"Here we are."
With Hecate's calm voice ringing in his ears, Jason slowly opened his eyes.
As the blinding light of the magic circle gradually faded, the Goddess of Crossroads, Hecate, brought her beloved student Jason with her. On the following day, they arrived outside the temple of Hephaestus, God of Smithing.
What greeted Jason as he emerged from the underworld was not brilliant sunshine, but a raging storm: howling winds, torrential rain, and lightning that flashed beneath the dark clouds with deafening roars.
Seeing such weather, Jason could not help frowning slightly.
He did not like this kind of weather.
Because he hated thunder.
The reason was simple. Hecate had repeatedly warned him that now, after his body had been tempered by the waters of the Styx and his soul forged by the flames of the underworld, there was only one thing in the world that could completely destroy him: the divine thunder wielded by Zeus, King of the Gods.
BOOM—!
Amid a flash of lightning bright enough to illuminate even the darkness, Hecate led Jason into Hephaestus's temple.
The moment that ear-splitting thunder sounded, the guardian puppets at the gate slammed the temple doors shut, sealing out both the lightning and the world that seemed on the verge of collapsing.
Today's storm felt almost prophetic, as though it foretold something momentous about to arrive.
Once inside the temple, Jason and Hecate walked familiarly into the brightly lit hall and immediately saw the two goddesses who had been waiting for some time.
"Lady Athena, Teacher Hephaestus."
Jason bowed respectfully to Athena, then smiled warmly at Hephaestus.
Hecate watched Athena pout at the obviously different treatment and could not help the slight upward curve of her lips.
"Jason..." Athena gazed at him with faint resentment and said, "This time, I really bled a lot for you. I'm completely drained."
"Ah... um, really?" Jason felt a little awkward and looked doubtfully at Athena's aggrieved expression.
At the same time, looking at Athena inevitably reminded him of their last meeting... Come to think of it, almost one or two months had passed since then.
Ever since the time he found Athena sleeping in his room, he felt that lately he had not seen the Goddess of Wisdom very often... Had something happened?
Surely Lady Athena was not plotting to make him do something again?
Thinking this, Jason unconsciously glanced at Athena a few more times.
Under his gaze, Athena... actually turned her head away first!
She felt guilty. As expected!
Just as Jason was inwardly shouting this discovery,
"Ignore her," Hecate said indifferently from beside him. "Just pretend she isn't here... By the way, Hephaestus, has Themis arrived?"
Themis, Goddess of Justice and Judgment, was the very goddess who intended to pass her divine authority to Jason.
Hecate mentioned her now naturally because of what Nyx, Goddess of Night, had previously told her: Themis wished to fuse her own Sword of Judgment with the soon-to-be-born God-Slaying Sword and even wished to enter into marriage with Jason...
"No," Hephaestus shook her head at Hecate.
"She will not come yet," Athena interjected, acting as though nothing had happened earlier. "It is not time. Jason has not yet become a god. The Sword of Judgment in her hands cannot be relinquished for now."
Hecate nodded lightly; she was not surprised and had clearly guessed as much.
"Teacher."
At that moment Jason spoke. Temporarily suppressing his doubts about Athena, he turned to Hephaestus and asked, "This time... is it truly to forge that weapon?"
Hephaestus was slightly taken aback, then looked at Hecate.
"You didn't tell Jason?"
"Does it matter whether I told him or not?" Hecate replied calmly. "He obviously already guessed."
"Exactly. Jason is so smart," Athena nodded from the side in agreement.
Neither Hephaestus nor Hecate paid her any attention.
Hephaestus was silent for a moment, then raised her golden eyes to gaze gently at the white-clothed youth standing quietly before her.
"Jason, come here."
Hearing this, Jason walked over to Hephaestus.
Then, under Athena's slightly shocked and extremely jealous gaze, Hephaestus skillfully and naturally pulled Jason into her embrace.
"You don't want it, do you?" Hephaestus asked softly. "If you don't want it, we don't have to make it. As long as it makes you happy, Teacher will agree to anything."
"Teacher..." Jason looked at Hephaestus with touched eyes.
"You're spoiling him too much," Hecate could not help saying when she saw this.
"If I don't spoil him, who will I spoil? I only have this one student!" Hephaestus retorted, gently rubbing her cheek against Jason in her arms.
Then she sensed a certain goddess's burning gaze.
This made Hephaestus pause for a moment. After thinking about it, she could not help smiling.
"Besides, Jason doesn't refuse, right, Jason?"
As she spoke, she rubbed against him again.
Only then did she tilt her head, smiling brightly as she looked at Athena, and deliberately hugged Jason even tighter right in front of her.
"Um... yes..." Jason replied somewhat unnaturally, not daring to move at all in Hephaestus's arms.
After all, Hephaestus was a perfectly beautiful goddess, and her mother was the noble and beautiful Queen of Heaven, Hera.
The two of them shared seven points of resemblance, including that nearly perfect goddess figure.
Now that he thought about it, Hephaestus was actually the first goddess whom Jason had "conquered" rather than the other way around.
Even Hecate did not have such an impressive record.
Of course, Hecate simply lacked Hephaestus's gentleness.
Jason would occasionally play around with Hecate, but in front of Hephaestus he was almost always obedient and rarely resisted...
At this moment, not to mention Athena who was watching wide-eyed and secretly gritting her teeth.
Even Hecate could not stand watching anymore.
She stepped forward and pulled Jason out of Hephaestus's arms.
Hephaestus looked at Hecate's slightly displeased expression, then at Athena who was clenching her teeth yet not daring to speak.
She could not help covering her mouth and chuckling lightly.
Hecate had almost never been at a disadvantage, especially when it came to Jason.
Yet Hephaestus was an exception.
Ever since she became Jason's teacher, Hecate had actually sulked for quite a while...
After all, Jason's attitude in front of her and in front of Hephaestus was visibly, completely different.
Hephaestus would indulge Jason in almost anything except matters concerning one goddess: Hera, Queen of Heaven.
As for Athena... well?
What did that have to do with her?
Jason, who had been unhappily yanked away by Hecate from Hephaestus's embrace, did not feel much about it.
Back when these two teachers inexplicably started clashing, the tension had been far worse than now.
But Jason soon began feeling uncomfortable again...
He glanced at the gently laughing Hephaestus, at Hecate who was looking away from him, and at Athena who had lowered her head in the distance.
For some reason, Jason felt a chill on his back.
Though he did not know why, his reaction was quick. He spoke up.
"Um, Teacher Hephaestus, Teacher Hecate, Lady Athena... the reason you're all waiting for me... could it be that there's something you need me to do?"
"...Jason, do you still want to have it forged?"
Hephaestus fell silent for a moment and sighed soundlessly.
"I'm sorry, Teacher Hephaestus." Jason looked at her with slight apology, then said, "Please forge it... At this point, even if I didn't want to, I can no longer escape it."
"Jason, if you really don't want it, Teacher can completely..."
"No, Teacher Hephaestus."
Jason shook his head firmly. "It is time for it to appear... because this is the final step.
Isn't that right, Lady Athena?"
As he spoke, Jason looked toward Athena.
Under his gaze, Athena nodded gently.
"Yes, this is the final step... Up until now, you have completed all the necessary accumulation.
The birth of that weapon actually serves as a signal.
The moment it is born, whether it is Zeus, King of the Gods, or Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, both will sense it.
And at that time, Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, will emerge from the endless abyss, leading the second-generation Titan gods to launch an attack on Olympus.
Now, the promise between us is finally about to reach its conclusion, Jason."
As Athena spoke, a trace of reminiscence appeared in her eyes as she looked at Jason and smiled.
Their promise?
Indeed, the two of them had always had a promise between them.
It was precisely because of that promise that Jason had walked unhesitatingly along the path of wisdom all this time.
And that promise... was ascension to godhood!
Everything Jason had done from the moment he left the mountain until now could truly be summarized in two words: becoming a god.
Back then, it was with that very goal that Jason had sought out Athena and asked for her help.
And Athena had indeed answered him.
Although she had indeed caused him a lot of trouble along the way.
Yet in merely three short years... no, just three or four years since Jason left the mountain.
Did Athena truly have no credit for everything Jason had achieved now?
Becoming a god sounded simple, but how incredibly difficult it was to actually accomplish.
Yet Athena had done it.
In such a short time, she had made Jason repeatedly refresh his presence before the gods of Olympus.
At the same time, she had him receive gift after gift from the gods, making him stronger and stronger while gradually causing the gods to regard Jason as a "companion."
If not for that, during the assembly of the Olympian gods, Zeus's single word would never have been unanimously approved so quickly.
And now, only the final step remained... When the war with Typhon ended, that would also be the day Jason became a god!
Moreover, he would be no ordinary god.
Athena truly understood Jason very well. She had always known that what Jason wanted most was to control his own fate.
After all, she was the Goddess of Wisdom.
Yet precisely because she was the Goddess of Wisdom, she was destined to never fully understand the human heart...
In any case, Athena's goal had never been merely to make Jason an ordinary god.
She wanted him to become a major god.
She wanted to add one more seat among the main gods of the Olympian court!
And now, after everything from the day Jason left the mountain until today, the fruit that was finally within reach...
All of it had taken only a few short years...
Thinking of this, even Athena could not help feeling a touch of emotion.
"Even I always believed that taking this final step would require at least several decades...
Jason, you have truly given me far too many surprises."
This was the highest praise from Athena, Goddess of Wisdom.
Faced with praise from the Goddess of Wisdom, Jason remained calm. He even shook his head and said to Athena,
"No, all of this is thanks to your guidance, Lady Athena. I merely acted according to your oracles.
Next... I will still have to trouble you, Lady Athena!"
"Of course." Athena smiled in reply, but her eyes suddenly spun mischievously. She grinned and said, "But Jason, after everything I've done for you, how exactly do you plan to repay me?"
"Huh?" Jason was stunned. "This..."
"Hmm, my request isn't high. How about..." Athena blinked at Jason, her golden eyes sparkling. "After you become a god, you guard my door for a few hundred... no, a few thousand, ten thousand years?"
Before Jason could reply,
"No way!" Hecate and Hephaestus said in unison.
"Ignore her. Goddess of Wisdom? I think the title of Goddess of Wisdom is crying right now. Athena, could you make your desires any more obvious?"
Hecate looked at Athena with contempt, then said to Jason, "She has no right to demand repayment from you, because your success and everything you've achieved along the way are already the greatest reward for her.
So ignore her. Got it? Don't let her trick you!"
Whimper whimper...
Athena did not refute Hecate and simply looked at Jason with a pitiful expression.
This...
"Lady Athena, I will do my best to repay you..."
After thinking for a moment, the instant Jason finished speaking,
"Yay!" Athena almost jumped for joy; she barely maintained her composure.
She had clearly been waiting for those exact words.
"Idiot!" Even Hephaestus could not help gently tapping Jason on the head.
Though both Hephaestus and Hecate felt somewhat helpless, neither said anything more.
After all, they could not do without Athena right now. She was the Goddess of Wisdom.
Even if she currently had ulterior motives, for the sake of her power right now, both Hephaestus and Hecate could only turn a blind eye despite their dissatisfaction.
Hmm... could this be considered a honey trap?
Or perhaps a beautiful-disciple trap?
In any case, not wanting the topic to continue, Hephaestus quickly said to Jason,
"Jason, we do indeed have something we need you to do.
More precisely, forging that weapon is something only you can do."
Under Jason's slightly puzzled gaze, Hephaestus continued,
"Jason, my student. It is time for you to forge the very first divine artifact that belongs to you... and that is forged by your own hands!"
The confusion in Jason's eyes gradually faded as he stared blankly at Hephaestus.
"Teacher Hephaestus... you mean the God-Slaying Sword will be forged... by me?!"
"Exactly."
Hephaestus nodded.
"But Teacher Hephaestus, I don't have that kind of ability!"
Jason, who had good self-awareness, replied.
After all, up until now he had never managed to forge a single divine artifact.
Asking him to create a divine artifact, and the most special God-Slaying weapon at that, was this not a joke?
Yet Athena shook her head and said,
"No, Jason, that weapon can only be forged by you. No one else can create it... Hephaestus has already tried."
"Because even Hephaestus cannot control the blood of Typhon, Ancestor of All Demons, and my own blood."
Athena explained, looking at Jason. "Therefore only you... only you can do it.
Neither my blood nor Typhon's blood will reject you!"
Hearing this explanation, Jason gradually recovered.
"And it's not just that... If I forced it, it actually wouldn't be impossible, but Typhon would have to be present," Hephaestus explained, probably to preserve her image in front of Jason.
"The reason I made this decision is also because it is good for you.
Jason, use your own blood to fuse the blood of Typhon and Athena, then forge them together.
That way, that divine artifact will belong only to you. No one else will be able to use it even if they take it.
And when you become a god, that weapon will become your... innate divine artifact!"
Yes, in the end Hephaestus had considered this point. After discussing with Athena and Hecate, she decided not to forge it forcibly.
They wanted Jason to forge this divine artifact, this God-Slaying weapon himself.
And they wanted this weapon to become a power that belonged only to Jason!