Chapter 124: 124 Awoken and Encounter.

“…Jin, …ke up!”.

A distant voice resonated within the void in his mind. It was loud and fiery, like the breath of summer.

Jin’s darkened vision pried open to see an endless darkness surrounding his environment.

The sense of direction disappeared; he couldn’t differentiate between left, right, up, and down. Everything was completely void.

He didn’t even know if he was standing or floating; Jin had no idea where this was.

“Jin, wake up”.

However, those words kept repeating themselves like a broken record. Slowly, Jin pulled all his sprawled thoughts.

His ears shook, hearing a loud beating in his chest. A proof that he was still alive.

“What is that?”. Jin looked ahead.

In front of him, a light blinked as if it wanted to tell him something.

Jin extended his right hand and tried to reach the things, but a crack resounded within the darkness.

It echoed like an ominous omen as he saw golden veins crawl through the darkness like cobwebs.

“Jin, wake up!”.

The noise kept getting louder. It pierced his eardrums. But Jin recognized the tone and voice; they were none other than.

“Lady Artemis? Is that you?”.

As if it couldn’t be held back, the place shattered into myriad pieces, revealing a vast landscape.

Jin forgot to breathe; the place was breathtaking, and it halted his thoughts momentarily.

A crystal pond beneath his feet reflected the seemingly close skies, stretched endlessly to all sides.

White clouds floated gently, casting soft shadows that loomed over the boy.

“Huff, finally, we connected”.

Artemis appeared behind him. Her voice exhaled slight irritation while grabbing her own throbbing head.

“Lady Artemis, it’s been a while”. Jin greeted the Goddess.

His step halted midway as he saw Artemis’s cheek twitching, forcing her stiffened lips to smile.

Jin gulped, and his eyes widened in shock. He noticed the woman’s silhouette was fading away like a mist.

“Tsk, it’s time already,” Artemis clicked her tongue. She shot her golden eyes at him. “Jin!”

“Yes ma’am”.

The boy stiffened and raised a hand on the chest. He could feel it directly; his heart was beating so fast that it worried him.

“Do something about the stone I gave you”.

A warm breeze passed, taking the goddess’ words into the horizon. Jin blinked, placing a hand on his chin as he tried to recall his memory.

’Stone? Ah, that one!?’. Jin’s emerald eyes flashed as realization dawned on him like a sunrise.

“You mean the black stone? What is it anyway?”.

Jin pressed, but the presence of Artemis had already turned fleeting, like a candlelight that could disappear with a single blow.

When he saw the Goddess’s mouth open and close repeatedly, the boy had no idea what she was talking about.

But knowing the woman’s personality. It might be sharp, venomous words she threw at him.

Finally, the images disappear, showing her last image with narrowed eyes and a gesture of slicing a neck.

“Man, she was too violent”. Jin shrugged, feeling something was about to wake up from his consciousness.

The boy looked up, and a blinding light swallowed him, turning everything black.

A groan escaped his lips. Jin felt something pressing against his chest; his limbs were so heavy that it took everything for him to twitch a finger.

His eyes fluttered open, watching an unfamiliar ceiling, and the smell of chlorophyll filled his nose.

Slowly, his strength returned, and so did his scattered thoughts. He tensed the muscle in his hand, trembling, but he managed to push himself to sit up.

“Where is this?”.

As he sat, the boy noticed a white sheet fall from his chest, revealing his wrapped torso. His brows knitted to smell the bitter glass up close.

A warm golden light bathed the room interior, which was filled with various potions and medicine stored inside a white cabinet.

Jin reached out to a curtain that blocked the light and pulled it hard, making a screeching sound.

“Hm? You’re awake?”.

A woman’s voice came from the desk in the corner. She put away the pen in hand and walked toward Jin.

She was a beauty with orange wavy hair flowing down her back. Her curvy body swayed every time she stomped the floor, distracting the boy’s hormones.

Jin’s Jade eyes flared up around her because of her ember-colored eyes, and the thin golden aura that coated her skin looked radiant like a divine halo.

His battle-hardened instinct screamed inside, telling him not to get close to the woman in the white coat.

Jin gulped but frowned when he noticed her throat was barren, like cracked land. He coughed while keeping his senses wary toward the woman.

The woman turned her back, filled a glass with water, and then returned to him.

“Here your throat must be sore after sleeping that long”.

“Thank you”. Jin replied, taking the glass from the woman’s hand.

When his finger grazed hers, he could see a subtle spark created between them, coming from the golden light that started to pulsate around his skin.

“!?”.

The woman wearing a white coat widened her eyes. Her eyelashes trembled and turned moist before a large drop of tears streamed down her cheeks.

“…Athena?”.

’She knows Athena?’. Jin snatched the glass from her, his whole body tensed and ready to summon his katana any time. “Who are you?”.

Even though the woman was still crying, Jin didn’t know if she was an ally or an enemy.

After all, as far as he knew, the Gods or Goddesses who roamed within the surface were still part of the Olympians, besides Athena and Artemis, who were imprisoned.

Whether they sat on the twelve thrones or not, he was afraid that one of Ares’ followers or himself, who still kept things calm on his throne, was tracking their movements.

“Oh, I’m sorry, please give me a moment”.

The woman wiped the tears from her cheeks and snapped her fingers, creating a thin layer of orange barrier that isolated them.

Jin’s body jolted, and he accidentally crushed the glass in his hand, feeling an oppressive golden aura that fried his brain.

“Aaahk!”.

“Oh, right, I forgot about that”.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as if inhaling the golden aura that leaked from her pores.

“It’s fine now”.

Her melodious voice entered Jin’s ears. It gave warmth inside and soothed his ragged mind.

Jin slowly gazed up and witnessed a Goddess. She wore a white chiton fastened around her shoulder with a golden brooch.

Her orange wavy hair fluttered gently like flickering flames while her ember eyes shone crimson.

The boy’s jaw dropped, witnessing a beautiful woman beyond mortal grasp.

“Y-You are?”. Jin’s voice betrayed his firm mind.

She giggled and softly said. “I’m Hestia, the Goddess of the heart flame, home, and family. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jin”.

“My name?”.

“I heard it from those girls who always come and take care of you in every chance they have”.

“I see”.

Jin nodded and flinched as he felt something sharp prickle his skin until it bled. He lowered his gaze and saw the earlier glass shards were embedded in his palm.

“Oh my, please hold still”.

Hestia extended her hands forward, and like a miracle, the glass shards were pulled by an invisible force as she threw them into the corner bin.

Her other hand touched Jin’s bleed, and it soon closed like nothing had ever happened.

She waved her hand, and the glass on her desk rattled, moving with the kettle as it poured more water.

Jin watched everything with wide eyes, barely holding his jaws dropped to the floor.

“Here, your drink”.

“Thank you”. Jin caught the cold glass that reflected his expression.

The boy pondered momentarily as he sipped the water to quench his thirst. He exhaled, feeling refreshed after being showered with water of life, and turned his attention to the side.

“What do you want to hear, Lady Hestia?”.

Hestia’s expression broke into a loosened grin and asked.

“Everything you know about Athena and why is her power flowing within you?”.

The boy furrowed his brows but relented by the woman’s droopy eyes, pleading.

“Alright…”.

Hestia’s eyes sparkled with joy, and they listened instantly to the long story that took Jin hours to finish.

“I see, so it was like that?”. Hestia stood up, pushing the wooden chair beneath her, and leaned forward.

With thin clothes and huge ample breasts, it shook as she closed the distance between them.

“You’re doing good, Jin”. Hestia’s warm voice seeped into Jin’s own being.

His tensed mind and physique loosened as he felt a warm sensation tenderly touching his head.

“Jin is amazing, enduring those years and clearing it”.

“W-Well, thank you”.

Jin averted his gaze to the side. His vision blurred as tears started to accumulate.

The Goddess’s maternal instinct struck a chord in his heart; it reminded him of his mother, who was far away on the frontier.

They kept the distance close until the sun on the horizon shifted to the west and cast a warm crimson glow that felt ethereal.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep