My hoarding of everything shiny finally proved to be of some use, and the vast amount of gold and gemstones I carried in my pocket space were no longer completely useless. After all, wealth had no meaning in the Underworld since no one could really use it there.
Charon was the only one who cared about gold and gemstones, though he was just like me, someone who loved collecting the shinies. He was a nice guy, despite not being able to communicate properly. Great listener, though.
Charon was also the reason why I carried all of my wealth with me. He didn't sell blessings from the Olympians like in the game, but every time we met, we'd show off our collection to each other and trade for the shinies we fancied. It kind of reminded me of all the trading card games from my past life, but sadly, we couldn't really play with gold and gemstones.
This hadn't been my intention when I begged Nyx to teach me how to make a pocket space, but I guess it wasn't all that bad. Back then, I had this plan of carrying all the Infernal Arms with me and switching them up depending on the situation. Oh, boy, did that backfire on me.
The Infernal Arms weren't just simple weapons. They were peerless armaments that had slain Titans and feasted on their ichor. And they had a will, a soul, some even might say. They were very much alive, and they had unmatched egos.
Their self-conceit was so much that they would rebel against me if I tried to take more than one at a time despite me being their current and only wielder! I couldn't even store them in my pocket space because they'd instantly break out and act like grumpy cats until I fed them enough Titan Blood to placate them for my wrongdoings.
My plan failed miserably, but hey, at least I had a place to store all of my belongings. Plus, it wasn't that useless since I never knew when I'd encounter one of the Heroes on Elysium, and bribing them with Nectar or Ambrosia was the easiest way to get them to teach me or just sit down with me for a talk. The two Divine drinks were, well, Divine, but they tasted a lot better when drunk with someone else.
All in all, my learning how to create a pocket space hadn't been entirely useless, but now it was truly proving its worth. Peter had been helpful enough to show me where I could exchange some of my gold and then led me to a nice place to stay the night.
Of course, we passed through some stores on the way, so I could buy some basic necessities and the like. And most importantly, I got myself a Scroll.
They say old habits die hard, and I realized how true that was since the device had been glued to my hand ever since. Like an addicted zombie, I spent my entire night browsing everything available to me. Thankfully, I could go for days without sleeping, so I wasn't dead on my feet.
Besides spending a good chunk of my time on this realm's version of YouTube, I didn't forget to look up some facts about this place. I learned quite a bit about Remnant, but some things left me befuddled.
For one, this realm was really tiny as it had only five nations, the Four Kingdoms Peter mentioned and Menagerie, the place where most of the Faunus of this world lived. The Faunus was an interesting race, in my opinion, since all of them had some type of animal trait. I thought they were cool, but I couldn't understand where all the animosity came from?
There was a clear and obvious threat in the form of the Grimm, monsters that specifically hunted the people of this world, yet they still found the time to fight among each other? That just sounded so wrong. It was as if they were purposefully trying to get themselves killed.
I knew that humans went to war for the stupidest of reasons, but this was just absurd! I still couldn't believe what I read, and I came to the conclusion that someone must be pulling the strings from behind the curtain.
Finding out who it was would take some time, but I already had a couple of suspects. The one behind the creation of the Grimm seemed the obvious one, and Ozpin was my second guess, unless they were one and the same. I couldn't say for sure at this moment, but I was going to figure it out soon enough.
Other than that, I checked if this world had any Gods, and the only information I found was a singular story about some Brother Gods, one of Light and one of Darkness. That was the only mention of Divine beings, and I didn't dismiss it since I knew that myths and legends held a lot of truth. My family was a perfect example of that.
However, I didn't think those Brother Gods were around, or if they were, they didn't seem to particularly care about the state of the world. I was slightly worried about running into them, but I did have Nectar and Ambrosia with me, so I hoped an offering of that would be a good enough of an apology for my trespassing. If they were even offended, that is. Though I still wouldn't mind sharing a drink with them, especially with the God of Darkness.
A part of me also itched to test myself against those Foreign Gods. Though I didn't think I stood a chance fighting them both at the same time. Not only was I unfamiliar with their fighting styles and abilities, but I didn't believe they'd hold back like Father does.
And the next thing that left me befuddled was that Magic wasn't a thing here. Instead, they had something called Aura, and I found zero to no information about it online. There were just a few mentions of how every Huntsman had it, and that it was practically a requirement for them.
I assumed this was their way of referring to Magic because no one called me out for pulling stuff out of my pocket space. Peter even saw me store some of my newly purchased goods there and made no mention of it whatsoever.
Another reason why I believed that was due to the various Dust found in this realm. The people here used this mineral for practically everything, and almost all of their technology, including the Scrolls, were made with it.
It took me just one good look at Dust, and I realized that they were straight-up crystallized Magic Stones that were nearly identical to the Darkness Stones found in the Underworld. I was confident in my conclusion since I was very familiar with the latter. After all, I used Darkness Stones to empower myself and increase my energy reserves. There was no way I wouldn't realize what Dust was.
And this was quite exciting! Dust just might be a new way for me to empower myself, and I was so happy I learned how to absorb the energy of the Darkness Stones without the need of the Mirror of Night. I even had a few guesses on what they could do for me after I absorbed a Fire Crystal last night.
Nyx often told me how I was one of the most adaptable beings she'd seen, but I thought it was due to me being able to receive multiple blessings from the Olympians. That was practically unheard of, especially for a God since their own Divine power would usually reject the blessing of other Gods. I, on the other hand, absorbed them all like a sponge without having any side effects whatsoever. It seemed her words meant a lot more than I thought back then.
Quite a few things were piling on my plate, but I found myself looking forward to it all. Including going to Beacon, which Ozpin managed to sell to me. The point that won me over was that the students were gathered into four-man teams that studied together and later went on missions to fight against the Grimm. Companions were one thing I lacked in the Underworld, so I took the bait hook, line, and sinker.
Making acquaintances and friends was something I longed for, and yet… I was standing as far away from the group of students that were gathering near the Bullhead, which was definitely not a car as I initially assumed. Oh, no, it was an awesome aircraft that, of course, used Dust to function.
I could go on and on about how amazing the Bullhead was –even to someone who had memories of planes and helicopters– but I'd be using that to avoid the elephant in the room. Namely, why I was staying away from the students.
It was simple, really. As much as I wanted to get to know my possible future teammates, I was afraid they'd all like me solely due to Aphrodite's blessing. That was something I never had to worry about before, but yesterday, I realized just how much it affected mortals.
The moment Peter and I stepped out of the Bullhead, people stopped whatever they were doing to gawk at me. Both men and women stared at me in fascination, and I even saw a girl with pink and brown hair who was straight up drooling. All of that was something I didn't have to deal with in the Underworld since the Charm didn't affect the shades in the same way.
The people's reactions made me self-conscious, so that's why I stayed away from the group while also wearing a black hoodie. Now, the three staff members of Beacon hadn't reacted in the same way, and I had hope that Huntsmen had some resistance to my Charm due to that. Otherwise, I'd have to learn how to control it, though it wouldn't be that easy since Aphrodite's blessing was the one I understood the least out of all of them.
It seemed I couldn't avoid it for much longer since the pilot announced that the Bullhead would be leaving in a bit. Everyone began boarding the aircraft, and I followed after them, taking a deep breath right before entering.
I had nothing to worry about. I've faced and defeated monsters, legendary Heroes, and even Gods! Communicating and mingling with mortals should be a walk in the park compared to that, especially since I enjoyed talking with others.
So then why was I walking away from the main group?
I took solace in the fact that I wasn't the only one as two more people were distancing themselves as well. One of them was a girl dressed in almost all black, who had her nose stuck in a book. She made a b-line towards the back corner of the Bullhead where she practically merged with the shadows.
The other was a redheaded girl, who was dressed in casual clothes, a black sweater, and jeans that hugged her legs, and she also had a baseball cap on. Out of the two, she looked more approachable, so I walked over to her. I had no idea how to begin a conversation, but introducing myself seemed like a good start.
"Hey," I said as I stepped closer. "I'm Zagreus, nice to meet you."
That wasn't so hard, was it now? Just place one foot after the other, simple enough.
"Hello," she replied and offered me a smile. Her eyes slightly widened as she took a good look at me, but she didn't pause even for a second. "I'm Pyrrha."
"Pyrrha?" I asked, a bit surprised. Now that was a name I hadn't expected to hear! Pyrrha's posture slightly changed as if she was preparing herself for something after hearing me repeat her name.
"No doubt named after your red hair." However, my next words caught her off guard.
"Yes,,, I'm surprised you know that," she said, and her smile turned a tad more genuine.
"Heh, I know my Greek." I grinned proudly.
I mean, there was no way I wouldn't know what her name meant since that was the one Achilles had gone by while he was pretending to be a woman! Sure, he was a pretty boy, but I really couldn't understand how anyone would mistake him for a female! He was a Demigod for God's sake, and he had the body of one!
"Greek?" Pyrrha asked, her head tilted to the side.
Oh fuck, Greece wasn't a thing here. Umm…
"I meant, Mistralian," I quickly said, remembering Ozpin's words about my own name. "You are from Mistral, right?"
"I am," Pyrrha confirmed with a light chuckle.
"Good, good," I said before letting out an embarrassed laugh. "I'm not that good at this, am I?"
"You are fine," Pyrrha said kindly. The girl was definitely a gentle soul, I could tell this much already.
"You're too kind," I said while trying to figure out how to proceed. We were on a Bullhead to Beacon, so, "Why did you decide to attend Beacon Academy? I mean, you're from Mistral, and there's also a Huntsmen Academy there as well… right?"
Gods, why was this so hard? Why did I have an easier time talking with Peter instead of with someone who was around my age? He did resemble the shades I had gotten used to, so perhaps that was the reason why.
"Yes, Heaven Academy is a prestigious institute, but…" Pyrrha paused and turned towards the window, which also acted as a screen where some breaking news about Dust robberies was airing. "I wanted a change of scenery, and Beacon is considered the number one Huntsmen academy."
I felt there was more to that, but I didn't push her to elaborate.
"What about you?" She looked back at me. "Why did you choose to attend Beacon?"
"Ah, I didn't necessarily make that choice, but I got lucky enough to be offered a spot," I answered sheepishly.
"How so?" Pyrrha asked, now sounding slightly more interested.
"Well, my family lives far away in almost complete solitude, and we don't really have any contact with the outside world," I started and noticed how her posture changed as her interest suddenly spiked.
"Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but I always wanted to go out and explore the world, and I recently got the chance to do just that. I jumped at the opportunity and… I immediately got lost."
"You got lost out in the wilderness on your own?" Pyrrha asked, looking aghast.
"It wasn't that bad." I was lost for less than an hour after all. "And I luckily ended up meeting one of the Professors from Beacon. One thing led to another after that, and I ended up meeting with the Headmaster who offered me a spot."
"You must've really impressed the Professor if you were offered a spot," Pyrrha remarked.
"I suppose I performed adequately enough," I said sheepishly.
"More than adequate," Pyrrha said confidently even though she hadn't seen me in action. "Beacon has a limited number of spots each year, so you must've performed admirably to have been offered one."
And yet Ozpin said they had one available just a couple of days before the start of the year? He obviously suspected something about me, but what exactly?
"You said you lived far away with your family, right?" Pyrrha's question snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Yes." I nodded.
"Would you mind telling me about them?" She asked, slightly leaning towards me with a bright smile on her face.
"Not at all," I replied. "Now, this might sound a little odd, but I have two mothers."
"It's not that uncommon," Pyrrha told me.
"Really?" That one surprised me for sure.
"I watched a recent study about this. Women outnumber men nearly three to one, so it's common for men to have more than one partner," she explained.
"I didn't know that," I muttered, wondering why this was the case. Considering how this was a dangerous world, I could envision multiple reasons why.
"It's not that important," Pyrrha said with an embarrassed look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you."
"No worries." I smiled before I proceeded to tell her about my family, which I was more than happy to do. Of course, I had to omit quite a few details, but I still had a surprising amount of things to tell her about. Pyrrha then shared some about herself, though she was a single child and lived only with her mother, so she didn't have as much to tell.
I found talking with the redhead to be quite enjoyable, and I had to wonder why I was even nervous at first. This was easy, though I suppose Pyrrha played a huge part in that. She was kind and had a pleasant presence that made spending time with her delightful.
Just as Pyrrha was telling me about her mother, the screen on the window changed to the blonde Professor I met yesterday.
"Hello, and welcome to Beacon. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."
Shortly after the message played, the Bullhead landed, and everyone began leaving the aircraft. Pyrrha and I didn't rush out with the rest, and we stayed back, continuing with our talk as we waited for the rest to get off first. The girl in the back of the Bullhead passed by us, and I barely even noticed her with how silent her movements were. She was a sneaky one, that girl.
The two of us are the last ones to leave the aircraft, and we received, quite literally, an explosive welcome. Just a short distance away from the Bullhead, something blew up, and it was followed by shouting of incompetence. I spotted the sneaky girl yelling with a white-haired girl before they both grumpily walked away.
"Let's go take a look," I said to Pyrrha as I stared at the small crater that was formed from the explosion.
"Mhm." She nodded and followed after me.
Right in the middle of the small crater laid a girl in a black and red attire. Despite being in the center of the explosion, there was not even a scratch on her, and she took a deep breath before she jumped up on her feet.
"Are you okay?" Pyrrha and I asked at the same time
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she repeated. "I wasn't hurt." She dusted herself off and gazed at us. Her silver eyes blinked as she observed us, and I saw as she resolved herself and mustered up her courage. She kind of reminded me of myself from earlier at that moment.
"Hello." She cheerfully waved. "I'm Ruby Rose, a normal girl, with normal knees." She patted her knees to show us that they were indeed normal.
"Hello, Ruby, I'm Pyrrha, nice to meet you," my kind companion said with a gentle smile, and the silver-eyed girl smiled widely.
"And I'm Zagreus, a normal guy with normal feet," I said with a light chuckle.
"Yep," Ruby said as she looked down at my feet. "I can confirm…"
This was definitely not the smartest idea, but I really couldn't resist, so…
"Your feet are on fire!" Ruby suddenly yelled, comically pointing at my feet in worry.
"What?!" Both Pyrrha and I looked down, but there was nothing wrong with my feet, and the pair of sneakers I saw in one of the stores yesterday were most definitely not on fire.
"Ruby, are you seeing things?" I asked, suppressing the grin that was trying to form on my face.
"Maybe she hurt her head in the explosion," Pyrrha said in worry.
"What?" Ruby asked and took a step back before she started waving both of her hands in denial. "No! I'm fine, and I swear I saw his feet burning…" she looked down and shouted. "There! They are on fire again!"
"Huh?" Once again, there was nothing wrong with my feet when Pyrrha and I looked down.
"I think she might need to see a doctor," I said to my redhead companion.
"Yeah," Pyrrha agreed. "Seeing things is a sign of concussion."
"What? No! I… Uh…" Ruby suddenly paused in her spluttering and suspiciously narrowed her eyes at me, most likely noticing my twitching lips as I struggled to suppress my grin. Very slowly, she pointed her fingers at her eyes before pointing them at me. "I am watching you, Mr. Normal Guy with normal feet!"
"Oooh, how scary," I playfully shivered as she continued staring at me, making good on her promise. "Though I do believe we should be making our way to the meeting area since we might just miss it."
"Right," Pyrrha agreed with me, and we began following the trail left by the rest of the students. On the way, she leaned in and whispered. "Were you messing with her?"
"Me? Messing with her?" I asked loudly. "Why would you even think that!"
"I heard that!" Ruby said with her hands on her hips, though moments later, she chuckled good-naturedly.
"So, um…" Ruby pulled something from behind her back, which transformed into a mechanical scythe with but a press of a button.
"This is Crescent Rose." She proudly showed it off to us. "And it's also a customizable high impact sniper rifle!"
"Impressive," Pyrrha commented.
"What about you guys?" Ruby asked excitedly, hopping in place in eager anticipation.
"Well, I don't have mine with me, but they are called Miló and Akoúo, " Pyrrha began telling her about her own armament while I stayed silent.
This meeting with Ruby somewhat rekindled my memories, and I remembered a show that I once initially enjoyed, but ended up hating later on. It had an interesting premise that grabbed my attention at first, however, I recalled how I instantly quit watching it the moment they killed one of my favorite characters.
How did I not notice this earlier? I suppose I was more focused on other things, and I also didn't really remember much about this show. If it hadn't been for Ruby here, I might've not even realized what was going on.
This… I didn't know what all of this meant, though I now knew that I made the right decision when I accepted Ozpin's offer. I didn't know what his deal was since I barely remember anything, but–
I looked over at Pyrrha, who was happily talking with Ruby.
–I was definitely not going to let her die. That wouldn't be happening here, not if I had anything to say about that.
"Zagreus?" Pyrrha's concerned voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Sorry, was just thinking about something," I said and smiled at her. Yeah, this kind soul won't be dying on my watch.
"What about you Mr. Normal Feet? What kind of weapon do you have?" Ruby asked, looking like an excited little puppy.
"I also don't have mine with me." Which was a lie since my blade never left my side. "But I have just a simple sword called Stygius. Nothing fancy like your mechashift weapons."
"You have to show it to me later!" Ruby said. "And there's nothing bad with the classics. I happen to like them as well."
"I agree." Pyrrha nodded. "And I would also like to see your sword later."
I laughed. I couldn't help it, even though I was sure they didn't realize what they said. Or, more like, how that could be misinterpreted as something else.
They both looked confused, which made me laugh even harder. I calmed down shortly after, and we reached the gathering area moments later. Ruby's sister called out to her, and she ran over to stand with her, while Pyrrha and I stayed in the back.
Glynda and Ozpin stood on a small stage as they gave a speech, one which I found to be unimpressive, to say the least. At least Ozpin's part sounded that way to me, though the man looked dead on his feet. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he seemed to barely be able to stand straight.
"Would you like to walk around and explore the place with me?" I asked Pyrrha since we still had some time before sunrise.
"I'd love to," she replied with a bright smile.
"Hey, guys!" Ruby came dragging her sister just before we walked off. The girl she brought over was literally the definition of a blonde bombshell. Long, lustrous golden hair, beautiful lilac eyes, a massive rack, and long legs she proudly showed off in her skimpy shorts.
"This is Pyrrha and Zagreus," Ruby introduced us and whispered to her sister. "The one with the not normal feet I told you about."
"And this is my sister Yang!" Ruby followed that by introducing her sibling which looked nothing like her.
Yang checked us over in scrutiny before her eyes settled on me. She cocked her hips and offered me a smile. "Hey, big guy."
"Yang! No!" Ruby gaped in horror at her sister.
"Yang, yes," the blonde said and licked her lips. "Mama likes what she sees."
"Nooooo!" Ruby yelled, causing quite a commotion before she grabbed Yang and dragged her away.
"Well, that was… something," I said and noticed how Pyrrha was looking down as if she was trying to hide herself from everyone in the room.
"So… are we still going on that walk?" I asked.
"Yes, please," Pyrrha said, still looking at the ground. We then quickly left and went off to explore Beacon while we still had some time.