“You’ve already told me this a thousand times… and I’ll train when I want to. I want to hone this one skill that seems extremely useful compared to my throne world, which always ends in me losing or wasting tons of mana… I need to learn to fight efficiently as opposed to powerfully,”

“Wise words from a greenhorn,” He snarled, and just like that, the rest of the dinner was awkward, with the only other person there: Arachne attempting to synthesize some kind of conversation.

She started off with a few questions that immediately died off, but then eventually asked one big one.

“If you don’t mind me asking… where is your son’s god mark? Isn’t he supposed to be a demi-god no matter his evolution or class?”

I then looked at Ares, who sat across the table, twirling his fork in hand.

“Well, I’ll tell you now… that he doesn’t deserve that status. Other demigods may be weaker than him without the mark, but I don’t want him to receive his mark yet. I suppressed it through the system so he can obtain it later on… just not yet,” He muttered.

“And why is that? Am I not worthy of it or something? You think I’m gonna embarrass you?”

“Well, first of all, you’d become a target for every mortal being who wants power. Second of all, you’ll become lazy with such overwhelming power… first, come to me when you’ve obtained a demonic title,”

“What the hell is that?” I asked, stabbing into another piece of meat.

“By creating a contract with a demon, you’ll obtain their many names that have been spread across the land,”

“Don’t I already have one? I mean, I’m literally using some of the skills of Satan himself… I even have the runes to prove it,”

“That’s a different type of contract. It’s a vessel contract that allows them to hold power within you that you coincidentally are able to access. It also sort of bends to your own soul, making some of the skills unique, yet always remember the base is that of a demon lord,”

“Is it a bad contract, then? Should I not have made it?”

“It was a smart decision for the predicament you were in, but this will come back to bite you. It’s called a vessel contract for a reason… and the runes are just something to make sure your body can actually hold such power so when they take over your body, you won’t implode,”

“How kind of them….” I grumbled, and just like that, our dinner finished up awkwardly, yet when I went to sleep, I found a single woman sitting on the edge of my bed.

When she looked at me, I noticed her pupils were literally just two golden halos that resonated perfectly with her white hair.

Each movement of hers was graceful enough to be a literal dance, while her flawless white skin reflected practically every light in the room, making her shimmer with an eerie golden glow.

“Greetings…” The woman muttered, standing up and slowly becoming sheathed with a suit of armor.

The armor looked familiar… and those wings on the side of her helmet were more than enough to tell me that she was,

𝑂𝚟𝓵xt.𝑐𝓞𝑀

“Athena. So you’re Athena, huh? You’re taller than I thought,” I muttered, looking up at the woman who towered over me at a clean three meters.

“I’m much bigger than you think, boy. Just like your father, this is my suppressed form, so your mortal body doesn’t completely cripple before my presence,”

The first thing I noticed when talking to this woman was the way she carried herself.

It was as if she was the only one who mattered in the universe, strutting through my room like she basically owned the world we were in.

Her eerie halo eyes kept grazing over me, and it wasn’t just because she was physically looking down on me, but those eyes just told me I was practically nothing before her graceful presence.

Disgusting… and arrogant… just like how I imagined the gods to be.

“So, what is your purpose for coming here?”

“Think… just think…” She muttered, slowly moving from the mirror in the corner of my room to the stone tiles right in front of me. “Or, do you really have to do all that? I’m sure you’ve figured out why I’ve come,”

“My apologies for the god quest… I don’t know what you sacrificed, but it must’ve been valuable… so now you’ve come to claim my soul as ‘failure wasn’t tolerated,’ right?” I asked, glaring up at the woman who was practically seething with rage.

Her beauty was gone as a black figure of straight malice stood before me, making the hairs on my body stand on end.

Goosebumps erupted across my skin, sending a shiver down my spine, yet I never yielded, even as she reached out towards me, her hand glowing with an eerie silver aura.

.

You have received the God Quest: Control and Victory

Description: You have received a God Quest by ???. Take control of a few families in Amlas and have them win the War for Power. But, don’t think you’re done yet as then you must rid all the families that you have controlled. Failure will not be tolerated.

Reward: Skill Library (Three Selections)

Penalty Upon Failure: Destruction of Soul

Time Left: Infinite

.

Suddenly, a panel appeared before me, created by Athena’s hand, as she stretched it towards me.

“I’m sure you’ve recognized the conditions. Now follow me,” She muttered, her malice switching off for just a moment, allowing me to take out my spear and essentially commit a suicidal test.

SHING

The woman caught my blade effortlessly, and as her eyes filled with rage turned right back towards me, a jolt of lightning-like miasma shot into my face.

BAM

I was sent flying back with just a glance of this goddess, but upon feeling that it was but a mere fear-mongering tactic… I couldn’t help but smile.

“You can’t do ** in Ares’ domain… so you can go ** yourself,” I smiled while giving her the middle finger.

Just like that, her malice broke the room around me, and the palace walls began to crumble.