In a remote garden located on Mount Olympus, ho to most of the world's gods, there was soone at that mont who contrasted enormously with the surroundings, this was Akhon or as he had been called in another life Ethan.
If you paid attention, it looked like he was exercising, sothing rare for the Gods since due to their immortal and omnipotent state compared to mortals, they saw no need to do so, but Akhon was not your average God.
"195...196...197"
Up and down, up and down, that's how the God was and he didn't seem to have any intention of stopping until finally:
"Ungh... 200." He said as he collapsed to the ground.
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Ding! 🔔 You have completed the mission "Warming up (Part 5)"!
🎁 Rewards:
Strength 5
Divine EXP 750
50 Sacred Coins
📈 Statistics update:
⚔️ Strength: 80 → 85
🛡️ Endurance: 87 → 93
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[POV AKHON]
With a simple thought, I dismissed the notification as I sat up on the floor, feeling the physical effort in my muscles. However, soon after, they eased and my body returned to normal, the sweat and muscle pain had disappeared.
"Hmph, the body of a god is much more convenient for training. If I had had a body like that in my world I would never have missed Physical Education," I thought as a smile escaped unconsciously when I rembered my other life.
Once I sat up and stood up, I went to the small lake in front of to see my reflection, in it I could see the image of a young man with short brown hair and sowhat disheveled, my physique although not comparable to that of most Gods, was undoubtedly better than that of the average human, resembling that of a professional swimr, due to my Slim structure.
As I looked at the water, I could see how my eyes, which in my other life had been brown, were now an intense blue, sotis verging on purple. My concentration was interrupted by the sound of a notification, so I went to check the statistics system.
"[Open]" I muttered to myself, at which point a kind of holographic ssage opened up before , showing what I wanted to see.
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📩 NEW QUEST AVAILABLE
🟡 [Heroic Quest: Voice of Power]
"The Divine longs to be heard. Spread your na and awaken belief."
Objective: Convert 10 believers
🎁 Rewards:
5 🧱 Authority
Unlock Skill: [📣 Command]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🟢 [ACCEPT] 🔴 [DECLINE]
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Looking at the mission, I held back from jumping for joy. At last, the physical and training quests were over and finally the day had co to start gathering followers, from now on the path to earning XP and progressing would be faster. I had been waiting for it since I had arrived in this world and the first notification from the system inford how it worked.
So without thinking about it too much, I muttered to myself:
'[ACCEPT]'
And the notification was automatically dismissed, so I opened the main panel to see how it looked now:
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🌌[DIVINE ASCENSION SYSTEM]🌌
🧿 Divine Na: Akhon
📜 Class: F – Newly Ascended
💠 Domain: Power (Dormant — 2%)
👑 Title: None
❤️🔥 DIVINE VITALS
🩸 HP: 4,500 / 4,500
🔥 Energy: 1,000/ 1,000
🌟 Divine EXP: 2,750 / 10,000
🧱 Authority: 0
📊 STATS
🧬 Attribute Value
⚔️ Strength 85
💨 Speed 77
🛡️ Endurance 93
🧠 Willpower 65
🎯 Accuracy 71
Click here to see list of [Active Skills]
-Current Number of [Active Skills]: 1
Click here to see list of [Pasive Skills]
-Current Number of [Pasive Skills]: 3
🗺️ ACTIVE QUESTS
📘 Heroic:
🟡 "Voice of Power"
↳ Convert 10 believers
🎁 Reward: 5 Authority, Ability [📣 Command]
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"Hmph, I wonder what the Command skill is? Oh well, I'll find out when I manage to unlock it. Now all I have to do is find the Hesperides, if I ask them they probably know how to get started," I thought as I got up and started walking through the garden.
With every step I took, the garden unfolded before like a canvas vibrant with color. Flowers of every hue dotted the landscape; deep blues and bright yellows contrasted with the lush green of the grass. The sweet scent of golden apples wafted through the air, a constant reminder of the protection that Aegle and her sisters afforded the tree.
"Aegle, where are you?" I muttered to myself as I made my way through the bushes. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, creating dancing patterns on the ground. Every ti I stepped on a dry branch, a creak resonated, as if nature itself was trying to guide towards it.
The murmur of a nearby fountain caught my attention. I followed the sound, crossing a path lined with white flowers that seed to glow with their own light. When I reached the fountain, I found a small pond where the waters reflected the clear blue sky. But Aegle was not there.
I sighed, frustrated but determined. This garden was huge, and my attempts to find her felt increasingly futile. However, I knew that she could help to attract mortals to . Her advice was valuable; I had heard stories about how she managed to enchant those who ca to the garden.
I continued my search, passing a series of fruit trees whose branches were laden with bright, juicy fruit. Birds chirped happily in the treetops, as if they too were enjoying the day's spectacle.
"Ae." I called again, my voice echoing in the warm air. A pair of yellow butterflies fluttered around , as if playing hide and seek with . "Where have you got to?"
Curiosity led deeper into the heart of the garden. Wild flowers crowded around as I passed, and their heady fragrance filled my lungs as I stepped into the cool shade of a large old oak tree.
Suddenly, I saw a figure among the branches; it was Aegle. Her golden hair shone in the sunlight and her eyes sparkled with a playful sparkle. My heart skipped a beat; I knew I had found what I was looking for.
"Ae?" I exclaid with so hesitation as I approached her, the excitent in my voice barely contained.
As I approached the figure I thought was Aegle, the sunlight illuminated her golden hair. But sothing didn't feel quite right. Her posture was rigid, as if she wasn't breathing. I stopped, frowning as I analyzed what was in front of .
"Ae, is that you?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly between anticipation and confusion.
No answer. I moved a little closer, feeling a strange mixture of excitent and doubt. I raised a hand towards her and as I touched her I realized that her skin was made of cloth. It was a doll, a life-size one dressed in a light robe adorned with flowers from the garden. Her glass eyes sparkled in the sunlight, but there was no life in them.
"Is this a joke?" I muttered, trying to contain my laughter as I realized the absurdity of the situation.
At that mont, a movent behind made turn around. A soft laugh echoed in the air and before I could react, Aegle jumped on my back with playful energy.
"Who am I?" she asked in a lodious tone, imitating a dramatic accent that made laugh involuntarily.
"Ae!" I shouted, feeling her light weight as I struggled to keep my balance. "Here you are."
I turned quickly to face her, and there she was: radiant and full of life. Her golden hair fell in soft waves over her shoulders, and her eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Don't be scared," she said as she laughed, letting go to land nimbly in front of . "I thought you might need so fun."
"I can't believe it," I replied with a mixture of disbelief and relief. 'You made talk to a doll."
"But it was so realistic!' she exclaid with a laugh, pointing to the doll behind as if it were a masterpiece.
"Touché, I don't know whether to get angry or applaud you for the work you've put into this." I said as I folded my arms, although I couldn't help but smile at her contagious enthusiasm.
"You should definitely applaud the great and greatest of the Hesperides sisters." Aegle said as she gave a joke bow, making laugh out loud. To which she soon joined in.
Once the laughter died down, we started talking about our day. Apparently, according to her, I had spent most of the day making the doll, dressing it in one of her dresses and placing it in front of the shadow of a tree. I didn't know whether to be proud or scared by her dedication. So I waited until the right mont had finally arrived to tell her.
"...so anyway, that was my day, how was yours? Anything new?"
"As a matter of fact, yes, I had a question for you, in fact."
"Oooohhh, and what question would a new god like yourself have for little old ?" she asked in the typical teasing tone she used when she was joking, which made smile slightly. "You're not thinking of asking out, are you? After all, what would everyone on Olympus think if one of the great and legendary Hesperides went out with one of the Gods?" She said jokingly, but I still raised an eyebrow at her presumption.
"Okay, first of all, great? I'm pretty sure you're 5'3" and as far as I know there's little difference between you and a pygmy and secondly, legendary maybe, but co on, your job is to look after a tree, I could do it with my eyes closed if I wanted to."
Aegle put her hand to her chest as if her words had mortally wounded her, with a theatricality worthy of a muse of the theater.
"Oh, how cruel of you, Akhon! Is that how you talk to a lady? To the lady who embroidered a doll's dress with her own hands just to make fun of you in style?"
I couldn't help but let out a dry laugh as I shook my head.
"Making fun of in style seems to be your true divine calling."
She smiled smugly, knowing she was right.
"Anyway, what did you want to ask ?" she finally said, lowering her tone, with so genuine interest.
I looked to one side, as if searching for the right words, trying to sound casual.
"You know... what makes soone believe in a god? I an, beyond the obvious. Why does soone decide to worship one in particular?"
Aegle looked at with an arched eyebrow.
"Is that what you wanted to ask ?"
"Yes."
"Was the talk about the altars last week that profound for you?"
"I'm just... thinking. Curious, I guess."
She didn't reply imdiately. She folded her arms and looked out into the garden.
"I guess it depends. Sotis it's fear, other tis hope. So need guidance, others just want soone to listen when they talk to heaven."
Then she looked at with a little more attention.
"But if what you're asking is how to win soone over... then it's a different matter. You have to be visible, have a presence. Inspire. Or intimidate. Or both. Mortals don't pray to what they don't know."
I nodded slowly. The answer made sense to , although it left thinking.
"What if you're not the kind of person who goes around performing miracles all the ti?"
"Then you have to give them sothing. Sothing they can't ignore. A cause, a story, a symbol. Sotis it's enough to be in the right place at the right ti."
"Hmm."
She looked at with narrowed eyes.
"Why so interested all of a sudden? Don't tell you're about to start your own cult."
I chuckled.
"What if I were?"
"Well, I'd help you design the official robe. But first I'd have to beco your first believer, and that's... not so easy."
"No? What would you need for that?" I asked, half joking, half curious.
"For you to convince . For you to look in the eye and make feel that you are saying sothing greater than yourself. Sothing worth believing in."
I stared at her in silence for a few seconds. Her expression was calm, but there was a hint of sincerity that she didn't usually show so often. That threw a little... Aegle was joking, yes, but what she had just said she had ant.
"Sothing bigger than , eh..." I repeated, looking down for a mont. "I don't know if I have anything like that yet."
"Then you won't have believers," she replied without hesitation. "Because faith isn't built on empty promises, at least not if you wanna be like the head honcho of Olympus. It's built on conviction. If you don't believe first, no one else will."
I was silent. Part of knew he was right, and another part... I just didn't know where to start.
"You always speak with such confidence..." I said, folding my arms. "As if everything ca naturally to you."
"Confidence?' she laughed softly. "Nah, that's just practice. Years of pretending I know everything until the others start to believe it. And eventually, you will too."
She smiled at with a certain complicity. I liked that unexpected honesty, the way she let it be known that, although she played at being untouchable, she let knew she also had doubts, just like .
I looked at her for a mont longer and asked, not entirely concealing my curiosity:
"And if you know so much about all this... why don't you have your own believers? Haven't you ever thought of forming your own cult or sothing like that?"
She stood still for just a second, with a lopsided smile.
"Once. But it wasn't the right ti."
"And now?"
"Now I'm not sure if I want followers... or soone to play along with."
"And am I part of that ga?" I asked, as we began to walk slowly through the garden, the magical blooming flowers opening up as we passed, as if they were listening.
"That depends," she said, turning slightly to look at with those eyes that always seed to know more than they said. "Are you going to convince that you're worth it... or are you just testing the water without knowing what you're looking for?"
"I don't know yet," I said, trying to sound carefree while at the sa ti struggling to keep the system out of my thoughts. 'It's like... a nagging feeling. Like I have to do sothing important. But I also don't want to end up being another one of those arrogant idiots that swarm around Olympus.' I mixed a little truth with a little lie, hoping she wouldn't notice the difference.
She nodded slowly, with that look of hers that seed to see beyond words.
"Then try. You don't know what kind of god you can beco if you don't. And about becoming an asshole with a superiority complex..." she said with a small smile, "I — and the others — are going to take it upon ourselves to remind you of who you are."
I couldn't help but smile. A real one, one of those that feel strange and warm at the sa ti. Not even in my other life had I had soone who cared for like that.
"Thanks, Ae. Seriously. You're... amazing."
"I know." she replied with a teasing smile, as if she couldn't resist making the joke.
After a while, we continued walking among the trees, our voices fading into fragnts of low conversation, so soft laughter, and words that probably neither of us would rember completely the next day... but that, in so way, were marking sothing, at least for , I felt it was the beginning of the real in this world.
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