Chapter 1100

Throughout history, almost no royal family has been able to pass down power for dozens of generations without any conflict regarding succession. The saying "there is no kinship in the imperial family" is exactly this.

When there is only one throne and many candidates for succession, their conflicts are almost impossible to reconcile. No matter how they disguise their ambition and desire, the truth is that everyone wants to be the emperor.

Moreover, sometimes it's not that one's personality is carefree and doesn't pursue power, but that one can't avoid participating in the struggle for the throne. Even if you don't want to participate, there are plenty of people who want you to.

And once the war of succession breaks out, what is being fought over is no longer the throne, but one's own life. As long as you are stained by a little bit of the turmoil, if you don't win the struggle, you die.

If there is any breakthrough to such an almost completely unsolvable dead end, Schiller felt there was one, it just wasn't easy to implement in ancient human history.

And the method is exactly what Odin did: maintain the choice of one heir from beginning to end, never wavering, and tell everyone else: you have no chance.

It sounds a bit cruel, and it's not fair enough, but it is indeed the best way to resolve the bloodshed of the succession struggle.

In such matters, giving everyone the same opportunity results in nothing stopping until one person wins and the others are wiped out. It's better to announce the winner early. With the resources of the royal family, isn't it easy to raise a few idle princes?

In ancient times, when medical conditions were not good enough, it was actually very difficult to execute this practice.

It's not that there weren't wise monarchs who started cultivating their heirs early, but once the heir had an unexpected accident, it would lead to a total collapse.

However, Asgard almost didn't have this problem. Each of their individuals was strong enough. As Odin's biological son, Thor's talent in terms of power was no less than his father's, so the possibility of an accident was very small.

It can only be said that Odin lived up to the title of All-Father. Long before the two brothers were young, he had already found a good way to solve the succession struggle at the root.

However, this was not unexpected. Odin led the Asgardian fleet to gallop across the universe for years, almost never tasting defeat.

If it weren't for the fact that Asgard's population was really too small and they couldn't take the route of mass production, whether the universe would be three empires or four empires remained to be seen.

Schiller had just opened his mouth to ask, when Odin seemed to see through his thoughts again and said: "I guess you want to ask, why did I choose Thor? Is it because Loki is not my biological son?"

"I can tell you, yes."

"I know you humans might feel that whether there is a blood relationship is not very important, as long as you are close enough. But the premise is that the power gap between you humans is very small."

"The gap between the strongest human and the weakest human, in my eyes, is the degree of an ant missing a leg. But Asgard is not like this. The upper limit of our power is determined by talent."

"You may have heard that Asgardians get stronger as they get older, but the speed at which Asgardians stack power depends on their talent. Perhaps some people have lived for a thousand years and are not as strong as some who have lived for two hundred years. This gap is terrifying."

"Although we are all very strong overall, my bloodline is the strongest in Asgard. Therefore, it stands to reason that Thor will also be the strongest among the next generation of Asgardians."

Odin sighed deeply, even somewhat helplessly covering his eye that had not yet fully recovered. He said: "Loki is indeed a Frost Giant, but the reason he was abandoned in the first place was because he was weak and sickly."

"Although Asgard also respects the strong, we know deeply who we are fighting for. If we cannot protect the women, children, and the elderly, why bother boarding a warship?"

"But the Frost Giants are different. The hearts of that group of blue-skinned people are as cold as their body temperature. The weak do not deserve to live."

"When I picked Loki up, he was almost dead." Odin turned his mouth to the side. "You don't know how bad his condition was at the time. Frigga and I never thought he could survive."

"The strongest of the Aesir and the weakest of the Frost Giants—the power gap between them is terrifying. Perhaps you feel that Loki's magic is very good and can make up for his lack of power."

"But the problem is, as time goes by, Thor's speed of accumulating power will get faster and faster, but Loki's power will sooner or later stagnate."

Odin changed hands, resting on his knees, and explained to Schiller: "Now, you can't see the difference between Thor and Loki because at this age, the accumulation of their power has not yet formed a qualitative gap."

"At the same time, Loki has more precise control over power, so in terms of performance, they don't seem to have much of a gap."

"But one day, Thor's power will usher in a qualitative breakthrough. By then, no matter how fancy Loki uses his magic, he won't be able to make up for this gap. That day will come sooner or later."

Odin sighed deeply. "When I was young, there were quite a few playmates who could fight hundreds or thousands of rounds with me in the training arena. We were evenly matched, and sometimes, I couldn't even beat them."

"But after the youth period passed, the speed of my power accumulation began to grow rapidly. Since then, I haven't met many opponents in the entire universe. And, after I entered old age, the increase in power was even more terrifying."

"You say, in this case, how can I choose Loki? What if he gets beaten to death by others after I put him on the throne? Even if he doesn't get beaten to death, getting injured is not okay either!"

Odin touched his beard and said very helplessly: "The Asgardian fleet can win every battle because of a sharp spirit. They firmly believe that their king is invincible, so they will always move forward bravely and never retreat."

"If one day, they find that their king has been defeated by others, that's not just a matter of one or two lost battles; the entire faith of Asgard might collapse because of this."

"Asgard is going to change its route, but at least it must ensure that our God-King is strong enough—at least stronger than everyone in Asgard."

"You say, what if Loki is halfway through being king and finds that an ordinary Aesir who wasn't as strong as him has surpassed him? What should he do?"

Odin shook his head slowly. "After I learned of the prophecy of Ragnarok, I became even more determined in my choice. No matter what, Asgard must have a real fight. I cannot choose a weakling to be king, even if he is smart. If his fist is not big enough, everything is useless."

Schiller had been listening quietly without giving any reply, but unexpectedly, Odin's topic surprised him again. Odin said directly:

"Actually, among my children, Hela's talent is the best. She is even stronger than her brother, but her brain is not quite right, or maybe Frigga and I didn't teach her well."

Odin showed a somewhat conflicted expression and said: "But you have to understand, I was a father for the first time. How would I know how to teach correctly?"

"I told her she had to be stronger, bolder, and more courageous. I didn't expect that she only learned these things in her life."

Speaking of this, the wrinkles on Odin's face were all squeezed together. He sighed again and said:

"You might feel that I locked Hela up because she wanted to usurp the throne, but actually, I wish she would usurp the throne. If she could really beat me head-on, Frigga and I would move back under the World Tree to retire immediately."

"The problem is, the way she wants to overthrow me is not by defeating me head-on, but by being coerced by those warmongers, wanting to use a way that is fundamentally unsuitable for the Asgardian God-King to obtain power."

"And winning against me is useless. She only learned the part of war where you move forward bravely, but didn't learn how to assess the situation, formulate strategies carefully, or when to retreat."

"In that case, handing Asgard to her is like giving a naval gun to a child with no power. She will kill everyone."

"In short..." Odin leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and looking at Schiller. "That's the situation. If you feel I did something wrong, you can point it out directly. I won't be angry. Even if I were angry, I probably couldn't do anything to you."

Then, Schiller sighed deeply.

Objectively speaking, Odin had done almost everything he could. If he were to be graded on his life, he would definitely have scored over 90 points.

He played two roles in his life: one was the God-King of Asgard, and the other was the father of the Odin family. Indeed, he was more successful as a God-King, but his score as a father was actually not low.

Perhaps some people feel that turning against Hela, failing to handle the relationship between Thor and Loki well, and finally failing to successfully break through Ragnarok—isn't this failure enough?

But actually, it also depends on the difficulty of his exam. God race, royal family, militarism, multiple children, and destined destruction—this was much more difficult than an ordinary human family.

What Odin handed in could even be considered a relatively excellent answer sheet. If any other foolish, short-sighted, and hesitant monarch had come, they would have first had their prestige and rule shaken by Hela, and then dealt with all kinds of turmoil in the next few hundred years.

Then, giving the two brothers unrealistic expectations, letting them each pull up a team and fight each other to the last pawn—there would be no need for Ragnarok, the dynasty would have perished.

The conflict of interest in the struggle for the throne is the most fatal. But even so, Thor and Loki actually still had sincere brotherly love, and they both loved Asgard and were willing to shed their last drop of blood for their country and hometown.

Thinking of this, Schiller felt that there was no need for adjustment regarding the royal family dispute. After all, no amount of adjustment would produce a second throne, and as long as there were no two thrones, absolute fairness could not be achieved.

Schiller thought for a moment, then looked at Odin and said: "I can't guarantee that if I were you, I could do better. However, although the logic and formulas are correct, I must still point out one thing: you haven't done well enough in some details, such as empathy, companionship, and comfort. And the accumulation of these details has led to the somewhat awkward situation now."

What surprised Schiller again was that Odin nodded directly and said: "Indeed."

"But it's precisely because I know I have to fight outside and don't have much time to accompany Thor that I picked Loki up. It doesn't matter if they like me or not. Anyway, they can't beat me."

Schiller opened his mouth, then closed it. After a few seconds of silence, he opened his mouth again, and then he looked at Odin with a sincere look and said: "Your Majesty, you are not sick. Perhaps you should return."

"This is definitely not flattery." Schiller reached out to stop Odin from speaking and said: "Among all the people who have come to me for help, you are already the most open-minded."

"You think too openly, even more openly than I, the doctor."