svetikya Page 69
Page 69
It makes sense, #迩异5齐C氿镏|删侕栎怡e, to become Chiron's apprentice, two conditions must be met.
First, traversing a dangerous, dense jungle.
Secondly, one's temperament is acknowledged by the other party.
Even Jason from the original timeline, who appears carefree and always seems to want to take advantage of others, is not perfect.
In reality, Jason's martial arts skills were unmatched, and he was already a master in governance and understanding people's hearts. His artistic and musical abilities were equally impressive; otherwise, if he were truly incompetent, how could Heracles have recognized him as a friend?
Upon arriving outside the cave, Alcides stopped and gestured for Bai Zhi to go in and become his disciple.
The latter took a deep breath, took a step forward, and went inside.
This time, it was Jason again who had to face his destined teacher.
Records of the Sons of the Greek Gods: Chapter 144 - Instructional Guide to Engraving in the Muscle
The cave holds a hidden world within.
There were rows of booklets recording knowledge, the ground was covered with magical beast fur, and a huge bow and arrow hung on the wall.
Everything inside the cave was intriguing, but the most eye-catching sight was Chiron, the centaur sage who was taking notes with a brush.
"Welcome, Jason, you're late."
Chiron noticed the newcomer's identity, his eyes lit up, and he rushed forward, grabbing Bai Zhi's shoulders and pressing on his muscles, emphasizing their explosiveness and elasticity.
“Indeed, the techniques and methods of forging gods are beyond my comprehension. It would take me at least several hundred more years of effort to grasp even a sliver of their essence, Jason. You possess divinity, but what you lack is the key to unlock the lock. I will guide you to find the key hidden within your body.”
Chiron wasn't lying; divinity wasn't some joke about a debuff, but rather a metaphysical concept.
For example, the concepts of invulnerability to all laws, indestructibility, eternal existence, and immortality within a bounded realm all evolved from the original divinity.
Divinity is the cornerstone of the gods and the stepping stone to the writing of myths.
In a sense, Bai Zhi, who flows with divine blood and divinity, can be considered a newly born god, still in the stage of learning from the divinity of others. Only when Bai Zhi truly completes herself, thoroughly digests all divine blessings, and truly begins to nurture her own divinity will she be able to achieve this.
Only then can one take the first step out of the divine embryonic form.
Of course, that's a story for later. Right now, Bai Zhi is facing Chiron's questions, a total of three.
"When you return after completing your studies, and you possess unparalleled strength, with no one able to withstand a single blow from you, no god able to retaliate against you, and everything in the world at your disposal, what will you do?"
Chiron had his own considerations when selecting students; his students were characterized by order and goodness, and he would not accept villains as students.
"Return to the kingdom, rescue my father and mother, pay my uncle the price he deserves, and then, incognito, travel throughout Greece, witnessing landscapes I've never seen before, and exploring the unknown."
Revenge is human nature, and what follows is his dream. Without any hesitation about returning to Chiron, he passed the first test.
"You encounter bandits on the road who are trying to rob you, but they are actually a group of poor people who were attacked by monsters during the harvest season and whose fields and crops were destroyed. How would you treat them?"
Human nature is complex; one must either be flexible and adaptable to achieve success, or persevere to the end and never back down.
Chiron admired the former's wisdom, but did not hesitate to praise the latter's bravery.
"Once the arrow is released, there is no turning back. Since they have chosen to become bandits, the only consequence is death. I will not show mercy to them because I pity them. There must be something hateful about the pitiful. If they fail, there is still hope, but after they succeed in robbing once, the poor people who were once simple farmers will become more extreme in character than the villains."
Bai Zhi's thinking already possessed a logic and a sense of right and wrong, and she wouldn't be swayed by a few words. She passed the second test.
"When you realize that your efforts and decisions have ultimately become shackles that bind your path forward and oppression that pushes you toward a predetermined end, will you completely succumb to depravity?"
“Teacher Chiron, you’ve asked the wrong question.” Upon hearing this, Bai Zhi looked strange and said, “Do you really think that my sudden appearance in the Arcadia Mountains, instead of heading to the Picasso Mountains to meet Prometheus, was my own will?”
Chiron was stunned; he was speechless.
The centaur sage, a master of astrology, had also heard of Jason (Bai Zhi), a near-hero at the forefront of the current Greek mythological era, a child of the gods, and not just the glory and poetry spoken of by bards.
Chiron, driven by his curiosity about his apprentice who had broken free from the shackles of fate, personally absorbed the information bit by bit.
He was one of the few beings, below the gods, who knew of the hardships he had endured along the way.
"...That's right, you had no choice."
“Yes, I had no choice, Professor Chiron. Even if it wasn’t my intention, you had no choice in getting involved with me.”
"Hehehe." Chiron laughed: "I've always been the one choosing the students, when did it become the students testing me?"
"So you mean you're rejecting me?" Bai Zhi inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.
Even something as small as escaping the shackles of the gods allowed him to relax his tense nerves, but unfortunately, he was too happy too soon.
“No, I really want to refuse you, but as you said before, I have no choice either.” Chiron patted Bai Zhi’s shoulder, his gentle eyes revealing his pity for the child, and said in a kind voice, “Don’t worry, I will teach you everything I think I should teach you, without missing a single thing.”
If Chiron can't save Angelica, then let's try a different approach: let Angelica grow to the point where it can save itself. That's a kind of salvation, isn't it?
From that day on, the disciples who studied under Chiron witnessed the harsh teaching standards and methods that Chiron had never revealed before.
In close combat lessons, Chiron believed that physical memory is more profound than mental memory.
Bai Zhi was forbidden from using any supernatural abilities, and was instead instructed to use only her physical body and fists to remember the profound meaning of Pankrasin contained in every punch Chiron threw.
In just a few days, Pankrasin incorporated Bai Zhi's boxing and footwork techniques and developed a series of positive reactions with Cunxin Boxing.
In his medicine and herbal medicine courses, Chiron's teaching philosophy is: people teach people; if you can't teach someone, experience teaches you; and you'll never forget.
Arcadia's jungle is a treasure trove, home to most of the herbs and poisons from Greek mythology.
Chiron led Angelica to search for every herb, personally digging and preserving them, as well as using and blending the herbs.
At the end of the course, Bai Zhi was made to eat the prepared herbs herself. Relying on her immortal body, which prevented her from dying from poisoning, Bai Zhi suffered quite a bit.
This painful price paid off with a huge reward; the herbs stored in Baizhi Space were piled up into several small mountains according to their medicinal properties.
The navigation course and the governance course presented Chiron with a dilemma. The former was because Arcadia was a mountain range inside the continent. Although he spent most of his time with Bai Zhi, the other students, Chiron, had not given up and could not personally lead Bai Zhi to experience life at sea.
As for the latter, Chiron distanced himself from human kingdoms because of his centaur appearance, and from centaur communities because of his aversion to the centaur race.
The solo career gave Chiron the opportunity to accumulate wisdom, but it also left him with a lack of knowledge about groups.
However, with the presence of other students, Bai Zhi made great progress in communication.
At least the first batch of crew members on the Argo had the support of these fellow soldiers.
Records of the Sons of the Greek Gods: Chapter 145 Half a Month's Departure
Fifteen days, fifteen cycles of day and night, fifteen alternations of the blazing sun and the bright moon.
It had only been fifteen days since Bai Zhi became Chiron's disciple.
“Jason, you are among the first batch of students I have taught who are in terms of learning efficiency and speed.”
Chiron’s tone was full of pride.
“Oh, I’m quite curious, whose efficiency can compare to mine? After all, how should I describe your teaching requirements and attitude towards me, Professor Chiron…” Bai Zhi paused for a moment and said, “It seems like you don’t treat me like a human being.”
For the past two weeks, Chiron has treated him like a human being, prioritizing efficiency, decisive judgment, and merciless beatings.
If it weren't for the endurance of an immortal body, and the physical and mental strength shared with many Bai Zhi, an ordinary person would have collapsed halfway through.
"Hehe, hahaha." Hit by the joke, the Heroes' Army laughed heartily: "It is your talent that makes me eager to learn, and I wish I could teach you everything I have learned. Besides, if we are any slower, the wedding of Hades and Hades will be late."
As for whose learning speed can rival yours.
Bai Zhi frowned, her eyes filled with curiosity.
"Yes, it's Alcides. His talent is far superior to yours."
Chiron pointed to a burly man, two meters tall, leaning against the wall by the door. He was tall enough to support a person on his shoulders and a horse on his arm.
Alcides was an excellent student, but he was lazy and always liked to procrastinate until the last day, even if he already knew the solution and means on the day the task was assigned.
However, due to his personality traits, and before he had truly felt an inner urge to accomplish something, Alcides was not the future Hercules.
"As a teacher, I hope he grows, but I also hope he continues to enjoy his leisure time, because growth means loss. Unlike you, Alcides has not yet embarked on his own destiny. What a cruel twist of fate."
As he spoke, Chiron sighed, and Bai Zhi understood the meaning behind her teacher's words.
Alcides, who had never escaped his destined path, was not yet targeted by Hera and the gods. However, when the twelve impossible trials began, it was the moment when Alcides was completely out of control of his own destiny.
Even more regrettably, Bai Zhi was already at a loss for her own destiny the day she ran away from home.
"Is Alcides efficient at learning? I often see him teaching his other senior classmates."
“Through teaching, one can learn. Through being taught, one can also learn. Some things can only be realized through teaching, and it is this kind of flash of insight that makes us human.”
This is enough to teach others, which indirectly proves Alcides's broad and excellent knowledge.
"I figured it out a long time ago; that guy had no intention of hiding it," Bai Zhi said, shrugging her shoulders and spreading her hands.
Furthermore, in modern Greece, pretending to be weak to deceive others will only result in being treated like a real pig and eaten.
The heroes of Greece are so widely known because their existence deserves applause and flowers.
One of the reasons the gods commanded the bards to spread the name of Angelica dahurica was this.
"It's conversation. People who are called fools sometimes have more insightful views than scholars, while famous philosophers are sometimes so ignorant that they are laughable... Conversation is such a profound thing."
Chiron slapped his forehead, thinking he had hidden it well, but little did he know, everyone else knew perfectly well. He gave a wry smile and said:
"Remember, you can't rely solely on knowledge. Don't just memorize essential common sense. Nothing in this world is useless. All knowledge is a treasure. And most importantly, you must study repeatedly, and finally..."
Suddenly, Chiron stopped, his gaze sweeping up and down Bai Zhi, the sorrow and pity in his pupils seeming to pierce through Bai Zhi's hardened heart.
Sincere warmth is the most powerful way to win hearts.
A hand with distinct knuckles rested on Bai Zhi's head, gently stroking his short, golden hair, offering the teacher's final farewell blessing to the student.
"There's only one thing I want to tell you. You are exceptional. No matter how many hardships you face in the future, you will not be defeated and will continue to move forward. I firmly believe that you are such a student."
One man and one horse, one master and one apprentice, the two silently gaze at each other, as if trying to memorize each other's figures firmly in their hearts.
After all, both of them knew that once they said goodbye, the next time they wanted to meet would be in the very, very, very distant future.
“Teacher Chiron, I’m leaving now. Thank you for your guidance over these fifteen days.”
With her hands clasped in a fist, Bai Zhi bowed to Karon as a disciple of the highest rank.
"Take care, I won't see you off." Chiron paused and said, "Aren't you going to say goodbye to your fellow disciples?"
"No, meeting is fate. If we are destined to meet again in the future, we will meet again. If we are not destined to meet, then it is goodbye forever. Why let the sorrow of parting affect my mood?"
Whether they meet or not, Bai Zhi doesn't care. He prefers to travel alone rather than adventure with a group of people.
From becoming an apprentice to graduating, it only took half a month. You should know that students who can become Chiron's disciples are all exceptional in talent and willpower, but their graduation time is usually measured in years.
Compared to a 15-day teaching period, these are completely different concepts.
It's not scarcity that's worrisome, but inequality. Human nature is ugly, and Bai Zhi doesn't want the brotherly and respectful relationship between her fellow disciples to be ruined by jealousy. It's better not to show off.
Alcides' talent was even more outstanding than that of the Greek Angelica, who had accumulated many of Angelica's abilities, yet he remained in Chiron instead of graduating.
Perhaps it was because they didn't want to ruin the friendship.
Before leaving, Bai Zhi glanced back at the figure standing atop the mountain peak.
It's Alcádez.
The future hero on the cliff noticed his youngest junior brother's gaze and waved as a greeting.
Angelica dahurica gave the same response.
Logically speaking, given Alcides' personality, he would definitely have secretly come to say goodbye to Bai Zhi, but because of the arrival of a certain god, Alcides chose to give up this farewell.
Three powerful auras, like a raging sun, were waiting for Bai Zhi's arrival in the forest.
"It seems that this grand festival of Hades' wedding is going to be quite lively," Bai Zhi remarked.
Without the gods' notification, Bai Zhi truly didn't know when Hades and Hades would get married, but now that he had received the news from Chiron, he couldn't just sit idly by.
Suspicion of Chiron?
Don't be ridiculous. In the era of Greek mythology, only a handful of people genuinely treated Angelica with kindness, and Chiron was one of them.
Bai Zhi doubts no one but Karon.
By the way, A-Qun Yin l [i. ng? Yi Qi Si Wu Si Jiu ba Erkades is also one of them.
The Chronicle of the Sons of the Greek Gods: Chapter 146 [Noble Gold Will Accompany You Throughout Your Life]
A mountain is not sacred because of its height, but because of the immortals dwelling there; water is not sacred because of its depth, but because of the dragons residing within.
The Arcadia Mountains, a somewhat notorious off-limits area in the Greek mythology.