"You will have my promise."
Tike solemnly guaranteed, "I will also give this child all the help I can! As compensation for not being able to walk the world under the name of Zeus's son, I will bestow upon this child the divine offices of handicrafts and weaving as gifts."
Thinking of the unexpected child in Metis's womb, Tike felt a premonition. Perhaps there was a force of correction at play, for Athena appeared in this surprising manner.
"Perhaps this child's talent is enough to inherit my position as the chief goddess."
Tike took Metis's hand, "The responsibility of the leader of the Ocean Goddesses will also accompany this honor!"
Metis and Eurynome were greatly shocked. The two goddesses exchanged glances for a long time. The Goddess of Wisdom, suppressing her pain, said, "Tike, I have no intention of forcing you to give up your chief goddess position! I only wish for this child to grow up safely, and I do not dare to ask for anything more."
"Do not refuse, Metis! This is what this child deserves. The position of chief goddess inherited from our mother, Tethys, the Sea Goddess, has become dispensable to me. In fact, all deities who have inherited the bloodline of the Ocean God and the Sea Goddess are qualified to take over this chief goddess position from me."
"When the new god grows to a point where all the gods are convinced, I shall step down from this responsibility."
Seeing Tike's sincerity, both goddesses were somewhat moved.
Just then, the bright-eyed Athena descended. Tike draped a pure white veil over the newborn goddess, covering her naked body.
Athena inherited the divine nature of wisdom from her mother, and the divine offices of strategy and planning fell under her control. The wise daughter's eyes were firm as she came to her mother's side and supported the weakened Goddess of Wisdom.
The maiden-like Athena also possessed the power of lesser divinity. Her talent was no less than that of Apollo and Artemis.
"Eurynome, we should leave."
Tike and the wave goddess quietly departed, leaving the space for the mother and daughter.
Unlike the anxiety of their arrival, the two goddesses walked leisurely on the sea. Eurynome suddenly asked, "Tike, have you ever thought about your goals after becoming a primordial god?"
"Why do you ask this question?" Tike turned her head to look at the goddess of the tides.
"I thought I would spend endless time peacefully with Crius, but he abandoned me without hesitation to gain Gaia's assistance."
The moist sea breeze blew Eurynome's long hair by her cheeks. The goddess deeply inhaled the slightly salty mist and sighed, "I resented him for it. After you helped me escape this marriage, I thought of seeking revenge on Crius!"
"Was everything I gave him dispensable? Were my dignity and my feelings like this gust of wind, scattering as it blew past?"
Turning to meet Tike's eyes, Eurynome continued, "But in the time that followed, I began to understand why he abandoned me, and I am no longer entangled by these past events."
"In truth, I did not love him. I merely wished to find a companion who could dispel my loneliness throughout eternity. I placed my hopes and expectations for the future in him, so that I could endure this agonizing time."
Tike stopped, acting as a qualified confidante, listening to Eurynome's pain and growth. Abundant emotions were not necessarily a good thing for immortal deities. Without reasons to support their continued existence, deities would, over the long expanse of time, wear away their emotions and lose their humanity.
"I was like a vine entwined around Crius. To escape the fate of returning to my origin, I used him as a pillar, deceiving myself into believing I loved him."
"When he was cast into the abyss, I felt no sadness. I was merely upset that the effort and time I spent on him were wasted. I would have accepted anyone in his place!"
Tike suddenly asked, "Isn't that also good? You discovered that what you love is actually yourself."
"I should love myself," Eurynome's eyes were filled with heaviness. "That is why I indulge in pleasures and am no longer bound by marriage. After doing everything I could, I have lost my sense of novelty for all stimulation!"
"I don't understand how you maintain your self," Eurynome asked the question that had been hidden in her heart for a long time.
"You dislike feasts and pleasures, and you even refuse to participate in interactions among the gods. What do you use to balance your divinity? Such a monotonous life has not made you think of giving up. Even after becoming a primordial god and gaining unparalleled power, you still persist in this tedious life as before."
Tike remained silent, her gaze shifting away from Eurynome.
"The way to love oneself is not just through sensory enjoyment. You are limited by the actions of the gods."
"Go and see your mother. The first generation of Titans who live in seclusion have existed longer than us. How did they preserve their abundant emotions?"
Eurynome nodded peacefully and went to the secluded dwelling of the Sea Goddess and the Ocean God to seek answers.
As the gods began to enter the scene, the plight of the silver humans immediately underwent a drastic change.
Demeter taught them to cultivate crops, allowing them to be full even after leaving paradise. The range of human activity gradually expanded. They left their caves and migrated towards the fertile plains.
Prometheus taught the silver humans to make various tools. The enlightened silver humans began to form settlements, and dwellings made of wood and stone began to appear.
Under the guidance of Aphrodite and Hera, love and marriage were accepted by the silver humans. With the help of the gods, they established their own civilization.
In this process, more and more gods received the feedback of faith power, which undoubtedly stimulated the gods' enthusiasm, and more gods joined this competition.
Although the power brought by faith had constraints, which god was willing to see a god originally weaker than themselves gradually become stronger? The sense of crisis made many gods who had not intended to accept faith change their minds. Disputes over faith became increasingly frequent.
The quarreling of the gods on Earth made Tike restless. Some hot-tempered gods even resorted to fighting, and the frequent loud noises gradually made Tike irritable. Finally, this new Earth Goddess could no longer bear it and summoned the gods to Mount Olympus.
The conflicts arising from the competition for faith were actually irreconcilable. No one was willing to give up the power they had obtained. Tike's patience was worn away by the gods' endless evasions and tug-of-war.
Tike stood up and reprimanded, "Enough! I have had enough of your bickering. Since words cannot sway you, then each of you should use your own abilities to attract followers!"
The gods retreated in the face of Tike's anger. Hera, who was also involved, stepped out from among them, "Your Highness Tike, please forgive our offense. Do you have any way to resolve this issue fairly?"