Chapter Summaries

The Dragon unleashed a devastating breath attack, killing two heroes and convincing the Argonauts they had to fight rather than flee. Ye Ting and Circe empowered the heroes and their weapons, leaving the Argonauts ready for a second battle while the two mages hid to watch.

• The Dragon flew behind the heroes and swept the forest with her breath, killing two who failed to escape in time.
• The survivors realized they could not outrun the flying Dragon and had to defeat her despite their attacks barely harming her.
• Ye Ting cast Mass Power of the Wild to enhance the heroes, then pretended the spell had exhausted him.
• Circe enchanted the heroes' weapons so they could break through the Dragon's defenses.
• The Argonauts prepared to fight the Dragon again as Ye Ting and Circe hid nearby to watch.

The Argonauts, strengthened by magic, wounded the dragon enough to force her to retreat for the first time. She transformed into the Five Emperor Dragon, a five-headed dragon wielding the five great elements, leaving the heroes facing a much more terrifying enemy.

• The dragon used more precise tail and claw attacks, killing two Argonauts, while the strengthened heroes damaged her scales and Atalanta threatened her eyes with arrows.
• The wounded dragon drove the Argonauts back with a tail sweep and retreated, giving the heroes hope that they could complete their mission.
• The dragon unleashed a roar that shook the heroes and declared that she would reveal her true power as Hecate’s first divine beast.
• A magic circle gathered power around the dragon, turning her armor black and giving her four additional elemental heads.
• The dragon announced that she was the Five Emperor Dragon, king among dragons and commander of the five great elements.

The Five Emperor Dragon overwhelmed the Argonauts, and Jason surrendered the Golden Fleece to stop the slaughter. The dragon spared the survivors and flew toward the Sacred Forest, leaving Jason and his companions grieving their defeat and losses.

• The Five Emperor Dragon killed many Argonauts with her five kinds of dragon breath, leaving fewer than ten able to fight.
• Jason pleaded for the fighting to stop, and the dragon diverted her next attack to spare the remaining heroes.
• Jason returned the Golden Fleece despite the Argonauts' protests, explaining that they could not win and would otherwise all die.
• The Five Emperor Dragon took the fleece, mocked the Argonauts, and flew toward the center of the Sacred Forest.
• The Argonauts carried their fallen companions back to the Argo, while Jason grieved that he had gained neither the fleece nor his companions' lives.

After leaving Colchis, Jason emerged from three days of isolation and told the surviving Argonauts he accepted responsibility for their failed expedition and their losses. He then questioned whether Hera’s support had truly been benevolent, leaving his companions alarmed by his doubts about the goddess.

• The Argonauts sailed from Colchis aboard the Argo with Ye Ting, Circe, and Medea among them.
• Jason remained locked in his quarters for three days while the crew worried about him.
• Jason came out and told his companions he would pull himself together and take responsibility for leading them on the failed expedition.
• Jason recalled how Hera had helped him reclaim his throne and revealed that he now doubted her motives.
• The Argonauts warned Jason to stop questioning Hera, fearing divine retribution.

Jason argued that the gods had manipulated the Argonauts into a deadly scheme to steal the Golden Fleece and attack their enemies. His companions accepted his suspicions, and their faith in the gods turned to resentment as Ye Ting watched with satisfaction.

• Jason told the Argonauts that Hera’s appearance in disguise and Pelias’s choice of the Golden Fleece raised suspicions about their expedition.
• Jason pointed out Athena’s unusual involvement in building the Argo and the gods’ influence on many heroes who joined the voyage.
• The Argonauts acknowledged that the journey had seemed strange and that Jason’s evidence was convincing.
• Jason accused the gods of using the Argonauts as cannon fodder and blamed them for the deaths of their companions.
• The Argonauts began voicing resentment toward the gods, and Ye Ting smiled in satisfaction.

Ye Ting explained how he had turned the Argonauts against the Olympian gods by letting them uncover the gods’ conspiracy themselves. Athena appeared in the Argo’s lower cabin and demanded to know who Ye Ting was and why he had joined the Argonauts.

• Ye Ting reasoned that the heroes’ own discoveries would foster resentment toward the gods and help that sentiment spread among humanity.
• Ye Ting left the Argonauts’ meeting and confronted Athena in the empty lower cabin, accusing her of deceiving mortals and sending them on a doomed expedition.
• Athena appeared in a burst of golden light after Ye Ting called her name.
• Athena asked Ye Ting who he was and why he had joined the Argonauts, and threatened to force the truth from him when he gave a casual reply.

Ye Ting had left the Argo unshielded so Athena would hear the heroes’ complaints and reconsider her loyalty to Olympus. After Athena descended and saw how many heroes had died, Ye Ting accused her of sending her children to their deaths for selfish reasons.

• Ye Ting explained that Athena could hear everything aboard the Argo because she had helped build it, and he had deliberately allowed her to listen.
• Athena appeared aboard the Argo, and Ye Ting asked what she thought about the heroes’ fate.
• Athena saw the nearly empty cabin and grieved for the heroes she had watched and nurtured.
• Ye Ting judged Athena’s sorrow as a sign that she could be won over to the Magic Pantheon.
• Ye Ting called Athena the heroes’ selfish mother for building their coffin and sending them toward ruin.

Ye Ting confronted Athena over the Argonauts’ deaths and warned that the Olympian gods would target the surviving expedition members. Athena broke down in tears, leaving Ye Ting unsure how to proceed with his plan to win her over.

• Athena apologized for the Argonauts’ sacrifices and offered to compensate them, but Ye Ting said no payment could replace the dead.
• Ye Ting pointed out that Athena’s offer was only her own, since the other Olympian gods showed no remorse for the Argonauts.
• Ye Ting warned Athena that the gods would punish the Argonauts for the expedition’s failure, and Athena admitted she could not stop them.
• Athena sobbed that she did not want Ye Ting and the others to suffer, while Ye Ting realized he now had to comfort her instead of advancing his plan.

Ye Ting comforted Athena after she grieved over the heroes’ sacrifices, then teased her when she tried to deny crying. Athena worried that the gods would punish Ye Ting, but admitted she had no way to change their decision or save him.

• Ye Ting embraced Athena and soothed her sorrow over the heroes, and she gradually calmed down in his arms.
• Athena realized Ye Ting was holding her, pulled away in alarm, and denied that she had been crying.
• Ye Ting teased Athena about her tears, and she called him a liar but was not truly angry.
• Athena worried about Ye Ting’s future as the gods prepared to vent their resentment on him.
• Athena told Ye Ting she could not influence the gods’ decision or save him.

Ye Ting urged Athena to stop worrying about the Olympian gods’ disapproval and save the Argonauts according to her own judgment. Athena realized that her hesitation came from rules she had imposed on herself, leaving her to consider breaking free of them.

• Ye Ting offered Athena a solution after seeing her struggle to find one.
• Athena explained that most of the gods had supported punishing the Argonauts, leaving only Hestia on her side while Demeter and Artemis abstained.
• Ye Ting advised Athena to ignore the other gods and act, arguing that she had little to lose by opposing them.
• Athena considered her isolation among the Olympians and recognized that standing against them would not change who supported or opposed her.
• Ye Ting compared Athena to an elephant bound by a rope and told her that her own heart, not the rules, was holding her back.

Ye Ting revealed his identity to Athena and explained that he wanted mortals to govern themselves without interference from the gods. Athena understood his intentions and responded warmly to his faith in her.

• Athena concluded that she would need Hecate's help if her conflict with the Olympian gods escalated.
• Athena recognized Ye Ting's indifference toward the gods and suspected that he had a purpose in encouraging her to oppose them.
• Ye Ting dispelled his disguise, and Athena recognized him as the powerful mage who had nearly destroyed the Olympian Pantheon.
• Ye Ting admitted that he had infiltrated the Argonauts to turn people, including Athena, against the Olympian gods.
• Ye Ting told Athena that his goal was for mortals to thrive and govern themselves without the gods interfering.
• Athena asked about Ye Ting's intentions, then smiled when he said he believed she shared his goal.

Ye Ting secured Athena’s agreement to secretly cooperate with the Magic Pantheon, and she promised to leak intelligence from Mount Olympus. After Athena deduced that Aphrodite had joined Ye Ting’s side, he revealed that Hecate’s power and the Magic Web could support him anywhere, leaving him ready to take the offensive against the Olympian gods.

• Athena agreed to secretly cooperate with Ye Ting and remain on Mount Olympus until the time was right to join his side openly.
• Ye Ting hugged Athena to celebrate their alliance, and she blushed and scolded him but did not retaliate.
• Athena asked Ye Ting to protect the Argonauts from accidents, and he promised they would be treated as allies.
• As Athena prepared to leave, she deduced that Aphrodite had deliberately shot the Arrow of Love at Ye Ting instead of Jason and had already joined his side.
• Ye Ting revealed that Hecate could support him anywhere through the Magic Web, and Athena glared at him before vanishing.

Ye Ting protected the Argonauts as Zeus and Poseidon battered the Argo with a storm, then revealed that the gods had tried to kill them. The heroes survived another danger when Medea, Circe, and Ye Ting defeated the Sirens’ bewitching song, and the Argo continued its return journey.

• King Aeetes sent warships after the Argo to recapture Medea, while Zeus and Poseidon unleashed a storm against the ship.
• Ye Ting had the heroes lower the sails and cut down the mast, then sealed and reinforced the Argo so it could withstand the storm for three days and nights.
• After the storm passed, Ye Ting told the Argonauts that Zeus and Poseidon had caused it, deepening their resentment toward the gods.
• As the Argonauts passed Aeaea Island, they agreed to make sacrifices when the gods demanded them, concealing their knowledge of the gods’ betrayal.
• The Sirens bewitched the Argonauts with their song, but Ye Ting provided magical music while Medea and Circe sang, freeing the heroes to steer away.

After the Argonauts reached the island of the Phaeacians, Alcinous’s ruling and a wedding for Ye Ting and Medea ended the Colchian pursuit. The Argo then reached Crete, where Ye Ting learned more about Talos and the lost mechanical civilization behind the Greek gods.

• Alcinous mediated between the Argonauts and the Colchian pursuers, ruling that Medea could stay with Ye Ting if they were married.
• The Argonauts held a wedding for Ye Ting and Medea, and Alcinous then protected them from Colchis.
• The Argo reached Crete, guarded by Talos, a bronze automaton reinforced with Orichalcum.
• Artemis had told Ye Ting that the Greek gods came from a mechanical civilization nearly destroyed in a battle against the Wandering Star.
• Ye Ting learned that the conflict between Zeus and Cronus had concerned whether the mechanical beings should abandon machinery or merge with it, and that Aphrodite originated from Uranus’s control core.
• The chapter revealed that Talos was one of the creations left behind by the mechanical civilization of Olympus.

The Argonauts were trapped outside Crete Island by Talos, whose armor and attacks defeated their weapons. Medea used her research into mechanical intelligence to invade Talos’s mind, beginning an attempt to control it.

• Talos attacked the Argo as it approached Crete Island, and the heroes failed to damage the bronze giant.
• Jason asked Ye Ting, Circe, and Medea for a solution as the crew’s supplies dwindled.
• Medea explained that the Argonauts’ failed battles had helped her identify a weakness in Talos’s power system.
• Medea brought the Argo within range and cast True Domination on Talos.
• Medea used her knowledge of mechanical intelligence to find a flaw in Talos’s mind and complete her infiltration.

Medea took control of Talos and made it destroy its own energy pipes, bringing down the giant and allowing the Argo to continue its journey. The Argonauts returned safely to Iolcus, where they worried about how Greece would react to their battered homecoming.

• Medea controlled Talos, forced it to strike its vulnerable ankle, and ruptured the pipes carrying the blood of gods.
• Talos lost its power and collapsed, leaving the Argonauts shocked by Medea's abilities.
• The Argo sailed on, and the heroes treated Medea with reverence while Jason abandoned his former lust for her.
• With Zeus and the other gods unable to stop them, the Argonauts reached Pagasae Port in Iolcus.
• The returned heroes worried about the uproar their bedraggled arrival would cause across Greece.

The Argonauts returned from Colchis in failure, but Athena protected them from the gods’ revenge, and Jason’s companions avenged his family by killing Pelias. Jason went on to marry Glauce and rise in Corinth, while the Argonauts’ accounts of the gods helped erode their authority as human society grew more resilient.

• The Argonauts returned to Greece with few survivors, and Athena publicly declared them under her protection, provoking an open ideological rift with the Olympian gods.
• Jason learned that Pelias had driven his parents to their deaths and murdered his infant brother, so he asked the Argonauts to avenge his family.
• The Argonauts killed Pelias in his palace, then left Thessaly, while Jason traveled to Corinth and was welcomed by King Creon.
• Creon betrothed Glauce to Jason, who had neither betrayed Medea nor obtained the Golden Fleece and was poised to become king of Corinth.
• Jason and the other Argonauts spread accounts of the gods’ deeds, and the Olympians gradually lost the Greeks’ respect as production and infrastructure improved.

After the Argonaut expedition, Ye Ting and Circe, Medea, and Atalanta joined the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. Ye Ting sent the beast away peacefully, and Atalanta’s fame reached her father, King Iasus, who failed to win her back.

• Artemis sent the Calydonian Boar to ravage the region after King Oeneus neglected to offer her a sacrifice, then asked Ye Ting to bring it back.
• Meleager gathered heroes, including Ye Ting’s companions and several Argonauts, to hunt the boar.
• Atalanta’s arrows suppressed the boar, and Ye Ting revealed his true form, causing it to recognize and obey him.
• Ye Ting rebuked the boar, which left Calydon, and the hunt made Ye Ting and Atalanta famous across Greece.
• King Iasus recognized Atalanta as his daughter, but she rejected his claim because she already regarded Ye Ting as her father.

Ye Ting left Greece for the Egyptian Divine Realm after finishing his arrangements there, where a merchant caravan encountered him crossing the desert. Sobekemsaf approached the seemingly immaculate traveler and invited him to meet his master.

• Ye Ting decided to visit the Egyptian Divine Realm while the resistance to the gods gradually spread in Greece.
• A caravan of Egyptian merchants traveled through the desert, led by its owner and his slave Sobekemsaf.
• The merchant spotted a lone traveler beyond a dune and sent Sobekemsaf to investigate.
• Sobekemsaf found Ye Ting walking through the desert in luxurious, spotless clothing and bowed respectfully.
• Sobekemsaf offered Ye Ting assistance and invited him to speak with his master.

Ye Ting, traveling under the alias Thoth in Egypt, joined Nahekt’s caravan after getting lost in the desert on his way to Memphis. As the caravan traveled onward, Ye Ting reflected on Egypt’s divine rulers and their distant relationship with the mortal kingdom.

• Sobekemsaf led Thoth to his master, Nahekt, after Thoth agreed to meet the merchant.
• Thoth introduced himself to Nahekt, explained the custom of a handshake, and said he had lost his way while trying to reach Memphis.
• Nahekt invited Thoth to travel with his caravan to Memphis, and Thoth accepted.
• Nahekt gave Thoth a camel, and Thoth joined the caravan.
• Ye Ting’s observations described the Heliopolitan Pantheon’s relaxed rule over Egypt and its likely eventual replacement by the Hermopolitan Pantheon.