Nick knew that the goddess would have likely had an incredible set up for her own workshop but it was frankly nuts how exaggerated it was. The only thing she was genuinely impressed with were the astral equipment and the stuff that Nick used for his otherworldly crafting styles. The rest of it was too "humble" in her opinion. In a way it was infuriating to hear for Nick but he understood that she wasn't being malicious in her criticism. "Much of what you are referring to has been lost to time after your fall , this was our best recreations of them so far." Nick explained after hearing enough.-

"What do you mean?" She asked confused. "Magical beings as it turn out aren't very fond of writing down or sharing their knowledge with the rest of the world. This meant that all we have had to work with after your fall was the left over equipment and the scant few records of them that existed. Unfortunately much of this too was lost for various reasons as history marched on and magical beings slowly advanced magical understanding again." Nick explained honestly.-

"I see. That explains why there was a confounding lack of higher knowledge within your library. Much within it was even incomplete or false in certain circumstances." Hephaestus said with an understanding look. Nick wasn't surprised to hear this since he himself had spotted a few inconsistencies or falsities in the various sources of information he had gone through. The problem however was the difficulty in proving which if either was the correct direction for the information. Nick frankly didn't have the time required to perform the hundreds or thousands of experiments needed to prove or disprove all of them. Now however he didn't need to if he could get Hephaestus to share her own knowledge.-

He briefly considered playing the emotional angle as the woman was clearly starved for positive encounters regarding her gender and thus was uniquely vulnerable from that angle but he chose to discard that idea immediately. He was many things but needlessly cruel couldn't be considered one of them and that was precisely what that course of action was. If she was an enemy and it gave him an advantage then he wouldn't have hesitated but she was not an enemy and might even be considered an ally.-

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In the end Nick chose to approach the matter in a straightforward manner as he deemed that the best in this case. "Could you teach me what you know?" he asked calmly. "I will share what I can but please do know that magic is not my domain so I will likely make an inadequate teacher. It is unfortunate that Hecate did not survive our fall as she would no doubt prove best at repairing the loss of knowledge that has occurred." the goddess said without any hesitation. Nick noted that if anything she seemed more relaxed after he had asked her to teach him.-

"Let us start from the beginning then. What is magic and where does it come from?" she then went on to give a long lecture on magic as she understood it that lasted nearly two whole weeks. Nick was forced to allow her into his realm so that she could have his focus while he could still take care of the things that his settlement needed. Once she was within his realm however she quickly discovered his true nature. She was totally fine with it as well and if anything it made her eager to get closer to him as she was much more energetic after learning it.-

Nick asked about this and was surprised to learn that his state as a realm lord was actually very similar to the natural state of the gods in that they were both comprised of pure energy. That was the secret behind their supposed immortality , their bodies were comprised of pure energy so any "mortal" wounds inflicted only discorporated them instead of doing actual harm. The downside however was that they were also uniquely vulnerable to soul based attacks once their bodies were "killed" unlike Nick who was actually strongest without a body.-

Hephaestus freely shared this information because according to her it would prove highly valuable when Zeus returned and came to attack Nick. Hephaestus also revealed the tier that gods like her and Zeus stood at as well as the two tiers before godhood. Tier seven was the starting point for godhood and ironically the highest any god obtained due to them not seeking greater power after the titans were defeated. Yes defeated , many of the old titans had not been killed unlike Chronos but rather reduced to soul forms and imprisoned within the depths of the realm of the dead that Hades ruled.