Jason was utterly serious.
Chiron met Jason's gaze and clearly perceived the boy's resolve.
"This… truly comes as a surprise."
A gentle smile appeared on Chiron's handsome face as he spoke to Jason. "About half a year ago, you were the student who gave me the biggest headache among all my pupils, the one who seemed the least ambitious.
Yet now, only six months later, you have chosen a path that, even among your many senior and junior brothers, is the most perilous!"
"I have no choice… because I want to live." The golden-haired, green-eyed Jason, who had grown considerably since half a year ago, flashed a brilliant smile in return.
"In that case, go ahead and pursue it with everything you have."
Chiron smiled as he gazed at the handsome youth before him. "Your teacher believes in you… and will be proud of you!"
"Thank you, Teacher Chiron."
Jason stood, bowed deeply to Chiron, and turned to push open the door.
Outside, he found Heracles pacing in circles.
"Junior Brother Jason, you're out… What did you talk about with Teacher?"
Heracles was extremely curious. Although he had tried to eavesdrop earlier, Chiron had blocked the sound with divine power, so he had heard nothing.
"Just some small matters." Jason replied to Heracles. "By the way, Senior Brother, it's been so long since I came back. Let's go hunting together, then tonight gather all our fellow disciples and hold a grand feast!"
"Uh… sure."
Heracles looked at Jason with slight confusion. He seemed the same as before… just taller and more handsome.
Yet somehow, Heracles felt something was different about his little junior brother.
After a grand feast that night, Jason drank a great deal of wine and only woke up the next morning.
He quietly slipped outside and, following Hecate's instructions, called her name beneath the moonlight.
Soon afterward, the goddess Hecate responded to his summons and appeared before him.
Upon meeting, Hecate examined the white-clad youth.
"You've found your path?"
Jason blinked. "Teacher Hecate, you already know?"
"I have no interest in eavesdropping." Hecate replied calmly. "It's simply obvious. You've seen clearly now and are no longer lost as you once were."
Lost?
Jason thought for a moment. Had he really been that lost before…? Probably yes.
After all, he had only just transmigrated here, planning to train under Chiron, become renowned throughout the world, and then discovered his name was Jason…
No one willingly accepts their fate, especially not a boy who had crossed over from the modern world!
"Yes, now I have a goal to strive for." Jason nodded.
"To become immortal?"
"If I can't beat them, I'll join them!" Jason's smile was dazzling.
Hecate froze for a second, then could not help laughing. "If you can't beat them, join them… Hm, not a bad idea at all."
"But what if, in the end, you discover you cannot join them?" Hecate asked casually. Everyone knew how the Olympians behaved.
Hecate was already thinking that if Jason succeeded but did not wish to join Olympus, perhaps she, as his teacher, should simply pull him fully to her side.
And just as she thought that…
"If I cannot join them, then I'll destroy the current order and rebuild it… Ah, no, Teacher Hecate, I didn't say anything just now!"
Jason had accidentally spoken his inner thoughts aloud. Realizing his slip, he hurriedly tried to take it back, but Hecate had heard him clearly.
At that moment, Hecate was genuinely stunned.
Then she looked at the panicking Jason before her…
Destroy?
Wait… destroy what exactly?
No, you're merely a human. How could you possibly… how could you possibly harbor such thoughts!
Raising a sword against the gods.
Something that absolutely could not happen in this era!
Even setting aside divine punishment, the people of this world revered and feared the gods from the depths of their hearts!
But unfortunately, the current Jason was a transmigrator.
He naturally possessed awe, for he knew that in their eyes he was nothing more than an ant.
But as for faith or fear…
At this moment, something suddenly became clear in Hecate's mind… why every god who encountered Jason instinctively paid attention to him!
Because he was different.
He was different from everyone in this world!
Although until now he had always behaved with utmost respect before any god, his heart… was not!
Hecate then recalled Jason's very first battle.
Facing those bandits, Jason had dodged and evaded, refusing to fight. But when Athena cornered him with no way out, he had…
killed them all!
Even the bandits who had collapsed and tried to flee in the face of his power.
He had killed every last one!
"Um… Teacher Hecate?"
Seeing Hecate suddenly freeze, Jason grew puzzled.
Hecate raised her head and looked at Jason.
"Jason, look into my eyes!"
Eyes?
Jason instinctively looked up and met Hecate's gaze.
They were beautiful crimson eyes, yet at this moment those eyes glowed with an eerie light!
Beneath that gaze, Jason lost consciousness.
In that instant, the two arrived in an endless darkness. Hecate, clad in her long black gown, approached Jason within the void.
She placed her hand upon him and fully activated her divine authority!
Under the authority of Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads, three great paths began to extend behind Jason, along with countless branches.
Hecate naturally focused on the three main paths.
The first showed Jason abandoning everything and living as an ordinary mortal.
The second showed Jason beloved by the gods, becoming one favored by divinity.
The third extended extremely slowly, and the more it grew, the more uneasy Hecate felt.
As it slowly lengthened, she even felt her own heart beating faster and faster.
Finally, Hecate saw it… a path paved entirely with blood!
Divine blood splattered freely across every branch of the path.
At the end of that path… the scene that appeared before Hecate was Jason standing atop the darkened Mount Olympus.
Raising his sword, pointing it at the gods!
And the god at whom his sword was directed… was none other than Zeus, King of the Gods!
Almost the instant Hecate beheld this vision and her mind reeled in shock,
far away atop radiant Mount Olympus,
Zeus, seated within his glorious throne room and pondering whether to first find a woman and then explain to Hera or to explain to Hera right now,
suddenly saw a vision of Olympus in ruins before his eyes…
"Who is it!"
Zeus froze, then flew into unparalleled rage!
"Who dares!"
His furious roar echoed throughout the entire palace of Olympus.
The sky was clear and sunny, yet thunder boomed incessantly!
In the Underworld, Hades, and in the sea, Poseidon both looked up, frowning in confusion toward Olympus.
They had no idea what madness had suddenly seized Zeus!
"Not good!"
At this moment, Hecate was unaware of the outside commotion, but she understood that the instant this path manifested under her divine power, God-King Zeus could not possibly have failed to notice!
She immediately poured all her divine power into concealing this path within the river of time, paying a certain price to hide it for Jason!
By the time Zeus's probe reached the location, she had already finished and departed with Jason. He was too late!
After emerging, Jason's vision darkened, and he collapsed into Hecate's arms.
Hecate's own complexion was extremely pale, with traces of blood even seeping from the corner of her mouth.
"I… think I just caused a huge disaster."
Hecate looked at the unconscious Jason in her arms, her smile exceedingly bitter.
A goddess who wanted nothing to do with the other gods, who had even abandoned her Olympian seat and hidden in the Underworld to avoid Zeus's attention… Hecate.
A mortal who similarly wanted nothing to do with the gods, yet who, for the sake of survival, had chosen to become immortal… Jason.
A unique path that neither mortals nor gods had foreseen now lay open before them both!