In a luxurious hotel room.
Evelyn slowly awoke after half a day.
In her dream, she experienced something utterly wondrous and extraordinary, as if watching an epic movie unfold before her eyes. It was a strikingly real magical journey. She uncovered many secrets of ancient Egypt, along with a dramatic, soap-opera-like tale of love and betrayal from her past life.
Of course, since the appearance of her past life in the dream differed significantly from Evelyn's current looks, she didn't realize she was viewing memories from a previous existence. She still believed her dream was merely a "time regression" caused by accidentally entering a divine realm, allowing her to witness ancient Egypt's past.
After all, even that ridiculous deity had appeared. The idea of time travel through dreams was naturally quite plausible. Having witnessed the appearance of not just one "god," she considered herself well-traveled and unflappable in the face of such fantastical occurrences.
"The wizard must be a deity himself—though I wonder which one. To think he could hunt the supreme god of Egypt as prey."
Lost in speculation, Evelyn slowly snapped back to reality from her dream—a question she'd pondered as the dream faded. Just as the wizard had said, only magic could counter magic. Evelyn felt the profound meaning behind the phrase "only gods could oppose gods". From this perspective, she concluded the wizard who hired her must also be a supreme deity.
At the very least, he must be no weaker than the ancient Egyptian sun god.
"Once I return, I must thoroughly study the myths of various lands to see if the wizard truly fits the descriptions of those gods!"
After experiencing that peculiar dream, Evelyn seemed to have grown wiser. She felt certain she could uncover clues about Herman's identity within the myths. It made no sense that the gods of ancient Egypt were real while those in other myths were false. Through her own insight, Evelyn arrived at the earth-shattering conclusion that all myths were true. Such a notion would have been dismissed by her former self as nothing but church propaganda.
However, now, Evelyn felt an almost unnerving calm. It simply made sense—her journey had forged her resilience.
"This... is a hotel?"
Evelyn stared at the ceiling for a long moment before registering the incongruity. She should have been in the desert with the wizard. A slight shock flashed through her mind. She immediately scrambled out of the luxurious, comfortable bed. She first checked her clothes—no signs of having been undressed. After a moment of relief, she felt a strange, faint disappointment for some reason.
It was a complex emotion. All she could say was... Women's hearts are often this complicated.
"Mr. Wizard! Are you still here?"
Evelyn searched the hotel room for a while but found no trace of Herman. Only a note he'd left behind lay on the living room table. Its contents were essentially a farewell message, along with some blessings for Evelyn. She clutched the note, sitting motionless on the sofa for quite some time with a complicated expression.
She didn't know why. It had only been a very brief journey. Yet her current mood felt melancholy, as if she were reluctant to let go, or perhaps feeling a bit disappointed by Herman's departure without a word.
"Perhaps in Mr. Wizard's long life, I was just an ordinary mortal he happened to meet—like those mythical figures who toy with mortals for amusement."
Evelyn sighed gloomily, her thoughts murmuring to themselves. She immediately dismissed the possibility that Herman might be one of the Olympian gods. After all, in the Olympian myths she knew, the gods were notorious for leaving their mark everywhere—it was unthinkable for one to depart so abruptly.
"Am I... actually hoping the wizard has some ulterior motive toward me?"
Evelyn was startled by this unprecedented mix of hope and fear within herself. She couldn't tell if her feelings for Herman were genuine attraction or merely a chemical reaction born of crisis.
"Regardless..." Evelyn murmured, noticing something peculiar about the paper in her hands. It was too pure white, too exquisitely crafted. Even in the finest books, she had never encountered paper of such exceptional quality.
As an avid reader, she possessed considerable knowledge about paper and enjoyed studying it. The sheet torn from Herman's Wanda notebook in the alternate dimension had captured her attention. Her intuition urged her to examine it closely.
"Perhaps it's something crafted with technology from mythical tales."
Evelyn mused inwardly as she turned the paper left by Herman over and over in her hands, examining it closely.
...
After Herman completed his ascension, the entire world seemed to have returned to normal.
Aside from the churches' frenzied preaching and humanity's collective witnessing of a miracle, it appeared as though nothing else in the world had changed. The wars that had once halted soon reignited under the push of politicians and various factions, with only a few regions truly achieving peace.
On Earth, no one knew what had really happened.
Even powerful beings deep in the cosmos could only vaguely sense that a Universal-level lifeform had been born.
Herman's entire ascension process—aside from himself—was witnessed only by a handful of individuals, few enough to count on one hand. Countless mighty entities across the universe noticed the fluctuations in the Milky Way, and the local powerhouses of the galaxy reacted swiftly.
For instance, in this timeline's Asgard, Odin, who was still disciplining his two troublesome sons, was the first to detect the anomaly. He immediately turned his gaze toward Earth.
At first, he had intended to meet this newly ascended Universal-level being in person, to determine whether the newcomer might threaten the peace and stability of the Nine Realms.
However, when Odin looked toward the stars above Earth, he quickly abandoned the idea. His face revealed a rare mix of astonishment and awe.
"It seems my future self made a very wise investment," Odin murmured, his gaze piercing the cosmos as he sensed Gungnir's presence radiating from Herman.
As a skyfather god who had lived for countless eons, he swiftly grasped certain hidden truths after a brief moment of shock. Even without deep knowledge of time and space, his long life had granted him insight and wisdom.
"Father, what's wrong? Didn't you promise to teach me combat techniques today?"
Thor, the God of Thunder, looked exactly as he did in the future. Seeing his father suddenly distracted during their sparring, he threw Mjolnir at him in irritation.
It was both a complaint and a sneak attack. As Odin's eldest son, Thor knew his father's strength well enough not to worry that his cheeky behavior might get him punished.
Sure enough—
Clang!
Odin didn't even turn his head. He simply raised his hand and caught Mjolnir mid-flight. No matter how violently it struggled, the hammer couldn't move Odin's arm an inch.
"Thor, our training can't remain this simple. You must push yourself harder. For the sake of Asgard's future, you need to become even stronger."
Odin's tone suddenly became heavy with meaning, and the look of disappointment on his face left Thor utterly confused.
"Huh?"
Thor couldn't make sense of his father's sudden shift in attitude. Was his father, like his mother, entering another one of those unpredictable phases that struck every century or two?
"I will be increasing the intensity of your training," Odin said firmly.
To be honest, he had always been quite satisfied with both his sons—especially his eldest. In Thor, he saw the potential to one day surpass himself. Thor's steady growth over the years had filled Odin with pride. Though barely a few thousand years old, Thor already possessed near Skyfather-level power.
Such progress was exceptional across the universe. Yet today, Odin had witnessed something that shook even him—an Earthling who had reached the Universal level.
A realm he himself had never touched, and likely never would. And yet, this Earthling, who couldn't possibly be older than a thousand years, had achieved it.
Had he not seen it with his own eyes, Odin would never have believed it possible. The Universal level was the domain of true cosmic deities, far beyond the reach of most beings.
Every Universal-level entity Odin knew of had achieved that rank through tens of thousands—if not millions—of years of accumulation and struggle.
But an Earthling under a thousand years old?
Odin was shaken to his core. He couldn't comprehend how such a thing could exist. Never in his life had he heard of a Universal-level being so young—which was precisely why he had no doubts when he sensed another Gungnir.
He knew himself well. He also knew his nightmares.
If there was any being capable of standing against that nightmare, Odin had searched for ages without finding one. Yet now, he was certain—the young, impossibly gifted god whose ascension he had just witnessed possessed that very potential.
Of course, Odin didn't know Herman's actual age was still in the double digits. Otherwise, the shock to the Asgardian king would have been far greater—he might even have questioned the very nature of reality itself.
A Universal-level being barely in his twenties? Not just Odin, but anyone who understood the weight of such power would find the idea unthinkable.
"Learning this early has eased my mind quite a bit," Odin muttered, surprisingly calm.
He was genuinely relieved. His sudden strictness toward Thor stemmed purely from a sense of competition. Comparison, after all, was always humbling—and far more so when the other side's "prodigy" was light-years ahead.
That was Odin's mindset now.
Someone else had surpassed him before even reaching a thousand years old.
Therefore, his own son had no excuse. Thor had to work harder. Odin didn't expect him to reach the Universal level—he simply hoped his son would attain Skyfather status as soon as possible.
"When that happens, I can finally retire," he thought.
In his mind, Odin was already drafting a rigorous, borderline torturous training plan for Thor.
Clearly, Herman's influence had once again quietly shifted the course of history.
Who could say what kind of Thor would emerge from this grueling training in the future?
...
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Herman had already left Egypt—and arrived in a new land.