With Apollo's promise, Hephaestus did not sell it again. He gave a detailed account of the topography of different parts of the land, where Olympus was located, and the Delphi Oracle under the Parnassus Mountains.

This was all told to him by his adoptive mother, and in fact, Hephaestus himself had never been there, but that was enough for Apollo.

Knowing the location of the destination, the young god solemnly thanked the other party, and then reassured:

"Your Highness, Hephaestus, no matter what, I will remember your help today. On the day you need me in the future, I will definitely fulfill my promise and do my part. ”

"I hope so, Apollo, but you can leave now. The land is far away, and it is not easy to find Delphi based on my description. ”

Nodding, Hephaestus' attitude was still not enthusiastic, although the two sides had a common goal for the time being, he still didn't want to stay with this handsome and sunny god for long.

For this obscure eviction, Apollo didn't care about thanking him, and he chose to leave directly.

"Maybe he can make it?"

"Who knows."

Looking at where Apollo had gone, Hephaestus shook his head. He wasn't optimistic about the other party, but he didn't think anything would happen to Apollo, no matter what, he was an immortal god.

Picking up his hammer, Hephaestus began casting again. His technique is not high enough compared to Cyclops, and although he has the same talent, he still needs enough time to practice. For now, at least, he couldn't use the priesthood as a material to forge a true artifact.

Of course, Hephaestus never wanted an artifact. He just hoped that one day, he would be able to create a tall and powerful substitute to hide his ugly and short appearance.

······

On the other hand, Apollo left Lemnos and embarked on a journey to find the temple of Delphi, just like the heroes of later generations, meeting many different people and doing many things along the way.

There are wounded humans, hospitable river gods, ill-intentioned monsters and nymphs chased by ferocious beasts. He used his warm light to heal human injuries, helped the river god eliminate a three-headed serpent that had been entrenched upstream, killed the demons that coveted his bloodline, and helped the Nymph exorcise the beasts. In return for Apollo's help, the elf who had incarnated from the ash tree gave him a silver bow.

It is said to be the creation of a giant, possessing extraordinary powers that made Apollo love him. With its help, the young deity had a smoother journey. With the help of this treasure, more strange beasts died under his arrows, and many mortals were saved because of him.

As he progressed, the name 'Apollo of the Silver Bow' began to spread among the regional gods and mortals who survived the Flood. Gradually, they all came to know that there was a god who could bring light, heal people's wounds, and be willing to help others was looking for the Delphi Oracle Place, and he was going there to get rid of a great serpent that was doing all kinds of evil.

Although no one knew the origin of this god, and he never said the origin of his bloodline, these people or gods blessed him in the hope that he would get what he wanted.

And all of this was seen by Helios, who drove the sun car through the sky, and then reported it to the god king who was paying attention to all this.

He didn't like Apollo because, unlike the others, the sun god saw at a glance the other's divine power, which was the power of light. Just as he had diluted the authority of his father, the Titan god Hyperion, he had split the Light of his mother goddess, Thea.

I don't like it, the Mother of Light has been away from the world for a long time, and she is about to be promoted to a powerful divine power, so Helios suppressed this subjective emotion, and truthfully returned to Zeus what Apollo did on time every day, without doing anything superfluous.

After all, there is no direct conflict between the two of them at the moment, the other party is still the son of the god-king, and Helios can't think of any reason for them to be enemies.

"So along the way, he helped many human migrants who had not yet settled down, restoring health to the disabled and sick, and was therefore regarded by them as a shelterer of migration and a god who healed their wounds?"

In the evening, standing in front of the god-king's palace, Zeus confirmed to Helios, who had just been on duty.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Nodding, perhaps because the promotion was imminent, Helios seemed a lot more confident. He looked at Zeus and suggested:

"Do I need to stop him from coming into contact with humans?"

"Where he is now...... Not far from Olympus. If he is allowed to continue like this, it is likely that the old things of Prometheus will be repeated. ”

Speaking of this god of seers, Helios was only unintentional at first, but then his tone suddenly paused. At this moment, the sun god suddenly remembered that under the whirlpool of the East China Sea, the other party gave him a warning.

You don't need to worry yet, but if another god is born in the future who is qualified to drive a solar car, then you need to be careful. ’…… Could this being be Apollo?

He was not the only one who heard this, but also Krasto and Bia, who were escorting Prometheus, and Helios wondered if they had told the God-King about it. If so, then why did Zeus ask him to report on Apollo?

Without deep thought, Helios lowered his head slightly, avoiding Zeus's gaze. He couldn't figure out why, but that didn't stop him from perceiving a little uneasiness.

"Apollo affairs, you don't need to worry about it. His connection with humanity is not that deep, far less than that of Prometheus, and since I have allowed the followers of Hestia to come into contact with humans, there is no need to stop Apollo. ”

With a wave of his hand, Zeus motioned for the sun god to leave. As for Apollo's reputation in the world, this is a good thing for the god-king.

After all, he is not Poseidon, or any other god, he is the son of the god king, and when the identity of the other party is revealed in the future, then all the fame that Apollo has done will be partly attributed to Zeus, after all, all this is a 'trial' given to him by the god king.

"That sounds like a good idea?"

His eyes lit up, looking at the back of Helios leaving, Zeus suddenly realized that Apollo's behavior seemed to be able to be further extended.

The other party is at least a god, so even if it is his son, the merits that belong to him will not be fully counted on the god king, after all, among the gods, it is not unusual for the heir to be stronger than the father. But if you can have some demigod heirs, or just descendants with divine blood, it will be different.

And, for those humans who already have a stable settlement, Zeus is already thinking about how to spread his faith. His previous idea was to direct and act out a divine revelation - a sudden storm, a torrential rain, and mortals were overwhelmed, and then someone who received the 'revelation' came forward and thought that everyone should pray to the great King of Thunder, and then he would go through all kinds of tribulations, and finally Zeus would send down a miracle and give them the power of magic.

This was the inspiration he found in the believers of Hestia, and the god-king was somewhat envious of the devotion of those humans, so he wanted to do it again. It's all a good idea that it comes from the man's own prayers, not from his own initiative. But now, the God King suddenly discovers that he has another way.

Not only useful, but also very kind. It would be a good thing if 'work' and 'hobby' could be mixed together.

"Maybe it would be more effective to let those human monarchs become descendants of the blood of my gods?"

Glancing at another ornate palace, it was Hera's shrine. Zeus could already anticipate the other party's reaction, but it didn't matter.

Let's give it a try, and if it really works, then when Apollo returns to the throne, he will actually start his own plans.

As for what will happen to the first 'test product'...... That's not the God-King's concern. If the other party is a god, he also needs to consider the perception of the gods. But for mortals, no matter what he does, the gods will at most only think that he is a bit ridiculous, and will not think anything else.

······

The thought of Zeus is a disaster for mortals, but for the gods, it is just another after-dinner joke.

Perhaps because Zeus was slow to show real power, the other gods were no longer shy about talking about things related to him, such as the former Metis.

The gods lamented that Hera's son had been born, and although he had not yet grown up, his sharp priesthood undoubtedly showed that he was extraordinary, but Metis could not leave a child of his own, and even the Ocean God and his wife did not take her to heart.

- Another example is the history of the god-king's affair and the anger of the queen Hera, which seems to be a cliché, but the previous one was at least only between the gods, but what they didn't expect was that this time, Zeus actually set his sights on mortals.

Near a newly established human city-state, the God-King once again did what he did best. Inakos, the monarch of Bethrazi, the monarch who led his people through all obstacles to open up their homeland, had a beautiful and beautiful daughter.

Her name is Io, and although she does not have an extraordinary body, she is just a mortal in the world, but she has a beautiful appearance that makes the gods move, and she has a slender and moving figure. But like everyone recorded in later mythology, her appearance did not bring her happiness, but ushered in disaster.

Zeus came to the mortal realm, and he used his authority to mobilize the clouds, obscuring Helios's possible gaze from the sun's chariot. Then, in the meadow called Rena, the god-king succeeded in impregnating his first demigod heir.

His experiment succeeded, and as Zeus's bloodline was conceived in the bodies of human royalty, he felt a tiny connection creep in. It's just that the connection is not stable, because Io is just a princess, and this is just a very common city-state among the new generation of humans, and he needs to do more.

He needs to make his heir the future monarch of this human city-state, and let this heir with the blood of the gods become a proof of the divine authority of kingship. Starting from him, there will be more kings in the human race in the future who will have his bloodline, and the existence of the god-king will penetrate into every corner of human society. There will even come a time when mortals will equate Zeus with 'king' in order to accomplish his great deeds.

But although everything is very good, this is only an experiment after all. In the face of Hera, who came in anger, Zeus still chose to take a step back for the time being.

The affairs of Apollo would soon be known to Hera, and until then, Zeus did not want to provoke his god queen too much. The God-King took a step back, and only the helpless mortal princess was left in the face of Hera, and from this moment on, Io's painful half of life began.

The princess of Bithrazi was transformed into a cow by Zeus using his increasingly skilled powers to avoid Hera's gaze. But Io didn't know that Zeus didn't expect this to hide from the other party, he was just using this way to soothe the anger of the queen.

If he directly acted as if he didn't care and signaled Hera to dispose of this mortal he had chosen at will, he would have nowhere to vent his anger after that day. But he 'tried his best' to cover up Io's existence, and Hera easily saw through it, which made the queen get a sense of 'victory' from it, and then immersed herself in the identity of the winner, diluting Zeus's betrayal of the marriage again.

For this reason, around Io's existence, a ridiculous 'fight' was launched between the God King and the Queen of Heaven. Zeus turned her into a snow-white cow, and Hera pretended not to know. She complimented Io on her excellent appearance among the herd, and then took her over and ordered her to be kept under strict supervision. Since then, the original princess has eaten licorice, drunk sewage, and even met Inakos, who came to look for her daughter, and could only indulge in pain all day long.

The God-King was 'unwilling' to fail, so he once again sent his henchmen to kill the guards and let Io go without permission, so that she could be set free. However, this is still only part of the 'fighting method', because Zeus even forgot to change the human princess back into human form. So Hera caught a gadfly, baptized it with divine blood, and ordered it to chase Io endlessly. So the princess, who still couldn't turn back into a human body, fled in the world crazy and helplessly, but she never got rid of this unjustified disaster.

Hera was finally satisfied, and she felt that her wisdom had overcome the god-king and that the mortal had been duly punished. Zeus also got what he wanted, and he managed to appease his diva without causing more turmoil at this critical time.

As for Io, although the other party was indeed beautiful and had brought him a pleasant night, this did not make the ruthless god king pay more attention to it.

There are many mortals, Io is not special, and when Apollo returns to the sacred mountain, Zeus will naturally find the next beautiful woman to complete his idea of spreading the bloodline among human kings.

Everything should go on like this, mortals can't affect the eternal gods, even if the shackles are carved for the gods in this world, but the humans of the Third Age are still just playthings in the hands of the gods. However, fate is so wonderful that even the gods who stand above the mortal world can't really spy on its trajectory.

So one day, under the starry night, when the ancient Mother of Night woke up from the petals of the flowers, she looked out boredly.

Then she saw that above the sea, at the edge of the world, there was a snow-white heifer hiding from the approaching gadfly behind her. She leaped forward as she had done every time before, trying to pull a little farther away, but this time it was something unusual.

Because in this jump, her figure disappeared into the sea out of thin air, and there was no trace of it again.

……

Brush –

A crack opened in the void, and behind it was the eternal night and the bright stars.

Nyx stepped out of it, and the vast East China Sea was inexplicably quiet. Behind the changing veil of the black dress, the goddess's expression was a little surprised.

"So...... Where did she go? ”

Observing his surroundings with interest, Nyx reached out and grabbed it, and the nearby space-time distorted. The laws of this world had a faint reaction due to the violent actions of the primordial god, but she didn't care.

The power of the Mother of Night poured out, scrutinizing every inch of the void. She wanted to find a space-time tunnel, or some other dimension, like the interface of the wreckage of the Nine Realms that had fallen earlier, but she was disappointed.

There was nothing here, everything was so normal, as if what she had seen before was just an illusion.

However, this is impossible, under the gaze of Nyx, even the existence that controls the divine power of time and space can at least make the Mother of Night realize that all this is man-made and not heaven-granted.

"Heaven's ......?"

The probe came to nothing, but Nyx's interest grew. Behind everything in front of her, there was definitely something hidden that surprised her.

No one could disappear silently in front of her, even in the spirit world, she used to just 'can't get in' instead of 'can't find it'. But now, with the facts in front of him, how the cow that was obviously turned into a man disappeared, Nyx had no idea at all.

"If you are human, you will have a soul...... It's really interesting. ”

The corners of his mouth curled, and Nyx stretched out his hand and directly 'knocked' on the door of the spirit world on the sea.

The next moment, the portal opened from the void, but this time, on the other side of the door was the fifth level of the spirit realm.

Standing in the chaotic time and space, with a little illusory stars as the background, and putting down what he was doing, Ryan looked at the rare guest who stepped forward with some confusion.

(End of chapter)