Oliver is no longer comprehending the power of the death rune alone; he is also simultaneously comprehending the power of the life rune. At this moment, the aura on Oliver’s body keeps shifting—sometimes icy and piercing, as if he were a demon from hell, and sometimes incredibly warm, as if he were a grand angel radiating bzing light.

  “Is the master trying to master the life rune now?”

  The World Tree Ygg senses the occasional familiar rune aura emanating from Oliver, which makes it even more amazed and astonished at Oliver’s strength. “The death rune and the life rune—these are two completely opposing runes. Can they really be comprehended at the same time?” He finds it unbelievable. But what Ygg doesn’t know is that these two runes become even more powerful precisely when comprehended together! Death and survival are inherently retive, an inseparable whole, like the so-called yin and yang.

  Whoosh!

  Oliver’s serpentine body trembles continuously, the powers of the death rune and life rune on him intertwining, the light they emit growing brighter and brighter. Immersed in his comprehension, Oliver has no idea how much time has passed in the outside world. Years, decades, centuries—they slip by in the blink of an eye. The area where Oliver has been cultivating in seclusion has turned into a massive chaotic vortex, resembling a strange egg incubating some immensely powerful being.

  Finally, Oliver slowly opens his eyes.

  Boom!

  In an instant, an extremely intense void force erupts from Oliver’s body, completely dispersing the chaotic currents, millions of kilometers thick, that had enveloped him! These chaotic airflows directly form a staggering tsunami, spreading out in all directions and shaking countless spaces. It’s worth noting that when Oliver was still weak, he too had encountered so-called chaotic tsunamis in the chaos world. It seems that back then, it was likely some powerful deity evolving in the distance. And now, the culprit behind this chaotic tsunami is Oliver himself. The current him is countless times stronger than he was before!

  “I’ve finally mastered the two primordial runes of life and death!”

  Oliver feels a surge of joy in his heart; sensing the two opposing forces within his body, he is deeply satisfied. He has fully integrated the powers of the life and death runes into his body. After all, over these hundreds of years, the process of Oliver comprehending these two runes involved letting his flesh be constantly destroyed by the death rune and then continuously restored by the life rune. This painful process also tempered Oliver’s flesh to an unprecedented degree, with every inch of it now interwoven with the powers of life and death. It could be said that Oliver’s body is now the embodiment of death and life!

  Now, even a random piece of Oliver’s flesh, if it were to fall into the mortal worlds of ter eras, would be treated as a supreme treasure by mages, fought over and studied frantically. His serpentine body has now become unimaginably sturdy. If he were to encounter that Tartarus from not long ago again, Oliver could just stand there, doing nothing, and let it attack freely without suffering any substantial harm!

  “The life rune and the death rune are both extremely powerful among the primordial runes. Now that I’ve mastered both at the same time, even a deity like Surtr hasn’t had such luck.”

  Oliver sighs with emotion. Of course, that doesn’t mean he could now fight a dominant deity like Surtr, but at least the gap between them is shrinking. According to the information from that guy Hector, Surtr might be a Level 20 deity. Oliver is currently only Level 11. Even though the quality of the primordial runes Oliver has mastered far surpasses Surtr’s, the vast difference in base attributes still makes him no match. To use a gaming analogy, primordial runes are like skills—Oliver’s skills are powerful, but his stats are too weak to fully unleash their true potential.

  With this in mind, Oliver quickly opens his system panel:

  Oliver StarkRace: DeityDeity Rating: 11Attributes:Defense: 35,300Strength: 38,500Chaos Power: 36,500Soul Power: 41,000Skills:DevourConcealmentPoison +3Elemental Law ManiputionChaos ChainPower of Primordial RunesEye of the LawPossessions:Book of the Chaos EraGemWorld TreeYmir’s FleshAll his stats have increased by at least 20,000 points! Especially his strength, which has jumped by about 23,000 points since he was at Level 10! This panel is just so satisfying to look at! His strength has improved tremendously. On top of that, Oliver also notices that during these hundreds of years of comprehension, his body size has been slowly growing. His form has gotten bigger again. It’s gone from 400,000 kilometers to 800,000 kilometers! It’s doubled in size!

  This growth rate is astonishing—keep in mind that every inch of Oliver’s flesh now is different from before, infused with the immense powers of life and death. An 800,000-kilometer body containing two primordial runes, compared to his previous ordinary 400,000-kilometer body, represents a strength increase far greater than just double!

  “Congratutions, Master, on mastering two more primordial runes!”

  The World Tree Ygg lets out a cheer, and the other soul deities also shout excitedly. Only then does Oliver snap back to reality and look at his group of subordinates. Over these hundreds of years, while Oliver has been rapidly advancing, these guys haven’t been idle either.

  At this moment, the World Tree’s body has also grown significantly, rising from Level 9 to Level 10! This guy’s progress is impressive too, though Oliver isn’t surprised. The World Tree Ygg is, after all, a legendary existence, holding an incredibly significant pce in mythological history. Its rapid growth is only natural.

  What does surprise Oliver, however, is the dramatic change in the group of soul deities he had subdued. This army of souls numbers around 10,000. They’re currently hovering around the World Tree, and about half of them have somehow regained physical bodies, as if they’ve been resurrected. Their strength has also risen from Levels 3 and 4 to Levels 5 and 6, with some of the stronger leaders even reaching Level 7! Individually, they may be weak, but with 10,000 of them together, attacking like a swarm of locusts, their collective power is not to be underestimated.

  “Well done.”

  Oliver nods at the World Tree, showing his approval. While he was comprehending the runes of life and death, he had once told the World Tree to take charge of training and disciplining this soul army. It was just a casual remark at the time, but he didn’t expect the World Tree Ygg to take his command so seriously and execute it with such dedication, leading to these results! And what delights Oliver even more is that the surprises don’t stop there!