(Apollo POV)

3 weeks!

This was the time that had passed since we arrived at Casca's house on Mount Orta.

Unfortunately, as Casca had said, there was no life in her house.

There were six tombs behind the house, one for the mother and one for the five brothers. I still remember her sad look and Casca building another tomb for her father that I helped dig.

Well, apart from this not-very pleasant moment for her, in the meantime, for three weeks, I started their training.

I trained Casca in fencing, as she was much more interested in a sword than a bow.

And Chiron was the opposite, as his interest was almost entirely in archery and martial arts.

I was sitting on the porch of Casca's father's house while Casca herself, who was wearing a white shirt with blue pants, was swinging her sword up and down repeatedly.

The sword in her hand had a faint golden outline, and in the middle of her hilt was the symbol of the Sun.

Well, I made some improvements to the sword and bow.

I had bathed both weapons with my divine power while using [Solar Construction] to improve their structures.

While Casca swung her sword and sweat fell on her face, Chiron drew his bow, which also had a slight golden outline, and shot an arrow toward a dummy I had built.

All of Chiron's arrows hit their target squarely. He really has talent.

Although this was just a slight warm-up, the two took it very seriously.

Well, while they were both warming up, I was trying to do something new.

My hands were parallel to each other as my divinity over the sun ran at full tilt, eating my divine power at immense speed.

Between my hands, an incandescent golden flame formed, taking the shape of a small sun.

What was I trying to do?

This is simple and, at the same time, complicated.

I was trying to create a way for human beings to live much longer, in addition to increasing their strength considerably.

You see, a human being lives on average for 40 to 60 years in Ancient Greece, as there is danger and misfortune everywhere, as well as diseases.

But the natural lifespan of humans is 200 to 300 years, as mana in ancient times was in its purest state, which consequently prolongs the lives of humans.

However, for me, that's not enough.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to extend the lives of all humans; for now, there are only 3 humans that fit my criteria.

But that doesn't answer the question of what's in my hands.

Well, think of this small sun in formation as a symbol, or rather, a blessing.

In theory, when this is embedded into a human's body, it will make their cellular structure denser, more resilient, and more biologically effective than human biology itself.

In addition to that, the human cellular structure itself will be charged with energy from the sun.

So, theoretically, your cells will function as a super battery, which will be powered by solar energy or solar radiation.

This will cause several effects on the human body, and one of them is extreme longevity, causing humans to live indefinitely if they reside under continuous exposure to sunlight.

However, even though this technique of mine is not even remotely ready, I know that if I record it on a Human being, their body will simply implode.

But I already have a plan to prepare the human body.

One of the first steps is to prepare the target's physical and mental health, followed by other steps.

Well, even though there are other ways to achieve a long life or even bypass death.

As in the case of Asclepius, the god of medicine and also the son of Apollo.

Asclepius was the creator of the resurrection medicine.

But it's a shame that I don't even remotely feel like getting involved with Asclepius' mother, Coronis.

In mythology, Coronis was one of Apollo's lovers who became pregnant with him, but during her pregnancy, she cheated on him with a mortal named Ischys.

Knowing this, I want to distance myself from this woman called Coronis.

Therefore, Asclepius will probably not be born in this world

And about your feat of inventing the resurrection medicine, there wasn't much of a problem.

Most likely, I can do it, but the problem is that this would cause conflict with Zeus and Hades, who must hate other beings messing with the circle of life and death.

As I thought about this, the energy between my hands began to collapse, creating tremendous instability.

Without thinking twice, I pressed my hands together, causing the energy to explode in my hands.

But the explosion was smothered by my hand.

"I'm still a long way from being able to accomplish that." I said, opening my hand, which was cut and blood was running down it.

Then, using {Pure Sunlight}, I instantly healed my hands.

I turned my gaze to my students, who were still fully focused on their training, which was just a basic warm-up.

At least they have determination.

I thought, clapping my hands, making them stop and turn towards me.

"Well, I think the warm-up is over; let's move on to something more intense." A smile formed on my lips.

"What would be something more intense, teacher?" Chiron asked with a suspicious look.

And Casca possessed the same look as she wiped the sweat from her face.

"Well, in these three weeks, your training was to establish a foundation. Casca learned mana control, while Chiron learned control over his divine power, in addition to physical training in their respective strengths.

Now let's move on to something completely practical."

Under their suspicious looks, I crouched down, placing my hand on the floor.

"Are we going to fight you, Lord Apollo?" Casca asked.

"No~, let's say it will be against something less vivid." My divine power circulates through my body, and opening my mouth, I speak a sentence.

"[κούκλες από γη]."

The earth began to contort, and bodies began to form from it.

Three female bodies, but without facial features, were formed from the earth.

In the dolls' hands, there was a sword compressed from earth and a shield also made from earth.

This was also one of Hecate's spells, and as I said, a good monkey learns a trick or two when he sees it.

"Are we going to fight this?" Casca pointed to the dolls.

"Yes, you can go with everything you two have; I don't care how you destroy them, so good luck." I sat on the porch and snapped my fingers, making the dolls start to move.

Their first steps were a little robotic, but the second was more natural, and by the third, they were running towards my two pupils.

While they played with my dolls, I went back to work on the [Solar Blessing] that would tremendously increase the capabilities of humans in both power and longevity.

••• ••• •••

(3rd POV)

The dolls advanced towards Chiron and Casca.

"Casca!" Chiron exclaimed, taking a few steps back.

"I understood." Casca holding her sword with both hands, takes a step forward, raising her sword defensively.

Meanwhile, her mana circulated throughout her body as she muttered, "Reinforcement." With that murmur, a light-dark blue film shone over her body.

Reinforcement wasn't exactly a spell; it was more like pure mana manipulation. Basically, this technique increased Casca's physical attributes.

And in a matter of seconds, the first doll was in front of Casca with two following behind this doll's rear.

The doll in question swung the compressed earth sword toward Casca's head.

Casca stepped on the ground and placed her sword vertically, defending herself from the cut. She took a slight step back, while the second doll came to her side, attacking her.

The doll that was coming from Casca's right side raises its sword, but before the doll has a chance to swing the sword, an arrow bathed in divine power hits its head, piercing and pushing the doll back.

Chiron quickly pulls out another arrow and places it on his bow.

Casca tilts her sword to the side, causing the earth's sword to slide down her blade.

By placing her foot forward and turning her waist, she releases a powerful cut toward the doll's head, cutting deeply into the doll's neck.

With a confident smile, she pulled the sword back, but unfortunately, the doll was a lifeless being; whether or not there was a deep cut on its neck didn't make much of a difference.

And Casca realized this fact, but unfortunately, it was a little late, as the next moment she was directly receiving a shield attack on her body, causing her to be thrown back.

A splash of saliva comes out of its mouth as its body rolls across the earth, and in this great window of opportunity, the doll that had received Chiron's arrow raises its sword and launches it toward Casca.

Without thinking twice, Chiron fired another arrow that hit the sword and threw it upwards.

{The teacher really doesn't know how to take it easy...} Chiron didn't even have time to complete his thought as the third doll jumped towards him while bringing the oppressive earth sword down towards his head.

Flexing his briefcases and breathing deeply, Chiron moves his bow toward the sword, making the two weapons come into contact.

But instead of Chiron defending or even forcing the bow against the sword, he simply controls the flow of the sword's movement.

Gently, the sword goes to the right and sinks into the ground.

Chiron stands up on two paws and kicks with his front paws, destroying the head of another doll.

The third doll, with the force of the blow, falls to the ground, and Chiron, knowing that the doll could continue fighting even without a head, raises his front parts even higher and brings his paws down, hitting the doll's chest.

A loud crack sounds through the forest, and the doll is shattered into pieces completely.

The sound of the crack is heard by Casca who gets up from the ground with some blood running down her lips.

A facet of frustration appears for a few seconds on her face.

{Tsk! A slip like that in front of my God.} Casca thought, burying her frustration deep in her chest.

Standing up, she saw Chiron entering into direct combat with the first doll while the second one was to her left, almost as if the doll was going to launch a hidden attack on Chiron.

"We're going to take this frustration out on you." She muttered, throwing the sword up and catching it as if it were a spear.

Flexing her arm back, and then she launches her sword with all her strength.

The blade of the sword struck the second doll, while Chiron punched the first doll backward and pulled two arrows from his quiver, imbuing them with divine power.

And at that time, Casca rushes towards the second one; her foot flexes slightly, and she jumps into the air and throws her body against the doll.

Her body hits the doll while her hand grabs the hilt of her sword.

The doll falls to the ground with the sword digging deep into her, while Casca still holds the hilt of the sword.

"Resonance." With a mutter, the mana in the sword vibrated at a high frequency, cracking the doll that simply fell to the ground in pieces.

And with the destruction of the second doll, Chiron fires four arrows full of divine power that hit the first doll's cracks, destroying it into pieces.

"Fuuu!" Casca sighs, falling on her butt to the ground.

"That was a little harder than I thought." Chiron said, wiping the sweat off his face.

"Well, Lord Apollo isn't exactly the best when it comes to holding back."

"I agree."

Chiron remembered the little hell that was training under Apollo's guidance.

His martial arts were honed through pain and blood, along with his archery skills.

And it could be said that Casca learned mana manipulation through pain.

"You two were really good."

Casca and Chiron turned their faces towards Apollo.

The two could have sworn they saw Apollo's injured hand, but in the blink of an eye, it was as smooth as it always was.

"You two were really good."

"Thank you, Lord Apollo."

"Thank you, teacher."

"But it's still far from over, Y'know!" Apollo gave a slightly sinister smile.

"Ahh!"

"What do you mean, teacher?"

"Well, you guys just beat the first stage."

"And how many stages are there?" Casca asked, swallowing hard.

"There are 8 stages, and the dolls will always have an increase of 3 at each stage, and if you fail a single stage, everything will be restarted from scratch."

"So in the last stage, it will be… 24 dolls, teacher?"

"Exactly. I want to head towards the northeast of Greece, but we won't leave here until you two can at least do the basics."

Apollo called it basic, but even for Chiron, who is a god, this was already difficult; now for Casca, who is just a human, it was insane.

But without thinking, they both said:

"It will be difficult, but I won't give up." Casca rose from the ground, raising her sword.

"I'll do my best." Chiron pulled two arrows from his quiver.

Apollo smiled, seeing their determination, and placed his hand on the ground.

"[κούκλες από γη]."

Six earth dolls were formed from the ground: three holding an earth sword and shield, two with earth clubs, and one with an earth spear in hand.

"Good luck."

With Apollo's words, the dolls moved forward, leaving a certain Sun God with a smile on his lips behind.