Oh, whoa. This felt much different. My hand buckled for a second, almost shaking with mana. Did I get stronger? The mana toll was instantly negated by the fact that I was underwater, so I grinned to myself. This could just work!
She responded like I'd expected, lowering her head onto my shoulder and molding her body into my arm.
"You're quite warm."
"I'll take that as a compliment," I muttered into her ear, squeezing lightly. Invisible strands of mana seeped out of my fingertips, flowing into her thighs. I ignored her breathy moan. First question.
"Do you know Carcinus well?"
"I do," Amphitrite answered, her voice trembling. I inwardly raised an eyebrow—I'd taken classes on seduction before, but I'd never put it into use like this. It seemed a lot easier than I'd expected.
"He's one of the main men who serve in the court. Carcinus handles trade and exports."
I felt like a fool. I mentally commanded my skills menu forward, flipping through to one of my very first pickups.
— - —
[Perk]: Gilded Tongue
[Tier]: 2
[System Denomination]: Passive
[Attribute Group]: CHA
[Level]: N/A
[Description]: Your words weave magic and attraction. Gain [+5] [CHA] and a [1 x your current CHA]% boost to charm and persuasion when speaking. Your [CHA] has grown, and so has your command of human psychology. Gain a [+20] boost to your [CHA] while in physical contact with someone of the opposite sex!
— - —
I knew that perk was a good investment! I wondered how many more of my skills had upgraded without my knowledge, but I didn't have the time to check through it right now. I just needed to take a peek at [Serenity Inducement] super-fast. There had to be a reason it felt so drastically different.
— - —
[Skill]: Serenity Inducement
[System Denomination]: Active
[Attribute Group]: WIS
[Level]: 10
[Description]: Channel the calming essence of the Hearth Goddess to envelop those around you in a soothing aura. By focusing on tranquility, you can diffuse tense situations and bring about a sense of peace in allies and enemies alike.
[Leveling]: At [Level 1], you can induce a mild sense of calm within a small radius, affecting only a handful of targets at once. Its duration and potency depend on your emotional control and the targets' mental resilience. As you grow in skill, you'll expand the range, intensity, and duration of the effect, giving you the power to quell chaotic crowds or ease distress on the battlefield. At [Level 10], in addition to putting someone at ease, your mana gains a denser quality, igniting pleasant feelings and heightening already-present ones by [40%]!
[Mana Cost]: [200 MP/S]!
— - —
No wonder Amphitrite was getting hot and heavy—these two things together were probably making her feel really good. If she had any sort of real attraction to me, these two perks were probably boosting it into oblivion. If my powers can influence deities, how powerful am I really going to be when I'm maxed out? It's a crazy thought.
I rubbed a little circle on her bare thigh.
"Do you know anything about his not-so-legal activities?"
"No," Amphitrite moaned into my ear, her hands reaching up to grab my shirt tightly. I pumped more mana into the ability.
"Perseus…you feel so good."
"You think so?" My mind was racing. I didn't want to open up a can of worms I was ill-equipped to deal with at the moment, but she was quickly dissolving in my hands. I slowly started to cut off the skill I was using—I didn't need anything unforeseen happening. I felt something in the air change for a moment—the heavy feeling in my chest grew more pronounced for a moment. I just needed to keep her comfortable, like this. That way, I could ask her all sorts of questions and she'd be more willing to give me the right answer.
"I know so," Amphitrite muttered, her eyes flickering with all kinds of emotions. She cupped my face and her eyes flicked down to my lips.
"Interesting."
"What is?" Amphitrite laughed. "You."
The chariot stopped, and the door was opened by a man with a round belly and a large mustache. He was dressed sort of like a waiter. He must've been eating a sub or something—I could smell the meat on him.
"House of Poseidon—welcome to my lord's humble home! Let me lead you to the eating party!"
Humble? I smiled pleasantly at the man, but I was chuckling on the inside. There was nothing humble about the palace at all. It was rising from the side of a gigantic cliff. White, shining pillars jutted out, adorned with jewels and crystals of all shapes and sizes. A dome made of sea glass rested on the top of the palace, glinting in the shine of an artificial moon that hung off in the distance.
"Thank you," I replied politely. "What is your name?"
"Aleous, my lord," Aleous replied, bowing his head. "May I assist you in finding the dining hall? We have some fine specimens out there tonight."
"You may," I allowed. Aleous led us up the impressive steps, past the gargantuan pillars.
"Aleous, how many people are in attendance tonight?"
"Quite a few, my lord," Aleous replied cheerily. He seemed entirely too happy for a guy standing outside in the dark, but hey. To each their own.
"My lord, Carcinus has invited friends and associates from all over the sea in your honor! It will be a feast like no other!"
I nodded to myself. That seems about right. Sneaking around here will be a bit tough, but if I can get to Carcinus' daughter, I should have plausible deniability. Maybe I can sneak in some food in between.
"Let me take you to my Lord," he continued, leading us through the palace.
Annabeth would've loved this place. Large, marble columns rose out of the purple sand, framing a cathedral-like ceiling that stretched out as far as my eye could see. There were stained glass caricatures on it, renditions of some of the myths that I'd read about my father: the rebellion against Kronos, the golden net with Zeus. I saw a couple of myths I didn't recognize—some sort of giants sitting around a table with a plate of bones. My dear old grandfather and what looked to be two other titans fighting each other. My eyes followed the rest of the stained glass pictures. I repressed a wince at the depiction of Medusa. These artists must've had a field day with the amount of detail in that one. I almost didn't even want to consider how long it must've taken them to make it.
I scowled to myself, barely registering Amphitrite's stories about the various dinners she'd attended here. Olympus had enough dirty laundry to air out that I'd probably never sleep a day in my life if I knew it all. It was very jarring to remember these things.
I know the whole argument about how people can change, but those people are humans. Mortals. Immortals don't change. Not based on what I've seen. The only one capable of any sort of change thus far has been Aphrodite, and we've all seen how that's been going. I don't think they have the capacity to change unless they're forced to. Aphrodite, for example, is changing because of an external force—me. Immortals in general, though? Doubtful.
Here are my two cents: life is useless, more or less. Especially knowing what I know now. Life itself is cruel and unnecessary, but there are fleeting moments that can still make it enjoyable. That's what lends us the ability to grow and change—we have a grip on our mortality. We know that someday, despite how useless it all seems, everything we did will be all that we're remembered by—so we change and grow, ensuring that the best version of who we were is what people remember.
The gods care little for that. They're quite literally undying. Even if you destroy the essence of one, they'll just reform in a couple of years in Tartarus and boom—they're right back where they were before. As a result, they don't really have any use for morality or philosophy. They just do what they want. Look at the myths or camp, even. All these children that are around the same age, coming from gods? Doesn't that trip anyone else out? How many times do the gods just come down to earth to have their way with mortals?
Another feeling of ice coated my insides. And how much of it is voluntary? Maybe there's a reason Hera dislikes so many of the male gods for having so many demigods. Not saying the goddesses are any better, but I'm pretty sure they more or less are. Athena and Aphrodite make asexual children, and Artemis is a virgin goddess, along with Hestia. Hera doesn't have demigod children. Demeter is the only one whose reproductive methods (or lack thereof) are unknown to me.
Boy, what a headache. Someday, I'm going to fix all of this. I have to. I'm going to drag every Olympian out and make them repent for all the wrong they've done. I like some gods, I'm not saying I don't, but they will be made aware of what they've done. That's a promise.
For now, though, I can't. I'm not strong enough, yet, but even then, we have a common enemy right now: Kronos. Once he's taken care of, we can work on it.
"Lord Perseus," I was broken out of my thoughts as a squeaky voice boomed loudly from in front of me. Uh, wow. The man in front of me was the perfect depiction of if the word cheeseburger was a person.