Upon learning from Jason's mouth that the sun chariot lacked some configurations and required the Goddess of Craftsmen Hephaestus to come and upgrade it.
The Sun God Helios originally prepared to bring Jason to Hephaestus's temple.
After all, ever since Hephaestus became one of the Olympian gods, in that span of several hundred years, or even up to a thousand years, she had almost never left her temple by a single step.
Thus, Helios subconsciously believed that Hephaestus still would not easily leave the temple now.
However...
Not long after, in the Sun God Helios's glorious and classical temple.
Less than half an hour after Jason had prayed to Hephaestus, under the push of two automata on a wheelchair.
Hephaestus, wearing an exquisite mask, arrived at Helios's temple.
Regarding this, Helios, who felt a bit surprised in his heart, was about to step forward to greet Hephaestus when he saw Hephaestus pass directly by his side and go straight to Jason's front.
"Ja... child, are you alright?"
Hephaestus came before Jason and asked with concern, "Were you burned at all? Teacher brought you sacred ointment."
Clearly, she had already learned of the matter of Jason driving the sun chariot.
"I am fine, Teacher. Sister Pyrrhia's unquenchable fire protected me. I am completely unharmed. Is that not so, great Sun God Helios?"
Allowing Hephaestus to check his body, Jason at the same time gestured to her that the Sun God Helios was right beside them.
Hearing this, Hephaestus then turned her head and looked toward Helios.
The two gods' gazes met, and Hephaestus nodded faintly before immediately placing her gaze back on Jason.
At the same time, accompanying Hephaestus's appearance, soft voices of conversation arose in Helios's temple.
The nymphs in attire around, as well as some gods, were all seeing Hephaestus, wearing the mask made by Jason, make her entrance for the first time.
Therefore, most of the gods were very surprised... Although they had also heard related rumors, seeing the once so Hephaestus now become so radiant, they found it hard not to be amazed.
Especially accompanying the conversations, when they learned that the mask on Hephaestus's face was precisely made by her student, this white-robed Hephaestus.
"Do not worry, Goddess Hephaestus. This child is fine. Even the divine horses pulling the sun chariot were exceptionally docile in his hands."
Helios walked over and said to Hephaestus.
Indeed docile. After all, the divine horses pulling the sun chariot had nearly been reined by Jason until they could not catch their breath.
After a bout of simple conversation, Helios then brought Jason and Hephaestus away from the hall with more people.
Along the way, when Hephaestus learned that Jason had called her to improve the sun chariot, not only did she not feel unhappy about her craftsmanship being questioned, but she was instead extremely pleased.
She kept praising Jason nonstop... Although after listening for a while, she still did not quite understand what Jason meant by the so-called hypoxia situation.
But regarding forming a special independent space within the chariot during driving, Hephaestus did understand that.
Regarding this, Hephaestus raised both hands in approval. She had originally been worried that the flames of the sun chariot would harm Jason, and now it was perfect.
The Sun God Helios also breathed a sigh of relief regarding this.
With Hephaestus taking action, not to mention anything else, his child Phaethon's survival probability had obviously risen by a large margin again.
This made Helios's gaze toward Jason become even more friendly.
Taking this opportunity, Jason then found Helios and asked about a very key matter.
That was how he should get along well with those four divine horses.
These four fire-breathing divine horses clearly were not as easy to win over as Brother Horse.
Although Jason had just given them those apologetic grass cakes and they had eaten them, they had not shown excessive excitement.
Helios thought about this for a moment and then answered Jason that if he could now take the divine horses out for a period of free running, they should then like him.
After all, for these horses who were bound every day and ran on fixed tracks, free and unrestrained running was their greatest wish.
But at the same time, Helios warned Jason that directly going to contact them would result in the flames on their bodies being sufficient to burn to death any mortal who touched them.
Even those flames, not even gods could contact them for overly long periods.
And he advised Jason that even though he had the protection of the unquenchable flames of the Underworld, this instead might provoke the fighting spirit of these four divine horses.
Moreover, their temperaments were extremely fierce and they would absolutely not obediently listen. He urged Jason to dispel such notions and simply use force to directly tame them.
Regarding this, although Jason nodded in agreement, he still expressed that he wanted to try.
Helios felt that with himself watching, Jason would not meet with any accident, so he did not say anything more.
"Do you need my help?"
Hephaestus, who deeply knew her student's temperament, took out reins she had prepared long ago and showed them to Jason.
Four red reins, all fire-resistant divine artifacts, of the same type as those on Brother Horse. This made the watching Helios's mouth twitch involuntarily.
"I was so slow in coming just now because I guessed this situation might arise."
At the same time, Hephaestus softly explained the reason why she had taken half an hour and arrived late.
This could not help but make Helios profoundly experience just how pampering this Goddess Hephaestus was toward Jason this child.
"Teacher, you have truly troubled yourself."
Jason also said gratefully, "Did you make these just now?"
"No, I dug them out from the pile of odds and ends... Things left over from when I made the sun chariot before."
Hephaestus explained honestly.
Pile of odds and ends... The pile of odds and ends of the Goddess of Craftsmen, that was a pile of divine artifacts!
Jason let out an "oh," thought for a moment, and took the four reins, but did not use them and instead put them away.
"Helios, I have a new idea... It might be a bit adventurous. Could I trouble you to watch over me a little?"
Facing Jason's request, Helios agreed without even thinking.
After this one day, Helios's impression of Jason was quite good.
At the same time, he was also a bit curious about what Jason intended to do. Helios could see that Jason did not seem to plan on giving up.
Then Jason followed Helios to the stable housing the flame divine horses. As soon as these four divine horses saw Jason, they could not help but let out neighs.
Their hooves stomped wildly, and their entire bodies suddenly burst into flames.
Clearly, a few grass cakes could not alleviate the dissatisfaction they had accumulated in the afternoon.
Seeing this, Helios's brows furrowed involuntarily. Just as he was preparing to instruct his servants to fetch a whip to discipline them, Jason hurriedly stopped him.
"Please leave it to me, Helios."
As Jason spoke, he took out a golden seven-stringed lyre from the silver storage pouch at his waist.
"Oh, this is... Apollo's lyre?"
Helios recognized this divine artifact at a glance.
Jason nodded lightly to him and then played beautiful music toward the divine horses before him.
The seven-stringed lyre had an evolutionary effect, and at the same time, its sound could soothe people's hearts. Even the fiercest magical beasts would gradually calm the violence in their hearts under this sound.
Thus, although it was playing the lyre to horses, these ones possessing spirituality were still gradually drawn in by this music.
Their hooves no longer stomped violently on the ground, the flames on their bodies also gradually diminished, and they became much quieter.
Just as Helios saw this and nodded inwardly.
What he did not expect was that Jason, at this moment, actually stepped forward and opened the large door of the stable!
The divine horses were also stunned by this.
Then Jason, with a smile full of goodwill, turned his back to them and walked a few steps.
After a few steps, he even looked back at them, gesturing for them to follow.
The four divine horses looked at each other.
After a bout of hesitation, the boldest one cautiously stepped out of the stable door.
At the same time, it looked toward Helios with a face full of vigilance, clearly ready to run back if the situation turned unfavorable.
Regarding this, although Helios's brows furrowed for a while, in the end he said nothing.
After all, he had already promised Jason.
Thus, the four divine horses pushed each other.
After probing a bit and discovering that Helios turned a blind eye, they quickly cheered up.
Some even wanted to directly flap their wings and fly out.
But in the end, they were kicked by the largest one.
Then the four divine horses obediently followed behind Jason and, in the beautiful music, walked out of the Sun God Helios's temple.
A short while later, after Helios had soothed the servants who had panicked upon seeing the four divine horses run out, he then came to Jason's side outside the temple.
At this time, the four divine horses were fully ablaze with fierce flames and already excitedly flying in the sky. Their four horses' flames even illuminated the night outside the sun temple, causing even the stars to retreat because of it.
And below them, one could see the white-robed Jason sitting on a stone, holding the lyre in his hands and playing its beautiful strings.
Those sea-green eyes gazed at the divine horses flying in the sky.
"...Your courage is not ordinary at all."
Helios walked over, watching the scene before them together with Jason. After a period of time, he could not help but sigh emotionally.
"This truly is not the case, great God Helios." Jason stopped the rhythm of his playing and replied respectfully, "Teacher Chiron and Teacher Hecate have instead always been quite troubled, troubled that I am really too cowardly."
Jason was indeed cowardly... To be precise, afraid of death.
But also precisely because of this, he who would absolutely not sit idly by chose to exert his full effort to grasp everything in his hands!
"Cowardly?... You?"
Helios was speechless for a moment, looking at the divine horses flying overhead.
One must know that even he did not dare to let them run wild like this.
"This has a reason, respected Helios. They have already promised me that they will only play around a bit in the surroundings and then return to the stable."
As Jason replied, one divine horse descended from the sky.
It glanced at Helios, hesitated for a moment, restrained the flames on its body, and walked toward Jason.
Coming to Jason's side, it neighed softly.
And under Helios's gaze that was utterly bizarre, it gently rubbed its head against Jason's cheek and looked at Jason with an expectant gaze.
This familiar scene made the originally puzzled Jason in his heart react immediately.
"Mm, could it be that you... want more?"
As Jason spoke, he took out a grass cake.
As soon as he brought it out, the divine horse opened its mouth and even took Jason's hand directly into its mouth.
"Wait, wait, do not bite, do not bite!"
Jason hurriedly pulled it out. Before he could even catch his breath afterward.
He discovered that the divine horses who had been playing had all restrained their flames and run down, and moreover all were staring at him.
Seeing this, Jason also acted decisively.
He took the silver pouch at his waist and began tossing things out.
In a short while, a small mountain of grass cakes appeared.
One could only wonder if Brother Horse, who was now in the Underworld, saw this scene, whether he would have the urge to fight Jason to the death...
"It seems they have taken a liking to you."
Seeing this, Helios could not help but sigh, "They are even closer to you than to me."
"Mm... Actually, I do not think so. They may be close to me, but in their hearts, they absolutely revere you, great Sun God Helios."
Jason said respectfully, "Helios, they pull the heavy sun chariot every day, and all they seek is just a moment of free running. They have never thought of betraying you, great Helios. So... for example now, after a day of work ends, great Helios, you can actually take them out for a run."
Jason nearly said "walk the dog."
In fact, a great man had also said that frequently taking pets out for walks helps increase loyalty... Do not ask who that great man is; if you ask, it is Mark Twain!
Hearing this, Helios was silent for a period of time. Looking at the scene before him, at these old partners who had accompanied him for hundreds, thousands of years, his gaze also gradually softened.
"You are right... Child, thank you."
As Helios spoke, he came before Jason and placed a golden leaf imprinted with the sun into Jason's hand.
"They very much like your voice... So when you need it, just take it and play."
Helios smiled as he said to Jason, "As long as you play it, they will pull the sun chariot from the sun and come before you.
To dispel the darkness for you and bring the light."
Jason accepted this gift of the golden leaf, and at the same time, he keenly perceived that this might be a gift that would help him greatly.
Because with this golden leaf, then that time when the sun and moon both existed would no longer be passive.
But would instead become active!
Soon, one day passed.
The next day, before dawn.
The successfully modified sun chariot arrived before the gates of the world.
And Jason also brought that stubborn man named Phaethon and sat in the sun chariot.