"How did you know?"
A trace of surprise appeared in Asclepius' eyes, but he quickly corrected himself seriously.
"Actually, it cannot yet be called true immortality. It can only allow the dead who have died for a short time, whose souls have not yet left their bodies, to deceive the eyes of the God of Death and regain vitality.
During this process, the corpse must meet various conditions. For example, the time that has passed after death, the condition of the corpse, and so on..."
As he spoke, the future God of Medicine took out two bottles of blood samples he had received the previous night from Stheno and Euryale and shook his head somewhat regretfully.
"Unfortunately, the Gorgon blood in my possession can only grant the immortality of gods to mortals.
If I could obtain the legendary Golden Apple that contains "immortal divinity," perhaps this could be further improved. It might even achieve true resurrection from the dead."
"You still want to improve it? Get inside!"
Lorne felt his scalp tingle.
Without another word, he dragged Asclepius from outside into a small dark room.
After laying down layer upon layer of defensive spells around them, he turned around and glared at the future god of medicine with a dark expression. "Do you even realize that a disaster is about to fall on your head?"
"What?"
"The boundary between life and death is not a domain that mortals are allowed to touch! What you are doing has already trampled upon the laws of the Underworld!"
"I am a physician. Saving the dying and healing the wounded is my duty..."
Asclepius frowned slightly and answered in a serious tone.
However, before he could finish speaking, Lorne rudely interrupted his defense.
"So what? Why can only gods be immortal, and only the chief gods be eternal? Have you never thought about that?"
"..."
Asclepius looked confused.
"Because the authority of the gods is born from fear and strengthened by reverence. Death is the greatest punishment for life and also its most important weapon.
If mortals are no longer afraid of that outcome, the gods whose faith has been shaken will sooner or later come looking for you"
Lorne warned coldly while seriously asking about the specific situation of the immortality potion.
Compared with the bottles and jars in the medical room, these were the truly dangerous items.
If the hidden danger was not erased while chaos was happening in the Underworld, once this bomb exploded, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Soon, after hearing Asclepius answer honestly, the faint hope in Lorne's heart was gradually extinguished.
The immortality potion had not just appeared.
This guy had already produced its prototype three months earlier.
At that time, he had just escaped Ares' pursuit on the island of Cyprus.
He fled all the way to Athens, and under Chiron's recommendation, he entered the Athenian Academy and became a medical teacher.
During that period, Asclepius once went out and fell into deep thought while considering how to treat a disease.
At that moment, a poisonous snake quietly coiled itself around his staff.
He instinctively killed the snake, but then another snake appeared, carrying a medicinal herb in its mouth, and used it to revive the first dead snake.
This miraculous phenomenon inspired him to begin the idea of creating an immortality potion.
Thus, after returning to Athens, Asclepius went to the Grand Temple and requested from the snake goddess Medusa a portion of Gorgon blood that contained serpentine divinity.
When Medusa learned that Asclepius wanted to use it to formulate a new medicine for saving lives, she readily agreed.
After a period of careful research, this extraordinarily talented future God of Medicine truly managed to create a magic potion capable of bringing mortals back from death.
Up until now, he had already used more than thirty doses of the immortality potion.
Although it had saved more than thirty lives, it had also left behind a huge hidden danger.
Reversing life and death on such a large scale would have been impossible to conceal if the Underworld had not coincidentally fallen into turmoil, with the god of death, Thanatos, being kidnapped by Sisyphus.
At that thought, Lorne's heart trembled slightly, and his eyes looked toward the direction of the city-state Corinth, his gaze flickering faintly.
Perhaps the trouble had already come...
The imbalance between life and death in the Underworld was likely not only because Thanatos had been kidnapped, but also because the excessive use of the immortality potion had created a kind of system bug.
That was why Hades had authorized Hecate personally appeared on the surface and investigated the exact cause.
And the Moon Goddess of the Underworld rushing straight toward Athens from the sea was probably not only trying to capture Circe and drag her back to take over her duties but was also attracted by the strange imbalance between life and death in this land.
However, in order to protect Circe at the time, Lorne had first sold out Sisyphus, allowing the real culprit who kidnapped the god of death to take the blame for Asclepius, the one who had developed the immortality potion.
But things might not be so lucky next time.
More than thirty doses of immortality potion had been used.
It was almost impossible not to attract attention.
Once Sisyphus was thrown into the Underworld to push his boulder, and Thanatos returned to his post, sooner or later he would discover the anomaly in Athens through the death records on the Loom of Fate, and he would eventually track down the one who had violated the taboo, Asclepius.
And the final outcome would be Zeus personally striking him down with lightning.
Now that was a real problem...
Imagining that chain of consequences, Lorne felt a headache coming on and immediately stretched out his hand with a dark expression.
"Where is the medicine? Hand over all of it."
"Sorry, I cannot obey. I still need them to save people."
Asclepius shook his head and refused, clutching his satchel tightly.
Seeing this reaction, Lorne instantly grew irritated and stepped forward with a cold snort.
"Then I will destroy them!"
"It would be useless. The formula is in my mind. As long as I still have the materials and my hands, I can create new immortality potions, and I will still use them to heal people."
"Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"I am a physician. Healing the sick and saving lives is my duty..."
Asclepius answered seriously, his calm gaze showing not the slightest ripple even when facing the issue of life and death.
"If I must choose between my professional ethics and the will of the gods, I would rather violate the latter."
That almost stubborn persistence reminded Lorne of Apollo, who had openly defied Zeus in the grand temple.
Father and son were both stubborn mules who would never admit defeat!
"If you are worried about dragging Athens into this, I will leave."
Asclepius lifted his satchel and began preparing to pack the bottles and jars on the shelves.
Lorne snatched the satchel from his nephew and snorted with a frown.
"Stop right there! Where can you go besides here?"
"Cyprus..."
Asclepius pointed to the satchel and answered honestly.
"There is a royal invitation inside.
Their prince Adonis passed away some days ago for certain reasons, but someone cannot accept this fact and wants to entrust me to treat him and bring him back to life.
That was actually one of the reasons I developed the immortality potion."
"Can you revive him?"
"It's hard to say. He has been dead for too long, and his soul has already left the body. Even if someone preserved the corpse intact through special methods, it would still be difficult to bring him back to life.
Besides, the immortality potion is not perfect yet. Reviving a dead god would be even more difficult."
Asclepius shook his head and answered honestly.
"But they should be willing to shelter me."
After listening carefully, Lorne's eyes flickered faintly.
He took the invitation from the satchel and stuffed it into his own clothes before extending his hand again.
"Give me the immortality potion. I will go to Cyprus."
Seeing this strange behavior, Asclepius frowned slightly and hesitated.
At that moment, Lorne said nothing more.
His body twisted and transformed into an old blind man wearing plain clothes. "It's you!"
The moment he saw that appearance, surprise appeared on Asclepius' face.
The person before him was clearly the blind poet Homer, the one who had blocked that pursuit for him on the island of Cyprus.
Because of that past trust, Asclepius no longer hesitated and handed a dose of the immortality potion to his savior.
Lorne accepted the potion, then used the paper and pen nearby to write a letter and tossed it to Asclepius.
"Say goodbye for me, and give this to Hestia. See if she can help."
"You won't..."
Asclepius originally wanted to ask something, but after recalling the recent kitchen disaster, he immediately understood and wisely chose not to say more.
Lorne looked at Asclepius carefully for a long time, hesitated for a moment, and then finally raised his left hand and grasped the air.
From a magic array, he took out a golden holy cup.
His right hand hovered above the cup as his clenched fingers pierced his palm, and a thread of golden blood dripped into the cup.
At the same time, a halo appeared behind him. In its center, green grapevines spread and intertwined, extending into the golden goblet.
Soon, purple-red nectar filled the golden cup.
A rich aroma of wine spread throughout the medical room, releasing an intoxicating fragrance.
After finishing all this, Lorne raised the cup toward him.
"Drink it. This wine is my blood. Here,
I will form a pact with you and do my best to guarantee your safety."
Asclepius did not doubt him.
He picked up the golden cup and drank it in one gulp.
After drinking, the sweet warmth of the wine flowed through his limbs and bones.
It felt as though some mysterious connection had formed within his bloodline.
"Excellent wine!"
Asclepius praised sincerely and returned the golden cup.
Lorne traced several Hermes runes with his fingers, sealing the holy cup away, then glanced at Asclepius and snorted.
"Don't be happy too soon. To be honest, this method is only my hypothesis. I have never tried it before. Whether it can actually save your life, I don't know."
Even so, Asclepius heard genuine concern in those words and bowed sincerely to the man before him.
"No matter what, thank you..."
"No need to thank me. I'm not helping you for free. We both get what we want."
Lorne waved his hand expressionlessly.
However, hearing a burst of noise coming from the wooden house at the top of the mountain, he suddenly seized the satchel containing the immortality potion while Asclepius was off guard and dashed out of the medical room.
"Remember! Before I return, don't even think about that so-called 'immortality potion' again!"
Watching his savior snatch his belongings and vanish into the distance while the Goddess of the Hearth rushed down the mountain toward the medical room with two kitchen knives in hand, Asclepius held the farewell letter and found himself speechless.
Why did he feel like he had just been tricked?
(End of Chapter)