Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Ever since the change of eras, the trace of the Golden Apples has never been seen in the world again.

The original reserves were depleted by Zeus and his brothers, and the newly born one became an instrument for Moanda's reincarnation. Once she completed her reincarnation, she was even less likely to bear any fruit with her own body.

For a Plant, fruiting itself is an act that consumes strength, even for the Golden Apple Tree, the first plant of the world.

Moanda had no intention of following such a meaningless instinct. Even the existences that called themselves 'Dark Elves,' if it weren't for the will of Erebus, she would not have thought of creating them.

After all, although they indeed brought her a considerable amount of faith, the Goddess of Life was actually the one among the Olympian Gods who least lacked faith.

Among the three deities worshiped at the Oracle of Delphi, Mother Earth, the giver of life to all spirits, had always been present. But with the transfer of the Life Vase, this fixed faith also shifted along with it.

That is to say, in the Golden Apple Tree, there was not just one will but two—a primordial one existing alongside Moanda, leading to the actual ownership of [Life] and [Plant] on the material side not being entirely hers. Otherwise, whether Athena was truly the strongest under Zeus, that might really be a matter for debate.

"Golden Apples... truly the miracle of creation!"

Despite having just probed into Moanda's origins, Eris's gaze still lost focus for a moment as she looked at the treasure exuding the aura of life before her.

This was also her first personal contact with this legendary food, and she even felt that the records passed down among the gods probably underestimated its presence.

In her impression, Golden Apples should only be capable of reshaping the bodies or healing the wounds of deities, or helping True Gods quickly reach the limit allowed by their Innate Divine Positions. That was already an extraordinary ability, but at this moment, Eris felt a longing.

Intuition told her that this Golden Apple might have even more wondrous effects. Was the rumor mistaken, or was it different from the original ones?

"This is it," she nodded to herself and confirmed the existence of the Golden Apple. "Hand it over to me. According to our agreement, I shall—hmm? What do you mean by this?"

Taking a step forward, Eris was ready to take it, but Moanda stepped back, avoiding her grasp.

"Are you going to break our agreement? I don't really mind since I originally did not want to do this."

"Of course not, but as a member of Olympus, how could I 'give' a Golden Apple to a deity of the Underworld to stir up discord within the Divine Court?"

Shaking her head, facing the Goddess's questioning, Moanda just smiled.

She caressed the fruit in her hand, then with a gentle toss in front of Eris, she threw the golden fruit into the nearby lake.

The lake water splashed a bit, and the tortured soul of Tantalus seemed to notice this scene as he painfully turned his head.

Yet he only saw a glint of gold falling into the water and failed to notice two deities who were close at hand. Find more chapters on My Virtual Library Empire

"Since you've chosen to meet me here of your own volition, I might as well go along with your wishes — Eris, this Golden Apple wasn't given by me, but rather, you contrived to take it yourself. Before I left the Underworld, I left a Golden Apple for the Dark Elves, guarded personally by the Dragon Mother as a so-called sacrifice to the Primordial Gods.

However, no one expected that a True God from the Underworld would scheme and steal this divine fruit under Hades' insinuation,"

"She evaded the pursuit by utilizing the prison established by the Divine King, and then brought the Golden Apple to the vast ocean. As for her next steps, I'm not so sure."

Turning around, Moanda described the process indifferently as if Eris didn't exist at all.

"The elves and the Dragon Mother, furious at the loss of the divine fruit, encountered the reproach of the Primordial Gods. Consequently, they swore an oath that only the great Lord of Darkness was worthy of this sacrifice, and no matter who stole it or where it ended up, they would retrieve it."

"Whoever possesses this Golden Apple, they are their enemy - of course, the enemy of their enemy is a friend, and if the opponent is too powerful, they will have to seek some helpers. That's the gist of this affair, and the mortal who has been cursed by All Gods just happened to take notice of this matter by coincidence, which is quite plausible, isn't it?"

"..."

Stunned into silence, Eris was once again shocked by the shamelessness of the celestial deities.

She thought only Zeus who covertly urged her to plot against her kin was capable of such a deed, but she hadn't expected that Moanda could utter such words with an unchanged expression.

It's true that most of the deities of the Underworld preside over discord, lies, and doom, but they rarely engage in such activities. It is only because mortals fear them that they fabricate various rumors.

"...What an eloquently justified excuse."

"In any case, my task is now complete, and what follows is no longer my concern."

Unperturbed by the disdainful sneer of the Goddess of Discord, Moanda turned into a streak of cyan light and flew towards the direction from which she had come.

Eris was surprised - she could still feel surprise. Although both of them were divine beings laboring for Zeus, sold by the Lord of Darkness, the other party was indeed diligently taking the blame and working, all the while facing another Primordial God...

Since the beginning of the world, apart from Earth Mother Gaia, no other two great ones were known to have sworn a relentless hatred, only relenting when wounded and forced into slumber. But it was different with ordinary True Gods.

Even though Moanda was unsure why Erebus and Zeus suddenly planned to ignite a war in the Mortal Realm, she didn't want to be the spark. If Eris was smart, she should also find someone to take the fall.

No matter how the other side acted, it no longer concerned her. The chip Erebus promised had been paid, the forces he was to dispatch were ready, and she could leave the Underworld with her own essence, fully aligning with Olympus... With this thought, Moanda realized she had been sold thrice.

The god who resurrected her ignored her, sold her to the Lord of Darkness for some unknown price, and after she created life, Erebus once again sold her to the Divine King. The question remains: how long will Zeus be able to hold on this time?

No one knew the answer, and thus in the Underworld, dominated by dark hues, a transaction destined to be recorded in history books was settled.

The wedding feast above the Pontus Euxinus was still being prepared, and the stage was not yet set up, but the preparations beneath it were already halfway done.

······

Smack—

"If I'm not mistaken, this is the third round, isn't it…"

"Yes, it seems the outcome is not looking good, the prince has already lost two rounds."

"It's hard to say, two rounds aren't enough to determine the result, the game is getting more complex, maybe it's a matter of luck?"

"Who knows, but didn't the woman who arranged the bet say there was a 'secret' in her game, and if someone could decipher it, they too might claim victory?"

"Who can tell if that's true or not, even the riddle of the Sphinx, the great demon with the body of a lion and the head of a human from legends, I've never heard of a fixed solution, each riddle it poses is different."

"It's hard to pronounce... If Prince Odysseus cannot win, perhaps only the Goddess of Wisdom can see through the mystery behind it all."

...

In the city of Acropolis, the crowd was growing larger, after all, this wasn't a well-constructed Grand Arena, just a street.

Those outside couldn't see what was happening inside, a dense wall of onlookers blocked the view. Fortunately, among these spectators were professionals who naturally had ways to overcome this problem.

At this moment, various arcane eyes, birds bound by contracts, and other means of observation were densely packed around the small street, fixing their gaze on the large table at the very center.

Coin after coin was being placed on the table, making a smacking sound; this was already Odysseus's third round.

"Your Highness, it seems the wealth you brought from home is almost depleted. If you lose this round, I'm afraid there'll be no chips left for you to use."

After taking a sip of tea and feeling much refreshed, Andrea glanced at the pile of gold coins that had accumulated into a small mountain and couldn't help but offer advice.

That was already more than several years' worth of taxes for a city, and Qatar was not some famous great nation, it was just an island country similar to Phoenicia, near the Ionian Sea.

Keep in mind, the changing stakes of the game required Odysseus to bet wealth of an equal amount, which meant an exponential leap.

"I know, but most of this is the profit I've accumulated over the years from traveling all countries. I haven't really cared much about the growth of wealth before…"

Taking a deep breath, the young prince's expression was already extremely serious. He carefully placed another gold coin on the table, where six neat rows were arranged from left to right.

"Intuition tells me that the secret of this game has a very tight connection to the issue of who goes first, so your rules demand 'if you aren't the one to arrange the gold coins, then you decide who takes first'. Sadly, I still haven't figured out the mystery behind that."

Raising his hand to indicate he was done, Odysseus watched his opponent closely.

Although he started off quite relaxed, even wanting to get to know this beautiful girl named Leah, by now he had come to regard Andrea as a worthy opponent.

He took note of her contemplation; it seemed as if she were calculating something, then unhesitatingly took away a corresponding amount of coins. Unfortunately, he still could not understand what she was calculating.

"Miss Leah, what do you plan to do afterward? If no one can solve your game, are you going to spread it as a puzzle to the world?"

"I don't know, but at least before the end of this assembly, I have no intention of revealing the answer."

Chatting idly, Andrea was unaware of the prince's changing thoughts. After all, since she learned the algorithm of the game, she knew no matter what, she was bound not to lose; the only exception would be if someone could detect the pattern and win that way.

Yet, people of this era, maybe due to their architectural needs, had achieved a little in terms of geometric composition, but that was it. So, not half an hour later, Andrea won the round again.

Rustle—

Clang—

When the third round ended, a large amount of wealth was dumped onto the side, a small mountain of it, which even included a very lavish-looking treasured sword.

Odysseus's face was covered with quite a bit of sweat as he looked somberly at the empty table.

He had a vague sense that the existence of who went first was meant to maintain some kind of 'balance', and as long as this 'balance' existed, no matter how he took the coins, he would never win the game.

In principle, he could give up, but he had just come to understand a little something, which made the prince unwilling to end it there.

Touching his empty waist, perhaps a bit caught up in the moment, Odysseus gritted his teeth slightly.

"In the next round, if I lose, I will bring enough stakes to you later, and if we ever become enemies in the future, I will yield three times to you."

"Then let's continue."

Indifferently speaking, Andrea nodded her head.

So the fourth round began and, as expected, ended. The result was no different; the little princess won the ultimate victory again.