When Jason met that primordial deity,
The primordial god representing darkness, Erebus, everything completely exceeded the expectations of the goddess of crossroads, Hecate.
Originally, Hecate had intentionally pointed out Athena's plan and gone out to help.
To put it plainly, it was to boost her favor in Jason's heart a bit!
To let Jason know that his teacher was ultimately his teacher.
Only she, Hecate, was the existence Jason should always keep in his heart, yet she had not expected...
"Eh, god of the abyss Tartarus, why are you here?" Hecate said in surprise.
Under the guard of dancing underworld butterflies, Hecate and Jason arrived in the sky above the underworld, in that endless darkness, searching for the god of darkness, Erebus.
At this moment, not only did they see the god of darkness, Erebus, but also the god of the abyss, Tartarus, one of the primordial deities!
And what surprised and puzzled Hecate even more was that these two were actually sitting in the endless darkness, surrounding some strange object, playing something...
The similarly stunned Jason naturally saw at a glance what it was.
Was that not the Go board he had given to Tartarus...
"Jason?"
Hearing Hecate's voice, the two elders who were playing naturally turned their heads instinctively to look over.
Then, Tartarus's expression could not help but brighten with joy; he immediately rose and in the blink of an eye appeared before Jason.
Grasping the somewhat dazed Jason's hand, he brought him before the chessboard.
"Come, come, come; quickly help me see what the situation of this game is now... Clearly, this is absolutely my win, but I tell you, Erebus this fellow is actually reneging, refusing to admit defeat!"
"Nonsense; according to the rules, it is clearly my win!" Erebus, who had also taken the form of an elder, widened his eyes and said to Tartarus.
With that, the two began quarreling.
"Um, great Lord Tartarus, and Lord Erebus, do not be hasty; let me see..."
The somewhat dazed Jason came back to his senses and looked at the chessboard before him; after observing for a bit, he could not help but smile and said respectfully to the two: "I see; if I am not mistaken, great gods, this game of Go... should be a draw!"
"A draw?" The two looked at Jason in doubt.
"Mm, look... At this moment, the chessboard cannot determine a simple situation of victory, and both of your pieces have all been placed.
Thus, the situation of this game will continue forever, unable to distinguish a winner, hence it can only be a draw."
As Jason spoke, he watched the two hesitate for a while before ultimately saying nothing.
Actually, he also wanted to say that, based on his observation, in this game, neither side had captured a single piece from the other, thus it could only be a draw.
To actually play out a game of Go with such evenly matched skill, it was actually... quite impressive.
"A draw? Then that will not do; come, come, come; we continue, continue!"
"Fine, continue then; watch how I leave you without a single piece later!... Right, child, what are you here for?"
Tartarus said to Erebus, then looked toward Jason in doubt.
"Oh, it is like this; because the tribute I am offering to my brother-in-law Lord Hades is somewhat special and requires the help of a goddess, so I came here hoping that the great primordial deity Lord Erebus could agree to my..."
"Oh, it is just to let her come in, right."
Before Jason could finish, Erebus, who had already sat back down at the side, looked at Jason and said: "Got it; here, this is for you."
With that, Erebus casually tossed one of the white pieces from his hand to Jason, saying: "Take it; when the time comes, have that goddess carry it on her, and she can freely enter and exit my body... Nothing else? If nothing else, then hurry and leave."
"Oh, right, speaking of which, this Go is the tribute you offered to Tartarus, right? When will you come see me and offer me a tribute too? As long as it is as interesting as this thing, then I will also give you a little gift."
"Oh... Oh." The stunned Jason, then smiled and said: "I am immensely grateful for your assistance, great god of darkness Lord Erebus; I promise you, I will exert my utmost effort to offer you a tribute."
As Jason's words fell, Erebus nodded in satisfaction.
Immediately after, Erebus and Tartarus no longer paid Jason any mind; the two continued playing Go.
And watching the excited appearance of these two playing Go, Jason could not help but recall the elders in his former neighborhood who would gather under the trees to play Go or Chinese chess.
As he thought and thought, Jason returned to Hecate's side.
Then he discovered that Hecate at this moment was looking at him with an exceedingly peculiar gaze.
"Um... What is it, Teacher Hecate?"
Jason tilted his head, asking somewhat puzzled after a moment.
"...Nothing."
Hecate withdrew her gaze and replied: "I just feel that what those gods said before was not wrong; your greatest ability is indeed your... social skills!"
Impressive; just a few days without seeing you, and you have connections even among the primordial gods!
I now even feel that I misjudged you back then; you are not someone favored by the Olympian gods at all; you are someone favored by all the gods!
Hecate stared fixedly at Jason, looking at him until he felt utterly uncomfortable all over.
And this was indeed quite comedic; clearly, in Jason's heart, he truly did not want to interact with these gods from the bottom of his heart.
Yet not a single one of these gods ran away; seeing one and falling for Jason...
In any case, having smoothly obtained permission from Erebus, Jason went to see Lord Hades.
Upon hearing it was for the wedding, Hades naturally would not refuse.
The subsequent issue was then the underworld's underworld gods.
However, when Jason went to them and indicated it was merely for a few days, the process was exceedingly smooth.
Basically, not a single underworld god raised an objection.
Except at Death God Thanatos's place...
"Jason, the matter I entrusted to you last time...?"
"Cough cough, apologies, great Death God Thanatos; I have already conveyed all your words to Teacher Hecate."
Coughing lightly, Jason put on an apologetic appearance: "Teacher Hecate even punished me over this matter and indicated she does not wish to see you..."
"Is that so." Death God Thanatos sighed: "Alright then, I understand... Sorry, Jason; because of me, you even received punishment!"
"Mm... Um, no matter; truly no matter!" Looking at the apologetic Death God Thanatos, Jason said feeling very uncomfortable: "Lord Thanatos, I have other matters, so I will take my leave first!"
With that, Jason slipped away...
After going around in a circle and resolving everything, Jason returned to Hecate's temple; here he massaged Hecate's shoulders, there he pounded her legs.
"Enough, enough!"
Hecate felt amused and pushed Jason away: "If you want to go see your Teacher Hephaestus, then go; I will not stop you!"
"Mm... Then Teacher, can you not be angry anymore?"
"I am not angry; why would I be angry." Hecate said indifferently, picking up a divine fruit placed at the side.
Seeing this, Jason hurriedly stepped forward to peel it and fed it into Hecate's mouth; this fawning appearance made even Cerberus, watching at the side, exclaim she could not stand it!
"Then Teacher, I am leaving?"
Jason said carefully to Hecate.
"Mm mm, go, go." Hecate said indistinctly while eating the fruit: "It is not like you offered tributes to Artemis and the others, offered a tribute to Hephaestus, and now even offered a tribute to Tartarus.
Yet I now cannot even see the shadow of a tribute... And then this heartless fellow, having just returned for two days, is already thinking of running outside again.
What anger should I have; I am not angry, not angry."
Seeing Hecate's indifferent appearance as she spoke, the corners of Jason's mouth twitched slightly.
Then, he cast a seeking-help gaze toward the heavenly steed and Cerberus at the side.
As their gazes met, one horse and one dog instantly looked away.
As for those puppets, they were not as advanced as those in Hephaestus's temple; they were puppets with bodies but no human form.
"Then... Teacher, you say, what do you want." Jason felt a headache and helplessly said to Hecate: "Say it; even if it is the stars in the sky, your student will pick them for you!"
"When you offered tributes to those gods, how did you not ask them what they wanted." Hecate continued in a very flat tone.
"This... Teacher, then how about I offer myself to you?"
"Do not want!"
With that, Hecate finished eating the divine fruit and stood up.
Reaching out, she fiercely pinched the cheeks of Jason, who had unknowingly turned seventeen and grown somewhat taller than her, then left.
After Hecate left, Cerberus came over, saying: "I say, you too; you offered tributes to so many gods, and it is not like one more for Goddess Hecate would matter, right?
To think Goddess Hecate has always considered you in every way, doting on you so much!"
"I also feel this is your fault." Cerberus, switching to her calm state, said indifferently: "Not to mention anything else, just on the face of it, Goddess Hecate cannot save face; so many gods have received your tributes.
And as your initial teacher, Goddess Hecate has received nothing.
This is sufficient to become a laughingstock among the gods; even I have heard rumors that you are fundamentally not Hecate's child, but Athena's..."
"This, this is actually truly not that I do not want to offer a tribute to Teacher Hecate, but I truly do not know what to offer."
Jason replied helplessly: "You all know my teacher; she is not interested in anything else, devoting herself entirely to her research."
"I feel that whatever you offer, she would be happy, because you are her student." The calm Cerberus continued.
"I know, but precisely because of that, I even more do not know what to offer her that is good." Jason said helplessly: "Because I do not want the thing I give Teacher to be inferior to what I gave others, so it is very hard to think of what to give Teacher..."
"Thinking too heavily, so instead feeling that nothing is good enough to present?" The calm Cerberus said thoughtfully.
Jason nodded.
He actually was indeed because of this, always not knowing what kind of tribute to offer Hecate that would be good.
The other gods all had targeted offerings, and most were under Athena's guidance.
As for the tribute to Tartarus, that thing was completely an accident...
The tribute to Hephaestus was so quick because merely observing a bit revealed what Hephaestus wanted.
But for Hecate... Jason actually always felt that offering himself to her was a good idea.
The problem was that he had offered twice already, and she did not want it; this was truly frustrating!
Cerberus understood what was going on and, after thinking for a while, also felt it troublesome, thus very simply stopped thinking about it.
She asked where Jason was going and, upon learning it was Olympus, instantly lost interest and ran off to the side to play by herself.
Jason paced back and forth in the temple several times, ultimately helplessly calling out a loud farewell to Hecate and indicating he would definitely return soon before leaving with the heavenly steed.
And Jason had only just left on his front foot when Hecate returned on her back foot.
Seeing Hecate return, Cerberus instantly regretted not following along.
Just as Cerberus trembled, thinking she would have to bear Hecate's anger alone.
Soon Cerberus was surprised to discover that Hecate now was not only not angry but even humming a little tune... And that tune was precisely the melody Jason usually played on the lyre, appearing in a very good mood.
Cerberus was instantly baffled, because Hecate, your student Jason... has run off!
And the reason was actually very simple; tributes and such, the gods actually fundamentally did not care about, after all, as great gods, what could they not obtain.
Thus, what they cared about was merely the sentiment.
And although Jason had offered Hecate nothing, his reaction had already thoroughly displayed his sentiment.
The observing and secretly amused Hecate naturally would not be angry.
As for the gods' comparisons and show-offs, Hecate was not so concerned.
Moreover, she also knew that Jason would ultimately offer her a tribute; the longer the wait, the better the tribute he would prepare for her.
Then, since that was so, why did Hecate deliberately pretend to be angry and leave... Ah, this point had to be traced back to three years ago.
Three years ago, not only had Goddess Athena awakened her mischievous interest toward Jason.
Hecate had actually also awakened it!
The Greek gods, because they too had the seven emotions and six desires, understood joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, still had fates as gods and would be trapped by emotions, doing bad things for their own interests.
Thus, the Greek gods would not only dote on their favored children but also frolic with their favored children.
The Greek gods were truly super troublesome...