Underworld,
Inside the temple of Goddess Hecate, Jason was studying magic under Hecate's guidance.
Hecate sat in a slightly lazy posture, half of her body leaning against one side of the chair, lying sideways while basking in the light brought by the sword of Apollo, the God of Light, that hung in the hall.
With her sideways posture, the goddess's exquisite figure was fully revealed, and her crimson eyes rested on Jason, who was drawing a magic circle in front of her.
She would occasionally yawn.
"Teacher Hecate, could you please be a little more serious..."
Jason looked at his goddess teacher who resembled a lazy cat and felt utterly helpless.
Even Jason himself didn't know how to describe Hecate.
Sometimes she appeared noble and elegant like a true goddess, but other times she was lazy and casual.
Sometimes she was carefree and indifferent to everything, yet other times she was gentle and patient.
"Serious? ...I want to be serious too."
Hecate lazily replied to Jason: "But my dear disciple, if you yourself can't keep up, you can't blame your teacher.
Wait until the day you can finally manage it, when you can last a little longer, then come find me again."
"Last a little longer... Teacher, can't you take it slowly?"
Jason said helplessly: "You stuff everything in at once without giving me time to adapt, and you do it so fast. Of course I can't keep up."
"But Medea can." Hecate looked at Jason and said: "Look at your little sister. See how capable she is."
"She's also my senior sister... and she's a genius. I'm not."
Jason snorted and said: "Teacher, you have to understand that you can't treat everyone the same.
Besides, my little sister, my senior sister, is different from me. She's not even human!"
"You're the one who's not human."
Medea, dressed in a purple gown, had returned at some unknown time and just happened to hear Jason badmouthing her. She couldn't help but tap Jason lightly on the head with the staff she was holding.
Well... mainly because Jason was taller than her, so she could only reach with the staff.
Jason turned sideways and looked at Medea.
The fourteen-year-old girl still had a somewhat youthful face, but overall she already looked like a graceful and elegant princess standing tall.
At this age, the original Medea should have been a pure, innocent girl cherished and loved by everyone.
Unfortunately, there are unforeseen changes in the heavens, and calamity can befall anyone at any moment.
Under Jason's constant influence day and night, Medea was no longer pure. She had already been corrupted.
"Teacher, what were you two talking about?" Medea walked over, sat beside Hecate, and helped comb the hair that had casually fallen over her shoulders.
"We were talking about this idiot's progress in learning magic." Hecate pinched Medea's cheek and said: "In this regard, you're still the best. I poured everything into you all at once, and within days you digested it completely. You could graduate now.
But him... not only is he incapable, he doesn't even last long."
Hearing this, Jason indignantly retorted: "Nonsense! I'm clearly very long-lasting! I haven't slept for three whole years!"
"Then do you dare to spend three days and three nights with me?" Hecate slightly tilted her gaze, smiling in a way that wasn't quite a smile.
"...Cough. Little sister, it seems Big Brother has run out of the sleepless potion. Could you make some more for me?"
Seeing Jason seriously changing the subject, even Medea couldn't help but laugh.
Jason felt helpless about this too. Spend three days and three nights?
He would be completely drained dry!
Who would have thought that learning magic would be comparable to advanced mathematics? The higher the level of magic, the more calculations were required.
Brewing a potion felt like conducting a chemistry experiment, while learning magic felt like studying mathematics.
Damn it!
There has to be something wrong with this world!
"It's not my fault. Magic is just too complicated..."
"Complicated? Is it?" Hecate turned to look at Medea.
Medea tilted her head.
Complicated?... No, right?
"...I can feel the deep malice from both of you!"
"Malice... In these three years, your senior sister has already graduated." Hecate lightly sighed: "And I'm still using underworld flames to temper your soul, yet you can barely be considered to have mastered the basics... And with just this much, you still say you're capable?"
Jason looked up at the ceiling and decided to ignore Hecate.
It had been mentioned before that in the current world, whether gods or most heroes, the main focus was on training the body and practicing combat skills such as archery and swordsmanship.
The philosophy was to develop one's own potential.
This was also why truly powerful existences were either gods or demigod heroes.
And the reason Hecate accepted Jason as a disciple in the first place was to conduct an experiment: to test the magic she had developed herself, a transcendent power that could be used without relying on divine authority.
And it was precisely because of this that she was so terrifying.
Even more terrifying than most existences in ordinary mythological tales.
Because this world is called the Nasuverse (Type-Moon)!
So just how advanced is Hecate's magic? ...One could get a glimpse from the fact that she could easily come and go from the Underworld with magic, appear anywhere in the Greek world, and casually replicate the invisibility technology from the Helm of Hades worn by Hades, the King of the Underworld.
The staff that Jason had begged for on his knees was engraved with multiple high-level spells, giving just a hint of her prowess.
On Hecate herself, what was truly most powerful was no longer her divine authority, nor the divine power that had already reached the level of a Chief God.
It was the magic she had been researching all this time, right up to the present!
The authority possessed by gods can actually be regarded as a kind of world law, which is why gods can easily cause world-level disasters.
For example, Demeter who can wither the earth and cause all things to decay.
But if Hecate wanted to, she could actually make the withered earth burst with life once more.
Her attainment in magic had long reached the level where she could glimpse the Root!
Otherwise, when she first saw Jason's path, the moment the God-Slaying Path emerged, Hecate would not have been able to immediately suppress and hide it.
And in fact, it was precisely because of this that Hecate had no interest whatsoever in godhood or divine positions, nor did she care about faith.
At the same time, she easily believed in the authenticity of Jason's God-Slaying Path.
Because she had long known, just like the foreknowing second-generation Titan Prometheus, that the age of the gods was destined to be replaced!
"Speaking of which... it's already been three years, hasn't it?" Hecate, having just crushed Jason's confidence, suddenly seemed to remember something.
"Yes, it's been three years, Teacher." Medea nodded.
"Three years... you should go back now." Hecate gently stroked Medea's head, then looked at Jason and said: "And you, it's about time you went out into the world too... Athena and the others are getting impatient waiting for you."
"Teacher, please, don't tell such terrifying stories."
"Begging me is useless. You still have to listen to terrifying stories when it's time."
Seeing Jason's face full of discomfort, Hecate couldn't help but be amused. She narrowed her eyes and smiled: "Anyway, you'll have to face it sooner or later... Didn't you say that when trouble comes, you can't just sit and wait for death, you have to take the initiative?"
"You can't just sit and wait when trouble comes, but knowingly walking to certain death is called actively seeking death!"
"Look at what you're saying. Athena and the others aren't going to eat you."
"But Hera will."
"Relax, relax." Hecate waved her hand: "She can't eat you. Everyone is watching. At most... she'll just capture you and lock you in a little dark room to properly 'educate' you for a while. When I remember you someday, I'll go pick you up."
After all, the soul is immortal. Unless Zeus has a death wish, he absolutely wouldn't strike Jason dead with divine lightning at this stage.
"...Teacher, let me ask a question. After we leave, you're going to start your own experiments, right?"
"That's right." Hecate nodded: "You two little troublemakers have been pestering me for years. I've long wanted to throw you out."
"Then how long will one of your experiments roughly take?"
"Hmm... probably a few days or a few months?"
"Teacher, I already asked Lady Persephone long ago, so don't lie to me." Jason gritted his teeth: "Your shortest disappearance lasted decades! And according to Lord Hades, the longest was even a full century!"
"Oh... and then?"
"I'm not going!"
Jason declared firmly: "I said I'm not leaving, so I'm not leaving!"
"I don't care." Hecate rolled her eyes: "Anyway, tomorrow I'm throwing you out. Goodbye!"
With that, before Jason could say anything, with a soft bang, Hecate's body dissolved into scattering underworld butterflies and vanished.
"It's over..."
Jason's face was filled with despair and world-weariness.
"Um... Big Brother, don't worry too much."
Feeling sorry for him, Medea said to Jason: "If you really get captured, I will definitely come find you and stay with you. Rest assured!"
Looking at Medea who was saying this to him with complete seriousness.
Jason felt no reassurance at all; instead, he felt even more like crying.