"I'm… I'm so sorry, Mobius. I was just too scared." Eleyna's face still showed lingering shock as she spoke.
"Oh?" A dark glint flashed in Mobius's eyes. "Why were you scared?" He had a premonition that what happened to Eleyna would aid him in his path to godhood.
After all, it was abnormal for a nymph to be so timid; only those who had been in a state of prolonged fear would act this way.
What was she afraid of? And she had just approached him for a conversation. If she was looking for support, she wouldn't just casually seek out a stranger, would she?
Upon hearing him, Eleyna showed a terrified expression and said tearfully, "When I was born, there were always many snakes around me. Those snakes would attack the nymphs nearby. The rustling sound just now was very similar to how snakes move."
"Snakes?" Mobius murmured softly.
He narrowed his eyes. Why would she be afraid of snakes? One had to remember that snakes now were not like the snakes of later generations. Snakes were symbols of many gods, and one of the symbols of Gaea, the great primordial earth goddess, was also a snake!
The time when snakes became feared was when the half-snake, half-human monster Echidna appeared, and her appearance coincided with Typhon's attack on Olympus.
She was born from one of Typhon's heads.
The status of snakes was still relatively noble now, so shouldn't she be happy that snakes were constantly around her?
Or perhaps these snakes were related to Typhon…
Or was there a god watching over Eleyna? Either way, these were not matters he could get involved in.
He didn't believe he was the protagonist of a novel, able to turn any danger into safety, with all enemies acting as if their intelligence had been lowered, allowing him to counter-kill them or let him go.
He only had one life; it was better to be cautious. There was no need for too much curiosity about certain things.
Thinking of this, Mobius prepared to withdraw.
"Eleyna, I'm going to leave now. I have something to do." Mobius's face remained impassive, pretending he hadn't noticed anything.
"What are you going to do?" Eleyna pouted, looking at Mobius with a hint of grievance. Mobius was the first daimon she had met in years, and one who was willing to speak with her.
Her senses were keen. When she mentioned snakes, Mobius also prepared to leave her. Although Mobius thought his words were flawless, Eleyna sensed the distance.
A gentle breeze rustled the pale green leaves, and a gray-black snake flicked its tongue, staring intently at Mobius. If Mobius continued to talk to Eleyna, it would not hesitate to strike, ensuring the daimon's death by its fangs.
It would complete the task assigned to it by its chief god, Achelous.
Achelous was one of the children of Oceanus, the world-encircling river, and Tethys, the mother of springs. He was imbued with the power of Ceto during his gestation, which resulted in him having an extra snake head.
Thus, the snake also became his symbol. Besides controlling his own river, he could also command ordinary snakes.
And this gray-black snake was a daimon he had awakened with a trace of his own essence, but it was the weakest kind of daimon, having lost the potential for further growth. However, its stealth was paramount, capable of even deceiving gods who weren't paying close attention.
Mobius couldn't help but shiver. He felt as if cold, ominous eyes were watching him from around. So, after a few more words with Eleyna, he hurriedly left. He didn't want to get caught in trouble.
Finally, after moving more than a thousand meters away from Eleyna, that chilling sensation finally disappeared. It wasn't an illusion after all; someone had indeed been watching him.
There was indeed a great secret about this nymph; someone was constantly observing her.
However, this secret was not something Mobius could benefit from. After all, gods were involved in this matter, and it was not something a daimon like him could participate in.
Gods and daimons were as different as clouds and mud; even the weakest god could kill a daimon.
There were no exceptions, as the identity of a daimon was both a gift and a shackles.
Daimons and nymphs had a greater chance of becoming gods than other creatures; they were essentially divine reserves. As long as there was enough primordial energy in the world, all daimons and nymphs would achieve godhood in a single day.
Other creatures did not have this possibility.
Mobius was now even more eager to become a god, so that many of his ideas could be realized, and he could climb to the very top, step by step.
No, Mobius stopped. He seemed to have fallen into a misconception. Although gods were high above, they also had a foundation.
Divine authority!
Every god had their own divine authority, even Heracles, who underwent twelve trials, had his own divine authority.
So, the question was, where did divine authority come from?
Regarding this question, Mobius had a slight guess, because from the first divine king Uranus to the second divine king and now to the third divine king Zeus, divine authority showed a very obvious iterative process.
The first divine king was the power of the sky; one could say that everything above the earth was the sky. The second divine king Cronus's divine authority was spatial divine authority, and this space referred to living space, the area beneath the sky.
And when it came to Zeus, he only controlled the power of lightning and wind and rain.
A part was missing. Although he later gained control over the power of the sky, he did not possess the divine power of the sky at first.
Therefore, most divine authorities were inherited through bloodline.
Mobius felt things were getting complicated. He didn't even know who his father was. There was no impression of this cheap father in his memories.
So, this path was blocked. He could only take the second path.
But this path had not been experimented with, because Mobius had just thought of it, inspired by Eleyna.
That was to create something new that the world could accept. If this new thing could form a divine authority, then it would become his divine authority.
However, the prerequisite was that it had to be beneficial to the world. After all, since the birth of the world, there had been instances of divine authority being replaced, such as the gods of the warm and dry seasons being replaced by the Three Horai, transitioning from two seasons to three.
And those two gods directly lost the possibility of further advancement.
Ultimately, the world didn't have enough primordial energy for so many gods, so if what he created was useless to the world, it probably wouldn't form a divine authority.
So, it had to be useful to the world; only things useful to the world could form divine authority.