As Adam revelled in the wonderful sensations the two foods offered him, he abruptedly turned his head toward one of the entrances of Olympus. There, was the last Legend amongst the Olympians, the god of the underworld, Hades.
Well, actually he wasn't really an Olympian, but he was still a Greek god, and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon, the two he just killed.
The thin black haired middle aged man looked at Adam with a complex expression, before looking at the rest of the Olympians and sighing in relief.
Adam asked "Are you here to take revenge for your brothers?"
Hades looked back at Adam and said with a wry smile "Zeus was the most powerful among us, and I barely see any injuries on you."
Adam obviously didn't say that he was quite gravely injured and that if they fought Hades had an actual chance of winning. Instead, he asked "What do you want then? Rule on Olympus?"
Hades shook his head and said "I am only here to beg you to spare them." Adam could see various expressions of shock on the faces of the remaining Olympians, and Adam understood why.
He asked "Why would you want me to spare them? They are potential threats to me, and it's not like you owe them anything. They didn't even accept you as one of them."
Adam could see the Olympians lower their heads, in shame or despair, but Hades said with a sigh "Whatever they did in the past, they remain my family."
Adam raised an eyebrow and said "Who would have thought the god of the underworld would be such a selfless person. Fine, I won't haggle with you, it doesn't matter whether you all live or die. However, I have a condition for you to continue living."
Hades nodded, with the death of his two brothers he had become the de facto leader even if the others didn't agree, so Adam was speaking to him.
"You will no longer force your rules onto the mortal world. From henceforth, you are to become their equals. Also, you have 24 hours to gather all your available Ambrosia and Nectar, and send it to New York."
Hades nodded without hesitation and said "It will be done." Adam nodded and with a swipe of his hand all the godly food in Olympus flew toward him before being absorbed into the Blood Tower.
He sent one last look at the Nascent Soul Olympians, who lowered their heads in fear, and sneered in disdain as he finally flew off.
Adam had to admit, he was massively disappointed. In the end, they were not different from mortals. Zeus proved himself to be a worthy fighter, but that would unfortunately be the last.
Adam couldn't directly go to the other pantheons right away as he first had to recover from his injuries, which should take a couple of days if he had Nectar to help healing him.
Two days was more than enough for the news of what he did to travel all around the world. Not counting Sophia/Gaia, Zeus was second to none in term of strength, and tied with the other strongest fighters of the various pantheons.
For him to be killed by Adam, no pantheon will dare to come into a fight with Adam for now. And with the rate at which Adam was evolving, it wouldn't take long for him to become able to dominate even someone at Zeus' level.
For now, Adam returned to his house in New York, and focused on recovering from his injuries from the last battle. The Nectar was really wonderful in term of healing too, and Adam was able to quickly heal.
The next day, Hades dropped by and gave him a spatial ring. Just as Adam thought, treasures did exist on Earth, they were simply hogged by all the major forces. Hades also reported to him the changes that happened in all of Greece overnight, as well as him taking hold of the leadership position.
Adam simply nodded at him, the country did need a leader, and in his eyes Hades was more suited to be the leader than the previous ones.
It wasn't because he felt he was nicer or anything like that, but a bunch of other factors. The most important one was that Hades truly understood how strong Zeus was, and thus understood how strong Adam was so he wouldn't dare to cause a ruckus.
Another day went by, and Adam had finally recovered from all his injuries. Actually, he half expected the various pantheons to send a spokesperson to initiate contact right away, but no one showed up.
So Adam still had to travel to the different countries and speak to them himself. He first decided to head toward Scandinavia, where the Norse Gods ruled.
The reason he picked them was because they were among the mildest gods. Or wisest. Well, Odin was. And since he led them, they were among the ones who were the less tyrannical. Alongside the Japanese Shinto Gods.
But that was relative, and so Adam decided to start with those two, while he was at his strongest.
Adam's meeting with the Norse Gods was a little lacklustre, he gave them a warning, in particularity Thor, before leaving… or so he thought.
Before leaving he had a fight against Thor, the strongest god in the whole pantheon. Not the most powerful, the strongest.
Actually, the Norse Pantheon only had two Legends, Thor and Odin. But both of them were as strong as Zeus, so they could be said to be pretty similar in strength to the Greek Gods.
Adam's battle with Thor wasn't very different from his battle with Zeus, except that they didn't go as far. Thor also used Thunder, and was a close combat fighter. The only real difference between Thor and Zeus was the weapons they used, one used a hammer while the user used a shapeshifting sword.
That battle ended with Adam's victory, and he found out after that battle that he hadn't fought for nothing as Odin introduced him to the dwarves after he won, as a sign of goodwill.
The dwarves were the best blacksmiths in the entire world, and they were the ones who had built the strongest artefacts, such as Mjollnir, Gungnir, Zeus' Thunderbolt, Poseidon's Trident and many other 'godly' weapons.
Adam auditioned a weapon from them, a Greatsword, while he gave them Zeus and Poseidon's weapons in exchange. His sword had to be heavy, sharp and be good at controlling fire.
This was something else Adam had understood in his visit to Asgard. The reason Zeus was able to hold such control over the clouds and the thunder during their fight was actually thanks to his weapon, which was infused with understandings of the Wind Concept, that were stronger than the ones Zeus himself understood.
Overall, the visit was relatively pleasant for Adam, they accepted without much haggle to lower their presence in the world.
Adam's ideas for the different pantheons was to actually turn them into immortal sects, like in cultivation novels. They would be organizations that focused on grooming future cultivators, grooming them.
They weren't far from being sects already anyway so they wouldn't be facing drastic changes.
What followed was his visit to Japan, it was actually his first time there. He was received by the leader of the Shinto gods, Amaterasu, the Goddess of the Sun.
She was a very amiable lady, and was very warm in the way she received Adam. But she was no fool, and exuded the aura of a leader. Well, the emperors of Japan were said to all be her descendants, maybe it wasn't far from the truth…
Adam would have liked to limit his visit to Amaterasu, but unfortunately, her troublesome brother, Susanoo, and his two lackeys, Raijin and Fujin, had to exist.
Shinto was split in two parts in this world, one was led by Amaterasu, and the other by Susanoo. They weren't really enemies, more rivals, and they operated in vastly different ways.
Amaterasu's faction strived to promote goodness of the heart and freedom, while Susanoo believed in the idea of an eye for an eye. And teasing people.
Amaterasu agreed without hesitation to retreat in a more hidden spot, as they used to be in the past, but Susanoo and his faction didn't agree as quickly, so Adam had to intervene.
Shinto gods had four Legends, Amaterasu, Susanoo, Raijin and Fujin. Amaterasu was the strongest deity Adam had met, including Odin and Zeus, while Susanoo was between Poseidon and Zeus, and the two demon brothers were around Hades level.
However, the differences between all of them were rather thin, so there wasn't any god who was overwhelmingly stronger than the others.
Anyway, Susanoo was quite a good swordsman, and he mastered the Concept of the Rain, which was a branch of the larger Water Concept. As for Raijin and Fujin, one mastered lightning while the other mastered lesser wind.
Adam fought all three of them, and although it was a difficult fight, he still won in the end, beating the three black and blue. He didn't kill or maim any of them, they didn't really have any really bad intentions. He warned them though, that if they were to not follow orders, the consequences wouldn't be nice.