Even though he didn’t agree to become one of the water palace’s so-called warriors, Oliver’s still heading toward it.

  First off, he needs to figure out a way to snag a treasure from the water giant—something like a Chaos Ember, but formed from the Water primal rune.

  It’s a must-have for leveling up his World Egg—no way he’s passing that up!

  Second, with 1.6 million pounds of Mandela Metal in his pocket now, he wants to hit up the trading market near the water palace. Maybe he’ll find something good.

  Soon enough, Oliver reaches the water palace. It’s way busier than it was a few hundred years ago—the palacebef complex has nearly doubled in size. From a distance, the buildings made of pure water are straight-up breathtaking.

  The trading zone around the palace is packed with all kinds of deities, buzzing with action.

  Back at the fire palace, there was a trading zone too, but it wasn’t nearly as lively as what Oliver’s seeing now.

  It’s not that the fire giant’s crew was weak—it’s just that back then, trading items in the chaos was pretty rare.

  Over the years, more regular deities caught on that you could buy and sell stuff. This no-fight way of getting what you need caught fire fast.

  Course, the boom in trading’s been a goldmine for the giants running the show.

  Already powerful, the giants got richer, loftier, and scooped up tons of lone deities as servants—or straight-up slaves.

  Right now, after a lap through the deity trading market, Oliver’s kinda shocked. Turns out, S-tier items are spiking in price.

  Before, a basic S-tier item went for 600,000 pounds of Mandela Metal. Now? It’s shot up to a million.

  High-end gear’s value is still climbing.

  After some hunting, the market doesn’t let Oliver down.

  He finds a Poison Crystal packed with high-grade poison primal runes—a deep purple gem studded with spikes, sealing emerald venom inside, its surface etched with skull-like patterns.

  Drops 500,000 pounds to snag it, and Oliver’s pretty pleased.

  With this, his poison skills might level up again.

  While Oliver’s still browsing the market, over on the other side, that deity Caprovorax is back at the water palace’s core, meeting with giant Aegir.

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  The heart of the water palace is a temple-style building stretching 3 million kilometers high. Whale-like deities, kept as pets, swim around it, letting out roaring songs.

  Even from far off, their singing hits you as grand and epic—like the palace itself is some legendary saga.

  This is giant Aegir’s pad—the core zone for billions of kilometers around, like an ancient dynasty’s imperial palace. Every deity’s in awe of it, dreaming of getting in.

  Right now, Caprovorax doesn’t even rate entry to the temple. He’s gotta kneel at the base of its towering, endless stairs, reporting his trip’s details to the giant ruler Aegir.

  “Great Lord Giant, we waited centuries outside the Chaos Fire Sea… That guy shot us down, totally scoffed at becoming a water palace warrior…”

  “That snake, a few hundred years back, already killed some of our water palace crew in the Chaos Fire Sea. You, in your boundless mercy, offered him a warrior spot, but this snake’s so damn arrogant…”

  Caprovorax says, a hint of anger in his voice. With the water giant Aegir’s growing empire, he’s become the region’s emperor, a dictator who doesn’t take kindly to any slight.

  Sure enough, the second Caprovorax finishes, a cold, thunderous voice booms from the temple.

  “If he won’t be my slave, then he dies.”

  Along with that thunderous voice come two massive figures.

  Giant Aegir himself doesn’t show, but his two strongest enforcers step up. On the left is Thalassorath, a humanoid water giant—word is, he’s Aegir’s blood descendant!

  He’s rocking armor made of black coral, a custom A-tier defense item.

  It’s “just” A-tier, but tailored for him, so its power’s probably close to a standard S-tier item.

  Yup, the chaos has smiths now who can craft gear.

  But usually, anything deities forge is A-tier or below—S-tier’s super rare.

  Appearing alongside Thalassorath, on the right, is Tempestriax—a deity made of a freaking tornado!

  Rumor has it this guy started as a weak little gust in the chaos, clawing his way through endless fights to become today’s storm god.

  He’s hooked on battle, never quits—basically a war god.

  Got beat by giant Aegir, though, and was so awed by the water giant’s power he signed up as a guard, no regrets.

  These two are the water giant’s scariest enforcers. Any deity who’s crossed Aegir or tangled with the water palace’s interests shakes at their names!

  “We’ll find that snake and end its life ourselves.”

  Thalassorath says calmly.

  Tempestriax doesn’t talk—just glares at Caprovorax. His tornado body’s already churning wild, spinning at insane speeds with a whooosh like thousands of deities screaming in pain.

  It screams how much this storm war god’s itching for a fight.

  That snake’s toast.

  Caprovorax can’t help thinking it.

  Looks like the great Lord Aegir’s taking this snake seriously—sent out the water palace’s top two fighters.

  This fight’s gonna be a show!

  Meanwhile, Oliver’s still chilling in the trading market. Besides shopping, he’s into chatting with other deities here.

  The market’s deities come from every corner of the chaos—places even Oliver’s never been.

  Some of their wild stories are eye-openers, super intriguing.

  And soon, he catches wind of a rumor that really grabs him—about creator god Aether!

  Now that Oliver’s building a universe in his gem space, he’s on a similar path to Aether. Naturally, he’s curious as hell about the guy.