"Correct," Canary nodded.
"Those who have witnessed your combat prowess are unlikely to harbor any delusions of challenging you. But the dormant Full Authority Domains who haven't seen you fight, or who aren't countered by the Gifts you've displayed, might not be so cautious."
Although Su Mo's power was already recognized as peerless in the world of Little Garden, due to the limits of perception, he was still thought of as a 2-digit being.
Even the boldest, like Canary, would only consider Su Mo an exceptional 2-digit being, never imagining he could be a 1-digit.
Therefore, in the minds of the gods, Su Mo was the strongest, but not yet absolutely invincible.
Even if the World-Honored One and the Twin Goddesses combined didn't dare to provoke him, it was still considered a challenge with an exceedingly high risk, not an absolute impossibility.
Coupled with Su Mo's overly aggressive stance and the existential crisis threatening the history of the gods, the pantheons were on edge.
No matter how cowardly they were, they couldn't possibly sit idly by and wait for their doom.
"Is that so?" Su Mo nodded, pondering for a moment. "But even so, the pantheons don't have many options, do they?"
It was common knowledge that Little Garden had a total of seventeen Full Authority Domains.
However, these seventeen were not always present in Little Garden, and some of their Divinities might not even be in a completed state.
The number seventeen was the sum of all Full Authority Domains throughout history, even including those yet to be born.
In the dawn of Little Garden, before the omnipotence paradox emerged and before the opportunity to ascend to a Full Authority Domain existed, the four innate cosmic truths held sway: the still-active Origin and Finality Goddesses, and the now-vanished Twin Gods of Good and Evil.
Following them was the era of the 2-digit White Night Demon Lord.
After Shiroyasha and the other two Problem Children—the three Celestial Star Spirit Demon Lords—the god species began to step into the realm of Full Authority, officially taking the stage in Little Garden.
The Buddhist World-Honored One, the Son of God from Christianity, the Final Savior Kalki, Tiamat of the Sumerian pantheon, the Heavenly Emperor of the Chinese pantheon... one could even count the half-step Full Authority Domain, Ame-no-Murakumo.
This was hidden knowledge for ordinary people, but common sense for Su Mo.
Therefore, a simple process of elimination revealed that a considerable number of these Full Authority Domains were not viable options.
The Divinities of the Son of God, Kalki, the Twin Gods of Good and Evil, and Ame-no-Murakumo were all held by Su Mo.
Shiroyasha was also in his camp.
Even by a rough estimate, not counting Su Mo's own strength, his faction controlled a full third of the Full Authority Domains.
No wonder the World-Honored One was afraid to fight him.
On the surface, it looked like three against one. In reality, it was three against six, and that wasn't even counting Su Mo himself, who wielded Avesta.
"Indeed. And considering the dominating power you've shown against the god species and your god-slaying affinity that surpasses even a Last Embryo's, their range of choices is even smaller," Canary said, fully agreeing with Su Mo's assessment.
Even before obtaining Avesta, Su Mo could single-handedly fight millions of gods. After obtaining it, even extrapolating from Azi Dahaka's power alone, he had become an entity the god species absolutely could not afford to provoke.
Just as the gods feared Azi Dahaka, numbers meant nothing before Avesta—even for beings at the level of a Full Authority Domain.
Most likely, only a non-god-species Full Authority Domain could serve a purpose similar to Shiroyasha's: temporarily stalling for time.
Though the hope of defeating Su Mo was slim, it could serve as leverage for negotiations.
At this point, a realization dawned on Canary.
"I suddenly know who the pantheons might summon!"
After blurting it out excitedly, she noticed Su Mo's unperturbed expression.
Instantly, a look of admiration filled Canary's eyes.
"Lord Su Mo, you must have figured it out long ago, right?"
"It was a simple deduction," Su Mo nodded, not denying it.
"However, besides this small matter, you have something else you want to ask, don't you?" he said, seeing the curiosity in her eyes.
"To think that the matter of a Full Authority Domain could be considered a 'small matter,' especially that one, who hasn't returned in so long... As expected of you!"
Noting Su Mo's casual attitude, Canary's mouth fell open in slight surprise, but she quickly convinced herself it made sense.
With Su Mo's strength, even if that powerful being were to descend, it would be nothing more than an interlude. It truly wasn't worth excessive concern.
Thus, she focused her mind on the matter she cared about most.
"Lord Su Mo, I do have a question I'd like to ask you. It's similar to the one Indra and the billions of gods have: Do you really have the confidence to build a human cosmology capable of overcoming the apocalypse from scratch before the time limit arrives?"
It was worth noting that while this was a question that deeply concerned the billions of gods, Canary's question was merely similar, not identical.
Perhaps it was an ostrich-like mentality, but the billions of gods, Indra included, still didn't dare to imagine that Su Mo would actually abandon the mythological cosmology and use a human cosmology—built from the ground up—to overcome the Wind of Decadence.
But Canary was different.
Having personally witnessed Su Mo deduce and lock in the Pure-Blooded Dragon as the one and only answer for humanity's future evolution, she was one hundred percent certain of the path he intended to take.
Having seen his deductive process, she wasn't worried about the direction he had chosen, nor did she doubt his intellect.
She believed Su Mo could overcome any obstacle.
Her only concern was a single question: was there enough time?
If Su Mo had proposed this idea during the era of the Dystopia Demon Lord, Canary would have supported him without a shred of doubt.
But now, after defeating Azi Dahaka, the last of Humanity's Last Embryos, there wasn't much time left before the final trial descended.
Even if Su Mo's intellect was beyond mortal comprehension, the timeframe was just too short.
Although she herself was an ardent supporter of Su Mo's vision, if the human cosmology truly couldn't be completed in time, wouldn't it be better to switch to the mythological cosmology rather than let Little Garden be destroyed?
At least that offered a safety net.
"If I were truly building a human cosmology from scratch, of course it would be too late."
Su Mo could understand Canary's desire for a stable approach.
Even if Canary's personality was typically radical, when it came to a monumental event concerning the future of Little Garden, no one could truly maintain an "all-in" mentality.
Hearing Su Mo's words, Canary's eyes widened in surprise.
Before she could ask her question, Su Mo added, "But who said I'm starting from scratch?"
"Eh?"
"If human history, up to this point, were truly so pathetic and had accumulated nothing of value, forcing me to start from zero, why would I have chosen to use a human cosmology to overcome the apocalypse in the first place?" Su Mo retorted.
"What you mean is...?" Canary had a feeling she knew what he was about to say.
"The necessary clues for humanity's evolution into Pure-Blooded Dragons have already sufficiently accumulated. All that was missing was someone to connect all the threads," Su Mo stated with conviction.
"On this path, my job was never to build a castle from scratch alone, but to assemble the various useful modules, allowing the human cosmology to be clearly integrated and manifested."
"Just as I've done before, the vampire's Divinity is an important puzzle piece in the construction of the human cosmology. Azi Dahaka's Divinity is an important puzzle piece. The Genome Tree is an important puzzle piece. The Celestial Star Spirit Candidate is a hero. And that includes your own achievements, Canary. They are also one of the important puzzle pieces."
Everyone thought Su Mo was building a tower from nothing. Only Su Mo himself knew that he just needed to assemble the building blocks in the correct way.
Hearing Su Mo's explanation, Canary finally understood the gap between them.
In her eyes, the apocalypse was an incredibly mysterious and terrifying problem involving unknown territory. But in Su Mo's eyes, it seemed to have the difficulty of an open-book test.
Su Mo's casual demeanor wasn't born of arrogance, but from the fact that he had truly already mastered the method to solve the problem.
In that instant, Canary let out a long sigh, feeling an immense sense of security.
With Su Mo around, she truly had nothing to worry about. All she had to do was follow him.
Now completely at ease, Canary recalled Su Mo's words, finally having the mental space to express her surprise.
"Lord Su Mo, did you just say... my achievements?"
Never in her wildest dreams did she think she could be useful to Su Mo. Canary pointed a finger at herself in disbelief. After Su Mo confirmed it with a nod, she slapped her forehead as she realized what he meant.
"Are you referring to the Another Cosmology I've completed?"
Without any hesitation, she pulled out her life's greatest masterpiece from her Gift Card—the very thing that could have changed the entire course of Little Garden in the original story.
It was the only Another Cosmology created by human hands, and the greatest power-up for the original protagonist, Izayoi Sakamaki.
Another Cosmology: Humanity's Last Hope.
"Correct," Su Mo nodded.
As mentioned before, the Pure-Blooded Dragon was the final product of combining humanity, the Third Perpetual Motion Machine, and the Genome Tree library in the correct way.
The Another Cosmology Canary had forged represented the form achieved through the perfect fusion of humanity and the Third Perpetual Motion Machine.
"But... what I created isn't a human-side cosmology!" Canary said, perplexed.
Limited by her own understanding of an Another Cosmology—the qualification to become the center of a pantheon—and her favorable past experiences with the gods, she had been searching for a future for humanity, but had subconsciously relied on the power of the pantheons.
Just as the three new-generation Problem Children in the original story were structured around the three elements of a pantheon—leader, center, and public face—Canary had been building an unformed, human-centric pantheon from the very beginning.
Considering the "Historical Transition Period" from the original story, it wasn't hard to guess Canary's true intention.
She had planned to build a new pantheon with Asuka Kudou, Izayoi Sakamaki, and You Kasukabe at its core, and then have that pantheon save the world from the apocalyptic crisis.
In other words, it was still an idea influenced by creationism, still reliant on the fixed mindset that only gods could save humanity.
After Su Mo revealed the true future direction for humanity, Canary realized the shallowness and limitations of her previous thinking.
She had thought her life's work was now useless. She never expected Su Mo to call it an important puzzle piece. Was it really true?
Faced with Canary's confusion, Su Mo posed a simple counter-question.
"Isn't the so-called mythological cosmology also a result of the accumulation of human history?"
From the perspective of human history, myths were merely products of human fiction, and the mythological cosmology was just another expression of humanity's simple philosophical inquiries.
"But isn't the result you're seeking a product of human evolution? The mythological cosmology doesn't fit your requirements, does it?" Canary was still somewhat confused.
"The mythological cosmology you established indeed doesn't meet the requirements for the final answer, but it can become a puzzle piece to construct that final answer," Su Mo explained, before delivering a final statement that left Canary utterly thunderstruck.
"As for a product of human evolution... have you never considered this? If vampires, as another fantastical species, are a future form of humanity manifested through the Third Perpetual Motion Machine, then why can't the god species also be a future form humanity achieves after combining with the Third Perpetual Motion Machine?"
Hearing this, Canary's mind went blank. She was so shocked that goosebumps rose on her skin.
"The god species... is an evolved form of humanity?"
Not only Pure-Blooded Dragons, but even the god species were a branch on the evolutionary tree?
The theory Su Mo proposed actually managed to integrate the very reason for the gods' existence into its framework?