Metis

Five hundred years had passed in the blink of an eye since Themis left the Divine Mountain.

Time in the Khaos world was simply worthless, and that remained true even after the first generation of humans appeared. It was not until the age of the Bronze Humans that the gods grew accustomed to measuring time in "years" instead of "centuries."

Three hundred years ago, on Mount Othrys, Cronus had truly become the God King. Driven by his oath, he had announced new rules for the sun and moon in the name of the God King, causing the few remaining moon-related concepts to flow completely into the Spiritual World.

As expected, the future Moon Goddess would control nothing besides a massive, luminous celestial body of her own.

Even the light emitted by the "moon" had no mystical significance beyond being called "moonlight."

As for the second oath, Cronus had also declared Ryan's sovereignty over the elements, as well as his right to weave a net to control them.

The power of the elements consequently flowed into the Spiritual World, but aside from the Fire Element, the other elements mostly remained superficial.

Although there was not yet a God of Wind, wind fell under meteorology. Water, earth, light, darkness, and the rest all had corresponding gods. Only fire had none.

So, as expected, there would one day be a Fire God who could not control the Fire Element. Furthermore, as Ryan fully assimilated the source power of the Fire Element, he could go on to touch true fire and bring this unclaimed natural Divine Office under his control.

Perhaps in the future, when the God King's eldest daughter was born, the Khaos world would still give birth to a Fire God, but she would merely be a god who presided over the burning of physical matter. From then on, the fire of the spirit could harm matter, while the fire of matter could no longer touch the spirit. Thus, within the realm of spirituality, Ryan defined fire as the primordial one.

Apart from that, many God Birth Phenomena had appeared in the Khaos world over the past five hundred years.

The most widely known was Helios, the Firstborn of Hyperion, the original Sun God.

On the day this new god was born, the entire world could see the great sun become a thousand times more dazzling. The original Divine Office of the sun split in two. The larger portion returned to the Titan Ancient Gods, while the smaller portion went to his child.

Hyperion still represented the sun, but his Firstborn represented the sun's orbit. The Khaos world had originally known neither sunrise nor sunset, but now it had dusk and dawn.

With the division of the Divine Office, Hyperion, who had already been approaching Divine Power Level 18, was severely weakened and could barely maintain the level of a Great Divine Power. Yet divine power could be maintained, and a Divine Office could be divided, but the sun could not become two.

Thus, the moment Helios was born, he became a Sun God without a sun. Having lost the celestial body corresponding to his Divine Office, Helios still looked like a young child even after nearly a century had passed since his birth.

Although he possessed the Sun God Divine Office at Divinity Level 15, he was, like Ryan at the beginning, merely a weak True God with Weak Divine Power. This family drama among the Titan Ancient Gods had given the gods of the Khaos world no shortage of entertainment.

Apart from that, Coeus and Phoebe's second daughter, the Meteor Goddess Asteria, was born. A celestial body that roamed unpredictably appeared in the skies of the Khaos world. But to Coeus's surprise, his daughter represented only the celestial body itself.

The light she emitted did not contain even the slightest energy, despite the fact that she, too, was a star.

Setting aside the little episode in the sky, far more gods were born in the sea. Okeanos in particular was very interested in having children.

More than a hundred God Children and Goddesses were born, adding many rivers, lakes, and springs to the earth. The influence of the Lord of the Outer Sea began to expand outward.

Although, as the "World-Encircling River," Okeanos actually presided over the distant seas and ocean currents, as his children grew more numerous, friction began to arise between him and the Ancient Sea Gods.

A god's Divine Office could not be stripped away, but that did not mean gods with similar Divine Offices would never fight. Just as the earth was constantly expanding, the ocean was also growing. The expanding ocean had no innate owner. Although the two sea gods had previously divided those waters between them, that did not mean they would continue doing so forever.

The two rulers of the ocean did not fight directly, but their children had no shortage of conflicts. What dissatisfied the Lord of the Outer Sea was that, despite having many children, he had only two True Gods. Styx also lived in the Netherworld year-round and never came to serve her father.

There was nothing he could do about it. He could only continue having children with Tethys, Goddess of Primordial Water.

It was in this environment that Metis, known in later mythology as "the wise Metis," was born. At present, she was the God of Hydrology.

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"Congratulations, my brother. Another True God has been born, and your faction grows stronger by the day."

Inside a palace in the distant sea, the God of Meteorology congratulated his long-unseen elder brother.

Ever since Themis had built her own temple on Mount Othrys, palaces of all sizes had soon spread throughout the Khaos world.

At least when it came to enjoying life, the gods of Khaos learned quickly.

"You're almost there too, aren't you, Crios? I heard that you and Eurybia have gotten together?"

"By my calculations, your first child should be born soon."

Okeanos gave a lukewarm smile and seemed less than enthusiastic.

Beside him, Crios looked somewhat awkward. He knew perfectly well that Okeanos was expressing his displeasure.

After all, everyone now knew that the Lord of the Outer Sea had come into conflict with his uncle. Although neither of them had fought directly, they had not had any contact for more than a century.

At a time like this, Crios's choice of the Ancient Sea God's youngest daughter had naturally left Okeanos deeply dissatisfied.

"I know you've had a conflict with Pontus," Crios said helplessly. "But there's no need for you to come to blows."

"So whose side are you on?" Okeanos asked bluntly, ignoring the God of Meteorology's polite words.

".I'll remain on Mount Othrys. I don't want to fight Eurybia's relatives, but I won't fight you either."

Although he said this, Crios knew very well that, for someone who had yet to become a Great Divine Power, taking either side was a bad choice.

"See that you do, my brother."

Okeanos gave Crios a slightly warning look, then turned around and looked at the assembled gods who had come to attend the banquet. He announced loudly:

"To celebrate the birth of my daughter, the God of Hydrology, Metis, let us begin the festivities."

"Every person here is a friend of the Ocean God Faction."

With that, the tense atmosphere caused by the two Titans finally grew lively. The gods offered their blessings and began enjoying the fine wine at the banquet.

Once this beverage passed down from the Divine Mountain appeared, it became the gods' favorite. No banquet could do without it. There were rumors that it actually originated from a god of the Netherworld, but no one cared about its source.

The gods cared about only one thing: "wine" allowed them to enjoy themselves. That was enough.

In front of the palace, the gods celebrated. But where they could not see, within the Spiritual World, a figure silently arrived behind the Oceanic Temple.

When the Spiritual World began spreading toward the surface, Ryan had not chosen the continent first. Instead, he had chosen the more remote ocean.

At this moment, he stood on the first layer of the Spiritual World, looking at the infant on the bed outside. His expression was somewhat hesitant.

She was the Metis who originally presided over strategy, wisdom, thought, and hydrology—the first wife of God King Zeus of the third generation, and the mother of the goddess Athena.

But now, she was merely a weak infant who presided over hydrology.