"Sup, the nameās Shiro." Shiro waved leisurely as Hermes couldnāt help but force a smile at her attitude with a Goddess.
"Haha, I know your name. I also know that you use a bow thatās been blessed by one of my friends. Her name is Asteria, you should remember her." Artemis chuckled.
She was a beautiful woman with silver hair that was tinged with a pale blue and her crystal like eyes peered into Shiroās with interest.
"Ah right, Asteria is the Titan Goddess of Stars right?"
"Well she is the Goddess of Oracles, Prophetic Dreams and so on but yes, Stars are apart of her divinity." Artemis laughed.
"So you said that the other gods are also making avatars to meet me right? Why are they so interested?" Shiro asked while making sure that she kept going up the staircase. After all, there was a chance that all of this could just be a trial to prevent her from reaching the top.
"Well there are a few reasons. One of which is the power of your nanobots. We understand a portion of their power due to the garden that you originated from. Aria. However, in this garden, you seemed to have evolved them beyond their initial.... Power limit?" Artemis tapped her chin and replied with a smile.
"Evolved them passed their initial power limit? What do you mean?" Shiro raised her eyebrow since from what she remembers, her nanobots are pretty much the same except for a few minor differences.
"Think of it this way. As gods, we are able to somewhat understand what weāre dealing with such as the personās potential. When we āreviewedā your nanobots for the first time, it felt like it was a toothpick. Sure it hurts and it may puncture an eye but it wonāt kill us. However, seeing it again now, itās like a giant ballista bolt. The potential that your class holds can now kill us for sure, hence why the gods are anxious about you and are currently fighting over you." Artemis shrugged.
"And you can tell me this because?"
ļæ½ļæ½Because I donāt find much use in being anxious. From what Iāve gathered, youāre not a person to go on a genocidal rampage because of a whim. For example, you donāt just wake up thinking I want to kill a city full of people. Therefore, rather than trying to eliminate you or bringing you under us, Iād much rather let you be and watch from the side." Artemis replied while floating besides Shiro.
"Interesting. What if I do want to kill you though? Like Hermes has experienced, I can touch your avatar and if Iām feeling a little frisky, I might just rip out your source code for a skill. After all, a godās power is pretty tempting." Shiro smiled darkly as circuits started to appear on her hand.
"I trust that you wonāt do it but if my belief is wrong, then thatās just me playing with fire and getting burned in the process." Artemis smiled but made no effort to make some distance while Hermes was still hiding behind her.
Shrugging her shoulders, Shiro continued up the stairs.
After a few short moments, two lights appeared in front of them as voices of arguing women could be heard.
"Why are you coming here as well cowtits? Havenāt you seen that she isnāt a s.l.u.t like you?"
"So what cutting board? Havenāt you seen her potential as a charmer? If she plays her cards right, she can have all the men in the world under her thumb. Ignoring the ugly ones of course."
"Rather than rule with beauty and s.e.x.u.a.l favours, sheās more suited to rule with wisdom and power. I donāt know what kind of divine mushroom you smoked but itās clearly the wrong one."
"Bah! Are you sure youāre not the one whoās high? Have you seen her? Do you honestly think sheās patient enough to deal with the bullsh*t that people speak if she tries to rule with wisdom?"
Looking at the two women who were fighting while materialising in front of them, Shiro could already guess their identity.
"I apologise about their... display but they are indeed the Goddess of Love and Beauty, Aphrodite and the Goddess of Wisdom and War, Athena." Artemis said with a slightly forced smile.
Aphrodite was a rather slender woman with long jet black hair that flowed down her back. Her dress was rather revealing but it never revealed too much, leaving much to oneās imagination.
The aura that she released was soothing and even Shiro felt mesmerised for a moment before snapping out of it.
As for Athena, she had long brown hair which swayed gently behind her with every step. Adorned with a golden crown like ornament and armour which overlapped her white dress, her aura was one that was befitting of a Goddess of her nature.
Strong, stern and righteous, one would think to kneel before her but Shiro only felt awkwardness as the words coming out of her mouth were rather extreme and contradicted her aura.
Once their bodyās fully materialised, they turned their attention to Shiro who was still walking up the stairs while ignoring the two.
"So youāre the one who rejected my class before. I am Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty and I must say, you are a fine looking woman." Aphrodite introduced herself while eyeing Shiro with large amounts of interest.
"Thanks for the compliment but I donāt want to sleep with everyone in the world." Shiro dismissed and walked past Aphrodite.
Seeing this, Athena had a smug grin on her face while looking at Aphrodite while Hermes only sighed and decided to keep himself from being noticed for now.
"I knew you wouldnāt like that womanās methods. While I am sad that you did not become my chosen, I understand your choice seeing as your potential is rather impressive right now. I am the Goddess of Wisdom and War, Athena, pleased to meet you." Athena did a slight bow as Shiro nodded her head.
"Sup." Shiro waved lightly.
Shaking Athenaās hand, she continued up the steps.
Seeing Shiro dismiss the two high ranking goddess without batting an eye, Artemis couldnāt help but chuckle under her breath.
"Iām Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom and War." Athena repeated just to make sure that Shiro heard her properly since people hadnāt dismissed gods in such a manner before.
"And Iām Shiro." Shiro waved her hand once more before ignoring the two. Her only goal here was to get to the top and these two were acting as distractions right now.
"You know, people usually give gods their attention in order to not draw their ire." Aphrodite warned as Shiro only shrugged.
"Well thank f*ck Iām a monster then."
"PFT!!! HAH- COUGH!" Quickly cutting her laugh off, Artemis flickered from the area since Aphroditeās face of disbelief was something that Artemis hadnāt seen before.
Without his āshieldā, Hermes bowed to the two goddess and quickly fled the scene as well.
"So youāre not afraid of a godās wrath?" Aphrodite narrowed her eyes with a frown.
"Bite me. I already have a few gods wanting to kill me. One or two more isnāt going to make a difference at my level. Plus, I donāt think you can kill me right now with the restrictions that are in place." Shiro chuckled.
"Sheās right you know. However, that is not the same for after the new age starts." Athena raised her eyebrows at Shiro.
"True. But Iām pretty sure there are quite a few mortals badmouthing gods all the time no?"
"Yes. But none have badmouthed the gods while standing in front of us." Athena smiled.
"Then I guess Iām the first. So why are you here? Iām pretty sure that you know I wonāt be working as your chosen or anything like that." Shiro asked. Sweat started to drip from her face at this point as she hadnāt stopped climbing up the staircase. While she didnāt know how high she was, she knew that she had been climbing for a rather long time now and each step posed some difficulty compared to the ones she took at the start.
"Iām not sure about cowtits but Iām just here to see you with my own eyes. After all, there is a difference with seeing things with your own eyes and seeing them from a screen. And I must say, even in front of gods, your attitude doesnāt change. While I do find it rather humorous, other gods might not have the same sentiment so you should be careful. While you are not my chosen, I can bestow you with another reward." Athena smiled.
"Does it have any drawbacks or requirements?" Shiro asked.
"None. Just think of it as a gift I gave you for free. So long as you donāt violate certain morals without a good reason then this blessing will stay with you for as long as you live."
"Go for it then. Iām not going to be refusing a free gift." Shiro smiled.
[You have received Athenaās Blessing.]
[When you are leading an army to either invade or defend a territory, you can encourage the entire army and increase their stats by 20% for 5 hours.
Cost: N/A
Cooldown: 10 Hours]