I was already thinking that, the concession of additional power for free would entail more stress in my transmigration. If Hermes could pay for the "divine power" tax, I would need to reincarnate.
Zeus was impassive, Athena was joyful, and the other two were in a mix of anger and uneasiness.
Zeus broke the silence that followed Asclepius short declaration, "I don't agree with you, Asclepius. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise."
"It is your turn to crack bad jokes now, father," complained Hermes about the Zeus pun.
"I am being sincere here. Additional power will help him in his journey. Everyone here agrees with that. Your only preoccupation here is whether you could resist the backlash of transmigrating an apostle to Midgard or not." This explanation exposes the crux of our current issue.
I remained silent, despite being curious about what he meant by "backlash of transmigration." Athena then continued: "They are good news for you. The first one is that you will no longer be trained by anybody here." How could this be a good one?
"And the second one is that you have to transmigrate in a month, not in three months." Again, how could this be a good one? She was a delusional god; I am sure of that.
"You are thinking something rude of me now, Apostle Rufus."
"Probably everybody here is thinking like that." Asclepius sarcastically replied to her.
"I am sorry, goddess Athena, but how are they good news for me?" I still failed to see how they were good calls for me.
"I kept watching you while you were reading the books. You are a superbly self-taught soul. Few mortals can resist the sleeping call in their first months, but you avoided it bravely."
"Goddess Athena, if I am not mistaken, I slept over the books."
"Correct, but you learned everything that you read after several hours of reading."
"I thought that her logic was flawed. Once again, how could this be a good sign?"
"Rufus, you have probably experienced hunger, thirst, and sleepiness," Zeus affirmed it to me.
"It is not normal for a mortal to actively resist it with sheer willpower. Normally, you apprehend this through the years."
"I am sorry, but pulling all-nighters is something common on Earth." I tried to explain that they were simply mistaken.
All the gods exchanged glances among themselves, and Athena assumed a victorious position. "See, I was not mistaken. He has an abnormal amount of willpower."
"I understand that, as a mortal, you could be deprived of food, water, and sleep. Either intentionally or forcefully. However, souls do not have physical bodies to support them. If you resist hunger, you are doing that by using your willpower; if you are avoiding sleep, you are consuming your willpower." Hermes started to explain.
"In a mortal realm, if you do any of these, you start to feel fatigued. Souls can be fatigued. That's why it is common to see souls fall asleep suddenly or become uncontrollably hungry."
Then Asclepius started a new clarification about the matter: "Suppose that you are being tortured, yes, tortured. People kept you awake using drugs or something like that. You gain an opportunity to escape, but you are already past from tired, you are completely exhausted. Even though you manage to continue awake and run away."
"You do that using your willpower. It is not natural for anyone, not even gods, to pull pure power of will to do anything. "
"So are you saying that the effort I made was similar to surpassing a torture room and escaping? "
"Yes. Normally, a soul falls asleep as soon as its former biological clock clicks and wakes up as soon as someone calls. Remember, you do not need to go to sleep. "
"This is truly a fortunate situation." Zeus said while nodding his head.
"I thought that Athena was kidding. One of the training sessions was to teach you how to use your willpower to resist pseudo-natural urges imprinted in your mind due to having a physical body for the long term. "
"Joseph had explained to me that I should not avoid learning that to avoid having misbehavior when I transmigrated. "
"Yes, because you would resist physical urges with willpower, then become hungrier than a normal person or a sleeping addict. The goal of the training is to enhance your control over your mind. The basics of magical manipulation." Athena clarified the matter. I was confused, as I did not feel that I had done anything special.
"Our former goal was to initiate training sessions on magic, divinity, and combat over the next three months. But now we have only one month, and you will need to learn arcane and divine magic by yourself. However, combat training will still be taught by someone else." Hermes briefly presented the next steps in my Apostle Basic lessons.
"One month and self-taught because if I grab the easy way here in the divine realm, would the causality cost skyrocket? "
"Something like that. There is not a cost, exactly speaking; I have some room to maneuver because your transmigration was a compensation act for another one. If we overstep it, the other party will add more problems to Midgard." Asclepius said while writing down something.
"What are you writing, dear?" questioned Athena.
"His study schedule and some book recommendations because he stays beyond the one-month timeframe here might empower our enemies." Asclepius was obviously nervous.
"You can be at ease. Rushing things would not solve anything. Let's return to the feast. Tomorrow, you three meet again and discuss these minute details." Zeus stood up, his posture was that there was nothing else to discuss.
I was just listening; apparently my stay here would be shortened. Learning by myself, I studied many things that way. A fresh start in arcane and divine magic—what do they think I am? While I was worried about my next month, the other gods nodded at Zeus suggestion. Hermes made a small motion, telling me to wait here with him.
As soon as the others left the room, he said, "I am sorry to hasten things like that. However, Athena should have discussed this with me. But, personally, I am delighted that you received the Authority of Justice. If you learn how to use all of your power, I hope that you do not look to destroy Midgard." Hermes was laughing.
"Were you just posing as mad? " I asked him.
"No. Please do not get this wrong. It was really maddening that Athena is also one of your patron deities. By the way, there are some additional steps for you. You need to go to the Asclepius and Athena temples and vow before their statues."
"Did I do that a few moments ago?"
"Yes, this is a formality. Do not pay much attention to that."
"Let's enjoy the feast!" Hermes went out.
I think they were just anxious and eager to get to the feast again. These gods do not care much about the authority matter; they just think that what happened was unforeseen. I think I need to be on alert if I disrupt their plans, even accidentally. I can't say what the consequences would be if I failed to meet their expectations.
Likewise, I returned with Hermes to the party and was glad that they could not read my mind, I guess.
---
I had a lot on my mind, and the feast went until the beginning of the evening. I was mentally exhausted, not physically. After their explanation about willpower this and that, I noticed that my feelings are just reactions to my emotions, not actual fatigue.
I returned to my room and found my three books there. I never imagined that grabbing a book and binge-reading it would lead to this number of problems. The annoying feeling was that these books were enchanted, and Athena was monitoring me through them. I am living in a god's mansion, and I thought that some kind of surveillance was bound to exist. But using books, this was new.
My next steps are going to be learning how to employ my willpower, then arcane and divine magic studies. If Asclepius had given me that paper, I would have looked for his recommendations in the library.
Well, I think I will continue my reading of Divinity 101, and I'll remain awake now. Furthermore, I did not have any lessons about managing willpower, but considering that I am neither hungry nor thirsty, I think I am doing well.
---
I was seeing the sun rising by the window, and I could feel a different kind of tiredness. I started to understand what they meant by willpower, but despite being entangled with the book, my motivation simply vanished as soon as I dropped it.
To control this awful feeling, I need to remember that I did not need to sleep. Thus, I started to recall my feeling of not being hungry and what I had felt at that moment.
During the whole night, I was engaged in reading. Perhaps that was the key, as my mind was concerned with sleeping. Meanwhile, I know and understand that I don't need that. But how can I make my soul concur with my mind?
"This is the trick. Am I two beings? The book mentions that calmness and concentration were the first steps towards the manipulation of divine power." Yes, I was speaking to myself. But this is a eureka moment, and I can't help but be excited!
The first point is to understand my one and only self. There is no mind and soul split, and thus there is only one entity. Thereafter, my will is part of my soul.
Then it happened. The drowsiness simply vanished, as if it had never been there. Similar to the sensation when I change my clothes, I went back to the book to be certain.
Yes, it has been. I overcame the first hurdle to become a proper soul of the divine realm—not an apostle yet, unfortunately. Now that I am devoid of mortal feelings, I can start my training!
--- Elsewhere...
"I have told you. He is formidable." Athena had a smug face.
"I concur with her, Hermes. This soul is truly a blessing in disguise. Not for him, but for Midgard." Zeus said while waiting for a response from Hermes, but it was Asclepius who continued.
"I did not find anything exceptional when I first looked at him. Now that I think that he was simply a bad match for my authorities."
"Are you giving up on him? Just because you did not see so much potential?" Athena was intrigued by Asclepius declaration.
"I have seen him as a good merchant, not as a good scholar. I feel bad for him now." Hermes finally said.
Athena continued to look amused at her divine counterparts, then said, "I think that you are not seeing him correctly, my dear friend. I did not bestow the knowledge of authority or anything alike on him. It was Justice, which is not, by the way, my area of expertise."
"That's true. Why not knowledge, or magic authority?" Zeus asked her.
"Firstly, he does not need any of those. Secondly, I think Justice will become his second nature, as it is in my case." Athena replied, again with a smug face.