Rebirth as a Time Dragon

Near the upper reaches of a vast, perpetual ice river running through Freljord, there is a large cluster of buildings, housing various intelligent species who rely on the water source. This area is also the location of the main temple of the God of Eternity and Time.

From a distance, one can see a colossal dragon statue roaring upward. Each scale is crafted from silver metal, lifelike in its posture as if battling the heavens and confronting the world, exuding a spirit of struggle and resistance.

Other statues exist too, but they are significantly smaller and less detailed in comparison.

The territories of the Four Pillar Gods do not overlap, but within each god's domain, besides their own statue and temple, there are also statues and temples of the other three Pillar Gods. They do not reject the faith in the other Pillar Gods.

The Four Pillar Gods advance and retreat together, like siblings.

The protected believers know this well.

Although the worship of their respective gods often leads to a slight disdain for the followers of other gods and occasional conflicts to prove their god's supremacy, overall, the different followers of the Four Pillar Gods coexist harmoniously.

This is natural, as within a god's domain, the majority of the population are their devout followers.

For instance, in Ornn's Forge Home, 90% of the intelligent beings are Ornn's followers, with the remaining 10% divided among the other three Pillar Gods.

Volibear's Storm Mountain, Anivia's Ice Crystal Tree, and Garon's Eternal River are similarly divided.

Whoosh! 

The silver dragon streaked across the sky like lightning, taking less than a minute to traverse the icy continent and reach the territory of the 'God of Eternity and Time.'

Due to the constant forging of divine weapons in Forge Home, the steam created by dumping lava waste into the sea has caused the Freljord region to be perpetually snowbound, turning it into a world of ice and cold.

At an altitude of several thousand meters where Garon flew, the wind howled like a knife, and snowflakes spun in the air.

The storm and snow swirled around the silver dragon, parting before him and merging again behind, as if not daring to touch this exalted divine presence.

One by one, Garon's followers raised their heads, looking at the enormous dragon that blocked the sun.

Due to the abundance of demigods on the continent of Valoran and the absence of divine realms, the followers were accustomed to seeing demigods and gods in their true forms. Thus, they were neither overly excited nor indifferent, instead falling to their knees with reverence, praying earnestly in the shadow of Garon's wings, grateful for his protection.

Garon looked down at his followers.

Most were humanoid, but different from ordinary humans.

They were mainly divided into two types.

The first type resembled humans the most, with thick body hair and robust builds like wild men, able to withstand the harsh cold of the icy world.

The second type were half-human, half-dragon, with dragon horns, clawed hands, a dragon tail, and scales covering their bodies.

"Dragon people... though they look the part, they lack true dragon blood and aura."

Garon's gaze swept over the 'dragon people,' noting the faint divine power within them, granted by a god, giving them their form. Their elevated status was evident from the reactions of the surrounding humans.

At the same time.

A divine aura surged.

In the center of the settlement, the largest statue of Garon began to glow with divine light, coming to life, soaring into the sky with an unyielding, intimidating gaze fixed on Garon.

Two nearly identical dragons faced each other, with only minor differences in appearance.

The followers watched in confusion, unsure of what was happening, their eyes filled with doubt.

"Oh? It has a physical form, different from the faith-born gods in the Faerun timeline."

Garon's eyes lit up as he observed the divine dragon with curiosity.

"I am the God of Eternity and Time of the Four Pillar Gods."

"Who are you, a mere demigod, daring to impersonate me and deceive my followers?"

As before, the divine dragon directly questioned Garon, viewing him as an impostor.

If this were the first time, Garon would be interested in having a conversation to clarify the situation. However, this scenario was new to the divine dragon but repetitive for Garon, leaving him uninterested.

Partial God Form!

The river of time surged, with endless waters pouring into Garon's body.

Garon extended his claw, which expanded to an enormous size, with each talon like a mountain, pressing down on the divine dragon, with the wind and snow swirling around and darkening the sky.

Even in the material world, without a divine realm, a newly born god not yet a minor deity was not worth Garon's attention.

On the other side, the divine dragon's pupils contracted sharply.

Buzz!

Its wings flapped, and its body rapidly expanded, using its god form, reaching a length of over 700 meters and a wingspan of nearly 1,000 meters.

On this wild continent, most powerful primordial beings could take a god form. In the followers' eyes, Garon also had this ability, so the faith-born divine dragon possessed it too.

However, even the fully god-formed divine dragon couldn't surpass Garon's partially god-formed claw in size, as its god form was similar to Garon's initial state, much less advanced.

Garon's claw, like a towering silver mountain, pressed down, covering the sky.

The divine dragon was shocked, using its time authority to try and contend with the giant claw.

Meanwhile, the observing followers held their breath, filled with tension.

Some dragon people with legendary power hesitated, wanting to help their god but unsure who was the true deity, and were shocked by Garon's display, unable to act.

"Using the time authority in my presence..."

"However, you were born from my faith in this world, so using the time authority is not your fault."

Garon's whisper reached the divine dragon.

At the same time, the river of time, influenced by the divine dragon, instantly calmed and stabilized, unmovable despite the divine dragon's attempts.

Crack!

Garon's claws closed, tightly gripping the divine dragon's torso, piercing the divine scales.

The power of time surged into the divine dragon's body, creating disjointed time flows, suppressing its divine power.

The divine dragon's body stiffened, its movements ceased.

The confrontation lasted only a few dozen seconds, with Garon easily subduing a common demigod in the material world, a routine for him, only surprised if it took longer.

Suppressing the divine dragon, Garon's claw gradually shrank.

Eventually, Garon looked down at the small divine dragon between his talons, raised his left claw, and touched its forehead, injecting his will.

The divine dragon's eyes turned blank for a moment.

After a brief silence, it began to resist furiously, its divine body immobile but its mind fighting back, unwilling to become Garon's thrall.

"I am the God of Eternity and Time, one of the Four Pillar Gods. You want to erode my mind and make me your avatar? Impossible!"

It roared with determination.

"Is that so? As you wish."

Amid the swirling snow, the silver dragon regretfully shook his head, his horns majestic and imposing.

The next moment, he crushed the divine dragon's consciousness.

Crack, crack. The talons tightened, shattering the divine dragon's body.

With a forceful grip, Garon crushed the divine dragon's body.

A perfectly intact divinity emerged from the shattered body, not fleeing but flying into Garon's open claw, resting safely, glowing brilliantly like the most beautiful gem in the multiverse.

"Divinity, even that of a demigod, is an extremely rare treasure."

Normally, divinity wouldn't be so compliant in an enemy's grasp.

However, this divinity didn't resist Garon because it was born from his faith and belonged to him.

With the divine dragon's death, the divinity naturally became Garon's.

If he wished, he could directly inherit its authority and gain extraordinary power.

But Garon didn't care about the demigod-level power.

"To forge the Time-Destroying Sword, I wonder how much divinity is needed."

"This is the first one. There's a long way to go."

Garon stored the divinity, contemplating.

Then, the silver dragon's gaze swept over the bewildered followers. "My followers, do not panic. The false god is gone. Now, pray to your true god. I will continue to protect you."

The followers exchanged glances, then gradually turned devout, chanting the name of the God of Eternity and Time.

They couldn't distinguish the real from the false, but their reverence for power made them lean towards the victorious Garon as the true god. In this harsh and dangerous world, ordinary intelligent beings faced severe hardships. As long as someone could provide protection, did it matter if they were real or false? They didn't care.

Garon thought for a moment, then looked at the former statue's position and cast a spell.

A legendary caster can cast ordinary spells instantly.

Garon's magic, though auxiliary, was at the top demigod level alone.

With a thought, an identical statue appeared in its original position.

"Pray, my followers, and you shall receive my protection."

With that, Garon's form disappeared from the followers' view, hidden but observing their reactions.

After a brief commotion, the followers resumed their prayers to the recreated statue, quickly accepting it as nothing had happened.

"When I leave Valoran, given the previous progress,

 another god will be born in about a hundred years."

"No, if the Four Pillar Gods continue to grow, it might not even take a hundred years."

Garon understood the principle of sustainable development.

A timeline can be harvested repeatedly.

"But a hundred years is too long. When I have more time, I need to create more fast-paced timelines as divine pastures, nurturing materials for the Time-Destroying Sword."

Garon decided.

But those were plans for the future.

For now, Garon quietly left the now peaceful area, flying to an altitude of tens of thousands of meters, with his wings slicing through the icy wind. Looking down, he saw the world as a miniature map, with all its features in view.

Valoran wasn't a planet.

Flying in a straight line, Garon observed the landscape from high above, quickly spotting a suspicious purple monster nest.

The dragon adjusted his posture, wings flapping.

Hissing... 

Silver scales rubbed against the air at high speed, creating a visible fiery glow, shining like a meteor falling to the continent.

As he neared the ground, the dragon's wings flapped.

Boom! 

A dull sonic boom echoed, like the air wailing, with a ring-shaped shockwave bursting forth, carrying endless snow and wind to the distant horizon.

Garon landed slowly, scanning the surroundings.

He saw a barren, icy wasteland, the ground covered in a thin layer of snow, blown away by the pressure he created, revealing dry, brown frozen soil.

There was no green in sight, and the area within hundreds of miles seemed dead and cold, with no signs of life.

What caught Garon's attention were the purple veins crisscrossing the frozen ground like scars or the earth's blood vessels, with blood-like energy flowing within.

"This is the nest of the purple monsters."

Garon's eyes narrowed.

According to Ornn and Volibear, the purple monsters were adept at hiding, but such terrain indicated a recent large-scale presence, forming from their corruption.

Finding purple monster nests required locating such landscapes.

Garon extended his senses but found no purple monsters nearby.

Evidently, this was an abandoned nest.

Garon severed a nearby purple vein.

Puff!

It was like cutting a blood vessel, with purple liquid spurting out, sizzling on the ground like acid with strong corrosive properties.

No, not corrosive—devouring.

The soil and rock were devoured, and the purple liquid solidified into purple frozen soil, starkly contrasting with the normal brown earth.

Looking around, the area was filled with purple frozen soil, a lifeless, deathly place.

Garon analyzed the purple liquid, his expression growing serious.

Within it, he sensed an insatiable devouring desire and primordial evil, even more daunting than the evil of the Abyss, with a similar essence, like a concentrated form of abyssal evil.

"Does this timeline have an Abyss?"

With this question, Garon attempted to locate the Abyss with a time teleportation spell.

However, the river of time remained still, with no coordinates found.

Garon tried locating Mount Celestia, the Beastlands, the Hero's Domain, Mechanus, and other places, but found no coordinates.

"The Abyss hasn't formed yet, and the other outer planes are probably the same."

"Beyond the material plane, it's likely a chaotic void."

"This timeline is primordial and dangerous, with unknown terrors brewing. The purple monsters are probably one of them."

Garon thought silently.

Sensing the primordial terror and insatiable hunger of the purple monsters, Garon's wariness increased.

These creatures were far from ordinary.

Even their lingering aura was more terrifyingly evil than abyssal demons.

At the very least, they wouldn't die out naturally.

Next, the silver dragon raised his neck, took a deep breath, and exhaled a torrent of draconic breath, covering all visible purple veins, freezing and destroying them.

Ordinary ice and snow couldn't handle them, but Garon's breath was sufficient.

According to the information gathered by the demigods, even the land corrupted by purple monsters formed significant pollution.

If left unchecked, these purple veins would continue to spread like cancer, creating new purple monster colonies over time.

Garon didn't rush to find more purple monster nests but decided to explore other material worlds.

Taking a deep breath, he used the material plane teleportation spell, opening a planar gate.

He targeted material worlds he had previously visited, with thousands of worlds due to his avatars' participation in wars, though he didn't stay in most.

However, only a few material worlds were successfully located.

Garon explored these worlds.

Similar to Valoran, these worlds were barren, with few living beings, mainly powerful demigods, and rare intelligent species.

He found no traces of purple monsters in other worlds.

"For now, they only exist in Valoran and haven't spread."

"But even on Valoran, they appeared suddenly. Perhaps their true lair is sealed, with only a breach in Valoran, explaining their sudden appearance."

Garon analyzed.

Next, he left the material plane and went beyond it.

In the infinite, silent chaos, a silver light appeared, forming into Garon.

He looked around, seeing nothing.

This place resembled the cosmic void but was even more empty. Besides the river of time, there was nothing else.

"This is the primordial era before the gods, ruled by the primal beings."

"In this timeline, the Nine-Faced Dragon God might be active somewhere."

Garon thought.

Before he could explore the primordial chaos, Garon sensed an approaching presence, his war-honed instincts warning him of being locked onto.

Startled, Garon immediately returned to Valoran, not wanting to confront the entity.

Looking up, Garon saw a red comet-like light circling near the material world, not descending but not leaving either.

He left because he recognized the entity.

In Garon's main timeline, deities were classified as primordial beings, ancient evils, abyssal lords, elemental lords, beast lords, and so on. Many were originally primordial beings.

For instance, the ancient evil Garon just saw: Mother of Flesh, Corrupting Mother Star.

Ancient evils are a type of primordial being, embodying a desire for destruction incomprehensible to mortals, posing a threat to gods and other beings.

In the main timeline, most ancient evils were destroyed or sealed by the gods.

Garon, familiar with ancient evils, recognized the Mother of Flesh.

The Mother of Flesh was a major evil, with near-greater deity power, corrupting life and reshaping it into grotesque forms.

Countless worlds and beings were corrupted by the Mother of Flesh before being sealed by the gods.

"Just left the material world and encountered the Mother of Flesh, clearly hostile."

"It's too dangerous outside, better not go."

"Mother of Flesh, Terror Lord, Death Moon, Source of All Evil, King of Life and Death, Decay Storm..."

Garon's mind raced with records of primordial beings.

Undoubtedly, in the void beyond the material world, these terrifying primordial beings, including Eo and Annan, were alive and ruling this era.

In this context, the purple monsters' insatiable hunger and primordial evil, with their ability to evolve, seemed normal.

Garon took a deep breath to calm himself.

The red comet circled for a while, then left quietly.

Garon spread his wings and resumed searching for purple monster nests, deciding to deal with weaker threats to soothe his shaken nerves.

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