“Use the wishing bottle to track down a new Tartarus…”

  Oliver makes up his mind.

  But just as he’s about to move, Ygg rustles its leaves and pipes up with a suggestion.

  “Master, I’ve noticed lately everyone’s growth has slowed down a lot. The power in that Ymir flesh is almost tapped out. In maybe twenty years, the gem’s fast growth will stall. If we want to keep it rolling, we’ll need new nutrients.”

  Ymir’s flesh—almost used up?

  Oliver’s surprised, but it clicks soon enough. It was just a small chunk of Ymir, after all. After all these years, running dry makes sense.

  Think about it—when Aether created the world later, they killed Ymir and used his whole body to forge a brand-new universe.

  Sure, the gem space’s universe is nowhere near the chaos world’s scale, but one little piece of Ymir flesh? Still too small.

  The Chaos Gem’s already at +5 now—burning through that flesh is par for the course.

  “Do I need to hunt down another piece of Ymir’s flesh?”

  Oliver tries the wishing bottle real quick. No dice—it shuts him down.

  Ymir probably hasn’t been injured lately. With Oliver’s current strength, snagging flesh from the legendary Ymir—a guy who can slug it out with creator gods—is flat-out impossible.

  “We’ll have to find a substitute,” Oliver mutters.

  “Yes, Master, I’ve got some ideas!” Ygg jumps in eagerly.

  “Let’s hear ‘em.”

  “We plant deities can’t grow without water. When Ymir’s flesh was around, its blood was the perfect source. Now it’s gone, water’s what we need most.”

  “And this gem space has stars and continents, but it’s seriously short on water. Lately, me and the others have been feeling parched.”

  “Yeah, Master, we need water!”

  “With more water, we’d grow way faster,” the plants all nod like crazy.

  Water, huh.

  Oliver mulls it over.

  He’s got the elemental primal rune, so he can whip up pure water with his elemental control.

  But that burns his chaos power.

  He can’t just turn all his energy into water—that wouldn’t even come close to meeting the gem space’s needs.

  So, he needs more water—lots of it.

  “Wishing bottle, I need a treasure that can supply enough water for the gem space!”

  Boom!

  A huge jolt hits, shaking everything like mad.

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  The wishing bottle starts guzzling Oliver’s flesh power.

  His body—already shrunk to a million kilometers from sacrifices—keeps shrinking: 800,000, 700,000… down to 300,000 kilometers before it stops!

  Oliver’s startled—didn’t expect the bottle to chug that much juice this time!

  From his peak 1.6 million kilometers, he’s down to 300,000—just a fraction of what he was.

  His combat stats tank by nearly 20,000 points too.

  His base stats are hovering around 50,000 now—teetering on dropping from level 13 to 12.

  “Damn, that was a huge drain. Hope whatever it finds is worth the cost…”

  Oliver sighs, figuring it’ll take a while to bounce back to peak size.

  With that, he bolts off fast, following the wishing bottle’s lead!

  Per the bottle’s feedback, this time he’s hunting a deep master of the water primal rune!

  Oliver’s got the elemental primal rune, so he can manipulate water too.

  The water primal rune might seem lower-tier at first glance—his elemental rune covers way more than just water, after all.

  But in reality, they’re the same grade. The water one’s even a smidge rarer and higher-end.

  In the chaos, power isn’t just about quantity—it’s about purity.

  The single-focus water rune might be narrower, but it’s deeper, giving sharper, total control over water.

  A purer water rune ends up rarer than a jack-of-all-trades elemental rune that’s spread too thin.

  Following the bottle’s guidance, Oliver treks through the chaos world, soaking up ambient chaos energy along the way.

  He even snacks on some unlucky deities he stumbles across, using them to rebuild his strength.

  About a dozen years roll by like that.

  Finally, Oliver’s size creeps back from 300,000 to 800,000 kilometers.

  And he’s reached the destination the wishing bottle pointed him to.

  “What the…”

  Oliver’s floored by what he sees.

  He’s standing in front of a massive water-formed palace!

  Yup—a palace made of water.

  Tons of water, in the chaos world, isn’t floating as rivers or weightless droplets—it’s been shaped by some force into a giant palace.

  It’s kinda like the fire giant Surtr’s palace Oliver saw way back.

  But scale-wise, it’s clearly a step down from Surtr’s.

  Around the palace, a bunch of weaker deities mill about—trading stuff, requesting an audience with the water palace’s owner.

  Oliver doesn’t barge in. Instead, he splits off his soul power, disguises it as a level 9 deity, and drifts toward the small fry.

  “Big snake, you here to pay respects to the water giant Aegir too?”

  His arrival grabs the other deities’ attention fast.

  Even though he’s posing as a “weak” level 9 in his book, among this crowd outside the palace, a level 9’s still top-tier.

  Every deity that spots him can’t help but show respect, quietly clearing a wide space for him to stand comfortably.

  After all these years, some pockets of the chaos world have scratched out rough civilizations and order.

  Like here, in the water palace’s turf—deities don’t kill or eat each other. They trade goods, chat, swap intel.

  After shelling out some goods, Oliver gets the scoop he’s after.

  Turns out, this water palace’s master, Aegir, is another of the giant Ymir’s lackeys—pretty similar to the fire giant Surtr.

  Difference is, Aegir’s way weaker. Word is Surtr’s closing in on level 30 now.

  This Aegir? Just level 16.

  Still, even if it’s small-time now, it’s got a rep in future myths—supposedly ruled the seas after Aether’s creation, stirring up tsunamis and disasters for sailors.

  For now, though, it’s only level 16—pretty puny.

  “A level 16 water giant, maybe with some strong gear. No way I can take it head-on yet, but if I push and gain one more level, I might have a shot,” Oliver muses.