Alex was extremely excited to show off...humbly brag* about Prometheus to Hermes.

When he went back to the guest room, he found that the latter was still struggling to write a letter to Marzia.

'So dedicated, da*mn'

"Umm, Hermes, need any help?" Alex realized that Hermes would keep at this forever if he didn't lend him a hand.

Hermes swiftly turned around and exclaimed, "Yes, please, Alexei-boy!"

"Alright," Alex took a blank piece of paper and asked Hermes what the contents of the letter should be about.

He quickly finished up a very emotionally charged and sweet letter and passed it along to Hermes.

The god read through it and nodded, "It's perfect."

Then, Alex exclaimed, "Hermes, catch!"

He threw the silver ball at Hermes.

The latter was confused and spoke out loud, "A silver ball, with a ruby?"

Alex cleared his throat and said, "Try putting your Faith Energy in it."

Hermes shrugged and obliged.

As expected, the silver ball turned into a liquid state and morphed until it became a long and glowing silver dagger.

Hermes was astonished at the transformation and wielded the dagger masterfully.

"This weapon feels like it was made exactly for me, it's incredible!" Hermes praised Prometheus.

Alex's smile got wider and wider, and he stated, "I crafted it."

The latter's eyes widened and he praised Alex generously, "Alexei-boy, most of Hephaestus' weapons can't compare to this one, you did an extremely outstanding job."

"Thank you, and it's called Prometheus."

"Strange name, but it's a divine weapon nonetheless."

After that, the reverberations of a gong rang throughout the guest room, and it meant that it was time for breakfast at the banquet hall.

The two went to the banquet hall and after an extremely delicious breakfast and a lengthy conversation with Ashoka, they parted ways.

Hermes wished to visit the entirety of Patliputra and Alex strongly advised him not to buy into herbal scams this time.

Following that scolding session, Alex navigated through the now-familiar corridors of the palace and halted at the training courtyard.

As usual, they would first start with physical training, and then, they would move to a scholarly education at the library.

The martial arts training went extremely well, and after Alex brought his strength down by a few levels, Aadityapal was able to end the battles on a miraculous tie.

Nonetheless, Alex beat him up thoroughly in the next few battles.

Then, Aadityapal consumed his daily batch of diluted Essence, and this time, it looked like he considered it the most delicious drink in the entire universe, and chugged it down in a second.

After the habitual few moments of drunkenness and pain, he recovered and his physique and mental capabilities once again improved.

However, before moving on to the library, Alex had a sudden hypothesis.

Prometheus was an adaptive weapon, and from the time he showed it to Hermes, he realized he wasn't the only person who could wield it, and other gods could also use the weapon.

'What if, mortals could also use it? Wouldn't it give Aadityapal an immense advantage in the contest?' Alex first needed to know if external weapons were even allowed.

"Aadit?"

"Yes, master?"

"Are weapons allowed in the contest?"

Aadityapal pondered over this inquiry for a dozen seconds or before he nodded and replied.

"I am pretty sure of it since Ranya will probably use the Vajra that Indra granted her."

That was all Alex needed to know.

He threw Prometheus, in its ball form, to the confused Aadityapal.

'How will he be able to power it without any Faith Energy?' Alex ran into a problem.

While Aadityapal stood still amidst his confusion, Alex incarnated into Athena and used his augmented cognitive capabilities to their full extent.

The prince seemed even more confused at his master's sudden change in appearance, but Alex didn't give him any attention.

With his increased cognition, Alex was able to find a solution in less than a second and immediately removed Incarnation.

"Aadit, do you see that ruby?" Alex pointed to the glowing ruby embedded into the ball.

Aadityapal nodded, albeit puzzlingly.

"Try to channel the energy of that ruby, if you can even visualize it." Alex got this idea when he remembered a certain line from Prometheus' information.

(The ruby and Divine Iron supply the strength of this weapon)

Right now, it seemed that the ruby served no purpose whatsoever to Prometheus other than adding the elusive 'repentance' attribute to it, but considering how valuable the avatar of 'Aingra Mainyu' considered it, Alex was sure that it served another role.

Aadityapal obeyed Alex's demands and closed his eyes.

"Aadit, show me more of your main character's luck!" Alex spouted incomprehensible words of encouragement to the prince, and in Koine Greek so he wouldn't understand him.

As if the heavens heard his request, Aadityapal seemed successful, and the ruby seemed to glow brighter than the sun for a second or so.

Then, Prometheus turned into a liquid form and the transformation sequence commenced.

Ultimately, Prometheus shaped into an extremely long and sharp silver sword.

Aadityapal had the same amazed reaction as Hermes, and he swung the longsword as if it was an extension of his own limbs.

"Master, did you craft me a weapon?" Aadityapal kowtowed to him.

"Umm, no, I am lending you this weapon for the competition." Alex waved his hand and swiftly cleared the misunderstanding.

Still, Aadityapal seemed extremely grateful and remained in that kowtowing position.

"If you have time to kowtow, you also have the time to learn the basics of imperial rule." Alex forced the prince to stand up and led him to the library.

Aadityapal seemed less unwilling to learn new information this time, and Alex moved on to more advanced documents.

He skimmed through the books and began summarizing the information to the prince.

"A ruler's role is more often ceremonial than administrative, as a good ruler needs specialized advisors and only requires basic and expansive information himself."

"In times of desperation, a ruler's primordial role is to instill reverence and loyalty in their subjects, and in times of prosperity, to instill ambition and patriotism in their subjects."

Aadityapal understood the concepts very well, and Alex moved on to another theme.

"State pacifism is not optimal to the development of an empire and neither is a draconian rule."

"Just as Siddartha Gautama embraces the Middle Way, a ruler need not sway into the extremes, but rule with balance."

As the two were engrossed in the lesson, a charismatic voice flowed into their ears and interrupted them.

"Aadityapal?"