I Don't Own Percy Jackson
Ever been in a country where you're skin tone just barely matches the locals enough that they think you speak their language? Well I have, and let me tell you something, it's not a fun time. Just annoying for the most part to be honest.
Still, I managed find, the first week was the worst one for sure, just adjusting to the hell that was the entire damn thing, the second I was almost used to it, but there was days that... I'd rather not remember. The third week was... not the best, I was exhausted, tired, and just annoyed at life as a whole, and had killed more monster's and nearly died more times than I'd like to remember.
It was hell, like, seriously, I forgot to pack something very important for the trip and as such I spent nearly a week through the worse hell of my life by far in the middle of no where, hundreds of miles from any civilization, and I literally was in a plane crash less than a month ago, so let's just say I am eager to get a trade in for this body as soon as possible. But I dealt with it, and continued on living in spite of how much of a pain in the ass it was.
It was a long time coming, and I was already dreading it, so let's just move on.
To actually recap the actual whole event would be a nightmare I'd rather forget, just...
To summarize, bleeding, cramps, heatstroke, mild starvation, four near death experiences, three laughing goblins, two exploded RVs, and a bathtub of chocolate pudding.
That's all you really need to know to get an idea of the last three weeks.
Twenty-three and a half days in total, most of which I'd like to not remember.
Barely within the time frame, but I made it.
The second I had stepped across the line, and the Notice popped up, I nearly started laughing, crying, and screaming all at the same time with relief.
Instead of doing any of the three, I just laid down and just... rested my legs. They didn't hurt, Gamer's Body wouldn't let them, but damn was I mentally exhausted, and didn't want to walk a single step ever again. It wasn't going to happen, but it was nice to think about while I looked at the notices that had popped up in front of me. Oh, also, just so you're aware, the quest didn't give me any stat points during the entire time I was actively doing the quest, so... I got all of them at the end.
[Quest: Lupa's Demand: has started!
You have been given a task through a bargain with the Goddess of Wolves from the act of a bet, you are to walk from Turkey to Italy as the refugee Aeneas did as he fled from the fall of Troy, in the Epic of Aeneid, where he became the ancestor of the Romans.
And you know what? You did it, good job!
Rewards:
Training from the Goddess Wolf Lupa for three to ten months
Hidden rewards:
+15,000 Exp
- Status Effect [Grueling Effort] has been unlocked]
[Grueling Effort]
You are no stranger to hard work, you walked a thousand miles just for the chance of being able to be worked even more to the bone. That should be rewarded, so you are.
+50% faster to all gained, Skill, Level, and Stat
[Notice: Calculating all Stat and Skill levels held back from Quest: Lupa's Demand]
[Notice: +4 Constitution, +2 Strength, +3 Power, +4 Control; You walked five hundred mile and then walked five hundred miles to get to the wolf's door]
[Notice: Skill [Short Blade Mastery] has been leveled up 3 times: Total level: 18]
[Notice: Skill [Long Blade Mastery] has been leveled up 4 times: Total level: 17]
[Notice: Skill [Bowarm Mastery] has been leveled up 6 times: Total level: 10]
[Notice: Skill [Trade Off] has been leveled up 2 times: Total level: 9]
[Notice: Skill [Pain Tolerance] has been leveled up 1 time: Total level: 11]
[Notice: Skill [Thrown Projectile Mastery] has been leveled up 5 time: Total level: 13]
[Notice: Skill [Intimidation] has been leveled up 3 times: Total level: 19]
[Notice: Skill [Mist Control] has been leveled up 2 times: Total level: 6]
[Notice: Skill [Greek Protection Ward] has been leveled up 4 times: Total level: 7]
[Notice: Skill [Odikinesis] has been leveled up 2 times: Total level: 3]
Yeah, that's what a whole month's worth of Notices alright... I hope I don't have to deal with that again, that's just way to much to look at, it's like a block of words filling my entire face. I just blinked them away, I'll actually remember just how much the skills got better later on, though the fact that I just got fifteen thousand experience and didn't get a single level from it was a bit... concerning, but not unexpected, just annoying.
...Right, time to find a hotel or something and then get some rest before booking a plane to get back to the States, but not quite yet, it's been a pain in the ass the last few weeks, and I want to spend some time on something else before I go through the hell that Lupa is going to put me through sooner or later. I've been putting something off for over a month now, something I've been wanting to do for a while, and this is the best time to do it.
It's time to find me a Spirit Guide.
It was the next day when I tried it, in my hotel room with a number of items splayed across the desk which I had carved a pattern into that I had memorized from the books I had been given access to. Normally it was better to do this sort of thing on an important date, like a Solstice or Halloween or on a religious day, like Sunday if you're real desperate. I didn't need that, it was just suppose to be done there to limit the amount of strain on the human chanting since the world would have more magic in it because of it's time.
But I had enough magic in my blood to make up for that, so I didn't bother, plus I'd be getting a lot of willing spirits more than likely, while a normal person might on a good day attract one or two.
"Time to get started right?" I spoke, trying to make this less awkward for myself as I pulled out one of my many knives, and with a get slash, sliced my palm open, letting the blood flow down onto the diagram I had carved. I didn't bother flinching, it takes a lot for me to register pain anymore, as I took a deep breath, as I watched as the blood pooled and moved on it's own, slitting into the lines I had drawn, until the diagram was made out of my own blood.
Spooky, or at least it's about to be.
"Invoco eos qui iam transierunt, ut exaudiantur verba mea, et ut det tibi mortalem, in quo spectes mundum per oculos meos, quia sum vas ad percipiendum te, et tu es. mihi ens ut ad sapientiam et potentiam perveniam!"
The words were clunky and awkward, Latin wasn't Greek, and as such I struggled with it, and unlike English I didn't know it before hand, but it seemed to work, if through sheer force than control, I'd still take it as I took a deep breath as the candles started flicker, they were suppose to change color according the spirit that shows up, it's suppose to take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour of keeping the channel open.
The blood filling the diagram was glowing bright golden as well, which was interesting since the thing was suppose to be a light red color.
Then it happened, the candles continued to flicker on and off in intensity, but suddenly the flames jumped up, nearly three feet into the air, the flames lengths spasming in and out, the simple yellow flame twisting and changing, all up and down the length, over and over, dozens of different colors, over and over, all five of the candles each had two to three dozen colors, two to three dozen spirits, already here.
It had been less than a minute, I just smirked, as the table continued to shake, trying to hold itself strong under the weight of at least a hundred spirits at this point, as I moved forwards and with a quick motion, drew a long thick line of salt around the whole set up on the table, trapping the spirits in, and keeping new spirits out.
I had a feeling I wouldn't be needing anymore, as I set one last candle in the grouping, this one much bigger with a massive wick, but I didn't light it just yet, as I spoke up as the flames jumped higher and higher, clearly out of anger.
"Hey! Calm down! I'm not going to keep you hostage or anything! I just need to limit my selecting pool, the second this is over, then you all can leave, but it's either this or I'd never be able to pick any of you" That got the spirits to die down a bit, just back to the normally impossible amount of rapidly change fire.
I smiled and clapped my hands together as I continued on.
"Lovely! Now then, let's get through the basics, this isn't going to be like any other Spirit Guide contract, this one is going to be interesting!" The flames all jumped at that, "I know right! See the thing, you all want me but I don't need any of you, not really, so this won't be like normal, were some human is looking for a scrap of power and would normally beg for just one of you to even show up in front of them. I have power, I have more power than most of you I reckon, so this isn't a contest for me to find a Spirit to get power form, this is a contest for you to find a Demigod to watch. You all will be competing for my contract, not the other way around."
The flames grew, and I tilted my head as waves of emotions pulled from the candles, a fair bit was just normal, things I couldn't sense, but there was a portion of it that was hate. Some spirits were arrogant and bossy, not liking to believe themselves not special or the idea that the human would be the one holding the pants in the relationship. I couldn't be having that here, I wanted a partnership with a cool ghost, not a jackass ghost.
"I can tell some of you don't like that, that's fine, I don't want you here you can wait for someone else. Let's lay some ground rules here, I am literally half-god, you will never be able to pressure or push me into something I don't want to do, you'll never be able to get me to do anything I don't want to do, and I am more than powerful enough to destroy you should I wish, if that doesn't work for you then don't bother. Everyone not interested can move to this new candle here when I light it, if you move to it, don't move back"
With that I lit the candle and watched as at least a dozen colors from the five main candles vanished and the new candle lit up like an inferno. I just ignored it, Spirit fire, couldn't actually catch anything on fire by itself. Still, that weeded out a good fair few, as I held up my hands in a grand gesture and went back to speaking, this was honestly the most fun I've had in weeks.
"Now then, I won't just leave you all out to dry! That would just be mean of me, so I'm going to give you an introduction, and if you don't like what you see, then please join your fellow haters in the big candle" I took another breath in, before saying with the most confidence I could manage, which was a lot, "My name if Nicolas King, I am a son of Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory, and Legacy of Styx, the Goddess of Oaths, I am going to war with the Titans soon and that's not metaphorical, I will be fighting deities. I am twelve years old, and, yes, I am a man, I just also happen to have this painfully-not-man body. Oh! And doubly in case if any of you lot are horrible people, I'm a flaming bisexual, like, seriously, I'm surrounded by hot people of all genders most of the time, it's almost ridiculous!"
It was almost comical how many Spirit went to the big candle, not to say all spirits were bigots, but some people just want to have a sense of familiarity, and being a transgender, bisexual demigod child who was about to fight a war of the gods... might be a bit much for those that just wanted a somewhat normal life to look though. Good riddance for them wanting to be all boring and stuff. If my very accurate and not at all arbitrary counting could be believed, I had about thee dozen spirits left.
About a fifth of those Spirits had bad vibes directed at me, so I mentally counted them out after the three dozen count was put in place. Meaning right now I was making pretty good headway.
"Next up, expectations, I'm going to be doing a lot of crazy stuff, like, a lot of crazy shit, and I am going to be using your power to help me with that. And, well, I'm a demigod, my power is strong enough to hold ten times the amount of power you'd give a human without issue, meaning I'm going to be asking for a lot ok? No pressure, but if you can't preform, then get the hell out now please" I stopped smiling at that, and watched with sharp deadly eyes, scaring the weak ones, into the big candle.
That was another dozen off. The glare went away in a second, as I smiled and said.
"Next up on Spirits got talent, I'm not the best person, I was in a plane crash and didn't really care that about twenty people died, and I was kind of, sort of, maybe, totally at fault for putting those people in danger in the first place. But at the same time, I am trying to save the world, just for my own reasons. Frankly, I care a whole lot more about winning than I do about people I don't know, if that doesn't work for you, you should move on. As well if you're expecting me to be some brooding serious person who can't take a joke, I make way to many jokes and frankly have a terrible ability in being able to read the mood of a room and acting accordingly"
Another dozen, along with the seven or so I wasn't counting, there was just over six colors, I nodded before speaking out, pointing at the colors I knew didn't like me, and said I'd stab them if they stayed while lying to me, they left real quick, and I was left with six... A nice small pool to choose from and a lot more manageable.
After all, I didn't need this power, I was doing it because it was cool and it might be handy in the future, so I was looking much more for someone who I could get along with than a Spirit who would bitch and whine at me about my choices. Even if the latter might be more powerful of the two, I didn't exactly need a lot of spiritual power, that point has been proven already, I just needed enough to do the basics, and for the actual heavy stuff I had divine mana to use instead.
"Now then, time for some open gallery questions, I'm going to do this one at a time, and this is going to take a while, if you don't have the patience for a few hours of trail and error, then this probably isn't going to work" It totally would, I'm impatient myself, but I can be impatient because I'm me, what I don't want is to have to listen to a bunch of annoying stuff or the Spirit being all pissy when I summon them.
It also made two move over, four Spirits, there was now four colors, they moved about and were one for each candle, with one extra, from right to left, dark red, forest green, teal blue, and dark purple.
"And another one bites the dust... Right, this works, an extra candle will help here for the later questions. Now, lets go through some questions, the five candles are going to be acting as a scale, from left to right, they will be, hard disagree, disagree, neutral, agree, hard agree. When I ask a question, move to the spot you relate to the most" Yes, I was giving four Spirits from beyond the veil a personality quiz to see which one I'll get along with most.
Might as well right? Plus, making a bunch of Spirits do what I want is just fun. It's like I'm a conductor for the damned. Now then, first question.
"If given the opportunity, I would stab a Titan in the face" I grabbed a piece of paper, and hummed as I wrote down the answers, before continuing, though I wasn't lying when I said this was going to take a while.
It was about half an hour later when I finally came to my decision.
"Thank you all applicants for applying for your time, but I do believe that Purple has won, congratulations Purple!" Purple's flame wiggled about all excitedly, it was really cute. There was a bunch of reasons for it, but the main ones were... I liked Purple, they were cool and very like minded to me, and I even got to know it was the truth after testing if I can use Oath Maker on them, and I can!
They aren't completely just like me, more... unhinged and aloof because of death, but personally I think that's just a solid improvement on my current base model more than anything!
Red was grumbly, which was fair, that color was the obvious second place, while Teal just flickering sadly, they knew they were out of the running a while ago. Green just stayed still, they were the stoic type. All in all, it was a pretty going showing from all four, red was the strongest of the group, teal right after, but Purple was right after teal, green was just chilling for the most part, I think they were happy to just be here, even if Green wouldn't show it.
I think I made them feel a bit special, just to have gotten that far, which was nice, Spirits need more love, I should see if I can do anything with a bunch of them at some point. If I could I'd just get a bunch and stuff them all in my head, soul, place thing, but unfortunately from what I understand, it's a one soul-one Spirit kind of thing, and half god or not, my human is human.
So I was instead doing it with Purple, so was still shaking with excitement, as I held a hand out to the flame, it was... almost jumped towards me, and then it did, as I said calmly into the air, keeping the excitement out of my voice, as with my other hand, I broke the salt line, and dozens of Spirits flew back to their planes.
"Accipio te in anima et mente esse me, nam in commercio ut te denuo videre permittas mundum sicut ego" The words came easier this time, I probably wasn't the one saying them as spooky as it sounded, as I watched as the flame... leaped out and just landed on the tip of one of my out stretched fingers, before I watched as the flame morphed and changed, moving an shakings until...
A single beautiful purple winged butterfly rested on the tip of my hand, looking up at me. The wings fluttering in what I knew to be excitement, I didn't know how, frankly it didn't matter the butterfly... Adriel, his name was Adriel, I didn't know how I knew that either, but he was mine, as I felt something, deep in my chest just... form, like a core- no, like a second heart next to my first. Thrumming with potential as Adriel took flight and flew straight at me.
And then through me, going into my chest and staying, as I gasped as-
[Notice: Bond System has been unlocked!
Bonds are deep tied relations between you and another being, so deep that it's on a level that no one without this type of bond can hope to understand, and as it stands, there is no one with a bond the one you just created. Congrats!]
[Notice: Bond [Spiritual Guide: Adriel] has been formed]
[Notice: Bond [Spiritual Guide: Adriel] is soul bound]
[Notice: Bond Spirit [Adriel] has been combined with [System]]
Eh... Wait what the fuck?
[Adriel: Well... I can say I wasn't expecting this]
What... the actual fuck?!
"Uh... I- Wait what?"
[Adriel: Got to say, I'm having a very similar feeling right now. Everything all fuzz and I'm thinking in ones and zeroes but your soul is surprisingly comfortable]
"Wait... are you saying that my soul is the System?" My head was hurting trying to get my head around this.
[Adriel: Is that what this thing is? Cool, I can't do anything with it, I can bring up some words about... skill? and stiff, but that's it! Oh, there is this neat little line here I can put my thoughts on and send them, but that's all]
"Huh, so... you're, like... Huh, I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this"
[Adriel: I wasn't exactly expecting it either bud, I thought I'd be trapped watchin from the Other, but instead I'm, like, actually just next to your soul, this isn't how this happens. Pretty cool though]
"I know right!" I let out a sharp giggle at the idea that I had a soul butterfly chilling in my body, it was kind of awesome! I mean, apparently this was a revolutionary thing! No one has ever done this before and therefore I am the best! It has been declared!
[Adriel: So there is like a list of things here waiting for you to see I think? I think I stopped them when I got in here, so I'm just going to- Oh, that felt weird!]
[Bond: [Spiritual Guide: Adriel]
You have created a bond with a Spirit who had taken the form of a butterfly named Adriel, congratulations, you are given a number of benefits because of this feat.
-You have unlocked Power: Spiritual Points[This has been modified to fit with the System to allow balance]
-You gain two hundred fifty Spiritual Points per level, and seventy-five Spiritual Points per point in Wisdom
Current Spiritual Points: 13,025 [Without bonuses]
-You have gained a Minor Elemental Affinity: [Wind]
-You have gained a Minor Magical Affinity: [Illusion]
-You have gained a Minor Magical Affinity: [Healing]
Huh, that's a lot. I mean, I have Spiritual magic now so I can do anything, but I assume Affinities are like... Domains but a lot worse, magic that I learn that falls in those three categories will probably be stronger or level faster than they would be normally, so that's cool. I also have about, you know, forty times more Spirit than my cop buddies, which I was already kind of expecting, and since the ratio of my Mana being about ten times stronger than one Spirit, that starting ratio actually makes a lot of sense.
If I hadn't gotten any blessings that gave me higher Mana points, then those two numbers would have been near exactly at a ten to one ratio.
That's neat.
[Adriel: So I'm still pretty confused here, and I'm also kind of, like, really tired? I'm not used to that... I think sending messages wears me out]
I hummed at that, as I opened up my Stat page, where my new Spiritual Points were, and...
"Yeah, every message you send burns about one hundred Spirit points, it's not a lot, but you probably aren't used to you actually using it Adriel, you'd probably not notice if I'm the one doing it, but you wouldn't be able to send a message either if I use all this"
[Adriel: Right, so I'm like, suppose to just keep my quiet unless something interesting is happening or you need some advice... Ah great, I'm a freaking videogame GUI now, this sucks!]
"Could be worse, still, ready to catch a plane Navi?"
[Adriel: ...I'm going to see if I can take a nap now]
I just smirked, I had a feeling the two of us were going to get along great.
Spirit Magic is interesting, it's basically worthless without an extreme amount of fine control or the materials needed to direct and reduce the cost of activation for a spell. As it stands, my Control's baseline is forty-two. If that number was translated to Strength, it would be about the same as being able to dead lift about two tons, which is about four times greater than the current world break for deadlifts by the strongest human alive.
Now, translate that back into Control, in layman's terms, I don't need shit to use this kind of magic, I just needed to know the incantations for a spell and some good old trial and error to figure it out enough for the System to give me a skill, and then I can just use it with just the incantation, hell at higher levels and a higher control, I probably wouldn't even need that much, I can just shape the Spiritual power internally in my weird butterfly core thing.
Of course I didn't know any spells quite yet, Adriel doesn't know any spells, he's spent all his time as a powerful force in the other side of life, whichever one he landed in at least, I'm thinking Native American, and in that space he didn't need any spells, he just could do stuff, so I had to look into the incantations that have been discovered over the last few hundred years, and then shape my Spirit that way.
Meaning I had to do more book learning and actually had to find the damn things, which was gross.
Technically I did have some spells, I remember the incantation for that minor scrying to locate Mo'Leon, but that was material dependent, not for channeling but for the thing to actually work, it needed a map and some kind of focus linked to a power, or a very solid idea of what I wanted to achieve the desired effect, and my brain is very all over the place on a good day, I literally thought to fast and about to much stuff at once for it to actually do anything, plus it was just worthless for me, and besides I currently only had maps of Europe right now anyways.
And since I just finally landed back in the States, and had no time to spend looking for the books, and instead after four lay overs, just made it back in the San Francisco area, and needed to start training with Lupa right about this very second... Needless to say, I didn't have time to go looking for obscure books on random bits of magic. So I wouldn't go looking, I mean, why should I when I can find a source?
I called up Reese and Sam, got a confirmation on the place they got most of their books, apparently most of them are very expensive, but there are little occult shops all over the place if you know where to look.
And that's where I am now, standing in front of a very tacty looking book store with a bunch of windchimes and other stuff hanging around. Walking into it, I frowned as I looked around, trying to get sight on something, not sure what, but the air felt weird, electric, like... I think the shop was trying to keep me out? Maybe keeping anything inhuman out and I counted to much as one to not be stop?
Heh, that's funny.
The shop it self was small, a few shelf isles that were covered in just about every kind of jar and sized book you could imagine, and a counter to the right side wall, that had about two dozen things placed around it, and about twice that much dangling from the roof, from items with runes carved into them, to garlic to silver chimes, to just about every other thing you could think about.
It was pretty cool all things considered.
"Woah! Woah woah woah! What the hell!" I tilted my head as I watched as a very old man, cane in hand and everything, rushed out from a backroom, he had one of those sleezey suits on, the ones that people got because they were broke but wanted to look impressive and only managed to look like they're suppose to be in a bad mafia movie. His white hair slicked back with oils that made my nose burn from where I was standing a half dozen feet away, but my eyes instead fell to his neck, where nearly half a dozen necklaces with different charms and items were dangling from everything from leather strips to metal chains.
"Hello there!" I smiled to the man and walked closer, he took a strong step back as I tilted my head to the side and hummed as my eyes moved up above his head where a turtle was looking down at us. His Spirit Guide's eyes meeting mine before widening. Yeah, Eyes of Death meant I can spot Spirit Guides now, it only happened after I got Adriel, and it's not like the turtle is actually there, it's just the turtles manifestation to be able to view this world.
"What are you! How are you in my shop! What do you want! Why are you here! How did you know I was here!" I blinked and looked back down at the man before shrugging as I looked around for a moment, catching the books on the far shelf and moved over as I said over my shoulder.
"I'm Nick, I walked through the door, books, book, and Reese and Lazir" He tensed at that before growling, as I watched with interest as his cane lit up, unseen runes suddenly powering the stick, probably making it hit like a massive club or something, it was interesting.
"What did you do to those two! You tell me right thi- Y-AHH!" I had moved, in a blur much faster than his old eyes could hope to track, I appeared in front of him, leaning down a bit to stare at the cane with interest.
"What's this?"
[Cane of Empowering
A simple tool etched with a number of runes to allow channeling of Spirit to make it hit harder than a baseball bat, even in the hands of an old man
Rank: D-]
I just pouted.
"Ah, boring! It just multiples the impact force based on how much power is put into it, useless!" He turned red, and in a move that would impress any parent who believed in physical discipline, the cane snaked around and moved to strike me right across the head. I just pouted harder, so rude! My hand just moved at a leisurely speed, grabbing onto it, careful to not accidently snap it, the thing was obviously pretty fragile and I would have felt bad to break the old man's walking stick, as I said.
"Could you not?" He grunted and tried to pull the cane from my grasp, it was kind of sad, as I just sighed and let go as he went tumbling back, my hand just shot out and grabbed onto the cane again to pull him upright as I continued on, "Are you done trying to assault your costumer now?"
"No you she-demon brat! Not until you tell me what you did to my friends!" I just blinked, before rolling my eyes.
"I didn't do anything to them! Honestly, you old people are so suspicious! You know they tried to shoot me when I met them? How inconsiderate!" It was like a lightbulb went off in his head, though given his age, an oil lamp would be a more accurate summation of what was going on up there, as he said with a faint gasp.
"You're that Nick! The..." He gulped suddenly, "The demigod" I just smiled.
"Yep! Nice to meet you as well Masite, or, well, Rick, now would you mind stop trying to hit me?" He took a clear step back, and I could practically hear his heart pounding in his chest, I frowned at that, it couldn't be good for him to be all that tense. He's so old! He'll probably have a heart attack or something, and then I'd have to explain how I accidently killed my cop friends' friend.
"I-... I'm sorry, what... What do you want?" He tried to sound appeasing, but I got the feeling he's never been nice a day in his life unless he had to, and apparently he thought he had to. I wasn't sure how to feel about it, so I chose to just accept it and move on with my life.
"I got me a Spirit Guide recently, he's pretty neat, but I need to actually get some books to make use of this kind of power, I'm not really use to anything this... weak" Adriel gave me a particularly scathing comment at that, which I just ignored, as I moved back to the shelves, looking around before asking. "Price isn't an issue, so what's the best books in terms of pure magical spell work? And do you have any... I don't know, scrolls on healing or wind based magic?"
"Just anything? And elemental stuff like that, it's taxing even with the materials, there isn't a lot of people who can do that kind of stuff, much less healing, it's near impossible" I stopped, from where I had picked up a jar of what was apparently pixies dust, and turned and looked over to him and said.
"I think I can manage it" He nodded quickly, paling as he did so, and went moving about, gathering a number of books up from the shelves, and then headed into the back, I could see the sweat running down his brow as he moved to and from, the stress probably, I just frowned. Why was he being all... like that, it's weird. I glanced up at the turtle and noticed the thing was always looking at me, not blinking, like it was terrified if it didn't then I would somehow bite the thing.
I didn't like it, and Adriel seemed to understand that, as I watched as from my chest, a mote of purple floated out and quickly morphed into a butterfly, he could do the same thing as the turtle, go around and not see life directly from my eyes, but from a drone angle, but he couldn't access my System like that, so he normally didn't. I just watched as the two seemed to strike up something of a conversation, though the turtle looked half terrified of my friend, which I still wasn't sure about.
Why would the turtle be scared of Adriel? Life's weird sometimes.
Anyways, I moved over to the counter, and waited for a moment before the man came back, a number of books in his hands, three in total, as well as four sheets of paper, as he gulped and said.
"Two of these have some of the... harder spells to learn that you seem to be interested in, but most of it is just lore, actual magics that aren't purely ritual based are... hard to come by, this one here has most of the theory, and these have... the basics for both healing and wind, but they are very expensive, copies or not, they are hard to come by" I just shrugged, as we moved over to the counter, and said.
"That's fine, what's the total?" Now, I could just be a dick, Spirit Wielder or not, I had Mist Control and could just make him forget this ever happened, but I wasn't that much of a dick, so I waited until...
"...Four thousand two hundred" He was lying, I frowned.
"The real number" He tensed, before looking away.
"Six thousand eight hundred, but I figure... divine discount" I just rolled my eyes and moved my hands, and from there a very sizable wad of hundred dollar bills appeared, then another, and then another. I could store money on my Stat screen, and I had a card that had infinite money on it, and there are more than a few ATMs in America, there was also a set limit on how much cash as ATM holds, I figured after the twentieth one I maxed out, I had enough. Do the math and... I had a lot of money.
"That's thirteen thousand six hundred dollars, I don't want a discount. You're a friend of Reese and Sam, I happen to think they're neat, therefore you get the perks of knowing a demigod" His eyes were bugging out of his head, as I smiled, reached forwards, picked up the items, and then dropped them into my bag, a number of Skill Book notices popped up for it as well, which was pretty cool, it would make my life easier at least. "Anyways, pleasure doing business with you, but I have a wolf goddess scheduled to kick my ass for the next few months. Tell my two favorite cops I said hi"
He gave a short nod and watched as I walked out the door, Adriel floating back and entering back to my System as I thought about something completely sort of maybe related. I really should look into getting that phone charger at some point, or just a new phone in general, I had to use a pay phone to call them to get this place's address.
Anyways, enough about that, time to train with a Moon Goddess...
Holy shit, I could have gotten Artemis to train me also... Hmm, that's an idea for later since I'll probably be a chick still when that plot point comes around.
Think her blessing would still count after I get the sex change?
Or is it a woman in body only thing? Does it need to be both in mind and body? Does my wanting a male body automatically cancel the blessing? Is it like a contract with clauses depending on what percentage female to male you are? Because all women are half male, that's how DNA works, is it based on DNA at all though?
God, I have so many questions now!
Like, do shapeshifters count? If so do they only count some of the time? What about people who aren't anything? Or who are both?
This is going to drive me insane.
I can think about it later, she-wolf is more important right now.
And if I don't then either someone is going to get hurt, or this entire town is going to get hurt. One or the other really... Ok, maybe both.
"You have returned" I just smiled, ignoring the wolves surrounding me as I said happily.
"Yep! I walked hundreds of miles across seven countries, destroyed two RVs, crashed a plane, and almost got wrapped up into a gladiatorial fighting ring, and now I'm here. Train me now please!" She quirked an eyebrow, it looked more adorable on the massive wolf than whatever it was she was trying to get at.
"Impressive, you are stronger than you were when you left here, not by much, but your strength is great enough as is for a Half-Blood of your stature and age that it need not any real training" I just shrugged, she wasn't wrong, my stats were massive, with all my bonuses applied, I could probably beat around a few Ares kids who were nearing the end years of their teens, not many, but two or three, and for my age, that was pretty impressive.
"Yeah, I don't really need to focus on that stuff, I need to learn more on the control and skill aspect, my body can keep up with a lot, but that doesn't mean anything if I'm fighting someone just as strong but more skillful" She tilted her head before nodding.
"You are correct, power is useless without skill to temper it. A wise understanding of yourself"
"Why thank you!"
"Come, let's see just how trained you are, let me see how you senses are trained and you muscles are taunt" Before I could ask what that meant, she turned and then bounded out into the trees, and I had the distinct impression I was suppose to give chase.
"Come and show me thy speed Son of Nike!" Yep, definitely chase... I grinned, as I felt my muscles tighten, before in a burst of momentum I was shooting through the woods, chasing after the wolf that moved silently through the trees, not making a single sound upon the ground as she ran, my eyes barely able to keep track of her as my legs burned to continue to give chase, slamming and crashing through the woods in my own way, with the lack of elegance and natural stealth that Lupa displayed so naturally.
Then she vanished from my sight, as I continued to run in the same direction, only to pause as I looked around, my eyes scanning around, but it was a lost cause, she was gone, rushing forwards would just mean I lost, so I stopped, and waited. She hadn't reappeared the minute after I lost her, that means this test was still going. There was another reason for this, she was a goddess, she knew just how stronger she was than me, and therefore it was never about the chase, it was about how long I could keep up and what I would do after.
Character and current attribute test basically.
It was hard, I had a pretty decent Perception score, but she was a goddess, which... well, it made things harder, as I felt my ears prick and focus, as my entire body felt like it was on edge, as I waited, focusing, until...
A paw slammed down into my back, slamming my body and face into the earth with a near ground shaking force, so hard that I felt my ribs bend and nearly snap before the pressure was released as my lungs did a very impressive impersonation of a squeaky toy.
"We will start on using your ears and nose, you care to much about what you can see in front of you" I waited until the air was back in my lungs before I pouted as Lupa stepped off my back.
"Usually my eyes are good enough" She made a scoffing sound, very impressive for being a wolf.
"Usually enough is never enough, stand and ready yourself, we will go and you will try to dodge" I just sighed before getting up, as I took a moment to ask.
"Dodge training huh? How long we going for?" It was that moment that I learned for fact, that wolves can most definitely smile.
"Until you dodge of course" With that she jumped over my head, as my neck craned around to watch, as she blitzed into the trees. I didn't think twice before dashing after her.
The result was the same, same for the next, and then the one after that, the time after that I broke a rib when she pushed me to the ground, Lupa didn't care and I was getting pissed so I didn't care, so we went again, and again, and again, and... Well, you get the idea.
This went on for a while, until I got a new skill.
[Awareness] Level: 1
You have learned from being beat around by a bitch, and by that I mean a divine wolf goddess who literally used you as a squeaky toy for her own enjoyment until you figured out how to hone your senses
+10% active increase to actively searching for things around you when skill is in use
+5% passive increase to your situational awareness.
+0.5% Percent chance of being alerted to danger around you that you shouldn't know
Cost: 50 Stamina per minute
And... that didn't help until it got power leveled to level six over the course of hours, if not at the later point, literally days, and only then I was barely able to move out of the way of being crushed for the one hundredth and forty-seventh time.
I only broke seven slightly important bones, and apparently that meant I got to sleep for a few hours before I'd be doing the exact same thing again until I could, you know, not get hit reliably from Lupa using a fraction of a fraction of a hundredth of her power.
Gods are bullshit.
Still, it was surprisingly fun, well, sort of fun, it was a proper challenge, and sure I got my ass handed to me a lot, but I wasn't really losing, well, I was, but my Son of Nike perk never activated so I assume it wasn't actually a proper thing, and therefore didn't count, and that's how I soothed my ego. Trust me, I needed it, the next few weeks were hell on Earth for the most part, I was in pain more than anything, and if I thought I got no sleep during my month walk, then I really underestimated just how willing Lupa was to push me until I began to break.
I think she just liked fucking me up since I kind of pushed her into accepting me into her training program from hell, still I just dealt with it, and it showed effective, my stats that barely moved jumped, or at least the ones I was training, Dexterity, Perception, and even Constitution jumped a few points, and Awareness, my new skill was grinded like it's life depended on it. And given the situation it just might.
So that was basically the entirety of the first month, until I could predict and dodge her at least half the time, apparently we'd be doing more of that later, but that's besides the point apparently as well. From there, I showed off just how immune I was to being scared, like, properly scared, Lupa was impressived with that at least, and over the next week I learned something called the Wolf's Stare, an ability Percy will one day have, and one I got a bit early.
It was actually very interesting, to pull up the notice log, it went like this.
[Notice: Special Ability [Wolf's Stare] has been learned by a Mentor, this ability will now upgrade [Intimidation]]
[Intimidation] Level 19
Sometimes all it takes is some motivational words... and a knife pointed at someone's balls, apparently, to make the world go round.
+95% bonus chance to scare someone into doing your bidding, this has a lower chance against creatures and beings higher level than you
-[Wolf's Stare]
This is a subset ability of [Intimidation] that focuses every ounce of terrifying aura you can muster into a single look
+95% additional bonus to Intimidation.
[Notice: Your Control stat counts as a phantom modifier, for every ten points of Control, Intimidation acts as if it is one level higher than presented here]
Yeah, there are apparently subset abilities you can learn for skills as long as you're taught them, which is cool, and Wolf's Stare is apparently one that just doubles my Intimidation factor when I use my eyes instead of anything else to terrify people, which is cool.
The second I learned that skill, I was then forced to use nothing but a few very sturdy sticks to fight off Lupa's entire wolf pack, and every time I broke a formation or didn't use the stick like it was a proper sword or dagger should be used, Lupa would slam me into the ground, and then I'd have to fight my way back to my feet against her pack at the same time.
I broke a lot more bones during that time, but it was also the most constructive feed back I got ever really, sure I got some from Camp Half-Blood, but well over ninety percent of the fights I've had haven't been in camp, and the most that the camp taught me was really just the basics. Lupa saw that and refined it to a fine point, it leveled up my combat skills by a good margin as well.
It was something, oh, and it turns out when my combat skills, like Short Blade Mastery, got past level twenty, instead of the cost of twenty Stamina dropping, it actually went up! Like, what is this? An actually balanced game system to limit my ability to have three dozen skills active at the same time? What bullshit! Anyways, the cost doubled, so it's forty now, which isn't that much really, I could still keep it active for over an hour, but it was a bit annoying considering I did not only fight for just an hour.
I fought until I dropped, and then I was forced back to my feet and then fought some more. It was great for my skills at the very least that's for sure, and I got a few more squeezed out points in my physical stats as well, which was nice.
It was during the second week into my third month, that I was finally forced to learn to hunt, before then I just made a fire from what the wolves hunted. Lupa showed me how, I was given a bow, and my archery training began, and let me just say, in a forest were wolves have lived and hunted for hundreds of years, being able to get the drop of any animal that was so much as within half a mile of me, was near impossible with how little grace I had in my movements when I tried sneaking.
But that's because sneaking is stupid and just stabbing my problems head first usually worked best for me. Lupa didn't agree with that, and so I learned stealth, well more like I was forced to since I didn't want to starve, and Lupa would break my legs if I tried to just run the animals down, which totally should count by the way as hunting, but apparently that wasn't the lesson I was suppose to be getting here.
So after three days of not eating, and three days of not being able to walk, I finally got the memo, and learned from the wolves to hunt.
It wasn't my favorite thing, but I learned a stealth skill, and over the rest of my time there, I got it to a decent level.
[Stealth] Level: 16
You don't want to starve, or get your bones snapped like twigs anymore, so time to finally be smart about this.
80% bonus in your ability to sneak and hide your presence from those around you
[Notice: Your Dexterity stat counts as a phantom modifier, for every ten points of Dexterity, [Stealth] acts as if it is one level higher than presented here]
My bow skill also got some love, but I still in the end preferred hucking daggers at my prey, so that skill got some leveling up as well, and I got a cooking skill, that one's boring though, so no reason to show it, just in the end, after cooking my own meals for so many months, just assume it's gotten a few levels and call it a day. That took about a month, then rest of that time and the following month was more dodge training, which was... something.
The fifth month I actually got time to learn some stuff I had been wanting to for ages, but hadn't had the time for risk of my arms being broken. Lupa was very violent when she learned it took eight hours of sleep to heal any damage I've taken in case you hadn't noticed.
Still, that month I got to do more that fight to survive the entire time, I hunted for food, drank from a river for water, and in my down time I read my books, which was honestly worse than the training, but it had to be done at some point, and might as well make use out of Adriel instead of him just mocking me whenever he saw the opening.
It was from that I got a few new skills, magical skills that Lupa pounced on with the others I had and then the magical training side of the next three months were used for. It was a special kind of hell, I was used to Stamina exhaustion, but mana exhaustion was a bitch, Spiritual exhaustion actually wasn't all that bad, Adriel bitched and moaned about it though, but he was a little bitch and was usually to tired from me spending all his Spirit to annoy me to much about it.
End result looks like this, for all the fun skills I got from the month of learning, and then the three months of insane training.
[Minor Wound Mending] Level: 17
You've finally learned a healing skill, congratulations, maybe you'll be able to actually patch yourself up for once instead of just taking a nap with a broken body.
-You can increase the rate in which a person heals over the next 8.5 hours by 34%
Cost: 2,500 Spirit
-You can instantly heal one Status Effect you or someone else has at the cost of a lot of power
Cost: 5,000 Spirit for Small Status Effects, 10,000 Spirit for Minor Status Effects
[Notice: Your Control stat counts as a phantom modifier, for every ten points of Control, [Minor Wound Mending] acts as if it is one level higher than presented here]
[Minor Wind Manipulation] Level: 14
You have a limited control over the air around you... By that, I mean you can make a particularly strong breeze, and if you put your back into it, even a sizable gust.
Cost: Varies based on level of skill and desired effect
[Notice: Your Control stat counts as a phantom modifier, for every ten points of Control, [Minor Wind Manipulation] acts as if it is one level higher than presented here]
[Limited Hydrokensis] Level: 13
[Greek Protection Ward] Level: 16
[Mist Control] Level: 14
[Odikinesis] Level: 9
Yeah, it wasn't much, and the cost on those skills were insane, I could afford them, but Wound Mending burned Adriel dry using it to much at all, and Wind Manipulation, well, I could make blasts of wind, but only a few at a time before, once more, I ran out of power for it. Apparently I couldn't just replace it with Mana, the system wouldn't allow that which was mean, but also not to surprising either.
I got a lot of points in Power and Control though, since those two were by far my lowest stats since I hadn't had time to grind them properly, they shot up a bit until reaching the same plateau as all my stats seemed to mostly hover at. As it stood, I was only a few hundred points off in Mana from being at the average mana pool of a normal demigod from an Olympian parent.
I'm still kind of lowkey pissed that I'm still not even on that level in terms of raw Mana, but it was a level thing, so I just accepted it, and moved on... with a lot of spite still in my heart, so maybe not moved on, but something functionally the same.
Then month nine rolled around, and suddenly everything was awful all the time with no breaks in the slightest for me, at any time, anywhere, I was free game for both the wolves to start trying to wail on me, as well as for Lupa to come from no where to pounce on me, to see if I could dodge her, as well as the wolves and Lupa both stopped holding back, and... that was certainly something.
That was the entire month, basically me being on the run from a wolf pack lead by a goddess, hunting for food on the move, figuring out how to cook without inciting noticeable smoke, how to get the drop on the wolves, and making damn sure Lupa never managed to pin me, the second she did, I was in a world of hurt, and it happened more times than I care to remember.
I got a level then, not because of the training, I hadn't gotten a single level the entire time there, I got a level because my birthday passed, I was officially thirteen and the System rewarded me for it, not that I had any idea what the date was, I think it was sometime in early May or late April, but I couldn't know for certain. Still it was nice to know about before I got dogpiled again.
I mean, it still happened, but the level made things a bit easier, so that's nice.
That's basically just how the rest of the month went, it was hell, but I fought through it on way to little sleep, a bit to much bleeding, a very shitty week, and one that involved some minor deforestation, but I survived it.
The tenth month wasn't nearly as bad, in fact it was down right peaceful, I was brought back into the pack, chilled with all the wolf buddies I made, because you can not spend ten months of time with a bunch of incredibly fluffy dogs and not make friends with them. I'm even pretty sure they could perfectly understand me, so we all just chilled in a lot of puppy piles, I think it was their way of saying sorry for all the hunting me down thing.
I didn't apologize for my beating them up in turn, since they were insanely strong and if more than four of them were together at a time, then I'd need Trade Off to stand a chance, and therefore I didn't feel bad in the slightest. Still, it was nice, they were fluffy and when they weren't trying to bite my face off, they were down right cute. We went hunting together and did a lot of play fighting, it was nice.
I think there was some lesson in it or whatever from Lupa, about working together or whatever, but I didn't really care much about looking to deep into it.
Speaking of Lupa, she was certainly only of my more favorite people to be honest, she had a very hidden sense of humor but it existed, and while we started off on a bit of a rocky start, but I don't think anyone can actively interact with each other for this long without getting along. She didn't act like it of course, but we were totally best buds.
But I had a life to get back to, and our deal was done, she trained me, and to say I got a lot out of it from a skill stand point alone would be more than worth while my time, but the stats I got as well, way more than I was expecting, at least sixty points in total spread out between all my stats meant I was feeling incredibly good, as Lupa moved up to me, pressing her snout to the side of my face before saying.
"It has been a long few months, and while you are still no child of Rome, you may find yourself a place among my pack should you ever wish. Your training is complete" I just smiled, ignoring decorum, and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, and pulled myself closer, since I could hardly budge her to me, and said to her.
"Thank you for all your help, and I'm not sorry at all for being a pain in the ass at times! You totally deserved it for kicking my ass so much" She let off a soft rumbling which i knew to be laughter, as she spoke once more.
"Do not fret, I believe I more than made up for my grievances through our dodge training. If you ever wish for a recourse, you know where to find me" I laughed before finally pulling away.
"I'll keep it in mind, but like hell Lupa, I think I've gotten all I can from you" She gave me one last wolfish grin, her eyes sparking like she knew something I didn't, or at least didn't just yet, as she moved away, her pack following her, as I stood at the edge of her territory, and watched as they all moved as one, silently back to the Wolf House I had spent the most time of my life living in.
I waited about half a second, before turning to walk away when the soft sounds of a long drawn out howl echoed through the trees to me, before it was quickly followed by dozens of howls, filling the air in a chorus of sound, as I felt a massive smile pull on my face, only to blink in surprise when a notice popped up in front of me.
[Accomplishment: Lupa's Training Program: Completed!
You've lasted longer than nearly anyone else as the punching bag of Lupa and her pack, and could have even kept going if you tried, but that's not what time limited to you. Still, good job, you weren't eaten by wolves, in fact, you even earned her respect, don't know how given it's you, but it's something.
+7,500 Exp Per month Survived
Total Exp: 75,000 Exp
-Perk [Lupa's Blessing] has been granted to the user!]
[Notice: You have leveled up five times!]
[Notice: You have gained ten level, Son of Nike has activated; +10 to Strength and Dex, +5 to all other stats]
[Notice: You have gained ten level, Legacy of Styx has activated; +3 to all other stats]
[Lupa's Blessing]
You've somehow earned the respect of Lupa, the Goddess of Wolves, the Moon, and Protector of Rome.
-All canines have a natural respect for you, and can understand your words, and vica-versa.
-You gain +10 levels to all skills when under moonlight, +15 on full moons.
-You gain +10 to all stats when working in a team
-You gain an additional 15 points per Constitution when determining total Stamina
-You gain an additional 10 points per Power when determining total Mana
Huh...
Yeah, this confirmed it, we were definitely best buddies.
Cool!
So, drumroll please, the end result of all my insane amounts of training is...
Name: Nicholas King
Heritage: Demi-God of Nike, Legacy of Styx
Age: 13
Level: 41
Mana Points: 3,920/3,920
Spirit Points: 15,650/15,650
Stamina Points: 6,805/6,805
[Physical]
Strength: 98
Dexterity: 89
Constitution: 92
[Spiritual]
Power: 71
Control: 73
Luck: 51
[Mental]
Perception: 84
Intelligence: 78
Wisdom: 72
Points: 135
Cash: $[11,607], 38 D
Pretty sweet isn't it? I'm actually pretty proud of my progress without having to go on world defining quests. That right there is just sheer effort and a lot of cunning planning. Now I just need to figure out just how I want to split up all the stat points I've let accumulated.
I'll think about it as I go, no need to drop them into anything right now, I can use them when I need them.
Training montage bitches... I'm actually writing this three chapters later, because I forgot to put end notes here. I just sort of skipped them on accident. Past that, this was just the big power up chapter throughout all of Nick's skills, it's a cool one to write. I honestly don't have much to add here, because normally when I do this kind of thing right after I'm done with a chapter, when everything about it is mostly still on my mind, and I don't really have that right here, so I'm not going to really say anything about it, but I do have another question. I've been writing an original work, or at least, I have the world setting, characters, power system, magic, fantasy stuff all sorted out, even a full plot line for a first book. It's pretty neat, I have a few original works that normally get to the few thousand word range and then sort of just drop them for one reason or another, usually a lack of planning. But I want to have this one go somewhere. I'm just wondering how interested is... literally anyone in the idea of reading something original from a guy who writes fanfictions and calls it a hobby. This is easily my most concurrent viewed story at the moment, so it's the highest viewer pool I have for this kind of thing. So I figured I'd ask here about a reading base since there is the highest chance people are going to see this. Mostly just from a curious standpoint about how people think my writing is from a technical and actual readable level from things like characterization and reading comprehension to environments.
I have a literal degree in technical writing and have a job that relies on that, so before everyone and their mother says my grammar needs a lot of work, I'm well aware, I normally just don't give a shit to proof read my chapters, I crank them out because I like writing in my free time, I don't like micro analyzing every word I've written for a hobby that doesn't give me anything, but I'm fully capable of actually doing it if I give enough of a damn, just, normally I don't. So give me stuff I might not actually know about myself if ya want, or just completely ignore this section like most people do and don't say anything. I just figured this would be a good basis to get an unbias opinion.
Anyways, my long winded rants about my unfilled life that I try to use writing about fantastical situation to fill... aside, I honestly can't think of anything to say here, so... See ya.