Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 598 - 188 Thetis

From that day forward, the queen cursed by the gods took more interest in animals than in humans, and the King of Crete evidently could not tolerate such matters happening to his queen.

Therefore, to solve the issue, he invited Daedalus to create a wooden cow for Queen Pasiphaë, later confining her within it.

No one knew why the king did this, since he surprisingly didn’t forbid others to touch the wooden cow—there were also rumors claiming that this was a beautified version of history; in fact, Minos was initially unaware of the queen’s curse, and the wooden cow had been commissioned by Pasiphaë herself to satisfy her bestial desires.

In any case, Daedalus truly had unparalleled skill; the wooden cow he built was incredibly lifelike, so much so that even real cows could not distinguish it from one of their own. As a result, the divinely gifted white bull, which had aroused the king’s greed, was attracted to it and mated with her.

Consequently, Pasiphaë became pregnant and gave birth to the monster Minotaur—’the Bull of Minos’—a creature with the body of a man and the head of a bull.

It was born with immense strength, so much so that even the king who discovered it could not kill this spawn of misfortune. Of course, it was likely also a matter of not daring to, given that the birth of the Minotaur meant that the white bull was clearly more than just a bull.

Such a being could not possibly be born from the union of two mere mortals; no one knew what this white bull really was... Could it be a Divine Child of Poseidon, or perhaps even an incarnation of the Sea God himself? It’s no wonder that the Sea God had thus placed a curse.

In any event, with no other choice, Minos commanded Daedalus and his son Icarus to construct a vast labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur with a man’s body and a bull’s head.

After the labyrinth was built, to keep the secret, Daedalus and his son were also locked inside. However, it was precisely because of this that their eventual escape across the sea and the story of Icarus flying too close to the Sun, ultimately leading to his death, came about.

The monster imprisoned in the labyrinth craved blood, and infants were thus offered as sacrifices to the Minotaur. This brutal act continued for many years until one day Theseus, who had not yet ascended the throne, arrived; he ventured into the labyrinth, killed the monster, and turned it into an episode within his legendary life, while incidentally taking away Hydera, who later became queen.

Of course, according to Laine’s conjecture, there was likely an element of transaction in this.

The King of Crete, not daring to act himself, let others take the fall, and the young Theseus readily agreed to do so.

However, the original mythological Theseus was raised by followers of Poseidon, which is why he had a close relationship with the Sea Emperor, so killing the Minotaur without retaliation; but the current Theseus had no such connection with Poseidon.

Given the addition of Princess Andrea of Athens, who was not present in the mythology and just happened to be attacked by the Resurrection Church, followers of Hera on the high seas, plus the King of Athens immediately deciding to go fight an incarnation of a certain Sea God... clearly, it was most likely a joint conspiracy between Hera and her brother, and it had simply failed for now.

"If you look at it that way, Athens really is making enemies everywhere..."

Laine silently reflected once again on the absurdity of the human-deity of Chaos—Minos, such a king, was still universally recognized as a wise ruler. But beyond that, Laine was also aware of the undercurrents beneath the calm surface of Athens.

In the realm of deities, it was hard to say which god or goddess on Mount Olympus truly stood with Athena, while Ares, Aphrodite, and Hera were obviously her enemies.

In the mortal realm, Athens could hardly speak of allies, both on land and sea.

"It’s a bit strange, would Athena really let herself fall into such a predicament...?"

He did not know, nor could he make it clear. Laine thought no more of it and had Andrea look for an inn that received foreign visitors.

After settling their itinerary and parking their carriage, Laine immediately took Andrea to a place teeming with people.

Laine had noticed it upon entering the city; it was a place where the identities of outsiders were registered, and stone badges of varying levels were granted according to the status of the visitors.

It wasn’t mandatory and the validation of identity was quite lenient. However, considering the assembly that might take place soon, it was feared that an identity would indeed be necessary to gain entry.

"The two of you, would you like to register for a professional rank or a bloodline rank?"

Before long, Laine and Andrea arrived at the place. The Godhood Practitioner in charge of registration lifted his head and smiled politely.

"Bloodline rank."

Laine spoke softly, giving a hint with his eyes.

Andrea hesitated for a moment but eventually raised her hand to place it on the crystal ball in front of the Godhood Practitioner.

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"Tssss—"

Initially, there was no change; then in the next moment an intense red light burst forth. The whole crystal ball seemed to turn into a giant magic lamp, illuminating a considerable area around.

Many nearby cast curious glances this way, yet no one approached rashly.

"This is... divine blood within five generations!"

A murmured exclamation, but the Priest in charge of the test quickly regained his composure.

In today’s world, having a lineage of deities within five generations was uncommon but not rare. It was just unusual to see it in his particular case.

Perhaps she was yet another illegitimate daughter of a foreign King, much like the King of Athens before his ascension to the throne, or even simply a princess of some country... In fact, demi-gods of this level gathered by the hundreds, if not a thousand, at the Panhellenic Athena athletic competitions held every thirty years.

Even now there were many, although most would reveal their identities directly to be received by the church and the King; it was rare for someone to come here themselves to obtain a temporary identity token.

"This is your temporary stone badge, marked with the trace of the Goddess’s sacred power. It cannot be forged. If you lose it, please come and register it promptly."

The attitude became much more respectful, but as a Godhood Practitioner, the middle-aged Priest was simply following the rules.

"Thank you."

Andrea accepted the stone badge and thanked him politely, while Laine did not proceed with the test.

This badge was sufficient, and the Priest obviously regarded him as a guard or some similar role, not paying any more attention to him.

"Didn’t you want to keep a ’low profile’? I hardly see how this was low profile."

Once the matter was resolved, the two quickly left the area, but they hadn’t gone far when Andrea tugged at Laine’s clothes.

Logically speaking, this choice shouldn’t have posed any problems since one of them was a sealed practitioner of Athena and the other belonged to the Hell System of practitioners, clearly neither could register as Professionals. As the daughter of the King of Athens, Andrea was indeed a demi-god of the highest tier of bloodline.

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Anyway, the margin of error in this kind of measurement is huge, you can only roughly determine a category, otherwise we wouldn’t have only gotten the answer ’Divine Child within five generations’... But this has nothing to do with hiding one’s identity.

"It’s your identity that’s hidden, not that you actually have to pretend to be an average person. When you meet someone, you’ll have to endure some scoffing, and if a conflict occurs, the likelihood of your exposure increases."

"To hide in plain sight is an art; one hides in the mountains, another amid the populace, and the greatest hides in plain view of the court. Learn it well. If you were to maintain the identity of an ordinary person, even buying high-tier ritual materials with me could draw unwanted attention."

If it were about evading assassination, then of course the more ordinary, the better. But knowing that he was here to cause trouble, adopting a high-status disguise might be more effective.

In the following period, Laine planned to level up first and then consider how to take part in this bizarre gathering.

Intuition told him that something abnormal must be afoot; the Divine King’s priest had suddenly made such a request, likely for some reason. But Laine did not fit the role of jumping into the fray and grabbing a championship – besides, wouldn’t it be even more embarrassing if he failed to win? Without considering authority, Laine thought it wiser to be cautious.

Regardless, Laine still hoped that the ultimate victor would be his doing... And so, after much thought, he decided that he needed to employ some unfair advantages.

...

To the east of Chaos, the Pontus Euxinus Sea.

This was right above the largest trench originally belonging to Chaos, now relegated to second place after the emergence of the great maelstrom in the East Sea.

This was the birthplace of the Ancient Sea God Pontus, symbolizing the ’Earth Concave’, and his final resting place.

The area was forever tranquil, for its master instinctively repelled his former adversaries and nephews – the might that belonged to the ruler of ocean currents. Likewise, Poseidon was reluctant to unleash the power of storms here, not wanting to offend the unthreatening Ancient Sea God.

Therefore, many mortals deemed the Pontus Euxinus Sea a ’dead sea’—not devoid of life, but rather like ’lifeless seawater’.

Taking into account its slumbering master, this description was quite apt. Nonetheless, today, the peace of this sea region was shattered by thunder.

"Boom——"

Lightning streaked across the sky, clouds morphed into a chariot – a sign of the arrival of the Divine King.

Zeus made no effort to hide his approach, and Nereus, the eldest son of Pontus and now steward of the Pontus Euxinus Sea, had long been waiting.

"Your Majesty, welcome,"

the old Sea God greeted with a warm smile, paying respects to the Divine King stepping down from the cloud chariot. Zeus reciprocated graciously, laughing as he embraced Nereus.

"I’m pleased to see you, elder of the ocean. I know my visit today may be somewhat abrupt. I hope you don’t mind,"

"As the King of All Gods, you have the right to visit any place in this world without prior notice."

"Hahaha..."

Zeus laughed heartily, waving his hand dismissively.

He entered what used to be the Divine Palace of the Ancient Sea God, at the invitation of Nereus. The place seemed long deserted.

The children of Pontus didn’t reside here. Even Nereus had built a new home nearby for himself. However, to show his respect for his guest, he had re-opened this dusty palace.

As they went further in, Zeus saw many descendants of the Ancient Sea God, particularly Nereus’s daughters. Amphitrite had once been among them, now having become Poseidon’s Sea Empress.

’I hope they’re not all so foolish... though, clever or not, it doesn’t really concern me anymore.’

With an unchanged expression, Zeus seated himself on the golden throne Nereus had prepared.

Sea nymphs performed songs and dances, many Sea Gods made toasts, and cups clinked against each other. As time passed, more Sea Gods who heard the news began to converge here, while the Divine King seemed to truly be here just for a banquet, feasting with All Gods.

Time quickly slipped by; Zeus’s cheeks were a bit flushed, seemingly getting slightly drunk. At one moment, he patted the old Sea God on the shoulder and suddenly pointed to a dancer below.

"Who is she?"

"My daughter Thetis. Does her dance please you, Your Majesty?"

Responding with a smile, Nereus glanced at his daughter.

Like Amphitrite, she was one of the most beautiful among his fifty daughters... It seemed the Divine King had taken a liking to her, right?

However, Zeus’s next words caused Nereus’s heart to skip a beat.

"No, Nereus, how could I dare to fancy her? That’s impossible,"

In a haze of tipsiness, Zeus seemed to speak without doubt:

"She will give birth to a child more powerful than his father... That’s the Prophecy, and also Fate... She is aware of this fact, and the Fates know it too."

"I plan to arrange a blissful marriage for her. What do you think?"

"Of course, it would be her honor,"

Nereus said with an unchanged smile.

"Very well, let’s do it soon,"

Zeus nodded, taking another cup of nectar and then resumed his enjoyment of the entertainment before him.

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