"Tell me, how many Divine Gods acknowledged you and which ones?"
Silence reigned for a few seconds in this room as all attention focused on the boy. It was clear from the look on his aunt and her husband's face that they were curious to know, including the lean man.
Paul didn't keep them waiting though, he took a deep breath and answered. "Apart from the colors, multiple images of Gods appear in my head".
He looked at his aunt. "The first image that appeared to me was that of a Jotunheim Giant bigger than the world walking".
"He seemed impossibly powerful".
"His steps tore the world asunder, creating earthquakes and tsunamis".
"The Divine Ares". Mr. John, Aunt Ariel's husband spoke first. Noticing the boy look at him, he explained. "There are certain religious books of the faction Ares where their Divine is depicted as a towering giant with unimaginable powers".
"I'm pretty sure that the God you were acknowledged by is Ares, which other Divine were you acknowledged by?"
Paul did not answer immediately, briefly thinking of the consequences of the words that his uncle just said.
After his dad died 5 years ago, since that day, Paul vowed to get power.
He vowed to get strong enough to kill his father's murderers. This was why he didn't want to join the faction of the Divine, Dionysus.
He wanted a combat faction where he could get the power to exact his revenge, and the top candidates in his mind were either the faction of the Divine Ares, the Divine Thor, or the faction of the Divine Poseidon.
Paul never expected any day that he would end up being acknowledged by more than one of the nine Divine Gods.
And for one of them to be the Divine Ares, there was no better news than this to him.
Awakened of the faction Ares were some of the strongest awakened out there in terms of raw power.
"Paul!"
His aunt's voice snapped him out of his daze. Looking at her, he continued. Even before he spoke, a grin crept up his face as even with his shallow knowledge, he already knew the identity of the second Divine that acknowledged him.
He spoke. "The second image that appeared in my head was that of a blonde-haired God engulfed in lightning and storms fighting against a mighty world-destroying Wolf with a hammer".
Aunt Ariel's eyes lit up as she exclaimed. "That's the Divine Thor! You were acknowledged by 2 war Divine Gods?"
"You are a different Cosmopolitan from your dad".
But Paul didn't pause yet. Looking at his aunt, he interjected. "There were more than 2 images that appeared in my head".
"How? That's impossible," Aunt Ariel said casually before pausing in shock as she saw the look in the eyes of her nephew.
"Wait, are you serious?"
Paul nodded. "The third image that appeared in my head, in it I saw an illuminating light as bright as the sun, almost blinding my eyes".
"The Divine Apollo". Mr. John, Aunt Ariel's husband interjected at this moment with widened eyes. Afterall, he was also factioned to Apollo.
He stared at the boy with surprise written all over his face. "You were acknowledged by the Divine Apollo?"
"Come on, show me, what power did you awaken?"
Paul stared at this middle-aged man. "I don't know what it is yet".
Mr. John slapped his head. "Oh, I almost forgot, you're a new awakened. Follow me to the field, I know just the way to draw out your power".
Mr. John stood up but Paul didn't stand up yet. Everyone in this room stared at him weirdly and then he said, "That's not all yet".
Aunt Ariel was confused. "What do you mean by it's not all yet?" She paused as her eyes widened in even more shock. "Do you mean?" She stared at him with intensity.
Paul nodded. "I saw more images".
"Not one, but multiple?!" Mr. John sat down again and by now, the look in the eyes of everyone else in this room apart from Paul was filled with ferocious intensity.
They could tell that this was something even more unprecedented than they expected.
Paul took a deep breath. "In another image, I saw a beautiful goddess in a white tunic like an angel beholding a vast field of crops filled with life and vitality".
At first, Aunt Ariel and her husband were confused but this was when the lean man at a corner of this room finally whispered. "The Divine Freya".
Hearing that, Aunt Ariel was even more shocked as she looked at the man. "But that's impossible, the Divine Freya only acknowledges women".
"So the world thinks, so I thought too". He looked at her. "We never expected that one day a thing like a Cosmopolitan will come to existence. The same way, we cannot predict what else may happen in this crazy age of Gods".
All 3 of them turned their heads to face the boy again.
Paul stared back at them. "In another image, I don't know if it was a god or a goddess, but it played an instrument, a trumpet and it had a fish tail".
"The Divine Poseidon". Aunt Ariel muttered.
By now, she was already numb, only staring at her nephew with wide eyes.
Her husband explained. "Poseidon is the God of the seas. In the books, when he emerges, a choir of sirens emerge with him singing praises and playing instruments of praise to him".
"That's all". Paul looked at them. "At that point, my brain felt like it would explode from all the information that was being displayed in my head".
"All I could remember after that was a splitting headache and the next moment, I emerged out of the pool to see multiple colors shining around me".
Aunt Ariel stared at her nephew with an incredulous look on her face.
Then, silently, she raised her hand and counted in her head.
"Five!" She suddenly exclaimed; all color drained out of her face as she stared at her nephew solemnly.
"You were acknowledged by so many Divine Gods?"
"How?!"
While Aunt Ariel and her husband reacted extremely in shock, despite just having his whole world rocked too, the lean man was able to remain calm.
He stared at the 18-year-old boy with a new look in his eyes.
The lean man stood up from where he sat. "There's no need asking how, the Gods already decided, who are we mortals to question them?"
"We can only accept their will".
He looked outside through the window. "The order of the triple six, they won't give up, they'll surely come back".
"We have to be prepared for them".
"Paul has to learn to control his powers".