How to Become a God?

After sending his answer, Suye heard countless sighs of relief from the class.

"Three!"

Niedern's voice rang out, and the dust settled.

"Very good. Everyone finished. I'm very satisfied."

Everyone immediately realized that Teacher Niedern had deliberately waited a little longer to ensure every student had finished answering. Only then did they understand that the earlier panic had been a false alarm, meant merely to force them to write down their first thoughts.

A few students fell into deep thought.

Niedern said, "I've received your answers. Now, each group will sit in a circle, share your answers, and begin discussing them."

Hearing this, Suye stood up, carried his stool over, and sat in a circle with the other six members of his group.

The six people looked at one another, unsure what to say for a moment.

Pallas raised her Magic Book and turned the page toward the others. Only one word was written on it.

Method.

Suye glanced at Pallas in surprise. He hadn't expected her thoughts to be almost exactly the same as his.

Then a trace of sympathy flashed through Suye's eyes. It seemed Pallas really couldn't speak.

Jimmy smiled. "I'll go first. My answer is to go around it. I didn't know why that thought came to me at the time. Anyway, I didn't dare climb Mount Olympus. If I ran into the gods and got struck dead by a bolt of lightning, that would be awful. What about you? Rolon, what did you write?"

Rolon set down the battle spear and longsword in his hands. The gesture made Suye and several others roll their eyes inwardly.

"I wrote 'leave.'" He took out his Magic Book and showed it to everyone.

Hote also took out his Magic Book and said, "I wrote 'climb.' I didn't think much about it at the time. Since it was Dean Plato's order, I just had to obey."

"Brave!" Jimmy said.

Suye said, "I wrote 'find a way to climb.'" After speaking, he raised his Magic Book as well.

Pallas's deep-blue eyes flickered.

The others looked at Suye, then at Pallas.

Jimmy's eyes rolled, and he gave a sly grin. "Lake, what about you?"

Lake's face was slightly pale. He helplessly raised his Magic Book and said, "At the time, I was only thinking about what to do about my little sister. I didn't think about anything else, so I could only write that."

It only said, "But what about my little sister?"

"Haha, I knew you'd write that," Jimmy said with a laugh. "Albert, what about you?"

The short and thin Albert looked embarrassed. "Can I not say?"

"What do you think?" Jimmy said irritably.

Albert helplessly raised his bony arm and held up his Magic Book. It read, "Run."

Jimmy couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. The tiny freckles on his nose almost seemed to jump off.

Albert's sleeve slipped down, and Suye saw that his arm was covered in several scars. But in the next instant, Albert withdrew his arm and covered it with his sleeve. His face flushed red as he lowered his head and fell silent.

Jimmy coughed twice to hide his awkwardness and said, "The seven of us answered 'method,' 'leave,' 'go around it,' 'find a way to climb,' 'climb,' 'what about my little sister,' and 'run away.' All right, then... what are we supposed to discuss now?"

The seven people looked at one another, all at a loss for words.

The people at the other tables were the same. They seemed to have no idea what to discuss either.

The classroom fell into an eerie silence.

Suye ignored everyone else and quietly pondered. The more he thought, the faster his heart beat. He vaguely felt that he had made the matter too serious, so he stopped thinking.

Seeing that no one was speaking, Jimmy said, "I thought about it for quite a while just now. This should be a test by the teacher, using Dean Plato's name as a pretext to examine how we deal with difficulties."

"That should be it," Suye said abruptly.

Jimmy looked at Suye happily and analyzed seriously, "Let me share my thoughts. Everyone knows that Mount Olympus lies in northwestern Greece. It's shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, and the Zeus Temple connecting to the divine realm is there. The temple of the god-king Zeus is also Greece's Hall of Gods. There's no need for me to explain how dangerous that place is. Once we understand that, the problem becomes simple."

Jimmy smiled and looked around at everyone, brimming with confidence. "When faced with difficulties, Suye and Pallas want to find a 'method.' They only think about solving the difficulty, not whether it can be solved. The warrior Hote would charge straight ahead without thinking about anything at all. Lake is more worried about his little sister and completely ignores the difficulty itself. Albert is even more impressive—he doesn't think at all and runs immediately. As for Rolon and me, we're more capable. We assess the severity of the difficulty, avoid risking our lives, and make the wisest choice."

Everyone smiled slightly, seemingly agreeing with Jimmy's view.

But Suye and Pallas's eyes suddenly met, then quickly separated.

Both of them saw a trace of calmness in the other's gaze—the calmness of knowing the other person was wrong without needing to explain it.

"Why don't you explain yourself, Hote?" Jimmy said with a smile.

Hote scratched his head. "I do think I was reckless. But now that I think about it, I still feel that Suye and Pallas have a point."

"Oh? What about you, Suye? You've changed a lot over this summer." Jimmy looked at Suye with a beaming smile.

"I think what you said makes a lot of sense," Suye replied with a smile.

"You still stand by your answer?" Jimmy asked.

"Of course," Suye said.

"Then can you explain why you don't consider whether the difficulty can be solved, and only consider the method?" Jimmy's attitude was extremely amiable.

Suye smiled slightly. He hadn't expected Jimmy to be so capable—to try persuading someone through questions. He was clearly imitating Socrates, though his technique was somewhat crude.

However, since the other party had asked, Suye no longer concealed his thoughts. "Before discussing this matter, we first need to ask a question: Is climbing Mount Olympus truly our goal?"

The instant Suye asked this question, Niedern, who had been listening to another group's discussion, suddenly turned his head and looked toward him.

Jimmy was stunned. For a moment, he didn't know how to answer, and the others also fell into thought.

Rolon gripped his battle spear and said, "If Mount Olympus isn't our goal in this question, then there's no need to discuss it. For now, we can only assume that climbing Mount Olympus is each of our goals."

"Yes, it should be that way." After saying this, Jimmy looked at Suye.

Suye smiled. "If—I'm only saying if—climbing Mount Olympus were my goal, then of course I would first find a way to climb it."

"Wouldn't you take the gods on Mount Olympus into consideration?" Jimmy asked.

"Of course I would. I'd consider ways to avoid them, or ways to make them permit me to climb the mountain." Suye looked as if this were perfectly obvious.

"You..." Jimmy was stunned again.

Albert couldn't help saying, "But the gods would never let you climb the mountain. Only gods can set foot there."

Suye nodded and smiled. "See? Albert just proposed one way to climb it: become a god."

Of the six people sharing the table, five stared at Suye with their mouths agape, as though they were looking at a lunatic or an idiot.

Pallas stared at Suye as well, but her eyes shone with a light completely different from the others'.

Albert shrank his neck. "I think we should change the subject. I'm afraid the Thunder Spear of the god-king will come flying over and destroy the entire school."

Apart from Pallas and Suye, the other five nodded in unison.

"Possibly all of Athens, too," Albert added.

At that moment, Teacher Niedern walked over and asked, "How does a person become a god?"

The five classmates felt as though their minds had turned into a pot of vegetable soup. Why had Teacher Niedern gone crazy too?