The eloquent Zeus looked earnestly at the girl with beautiful eyes and posed a question:
"May I ask, daughter of Oceanus, child of the great ocean, are all of you so pure and beautiful?"
"Especially you, bright-eyed Goddess Metis—so full of wisdom, yet so flawlessly beautiful."
"Though it may make me seem ignorant, truly, I have never seen a god more beautiful than you."
Metis pressed her cherry lips together and picked up her pace, a stream of light flickering through the pure waters of the ocean.
Zeus followed closely, continuing: "The ocean is already infinitely pure and beautiful, but I am certain that it is only so beautiful because of your presence. Even the infinitely lovely currents of the sea exist merely to complement your beauty."
Metis moved even faster. Though she was a goddess of wisdom, she had never encountered such a passionate god before. Faced with Zeus's words, she felt a wave of confusion inside and didn't know how to respond.
But trying to shake off Zeus was impossible.
No matter how fast she went, Zeus remained right behind her.
Only when they reached the edge of the ocean currents did the ever-chattering, boldly flirtatious Zeus finally fall silent—for now.
It was time for serious work.
The beautiful young goddess was about to get busy, and it was no longer appropriate to disturb her.
As Zeus fell silent, Metis quietly breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself, 'Are all the gods inside the world like this? Even when they're about to do something incredibly dangerous, they remain so optimistic.'
Along the way, Zeus had truly left her restless and distracted.
In her long divine life, she had never seen such a fervent god. A strange feeling lingered in her heart.
It almost clouded her usually clear and sharp mind, leaving her feeling both uneasy and nervous, accompanied by a natural wariness.
She instinctively sensed a feeling of "danger."
She had already made up her mind to keep her distance from this son of Kronos.
The strange, dangerous feeling lingered in her heart.
Zeus watched quietly as the young goddess gathered a material at the edge of the ocean and the universe—something that seemed to hover between illusion and reality.
It was a mysterious creation formed from the interweaving of pure ocean water and chaos, evolving at the expanding boundary of the cosmos.
It was a special existence that had not yet been transformed from "void" into "substance," and only a daughter of the ocean, one who possessed certain divine rights over the sea, could capture it.
The proportions involved were incredibly difficult to grasp—enough to make it usable by turning void into substance, yet also perfectly preserving its void essence.
This power, unlike anything else in the universe, would be used to sever the link between the god-king Kronos and the universe, buying that crucial, fate-altering moment of separation.
It sounded simple, but even Oceanus himself would have struggled to achieve it.
To handle the balance just right required meticulous care and unparalleled control.
Zeus silently admired the girl before him. She was entirely unlike the other daughters of the ocean who spent their days in idle play. Even though she could not enter the world, this goddess of wisdom had never wasted time.
Not only did she pay close attention to all information from within the world, she had also, through her own study, developed such an extraordinary creation. Her wisdom and capability were truly awe-inspiring to the gods.
She lived up to her name. In Zeus's heart, he had already made a firm decision—this kind of divine talent must be kept within his grasp.
If a goddess like her ever stood on the enemy's side, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night.
Seeing Metis completely absorbed in her work, Zeus patiently waited for several years, then quietly returned to the world for a while.
When Metis finally completed her work, she looked around, only to find herself completely alone.
She gently stored away the carefully prepared "elixir," and deep within her heart, a faint and almost undetectable feeling of melancholy surfaced.
She wanted to go look for Zeus, but after a moment of hesitation, she decided to wait where she was.
When Zeus once again stepped onto the edge of the ocean, the sight that greeted him was the young goddess staring blankly at the starry universe.
Metis keenly sensed Zeus's presence. Still facing the cosmos, she spoke without turning her head: "The item is ready. As for how you'll get the god-king to drink it—that's your problem."
A clear, bright laugh rippled through the waves: "That can wait. I'll figure it out. Look at this."
"Hm?" Metis turned to look at Zeus.
When she saw the vibrant, life-filled flower crown in Zeus's hands, her small cherry mouth parted slightly, and her eyes revealed a level of surprise she had never shown before.
This was something extremely rare in the ocean—one might even say it was something that should be impossible.
The ocean's endless purifying power would completely reduce all mundane things into pure water, leaving not even a trace behind.
Zeus stepped in front of Metis, his movements gentle and natural, and without waiting for permission, placed the flower crown upon the goddess of wisdom's flowing hair, which glowed like purple clouds.
He looked her over carefully from both sides and nodded in satisfaction.
"Though daughters of the ocean need no adornment—especially you, flawless Metis—it is an honor for even mortal things to be allowed near you."
Metis softly pressed her lips together and asked in a gentle voice, "You left just to prepare this?"
Zeus nodded openly, his smile warm: "Water is the source of life—how could it be without the company of life?"
"Don't worry, as long as you don't deliberately destroy it, this crown can exist forever in the ocean."
The young goddess raised her hand and gently touched the crown on her head with slender fingers.
She could clearly sense the dense and pure power of divine laws within it.
It looked like just an ordinary flower crown, but the fact that it remained undamaged in the ocean, with its flowers still so vivid, meant that an extraordinary amount of effort had gone into it.
It bore the strong aura of the Mother of All Things—only her blessing could allow a mortal creation to exist eternally within the ocean current that devours all.
Metis was right—its actual crafting had been even more troublesome than she imagined.
The crown's frame was forged from nearly immutable refined gold. Then Zeus had invited the ash tree nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, asking them to collect parts of the bodies of over a hundred flower nymphs to weave into the crown.
Once completed, he had asked the bee god Melisseus to seek a blessing from Mother Gaia herself.
Gaia had personally imbued the crown with multiple divine laws—growth, abundance, immortality, vitality.
The crown held over a hundred flower buds of various kinds. With divine power, one could cause them to bloom instantly, displaying their most radiant beauty.
Only through such tremendous effort could a flower crown that would eternally bloom in the ocean be created.
Unless deliberately destroyed, this crown could last until the end of the world.
The gods may have had plenty of leisure, but none of them would expend such effort for a mere decorative mortal item. And aside from gods who lived in the ocean, no one else even needed such a thing.
Moreover, not every god could persuade Mother Gaia to personally act.
This small item—let alone within the ocean current—was absolutely one of a kind in the entire universe.
Metis's heart surged with a flood of complex emotions. This unprecedented, special feeling left her slightly panicked.
She shoved the carefully prepared "elixir" into Zeus's hands, her voice gentle but slightly hurried: "You can go do what you need to now."
Zeus didn't linger. Smiling, he nodded: "With the help of the goddess of wisdom, success is guaranteed."
"When I succeed, I'll come back to properly thank the beautiful goddess."
With that, Zeus turned and left, without another word.
Metis quietly watched his receding figure. After a long while, she gently removed the flower crown from her head and admired it carefully.
At the edge of the world, she had once glimpsed, through the cracks of the world, a distant sight of blooming flowers on the earth.
However, she had never touched the softness of petals with her own hands, never felt their delicate texture, nor smelled their fragrance. She didn't even know what flowers truly smelled like.
She gently and softly caressed a petal. It was a sensation completely different from water—full of the delicate softness unique to life.
The crown's vivid colors stood in stark contrast to the forever uniform, pure waters of the ocean current.
This was a beauty that had never existed in the ocean.
She infused it with divine power, and the hundred flowers on the crown slowly began to bloom, fresh and radiant.
She softly inhaled their fragrance. Each of the many flowers, blessed by the Mother Goddess, would forever emit the brightest light of life.
Each flower's bud opened only slightly, with a restrained fragrance. Only when she gently touched a specific flower would it fully bloom and release its unique scent.
This clever design allowed each fragrance to coexist in harmony, without mixing or overpowering one another.
Zeus had truly put his heart into it.
After admiring it for a long time, she carefully placed the crown back on her head. Then she waved her hand to summon a water mirror and gazed at her reflection.
Originally, Metis wore nothing except the robe of starlight that draped her body—no other ornaments, not even shoes.
Her feet, more flawless than marble, were boldly bare, their translucent nails reflecting shimmering light in the water, pure and natural.
Now, the multicolored crown of flowers on her violet hair made her even more stunning than the flowers themselves—indescribably beautiful.
Looking at her reflection in the water mirror, a clear, visible ripple flashed through her golden eyes.
It was a kind of shyness and joy she had never experienced before—belonging to a maiden.
Immediately afterward, she hurried deep into the palace within the ocean currents.
Her current emotions were too strange, leaving her with a faint sense of unease. Only by returning to her parents' side could she feel a trace of security and peace.
And then, she shocked all the oceanic gods.
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