"What?" Linley thought he misheard.
"From now on, you are the new Dionysus," Odysseus said.
The wine-soaked statue quickly dried, and its face morphed into Linley's.
An overwhelming flood of knowledge and power surged into Linley's mind. He witnessed the world's myriad phenomena and heard the prayers of countless worshippers. However, the information was so overwhelming that his head felt like it was about to explode, the pain unbearable.
"Stop it!" Linley cried out, nearly fainting from the pain.
Odysseus shook his head, "It can't stop. The Dionysus was severely injured while covering the retreat of other deities from the Roman Pantheon. He barely made it back to Athens and can no longer maintain his form. A new Wine God is necessary, or the entire divine realm will collapse, and the believers will perish."
More and more knowledge and power flooded into Linley's mind. His vision went black, and he passed out.
"It's not working. How can a human body withstand a god's power? My lord, is our divine realm about to crumble?" Odysseus pulled a jar of wine from his tunic and took a deep swig. "If we're doomed to die, let me die drunk."
The jar was empty. He shouted, "Bring me more wine!"
There was no response. Odysseus went outside and found all the priests and apprentices drinking wildly. Dionysus's injury was no secret; many knew, and it was a time of great unrest.
Dionysus had sought an outsider to take over because everyone knew a human body couldn't bear a god's power. Thus, Dionysus had to choose Linley, and many had seen him.
Linley could brew good wine, but he was just an ordinary man without any extraordinary powers. Severely injured, Dionysus had no choice but to select Linley, but it was ultimately the wrong choice.
Linley collapsed; he couldn't become the new Wine God. Dionysus was dead, the divine realm was about to collapse, and the believers' faith would crumble. Their only choice was to drink.
"It's over, everything is over!" Odysseus lamented. He was about to join the drinking crowd when he saw Linley move.
Knowledge and power continued to pour into Linley's body, as if a clay ox had vanished into the sea, leaving no trace. Linley's body turned into a black hole, endlessly absorbing the power of Dionysus.
"System activation upon absorbing sufficient energy." Linley heard a cold voice. He opened his eyes and found himself in a vineyard, surrounded by thick fog, unable to see anything.
"Who's there?" Linley asked, mustering his courage.
"I am the system," the voice echoed from all directions.
"What system are you talking about?" Is this his perk for crossing over? Linley thought, surely there must be some advantage to crossing over.
"Why didn't you show up earlier?" Linley complained. When he first crossed over, he struggled a lot, unable to understand or be understood. It took him a long time to learn basic conversations.
In just a few months, he had managed to learn basic Greek and could hold normal conversations, all out of necessity. Thinking about it made him feel bitter. If the system had appeared earlier, he wouldn't have had to suffer so much; at least he could have exchanged for language skills.
Safety was an even bigger issue than learning the language. If he hadn't been carrying half a case of beer and mistaken for an apostle of the God of Wine, he might have lost his life. Luckily, he crossed over near Athens, which was relatively safe. If he had crossed over somewhere else, he might have become fertilizer by now.
"I needed enough energy to activate," the system explained.
"You activated because you absorbed the God of Wine's power?" Linley began to understand.
"Any energy will do," the system said. "Your body can't handle so much energy, so I'll seal it for now. You need to gain enough experience points to level up. Then I can release the power to you, and you'll keep getting stronger."
"How do I level up?" Linley asked. "By training my body?"
"Your body does need exercise, but since you've gained the power of Dionysus, you should focus on wine-related activities. Brewing new wine, building wineries, and selling wine can all enhance your abilities. Once you fully master the domain of wine, you can become the new Dionysus," the system said.
"I see," Linley said, feeling quite happy. These conditions didn't seem too hard, and as long as he met them, he could become the god of wine.
Even though the Dionysus wasn't considered a very powerful deity, it was still a god.
"Once you become a deity and gain more energy, you'll be able to unlock more of my functions," the system said.
"What other functions?" Linley asked.
"Lots of functions, like traveling back to Earth," the system said.
"You can take me back to Earth?" Linley asked.
"Not yet, there's not enough energy. You need to gather enough energy for me to take you back," the system said. "Once you're back, you can keep your abilities and come back anytime, as long as you gather enough energy."
"That's awesome!" Linley couldn't help but imagine his wonderful life, walking among humans as a deity. How impressive that would be! He wondered if the Dionysus' powers were good for making money.
Surely a deity would be much more powerful than a mortal. By then, he could earn hundreds of billions, buy a few buildings, live as large as he wanted, eat whatever he wanted, and live as long as he wanted.
"Don't just think about the good stuff," the system said. "The enemy is coming soon."
"Enemy?" Linley immediately remembered, "The winged demon with a cross?"
"You know very well those aren't demons," the system said. "Hurry up and get stronger, or if you get killed, I'll die with you."
Linley stood up and looked around. "Where am I?"
"This is the Dionysus's divine realm, which is your mental world. Because your abilities are too weak, only this small part is open. As your mental strength increases, more areas will open, and you'll gain more abilities," the system said.
Linley walked around but couldn't enter the dense fog, being blocked by an invisible force, like he had hit an invisible wall.
"So how do I get out of here?" Linley asked.
"You can leave whenever you want, just with a single thought," the system said.
What kind of thought? Could it be 'I want to go out'? As soon as he thought this, Linley was out. He opened his eyes and saw Odysseus's old face, screaming in fright.
Odysseus and the people around him screamed too.