Chapter 353 -: 352 Normal life.

Chapter 353: Chapter: 352 Normal life.

"Haah..."

Ian took a quick bath before changing into a clean robe. His long black hair was left untied, falling all the way to his waist in damp, unbothered strands, while his eyes carried a faint trace of exhaustion that he was still not accustomed to feeling.

His body felt strangely light after the bath, but there was another sensation that caught his attention even more.

Hunger.

Ian paused for a moment.

’That’s new...’

He could go for years without eating or sleeping. In fact, there had been periods during his long life when he had completely forgotten what it felt like to be hungry or tired.

His body had once been far beyond the limitations of ordinary mortals, and even after becoming a god, basic necessities had become nothing more than distant memories.

Yet now, after spending a single day clearing a field, his stomach was actually demanding food. Ian lowered his gaze toward his stomach with a strange expression.

’How long has it been since I last felt hungry?’

He genuinely couldn’t remember.

For some reason, however, the realization didn’t bother him. Instead, a faint smile appeared on his face. Perhaps this was another sign that his life really was approaching its end.

Time had cursed him, steadily eating away at the lifespan he had once considered infinite, and now even simple physical exhaustion had begun to catch up with him.

It should have been terrifying.

For someone like Ian, whose entire existence had revolved around surviving impossible situations, knowing that his remaining lifespan was limited should have been enough to make him anxious.

Yet he wasn’t particularly worried anymore. The evil goddess had already promised to safeguard his soul after his death.

And he could even try to extend his life span and If extending his life proved impossible, then Ian would simply prepare himself for reincarnation.

He had already accepted that possibility.

Besides, gods were known for one thing Ian could actually respect.

Despite how distrustful he was of the gods and how firmly he believed they could never be trusted—which was true—one thing about them was certain.

They rarely lie.

Granted, they were all complete assholes, arrogant, selfish, cruel, and more than willing to destroy entire worlds if it benefited them, but a god giving their word was something that could rarely be taken lightly.

Gods could manipulate, threaten, scheme, and deceive through their actions, but directly breaking a divine promise was an entirely different matter.

That was probably the only thing Ian genuinely liked about them.

So, even though the goddess currently pretending to be his wife was one of the most troublesome beings he had ever encountered, and Ian didn’t believe a single word she said, he wasn’t particularly concerned about her betraying him.

At first, he had been extremely skeptical of her, and his paranoia still refused to let him fully trust her. Even now, he believed the evil goddess was plotting something shady, and perhaps she wanted something precious from him. Still, with his thoughts finally clear, Ian could at least rest easy knowing that she would make sure he was reincarnated.

With a tired sigh, Ian stepped into the courtyard and sat down, leaning against the wooden pillar near the entrance. The night air brushed against his face, carrying the faint scent of soil and vegetation from the fields. He lifted his head and gazed into the sky.

Even from here, Ian’s perception remained far beyond that of an ordinary mortal.

His eyes traveled across the vast distance, passing beyond the village, beyond the surrounding lands, and eventually reaching the distant horizon where the three enormous floating continents could be seen slowly ascending toward the heavens.

The sight made him silent.

The three floating continents had become humanity’s new home.

Far below them, the remaining four continents had suffered terribly during the battle between Ian, the three Preserver Gods, and their armies of devotees.

Entire regions had been reduced to wastelands, mountains had been shattered, rivers had changed their courses, and countless civilizations had simply vanished beneath the aftermath of the conflict.

The eastern continent had been fortunate.

It was still damaged, but compared to the other regions, most of its destruction had been concentrated elsewhere.

This particular part of the continent had been far enough from the battlefield to escape the worst of the devastation, which was one of the reasons Rock Wood Village had survived relatively unharmed.

Ian’s eyes followed the distant continents as they continued their slow ascent.

Below them, countless people were migrating toward the three floating continents, abandoning the lands that could no longer support them.

Families carried what little they had left, while powerful organizations organized caravans and established settlements on the floating lands.

Humanity was rebuilding.

And it wasn’t taking long for new powers to emerge.

Ian could already see prominent clans and empires taking control of various regions of the three continents, establishing their territories and gathering survivors beneath their banners.

The Thorne family, the Hayes family, the Valentina family, the Fairyborns.

Ian recognized their names immediately.

Those clans had already begun establishing themselves as major powers in the new era.

"Oh?"

Ian narrowed his eyes slightly when another familiar symbol caught his attention.

"The Holy Empire too?"

His eyebrow rose.

’Those fanatics are really going at it, huh?’

A faint smile appeared on his lips, though there was little amusement behind it.

"I wonder who became the Holy Emperor after that old man died."

His gaze remained fixed on the distant Holy Empire for several moments.

Unlike the other powers, Ian’s expression gradually became more complicated when he looked toward their territory. A faint melancholy entered his eyes as memories from the past surfaced within his mind.

That old man had been stubborn to the very end.

Ian couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the empire after his death, who had inherited his position, and whether the people there still remembered the chaos that had once engulfed their world.

He eventually let out a quiet breath.

A new era is beginning.

There was no denying it. The world Ian had once known was gone.

The old civilizations had fallen, the gods had been defeated, humanity had been forced to abandon entire continents, and new powers were already rising from the ashes.

The world would eventually forget the battles that had caused all of this. New generations would be born without ever knowing what the old world looked like, and eventually, Ian himself would probably become nothing more than a name buried somewhere in history.

For some reason, that thought didn’t bother him.

Perhaps because he had already lived long enough.

"Here, the food is ready."

Destiny’s voice suddenly echoed from behind him.

Ian’s thoughts were immediately interrupted.

He turned around.

The goddess stood in the courtyard with an innocent expression, apparently proud of whatever she had prepared. Spread across the floor before her were numerous dishes of various shapes and colors.

There was soup, roasted meat, strange vegetables, things Ian couldn’t even identify, and several other dishes that looked like they had been created by someone who had heard about food but had never actually seen it before.

Ian stared at the feast.

Then he stared at Destiny, then back at the food. There was one thing every single dish had in common.

They looked like they were trying to kill him.

"You want..." Ian stopped himself, choosing his words more carefully. "You want me to eat these?"

He raised an eyebrow.

Destiny smiled brightly.

"Why? Isn’t it good?"

She pointed proudly toward the dishes.

Ian’s eye twitched.

Good?

He looked at a bowl of soup sitting near the center. Thick purple bubbles slowly rose from its surface before bursting with an unpleasant pop.

Something that vaguely resembled meat floated beneath the surface, although Ian wasn’t entirely certain that it had ever belonged to a living creature that could reasonably be classified as food.

The dish seemed to radiate hostility.

If Ian hadn’t known better, he would have thought the food itself was staring back at him, waiting for him to lower his guard so it could devour him first.

Ian slowly looked at Destiny.

"You should try to learn what the word ’cooking’ means."

Destiny blinked.

Ian pointed toward the purple soup.

"This is straight-up poison. Do you want me to die before my lifespan ends?"

Destiny rubbed her chin, genuinely confused.

"When I visited another world, their civilization was rather strange. There wasn’t only one race there. There were many different races, and they lived very differently from the people of this world. Perhaps their taste in food was simply different from yours?"

Ian stared at her.

Destiny tilted her head slightly, still thinking.

"But it couldn’t be that bad, right? How about you try it first?"

"And die trying?"

Ian scoffed.

He couldn’t even understand how she had managed to make something that smelled worse than a corpse left rotting in a swamp for a thousand years.

"You should seriously learn how to cook."

He sighed and shook his head.

Destiny’s expression slowly fell.

Ian noticed it immediately. Her eyes drifted toward the food she had prepared, and for the first time Ian realized something rather unfortunate.

She had probably spent the entire day making this.

The goddess who could casually destroy worlds had apparently spent hours attempting to prepare a meal for him, only to produce something that looked capable of killing him more effectively than any poison he had ever encountered.

Ian stared at her for a few moments.

"Haa..."

’Such a pain in the ass.’

He was hungry.

He genuinely wanted to eat something warm and delicious after spending the entire day working in the field, but eating what Destiny had prepared would probably shorten his remaining lifespan by several decades.

That would completely defeat the purpose.

Still, seeing her disappointed expression made it difficult for Ian to simply walk away.

He sighed again before standing up.

Destiny looked at him curiously.

Ian walked toward the kitchen area and stopped beside her. He rolled up the sleeves of his robe, exposing his forearms, then reached behind his head and gathered his long black hair. With practiced movements, he tied it into a loose knot so that it wouldn’t interfere with his work.

Destiny watched him in silence.

Ian glanced at her.

"Come."

"Where?"

"I’ll show you."

"Show me what?"

Ian looked toward the terrifying collection of food sitting before them.

"What cooking actually means."

He picked up one of the kitchen knives and tested its edge with his thumb. A faint smile appeared on his face.

"You wanted to make dinner for your husband, didn’t you?"

Destiny nodded.

"Then watch carefully."

"I may not know much about farming anymore, but I’ve spent enough time travelling through countless worlds to know a thing or two about food."

He glanced at the poisonous purple soup again.

"And first, we’re going to bury that thing before it evolves into a demon."

Destiny stared at the soup.

"...Is it really that bad?"

Ian gave her a deadpan look.

"Destiny, if that soup develops intelligence, the first thing it will do is declare war on humanity."

For the first time since returning home, Ian heard Destiny laugh.

And despite himself, a small smile appeared on his face as well. Perhaps this mortal life wasn’t going to be as terrible as he had expected.