Chapter 643 Athena and Aphrodite
"Sup, the name's Shiro." Shiro waved leisurely as Hermes couldn't help but force a smile at her attitude with a Goddess.
"Haha, I know your name. I also know that you use a bow that's 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 Shiro's 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 we're dealing with such as the person's potential. When we 'reviewed' your nanobots for the first time, it felt like it was a toothpick. Sure it hurts and it may puncture an eye but it won't kill us. However, seeing it again now, it's 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?"
��Because I don't find much use in being anxious. From what I've gathered, you're not a person to go on a genocidal rampage because of a whim. For example, you don't 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, I'd 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 I'm feeling a little frisky, I might just rip out your source code for a skill. After all, a god's power is pretty tempting." Shiro smiled darkly as circuits started to appear on her hand.
"I trust that you won't do it but if my belief is wrong, then that's 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? Haven't you seen that she isn't a s.l.u.t like you?"
"So what cutting board? Haven't 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, she's more suited to rule with wisdom and power. I don't know what kind of divine mushroom you smoked but it's clearly the wrong one."
"Bah! Are you sure you're not the one who's high? Have you seen her? Do you honestly think she's 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 one's 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 body's fully materialised, they turned their attention to Shiro who was still walking up the stairs while ignoring the two.
"So you're 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 don't 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 wouldn't like that woman's 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 Athena's hand, she continued up the steps.
Seeing Shiro dismiss the two high ranking goddess without batting an eye, Artemis couldn't help but chuckle under her breath.
"I'm Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom and War." Athena repeated just to make sure that Shiro heard her properly since people hadn't dismissed gods in such a manner before.
"And I'm 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 I'm a monster then."
"PFT!!! HAH- COUGH!" Quickly cutting her laugh off, Artemis flickered from the area since Aphrodite's face of disbelief was something that Artemis hadn't seen before.
Without his 'shield', Hermes bowed to the two goddess and quickly fled the scene as well.
"So you're not afraid of a god's wrath?" Aphrodite narrowed her eyes with a frown.
"Bite me. I already have a few gods wanting to kill me. One or two more isn't going to make a difference at my level. Plus, I don't think you can kill me right now with the restrictions that are in place." Shiro chuckled.
"She's right you know. However, that is not the same for after the new age starts." Athena raised her eyebrows at Shiro.
"True. But I'm 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 I'm the first. So why are you here? I'm pretty sure that you know I won't be working as your chosen or anything like that." Shiro asked. Sweat started to drip from her face at this point as she hadn't stopped climbing up the staircase. While she didn't 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.
"I'm not sure about cowtits but I'm 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 doesn't 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 don't violate certain morals without a good reason then this blessing will stay with you for as long as you live."
"Go for it then. I'm not going to be refusing a free gift." Shiro smiled.
[You have received Athena's 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]