The group of disciples all laughed helplessly at this; it seemed this fellow’s mouth would never mend as long as he lived.
Asterios shook his head helplessly, then turned to his junior brothers and said, “Pollux, take my bow and show him your level.” “Yes!” Pollux answered loudly, then went over to pick up Asterios’s bow.
The bow was a bit large for her, but it didn’t matter; with her strength, it wouldn’t affect anything.
“Asterios!
Are you looking down on me?
To let a little girl use your great bow, this is just too…” Jason shut his mouth at this point because Pollux had already drawn Asterios’s great bow.
Yet Pollux’s expression remained relaxed.
After aiming, she calmly released her hand, and the arrow struck the bullseye perfectly.
The disciples immediately cheered; for a twin of Zeus, such power was truly extraordinary.
“If you want to stand out here, if you want to become a hero who leads all heroes, you’re still far from it.
Work hard, Jason, you who are inferior even to a little girl.” Asterios’s tongue was undeniably sharp, especially in this male-dominated Greek society; being evaluated as inferior to a little girl was truly humiliating.
Furthermore, Pollux was not actually known for her archery; her excellence lay in swordsmanship.
Jason was now flushed red with shame, yet he found himself unable to speak.
He had believed that having endured so much hardship since childhood, he was already much better than others, but upon coming to Chiron’s tutelage where freaks appeared frequently, his abilities indeed seemed mediocre.
It wasn’t that his strength wasn’t impressive, it just didn’t stand out in this group.
After all, being able to draw a great bow at such a young age and hit a target four hundred paces away was enough for him to boast about.
Incidentally, those four hundred paces were measured by Chiron’s stride.
“Good!
Continue practicing!
Peleus, take Jason to familiarize him with our surroundings and have him practice wrestling while you’re at it.
His physique is a bit frail.
I’ll go hunt something; everyone will have roasted meat tonight.” Upon hearing Asterios’s arrangements, Peleus immediately trotted over to Jason’s side, while the others shouted in approval; they could have a grand feast of meat again tonight.
Listening to their happy shouts, Asterios naturally felt a sense of joy in his heart.
Every one of these junior brothers of his was beloved and would become heroes on this Greek land in the future; Asterios hoped their futures would be smooth sailing.
He walked slowly down the mountain.
Currently, this land lacked people, but it did not lack land for cultivation or prey for hunting.
This was an era where there were more wolves than people; as long as they didn’t mind the texture and taste of the meat, they would never lack animal protein.
Asterios sensed the surrounding auras and already understood which way he should go.
But just as he was sensing, a heavy aura charged straight toward him.
Asterios looked in that direction based on his feeling and saw a wild boar half the height of a man charging fiercely at him, with several arrows still stuck in its body.
“Don’t run!” A crisp female voice even followed from behind.
Asterios shook his head helplessly and decided to step aside; he had no interest in snatching someone else’s prey, as it might make them unhappy.
The wild boar rushed past Asterios just like that, and the hunter chasing the boar also darted past him.
In that moment of crossing paths, Asterios saw her face clearly.
Yellow and green hair, a beautiful emerald-green dress, and green over-the-knee boots—Asterios almost wanted to say it was a very fashionable outfit.
Was she a city dweller?
Asterios felt some interest in this girl who was about the same age as him, but he didn’t make a sound, simply watching as the girl chased after the boar.
Then he began to focus on his own hunt, as it concerned his junior brothers’ dinner tonight.
However, his hunting was extremely simple, not even requiring a bow and arrow.
When he encountered suitable prey, he often only needed a single glance to knock the opponent to the ground.
After approaching, he would use a Hand-blade to slit the opponent’s neck, then hang the prey up to drain the blood; the series of operations was truly as smooth as flowing water.
Once he had captured sufficient prey, he dragged them to the riverbank and began removing the internal organs and washing away the fresh blood.
He had performed this set of actions so many times that it could even be said to have become muscle memory.
And just then, that girl also dragged her wild boar to the riverbank.
Looking at the prey beside Asterios, she couldn’t help but look back at the boar she had caught.
How could this guy hunt five times as much prey as her so quickly and drag it all here to clean?
This speed was too fast.
Impossible, it shouldn’t be possible.
But she didn’t strike up a conversation, silently going to the river like Asterios to wash the blood and empty the organs, then preparing to butcher the boar to cook it, intending to share it with the people who had adopted her that evening.
By this stage, her speed was about the same as Asterios’s.
But looking at Asterios doing such dirty work with such a steady and calm attitude, the girl still showed doubt.
This guy looks very unusual.
Is he a prince from somewhere nearby, or an illegitimate son of the gods?
The girl couldn’t help but wonder in her heart.
It was just that Asterios ultimately did not speak to her, and the girl didn’t like speaking to a strange man without any reason.
By the river, there was now only the sound of them washing flesh and blood, along with the sound of the wind and other animals.
Once these dirty chores were finished, Asterios cupped some river water to wash his face, then piled up the wild boars.
In the next instant, he placed his hand on the boars and vanished before the girl’s eyes along with his prey.
Seeing this astonishing scene, the girl couldn’t help but rub her eyes, even murmuring to herself whether she was dreaming.
How did that guy just disappear directly without any warning?
Was it a gift from the gods, or was it sorcery or magic?
Asterios naturally didn’t care about any of this.
When he returned to the mouth of the Pelion Cave with his prey, he happened to see Jason being knocked to the ground by Peleus once again.
This fellow was truly black and blue all over now; it seemed Peleus had thrown him quite hard.
“Stop.” With a single word from Asterios, everyone immediately stopped their training and came over to help process tonight’s dinner.
Among those present, there were quite a few who could hunt the same amount of prey as Asterios, but they absolutely did not have such speed to finish even the subsequent chores so quickly.
Now even Jason had become much more honest; he truly understood that in this group of freaks, he wasn’t considered the strangest one.
At most, his dreams and eloquence were better than this group; if it really came down to martial arts, he might as well stay out of the way.
But as it happened, dreams and eloquence were often the most attractive things in this era.