Reading the gift, Shiro was surprised that Athena was actually telling the truth.
“Seems like you didn’t expect me to actually give you a proper gift.” Athena chuckled.
“Well I’ve had a rather bad impression of gods thanks to an old enemy of mine.” Shiro shrugged.
“I suppose one bad fruit then people think the whole batch is bad. While that may be the case for a few gods, do remember that not all of us are evil. Even some who may have a questionable divinity are in fact rather kind.” Athena shook her head.
“Aw, are you talking about me?” Aphrodite smiled.
“F*ck no. You can go suck a d*ck. Oh wait, you already do.” Athena rolled her eyes as Aphrodite felt like a vein was about to burst open from annoyance.
“But I suppose you are somewhat ‘good’ albeit a little forcefully.” Athena shrugged before turning towards Shiro once more.
“I’ve already given you my blessing so my goal is complete. This avatar is already running out of power so I’ll be taking my leave. But before I go, I have a tip for you.”
Leaning closer to Shiro’s ear, Athena opened her mouth and whispered.
“Be careful of Zeus. Don’t ignore him but don’t pay him too much attention.”
After saying her line, she flickered from her spot and disappeared.
“That damn woman. You never know if you should be happy or angry with her.” Aphrodite huffed.
“Anyways, I don’t really have a blessing for you since my powers are quite… intimate with both genders. Though, if you want, I can boost your bedtime prowess.” Aphrodite offered as Shiro immediately shook her head.
“I’ll be fine.”
“I figured. However, I do have connections to a few other gods so I’ll get them to give you a gift ok?” She smiled.
“Oh? What gods are you talking about?” Shiro asked as she knew that Aphrodite slept with quite a few of them.
“Poseidon, Ares and even little Hermes if you include him. Though let’s say that he changed his form a little so that I won’t go to bed with him but that hasn’t stopped me yet.” Aphrodite licked her lips as Shiro looked at her with disappointment.
“If there’s an FBI equivalent for gods, I’m pretty sure you’ll be one of the main offenders.”
“Not important. But I’ll get them to give you a gift later. Ares and Poseidon probably won’t come to meet you though.” Aphrodite shrugged.
Flickering from her spot, she wanted to give Shiro a kiss on the cheeks when cold steel blocked her lips.
“Shame.” Aphrodite shrugged and faded from the spot.
Funnily enough, the makeshift sword that Shiro had conjured up at the last moment received a small… Blessing from Aphrodite due to the kiss.
[Charm of Aphrodite]
Enemies hit by this weapon have an 80% chance to be charmed if they’re part of the same species or similar. For others, it is reduced to 50%.
When charmed, they will do everything for you so long as it follows their line of thought. Should you damage them, the charm is cancelled. If you order them to kill themselves without a ‘good reason’ the charm is cancelled.
Looking at the sword, Shiro couldn’t help but sigh.
“I don’t even know if I should keep this sword or just destroy it.” Shiro muttered.
“You should probably keep it. Unfortunately, you were quite hasty in making it so the over structure seems a little weak and it’ll probably break in one or two uses but it’s still going to be handy.” Hermes popped his head out from behind a statue.
“So you and Aphrodite huh?” Shiro raised her eyebrow.
*COUGH!
“A mistake of my youth I guess. I even got my father to help me out as well. Doesn’t really help the fact that he also bed her huh?” Hermes coughed awkwardly.
“No sh*t.” Shiro rolled her eyes.
“So you’re going to give me a gift as well I suppose.” She asked as Hermes nodded.
“I was going to give you it anyways but Aphrodite just sort of decided without my agreement.” Hermes shrugged.
Snapping his fingers, a pair of winged sigils appeared on Shiro’s boosts.
[Blessing of Hermes – 1/1 Charge]
Passive: Your speed is increased by 30% and you can travel with ease whether that be through the air, sea or land.
Active: You may create a gateway to any destination you have visited or know about so long as you have a clear understanding of its location. (One Time Use)
“You might think it’s not as impressive but the gateway is quite a rule breaking skill if you know how to use it. After all, if you obtained knowledge about the source of all magic, you could teleport there and obtain an unlimited source of mana.” Hermes smiled.
Looking down at his hands, he could already see his form flicker from the lack of power.
“Well it’s been nice talking to you. I’ll be watching your story.” Hermes bowed and disappeared from his spot.
“He was pretty friendly.” Shiro muttered.
“Indeed he is. In such a short time, you’ve obtained the blessings of three gods and there are more to come. What do you think of the situation?” Artemis asked with a smile.
“It seems strange. Honestly, I’m not really keen on using any of these since the last time I used something given to me by a ‘god’ my soul was almost taken away.” Shiro narrowed her eyes at Artemis.
“I can guarantee that these blessings are real. You can even ask Nyx. If you are still curious, let me phrase it like this. They get benefits as well by blessing you. Aphrodite is a little unique as she’ll receive benefits from her partners after they bless you. But all in all, it is a win win situation for all sides.”
“Care to explain the benefits then?” Shiro raised her eyebrow.
“Hmm… sure. Each benefit is unique to each god but for Hermes, he obtains a bit of knowledge about the location you teleported to. But not all of it. So if you do indeed find the source of all magic, he’ll also get some knowledge about its location. But the key is that he’ll only get ‘some’ of the knowledge. It’s like getting a hint in a puzzle so you don’t have to worry.” Artemis replied truthfully.
“And that solidifies it. Don’t trust gods and just trust yourself.” Shiro shrugged.
“Well you can trust Athena at least. She gives her blessings out to those she favours like candy to children. She doesn’t care about the benefits that she’ll get since she’s a high ranking god.”
“And what about you? Are you going to be giving me your blessing?” Shiro joked.
“Unfortunately no since my blessings are useless on you. There are a few types of blessings, Utility, Tool and Stat based. The one that Athena gave you is Stat based and the same goes with Hermes but his is a mix of Stat and Utility. The one that Aphrodite gave to the sword is Utility based. As for my blessing, it is solely tool based which means that it’ll improve your performance with the bow. But with what I can tell, it seems like you can master any tool you use so my blessings are obsolete on you.” Artemis admitted with a soft sigh.
“Fair enough.”
“However, I will say that I will give you my blessing anyways for two reasons.” Artemis smiled as Shiro paused for a moment before resuming her steps.
“And they are?”
“The first reason is that the second part of my blessings helps you a little and the second reason is that after you collect a certain amount of blessings, you’ll receive something from the system. Me giving you mine is to speed up the process.” Artemis smiled.
“Just out of curiosity, am I able to reject these blessings or are they just forcefully put on me?” Shiro asked.
“You can reject them if you want. The system will remove them for you.” Artemis answered before drawing her symbol in the air.
Pushing it towards Shiro, her form dimmed down slightly.
[Blessing of Artemis.]
You are guaranteed to hit every shot that you take with any ranged attack at the cost of 5% of your mana per shot. However, this does not affect their guard so they can still block the attack.
All healing spells/skills that affect you and the people around you are 20% more effective.
“With this, my job is done. Good luck with Nyx, it’s not often that she’ll invite someone personally. She even gave you a glimpse of the future too.” Artemis smiled.
“Mn, it was rather handy. I’ll see you next time I suppose if I get the chance.” Shiro waved her hand as Artemis nodded her head and disappeared.
Once Artemis disappeared, Shiro glanced towards the peak of the mountain. There, she could see several figures waiting for her on the steps while a silhouette of a throne could be seen on the top of the mountain.
Narrowing her eyes, Shiro understood that the silhouette belonged to the ruler of these gods.
Zeus.
