The Villain of Ancient Greece

After briefly calming her emotions, Circe nodded and began her explanation.

”That’s correct. Strictly speaking, the four stages of [Iron], [Bronze], [Silver], and [Gold] represent a progression toward [Godhood] and the [Age of Gods].

But [approaching] doesn’t mean [equaling].

There’s a fundamental difference between the two.

If the first four ranks are merely about the [accumulation of quantity] in terms of magical power and skill, then becoming a demi-god represents a [qualitative change] in one’s very form of life.

That’s why advancing through the first four ranks is often referred to as [ascension], while stepping into the realm of [Demi-God] is called [transcendence].

Only by first becoming a demi-god do we truly begin to climb the staircase toward divinity.”

Lorne listened carefully, keeping Circe’s story in mind, with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

”So, does that mean a demi-god is much stronger than a Gold rank?”

”Much stronger? There’s no comparison!”

Circe rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers casually.

In an instant, the sky above Aeaea shifted dramatically.

A visible tide of magical energy stretched for dozens of kilometers, converging toward the center of the temple and forming a massive vortex.

An overwhelming sense of pressure washed over Lorne, who felt like a small boat caught in a stormy sea, teetering on the edge of capsizing.

”Snap!”

The snap of fingers echoed in his ears again, and the tides surging and squeezing around him suddenly disappeared, and the sky became clear and blue again.

It was as if nothing had happened.

”See the difference now? Even if there were a dozen of you, I wouldn’t be worried.”

Circe, finally able to show off in front of her student, placed one hand on her hip and tilted her chin upward, her face brimming with pride.

’Nonsense, if I could beat you, I would have beaten you up long ago.’

Lorne ignored his stupid teacher’s boasting, silently grumbling to himself, while placing a hand on his chest, where he kept feeling palpitations, and his eyebrows tightened unconsciously.

As expected, a demigod and a Gold-rank were almost not even the same species.

He had to work so hard just to stir up a magical tide within a thirty-meter radius, while this foolish bird could summon an ether storm spanning dozens of kilometers with just a snap of her fingers.

The gap between them was incomparable, a technological chasm that spanned hardware, software, and everything in between.

And this was just the power of a demigod. If it were a true god, the authority they wielded with every gesture would be even more terrifying.

With a flick of their fingers, they could move mountains, fill seas, and shatter stars...!

Thinking of the descriptions of gods in the epics, Lorne’s mood grew heavier.

However, he quickly suppressed the rising gloom in his heart, his eyes turning cold and sharp.

So what if they’re gods? They can still die if killed!

Ever since the primordial god Chaos receded into obscurity, the first generation of primordial gods represented by Uranus, the father of heaven, Gaia, the mother of earth, and Pontus, the old sea god, have seized the power to control the world, marking the transition from chaos to order.

Subsequently, these three primordial gods, representing the sky, earth, and sea, created and combined with one another, giving birth to numerous descendants, strengthening their own factions and solidifying their unshakable rule.

But Uranus, the Sky Father, in order to maintain his supreme patriarchal authority, ruthlessly suppressed the growth and divinity of his offspring.

As they grew older, the Titan Cronus, unable to endure any longer, rallied his eleven siblings and, with the help of Gaia, the mother of Earth, castrated Uranus, stripping him of his divine authority.

They then established a grand temple on Mount Othrys and thoroughly plundered the old gods’ treasures, dividing the spoils of power among themselves.

The biggest victim in all of this was Pontus, the Old Sea God.

According to Circe, the oldest god of the ocean had long been exploded into fragments of the godhood all over the ground, scattered and integrated into various parts of the Primal ocean, turning into all kinds of strange sea beasts and various gods and monsters.

As for Oceanus, the River God, and Tethys, the Ocean Goddess, among the twelve Titans, the reason they were able to produce a vast lineage of three thousand sons and three thousand daughters was likely because they had feasted on the remnants of their uncle’s legacy.

Of course, using the word ”death” to describe the fall of a god might be too blasphemous.

A more euphemistic term would be ”eternal slumber.”

They came from the origin and the rules, and when they could no longer sustain themselves, they returned to their essence, their flesh and divinity becoming the foundation stones of the world, further perfecting the Greek divine era.

As the saying goes, when a whale falls, all things flourish—and this is roughly how it was.

By the way, in that ancient ”whale fall,” this stupid bird before him was also an indirect beneficiary.

According to the genealogies, Oceanus and Tethys were Circe’s direct maternal grandfather and grandmother.

However, that’s all ancient history and now the current authority over the seas belongs to Poseidon.

The succession of divine authority in Greece follows an excellent ”family stabbing” mechanism.

The next generation usually needs to stage a ”father resigns, son laughs” moment upon coming of age so that they can inherit the old gods’ legacy.

The authority and domains of the twelve Olympian gods were built on the plundered treasures of the twelve Titans.

Through Circe’s corroboration, in these two transitions of divine authority, the number of fallen demigods, monsters, and gods was far from small.

Therefore, with these precedents as reference, Lorne didn’t believe that these so-called gods were truly invincible or immortal.

Having said that, times have changed.

Present was far too different from the past.

Zeus, as the fated King of the Gods, was far more difficult to deal with than the twelve Titans.

And so, trying to follow the old path of his predecessors, continuing the fine tradition of ”family stabbing,” and giving his distant father on Olympus a taste of ”father resigns, son laughs” would be nothing short of a hellish challenge—and that’s putting it mildly.

Forget it, it’s useless to think too much. Let’s focus on what needs to be done now.

Lorne exhaled a heavy breath and turned his gaze toward his teacher.

”Alright, tell me. How do I ascend to become a demigod?”

”It’s a rather complex process. First of all, you need to possess divine bloodline—that’s a necessary condition...”

”And then?”

Circe glanced at Lorne’s expressionless face, her pink eyes flickering slightly.

’As expected, this little piglet who washed up on Aeaea isn’t as simple as he seems.’

’But so what? Greece is full of secrets, and I have no interest in prying into them.’

’Rather than thinking about all that, I might as well focus on tweaking the recipe for the kykeon.’

—After all, this is my favorite little piglet.’

Seeing the silly bird teacher staring at him strangely, her eyes scanning him up and down, with a faint glimmer of drool at the corner of her mouth, Lorne’s face darkened as he pressed her for an answer.

”Speak! What do I need to do next?”

”Oh, right! You need to refine your bloodline, extract divinity from it, and ignite the divine spark!”

Circe snapped out of her thoughts and quickly coughed out a response.

Such a vague and simplistic answer made Lorne frown.

”Can you be more specific?”

”Uh, no...”

”Then how did you ascend from Gold to demigod?”

”Me? I just took a nap one day, and when I woke up, I was one...”

The demigod witch blinked her pink eyes with an innocent look.

”...”

At this moment, Lorne’s forehead was covered in black lines. He finally understood why Circe had been beating around the bush on this topic.

Turns out, even she only had a vague understanding of the specific method of ascension.

However, it wasn’t a complete waste.

Based on the earlier description and Circe’s individual case, Lorne could roughly deduce the reason why this silly bird was promoted.

It was simple.

—Living long enough, her bloodline was gradually refined by the accumulation of magical particles over time, automatically purified until her divinity overflowed, and finally, her divine spark ignited on its own.

For most monsters and Titans, this was likely the more common path to ascension.

In other words, passively growing by accumulating the gifts of talent over a long period of time.

But this kind of ”lying flat” approach undoubtedly required wasting a lot of time.

So, upon learning this, Lorne couldn’t help but frown deeply.

He didn’t believe he could live long enough to surpass Zeus through such a method, nor did he think this passive strategy would allow him to close the gap with the King of the Gods within his lifetime.

Finding no answers in his own thoughts, he turned his searching gaze back to Circe.

”Is there a faster way?”

”Nope.”

However, the demigod witch could only shake her head at his words, indicating she was powerless to help.

Seeing that he couldn’t squeeze any useful information out of this stupid bird, Lorne could only wave his hand in frustration.

After getting the permission to go, the originally sleepy Circe suddenly became energetic, cheered, and dashed out of the temple, heading straight for the kitchen to prepare tonight’s meal.

’What should I make this time?’

’Hmm, let’s try the new recipe I just thought of! Kykeon 3.0!’

Looking at the demigod witch’s joyful retreating figure, Lorne rubbed his forehead and smiled bitterly.

It seemed that this stupid bird can’t be relied on for the rest of the journey.

’Well, now I can only ask the other one.’

Under the cool moonlight, Lorne slowly turned around, his gaze falling on the faint purple figure that had appeared at some point, sitting at the stone table, propping her chin with one hand, looking at him with a smile.