Chapter 265 Svartefheim
Facing Phine's enthusiastic greeting, Heimdall maintained his usual expressionless face and asked, "How was it there?"
"Fine!"
Phine replied with a smile. Perhaps coincidentally, Heimdall hadn't witnessed a single battle between Phine and Surtur; during his observations, Phine was usually resting or studying Surtur's abilities.
Hearing Phine's answer, Heimdall, who had observed Phine's daily life, nodded unsurprisingly, stepped forward, and hugged Phine, saying, "Welcome back!"
"Has Thor returned?"
Phine asked casually after the hug. Thor had been sent out before he left, and now a month had passed; he wondered if he had returned.
"Not yet!"
Hearing that Thor hadn't returned, Phine felt slightly disappointed. He had been hoping to use Thor to gain enough experience from his ninth draw; it seemed he would have to move on to the next location first.
After saying goodbye to Heimdall, Phine returned to the Asgardian palace, immediately washing up to get rid of the strong sulfur smell.
After showering, Finney sniffed himself, still unable to detect any particular scent.
He couldn't help but wonder again, what exactly was that scent Surtur smelled?!
Returning from Muspelheim, Finney needed to consider his next target. Aside from Hadesheim, whose situation was currently unclear, only Svartefheim, the homeland of the Dark Elves, and Alfheim, the homeland of the Light Elves, remained.
Since the Dark Elves were defeated and slumbered in some unknown corner of the universe, Svartefheim had become a nearly abandoned kingdom, and its environment was unsuitable for other races, so it had remained largely unchanged.
While Alfheim offered a much better environment, the Light Elves were a difficult race to approach, so Finney decided to go to Svartefheim first.
He wanted to see if he could find any clues about the Reality Stone's sealing.
The Reality Stone, also known as the Aether, was the Infinity Stone Finney most desired, but its location was currently known only to Odin and Frigga.
Rather than trying to find out its location from them, he decided to try searching for it himself.
The once-in-five-thousand-years celestial conjunction was fast approaching, and if all else failed, Finney decided to try and protect Thor's girlfriend.
This would also be a way of saving her, since for a normal Earthling, touching an Infinity Stone was practically suicide; even those with slightly stronger constitutions wouldn't dare to touch it recklessly, as Red Skull knew all too well.
Early the next morning, Finney went to see Odin.
In Muspelheim, besides Heimdall's gaze, Finney occasionally sensed another gaze, and after searching carefully, he was surprised to find a raven.
Phine didn't bother with the raven; even a
fool could guess where it came from. Fortunately, the raven wasn't constantly watching him; otherwise, he would have risked offending Odin to get rid of it.
So Phine didn't say much to Odin, only informing him that he was going to Svartfheim.
Hearing Phine's itinerary, Odin was somewhat surprised and frowned, saying, "The Dark Elves are extinct. There are almost no creatures left in Svartfheim. You won't find anyone to challenge!"
Hearing Odin say the Dark Elves were extinct, Phine secretly pursed his lips.
Whether others knew or not was another matter, but Phine was certain Odin knew the Dark Elves weren't all dead, just temporarily hiding; he was saying this to keep him away.
"Besides challenges, I also want to see the scenery of the other realms,"
Phine didn't expose the flaw in Odin's words, simply stating that besides finding someone to fight, he also wanted to travel.
Hearing this, Odin could no longer stop him, and based on his own observations and Heimdall's report, he could also see that Phineas really just wanted to fight someone.
Odin glanced deeply at Phineas before him, but ultimately said nothing more.
After Phineas left, Odin sat on his throne, his brow furrowed. He had a feeling that Phineas's purpose was not so simple, but he just couldn't guess what Phineas wanted to do.
Upon seeing this, Frigga waved away the surrounding soldiers and maids, came to Odin's side, gently stroked Odin's face, smoothing his furrowed brows, and softly comforted him:
"Are you worried about him?"
"Something's wrong with him!"
Odin grasped Frigga's hand, his voice revealing a weakness, and said, "In Muspelheim, he had many opportunities to kill Surtur, but he let him go each time."
"Perhaps this shows that he has the same kindness and compassion as you within him,"
Frigga defended Finney, "And didn't you also ask him not to start a war!"
But Odin shook his head and continued, "But I feel that he has other purposes, that he can gain something from Surtur, or rather, from victory!"
Odin, true to his name, noticed Finney's abnormality after only a few observations and thus guessed how he had become stronger.
Frigga showed a slight surprise, but she still wanted to believe that Phineas wouldn't harm Asgard, so she said, "That only proves he's special, doesn't it?"
Odin fell silent; Phineas's specialness was undeniable.
"I think you should trust him more. He's not a bad person."
Frigga looked at Odin gently and continued, "He has a good relationship with Thor and Heimdall. If Asgard faces difficulties in the future, he will definitely help."
Odin sighed silently, nodded while holding his wife's hand, but in his heart, he still decided to release a raven to see what Phineas was up to in Svartefheim.
...
Phineas was unaware of Odin and Frigga's thoughts.
Thor and Sif weren't in Asgard, and besides Heimdall, he had few people to talk to, so that afternoon after his conversation with Odin, he prepared to set off for Svartefheim.
"Aren't you going to rest?"
Heimdall was somewhat surprised to see Phineas, who had just returned yesterday, already planning to leave again.
"No need, just take me there. I'll probably be back soon this time."
Phine shook his head. The main purpose of his trip to Svartfheim was to try and find clues about the Reality Stone. If he couldn't find it, he might have to return in a few days.
"Alright!"
Although he didn't understand why Phine was in such a hurry, as the Asgardian who had heard and seen the most in the Nine Realms, he disliked asking too many questions.
As Heimdall activated the Bifrost, Phine successfully unlocked a new map.
He arrived in this desolate and dark world, the homeland of the Dark Elves, Svartfheim.
o(╥﹏╥)o So tired, please give me a reward. I'm a little conflicted about the ninth skill~
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