Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

The next day.

Taking a carriage, Ryan headed south.

Without stopping in any of the cities along the way, we headed straight to Athens.

If it were before, Ryan might not be so direct. He might have walked all the way there like a traveler, and learned more about the local customs and culture from a mortal's perspective, but with the occurrence of the unusual events, he obviously didn't feel like doing so.

Ryan planned to go to a place where information could be spread faster to find out what was happening in all aspects after the turmoil in the world.

The information obtained from Hell is still partial and incomplete. Although there are many of their followers in the dark world today, they are not the mainstream after all. In contrast, Athens is different.

"When the time comes, it will be time for this little guy to play a role."

With his eyes slightly narrowed, Ryan was sometimes surprised at the audacity of those Hera believers. Of course, maybe they themselves didn't know the specific situation, or maybe they knew it, but their faith in God overwhelmed their fear.

You know, since the first time they met, Andrea has called herself the "high-ranking priest of the goddess." And this is not just a general title, but a real proof of strength.

In Chaos today, people divide the mortal power in various ways, such as the most traditional first-level, second-level, third-level, and fourth-level, or replace them with black iron, bronze, silver, and gold. There is no difference in essence, just different names. There are even spellcasters who simply use the level of contact with the magic network to identify, and divide the level into one to nine rings of wizards, but in fact it is just a copy of the former - first-level one to three rings, second-level four and five rings, third-level six and seven rings, fourth-level eight and nine rings, just different names.

The same is true for clergy, and they are even more straightforward.

They roughly divided the realms below the legendary level into two levels: "low-level priests" and "high-level priests". Because the level of priests before the legendary level was mostly given by God, once the God's gift was taken back, they would return to the mortal world, so there was no need to divide them into too detailed levels. They used the six-ring divine arts as the boundary to directly distinguish the high and low among the priests.

Therefore, Andrea's title of "high-level priest" is very valuable. If the holy power in her body has not been sealed by the power of another god, she alone can crush the pagans who kidnapped him to death ten times.

With such power and her age of twelve, there is no doubt that Andrea is not only the princess of Athens, but she is actually a human elect who has been directly noticed by Athena, and may even be a candidate for the future Patriarch of the Church of Knowledge in the Pan-Athens region.

Under such circumstances, offering Andrea as a living sacrifice to Hera was no joke. Of course, if it really succeeded, it would probably cause a double blow to Athena's belief in the world and the authority of the Athenian royal family.

"Um……"

"Ok?"

Ryan was leaning on the soft backrest, thinking about what he was going to do on this trip. Suddenly, a noise from afar caught his attention.

As we got closer to Athens, the road became wider and the number of people on the road increased. However, almost everyone remained alert in the wilderness and rarely approached each other. At most, they would say hello from a distance.

This was the first time Ryan had encountered an argument that could be heard from a considerable distance.

"What's the noise outside?"

Ryan asked casually, knocking on the door frame.

"I am not sure as well."

Hearing Ryan's question, Andrea outside the car just shook her head.

"It's a caravan. A caravan from Thebes just passed by. They seemed to be talking about God's choice and justice... and then they started arguing."

"From what they said, they are planning to hold some kind of event. But the Panathenaic Games, which are held every thirty years, are still a few years away."

"Activity...Thebai?"

Ryan pulled aside the curtain and looked out.

Sure enough, a few hundred meters behind, a large caravan was moving forward in the smoke and dust.

Judging from the direction, their destination was no different from Ryan's, and they should also be heading to Athens. So if the so-called activities they mentioned did not take place in the disaster-ridden city of Thebes, then they could only be in Athens.

"Slow down, let's listen to what they are saying."

After giving Andrea an order, Ryan gathered a ray of light in his hand as the speed of the frame slowed down.

The first-level divine spell [Illusion Sound] also has a corresponding version in witchcraft - or in other words, many common divine spells are improved (copied) from witchcraft.

It was just a magical art that simulated sound, but at this moment, the object of its simulation was the faint quarrel coming from afar.

Then the vague sound immediately became much clearer, and as the distance between the two sides got closer, the clearer conversation seemed to ring directly in Ryan's ears.

"Speed ​​up... Olympia... Priest... wise and just..."

"...selection...Acropolis...debate..."

"For... Crete... Impossible..."

The sound was very noisy, coming one after another.

After all, the magic of phantom sound is only a first-level magic. It does not have functions such as "noise reduction", "impurity removal" and "artificial recognition" in the process of transmitting sound. The amplified sound of the wind, the sound of the moving carriage and the conversation of nearly a hundred people are mixed together. Ordinary people cannot distinguish what they want at all.

Fortunately, neither Ryan nor Andrea had any problems in this regard. After listening for about half an hour, the two of them roughly understood the cause and effect.

About a month ago, that is, about half a month after Ryan learned of Hermeneus' plan, in the royal palace of Athens, the king received a high-ranking priest from Olympia.

He met the king and the Patriarch of the Church of Knowledge in turn, and the purpose of his visit was said to be to see the "prosperity of Athens."

Regardless of the era, the prosperity of a country is often reflected in its material and spiritual abundance. So at first, the Athenians thought that the priest from Olympia came to accuse them of promoting alchemy.

However, the result was far from what was expected. The priest named Noros turned a blind eye to the creations of witchcraft and alchemy, and instead praised the prosperity of Athens.

Praise from foreigners always makes people feel particularly proud... But at the end of the audience, in the temple on the Acropolis of Athens, the shepherd of Zeus put forward an additional small condition.

"Everyone of the Church of Knowledge, I have heard that the honorable and immortal daughter of the God King, Her Highness Athena with bright eyes, is a sage with skillful hands and the embodiment of wisdom. From her hands, all kinds of clever creations come into being from nothing. As her sanctuary on earth, the Athenians must be proud of their wisdom."

"And I have heard that you, the venerable King of Athens, have married Phaedra, the daughter of Minos, the son of the great Zeus. He and his brother Rhadamanthys were once kings of Crete and were famous for their just and strict laws."

"If you don't mind," Noros proposed to the people present at the time, "I hope to hold a conference, a conference that can reflect people's thoughts and abilities. I will witness the justice and wisdom of the Athenians and their decisions when faced with choices."

At least on the surface, there was nothing wrong with Noros's request.

For the countries in the world at that time, holding a large-scale conference would consume financial resources, but it was actually a way to declare national strength and spread faith in gods.

The great Olympian Games, held every forty years, were tributes to the king of gods and the queen of heaven. The Panathenaic Games, held every thirty years in Athens, were the best tribute to the goddess.

Even the games where Perseus accidentally killed his grandfather when he was young were held for similar reasons. People were eager to participate in such games and were willing to spread the names of the winners in the games so that their fame would spread throughout the human world.

Under such circumstances, King Theseus of Athens had no reason to refuse this request, so he chose to accept it. Soon, with the help of the church, they built a new huge venue that could accommodate hundreds of thousands of people in front of the Acropolis, dozens of miles outside Athens. It was a classical wonder under the influence of extraordinary power.

The Acropolis of Athens, originally built to defend against foreign enemies, has almost never been actually used. Instead, at its center, the largest temple of Athena on earth, the famous Parthenon, is more widely known.

Establishing the venue here naturally meant "dedicating the conference to the goddess", and the priest who came from afar did not raise any objection to this move.

The matter was settled, and the relevant information was immediately spread around the world in various ways. Previously, the caravan from Thebes had caused a dispute because of this.

After all, although this conference happened suddenly, many famous foreign wise men still came here after hearing the news. The people in the caravan were arguing about the superiority of those wise men, although their arguments were only "possible", "heard" and "guessing".

"So that's what this is. A conference that is partly a debate... Andrea, have you ever seen anything like this?"

After thinking for a moment, Ryan asked.

"No, this should be the first time. The Panathenaic Games are a competition of both skills and martial arts, debates and decisions... There has never been such a competition before."

Shaking her head, a gleam of light flashed in Andrea's eyes.

She had never participated in such an event, not even the Panathenaic Games, the last of which had been held before she was born.

She had been curious about this for a long time, but unfortunately she had never had the opportunity to witness it in person. Now that she had such an opportunity, she was still a captive.

"Hello--ah, Mr. Irving."

Andrea sat upright, looking very serious.

"We are not far from Athens, right? Well, I mean, when we get there, will you let me go back?"

"What do you think?" Ryan glanced at the nervous little princess and closed the curtain.

"Keep going. Don't fantasize about impossible things. If I was planning to send you back home, why would I bring you all the way here?"

"Ok."

A little disappointing, but not that disappointing.

In fact, Andrea didn't think that Mr. Irving came to Athens just to send her home. He must have his own things to do.

Although there was not much communication along the way, the little princess realized that this mysterious guy was probably no ordinary person.

The older the time is, the less information is available, so a person's experience and knowledge are largely linked to his status.

Although this 'Mr. Ivan' showed unfamiliarity and ignorance in many areas, he was also very knowledgeable on many higher levels. He was like a helmsman or key figure of a major power, but he had little contact with the countries in the world.

"Mr. Ivan, you probably have something for me to do."

Clenching her fists, Andrea said loudly, "Since there is still room for me to contribute - I mean, can I put forward some conditions?"

"But you are my prisoner."

Ryan spoke lightly, realizing that Andrea had probably never learned the skill of bargaining.

"But……"

"And I saved you."

"but……"

"You don't even know what your use is - maybe your use doesn't require active cooperation?"

"..."

"Let's go, destination is the Acropolis."

With a little laugh in his heart, Ryan said casually: "I have never seen an Olympian priest before, and I don't know what is different about the followers of the God King."

"Besides, it would be a shame if you don't go to such a grand event."

"it is good!"

A response came, the voice was obviously more energetic, and soon the carriage started moving again.

Leaning back, Ryan stopped talking to the little princess and thought about the conference.

Maybe it was a coincidence, it was just an accident, but Ryan didn't believe in coincidences. Selecting fair and wise people...what was this for?

No matter what the reason was, since the priest from Olympia made such a request at such a sensitive time, he had to see it with his own eyes no matter what.