Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Chapter 607 - 192 Three Times

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?"

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.