Before Nicholas answered her, he took some time to go over the terrifying implications of the conversation they had just had.
"Wait a second!" Nicholas yelled out, a terrifying thought slamming into his head. "I did rituals by calling upon the Greek Gods! They have to know I did magic!"
Despite his panic, Circe only laughed. "Magic isn't truly of the gods, child. When you call on them in a ritual, their names serve merely as symbols or echoes of their meaning and power. They might sense it, but among the endless prayers mortals from the underworld send, your call would be like a single ant's cry in a swarm of millions. Unless a god was already watching you at that very moment, they'd never notice."
Circe's answer calmed down his panic, and he was able to see how ridiculous his thoughts were.
After all, if the Gods did notice him using Magic, then he would not be standing here but probably on his way to the fields of Asphodel to begin his meaningless, confused wandering.
"I have to be more careful in the future, I can't just believe myself to be special just because I know the plot of some book", Nick thought while his racing heart calmed down.
Having resolved his internal panic, Nicholas finally had time to parse through the rest of his thoughts.
The revelations he received were deeply shocking. The Gods were essentially using humans as cattle, farming them for their beliefs, all to grow their own power.
Not letting them rest in peace after death, but squeezing every single drop of worth they possibly could.
Not even their own children were spared but were instead trapped in Elysium, confused and imprisoned, the effects of the magic ensnaring their minds so much that they thought that Elysium was a reward!
A blissful afterlife, but what good is such happiness to a prisoner?
Nick had two choices before him: become a God or live and die as a mortal, spending his entire existence as the tool of the Gods. His determination in his quest solidified in his mind, and he knew what he had to do.
Nick had to play the game; he had to get on top, and so he said to Circe, "I think my first steps should be learning how to utilise faith in rituals, and how to become an immortal being with my own authority separate from my mother so that I am capable of absorbing faith independently."
Nick settled on these two objectives as they seemed to be the most important cornerstones of power in the entire Western world. The Gods' power was entirely based on their authority and their mastery over the power of faith. Everything else, Nick felt that he could master on his own.
Unless he became an immortal being and shed his corporeal shell as Circe did, his mastery over the power of faith would be subpar, and his lifespan finite, and rituals capable of using human faith seemed instrumental in both the creation of godly artifacts as well as Circe's masterful ritual that kept her safe even from the Olympians.
Through hearing the history of the Greek Pantheon, he immediately had plans brewing in his head. After all, if the Gods wanted to play games in the Second World War, then he would play to beat them all.
His birth finally made sense to him, and why Athena created him at all. She wanted him to take an important role in the incoming conflict and get her control over the world and a sweet power boost in the process.
That's why his control over her domain was so great; she invested a significant amount in his birth. It was her boon to allow him greater success in the conflict, and what a perfect boon it was, perfect for rising through political ranks, after all, if your political enemy had a way to know your every move and secret, how would you beat him?
Even his family was chosen for him perfectly, a wealthy, influential, and respectable professor father. It was a perfectly executed strategy that practically guaranteed her success.
Nick was happy to comply with her wish, and when she expected it the least, when he was at the peak of his powers and his popularity was the greatest, he would do the ritual and use all of that faith for his own purposes.
Circe nodded, "I figured you were going to say something like that, but I have to say that it is incredibly short-sighted. Even if you do become an immortal being, what would happen then? You have no faith to support you, and as such, you would become incredibly weak. How would you even obtain it now? Do you think the Gods would just sit there and allow for their authority to be divided?"
"Do you know what happens to immortals without enough faith to support their existence? They die, a slow, painful death, where even their soul is scattered and absorbed by their own authority. It is a fate worse than death."
"I have my own path. You just have to teach me how to do it, and I will handle the rest." Nick said, keeping all his cards close to his chest. He knew it wouldn't serve him to reveal anything more than he strictly had to.
"Very well, it's your funeral. Though if we are going into more complex matters, perhaps we should move to my island, who knows if the sea has grown ears? The cloaking spell you cast is indeed effective, but do we want to risk it?" Circe said, her words sounding casual.
However, to Nicholas, it sounded like a question covered in hidden traps.
"Like hell I'm entering her private domain, who knows what kind of nasty things she has set up there. Even making her swear an oath to the Styx would be useless, as it isn't binding for Gods. I would have no way to guarantee my own safety." Nick thought before replying...
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