Darian was speechless: "I know I have great charisma, and it is understandable that you cannot resist, but isn't this a bit too rash?"
He suspected that Hela had been locked up for thousands of years and was sexually repressed.
This was their first meeting; they had known each other for less than half an hour, yet she skipped all the processes and immediately asked to study human reproduction with him.
"It is not rash at all."
Hela stared at Darian with burning eyes: "For so many years, apart from Odin, you are the only living person to break into Helheim, and you are a man. Only you can help me conceive a child, and I am quite satisfied with your strength. You are barely qualified to be my man; no one is more suitable than you."
In this land of deathly silence, encountering a living person was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Not to mention that Darian looked decent and was powerful, which suited her taste perfectly. He was simply the best candidate to help her complete her revenge plan.
Darian nodded: "What you say does make some sense."
Hela's eyes lit up: "Then do you agree?"
"No, I refuse."
Darian shook his head without hesitation.
Seeing him refuse so decisively, Hela was instantly furious: "What do you mean by this? Am I not charming enough?"
"Yes."
Darian made no effort to hide his disdain.
Although Hela was a proper goddess, she didn't look like one at all; instead, she looked more like a madwoman. Even Sif, the famous tomboy, was more feminine than her.
Most importantly, Hela's favorability rating towards him was still 0.
If it weren't for his innate 20-point base favorability with Asgardians, this value would probably have dropped into the negatives.
It was obvious that she simply treated him as a tool, the kind you discard after using.
Although he didn't mind a one-night stand, he would prefer someone who was actively cooperative. With a madwoman like Hela, who knows who would end up losing out.
"Damn mortal, I am the Goddess of Death! I haven't even looked down on you, yet you dare to look down on me!?"
Hela's face darkened instantly.
She was, after all, the eldest princess of Asgard, with no rivals across the Nine Realms, yet she was being treated with such disdain by a mortal to her face.
Darian curled his lips: "I don't care what kind of goddess you are; if I'm not interested, I'm not interested. Besides, this crappy place doesn't even have clean water. Look at your hair, it's all matted. You probably haven't bathed in thousands of years. This smell could probably be used as a biological weapon."
Hela gritted her teeth until they creaked: "I possess divine power; how could I be tainted by filth like you mortals?"
"Who knows."
Darian spread his hands, looking infuriatingly nonchalant.
Hela suppressed the urge to strike him down and threw out a bargaining chip: "Once our child is born, you send him back to Asgard, and he will be able to inherit the throne legitimately. By then, Asgard will be ours. Money, power, and women—whatever you want, it will all be within your reach."
"Are you trying to feed me empty promises to fool a fool?"
Darian chuckled: "Not to mention how long it will take for this child to be born, or whether Odin will obediently hand over the throne, even if your plan succeeds, I'm afraid the first thing you'd do is kill me."
Hela was a ruthless woman and absolutely not to be trusted. Once he lost his utility, she would definitely find a way to kill him.
Besides, asking him to take Hela's child back to Asgard and hand it to Odin—wasn't that just pure suicide?
From Odin's perspective, a daughter who had been rebellious for years goes out, finds some random guy, has a child after one night, and then that guy actually brings the child to his home, forcing him to hand over all his assets to this child.
Although Odin usually liked to turn a blind eye, ask yourself, what father could swallow this insult?
If Odin didn't just skewer him into a sieve with gungnir, that would be considered mercy.
"How could that be?"
Seeing her thoughts exposed, Hela awkwardly twitched the corner of her mouth: "Once we have the child, you will be my man, the child's father. How could I possibly move against you?"
Darian rolled his eyes: "Do you even believe what you're saying?"
Hela took a deep breath: "Then what exactly do you want in order to be willing to have a child with me?"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized something felt a bit off.
Why did it sound like she was begging him to sleep with her?
Seeing Hela so eager about having a child, Darian suddenly had an idea.
Hela was the eldest princess of Asgard, a top-tier powerhouse of the Nine Realms. She must have plenty of good things hidden on her.
"Ahem."
Darian cleared his throat and put on a serious expression: "In consideration of your sincerity, I will make a few small requests."
"First, if we are really going to have a child, I will have to stay in Helheim, right?"
"But Helheim is quite far from where I live. As a boy alone out here, I have no sense of security, so you must provide me with a place to stay. I don't ask for much, just half of Helheim. Considering privacy issues, without my permission, you cannot step foot into my territory."
"Moreover, staying in Helheim will definitely delay my business on Earth, and my income will be cut off. You must guarantee my daily expenses, at least the equivalent of several hundred billion Universe coins."
"Also, your assets and wealth must be handed over to me for safekeeping, lest you, as a young lady, spend money recklessly."
"Additionally, my training time will be delayed, so you must be responsible for that too. You should know Asgardian magic, right? Just teach me a few hundred spells. Also, your powerful equipment must be given to me for self-defense to protect my personal safety."
Darian chattered on.
Hela was stunned, standing there dumbfounded.
No, are you f*cking making a wish list here?
Half of Helheim, hundreds of billions of Universe coins, hundreds of Asgardian spells...
Even if you were having a child with Odin, it wouldn't be worth this much!
Darian continued: "Also, I have very little sense of security. If we can't have a child, that's your problem. I have the right to choose to leave, and you must give me half of your divine power."
"Shut up!"
Hela couldn't listen anymore and interrupted him, scolding: "Why don't you just ask for Asgard as well!"
Darian's eyes lit up: "Is that possible?"
"I can your #@%￥#@!"
Hela rattled off a string of profanities, mixed with a bunch of native Asgardian insults.
After scolding for a full few minutes, Hela gradually calmed down and threatened viciously: "Keep dreaming! I will never agree to these outrageous conditions!"
Darian shrugged indifferently: "You don't agree? Fine, I'm leaving."
Having said that, he turned and left without the slightest hesitation.
Hela didn't expect Darian to leave so decisively and quickly said: "Wait, don't you want your spaceships anymore?"
Darian didn't even turn his head and waved his hand: "I have dozens more outside; consider these a gift to you."
Hela panicked upon hearing this.
If Darian really left, God knows how many years she would have to wait for the next living person to break in, and it had to be a male. Her revenge plan would be hopeless.
"Stop right there!"
Hela didn't think, immediately calling him to stop.
Darian stopped and slowly turned back: "What? Changed your mind?"
Hela took several deep breaths, forcing down her surging anger: "Your conditions are too excessive; I cannot agree to them. However, if you lower your conditions, I can consider it."
She added through gritted teeth at the end.
"If you don't agree, forget it. Once Odin dies, I can still get out and seize the throne of Asgard."
Although Hela wanted to take revenge on Odin, that didn't mean she would let Darian manipulate her forever.
"Fine."
Darian nodded decisively in agreement.
He never expected Hela to agree; it was just a game of asking for the moon and settling for less. Getting more benefits wasn't a loss, and pushing Hela too far wouldn't benefit him either.
Thus, they began to negotiate terms.
The first thing settled was the territory issue.
Hela waved her hand, indicating that Darian could use Helheim however he wanted. It didn't matter; this haunted place had nothing anyway, and she didn't care for it.
However, as for money and such, she didn't have a single coin on her.
As the eldest princess of Asgard, she had never touched money in her life and had no interest in it. She usually got whatever she wanted with a wave of her hand; why would she carry money?
Then there was the equipment. Hela's weapons and armor were all exclusive equipment deeply bound to her own divine power, just like Thor's Meow-Meow Hammer. Except for her, no one else could use them.
Moreover, her equipment was women's wear; even if given to Darian, he couldn't wear it.
As for magic, Hela could teach that to Darian.
She was not some brute like Thor who only knew how to grab a hammer, but a top-tier warrior skilled in both magic and martial arts. Having lived for so many years, she naturally knew quite a bit of Asgardian magic.
Darian was quite satisfied with these terms. Anyway, it was all gotten for free; no matter how you look at it, he profited.
Seeing the terms settled, Hela urged: "Can we start now?"
"Of course not."
Darian immediately shook his head: "I haven't received my benefits yet. What if you back out after you get pregnant? It's better to wait until I've learned enough magic."
He directly resorted to stalling tactics.
Now Hela was the one begging him; the initiative was firmly in his hands.
Besides, even if it were a game, to reach the home base, you have to farm favorability and send enough gifts. There's no logic in unlocking a special CG right from the start.
"You!"
Hela was so angry her teeth ached, but she had no way to deal with him.
No choice; after all, Darian's strength was not weaker than her current self.
As an Asgardian, she believed in the law of the jungle. It was only natural for the strong to set conditions. If she could easily defeat Darian, she wouldn't be wasting so much breath; she would have stripped him and sat on him directly.
It was just a pity that her strength was tightly sealed by Odin's power, and she was far from her former self.
Moreover, she had a special attribute: the closer she was to Asgard, the stronger her power became.
Conversely, the further away from Asgard, the more restricted her power was.
And Helheim was a dead zone quite far from Asgard within the Nine Realms. Her power here was suppressed to the bottom, and she was simply no match for Darian.
"Once I recover my strength, I will just cut you up!"
Hela made a vicious threat in her heart.
But she wasn't too anxious. After all, the lifespan of an Asgardian was ridiculously long. Even if Darian followed her to learn magic for a few decades, to her, it would just be like a nap.
Of course, the premise was that Odin was still alive then; otherwise, who would she take revenge on?
However, Hela had never even considered the possibility that Odin would die.
He was the dignified All-Father, an old monster who had lived for who knows how many years; how could he just suddenly kick the bucket?
Hela nodded and said: "Fine, I agree. But you must stay in Helheim. The space rift through which you entered is formed by the Convergence, which only appears every five thousand years in the Nine Realms. Once this period passes, the space rift will automatically disappear, and you won't have a way to enter or exit."
When she said this, she suddenly felt that she wasn't losing out too much. At the very least, in this dead, haunted place, she finally had a living person to keep her company, and she wouldn't have to endure those days of loneliness that would drive anyone insane.
Unexpectedly, Darian chuckled: "No need, I have my own way to come and go."
Hela scoffed on the spot, her face full of disbelief: "Don't talk big here. Helheim is not like other realms. Except for the space rift during the Convergence, or using the Asgardian Bifrost Bridge, there is no way to enter or exit this place with ordinary means..."
Before she could finish, she watched with her own eyes as Darian suddenly disappeared from where he stood.
Hela:.....
Not long after, Darian's figure reappeared before her eyes, holding a bag of things.
Hela recognized it at a glance; it was a specialty delicacy unique to Asgard.
Darian handed it over: "Do you want to try the taste of home?"
Hela blankly reached out to take it, only recovering after a long while, looking at Darian with a face full of surprise: "Did you just go back to Asgard?"
Darian nodded: "Yeah."
Hela couldn't help but ask: "How did you do that?"
One must know that even Odin could not travel back and forth between two realms so casually, yet this mortal before her could easily do it.
Darian looked nonchalant: "This is my ability. In the entire World, there is nowhere I cannot go."
Of course, the premise was that he had to activate the map of that place first.
Hela said excitedly: "Then can you take me away from here?"
"No, my ability cannot carry people."
Darian shook his head decisively.
Actually, he could completely try to put Hela in the devouring pouch to see if she could get out, but he had no need to do that.
If he really let Hela out, who would teach him Asgardian magic?
Moreover, if he really let Hela go, he would definitely offend Thor's father. If that one-eyed big shot came looking for him personally, it would be troublesome.
Hela was very regretful upon hearing this: "What a pity. If I could get out, why would I bother having a child? I would go straight back to Asgard and stab that old thing Odin a few times to get some satisfaction!"
Darian: "..."
You really are a filial daughter.
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