"Well? Can you feel this power?" Alaric said. "This is the strength Athena left to humankind to resist calamity, the power of hope."
"So… that means, back then, I shouldn't have closed the box? If I'd let this power out as well, humanity could have been saved?"
Hearing this, Pandora almost burst into tears.
"No, you're thinking too much," Alaric shook his head. "The goddess Athena may have great potential, but compared to Zeus, she's still far too young.
This so-called power of hope does have its wonders, but with the current human race so few in number and so feeble in strength, it can't possibly reach its full effect.
I imagine she only left it out of pity, doing what she could and leaving the rest to fate."
After much persuasion, Alaric finally managed to pull Pandora out of her spiral of guilt.
At the very least, Pandora was now convinced.
"Alaric, I believe you. Among the gods, there are indeed those worth trusting."
Seeing Pandora no longer so extreme, Alaric let out a small sigh of relief.
Harboring hatred in itself wasn't a problem, even if the object of that hatred was a god.
But if hatred consumed you until you became blind, unable to tell friend from foe, that was dangerous.
Among the Olympian gods, if Zeus was the one Alaric held in the lowest regard, someone he could outright call an enemy, then Artemis, while not necessarily an ally, would at least remain neutral.
And Athena, in Alaric's view, was the Olympian most likely to harbor enmity toward Zeus, and thus a potential ally to be won over.
Athena was the daughter of Zeus and the goddess of wisdom Metis, which made her a goddess of wisdom herself.
She was one of the Twelve Olympians, also the goddess of the arts, crafts, and military strategy, as well as the protector of navigation, agriculture, and healing.
She was the goddess of law and order, the founder of humanity's first court of justice.
Lastly, she was one of the three great virgin goddesses, alongside Artemis, goddess of the moon, and Hestia, goddess of the hearth.
Gaia and Uranus had once prophesied that after Metis bore a bright-eyed daughter, she would bear a son who would overthrow Zeus.
Fearing the prophecy, Zeus swallowed Metis whole.
Later, plagued by an unbearable headache, and with Apollo unable to heal him, Zeus had Hephaestus split open his skull.
What stunned the gods was that from the cleft leapt forth a beautiful goddess, armored and radiant, Athena herself.
Perhaps because her mother had been swallowed by her father, or perhaps due to her differing attitude toward mortals, Athena often went against the grain of Olympus in Greek myth, especially in matters concerning humans.
She favored mortals.
While other gods treated humans like ants, trampling them whenever they pleased, Athena would often help mortals, enabling them to take their fates into their own hands.
That alone was enough for Alaric to feel a natural affinity toward her, though she was no perfect goddess.
Athena could be vain, jealous, or quick to anger; the three unfortunate goddesses on the Isle of the Invisible were proof enough of that.
So, until he had truly confirmed Athena's nature and aims, Alaric wasn't about to rush in and propose an alliance.
Besides, though this world-ending flood had left him dissatisfied with Olympus, and though he knew that, whether because of Pandora or because of his future studies in magic, he might one day clash with the Olympian gods, that didn't mean he needed to immediately seek allies.
First of all, his own power was still lacking.
He had come to the Nasuverse to seek breakthroughs in magic.
With the old age of magic ended, and humanity itself facing recreation, the only sources he could learn from now were the powers of the gods.
Before becoming strong enough himself, looking for allies would be foolish.
As the saying went, dragons do not dwell with snakes, without equal power, there could be no equal standing. Artemis, that "infatuated goddess," was an exception.
Secondly, blood is thicker than water.
Athena and Zeus might be at odds, she, because of her compassion toward mortals; he, because the prophecy made him wary of her, but they were still father and daughter.
Even if patricide and familial betrayal were common among the Greek gods, it wasn't Alaric's place as an unrelated mortal to meddle.
To be blunt, though Athena was willing to help mortals, she would still do so from the lofty height of a god.
She had no special bond with any particular mortal, and for one to presume to tell her what to do was pure folly.
Before establishing a closer relationship with Athena, no, not too close, just ordinary friendship, Alaric wouldn't propose his own plans.
For now, his priority was to study, research, and quietly cultivate his own strength.
He also had another idea: after the recreation of humankind, to spread magic among them.
In the aftermath of the Bronze Age's end came the Age of Heroes, when figures like Heracles, Achilles, Perseus, Atalanta, and Jason rose to prominence.
Even sorceresses like Medusa, Medea, Cassandra, and Circe emerged during this era.
Clearly, this was a time of unmatched human genius.
On one hand, Alaric wanted his fellow humans to have greater means of self-protection, so they wouldn't be helpless playthings before the gods.
On the other, using these people, he could accelerate his own magical research, he couldn't possibly pursue all directions of study alone, so he needed capable assistants.
Since in this age there were no existing mage organizations from the Nasuverse, no Clock Tower, Wandering Sea, or Atlas Institute, he might as well found the first one himself, and create a golden age for magecraft in the Age of Gods.
If he could gather enough strength and enough followers, perhaps humanity might one day stand on equal footing with the gods.
Of course, utterly defeating the gods was impossible. Before beings who embodied the very rules of the world, there was no way, short of destroying the world itself, for Alaric to wipe them out entirely.
In any case, after giving Pandora a lesson, setting his future goals, and confirming his current plan of action, Alaric's purpose for this trip was achieved.
As the floodwaters finally ceased rising, the land fully submerged, and humankind nearly wiped out, the clouds began to part.
The gods in the heavens slowly turned their attention away from the mortal world.
Once the divine presence had receded, Alaric could finally breathe a little easier.
Just as he was about to take Pandora back to their secluded refuge, something unexpected happened.
The seawater beside him rippled like the strings of a harp, each pluck sending forth a cascade of shimmering droplets.
No, that wasn't water spray.
It was foam, gleaming in the sunlight with the colors of a rainbow.
And from within that beautiful foam emerged a woman, equal to Pandora in beauty, yet surpassing her in allure.
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