Eris frowned very briefly in confusion as she wondered: 'How does he know all this?'
"And yet you claim that you are easily able to remove it?"
Adam met her gaze confidently. "Yes, but rather then obsessing over whether or not what I say is possible, should you not instead be worried about the price I will demand from you?"
"What a joke! After eons of this miserable existence, what price would I not be willing to pay?"
The sorrow in her voice surprised him. It seems he had underestimated just how much loneliness and suffering she had endured after all this time.
"It seems you endured quite a bit throughout the years."
A tense expression briefly flashed across her features, but it didn't last longer before easing back into helplessness.
"Don't make that face.. . For a goddess like yourself to be willing to trust a complete stranger and pay any price.. . .only an eternity of suffering could have driven you this far."
Eris remained silent.
"Very well, I see no reason to drag this out. What I want is very simple."
Adam arced his lips into a faint smile.
"When your strength is recovered, you will listen to me and aid me for a year."
"What?"
This time, Eris couldn't hide her surprise.
" Is this truly all you desire from me . . .?"
For immortals, a year did not even add up to a single moment. Besides, even if she promised to help him, the scope of her help was still up to her own will. And at the end of the day she was still much stronger than him. She could renege on their deal anytime she wanted.
The price he was demanding. . . was essentially no price at all. But he had seemed like an intelligent youth ealier, and she didn't believe that such an intelligent person would willingly put themselves at such a disadvantage.
"What, are you doubting my sincerety?." Adam jested.
"What are you playing at here? What do you truly want?" Eris asked with a wary expression.
"I geuss you'll just have to wait and see. Oh my dear goddes, so many wonderful surpises await you."
Within his mysterious smile, Eris could feel a palpable air of malaise and danger. Then she chided herself for having this feeling for someone so much weaker than her.
But even then, her heart refused to calm down while she stared into his dark pupils.
"Very well, I will accept your terms. You may-".
Before she could finish Adam stood up and closed the distance between them, invading her space and filling her senses with his unique presence— Their noses almost touching.
"I'll come find you tommorrow under the cover of night. Make sure to dismiss the gaurds outside. No one must know what will transpire in this chamber."
The he immediately turned around and calmly exited the room. leaving a slightly confused Eris doubting what had actually just happened.
"How do you plan to remove her curse mark.
Asked Lena is Adam exited the divine palace.
"Actually you gave me the idea Lena. . .something you said. . .
That the gods here are bodies of mystical divine energy. Yes they appear human, but their true forms are more like a sentient storm, or a living sun.
To effectively seal away Eris's power, the curse mark must also exist as some sort of pure energy as well. Tell me Lena ..
What is one of your most basic functions?"
"Storage, release and manipulation of all forms of . . . I see your intent my lord, and I suppose it is possible in theory . . ."
"It's more than possible Lena. To the gods of the realm, the curse mark is no doubt that frightening in its complexity, but you are an ai built for complexities far greater than this. Separating the curse mark from Eris should be nothing but child's play for you."
"You are right my lord. And I must say that I am impressed you were able to have such fascinatingly brilliant idea. I did not think you capable of this previously.
And I fear this is the last time my lord will have such a lucky stroke of genius."
Adam's smile immediately vanished as lines appeared on his forehead. Lena pretended to praise him, but she was really calling him an idiot.
"By the way, I thought you wanted to claim her body and use her to purge a portion of the remaining nanites?"
"All in due time Lena. For now, she serves a much greater use beyond just her body. But of course, even her body shall become mine in the end."
Lena was silent for a while. . .the her cold robotic voice rang out again.
"Need I remind you that the current Eris can grind you to dust by breathing too forcefully, to say nothing of when you help her regain her powers.
Not even your fully recovered Artificial god body will stand a chance against her then."
"The choice you are currently making. .. .is extremely unwise.
But I know it's pointless to try to dissuade you when you've made up your mind."
"I only hope that you know what you're doing."
"What are you going to do now?"
"Now...
I think it best to build some influence within the palace while I remain largely unnoticed."
"And how do you plan to do this?"
"With your help, of course!"
The currency of Mount Olympus was the golden drachma. Each coin was the size of a fist and embedded with the regal countenance of a bearded man. Adam immediately knew the likeness etched onto the drachma could only be Zeus's.
The average servant on Mount Olympus was rewarded with about ten drachma every year. It wasn't alot, but it was enough to cover the needs themselves and their families.
It would take Adam millenia of hard work to build a small fortune. But of course, since he was only impersonating a servant, that would be impossible for him.
Not that he had any interest in slaving his life away. No. . .what he had in mind was way more fun!
Adam blended back into the crowds of busy servants and made his way back to the servant qaurters in the outer palace. After slipping inside and making sure that he hadn't been tracked or noticed, he finally said to Lena:
"Commence synthesis of the crown jewels. Permission to use emergency element reserves granted."
"Affirmative. Synthesizing . ...."
Lena had an emergency stockpile of every element in the periodic table, with the intended purpose of being prepared for any dire situation. If there was ever the need, she could quickly make whatever item was necessary to help Adam.
And in this case, that happened to be about 23,000 pieces of exquisite jewelry. The gods of this world were much more powerful than the humans who occupied who occupied his previous timeline, but at the end of they day. . . .they were far too primitive— far behind the advancement of his world in every way.
During his time, the crown jewels were simply good- looking antiques only fit for a museum, but here they would be marvelous and irresistible pieces of beauty— the likes of which had never before been seen by immortal eyes.
"Synthesis Complete!" Lena announced as she seemingly materialized a bag out of thin air.
"Thank you, Lena." Adam said as he grabbed the bag and went to to find Dionis and Basil.
"Don't taking care of your urgent matter?"
They asked Adam as he drew close.
"No, not really.
Brothers, if I may ask, do any of you know any places where even servants may sell items of interest?"
"Hmm. . . servants rarely have anything that would pique the interest of gods so your request is a little bit tricky. . . "
Basil contemplated whiles rubbing his chin.
"But most of the Servant's here have gods they attend to. They would certainly report the presence of any unique or interesting items to their masters. So if your items really are worthwhile, you should be fine selling in the Hub of Commerce: a small place of business between fellow servants.
It only opens at night— when all our duties have been completed." Dionis said.
Adam nodded. That was exactly what he needed.
After spending the rest of the day doing meaningless tasks, Basil had Dionis point him in the direction of the Hub of Commerce.
He left under the cover of night, careful not to attract any gazes.
The road ahead was very dark and narrow, almost entirely obscured by the surrounding foliage. The hub itself was located in very unassuming corner of the Forestial areas. All the visiting spirits kept their voices hushed— almost as if afraid to breath too loudly.
Adam pulled the hood of his robe across the lower half of his face and silently observed all the spirits passing by.
An hour passed him by and he still had not made a move, merely observing all the the passing spirits until he'd finally found a target.