.
"Are you really of giant blood? I have never seen a giant as greedy for pleasure as you."
Odin glanced at Lorne beside him with suspicion in his eyes.
Luo En smiled slightly and asked:
"Are you really the blood of a god? This is the first time I've seen a god like you who doesn't choose to fight to the death when facing a strong enemy, but instead runs away."
The two looked at each other and couldn't help but smile knowingly on their faces.
Well, in every group there are always some oddballs, and they are clearly one of them.
After the brief test, Odin followed Lorne into the inner hall.
As soon as he entered the door, the aroma of food hit his nose. His eyes were attracted by the pickled meat and smoked fish on the storage rack, and his Adam's apple moved subconsciously.
Seeing Odin's reaction, Lorne took the initiative to extend an invitation:
"The frost giant outside shouldn't be able to get far for a while, so sit down and eat something and take a rest."
Odin, who was already starving, readily agreed, sat down at the stone table, and began to taste the dishes brought by Lorne.
As soon as the food entered his mouth, Odin was overwhelmed by its wonderful taste and exclaimed in admiration:
"Brother, your cooking skills are amazing! Compared to you, the food cooked by those women in the tribe is just pig food!"
Loen humbly agreed while presenting the new dishes, and through small talk he got a general idea of the situation of the gods from Odin.
The situation was worse than he thought.
In this world of the Age of Gods where ice and fire interweave, not only is the environment extremely harsh, but supplies are also scarce, and everything has to be robbed.
If you can't snatch it from the giants, you can only compete with your own tribe.
Due to the lack of sufficient material supplies and living space, the number of the gods has never increased, and even with the continuous proliferation of giants, there has been a clear downward trend.
If this continues, it won’t be long before gods become history.
Because of this, Odin, the grandson of the god Zubli, was sent out to lead a team to explore outside and find a new habitat for the increasingly weakened clan of gods.
"It's really unlucky. It used to be quite peaceful here, but somehow a group of powerful frost giants suddenly came here. It seems that all of them are direct descendants of the first giant Ymir."
As Odin spoke, his expression couldn't help but become a little gloomy.
Although he is the grandson of the god Zubli, he prefers to use his brain rather than his hands, and is an outlier in the tribe, so he is not favored or respected.
Otherwise, he would not have been thrown out to lead the team to participate in dangerous exploration missions.
I didn't expect that I not only failed to complete the mission, but also nearly lost my life.
Moreover, out of more than a dozen people who went out, he was the only one who returned alive, and he didn't know how to explain to his tribesmen.
With no way to vent his frustration, Odin could only vent his energy on food and started to wolf it down.
Even the two ravens on his shoulders were attracted by the smell of food. They jumped onto the table and happily nibbled on the shredded meat on the bones.
Loen generously took out his stored grain and warmly entertained this unfortunate "friend" from the Protoss.
Because, the extremely powerful group of frost giants on the ice field was most likely attracted by him.
After arriving in the Nordic Age of Gods, in order to understand the situation here, Loen planned to find the growing world tree to build some relationships with it. However, he did not expect that the environment there had become the nest of the giants because of its suitable environment.
Before he could run into his old rival Ymir, he ran into a bunch of strange-looking giants.
Although Loen managed to escape successfully with his strong strength and killed the giants who were chasing him, he was also targeted by the giants.
In addition, after that, he continued to sneak into the giants' strongholds to gather intelligence, which naturally led to some conflicts with those giants.
After all this, it was reasonable for the other side to send a group of frost giants to cause trouble for him.
However, the fire at the city gate affected the innocent people.
The big guys who came to seek revenge didn't find the cave he had hidden with magic, but instead ran into the exploration team led by Odin, and vented their anger on these unfortunate guys.
Therefore, Odin and his men were simply innocent victims and were tricked by him.
Out of some kind of compensatory psychology, Lorne even took out his own collection of fine wine to entertain Odin, the victim.
Looking at the clear, transparent amber liquid in the bowl that exudes a rich honey aroma, Odin couldn't help but ask curiously:
"What is this? It smells so good!"
"Mead! I made it as a delicacy to entertain my friends. Let's try it first and see how it tastes!"
Luo En answered proudly, with a hint of pride in his eyes.
Although he has acquired many powers and godhood after repeated breakthroughs, Dionysus is still his original priesthood.
After arriving in the Age of the Nordic Gods, he had been thinking about how to create a localized alcoholic beverage based on local conditions to facilitate his future missionary work.
After all, the climate and products here are completely different from those in the Greek Age of Gods, and continuing to make wine using the old methods is likely to fail to adapt to the local climate.
So after continuous attempts, Loen came up with the idea of using honey instead of grapes for fermentation, creating a mead with a unique taste.
When Odin heard the new name "wine", he immediately became interested. He picked up the bowl, tilted his head back and drank the amber nectar, his eyes suddenly lit up.
First, it tastes slightly sweet at first, with a mellow and rich aroma; then a hot feeling spreads from the tongue into the stomach, bringing a warm feeling; finally, a light-headed feeling of tipsiness surges into the heart, making people feel as if they have cast aside their worries and gained a brief peace and bliss.
After tasting the wine himself, Odin excitedly asked for a refill:
"Good stuff, give me another bowl!"
Loen readily agreed, holding the jar and pouring the mead into the bowl.
Before the wine was filled, Odin couldn't wait to grab the bowl, raised his head and drank the wine, then put the bowl heavily on the table:
“Come again!”
This went on for several times, and Odin, feeling unsatisfied, simply threw down the bowl, snatched the wine jar from Lorne's hand, and drank heartily from the jar.
Seeing the future Nordic God King in front of him losing his composure over wine, Loen was not surprised at all.
If you were to ask which mythological system has the best wine in the world, the Norse Age of Gods would definitely have a place. Above the wine gods of other pantheons, there is often a god king to restrain the frenzy and intoxication brought by wine. In a sense, the Norse wine god is the god king Odin himself.
Because the name "Odin" means "drunk god". There is no other god of wine in the Norse gods except him.
In addition, the initial production and worship of mead are also related to Odin. Almost all heroes in the Norse epics love to drink mead. If you want to become a famous king in the mortal world, you need to build a hall for drinking mead. If a hero goes to your mead hall and drinks your mead, he has a moral obligation to protect you with force.
So it is no exaggeration to say that in the culture conveyed by Norse mythology, wine is royalty, family, wisdom, poetry, military service, and destiny.
Taking all the above reasons into consideration, Loen naturally had to act in advance and seize the power of the Nordic god of wine into his own hands to facilitate his future planning.
Seeing Odin who was completely unaware that he was being bullied by a minotaur, Loen felt a vague sense of guilt in his heart, so he generously brought out a few jars of mead for Odin to enjoy.
Having just been saved and being treated so warmly, Odin's affection for Lorn immediately exploded, and he said with emotion:
"Loki, you are closer to me than any of my brothers in the tribe. I really don't know how I can ever repay you for your kindness."
When Luo En heard this, he felt ashamed.
As the person who planned to destroy the Norse God Age and seize the Fruit of Destiny, he had no good intentions whether he rescued Odin or invited the future King of Gods to drink.
Out of the few moral bottom lines in his heart, Lorne coughed and said perfunctorily:
"It would be too polite to repay a favor. I just think you are a good match for me. With a reasonable god like you around, perhaps the world will become a better place."
Odin, who was obviously drunk, couldn't help but tremble with excitement when he heard this, and he even felt a sense of regret that they had met too late.
A confidant!
What do those giants and gods who only know how to fight and kill know? How can we build a good world with those reckless people?
The world can be conquered by force, but it cannot be governed by force!
Why is it that after the first giant Ymir and the giants seized the power of rule, the Nordic world not only did not get better, but instead became a mess? It is because of this reason!
The more Odin thought about it, the more excited he became, and the more eagerly he looked at Lorne, so impulsively he pulled Lorne's arm and announced loudly:
"Loki, I have decided to sign a blood pact with you and become true brothers!"
“That’s not quite…”
"From now on, no matter what it is, as long as there is a share of me, there will definitely be a share of you too!"
"Brother! Don't say anything. From now on, we are half-brothers!"
Lorne clutched Odin's arm tightly, looking as if he meant what he said.
If I acknowledge him as my big brother, I can share half of the benefits in the future? This is a sure win deal. After all, Odin only said that he would share his share, but Lorne did not promise to do so.
What's yours is mine, and what's mine is still mine? How can I refuse such a generous offer?
When Odin accepted the destiny and became the king of gods in the Nordic world, he had this identity protection, and it became much easier for him to dig into the Nordic world.
At this moment, hearing that his good brother had agreed to become sworn brothers with him, Odin, who was in high spirits, immediately held a blood covenant ceremony with Lorne.
The so-called "Blood Alliance" is a tradition of the gods. The specific process is to use two semicircular pieces of turf to build a large arch, place a spear in the center, and then the non-blood-related sworn brothers enter the arch and stab their bodies together, letting the blood mix on the ground, and then swear an oath to the god ancestor Buli. Finally, the sworn brothers shake hands with each other to end the act and become brothers from then on.
After that, they would help each other like a family and would never hurt each other. If one of them was hurt, the other would avenge him.
This is a very solemn and sacred ceremony, and anyone who breaks the oath will be cursed by fate.
After completing the process according to the tradition of the Norse gods, Lorne suddenly had an idea and took out the golden holy grail from the magic array. He took a full cup of mead and dripped his and Odin's blood into the wine:
"From now on, our blood is thicker than water, we are connected by blood!"
With the solemn declaration, Lorne raised his glass and drank half of the mead.
Odin immediately understood, took the golden cup, and drank the other half of the mead mixed with their respective divine blood:
"Our blood is thicker than water, we are connected by blood!"
Hearing the same oath, Loen was completely relieved.
With the double insurance of the Nordic [Blood Alliance] and the Greek [Holy Word], it would not be so easy for Odin to default on his debts in the future.
Seeing the Nordic future God King who had been tricked by him without realizing it, Loen suddenly felt a little guilty, so he fetched a few more jars of mead to entertain this newly-minted brother:
"Come on, keep drinking. I still have quite a bit in stock."
Odin readily agreed and poured jar after jar of mead down his throat.
Of course, after drinking so vigorously, Odin soon became drunk and fell asleep on the table.
~~
The next day, early morning.
A chill came from his neck, and Odin, sensing the danger, sat up suddenly in bed.
Looking at the curved purple short blade on his neck, Odin's face changed, and he looked at Lorne in front of the bed with flickering eyes:
"Brother, what are you doing?"
"Just a reminder for you..."
Lorne smiled, casually retracted the purple short blade that was on Odin's neck, turned around and pointed to a pile of empty wine jar fragments on the ground, and gave him earnest advice.
"Although wine is a good thing, drinking too much can easily lead to problems. If I really had bad intentions towards you, you might have died last night."
Hearing this, Odin shook his dizzy head, feeling the fragmented memories and the strange uncontrollable state after being drunk, and nodded with some fear.
Indeed, after getting drunk, I became an undefended target.
In this situation, even a toddler could pick up a stone and kill him.
"I didn't expect that something so delicious and gentle could have such a dangerous side." Odin murmured with emotion, feeling a little complicated.
Luo En shook his head and retorted with a smile: "Everything has two sides. If this [Danger] is used properly, it can also become a [Weapon]."
Odin was moved when he heard this:
"Does wine work on giants?"
"I am a giant, and you are half giant too."
Lorne nodded and smiled in affirmation.
Odin's breathing became a little rapid, and he continued to ask:
"What if it's the Founding Titan? Can this mead also make him drunk?"
"In theory, it is possible, as long as you drink enough alcohol."
"So how much mead do you have?"
At this time, Odin's voice trembled a little.
"There are still more than a dozen jars left in the warehouse." Lorne glanced at the somewhat disappointed Odin and added meaningfully, "However, if I have the raw materials, I can make as many as you want."
Hearing this, Odin jumped out of bed excitedly:
"What about those frost giants out there?"
"We've all walked far away, and the wind and snow have weakened a lot."
"Okay! I'll take a few jars of the wine you brewed back to the tribe right now. They will definitely like it!"
Odin tried his best to stay calm. He raised his hand and patted his good brother on the shoulder. The look he gave to his sworn brother, Lorne, was filled with an indescribable warmth and kindness.
"Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly. Tell me what you like and what materials you need in the future, and I'll bring them all when we meet next time. All you have to do is exchange it for this mead. I'll take as much as you have! The more the better!"
"Okay, if you like, I'll brew more."
Lorne smiled and nodded, watching Odin rush out of the cave, his figure gradually disappearing in the wind and snow.
Not bad, I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
Muttering playfully, Loen picked up the wine glass, took a sip of the warm mead, and looked meaningfully at the world outside the cave that was shrouded in ice and fire.
The curtain has been raised, and the show is about to begin...
(End of this chapter)
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