A close call

If Bai Mo had known what these people were saying, he would certainly have applauded in praise, then smacked these idiots hard on the head with the back of his blade. More interesting still, this supposed son of Zeus might well be written into mythology along with the legend of the Argo.

Riding the momentum of their great victory, the Argonauts were fired up and soon ready to depart again. Bai Mo glanced at the sky. Not a cloud in sight. Normally, no great wind would blow up and send them back in weather like this.

Night fell, and the wind rose. Fierce winds and towering waves charged at the Argo like an armored army. Now, no amount of strength or world-shaking wisdom was any use. Everyone could only try to keep steady, with Jason's roars alone struggling against the sea.

Another towering wave came crashing down. Jason bellowed, "Hold steady! Grab anything you can!" Then Jason tightened his grip on the ship and charged straight into it. It was the right decision. If they tried to dodge the wave, the enormous surface area of the ship's side would let it smash the entire vessel apart. In this desperate situation, Jason's mind instead grew calmer. His breathing kept accelerating, and his thoughts became swift and accurate.

After some time, the Agor finally sailed clear of the storm. Exhausted, Jason dropped straight onto his backside and wiped the seawater from his face.

"Beautifully done, Jason. I apologize for doubting you earlier. Letting you take the helm really was the right decision." Bai Mo was unstinting in his praise.

"Enough. Flattery won't help you now. Hurry up and check our losses, and find out where we are. I can see the outline of an island."

Bai Mo surveyed the state of the Argo. There was no major damage, but a chill ran through him.

The flag had snapped off, and who knew where it had blown.

"Damn it!"

Bai Mo immediately realized that this storm was very likely the work of the gods. They had drifted back to the same island. In the original myth, the Argo lost its way in a nighttime storm and drifted back to that island. The night was too dark for either side to see the other clearly. Thinking they were bandits, the islanders took up weapons to resist, while the heroes aboard the Argo fought back.

The final outcome was that Jason and the others personally killed people they had only just regarded as friends. Precisely because Bai Mo knew the plot, he had asked the king for this flag that glowed even at night, hoping to prevent the clash. Yet this was how it had turned out.

"Damn it. There wasn't the slightest sign of rain when we set out. Even Jason guaranteed calm seas, but we still ran into a storm, and the flag I meant to use to identify us just had to get blown off."

To be safe, Bai Mo had reinforced that flagpole with Electric Current Push, but the wind had still snapped it. That alone said a great deal.

Sure enough, a group of armed people charged toward them from nearby. Those aboard the Argo also grabbed their weapons, ready to face the enemy.

The enemy approached extremely quickly, and no torches had been prepared aboard the ship. For one thing, they wanted to prevent fires; for another, these heroes were already accustomed to fighting enemies in the dark. Every one of them was a veteran of countless battles, able to make out an enemy's movements even at night. As for faces, no one cared whether a corpse was beautiful. At least, that particular hero had yet to be born.

"Wait! Look before you fight!"

Bai Mo's shout rang across the Argo, but with the enemy already closing in, the heroes could not gamble with the ship's safety. They bravely leaped overboard, ready to kill these "bandits" who had a death wish.

Soon, the two sides clashed. How could ordinary people possibly stand against these heroes with demigod bloodlines? Before long, a splash of scarlet spurted like a fountain from an islander's severed neck.

"All of you, stop!"

A furious roar rang across the battlefield in the dark, followed by light! The light of lightning! Though it lasted only a second, that dazzling flash made everyone stop fighting. One Argonaut had just knocked an "enemy" to the ground and was about to finish him off when the light illuminated both their faces.

They were friends who had drunk together that very day.

It was not just those two. Many others realized it too. Then everyone slowly lowered their weapons and looked at Bai Mo.

Electric currents symbolizing Zeus's power coiled around his plain, unfinished blade.

The next day, the Argonauts buried those who had died by accident, and the king received Bai Mo in person. If his earlier hospitality toward the heroes aboard the Argo had been intended to keep them from slaughtering his people, this time the king felt genuine, heartfelt gratitude toward this hero.

A mere few seconds of fighting had killed several soldiers. The king could not imagine it. Had Bai Mo not displayed his power, they might all have died at their own friends' hands.

The king immediately declared Bai Ermo an eternal friend of their entire nation, whose deeds its people would sing of forever.

Things were going very well for Bai Mo, but Mount Olympus had erupted into an uproar.

"Well, well! When did you father this bastard? And which whore was it this time?"

A woman's furious voice rang through the temple on Olympus. Zeus, the exalted king of the gods, was currently being held by the hair by a goddess, stripped of all dignity, yet not one of the gods spoke.

For this goddess was Hera, Zeus's wife in name.

Zeus was speechless too. Who was this one, now? I've had too many to remember. But seeing Bai Mo wield the power of lightning, every last god believed one thing.

This was Zeus's offspring.

Athena's gaze was the most complicated of all. Her eyes shone with the light of wisdom, but even the goddess of wisdom could not arrive at the correct answer without any clues, much less when an extremely convincing answer was already before her.

This guy was definitely a son Zeus had fathered at some unknown point.

"The power to wield lightning?" Athena murmured. For some reason, her wisdom told her that the answer before her was absolutely not the right one. At the very least, how could an ordinary person know he was the son of the king of the gods and tell no one?

"Well, brother! I never imagined you'd been hiding so much." Polydeuces slung an arm around Bai Mo's shoulders as though they were brothers. But at this moment, in Polydeuces's eyes, Bai Mo really was his own half brother.

Bai Mo had already done everything he could to explain. What son of Zeus? Have you all had too much to drink? I'm just a nobody. I'm merely stronger than ordinary people, my origins are unknown, and I can use electric currents...

I'm almost convincing myself. Bai Mo could not help covering his face. If his power had not come from the Magnetic Field World, he probably would not have been able to convince himself otherwise. But this was fine too. At least it gave him an explanation for his power. As for whether that explanation would bring Bai Mo fortune or disaster in the future, there was no way to know.