I, with my frail and sickly body, simultaneously traverse hundreds of worlds.

Page 10

"Go, child, we will meet again in the future. I hope that by then you will have become a true hero and be able to bear my blessings. I have only one request: do not forget your original intention."

"I really want to say yes, but your words are contradictory. I really don't want to be a hero."

Hestia didn't pay attention and gently pushed Bai Zhi's back.

The power is subtle, yet undeniable.

Bai Zhi staggered forward a few steps, and the moment she stepped out of the carriage, everything went dark. The carriages beside her and behind her disappeared, leaving only a tall palace in front of her.

The incessant knocking sounds emanated from the palace.

“This is the temple of the god Hephaestus…” Bai Zhi stepped forward and was about to knock on the door when…

The bronze gate suddenly opened, and a maid with a delicate face stepped out.

"Hello, Lord Diomedes, Lord Hephaestus has been waiting for you for a long time. Please follow me."

After the maid finished speaking, she turned and left without giving Bai Zhi a chance to refuse. He glanced at the compass needle and followed the maid into the temple.

The Temple of Hephaestus was not the ruthless blacksmith shop Bai Zhi had imagined. Instead, it was exquisite and full of orderly beauty. The decoration and furniture were clearly extraordinary at first glance.

"Furniture made by the god Hephaestus?" He had thought that this god of forging only made weapons and equipment, so these everyday pieces of furniture were a surprise to him.

The bronze temple was quite deserted. Even though there were many beautiful maids coming and going, he still felt very depressed and there was no human touch at all.

'It's even more oppressive than the laboratory of Destiny. If I didn't know this was the temple of the God of Forging, I would have thought it was the palace of Hades. Also, they're probably androids. Hephaestus has quite good taste.'

Maids came and went, each with exquisite features, different figures and temperaments. Queens, mature women, maids, lolis, emotionless, aloof, charming, pure... maids walked past me, their eyes fixed straight ahead, as if they were programmed machines, performing their duties.

Bai Zhi glanced at it and then looked away. Gods are troublesome, and the creations of gods are troublesome too. After all, he couldn't be sure if Hephaestus was a figurine collector.

Bai Zhi didn't want to experience the kind of rage that someone with their own collection of figurines felt towards anyone who dared to tamper with them.

“We are all creations of Lord Hephaestus.” Seemingly sensing Bai Zhi’s curiosity, the maid explained. Judging from this observation, even artificial beings are no less intelligent than humans. She pointed to the door next to her and said, “Lord Hephaestus is inside. He instructed that you go in alone.”

"Thank you for showing me the way." After expressing her gratitude, Bai Zhi looked at the bronze door, which was as tall as a three-story building, and wondered if it was an automatic sensor door.

However, turning my gaze, I realized the maid had vanished sometime during the night. The corridor was empty and deserted, and the maid who had been standing guard was nowhere to be seen either.

“I really don’t understand gods.” Shaking her head, Bai Zhi placed her hands on the bronze door, took a deep breath, stepped forward, and pushed forward with all her might.

"Wait, the weight is wrong!"

The moment he exerted force, Bai Zhi sensed something was wrong. The bronze door felt lighter than air to him, and his actions were as if a human were trying to push away the air, meaningless.

The bronze door swung open and crashed into the walls on both sides. Bai Zhi, due to the excessive force, lost her balance, stumbled, and fell to the ground, landing face-first.

"It hurts, it hurts..."

Covering his burning, painful cheek, Bai Zhi knelt down and slowly raised his head. It seemed as if a layer of cloth was draped over the back of his head, but the pain in his cheek made him overlook this detail.

He rubbed his eyes, tried to open them, and then took in the sight of long, white legs and the absolute territory beneath the skirt.

What did the maid just say? Hephaestus, the god of these long legs, is waiting for him in the room...

Cold sweat broke out instantly, her body trembled uncontrollably, and goosebumps appeared on her skin. Driven by survival instinct, Bai Zhi quickly retreated. The long skirt covering her head lost its obstruction and continued to perform its original function, only it was a little too late.

"Hehehehe F...Sto...Great...Man..."

She was speaking incoherently, and Bai Zhi's mind was in complete chaos.

The tragic fates of humans who offended the goddess kept resurfacing.

He died before he could even begin his mission, thinking he was destined to survive, only to find out the cause of death was opening a door too forcefully. Could anything be more ridiculous? No, it's uncertain whether his soul will even be able to safely enter the underworld.

Bai Zhi fell into a state of existential doubt, and involuntarily uttered her last words.

"How much more time do you want to waste? You don't need to care about trivial matters. Your life is like a candle in the wind in the eyes of God. If I let you die, Hera will come to bother me again."

A magnetic, slightly hoarse voice came from behind, and Hephaestus, sitting in his wheelchair, looked at Bai Zhi with a strange gaze.

Her eyes were full of doubt about Bai Zhi's lack of appreciation for life, without any anger at being offended, and without the slightest bit of the pettiness of a Greek goddess.

“Okay, okay.” He raised his head, and Hephaestus’s face was revealed to him.

Beneath the long yellow hair was a face clad in a simple white half-face mask. The exposed half of her face was beautiful, unlike Hestia's maternal beauty or Artemis's pure and flawless beauty. Instead, it was Hephaestus's unique beauty—a beauty that was both resolute and self-deprecating, making her all the more pitiful.

After glancing at it, Bai Zhi quickly looked away, not daring to look any longer, for who knew if the gods would feel offended by her gaze.

At least, Bai Zhi understood one fact.

Hephaestus was a goddess.

The Greek Runaway Prince: Chapter Eighteen - The Embryo of the Divine Artifact

Why is this child so terrified?

Hephaestus couldn't understand Bai Zhi, nor did he understand why Bai Zhi immediately lowered his head after raising it.

Looking down at the hem of her skirt, she recalled the embarrassing incident where the other person had accidentally crawled under her skirt.

Hephaestus tilted his head, still not understanding.

Touching his numb legs and the mask covering half his face, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

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'Do these legs, which are no different from mere decorations, contain anything frightening? No... so...'

“It was my face that frightened you. I know it’s ugly, don’t I?” Hephaestus tightened his mask, his tone full of self-mockery.

Hephaestus was abandoned from Mount Olympus by his mother Hera because of his appearance at birth, which instilled in him a sense of inferiority. This inferiority complex was amplified after he married Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty.

'Ugly?' The seemingly irrelevant question left Bai Zhi completely bewildered. However, knowing that Hephaestus didn't mind his initial offense, he breathed a sigh of relief and carefully explained, "I was attracted by your beauty, Lord Hephaestus, and dared not overstep any further."

"Beauty?"

Is there something wrong with this child's eyes?

"Yes, you are beautiful."

Hephaestus was stunned. Although she did not have the same divine authority as Hermes regarding lies, she could still tell whether Bai Zhi was lying or not.

The boy before her was different from the flattering lies of the heroes who had once begged her to forge divine weapons; this child spoke from the bottom of his heart.

Unexpectedly, Hephaestus paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Would you like to see my true face beneath this mask?"

"???"

"Fine, when I give you my blessing, you can take off your mask yourself."

"!!!"

"Hermes informed me of your purpose six days ago." Upon hearing this, Bai Zhi nearly exploded with anger, but he held back for the time being; his life was the most important thing.

Hephaestus continued, "You want an artifact that can share the blessings of the gods? I can tell you definitively that none of the artifacts I have forged can meet your needs."

After all, aside from everyday items and dolls, the people who need the artifacts forged by Hephaestus are either gods or heroes.

They needed artifacts to enhance their power, artifacts to divert power (blessings), and if Bai Zhi hadn't needed them, she probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to forge them.

Bai Zhi gritted her teeth, her face turning ashen. Was she destined to make another trip to the Underworld? In mythology, very few humans could emerge from the Underworld. Hera would personally enter the Underworld to rescue him, a prospect that Bai Zhi found extremely difficult to accept.

"However, as the God of Forging, it is not difficult to forge a divine artifact that satisfies you. However, I need time. It took me six days to forge a divine artifact embryo."

Hephaestus swung his wheelchair aside, revealing the fiery furnace behind him. Inside the furnace was a red-hot embryo, the prototype of the divine artifact that Bai Zhi needed.

"...There's nothing we can do, Lord Hephaestus. You've done your best." The harsh reality overwhelmed any remaining hope in her heart. After a moment of silence, Bai Zhi scratched her head, finally understanding what the pounding sounds she had heard upon entering the temple were.

"Haha, I have failed the gods in their help. As expected..." Having deviated from my destiny, will my death come sooner? Bai Zhi pondered whether he would have lived a more exciting life if he had followed the information and become the disciple of the centaur sage Chiron, and acquired the name Jason.

He apologized to the rest of Bai Zhi in his heart, as he needed to test how Bai Zhi's space would react after Bai Zhi died.

“Your life can still be saved, but…” Hephaestus reached his fair arm into the furnace, ignoring the intense heat emanating from the artifact embryo, and picked it up, handing it to Bai Zhi.

The moment the furnace was taken out, the temperature in the entire room rose instantly, the sweat that flowed out was evaporated as soon as it was released, and the dazzling golden hair turned dry and charred in an instant.

"It's so hot..." I resisted the instinctive urge to leave the room. The embryo was clearly the key to solving the problem, but the question was how to deal with it. Should I just gulp it down?

"Lord Hephaestus, what are your plans?"

If you don't understand, just ask. Bai Zhi wouldn't presume to think about the thoughts of the gods.

“The problem you face is that your innate constitution is insufficient to contain the power of the gods, but you already have the blessings of Apollo and Artemis within you,” Hephaestus explained. “This embryonic artifact, after my initial forging, has acquired the ability to contain blessings, but it is not yet fully formed, and the derived power has not yet reached its peak.”

Angelica dahurica and the divine embryo are like two extremes, each lacking one element. If the two were to be fused together and complement each other...

"Forging and completing, twins returning to their origin, using the artifact embryo as your nourishment, the success rate depends on whether your will can withstand the entire forging process."

Your body, your soul, your will, everything about you will undergo a qualitative change. If you succeed, you will be the most special treasure I have ever forged.

Hephaestus revealed the indifference of a god who regards all things as dust: "However, can you endure the test of unwavering will until the forging is completed? Choose, I will give you the chance. If you have any questions, you can ask me, and I will answer them one by one."

"A question? I do have a few doubts in my mind." Having received permission, Bai Zhi thought for a moment, her eyes glancing at Hephaestus's beautiful face, the voluptuous curves of his robe, and the fair skin he revealed. She couldn't help but ask:

"In my eyes, you are a goddess, a goddess full of charm. But why is it that in the information circulating about you, you are a god? And the goddess of beauty is your wife, right?"

This is what puzzled Bai Zhi the most. Since the information was wrong, why didn't Hephaestus correct it, but instead continued to perpetuate the error? This is not in line with the petty nature of the Greek gods.

"...It's not surprising that people think I'm a male god. Because of my leg problems, I usually use a male doll's body when I go out. That's just my mask. My true identity is a goddess, that's for sure."

As for Aphrodite, she is indeed my wife. It was because Aphrodite was troubled by the desires of the gods that she sought help from Hera, and thereafter she became my wife.

In the second half of his sentence, Hephaestus' tone turned cold, and he omitted the details.

Although it wasn't specifically targeted at Bai Zhi, the wrath of the gods, even just the aftershocks of their emotions, is something that humans cannot resist.

After taking a few steps back, Bai Zhi was spared injury thanks to the blessing of the moon goddess.

Fortunately, his actions awakened Hephaestus's reason.

Indeed, gods are far too dangerous for humans.

The Greek Runaway Prince: Chapter Nineteen - I'm so angry, so angry I can't suppress the smile on my face.

"Why isn't Lady Aphrodite by your side?"

“She went to see Ares. The goddess of beauty hates ugliness, and I, as her husband, am very ugly.”

"You're not ugly, you're very beautiful, haven't you seen it with your own eyes? And can your legs even stand up?"

"When I was born, Hera abandoned me on Mount Olympus because of my ugliness, and my legs were crippled at that time."

Are you lonely?

"...I'm giving you the opportunity to ask questions to supplement the forging and repair process, not to address these trivial matters."

Hephaestus's expression grew increasingly grim as Bai Zhi's questions continued to provoke him. He shouldn't hit someone in the face, but these inquiries felt like reopening old wounds. Wasn't this child initially very cautious? Why is she jumping around like this now? Does she not trust my forging skills and think I'm doomed?

"You question my forging skills and think the result will inevitably fail?! If you want to vent your emotions through this, I admit you've succeeded."

"No, quite the opposite, I trust you." Facing Hephaestus's dark face, Bai Zhi, unlike her usual self, showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, she revealed a serious expression and stated, "The answer to my choice was in my heart from the very beginning. I have absolute trust in Lord Hephaestus's forging skills."

"And since you've given me the opportunity to ask questions, all I can ask is what my inner curiosity is, since there's no possibility of failure when it's forged by Lord Hephaestus."

Bai Zhi's words were filled with complete trust, truly entrusting her life to Hephaestus and always believing in his success. Even at the risk of angering her, she dared to tease her.

"Diomedes, I am furious! How dare you treat me like this? Do you think I am less dignified than the other gods?" Hephaestus clenched his fist and slammed it into Bai Zhi's head.

She was very angry, extremely angry, so angry that she couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"I am deeply terrified. How can I possibly make amends to you, the great blacksmith god Hephaestus?"

Lowering her head, Bai Zhi said in fear, but inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief. At the risk of angering the gods, she had used the method of first suppressing and then elevating Hephaestus to ease some of his inner turmoil.

For people who are self-deprecating or even gods, no matter how much they achieve, the probability of them being able to resolve their inner conflicts without external help is extremely low.

Simply offering comfort won't yield significant results. To truly resolve the issue, it's necessary to expose the other person's hidden arrogance and self-esteem, leading to a change from the inside out.

Bai Zhi's actions just now were a way to anger Hephaestus and then provoke her arrogance and pride. The plan was simple and concise, yet very effective.

There is a tiny bit of side effect.

"You must fulfill one of my requests, or I will personally go to Hades to demand your soul, even if it means death. Hades' helmet was forged by me, and he will not refuse this request."

Bai Zhi was well aware of the profound human sentiment behind Hades' helmet, the artifact exclusively belonging to Hades. Therefore, he paid close attention to Hephaestus's request, wondering what kind of request could possibly be comparable to Hades' helmet.

"I want you..." The hoarse, magnetic voice carried a chill.

Bai Zhi swallowed hard, anxiously awaiting the judgment.

"Live."

Survival? That's too much... for me... Wait, did I hear that right?