"What do you mean by that?"
Even Ares was stunned after hearing Dr. Asclepius's words.
Originally, Ares had heard Apollo talk about his son many times. When Ares brought him into the Athena sect, he didn't expect him to truly believe, precisely because Dr. Asclepius often apostatized, which is why Ares chose him.
Ares chose to make a deal with him mainly to get some benefits for Athena from this future Dr. Asclepius, lest she think that "Perseus" would only bring her hatred. However, even Ares didn't expect that this Dr. Asclepius wouldn't even give Athena a few formulas.
"It doesn't mean anything."
After hearing Perseus's question, Dr. Asclepius said to himself,
"All my prescriptions are completely open and transparent. They can't only be for Athenians; I will also use them for people in other places. This is a rule I set for myself."
"But aren't you a member of the Athena sect now?"
Perseus asked,
"Since you've already joined the sect, I don't expect you to be very obedient, but you should at least follow this initial arrangement, right?"
"Oh, it seems so... Tsk, what a hassle."
Dr. Asclepius scratched his white hair and then brazenly said to Perseus,
"Forget it then. Please tell Athena that I won't join her sect."
When Dr. Asclepius said this, Ares, who was controlling Perseus, was dumbfounded. He pointed at his own nose and asked with wide eyes,
"Brother, we're discussing the faith of the Olympus Gods. Do you think the Gods' sects are like a vegetable market? You can come and go as you please?"
Atalanta, standing nearby, watched with a hint of schadenfreude. She walked over, patted Perseus's shoulder, and said,
"Now you know what kind of person this guy is, don't you?"
"Alas, no, I think it's because our understanding of the Gods is different."
Dr. Asclepius sighed,
"Let me put it this way: I've seen my father and my aunt, so I know what the Gods, who are considered sacred and spotless by Heroes, really look like. Have you two seen them?"
Atalanta grew angry again, while Perseus nodded and said,
"Yes, I have. It's precisely because I've seen Athena that I'm devoted to serving her."
After speaking, he said longingly, "I think I'll never fall in love with another woman in this life. Compared to Athena... Alas, there's no comparison, no comparison."
And upon hearing this topic, even Heracles, who had been silent by the side, spoke up. He continued Perseus's words, saying,
"I don't think Athena is that much better than other women. On the contrary, the later appearing Hestia is more in line with my definition of the word 'Goddess'."
"Exactly." Polydeuces also muttered, "The only conscientious Goddess on Olympus, I think, is Hestia."
"Not bad." Medea said with a smile, "I think our teacher is also pretty good."
"Ah?" Atalanta looked at the Heroes in shock, then pointed at them and asked, "You've all seen Gods with your own eyes?"
"Their teacher is a Goddess," Medea replied with a smile.
"My wife too," Orpheus said somewhat shyly.
"I once was," Polydeuces sighed with a hint of nostalgia.
"Hmm..." Heracles glanced at Polydeuces and Castor, the siblings, and Orpheus, then said softly with some apology, "I've beaten a God..."
Polydeuces and Castor, the siblings, quietly glanced at Heracles, then shifted their bottoms, moving a little further away from him, while Atalanta pointed at everyone present and shouted, "You're all traitors!"
"See?" Dr. Asclepius shrugged, "All of us here have different impressions of the Gods, so our attitudes towards them are also different... That's why I say, humans are a species destined to be unable to understand each other."
"That's one way to put it."
Perseus looked at him and said,
"But don't think you can get away with it. If you can come and go as you please, wouldn't our Athena sect and the Goddess we worship become a joke? I'm telling you, Dr. Asclepius, the reason Artemis and Apollo indulged your recklessness before is because one is your aunt and the other is your father. But our Athena doesn't have such a close relationship with you. If you play around like this, and our Goddess reports it to Zeus, and Zeus punishes you, do you believe your father Apollo won't be able to stop him?"
Perseus's words were quite blunt and must have offended Apollo, but despite their roughness, they were not unreasonable. Dr. Asclepius's previous casual attitude towards Apollo and Artemis could be excused as an indifference between family members, but now, acting the same way towards Athena was definitely unacceptable.
To put it broadly, his actions could even be considered disrespect towards the Olympus Gods. Zeus, who always valued "dignity" and "face" the most, would certainly not let him off after hearing about it.
Dr. Asclepius was not a fool; he must have often heard Apollo and Artemis complain about Zeus, and vaguely knew what kind of being this King of Gods was. So, after Perseus finished speaking, he nodded in agreement and replied,
"You do have a point. Alright then, tell me, what should I do?"
"You want to leave the Athena sect? It's not impossible, after all, our Athena is also a tolerant and generous Goddess. But since you've come, you should at least leave some contribution for her."
Perseus extended his hand to Dr. Asclepius in a very businesslike manner:
"For example, prescriptions, prescriptions, and more prescriptions... Oh, the aromatherapy prescription from before doesn't count. That was originally invented by our Goddess. If you want to use it, we'll have to charge a 'price'."
"What price?"
"Whenever you use this therapy to treat other patients in the future, you must tell them that it was invented by Athena."
Perseus replied.
"Alright."
Dr. Asclepius agreed with a troubled expression, "If I give you these, I can leave, right?"
Perseus asked him to wait, then prayed and communicated with Athena on the spot. After receiving a positive reply from her, Perseus nodded.
"Okay, I agree."
Dr. Asclepius immediately wrote down several prescriptions that could treat some common and difficult diseases in the Greek World, then handed them to Perseus, saying at the same time,
"From now on, I'm apostatizing. Believing in Athena is too troublesome. I'll go back to believing in my dad instead."