On the Ocean of Oceanos, the watery night spilled over the sea, stirring shimmering ripples.
On a desolate island, sparse vegetation grew in chaotic patches. Inside a cave covered by withered vines, faint muffled groans echoed from within.
Clang~
Accompanied by the crisp clink of metal, two deformed bronze-gold arrowheads clattered to the ground. The sharp tapered blades on either side still clung to torn bits of flesh.
Leaning against the stone wall, Lorne spat out the wooden stick he'd bitten through, wiped the fine sweat beading on his forehead, and endured the searing pain.
Then, after catching his breath, he began applying medicine with trembling hands to his injured left shoulder and right leg, while looking at the half-cut metal arrow shaft on the ground, etched with delicate wave patterns and glimmering faintly with starlight at the fracture—as he cursed under his breath.
Orichalcum! Those damn wasteful bastards!
So-called Orichalcum, also known as mountain copper, was a legendary metal widely mined in Atlantis.
It boasted extraordinary hardness, resilience, and magical conductivity, and that's why, it was an ideal material for crafting magical weapons and even divine armaments.
In the Homer's epic, it was mentioned that crown and earrings of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, were made of this kind of Orichalcum.
And in mysticism, wizards and witches often referred to it alongside mithril and crystal as the "Three Great Magic Ores." When used skillfully, it could unleash tremendous power and even cause damage to the body of the gods, not to mention demigods.
Lorne's injuries had all come from these past half-month of relentless sea pursuit—specifically from those damn Atlantean Royal Guards who fired custom orichalcum arrows at him.
Chased me for over half a month, and you're shooting arrows made of orichalcum—stuff worth more than gold—at me?! Seriously?!
Didn't I just sacrifice a hundred-some god-blooded sea sirens, killed one of the demigod bastards of Poseiden, and along the way...
Let me count...
One... four... five... seven... uh, eight Golden-ranked soldiers, plus seriously injuring a demigod vice-captain?
Going over the list of his "achievements," Lorne couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth, suddenly feeling a bit guilty.
'Okay, yeah... maybe I did go a little overboard.'
But it wasn't like he had a choice, after all, those Atlanteans chased him like greyhounds after a rabbit, relentless and ruthless.
When it's a fight to the death and your own life's on the line, you can't exactly afford to go easy and hope the enemy appreciates your kindness, right?
Tch. It seems there's no negotiating this anymore.
Grumbling in frustration, Lorne tore up a few clean scraps of cloth and bandaged his slowly healing wounds.
He then closed his eyes, leaned against the stone wall, and began meditating to restore his mana and stamina.
At the same time, his thoughts started spinning as he recalled the thrilling events of the past fortnight.
In the beginning, he'd chosen to trust that woman Hecate's suggestion.
After all, only if he stayed alive would she have any fun left to watch.
So Lorne had set sail westward before the Atlantean forces could complete their encirclement.
But to outrun Atlanteans, who were blessed by the Sea God himself, on the Ocean of Oceanos?
He had to admit...that was a wishful thinking.
He lasted only three days before the Atlantean Royal Guards caught up to him from behind.
With no other choice, Lorne could only grit his teeth and fight while retreating.
In the end, he had to exhaust nearly all his tricks and even sacrifice his own ship just to tear open the Atlanteans' encirclement and narrowly escape.
But now, drifting on this boundless Ocean of Oceanos without a ship, his mobility was drastically weakened.
So, it wasn't long before those relentless Atlanteans cornered him again—this time on another deserted island.
And this time, Lorne wasn't so lucky.
After using the terrain to his advantage and setting up magical traps in advance, he managed to quietly take out three Atlantean Royal Guards of the Golden rank.
But soon after, he was chased over mountains by this group of mad dogs, shot with two arrows, and ultimately forced to jump into the sea, blowing up the entire island behind him and escaping amidst the chaos.
Thankfully, during the ritual that elevated him to the demigod tier, while absorbing the divinity of over a hundred god-blooded sea sirens, he'd incidentally gained some decent underwater mobility.
Plus, in the divine age of Greece, the sea was filled with islands as numerous as the stars.
Only then did he manage to sneak onto one of the more remote and uninhabited islands nearby to rest and recover—buying himself a brief moment of respite.
But such kind of peace obviously wouldn't last long.
Those rabid dogs who had it out for him would find their way here after sweeping the surrounding area sooner or later.
So this isn't gambling—it's betting his damn life!
As Lorne cursed a certain gambling-addict goddess through clenched teeth, the crescent moon in the night sky rose to its peak.
Three crisp dice-rolling sounds rang in his mind at the stroke of midnight.
And along with them, three divine decrees appeared above the bronze altar—each corresponding to one of the rolls and the divine emblem shown.
"Task one: Commit an act of blasphemy against Apollo."
"Task two: Commit an act of blasphemy against Zeus."
"Task three: Commit an act of blasphemy against Hera."
Here we go again…
Lorne weakly lifted his hand and tapped the second one among the three projected illusions, baring his teeth as he began to curse.
"Zeus, you backstabbing piece of garbage. Shameless, father-screwing bastard. A damn beast who only knows how to sow seeds. I curse you to need a wall just to walk, and to cough up blood when you spit…"
His tirade didn't even last a few lines before the second divine decree before his eyes shattered into stardust and disappeared.
At the same time, a bronze badge engraved on both sides with the Ouroboros (the serpent swallowing its tail) materialized from the void and landed in Lorne's hand.
Lorne didn't even glance at it.
With a few quick strokes of Hermetic script, he tossed it straight into a formed magic circle.
Water, fire, earth, and air—these four elements form the foundation of the world.
Thus, Hermetic symbols embodying these attributes could be used to construct small, independent magical spaces through such circles, allowing mages to store miscellaneous personal items conveniently.
At this moment, the bronze badge in his hand was thrown into the magic circle, and a crisp sound of metal collisions came. A dozen identical bronze badges were thrown in to eat dust
A pile of junk…
Lorne gave them a glance and couldn't muster the slightest interest.
After all, these lowest-tier chips dropped from "daily quests" were only good for playing pretend games on the gambling table—just some friendly matches. For his current situation, they were completely useless.
Rather than wasting energy on this kind of junk, he might as well see if the "weekly quests" would drop something useful.
Muttering irritably, Lorne reached out, and the twelve-sided die resting on the bronze altar fell into his palm.
At the same time, three divine decrees glowing with silvery light appeared before his eyes.
"Trial One: Win a battle and complete an insult to the Authority of War. (Completed)"
"Trial Two: Hunt down a god-blooded sea beast and complete an insult to the Authority of the Ocean. (Completed)"
"Trial Three: Destroy a piece of demi-god-grade equipment and complete an insult to the Authority of the God of Craft. (Uncompleted)"
At that moment, the first two decrees scattered into starlight, transforming into two silver badges of identical design.
With the two silver badges in hand, a faint hint of a pleased smile finally crept onto Lorne's gloomy face.
Now, he finally had the capital to draw two more cards.
(End of Chapter)