The reason Orsted was explaining so much to Wood now wasn't for any other reason than that he found Wood to be quite special.
To be honest, the Dragon God Orsted had lived for many years and experienced over two hundred cycles of reincarnation. In terms of life experience, absolutely no one could compare to him.
To date, there were no more than three individuals he couldn't see through. One was that Human God fellow, another was Laplace, and Wood was the last one!
In all the more than two hundred cycles he had experienced, this was the first time he had encountered the twin brothers Rudeus and Wood in this cycle.
In other cycles, Rudeus had died young, while Wood was even more straightforward - he simply didn't exist at all.
Rudeus was special; his magical power and knowledge far surpassed normal humans of this world. But compared to Rudeus's uniqueness, Wood's existence could be considered downright "heretical"!
Throughout all the cycles the Dragon God Orsted had experienced, he had never seen a human as absurdly strong as Wood.
Whether in magic or swordsmanship, the power Wood wielded far exceeded the limits that the human race should possess.
Moreover, Orsted wasn't like Zenith and the others who lacked insight. He was certain that Wood had indeed died two years ago.
But now he had been resurrected! And it was a complete and thorough resurrection! This was something even Orsted himself couldn't achieve, yet Wood had done it!
Orsted didn't know how Wood had managed it, nor did he know Wood's true background, but none of that mattered because his target was only the Human God.
As long as Wood wasn't aligned with the Human God, he was Orsted's ally.
It was probably because of Wood's uniqueness, and because he had acknowledged Wood's strength two years ago, that Orsted was willing to explain so much to him now.
"I don't care about your dragon clan secret techniques or whatever," Wood retorted. "This person is my prey. If you want to settle scores with the Human God, go find your own leads. Don't come here to take advantage of my work. Don't forget, my enemies aren't limited to that Human God fellow. Two years ago, you gave me a thorough beating, which is why I ended up sleeping in the dirt for two long years!"
Seeing Wood's unfriendly expression and tone, Orsted's previously calm face now showed a hint of impatience.
Even the Dragon God wasn't known for his good temper. The fact that he had bothered to explain at all was already giving Wood a lot of face.
But after giving Wood that courtesy, Wood was still harping on about what happened two years ago and telling Orsted to find other leads about the Human God. This made Orsted quite displeased.
If followers of the Human God were so easy to find, would he, the Dragon God Orsted, need to wander all over the world, and through more than two hundred cycles of reincarnation?
"What exactly do you want?" Orsted's words indicated that he was starting to lose patience.
Seeing that the Dragon God was changing his expression, Elinaliese and Cliff began pushing Rudeus to go and persuade Wood, telling him not to be too reckless. After all, they were dealing with Orsted, the Dragon God, ranked second among the seven great powers!
"It's simple," Wood declared. "Since you don't respect the principle of 'first come, first served,' let's settle this with our abilities. Whoever wins gets this Human God follower!"
Hearing Wood's words, not to mention the nearly scared-witless Elinaliese and Cliff, even Orsted himself was a bit surprised. He then said in an uncertain tone, "You still want to fight me? Hasn't the lesson from two years ago made you understand the gap between us? And I can tell you very responsibly that I'm in much better condition now than I was two years ago when I had just used a secret technique. You weren't my match two years ago, and you're even less so now."
Two years ago, when they encountered Orsted at the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw, he had just used a dragon clan secret technique to save Shizuka Nanatsuki, who had triggered the "Great Migration Event," so his condition wasn't at its best.
Now, after two years, Orsted had naturally restored himself to peak condition, which was why he spoke so confidently.
"That's perfect," Wood replied. "If I were to defeat you in an imperfect state, how could that be considered revenge? Two years have passed, and I'm not the only one who's grown stronger. How can you be so sure that my strength hasn't improved at all in these two years?"
For the people of the "Jobless Reincarnation" world, perhaps only about two years had passed since Wood's battle with Orsted.
But for Wood, he had experienced simulated lives in multiple worlds during this time. Not only had he gained many "blessings," but he also possessed the imperial arms "Winter Knight." Even his magical power, swordsmanship, and combat techniques were vastly different from two years ago.
To put it simply, in these two years, while the Dragon God Orsted might have restored his condition, Wood had grown much stronger!
Orsted's strength had already reached the peak of this world, and the possibility of further improvement was minimal. But Wood was different; he had no such limits, or if he did, they certainly weren't within this world.
When Wood left this world before, he had three lingering attachments: first was his family, second was the Human God who had his eyes on his family, and third was the Dragon God Orsted who had beaten him so thoroughly.
Now that he had the chance to return to this world and encounter Orsted again, Wood naturally didn't want to leave any regrets.
Moreover, with his current strength, he was confident that even if he still couldn't defeat the Dragon God Orsted, he wouldn't die easily at his hands like he did two years ago!
"Since you're so stubborn," Orsted growled, "I'll give you this chance to challenge me. But if you die again, don't expect me to show any mercy to your clingy family!"
To be honest, because he saw potential in the brothers Wood and Rudeus, Orsted had been quite lenient towards the Greyrat family.
Usually, if any other human woman had dared to point at his face and curse him like Zenith had, the grass on their grave would probably be several feet tall by now.
But because he had always wanted to recruit Rudeus, and felt somewhat guilty about Wood's "death," Orsted had been quite accommodating towards the Greyrat family, even bestowing blessings upon them.
However, Wood's current unyielding attitude made Orsted feel that he was being ungrateful. So Orsted now decided to use his true power to let Wood experience what real despair felt like!
Lartel, the Human God follower who had been so cocky and powerful earlier, had just managed to extract herself from the stone pillar and was preparing to regroup.
Suddenly, a powerful binding force restrained her body. Glowing chains erupted from the ground, tying her to a nearby stone pillar in a rather provocative pose.
"Filthy Human God follower, just stay put for now," Orsted commanded. "We'll decide what to do with you after we settle our match."
As the Dragon God Orsted spoke, his expression brooked no refusal. With a mere gesture, he easily subdued and restrained Lartel.
The poor Lartel only now belatedly realized that she, a proud follower of the Human God who had easily overpowered the old Pope of Milis, had somehow become a "spoil of war" to be fought over.
"Rudeus, aren't you going to stop them?" Cliff asked anxiously. "That's the Dragon God we're talking about. No matter how strong Wood is, he can't possibly be a match for him, right?"
As the grandson of the old Pope, Cliff naturally harbored intense hatred for Lartel, who had killed his grandfather. If possible, he would have liked to kill Lartel with his own hands to avenge his grandfather.
Unfortunately, now that a figure like the Dragon God Orsted had appeared, and Lartel seemed to have become his spoils of war, Cliff no longer had the right to deal with Lartel. He lacked the strength to make the Dragon God back down.
Even Cliff, who had a great grudge against Lartel, had to yield in the face of the Dragon God's overwhelming power. Yet Wood was preparing to confront him head-on. This made Cliff and the others worry that such actions might thoroughly anger the Dragon God.
They knew that to the Dragon God, the Milis Holy Kingdom was just a small country. What if they truly angered this Dragon God and he decided to completely destroy their nation?
"You think I don't want to stop them?" Rudeus replied. "But unfortunately, I'm no match for either of them! You might see Wood as my younger brother, but in our family, the only one who can restrain him is our mother, Zenith. Or maybe if Norn and Aisha act cute, they might be able to change his mind. As for anyone else… it's basically hopeless."
Rudeus wanted to return to the Latoria house to find Zenith, the "Wood-specific treasure," but there wasn't enough time. Wood and the Dragon God Orsted had already agreed on a battle location and set off simultaneously.
Suddenly, a pair of enormous white dragon wings extended from the Dragon God Orsted's back. As he flapped his wings, stirring up a fierce wind, the entire church was engulfed in a massive storm. In an instant, Orsted's figure appeared nearly a thousand meters away in the sky.
Such terrifying speed was barely traceable even to Rudeus's magic eye, the "Eye of Foresight," which could only catch the faintest afterimage of Orsted.
Orsted's display was meant to intimidate Wood, but he hadn't anticipated that Wood, who had been standing still, would now grip his "Winter Knight" tightly and release his imperial arms.
A bone-chilling wind swept through the area, and everyone in the church felt an intense cold.
When Rudeus and the others managed to open their eyes against the biting wind, they saw that Wood's figure was now completely covered in an incredibly cool blue and white armor.
Before they could even ask, Wood, standing amidst the wind and snow, underwent another transformation. His blue and white full-body armor suddenly changed.
The originally normal-looking human armor now began to show dragon scale patterns on its surface. Not only did a spiked dragon tail grow out, but the helmet also sprouted dragon horns and transformed into the shape of a dragon's head.
Even his originally normal body size suddenly increased by more than double, making him look like a half-human, half-dragon monster!
"Roar!"
With a resounding dragon's roar, ice spikes suddenly burst from the ground beneath Wood's feet. The surrounding environment, already at a low temperature, instantly plummeted to freezing point. Both the floor and ceiling of the church were now covered in a thick layer of frost.
A pair of massive dragon wings covered in ice crystals spread out behind Wood, shimmering brilliantly and beautifully in the sunlight.
Before anyone could react, another gust of snowy wind swept through the area, and Wood's body vanished from everyone's sight. When they came to their senses, Wood had already appeared a thousand meters away, trailing an exaggerated snow effect, catching up to the departing Dragon God Orsted.
"Rudeus, tell me honestly, is your brother Wood really a normal human?" Elinaliese asked.
It wasn't strange for Elinaliese to ask such a question. After all, this world didn't have things like "imperial arms," and Wood's recent state looked very much like he was using some kind of magic.
"Isn't that obvious?" Rudeus retorted. "Can't you see we look exactly alike? We're twins, born together! If Wood isn't human, wouldn't that make me a monster too?"
Rudeus didn't know how to explain Wood's recent state, but in his view, Wood had always liked to research all sorts of strange things. He had even managed to come back from the dead, so being able to transform now didn't seem like something too hard to accept.
"As far as I'm concerned, Rudeus, you've never seemed like a normal person either," Cliff remarked sharply. "After seeing your brother, I'm even more convinced of this idea."
This was a cutting remark from Rudeus's close friend Cliff. Ever since he had known Rudeus, he had never considered him a normal human.
What normal human could master "King-level" magic at eleven or twelve years old, possess terrifying magical power, and even cast spells without incantations?
"Anyway, regardless of whether Wood is a normal human or not, you all felt his magical power and aura just now, right?" Elinaliese mused. "To be honest, in all my years, he's probably the strongest being I've ever encountered. And he's so young and handsome too, truly an excellent man. I wonder if he'd agree to have a deep exchange with me when he returns? Seeing his powerful form just now, I can't help but feel a bit… excited."