So Jason, how will you... handle this matter?
Rhea's curiosity did not last too long.
Because the next day, Jason had already begun to act.
The next morning, when Sisyphus stood up, Jason rose and came before him.
Rhea hid in the shadows. When she saw Jason approach Sisyphus, she naturally subconsciously thought that Jason had chosen to help Sisyphus push this boulder imbued with divine power by the gods.
Regarding this, though Rhea did not think there was anything wrong with this approach, but... there was still a slight sense of her expectations falling a bit short.
"Child, have you come to help me push this boulder?"
The bearded, raggedly dressed Sisyphus naturally also thought Jason had come for this reason, so he said to him indifferently: "Give it up, child. Up to now, I have requested countless passing heroes to help me. There have been far too many stronger than you among them, but no one has been able to help me push it to the mountaintop!"
"No, I do not intend to help you push the boulder to the mountaintop."
And then Jason's response made both Sisyphus and the Rhea hidden in the shadows stunned.
"You do not intend to help me... then what have you come for?" Sisyphus furrowed his brows.
"I have indeed come to help you, because a great divinity has issued an oracle. However, I will not help you push the boulder to the mountaintop, nor will I destroy this boulder."
After Jason finished smiling, under Sisyphus's puzzled gaze, he urged him to begin today's work.
And then, Jason really just stood by watching, watching Sisyphus push the boulder up the mountain from sunrise.
However, during this time, he did not idle. While following Sisyphus up the mountain, he took out the sea-blue lyre and continued honing his lyre skills.
Because Jason's lyre music was extremely beautiful, Sisyphus later had no intention of driving Jason away.
Soon after, at sunset, the boulder suddenly slipped from Sisyphus's hands and fell down. At that moment, Jason, who had not moved all along, suddenly moved.
He took out his caduceus and, under Sisyphus's puzzled gaze, drew a horizontal line at the spot where the boulder had just stopped before rolling down.
And after merely drawing that one horizontal line, Jason left.
After Sisyphus and Jason departed, Rhea quietly came here, circling around that horizontal line, looking left and right, unable to discern anything from it, so she could only suppress her inner doubts and leave.
Then on the third day, Jason continued repeating such actions.
At sunset, he drew a horizontal line at the spot where the boulder stopped.
The fourth day, the fifth day...
After a week passed, on this day at sunset, when Jason as usual drew that horizontal line, Rhea appeared beside Jason.
She looked at those uneven horizontal lines on the ground, her eyes no longer holding the initial doubt, because Rhea had already understood what Jason was doing.
"Child... is this your answer?"
Rhea, transformed into the old woman, said to Jason: "But from what I know, you are fully capable of destroying this boulder or helping him push it to the mountaintop... Child, can you tell me why you chose this method?"
"The reason is very simple." Jason bowed to Rhea, then replied: "Because this is the punishment given to Sisyphus by the great gods. Without their permission, I have no qualification to defy the gods' punishment."
"But old woman, you asked me to help him, therefore... I could only choose a compromise method."
Smiling, Jason came before those horizontal lines drawn on the ground, gesturing at the horizontal lines on the ground for Rhea, saying: "You see, this horizontal line is the first one I drew. On the second day, that horizontal line was below the first one.
But on the third day, the fourth day, up to today, each horizontal line is a bit higher than the previous day's..."
Jason's words were not finished.
"The punishment given to Sisyphus by the gods is to let his life slowly waste away in such futile and hopeless labor... And you, with just these lightly sketched strokes, have completely changed the meaning of this matter."
Rhea let out a soft sigh, looking up at this steep high mountain, saying: "This mountain is far too high, thus filling Sisyphus's heart with despair, knowing he absolutely cannot reach the top, perfectly corresponding to futile and hopeless desperate labor.
But you, with a single stroke, have reignited his fighting spirit... Though you have done nothing, in truth, you have already cracked the punishment given to him by the gods and completed the task I gave you, right?"
Jason smiled lightly, neither nodding nor shaking his head in denial.
"But if it's only this much, he still has no possibility of pushing this boulder to the mountaintop."
After a slight pause, Rhea continued: "Though you have reignited the fighting spirit in Sisyphus's heart, if too much time passes, he will ultimately still be swallowed by despair.
Thus, you have not resolved this matter from the root."
"That's right." This time, Jason nodded.
And under Rhea's slight stunned and then curious gaze, Jason, with an unchanged smile, said: "If it's only this much, it indeed still cannot change his fate, after all, his personal strength ultimately has its limits.
Therefore, this method of mine is merely to free him from despair, to make the meaningless thing become meaningful.
As for the solution to this boulder... I hope, old woman, that you can give me a bit more time."
"...Very well, I will wait for you." Rhea, transformed into the old woman, smiled at Jason.
If at the beginning she had felt slightly disappointed, then now Rhea's heart was filled with anticipation.
Rhea was very curious what further surprises Jason could give her!
And so, with the passage of time.
Three more days passed.
On the tenth day, the matter finally turned for the better.
This day on the road, a sturdy hunter with hunting dogs happened to pass by and was drawn over by Jason's beautiful singing voice.
What a handsome, what an elegant person... He must be a great divinity, the God of Light Lord Apollo!
The sturdy hunter, upon seeing Jason, was instantly captivated by Jason's charm.
Thus, he ran before Jason and respectfully asked if he was the God of Light Apollo.
This startled Jason quite a bit, and he hurriedly explained that he was not.
And told him his name was none other than Heracles!
Of course, these were minor matters.
Next, Jason began inviting this sturdy hunter to help Sisyphus push this boulder to the mountaintop.
The hunter saw at a glance that this was impossible and was preparing to refuse.
But under Jason's promise that upon success, he would give him some money as reward, the soldier naturally immediately agreed happily.
And so later, under the puzzled gazes of Rhea and Sisyphus.
Jason followed the hunter in pushing the boulder up the high mountain and, when the boulder slipped away at sunset, expressing regret over it.
At the position reached with the hunter's help in pushing, he drew a horizontal line and had him leave his name on that horizontal line...
"Thank you for your cooperation. This is your gold coin... Hunter big brother, you are really amazing. You actually pushed it that high, much better than this one."
Handing the gold coin to the hunter, and lavishly praising him, even making the other feel somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing this opportunity, Jason told him he should go back and spread the news of this matter, letting more people know how amazing he was.
He even specially gave him some more gold coins and promised that as long as he brought back one person next time, he would give him a silver coin as reward!
Thus, merely the next day, this hunter brought back ten sturdy hunters, and Jason generously gave him ten silver coins.
And also stated that whoever was willing to help Sisyphus push the boulder would receive a gold coin from him!
Naturally, the hunters became eager, but at this moment Jason set a new rule: only one person could help at a time.
And on the position reached by the helper that day, Jason as usual left that hunter's name.
And this second hunter's position was much lower than the previous hunter's, thus immediately suffering merciless mockery.
This made the second hunter instantly feel that the gold coin in hand was no longer appealing.
Infuriated, they argued red-faced over this, even nearly turning it into a duel!
But at this moment, Jason timely played beautiful lyre music, calming them down, and stated that if they felt unconvinced and wanted to prove themselves, it was very simple: push this boulder higher, and that would do.
And so, on the third day, the hunters began discussing who should follow Sisyphus to push the boulder together, because of last night's events, everyone had become eager to try.
Then who knew, just as they were discussing, because the initial hunter, upon returning home, had as instructed by Jason widely publicized it.
As a result, whether those coming to watch the excitement or those wanting to participate and take gold coins, they all came rushing over.
And so, with the passage of time, the fourth day... the fifth day.
By the fifth day, the number of people gathered here had already become quite substantial.
And at this time, Jason no longer needed to offer gold coins to make them compete to follow Sisyphus in pushing the boulder up the mountain.
Because by now, several people's names had already been left on the mountain.
The people whose names were left, especially the one currently highest, would grab anyone to boast of their great achievements, how amazing they were.
And those below him were full of unwillingness and defiance, each one steeling themselves to surpass and return the favor!
And so, without much time passing, not even a full week, this matter had thoroughly spread.
The number of people coming to watch the excitement grew more and more, and at the same time, the number of people coming to challenge this endeavor, wanting to leave their names at the highest point and overlook the world, also grew more and more.
And so, after nearly half a month, Jason looked at the lively crowd gathered here under the night.
Playing beautiful lyre music, he turned and vanished into the darkness.
Just after he disappeared into the darkness and had not been gone long, the old woman Rhea had transformed into came before Jason.
Jason smiled and bowed to her, then said: "Old woman, the task you gave me, I have completed... Though now no one should be able to push this boulder to the mountaintop yet, one day, that person will appear."
Yes, he certainly will appear.
Even if not, Jason could notify senior brother Heracles and the others, have them come push this stone up.
Rhea looked at the smiling Jason before her, then at the distant bonfires, and could not help falling silent for a moment.
"Child, can you tell me what exactly is going on here?"
Then, Rhea could not hold back and asked Jason in confusion.
Though she had watched everything that happened, but... it could only be said that the development had spiraled out of control a bit too quickly, leaving her somewhat dazed!
But Rhea could still understand that Jason had completed his task, because following this trend, a hero like Jason who had divine help to accomplish impossible tasks would ultimately appear.
"What exactly... did you do?"
"What did I do? ...Actually, I did nothing, because this is merely an inevitable result as the number of people increases."
Jason softly explained to Rhea: "Because where there are people, competition will inevitably arise, and with competition, differences will inevitably appear.
The appearance of differences becomes capital for boasting, and that is... glory.
Just as everyone wants to be a hero, letting their name be passed down through the ages.
Old woman, do you think the names engraved on that mountaintop... will also be passed down through the ages?"
Jason's words made Rhea's eyes slowly widen by two degrees, because such an explanation was already clear and understandable.
In simple terms, Jason had given meaning to this completely meaningless thing, even turning it into something that could now serve as one of the capitals for heroes to boast of their great achievements!
As for how Jason thought to do this... well, the poisonous chicken soup of modern society is just too abundant.
As a once-internet-baptized model youth, actually back when finding the hunter for himself, Jason had already done a similar operation.
"Old woman, then can you now tell me the oracle given to me by the goddess of wisdom Athena?"
And just as Rhea was looking at Jason in shock, Jason also looked at her expectantly, waiting for that oracle from Athena regarding the tribute to the God of Light Apollo!