This banquet on Olympus felt quite different—it lacked the carefree joy of previous gatherings.
All the gods knew why: it was due to the series of events that had just occurred.
Queen of the Gods Hera had thrown her own son from Mount Olympus, yet raised the son of Metis for five years instead.
Metis's son, Bolos, was the prophesied Divine Being destined to overthrow Zeus, the King of the Gods.
Then, Metis's daughter Athena was born. Zeus attempted to kill Bolos but was stopped by several goddesses, and in the end, Bolos was expelled from Olympus.
Each event would become a topic of gossip among the gods for ages to come.
During the banquet, some Divine Beings also noticed that Tethys, granddaughter of the ancient sea god Pontus, spoke with Zeus for a long time on behalf of the primordial sea gods.
But no one gave it much thought—they merely assumed Zeus had taken an interest in this goddess, renowned across the seas for her wisdom and beauty.
From this banquet forward, Zeus seemingly gained two more children worth cultivating: Hephaestus and Athena.
There was no need to say much about Athena—she inherited the best qualities of both Zeus and Metis.
Even though Hephaestus was born ugly, his talent was considerable, which greatly pleased Zeus.
He was already thinking about what kind of Divine Offices he might bestow upon Athena, Artemis, Apollo, Hephaestus, and Ares—these five Divine Beings whom he viewed as the future hope of Olympus.
But there was no rush. None of them had yet reached the limits of their initial Divine Power growth.
The only thing that left Zeus displeased was the tension in his relationship with Hera since the incident involving Bolos.
After being driven off Mount Olympus, Bolos vanished without a trace.
Hera personally searched for him but found nothing.
She asked Zeus to help search as well, but he refused. The couple quarreled publicly before the gods of Olympus.
In a fit of anger, Zeus took the five children and placed them in suitable locations for training while he himself went to enjoy life among mortals.
As for Bolos? Zeus didn't care in the slightest.
…
After leaving Olympus, Bolos didn't go far. Instead, he returned to the sea region where he had stored the Tree of Life.
For some special reason, other Divine Beings who passed this area seemed oblivious to the golden light and unusual phenomena here.
"Perhaps it is the will of the world, protecting the unborn Goddess of Love and Beauty," Bolos thought as he arrived.
But when he once again saw the Tree of Life, he fell silent, unsure what to say.
Before leaving, he had commanded the Tree of Life to refine the "Sea Stabilizing Needle" left behind by the first King of the Gods.
And the Tree of Life had indeed done so.
But it had gone too far. It had fused the "Sea Stabilizing Needle" with itself completely.
What now stood before Bolos was neither a pure Tree of Life nor a separate "Sea Stabilizing Needle," but a strange staff formed by the merging of the two.
The Sea Stabilizing Needle formed the body of the staff, while the Tree of Life was perched on top, shaping the form.
From the base of the Tree of Life, roots and leafy vines extended, wrapping around the staff's body. This, Bolos found satisfactory.
With the roots and vines covering it, he didn't have to touch the first King of the Gods' male essence directly.
That divine symbol sat at the very tip of the staff, and Bolos realized he could use this thing as a Magic Gold-Banded Cudgel.
With Divine Power circulating through it, the staff could extend at will—capable of smashing, sweeping, thrusting—without issue.
And if necessary, the Tree of Life and the Sea Stabilizing Needle could still be separated.
Though they had become one in form, they were still two distinct Divine Artifacts in essence.
Using the staff form simply made it easier to hide both at once.
"You really are clever," Bolos said, a bit amused.
He himself hadn't thought about hiding his Divine Artifacts, yet the Tree of Life had taken the initiative.
"Seems you're still wary of the Divine Beings in this world."
Bolos recalled that in his previous life, in the modern, Dharma-declined era, when the Tree of Life had been the Heart of Celestial Tree, it had been ridiculously arrogant.
He, once just a model student in the city, had eventually become a millennia-unseen Demonic Overlord in the cultivation world—and the Heart of Celestial Tree's arrogance had been at least half the reason.
Often, Bolos hadn't even wanted to "devour" others for cultivation, but the Heart of Celestial Tree had insisted, and he'd been forced to follow along.
"Controlling lust, subduing the earth—are those your attributes?"
The Tree of Life was still in the same dormant state as before. Only once Bolos began walking the Path of Faith would it become fully useful.
So Bolos began studying the abilities of the staff's body.
It had once been the male root of the first King of the Gods—severed by a sickle during union with Mother Earth Gaia—and naturally retained its final state, imbued into the staff.
And that state was one of surging desire, capable of penetrating even Mother Earth Gaia.
Bolos chuckled and turned his gaze toward the giant white seashell nearby.
Inside it, Uranus's last daughter was still gestating.
Bolos could sense the presence of a goddess, but her exact state remained unclear.
"Let me see just how powerful this thing is."
He pointed the staff at the white shell and activated its latent power. A strange law emerged—appearing suddenly even though Bolos had not yet obtained any Authority.
"So this is the power of Law…"
Bolos had just acquired a Divine Office and hadn't had time to study Authority or comprehend any Laws.
Now that a Law had emerged, he quickly focused on experiencing its nature.
He envisioned the oldest Heaven and Earth—their forces pulling toward each other and entwining in a fervent passion.
That passion was the origin of desire.
And the Law embedded within the staff represented the Heavenly side of that desire.
"So even Laws have different facets."
Bolos thought of the five primordial sovereigns—one of whom was Eros, the Lord of Eros, on par with the little god of love.
Perhaps the force he represented was the true origin of lust, maintaining the world's foundation of fertility.
While he was lost in thought, a soft moan of pleasure suddenly reached his ears.
He turned to look and noticed that the white shell had partially opened at some point.
Inside was a graceful, snow-white body curled up like a sculpture.
A slender jade arm extended outward and, before Bolos could react, seized him—and pulled him directly into the shell.
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