Mountain of the Immortals

The rest of the evening passed in the blink of an eye. Artemis oversaw the repairs and the harvesting while Aphrodite talked to some merchants from far away realms who happened to be in the town of Dion during the attack and—upon seeing how we’d defeated the dragon—decided to stay and pledge their allegiance to me.

My time was spent indoors and less productively but I guessed that after the global notification, I should have expected it. Thousands of people were suddenly reaching out to me by magical means, congratulating me for my success and suggesting alliances. Their messages came to me in a similar way to how the guild chat worked, though I already knew that communicating with a stranger over long distances, or even from different realms, required magic items that weren’t easy to come by. Especially the ones who let me reply back.

Fortunately, there were very few of those that would allow me to send an answer and I tried to be as straightforward and endearing as I could. After all, the people now communicating with me were powerful. Some of them I even recognized from my leveling-up days. However, I was surprised to see the titan Oceanus, who was my father’s brother, among those who sent a message to congratulate me.

* * *

You have received a message from Oceanus.

Do you want to read it?

Yes No

* * *

I had visited my uncle’s underwater guildhall several times and had always been on good terms with him, but I didn’t expect him to contact me after what had happened with my father. My curiosity taking the best of me, I focused on the word “Yes” and read the message he sent me.

Look who is all grown up and killing word raid bosses. Congratulations, boy. I knew you had it in you.

Fortunately, the message didn’t allow for a reply or else things might have gotten complicated. From the looks of it, my uncle had no idea that his brother had devoured my siblings and was trying to kill me, and as much as he liked me I was sure that if it came down to choosing between me and Cronus, he’d choose his brother.

Leaving worries such as this for another day, I walked out of the house and stepped out under the starry sky of Mount Olympus. The evening breeze brought with it an almost irresistible odor of grilled meat and I could do nothing else but follow it. The trail took me to the center of the settlement where dozens of long tables had been set up and people were already drinking and chatting with each other. The work had ceased and the gigantic corpse at the other end of the valley was now surrounded by a thin bubble of water, whose surface shimmered under the silvery full moon.

“Here!” Aphrodite shouted and waved at me from a table that stood higher than the rest of them.

The meat was just being served when I approached the table, which had only three chairs. The middle one was empty, presumably for me, while Aphrodite sat to its right and Artemis to its left. They had both changed out of their fighting gear and were now wearing long, flowing dresses—pink for Aphrodite and cyan for Artemis.

“This is quite a feast,” I said as I sat down between them and looked at the hundreds of people who were slowly now realizing I’d arrived and starting to go quiet.

“I think they’re waiting for you to say something,” Aphrodite noted.

I looked at her beautiful eyes and then turned to face Artemis who nodded in agreement. I stood up and gazed out over the people sitting in front of us, looking up at me with pride and admiration. It was at that moment that my resolve hardened even further. Surrounded by the two most beautiful and powerful goddesses I had ever met and standing in front of people who had pledged their lives to me, I realized this was what I was meant to be.

“People of Olympus!” I shouted, raising my wine-filled chalice and waited for our citizens to raise their mugs in salute. “Citizens of Dion!” I continued and waited for them to raise their mugs as well. “Merchants, adventurers, people from near and far!” I said and waited until everyone had raised their glasses.

I downed the whole chalice in one go and the hundreds of people mimicked me. I set it down and waited for them to settle down before continuing.

“Today has been a day people will talk about for thousands of years to come,” I shouted. “The day when the king of monsters was slain. The day when the guild of Zeus made its first splash in the lake of history.”

The people shouted in agreement and excitement and I continued, motivated by their enthusiasm.

“For this is only the first step for this guildhall on the glorious path we are set upon,” I continued, their enthusiasm and cheers nearing their peak. “Eat. Drink. Fuck. This night is for us to enjoy. The kings and queens of the new world.”

So loud were their roars that they might as well have been a battle call. Wine and mead were flung around as the men and women got drunk on the ecstasy of our glorious victory. I could feel their love for this guild and by extension for their god. So much so that I instantly regained two Divinity Points.

“I have to admit, you’re quite good with the crowds,” Aphrodite said as I sat back down.

“A necessary skill for every leader,” Artemis added from my other side.

“To us,” I said, and raised my now-refilled chalice to the two goddesses. “To the eternal bond we share and to the glory that awaits us.”

“To us,” they both echoed, and we each drank our share.

The festivities officially took off when a few bards took out their fiddles and drums and started playing music for dancing. At that point, most of the people were done with the dragon steak they had been served and were just getting drunk. The combination of the buff from the meat and the debuff from the wine was the perfect mixture for partying.

* * *

Name: Typhon Steak

Type: Buff

Level: 9

Effect: Increases Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Physical Defense, Magic Defense, Attack Speed, Casting Speed, Speed, and Alcohol Tolerance by 9% for 180 minutes.

* * *

Of course I had known that this would be a perfect battle meal but at the moment what mattered was that it raised the Alcohol Tolerance of everyone, including me and the goddesses.

* * *

Name: Inebriated

Type: Debuff

Level: 5

Effect: Reduces Physical Attack, Magic Attack, Physical Defense, Magic Defense, Attack Speed, Casting Speed, Speed, and Perception by 5% for 240 minutes.

* * *

The food buff more than offset the wine debuff in terms of numbers, but it wasn’t doing anything to the lowered inhibitions of my citizens. But as drunk and focused on dancing and celebrating as our people were, they didn’t miss when the three of us eventually rose to retire for the night. The singing and shouting quickly turned to cheers of excitement and eventually the chanting of our names as they saw us leave the festivities. I couldn’t help but smile at their reaction and waved them goodbye before we turned the corner and walked quickly to our house.