The crowd cheered loudly at Ashoka's words.

Ranya confidently declared, "As you wish, Father, but this will not change the outcome!"

Aarush smirked and replied, "Ranya, your reign will only corrupt the pure name of the Maurya! You are not fit for the throne."

Ashoka harrumphed and stated, "Aarush! Who is fit to take up the throne will only be unraveled a week from now."

While the two rivals had an unbound level of confidence, Alex felt a bead of cold sweat dripping down his face.

'I have one week to make Aadityapal catch up to two other disciples of gods.....' Alex gulped and realized the difficulty of this task.

'Anyhow, I already promised to train him the best I could, I cannot back down right now.'

Following the announcement of the succession competition, the two that were the most likely to inherit the throne left along with their master gods.

The abdication speech was over, and the crowd dispersed and sang along to the national anthem.

Meanwhile, Ashoka swiftly collapsed on his chair and started breathing heavily.

"Those kids somehow manage to shorten my immortal lifespan....." He sighed.

Then, the former emperor turned to Alex.

"I'm sorry about Aadityapal, I know you're supporting his claim to the throne, but postponing the succession anymore would have caused a civil war at worst...."

He continued with a sad face, "And, it's not only Aarush and Ranya that are troublesome kids, some have managed to gain the support of my children using only manipulation and smarts, I'm worried about the fate of the Empire if they take the throne..."

Alex knew that Ashoka probably had a very hard time, so he simply waved in dismissal and reassured him.

"Did something happen?" A winged man approached the balcony and spoke while rubbing his droopy eyes.

"You're late to everything, Hermes, aren't you?" Alex raised his eyebrows.

"Better late than never, so, what happened? Did you cause any trouble?"

Alex meticulously recounted today's events and his own worries about the chances of Aadityapal actually emerging victorious.

Hermes shrugged and heartlessly replied, "Yeah, no chances at all."

"Unleeeeeeeeeesssss....." Hermes took a long pause.

"Alexei-boy, you're supposed to be the smart one here, try to think." Hermes jabbed his forehead.

Alex frowned and pondered over it.

Yet, he didn't find any possible solutions, so he just stared at Hermes.

Hermes facepalmed and exclaimed, "Give him Essence!"

'What'

"I'm not really following your rationale, Hermes, how would Essence help a mortal? If anything, it might kill them."

"I don't know, you tell me, you're the God of Humanity."

Alex wasn't fully convinced of the idea, but the last remark made him intrigued.

He didn't really know the full extent of his powers as a divine representative of humanity, and even though the two abilities, Link and Empathy, were useful and symbolized the skills of the mortals, he didn't have any comprehensive abilities yet.

'Perhaps my Essence would react differently to a human....'

Alex cleared his throat and proposed, "So, I've got an idea, I'll dilute the Essence to an appropriate level with a lot of water, and Aadityapal will consume it, and then I'll gauge the effects."

"Do tell me how it'll work out, but remember to dilute it very well, we don't really want mortals to consume concentrated blood elixir." Hermes cupped his hands.

Ashoka, who was on the side, listened and laughed, "You two sound like you have an evil plan in mind..."

________________________________

The three of them went back to the Imperial estate, and an unexpected guest greeted them.

A bald man dressed in very simple monk clothing and had a lotus tattoo upon his left palm.

"Compassionate Ashoka, I have come when I received insight on your abdication." The monk bowed slightly.

"Bodhisattva Padmapani, it's nice to see you here!" Ashoka reciprocated the bow.

Padmapani then turned to Alex, and bowed slightly, "Sir Alex, I believe we have met in the western lands."

Alex nodded and bowed back.

Padmapani was the strong monk he met back in Olep, and once in Abdera.

'It's nice meeting all of these people again.'

Then, Padmapani leaned in on Ashoka and whispered something to him.

Ashoka maintained a poker face as he listened, and then he told the other two gods, "I will be in the estate's temple, please feel free to do as you want."

The two nodded and they all parted ways.

Hermes suddenly asked, "How do you know them?"

"I almost lost to that mortal prince back in Olep, when Aphrodite tasked me to deliver her blessing..." Alex sighed.

Hermes fell to the ground and loudly laughed at him, "You lost to a mortal..."

Alex felt a vein creep upon his forehead, but he ignored Hermes and went on ahead.

He entered the main palace and went to the courtyard where he trained Aadityapal yesterday.

The prince was, in fact, there, and he seemed to be waiting for Alex's arrival.

He had a somber expression of despair on his face, and it seemed that he heard the news.

"Master, I think this is pointless."

"Aadityapal, I think I have a solution, but you're going to have to avoid asking any questions, alright?" Alex didn't feel like explaining to the prince that he'd have to drink a diluted solution of his blood to become stronger.

"Master, I'd do anything to increase my chances."

"Then, give me that sword, a large bowl, a glass flask, and a big pot of water," Alex ordered the prince.

The latter obliged, and these items were all swiftly placed in front of him.

"Umm, can you leave the courtyard for a while?"

Aadityapal seemed confused but he obeyed and he was soon out of sight.

Alex remembered how Aphrodite prepared her Essence and was going to undergo the same process.

First, he grabbed the sword and placed it next to one of his arteries.

There was no way he'd get enough blood if he punctured a vein.

In one swift slash, he injured himself, and blood came out of the wound.

It would heal very fast, so he had to repeat this process. Alex spilled the blood onto the bowl, and every time his wounds mended, he would slash again.

This would repeat until the wide bowl was full of his own blood.

Then, he put his hand inside the pool of blood.

'This feels disgusting...' Alex got goosebumps.

He bore with it and recalled how he should proceed.

Aphrodite simply put her hands in the bowl, and the mass of blood started reducing in volume.

'I think she used Faith Energy.' Alex accordingly transferred his own Faith Energy into the mass of blood in order to compress it.

*Whoosh*

As if it was water that came into contact with hot metal, the blood started bubbling, and fortunately, it reduced in volume gradually.

Alex continued this until there was only a drop of a thick, brown liquid in the bowl.

His hands felt weak, and his Faith Energy reserves were almost completely used up...

'No one told me it would be this hard...' Alex now understood why they usually prepared Essence beforehand.

Well, at least, the process was over.

Alex put the drop of Essence into the flask and examined it.

_____________________

(Essence of Alex)

Quality: Divine

State: Great

Additional Information: An invaluable elixir refined from the blood of the god, Alex.

______________________

"Sucess!" Alex exclaimed out loud.

After that, to avoid poisoning the prince, he added that drop of Essence into the pot of water and stirred very well.

Then, he searched for Aadityapal and found him training his martial arts in a corridor close by.

He called him over to the courtyard and presented him the elixir water.

"Drink this."