Harkam raised the Colossus right from when she was a young child so he knows a lot about her. He is like a father to her and his word should suffice. Unfortunately, no one is buying that a transcendent is imagining things and making stuff up. Not when Harkam himself had expressed the same thing just a year ago.
He continued to talk when he noticed that no one is buying his excuse. "How about that Helios boy? He has a good head and a smart mouth. Look at how he refused to give up the ants we captured so easily. That's a divine lord in the making."
Harkam is willing to resort to something he would never admit in any other condition to divert attention from him. He complimented Helios openly.
Stelios shook his head at Harkam's attempt to cover up a lie while his eyes remained trained on Helios. He would have mocked Harkam and escalated the situation if Helios were not at risk. He can't allow anything bad to happen to Helios so he kept quiet and hoped the negotiation remains calm.
The god of knowledge spoke up. "So how much are your demigods worth to you?"
His question was directed to Harkam and the other 7 gods but none of them answered him. The thing is that even they don't know how much exactly their demigods are worth. If they have a divine lord then a demigod is a plaything. A demigod is only of the uttermost importance if there is no divine lord and the god wants to attend the trial of heaven. To someone like Stelios, a demigod might as well be worth nothing with the hundreds of divine lords he has. So the value of a demigod varies wildly. The gods looked around waiting for suggestions.
Even Harkam the ever-straight shooter doesn't know what to say. Undervaluing their demigods might cause the gods to not get them back and overvaluing the demigods will make the ants try to fleece the gods and make ridiculous demands of them.
The god of knowledge understood what was going on. So he advised them. "How about you ask the ants what they want?"
Harkam agreed eagerly. "That's a good idea. We should do that."
The god of knowledge rolled his eyes. His idea is not that good but Harkam is just saying so to reduce the attention on him. The ants already asked them to offer a price but they are returning the responsibility of evaluation to the ants. It might backfire grandly or work out well. So the plan is only so-so.
The gods informed their priests and their priests informed Helios. So Helios called to the royal guard that was hiding within the ant mound. The royal guard came back out and stopped in front of Helios.
It asked Helios, "What have your gods decided the demigods are worth?"
Helios replied with a question of his own. "What exactly does the ant queen hope to get from this negotiation? Does she want freedom and safety?"
"I already answered this question. We'll only take items with divinity. It is more reliable than the promise of the gods."
Helios rephrased his question. "How much of items of divinity do you want then?"
"A thousand for each demigod. Each item must be enough to create a demigod." The royal guard answered.
Items with divinity can be anything as long as they contain divinity within them. The most popular ones are divine weapons. A transcendent can digest these items and absorb the divinity within them to become a demigod. The speed of digestion is based on the strength of the god that the divinity belonged to. The divinity of a low god is easiest to absorb and the opposite is true for that of a celestial god.
Divinity grants power but it has various disadvantages. If divinity isn't properly digested, in the least severe cases, the person will become a fervent believer of the god. In the most severe cases, the person becomes the avatar of the god. The more divinity is absorbed, the lesser the sensitivity to Origin energy and laws. Only those that don't plan to use the path of perfection or are desperate are willing to absorb divinity.
Giants of Order can't digest items with divinity. Their law fragments will prevent the absorption of divinity. Only demigods that were born with a divine core like the sun core within Helios can absorb divinity. But the importance of divinity cannot be understated. A thousand items each with enough divinity to make a demigod is more than the amount of divinity within an average Celestial god.
"That's impossible. I'm afraid that you have asked for too much. There's no way the gods will pay for that. Asking for a thousand demigods for a single demigod is out of the question. Asking for a thousand items with divinity for all of the demigods is impossible to fulfill too. So you better ask for something reasonable." Helios did his job as a good negotiator who has the interest of the gods at heart. He shut down the exorbitant price.
"I allowed you to offer something. You couldn't and yet you're refusing what we asked for. We'll do this then. The queen is ready to release a demigod but only to the god that offers the most. Call me when you're ready."
The royal guard turned back without waiting for Helios's reply. Helios turned back to the priests and said to them.
"You heard what he said. What has your god decided?"
Back in the temple.
The god of knowledge spoke up. "The queen is a demigod now, so it is understandable why she will want divinity. She shouldn't need much unless she wants to become a god but that doesn't explain why she is asking for so much. A thousand items are too much. I recommend that you keep your bids low and don't turn against each other."
He hasn't even finished talking before a bidding war started among the gods.