The goddess who emerged from the Tree Palace-like structure was a little girl who looked to be only eleven or twelve years old.
She wore a long purple dress, the standard style for goddesses among the Greek gods, and had long purple hair that reached her ankles. She also wore a pair of slippers. Her face was full of weariness, her eyes looked hazy, and tears hung at the corners of her eyes. As she walked out of the palace, she scratched her hair and yawned.
After coming outside, she glanced at Leto and Ares and said, "Ah, it's Aunt Leto. Hmm, is this person Zeus's son?"
Her gaze lingered on Ares for a moment, then she said, "Judging by your divine power and appearance, you must be Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, the God of War, right?"
"Yes, this is Ares, the God of War." Goddess Leto looked at Hecate's weary state, feeling a bit helpless. "Hecate, have you been staying up all night again?"
"It's nothing, just a small experiment. I won't really die suddenly," Hecate walked up to Cerberus, casually patted the body of the fierce three-headed dog, then looked up at Leto and asked, "So, why have you come to see me today? Why don't I see Apollo and Artemis, hmm?"
"They are both very busy right now." Leto smiled, then said to Hecate, "Actually, I came today to bring someone to apprentice under you and learn magic."
"Apprentice? Who?" Hecate looked around, then her gaze focused on Ares. "Could it be him?"
"Yes, it's him," Leto nodded with a smile.
"Huh? Is there something wrong with your brain?" Hecate jogged over, hands behind her back, circled Ares, and looked at him, asking, "You, a God of War, want to learn magic from me?"
"What? Can't I learn?" Ares asked back, crossing his arms.
Hecate murmured with a face full of surprise, "Even if Cyclops came to learn magic from me, I'd think it'd be more reliable than a God of War learning magic. Hey, why do you want to learn magic?"
"I want revenge on Athena!" Ares shouted indignantly, "As long as I learn magic, I can definitely defeat her!"
"Magic isn't something for you to use to compete," Hecate sighed upon hearing this.
"Hecate, Ares helped us, and he also helped your mother, Asteria. For our sake and your mother's, please let him try here," Leto came before Hecate, pleading for Ares.
"Alright—fine," Hecate looked at Ares, then continued, "Anyway, Zeus's son certainly won't have any problems with his magical aptitude. It just depends on whether you have the patience and wisdom to learn… I'll say this beforehand, I don't care if you're the God of War or Zeus's son. If you don't follow my rules, I'll kick you out, understood?"
"Understood!" Ares nodded vigorously, "To defeat Athena, I will temporarily listen to you!"
"Then I shall leave first." Seeing that Hecate had agreed to Ares's request, Leto felt relieved. She looked at Ares and said to him, "Don't worry, Ares. During this time, Zeus is preparing to create new things on the earth, and he was already planning for you to temporarily stop waging War. For now, you can stay here and learn well from Hecate."
"Okay."
Ares nodded to Leto.
After speaking, the black-clad goddess rode on a cloud and returned to Olympus. Hecate watched Goddess Leto depart, then sighed, "Ah, what a good aunt. That bastard Zeus really got a bargain."
Hearing her words, Ares nodded solemnly.
"Huh, I'm slandering your father behind his back, and you're not even angry?" Hecate asked Ares, somewhat surprised by his reaction.
"Mother has long had reservations about Zeus's actions," Ares replied. "Besides, the daughter born to Zeus and Goddess Metis recently took away my divine duty."
"No wonder, it seems he really isn't popular," Hecate laughed heartily. "He deserves to be killed by his own son in the future."
Ares's heart stirred. It seemed this Moon Goddess also had a premonition about Zeus's future. However, he pretended to be greatly surprised and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"It means nothing. If you can learn even a tenth of my magic, you'll understand what I mean," Hecate waved her hand and said, "Come inside with me."
Ares followed the Moon Goddess into her palace. Inside this Tree Palace, there was only one immensely spacious room, which lacked the standard configurations of Greek god temples like divine thrones, baths, or stargazing platforms. This room was directly a colossal library, with five stories of tall bookshelves arranged in rows throughout the palace. Various stone tablets and papyri recording arcane knowledge filled these cabinets.
Hecate herself also lived here; her bed was a simple hammock woven from vines, with a few warm animal skins serving as bedding. In addition, some unfinished papyri were scattered on her hammock, and her bedding at the moment appeared disheveled.
However, Hecate herself seemed not to mind Ares seeing her casual living state. After leading Ares into her palace, she walked along and said, "Although I promised Leto to take you as an apprentice, I don't have the patience to teach you word by word, like feeding a baby. As Zeus's son, as long as your brain hasn't been hit, you should generally be able to understand introductory magic books. I'll give you a few books, you read them first, and if there's anything you don't understand after reading, then come ask me, understood?"
"Understood," Ares nodded.
So Hecate led Ares to the innermost bookshelf in the palace, pulled out a few stone tablets from the first and second-tier shelves. Then, she stood on tiptoes, trying to reach a stone tablet placed on the fourth-tier shelf. However, her current height was indeed limited, so she gritted her teeth and struggled for a long time but still couldn't reach the stone tablet.
However, just as Ares was about to step forward to help, he suddenly saw the goddess turn on the spot, and with her skirt swirling, she instantly transformed into a sixteen or seventeen-year-old purple-haired girl, then easily took down the stone tablet from the shelf.
Seeing her performance, Ares was stunned for a moment. In that instant, he hadn't felt any divine power fluctuations, so he asked curiously, "Is that magic too?"
"Hmm?" Hecate looked down at herself, then replied, "No, this is one of my appearances."
With that, she stacked the stone tablets together and placed them in Ares's hands, then said to him, "Here, take these. Read everything on these stone tablets, and then you should be almost ready to begin."