Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 847: Chapter 329 ‘Unqualified’ and ‘Monument

After defeating the Siren, Heracles buried her body beneath those reefs, taking only her throat bone as a keepsake.

This wasn’t due to any peculiar hobby of his, but rather the Siren’s own wish.

Knowing she was doomed, the Siren left her final words.

“You who call yourselves just humans… You kill me for slaying innocent crew members, but do you truly dare to punish those real culprits behind it all?”

“If you dare, then I will acknowledge your justice.”

“But if you don’t, you’re just another coward who bullies the weak and pretends to be righteous, a hypocrite.”

Heracles did not respond to the Siren’s last words.

He simply took the Siren’s throat bone, letting it bear witness to his future experiences.

Hearing is uncertain, seeing is believing.

Although he had heard many stories about the gods from others, Heracles himself had not seen them even once.

This was one of the purposes of his journey, after all, the creator of the Bronze Age was the deity closest to humans.

…

Soon, this episode passed.

After the Nomas Lion’s hide and Hydra’s poison teeth, the hero acquired his third trophy.

The Sea Whale Boat once again set sail underwater, the alchemy ship began progressing toward the Sea Eye.

Since the Wind Gods hadn’t sent any news, Heracles set aside his concerns and focused his energy on this voyage.

The Siren was just a small episode in this journey; according to Olymus, the perils at sea far exceeded his imagination.

However, sailing on the undersea alchemical giant ship, they were able to avoid ninety percent of those dangers.

“But there’s an unavoidable obstacle, the Caucasus Divine Eagle.”

Whispering the name, perhaps there was a destined link, even though Prometheus was no longer imprisoned in the Caucasus Mountains, pecked at by the Divine Eagle day and night.

Yet on a certain day a century ago, the demon with Typhon’s blood still crossed mountains and seas, establishing its nest in the East Sea.

Olymus didn’t know its exact lair location, but he told Heracles the Divine Eagle often hovered around the Sea Eye.

It inherited from the King of All Monsters its unparalleled eye power, whether stargazing or deep-sea watching, once it locked onto prey, it couldn’t escape.

“The Sea Whale Boat can navigate underwater, theoretically the Divine Eagle shouldn’t detect any strange aura.”

“However, there are no living things around the Sea Eye, their only destination is to sink into the bottomless Sea Abyss.”

“In such a situation, even if it appears normal, it will inevitably be discovered.”

“And this time, the ship lacked the Deity’s aura of protection.”

“No problem.”

Waving a hand, the hero’s voice was calm.

Among the sailing vessels, his presence was as reassuring as ever.

“This is not a problem, I will solve it; that is why you came with me, isn’t it?”

“If it dares to attack us, I will bring it down as a gift for the Fire Thief.”

…

“Ding—”

“Examination paper collected…”

“…Starting assessment, please wait…”

The clear, standard, humanized voice was accompanied by the familiar ‘ding’ sound once again.

Outside Silver Moon City, Zephyrus looked at the bronze light sphere in front of him, his bird-like face filled with resignation.

Several days had passed since the last ‘registration,’ and while Heracles was on his sea adventure, the God of West Wind was not idle in the southeastern continent.

Only compared to the hero’s journey, his ‘adventure’ was somewhat different.

“Ding—”

“Assessment completed.”

“This test involved twenty-four questions, twenty-four answered, full score one-hundred-and-twenty.”

“After verification by this assistant, Testee 001 scored fifteen points, the result—failed.”

“Please keep striving to become an intelligent citizen of Silver Moon City as soon as possible.”

“Above.”

Slam—!

Wings beat against the ground, and Zephyrus’ bird eyes turned red.

Damn it, he had expected to fail, but thought he would get at least seven or eight questions right.

What happened? Only three, just three!

As a God, he had tolerated enough of this humiliation!

“Wait!”

“I dispute this, it’s unreasonable, absolutely unreasonable, someone cheated!”

Already forgotten why he came there, after several days of burying himself in books, the God of West Wind was staring dead at the bronze sphere with his seventh test still fresh.

Ever since failing once, that pale silver machine had been replaced.

Left with him was just this bronze one.

This must be an inside job, it had to be an inside job!

How could he, a dignified member of the Twelve Olympian Gods, not complete something so simple!

“I protest, you must have registered me wrong, why am I Testee 001 again?”

“Did you swap my test paper with someone else’s? I’ve suspected it all along!”

Zephyrus was filled with righteous indignation, like a student who studied hard for a week only to still fail.

Yet before him, the bronze sphere stood motionless, patiently explaining:

“Dear Mr. Bird, though to someone who chose to cheat during the first exam, protesting against others cheating is laughable.”

“But considering your right to raise objections, I’ll address your question.”

“The specific reason is this—according to Silver Moon City’s relevant records, we assigned a number to every sentient being who came for testing.”

“Moreover, based on failure count, we added easily recognizable special marks to those numbers.”

“But until today, no one in Silver Moon City had attempted the retest more than five times, we only prepared six numbers, so…”

Before finishing the sentence, Zephyrus already understood.

Although the bronze sphere’s voice wasn’t loud, its insulting nature was obviously strong.

Just that initial ‘cheating’ made Zephyrus regret his rashness, and the following content made him deeply embarrassed.

Damn it, what a garbage test; no wonder folks from Silver Moon City are so arrogant.

From these abominable exam questions, one could tell how rebellious they were against All Gods!

“Respected 001, perhaps if you see this from another angle, it might even be a good thing.”

The sphere ignored the West Wind God’s anger, continuing in its tone.

“After all, regardless, you have set a thousand-year record in Silver Moon City, forever etched in its annals.”

“Even if it’s just a minor note, it’s something ordinary folks could never achieve in a lifetime…”

“Wait, what did you say?!”

Face changing dramatically, Zephyrus looked up sharply.

Yet changes never occur because of personal preference, the bronze sphere cared not for his emotions.

Or more precisely, the God of West Wind’s reaction was one of its data points.

“Ah…is it because you are overly excited?”

“No worries, I understand, but please rest assured.”

“The related content has been uploaded and recorded by the appropriate personnel; even I can’t withdraw it, there will be no issues.”

“Barring surprises, your deeds will soon become timeless, an indelible monument in Silver Moon City’s history…”

Thud—!

Head tilted, unclear if truly or feigned faintness.

In any case, without prior warning, the bird Zephyrus transformed into fell to the ground.

Yet for a long while, no one considered helping him up.

After some time, the God of West Wind awoke with a look of realization, slowly rising from the ground.

“Mr. 001, you’re awake?”

The voice was gentle, yet for unknown reasons, Zephyrus seemed to hear a hint of mirth.

Though probably just a misconception, as most alchemical tools operate without emotions, merely following programmed instructions.

In Hephaestus’ Forge Temple, he had seen similar things.

One was god-made while the other a so-called alchemy product, yet they should be roughly comparable… Regardless, after returning to the divine mountain, Zephyrus intended to learn more about such knowledge from Hephaestus.

“Ahem, my apologies, I’ve not been in great spirits recently.”

With a serious demeanor, the God of West Wind pretended no one saw the preceding events.

After all, it’s just an embarrassing moment for a bird; he vowed never to transform into a bird again.

“It’s alright, in fact, you’ve been unconscious for a whole day.”

“So tell me, are you ready for the eighth examination?”

“…”

Silent and speechless, Zephyrus’ eye twitched.

Were there a glimmer of success, he felt he would strive.

Yet such whimsical knowledge, utterly beyond his comprehension, was impossible to pass without guidance.

“Well… I’d like to ask.”

“Besides this test, is there any other way to enter Silver Moon City?”

Hesitantly, the God of West Wind was almost hopeless.

Failing that, he could only appeal to the Principal God… However, considering his recent experiences and the certainty that Zeus would inquire about his obstacles, he still wished to struggle on his own.

“Ah, please allow me a moment to retrieve the information… Got it.”

In the hopeful gaze of Zephyrus, the bronze sphere gently rotated.

Soon, a response that nearly moved him to tears came from the sphere.

Finally… With so much invested, it would be too great a loss to simply give up.

Not understanding ‘sunk costs,’ the God of West Wind breathed a sigh of relief; he felt he saw a comeback opportunity.

“So, please tell me…”

“It’s simple.”

The bronze sphere slightly wobbled, then emitted a dim light.

“Given the intellect test was unsatisfactory, we can switch focus to physical testing.”

“We’ll assess Mr. Bird’s bodily fluids, structures, responses to varied environments.”

“If everything meets expectations, you’ll still earn a special admission pass.”

“Then, Mr. 001, are you prepared to forgo written exams for the physical test?”

“Certainly!”

Through gritted teeth, Zephyrus consented immediately.

Damn it, why wasn’t this shortcut mentioned earlier?

Had he known, he wouldn’t have cheated and gotten caught!

If word got out, the entire Olympian God would become a laughingstock… Pondering this, the God of West Wind nodded vigorously.

Darn it, if given the chance, he’d flatten Silver Moon… er…

…Better not.

Thinking momentarily, rationality returned, and Zephyrus silently dismissed the thought.

After all, as a deity worshipping primitive gods, the God of West Wind respected his predecessors and wouldn’t commit foolhardiness.

“Hmph, if possible, I shall one day steal Silver Moon City’s records and destroy them!”

Muttering fiercely, Zephyrus gazed at the bronze sphere.

“Lead the way ahead, such a trivial test of physique, is trivial for me.”

“I hope once I pass, no further troubles await.”

“…Very well, Mr. 001, please follow me.”

Light flickered, seemingly infected by Zephyrus’ confidence.

Upon hearing, the bronze light sphere morphed into an arrow-mark indicator.

It hovered before the God of West Wind, guiding him deeper into the enigma’s core.

“Just over there, it’s not far.”

“Frankly, proactive participants like you… we’ve not seen in many years.”

Indeed, they hadn’t.

To speak precisely, they had never encountered one.