The Greece Antagonist

Several days later, War God Mountain.

Luo En sat in the backyard of Hestia's residence, taking out a Golden Apple and swallowing it in a few bites.

The fruit melted in his mouth, forming a stream of golden Divine Liquid that flowed from his stomach to his limbs and bones, slowly soaking into every inch of his bone, every piece of muscle, and every drop of blood.

Gradually, a golden glow enveloped him from the inside out.

"Buzz!"

At the same time, a golden halo shone behind him, where countless lush grapevines wildly grew within the halo's constructed world of the heart, gradually extending their tendrils to the tenth gap, turning into a fruit tree with lush branches and leaves.

Fruits, the size of a fist with a fiery red skin and a trumpet-shaped opening at the top, hung full on the branches.

As the fruit tree and fruits ceased to grow, Luo En slowly opened his eyes, spread his palm forward, and several green vines automatically fell from behind him, bringing a fiery red fruit to his hand.

"Crunch~~"

With a gentle break, the fiery red peel split open with a crisp sound, revealing seeds as clear and sparkling as agates.

—Pomegranates, a fruit with special significance in Greek culture.

In the Divine Realm, the pomegranate tree is one of the favorite plants of Hera, the goddess of marriage and fertility, and Queen Hera. Her image is often depicted with a scepter in one hand and a pomegranate, a symbol of fertility, in the other; for Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, who is also the goddess of flowers and mother of plants, the pomegranate is also one of her sacred objects and symbols, and it is included among the plants people sacrifice to her.

On the other hand, it is said to be born from the blood of Adonis, who governs the annual death and revival of plants. Hades, the god of the underworld, tempted Persephone with six pomegranate seeds, binding her to spend six months of the year in the Netherworld. Thus, many believe it to possess magical powers, potent enough to affect even the fates of deities.

Luo En plucked several pomegranate seeds and put them in his mouth.

A miraculous sweetness burst forth on his taste buds, followed by a wave of coolness spreading within his body. Continue your adventure at My Virtual Library Empire

In a daze, his vitality became more robust, his eyes clearer, and his thoughts seemingly shaper.

At the same time, his perception of the "world" seemed to undergo an indescribable change.

—As if everything around him had become much more familiar.

Luo En ate a few more pomegranate seeds, closed his eyes to sense for a moment, then opened them again, shaking his head in resignation.

The effect on him was too slight, the sensation not clear enough.

He pondered for a moment, picked up a Gorgon bronze emblem from beside him, and traced several lines of Hermes Script onto it.

Soon after, cautious knocking from outside the house could be heard.

Luo En casually removed the magic seal on the door and welcomed the visitors into the backyard.

"Dionysus, I've brought you the people you asked for," said Fedra, the rarely seen fourth daughter of King Minos, holding a staff of the God of Wine and glancing nervously at the deity she served.

What was past was past, now is now.

Strictly speaking, deities and humans are no longer the same kind of life.

As a leading member of the Dionysian Sect, years of preaching and prayer had ingrained her worship of their deity deep within her bones.

Naturally, she couldn't help feeling nervous when facing her idol.

"What's there to be afraid of? I don't bite," joked Luo En, pulling over a stool and gesturing his somewhat restrained niece to sit down. Then he turned his attention to the children she had brought with her.

—They were a group of children, most wearing rough outerwear, their eyes filled with confusion and curiosity.

Clearly, they were born to lower-class commoners, without divine blood and talents bestowed by deities.

"The pomegranates at home are ripe, and there seem to be too many to eat. Come, try and see how they taste," Luo En half-jokingly, half-seriously smiled and spoke, pushing several pomegranates he'd picked from the tree and placed in a dish beforehand towards the children. He himself demonstrated by eating a few pomegranate seeds to dispel their doubts.

Seeing such fragrant and beautiful fruit in front of them, the children, after glancing back to get Fedra's permission, eagerly took the pomegranates from the plate and joyfully broke them open to share.

The sweet and sour taste exploded on their taste buds, and the children, satisfied, looked gratefully at the kind-hearted person who treated them.

Luo En responded with a smile, chatting with the children while eating with them, occasionally inquiring about their family situations, academic abilities, and physical condition.

The innocent children chattered away with their answers.

Luo En listened patiently, occasionally offering useful advice, praising their sensibility, or patting their shoulders with words of encouragement.

After the casual conversation, Fedra, observing from the side, was surprised to find that these normally less confident commoner children were performing exceptionally well today, speaking articulately and with clear reason.

As they finished eating the pomegranates and he had spoken with each child again, Luo En, now upgraded from friend to the women of Crete to children's king of Minos, picked up a stick, squatted on the ground, and started sketching out a series of mysterious symbols, saying with a beaming smile,

"Come on, let's play a little game. Whoever memorizes these characters first and can trace them in the air with their hands, I'll give them an extra basket of fresh fruits and vegetables."

At these words, the children, full of enthusiasm, crowded in front of the spot with the characters, stretching out their small hands and focusing intently as they traced the symbols on the ground.

"Hermes Script? How could they possibly..."

"Shh, let's just try and see," said Fedra, about to speak up, but Luo En silenced her with a whisper.

Without the blood of the deities, one cannot tame aether, much less gather magic power and weave Hermes Script out of thin air?

Fedra looked at Luo En by her side with a puzzled expression, and second thoughts began to swirl in her mind.

Is it possible...

A moment later, the awestruck Maenad's eyes widened in disbelief as she witnessed the scene that shattered her common sense.

"Light! It's glowing!"

"Mine too!"

A boy and a girl pointed at the Hermes Script in front of them, which was solid and slightly luminous, and they couldn't help but cheer excitedly.

"Amazing!"

Luo En gave a thumbs up, expressing his heartfelt admiration, and then amidst the envious gazes of a group of children, he took two baskets of fruits and vegetables from Hestia's vegetable garden and gave them to the two children as gifts for their outstanding performance.

The gathering ended in a noisy conclusion and was officially declared over.

Luo En stood up, escorted the children who were still excited out of the house one by one, and then pulled Fedra, the team leader, aside to whisper instructions.

"Later, ask Teacher Ma to check these kids' health, and if any of them have magic qualifications, have him admit them to the Academy of Athens."

Fedra nodded slightly, recording this command.

However, remembering the scene at the academy earlier, this Crete Island princess with divine blood flowing through her veins couldn't help feeling perplexed.

"Aren't they commoners? Why can they also use magic?"

"Is it not too superficial to distinguish each other based on bloodlines?"

Luo En softly contested, reciting the profound teachings he composed for the Dionysian Sect.

"The world is built upon the ashes of Titans, and life is the same. The gods' blessings have already been bestowed upon all people equally..."

Hearing the teachings of her deity, Fedra felt a deep sense of shame.

The Supreme God loves all humanity; nobility does not exclusively enjoy this honor, and commoners are also entitled to accept this grace.

Setting aside family background, how is she any different from those children?

Fedra deeply reflected on her shallowness and prejudice, and then solemnly pledged to the deity she served.

"I will engrave your teachings in my heart!"

"Hmm, I believe in you. Do your best."

Luo En nodded slightly with an encouraging smile, and then watched as the spirited Maenad started on her journey of preaching.

Closing the door behind him and stepping into the courtyard, Luo En looked at the pomegranate in his hand, contemplative.

The universal doctrine weaves the foundation of human divinity; the wine named for the blood of gods waters the soil of human divinity.

And in the end, these "Seeds" in his hand fell onto human beings, took root, grew into towering trees, and would eventually bear the forbidden fruit.

— The "Forbidden Fruit"?

Luo En chuckled, holding the pomegranate in his hand as if he had realized something.

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, describes that, although God warned Adam not to eat the fruit of the Tree of Wisdom, a serpent in the garden persuaded Eve to take a bite.

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

From then on, humanity bore the original sin, but also freed itself from the gods' constraints, stepping out of the cradle towards true freedom.

As for the "Forbidden Fruit" that triggered this change, strictly speaking, there isn't a unified concept—it's just a general term for fruit. Some believe it to be a fig, others a grape, yet others a citrus or an apple.

In Hebrew culture, many also advocate that pomegranate was the Forbidden Fruit in the Garden of Eden.

During the Renaissance, one of the most important painters of the Florence school—Botticelli—created a famous painting called "Madonna of the Pomegranate." The Virgin Mary held baby Jesus, and the savior of humanity tightly grasped a ripe and full pomegranate, with its skin slightly parted to reveal the crystal-clear seeds within.

This pomegranate might just symbolize the sufferings and redemption of the Son of Man.

The "Forbidden Fruit" behind Luo En was also of complex origin.

Hera's nursing and the Golden Apple's divine power created sinful soil for the birth of the tenth incarnation.

Seeds of apple fell, vines of grape were grafted, and eventually, pomegranate fruit was born.

Overall, it can be described as rebellious and combining different elements in a defiant manner.

At the same time, it perfectly symbolizes his and Hera's illicit act, adding a nuanced footnote to their forbidden love.

So, the role of the "Forbidden Fruit" is to activate the latent divinity in humans?

It should be the Divine Authority of the Golden Apple, infusing these people known as "Ashes of Titans" with new vitality, thereby igniting the divinity within their origins.

After all, this generation of humans "is born from the bones of Mother Earth" and is itself a partial manifestation of Divine Authority; nourished by the "Forbidden Fruit," they are naturally more likely to produce sinful flowers that are detrimental to the autocracy of Divine Authority.

Unfortunately, this gradual approach can't solve his current troubles.

Luo En gazed at the pomegranate in his hand and sighed deeply.

It's the tenth incarnation...