Chapter 269 Eating the Forbidden Fruit

A few days later, Ares Mountain.

Lorne sat in the backyard of Hestia's mansion, took out a golden apple, and swallowed it three times.

The pulp melted in his mouth, forming a stream of golden divine fluid that flowed from his stomach to his limbs, slowly infiltrating every inch of his bones, every muscle, and every drop of blood.

Gradually, his body was covered with a golden shimmer from the inside out.

"Buzz!"

At the same time, a golden halo of light lit up behind him, and countless green grapevines grew wildly in the mental world constructed by the halo, gradually spreading their branches to the tenth space, turning into a leafy plant. fruit trees.

Fist-sized fruits with fiery red skin and trumpet-shaped openings at the top hang all over the branches.

As the fruit trees and fruits stopped growing, Lorne slowly opened his eyes and spread his palm forward. Several green branches automatically dropped from behind, and a fiery red fruit on the branch was placed in his palm.

"Click~~"

Gently break it apart, and the fiery red peel cracks with a crisp sound, revealing pieces of flesh as clear as agate.

——Pomegranate, a fruit with special significance in Greek culture.

In the divine world, one of the favorite plants of Hera, the god of marriage and fertility, is the pomegranate tree. Her image is usually a scepter in one hand and a pomegranate symbolizing fertility in the other; the goddess of love and beauty, and the flower Pomegranate is also one of the sacred objects and symbols of Aphrodite, the god and mother of plants, and the plants sacrificed to her also include pomegranate trees.

On the other hand, it is said that it was born in the blood of Adonis, who is responsible for the resurrection of plants every year. Hades, the king of Hades, tempted Persephone to eat six pomegranate seeds, so that she had to eat six pomegranate seeds in a year. The moon remains in the underworld. Therefore, many people believe that it has magical powers and can even be powerful enough to affect the fate of gods.

Lorne broke off a few pomegranate seeds and put them in his mouth.

A wonderful sense of sweetness blooms in the taste buds, followed by a ray of coolness that spreads throughout the body.

In a daze, his blood became more vigorous, his eyes became brighter, and his thinking seemed clearer.

At the same time, there seems to be an indescribable change in the perception of [the world].

——It seems that everything around him is much kinder to him.

Lorne ate a few more pomegranate seeds, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened his eyes and shook his head helplessly.

The impact on him was too small and his feelings were not clear enough.

He thought for a moment, picked up a Gorgon bronze emblem beside him, and sketched several Hermes text on it.

Soon, a cautious knock on the door came from outside the house.

Lorne casually lifted the magic restriction on the door and welcomed several visitors into the backyard.

"Lord Dionysus, I have brought the person you asked for."

Phaedra, the fourth daughter of King Minos, whom she had not seen for a long time, was holding the Dionysian staff in her arms, her eyes glancing at the gods she served from time to time, with a nervous look on her face.

The past was before and the present is now.

Strictly speaking, gods and humans are no longer the same kind of life.

As the leader of the Dionysiac, her years of preaching and praying have ingrained her worship of her own god into her bones.

Of course, it is inevitable to be nervous when meeting an idol face to face.

"What are you afraid of? I don't eat people."

Lorne joked and pulled up the stool, asking his somewhat restrained niece to sit down, and then looked at the few guests she had brought.

——They were a group of children, most of them wearing rough clothes, their eyes full of ignorance and curiosity.

Obviously, these are a group of commoners who were born at the bottom, without the bloodline and talents given by the gods.

"The pomegranates at home are ripe and I can't seem to finish them all. Come on, try it and see how it tastes."

Lorne said with a half-serious smile. He took a few pomegranates off the branches and put them on the plate in advance. He pushed them in front of the children and demonstrated in person. He ate a few pomegranate seeds first to dissuade them. doubt.

Seeing such a fragrant and beautiful fruit placed in front of them, the children turned around and asked for Phaedra's permission, then happily picked up the pomegranates on the plate and happily broke them apart to eat.

The sweet and sour taste bloomed on the taste buds, and the children looked at the kind people who entertained them with satisfied and grateful faces.

Lorne smiled at them, like a kind big brother, chatting with the children while eating, and asked about their family situation, academic ability, physical fitness, etc. from time to time.

The innocent children chirped in reply.

Lorne listened patiently, and said a few words from time to time, or made some useful suggestions, or praised their sensibleness, or patted their shoulders and said some words of encouragement.

After a small chat, Phaedra, who was watching from the sidelines, was surprised to find out.

These civilian children who were not very confident in the past actually performed exceptionally well today, being articulate and clear.

After finishing the pomegranates and chatting with each child again, Lorne, who had been promoted from Cretan Women's Friend to Minoan Children's King, picked up a branch, squatted on the ground and sketched out wonderful pictures. symbol, and spoke with a smile.

"Come, brother, let's play a little game with you. Whoever memorizes these characters first and draws them in the air with his hand, I will give him a basket of fresh fruits and vegetables."

After hearing this, the children immediately crowded enthusiastically in front of the space where the characters were written, stretched out their little hands, and concentrated on tracing the symbols on the ground.

"Hermes? How could they..."

"Shh, let's try it first."

Fedra, who was next to him, was about to speak when Lorne whispered to stop him.

Without the blood of the gods, it is impossible to control the ether, let alone gather magic power and weave the Hermetic text in the air?

Fedra looked at Lorne beside him in confusion, and muttered in her heart.

Can it work...

After a moment, the crazy woman of the god of wine widened her eyes in astonishment and looked at the scene on the field that shattered her common sense.

"Light! It's shining!"

"Mine too!"

A boy and a girl pointed at the Hermetic text in front of them that was condensed but not dispersed and slightly emitting light, and cheered excitedly.

"Awesome!"

Lorne gave a thumbs up and gave a heartfelt praise. Then, in the envious eyes of a group of children, he took two baskets of fruits and vegetables from Hestia's vegetable garden and gave them to the two outstanding children as gifts.

A small gathering ended with joy and officially closed.

Lorne stood up and sent the children who were still eager to see off the house one by one. He then pulled the leader, Fedra, aside and whispered to him.

"Teacher Ma will check the bodies of these little guys later. If they meet someone with magical qualifications, let him recruit them to the Academy of Athens."

Fedra nodded slightly and wrote down the order.

However, recalling the scene in the courtyard before, the Cretan princess with divine blood flowing in her body could not help but feel a little confused.

"Aren't they commoners? Why can they use magic?"

"Isn't it too shallow to distinguish each other by blood?"

Lorne retorted softly, chanting the doctrine he composed for the Dionysian Church meaningfully.

"The world is built on the ashes of Titan, and so is life. The blessings of God have long been equally bestowed on the world..."

Hearing the teachings of his own gods, Fedra felt ashamed.

The gods love the world, and the nobles are not the only ones who enjoy this honor. Commoners may also accept this favor.

Putting aside her family background, what is the difference between her and those children?

Fedra deeply reflected on her shallowness and prejudice, and then made a solemn promise to the gods she served.

"I will remember your teachings in my heart!"

"Well, I believe you, do your best."

Lorne nodded gently, smiled encouragingly, and then watched the energetic Dionysus embark on the journey of preaching.

Closing the door and coming to the courtyard, Lorne looked at a pomegranate in his hand, thinking.

Universal doctrines weave the foundation of human divinity, and wine named after the blood of God irrigates the soil of human divinity.

And finally, these [seeds] in his hand fell, took root and sprouted in humans, and gradually grew into towering trees, and will eventually bear forbidden fruits.

—— [Forbidden Fruit]?

Lorne smiled, looked at the pomegranate in his hand, and seemed to understand something.

The first book of the Bible, Genesis, describes that although God warned Adam not to eat the fruit of the "Tree of Wisdom", a snake in the garden asked Eve to take a bite.

"So when the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable to make one wise, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it."

From then on, mankind bore the original sin, but also broke away from the restrictions of the gods, walked out of the cradle, and stepped into true freedom.

Strictly speaking, the "forbidden fruit" that triggered this change did not have a unified concept. It was just a general fruit. Some people thought it was a fig, some thought it was a grape, some thought it was a citron, and some thought it was an apple.

In Hebrew culture, there are also many people who advocate that pomegranates are the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.

Botticelli, the most important painter of the Florentine School during the Renaissance, once had a famous painting handed down from generation to generation, "Madonna with a Pomegranate". The Virgin Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms, while the savior of mankind holds a plump pomegranate tightly in his hand. The pomegranate skin is broken a little, revealing the crystal-clear pomegranate seeds.

This pomegranate may be a symbol of the suffering and redemption of the Son of Man.

And the [forbidden fruit] behind Lorne also has a complex origin.

Hera's breastfeeding and the power of the golden apple created the soil of sin for the birth of the tenth incarnation.

The apple seeds fell, the grape vines came to graft, and finally the pomegranate fruit was produced.

Overall, it can be called a heresy and a mixture of unruly.

At the same time, it also metaphorically implies his cheating with Hera, adding a subtle footnote to the illicit love affair.

So, the role of the [forbidden fruit] is to activate the potential divinity of human beings?

It should be the earthly power contained in the golden apple, which injected new vitality into these humans called "Titan Ashes", and then ignited the divinity in the root.

After all, this generation of human beings was "born by throwing the bones of Mother Earth", which is itself a partial manifestation of the divine power of the earth. With the nourishment of the [forbidden fruit], it is naturally easier to give birth to the flowers of sin that are not conducive to the supremacy of divine power.

Unfortunately, this kind of project of boiling a frog in warm water cannot solve his current troubles.

Luo En looked at the pomegranate in his hand and sighed.

The tenth incarnation...