Hepheastus took entirely too much joy in the expression of surprise upon Zeus's face as she folded her arms under her breasts and looked damn near imperiously at the jealous and utterly confused divines who looked at her in denial.
"The guild has already asked my captain with a divine present to clarify that my child broke the Record and Jake has more than proven himself in reaching level 2 in truly record times," Hepheastus spoke as she eyed Zeus and then gave Hera a knowing glance whose face twitched making her have to smother a grin at seeing them so discomforted.
Then an annoying voice spoke up with Loki holding her arms up to make an X over her chest. "Stahp, stop right there Hephy! How the hell did he level up so quickly? Even if he did one of the divine challenges Zeus and Hera love to kill their members with, he still shouldn't have had good enough stats to go through with the level?"
For a moment Hepheastus thought about hiding his actual stat growth and making the other divines think he had just leveled up with shit stats... But she wouldn't have one of her darling smiths be thought so little of so she squared her shoulders and pushed out another file.
This one had Jake's base stats without any of his skills or anything but it clearly showed his stats being near or at the one thousand mark in his falna... And as the room went silent as Freya blankly read out the Falna Hepheastus looked directly at Zeus and said. "Your monsters are the reason he is pushing so hard to be stronger. You saw your child strangling my own after shattering his shoulders so he couldn't resist and that is what is driving my child to reach this level."
The beautiful but more petite blond goddess Aphrodite sighed wistfully as she held a hand to her chest and said longingly. "Ah a story of desperation, with his heart filled with such vinegar it must be a treat to watch him push so hard for you Hepheastus."
The forge goddess flinched as she was well aware that Jake was well away from Orario and even though Zeus looked perturbed by Jake's growth he only gave a wry smile as in reality, it didn't matter in his view no matter how much Jake may have hated his Familia.
Each level took longer and longer to properly fill out and by the time Jake reached level five and even remotely had the strength to kill his weakest members with an assassination they would be getting ready to do the Three Great Quests in dealing with Behemoth, Leviathan, and the One-Eyed Black Dragon.
So Zeus wasn't going to cause more issues by killing off a talented youth of the future that would be irrelevant for years... And who knows, as Hepheastus saw a smile enter Zeus's cheeks she knew he was thinking that Jake like most male adventurers who achieved a high rank would join his Familia to have teammates that could keep up with him.
"Alright, so he is a budding new little avenger who will be trying to get strong so Zeus's little monsters can't bully him. So what will we name him? He is a regularly blond mortal without any major deformities so we can't make fun of him that way." A voice spoke up to move on the topic and Hepheastus's face curdled as the dreaded moment arrived.
The time of giving each Adventurer who leveled up a new title.
A goddess's voice spoke up with a giggle. "I vote for Avenging Avenger."
Hepheastus held in a gag at the thought of the name and then Loki spoke up with cackle. "Nah... He has some kind of Pallum lover or whatever that also leveled up with him so let's call him the Pallum Stretcher!"
Another voice this one male and with a rasp in their voice cackled out. "Pallum Womb Inflator."
Several divines looked green but most... Who were already deviant wrecks looked if anything interested in the thought before Freya spoke up with a wry expression. "Just because they haven't hit level five that doesn't mean we can't give them a better name with him being a record holder... Hmm, how about Little Rookie?"
But as though offended that Freya was trying to direct the crowd in giving Jake a weak if safe name, Hera spoke up with amusement. "No, that name is rather ridiculous... It's alright Freya I understand though. It's the best name you could come up with, while your legs not lifted up behind your head to get more blood to your empty brain but either way, his name shall be Heracles for his deed in curing my darling Materia of her sickness."
And none of the divines could contest Hera's demand. As she was queen of Orario and with them falling in line she gave Hepheastus a look that made her hold in a snarl at how Hera was trying to 'protect' Jake in having him take her name of all fucking things.
It made her sick to her stomach... But then her lips twitched into an evil smile as she remembered the joy she felt at remembering and feeling Tamamo her very own legitimate child soul so freshly born and bearing her own divine ichor.
'Oh how the divines will rage at not having their own true children.' Hepheastus thought content in letting Hera have this tiny win as she had already won everything else due to how Hera had no chance in sinking her fangs into Jake so long as he stayed far away from Orario.
To say nothing of how Hera clearly wanted Jake to cure her own monster of talent in Alfia, until that happened, there was no way in hell Hera would allow anything to happen to Jake if it anyone came out of the shadows in front of her view.