Chapter 4
Arthur:
"C'mon Arthur I want that bow drawn and an arrow notched faster than a mortal can blink." Michael drilled as he observed my performance.
"You got it Mike." I said with the string already drawn back.
Ever since Percy and I claimed during the capture the flag, we'd both gotten whisked away by our respective mentors.
I used that term lightly seeing as I had only known Micheal for all of a week.
While Percy was practicing his infamous viper beheading strikes 50 times in a row. I was being grilled on quick drawing and accuracy.
And because of that, I wasn't allowed to use my light arrows at all. Michael said they were a shortcut that would never allow me to actually improve my aim with other projectiles since they essentially ignored factors such as gravity, weather, and distance.
Or in his own words; "Aim hack bullshit."
He had no idea how right he was considering it was a game skill.
So instead I was practicing with celestial bronze-tipped arrows.
Thwack
"Good hit Arthur!" Michael praised, "But remember to take into account the humidity of the environment as well. It may not affect sonic rounds or your light arrows, but it can screw with subsonic projectiles such as 9mm and normal arrows. It could very well mean the difference between a kill shot and a miss."
I nodded and looked at my shot. My accuracy was coming along at a decent rate, my arrows were getting closer and closer to the bullseye each time I practiced.
!
Archery, Lvl (10): The art of shooting projectiles with a bow.
-10% bonus damage
-I love the sound of a good 'thwack' in the morning.
It was also doing a nice job at leveling up my skill.
The Son of Artemis perk probably had something to do with it as well considering a 12-year-old had no business progressing this fast.
Speaking of perks and skill, some new ones were awarded and old ones were upgraded and granted new skills once I was claimed that night.
Son of Artemis: You are naturally gifted in archery, shooting, and stealth. Your soul has a natural affinity for light and you innately can use photokinesis.
Once fully claimed; affinity for all animals of the wild, limited chlorokinesis unlocked, gains bonuses when under the moonlight, skills related to hunting and tracking are unlocked, Amokinesis immunity.
Remember how earlier I mentioned that demigods were lucky to get any sort of power over their parent's domain? Also, remember how it was stated in the books that it was up to the godly parent to decide what parts of their domain their children were allowed to wield?
Well, I was given the whole fucking smorgasbord of my mother's domains.
Either Artemis really loved me and decided I should be given full access, or the system decided to just strong arm reality into giving it to me.
But who was I to complain?
Limited Chlorokinesis, Lvl (1): You are able to manipulate all the flora that inhabits forests.
- 150 MP per minute
- "Tremble in the presence of my terrifying gardening skills!"
Tracking, Lvl (1): With effort you can pick up on details that others would miss when tracking down your prey.
Waste Not, Want Not: Hunter's traditionally waste nothing from the bodies of their fallen prey, and neither will you. Any time you kill a monster there is a chance they will leave behind parts that can be used in crafting and alchemy.
Blessing of Luna: For centuries humanity and all manner of supernatural creatures have revered the moon as a great source of magical energy. Some have even tried to capture the energy for their own uses. But only children of the moon are capable of truly harnessing its power. When under the moon's light gain a 2x boost to all physical stats, 2x to mana capacity, and 2x to mana regeneration.
Amokinesis Immunity: Since the beginning of their existence the gods of love have been messing with the love lives of mortals. Creating both tragedy and happiness from their interventions. Fortunately, because of your mother's genes, there is not a single type of love magic or potion that can affect you. Now you can happily tell Cupid to screw off whenever he comes knocking.
Silver Eyes: The eyes of the huntress that shine with the silver light of the moon. Gain a 40% increase in perception, night vision, and the ability to see magical energy.
The first five were pretty damn useful, even if the chlorokinesis was limited to only plants in the forests and the blessing was situational. They'd at least make my time in this world just a bit easier.
But the real prize was those silver eyes. When my eyes changed when I was claimed I thought it was purely aesthetic, a bullshit way for the game to really drive home the point and laugh at me for not even giving Artemis the consideration.
So trust me when I say that it was one hell of a trip when your vision suddenly became HD from the perception enhancement while people and weapons started to glow with a variety of faint different color auras.
Basically, my new eyes where a dollar store knock-offs of the Sharingan that was missing the two abilities that made them overpowered.
The precognition and the copy eye ability.
What I wouldn't give to have the latter just so I could copy Percy and never have to sword train again.
"That's enough for today Arthur." Michael spoke as he walked past me, "I have to teach some other classes on the art of cleaning and bandaging a wound."
"You need to teach teenagers how to tie some cloth and throw some antiseptic on a cut? Can't figure that out themselves?" I asked.
Michael sighed, "Dude I'm pretty sure some of the Ares kids would throw mud and grass on an open wound if no one told them otherwise."
I nodded.
Seemed legit.
"I'd ask if you wanted to come with, but…" Michael trailed off.
"Everyone's still scared shitless of Percy and me." I finished for him.
Just like in cannon almost everyone in camp now steered clear of the two of us after we were claimed.
Though not that I could blame them really. Percy was practically a walking target for Zeus and Hades, especially with the master bolt and the helm of darkness being missing. No one wanted to be around him in case the lord of the sky or underworld came for him.
That little show of all of them bowing? That was only so Percy's old man didn't smite them for not showing respect.
But I was pretty sure that I freaked them out way more if the glances of horror I received anytime I walked by where anything to go by.
Percy was a target, I was a freak. There were plenty of stories about the demigod children of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Children of Artemis though? They didn't exist, weren't supposed to exist.
The promise she made was ancient. Four thousand years older than the WW2 pledge made by the big three.
And yet here I was. The by-product of a broken oath.
And a male to boot!
I was going to be very popular with my mother's hunters and all the monster's she had been hunting down for millennia.
I could just tell.
On a positive note though, I had become very well liked with the Forest Nymphs.
They always squealed and patted my head whenever I passed by them. Gushing that their lady had the cutest little demigod of them all and that I was so lucky to have my mother's "Beautiful lunar eyes" and "Deep auburn hair".
It was also quite funny when the children of the Aphrodite overheard them one day and took offense. Apparently, they thought only they had claimed to such a title. Ever since then I noticed that they had made an effort to dress more fashionably and wear more makeup.
I also received a stink eye from them whenever I crossed paths.
Well, at least it was something different compared to the disturbed glances from everyone else.
Also, by the way, Auburn was apparently the term for my self described reddish-brown hair. Why the hell the shade needed a specific name was beyond me.
But I guess you learn something new every day.
"Pretty much." Michael answered with a shrug, "After I'm done for the day I'll come get you and we can continue. For now, just do whatever you want and don't get in trouble."
"Yes, sir!" I said with a mock salute.
"Smartass," Michael grumbled as he walked off.
Well with that out of the way…
Looking around to make sure no one was around I took a seat on one of the benches near the archery station and opened my inventory to pull out the reward I had been given for a previous quest.
It had completely slipped my mind until this morning that I had been given a skill book when I was dropped into camp.
The book itself was rather eye-catching as the cover was a scarlet red with gold etching that formed in a flame pattern.
Speaking of shit in my inventory, I'd have to give a closer look at Richard's sword later now that my stats were within range to observe it. Courtesy of Michael and Luke when the latter could get a hold of me.
Because while firing off arrows and working with accuracy trained my perception and dexterity. It did shit all for vitality and strength. Luke being the ever sadistic bastard he was tried to work on my strength, figuring that at the very least I would be able to put some power into my piss poor form and strikes.
So while I now had a new hatred for weight lifting and Luke's fists, it did have positive results. My physical stats had increased from training to where they almost where high enough to wield the greatsword.
In fact, why not take a look at it now. That skill book wasn't going anywhere.
Reaching my hand into my inventory I selected the sword and had it appear on my lap.
Abyss Watcher: A sword composed of holy steel, a metal made in the forges of Heaven, and cooled in the Cocytus river. This blade is deadly to any supernatural enemy whether they be divine or monstrous in nature and is outright lethal to demonic beings.
- 35 [STR] and 35 [DEX] are required to wield this weapon and see it's abilities.
Hmmm, I think my strength stat still wasn't up to par.
"Stats."
Arthur Arc, Lvl: 11
Title: None
[HP] - 2000/2000
[MP] -1000/1000
[STR] - 25
[VIT] - 20
[PER] - 25 (40%) = 30
[DEX] - 36
[INT] - 20
[WIS] - 7
[LUK] - 7
Points - 35
Money - 50$
Seemed strength was still lagging behind. But that's what stat points were for.
"So let's just plop in ten points there and..."
!
Legendary weapon unlocked!
This weapons history and abilities are now available to you.
Abyss Watcher: An ancient sword once used by an Archangel and leader of the Grigori. It was eventually given to Richard Winchester and then passed down to Arthur Winchester Forged in Heaven with holy steel, cooled in the river Cocytus, and engraved in various runes of the highest quality, this blade is deadly to just about everything and is a demonic beings worst nightmare.
- DMG is dependent on STR and DEX stats along with any modifiers you or the blade may have.
- 100% bonus to piercing due to enchantments
- 100% reinforcement due to enchantments
- Soul tearing due to enchantments (Inflicts status effect Soul Tear)
- 100% sharpness due to enchantments
- Elemental channeling
- Holy aura (Inflicts the status effect Holy Burn on beings that have been corrupted or are demonic in nature.)
- Blessing of the Lightbringer (Photokinetic skills cost only ¼ of their usual cost and inflict 2x damage when the blade is wielded.)
Holy shit.
No wonder Richard was said to be one of the most fearsome warriors in the biblical faction. This thing belonged to a goddamned Arcangel who was apart of what was essentially the world's first special forces units, the Grigori.
And those abilities and that blessing. The things I could do with that blessing when I was under the moon's light...
"This thing's name makes so much more goddamn sense." I muttered as I ran my hand over the silver blade and the blue runes that adorned it, "But how in the hell did Richard get his hands on this? I doubt that an Arcangel, especially one that's fallen if they were part of the Grigori would willingly part with its weapon."
I smelled plot convenience via the system. The thing was probably still trying to make me invested in the other side of my family.
And that blessing was almost way too convenient considering what my main power was.
But more importantly than any of that considering my life might now be in danger, which Archangel did this thing belong to? Because I seriously didn't need a pissed off celestial being coming for my head because they wanted their weapon back.
I had enough problems with a devil lord, my cranky great grandfather who needed to take a Prozac, and a primordial who's going to wake up in 5 years to find her favorite children dead again.
So who's sword could this be? Depending on the source either Michael is the sole head honcho or dozens exist in various roles.
Unfortunately, it was probably the later considering this was Riordan's universe and he throws everything plus the kitchen sink into the mythologies.
Either way this thing probably belongs stuffed back into my inventory for now. Not like I could properly wield it anyway with the way my swordplay currently was.
I'd have to be content with just swinging it like a stick if I ever needed it.
With that now all settled I threw the thing back in my inventory and picked up the skill book again.
"Now how does this work?" I muttered as I opened it up.
!
Would you like to learn the skill: Fireball?
[Yes/No]
Yes, please!
A grin came across my face at the notification. I hopped the greek world was ready for a fire-wielding son of Artemis.
!
Error. Skill can only be learned with a fire affinity.
I'm sorry, what?
!
Would you like a tutorial on how you can obtain elemental affinities?
[Yes/No]
My eye twitched at the notification. This seemed like something that should have been shown to me at, oh I don't know, the fucking tutorial when I started.
With a sigh, I gave the mental command for yes.
!
Well alright, then partner! Here's the skinny on what's going on! As you may know, you have access to magic or mana as the system calls it. What you may not have known is that you have a specific type of magic. Greek magic. Which is generated straight from your divine blood. All Greek demigods have it, but your system lets you access it freely and as much as you want without the years of training it usually takes you lucky dog. Of course, there are other types of magic such as Egyptian or Norse and each has advantages and disadvantages.
Alright, but what did this have to do with affinities?
!
Advantages of Greek Magic:
The advantages of Greek magic is that it is far more potent than the other types as it is directly tied to a godly domain. You manipulate your elements directly with no need for a proxy spell. As such Greek demigods have shown throughout history to be stronger in terms of power and destructive ability compared to other demigods, magicians, and other magical communities who use other methods to cast and obtain magic. The Shinto and Hindu demigods being about the only other exceptions as well as most gods.
Disadvantages:
Your magic is powerful and can be highly destructive. Problem is since you not a child of Hecate and your magic is coming straight from your mother's DNA, you're pretty much stuck with whatever your parent's domain is. That means no general spells that aren't tied to the game and no manipulating other elements.
My eyes widened in horror.
"T-that's fucking bullshit," I muttered in horror as I read the disadvantages.
That means I would essentially be stuck with light and plant magic. Hell, not even full plant magic since mine was limited to the forests only.
So basically I was trading true versatility for being able to use magic easier than others and use it more offensively.
"Not cool man."
But it did explain why almost every demigod in the series was limited to the parent's domains and simple mist manipulation.
Hmm, maybe I should have considered some more options when I picked my pantheon.
!
But never fear! For there is a way for you to gain access to other godly domains. After all, what kind of tutorial would this be if we left you out to dry after breaking your spirit?
Pretty sure you did that a couple days ago...
Here is a couple of sure-fire ways to gain access to those oh so sweet affinities:
-Slay a god and absorb their essence. (Not recommended due to your current level.)
-You have blood ties to a multitude of powerful divine beings. So try and convince them to claim you as their legacy. (Note that this will most likely be the easiest method.)
-Become a champion. Divine champions are the representatives, warriors, and servants of divine beings. The enforcers of their will on the mortal world. In exchange for a champion's service, a contract can be negotiated between mortal and immortal that may include access to their godly powers. (You may only be a champion for one divine being at a time.)
-Become a host. Some gods are incapable of coming to the mortal world and need an avatar to reside in why here. As such you can gain access to their powers by opening your body to them. (Other beings besides gods can make pacts like this as well.
Well seemed as if there's some hope after all. Even if most of the options where off the table and impossible.
Had nothing to kill a god with, didn't feel like ceding my body to some otherworldly asshole, and I doubted I was interesting enough to be claimed as a champion.
So that left one option.
But how was I going to pull that off? My direct blood ties besides Artemis were Zeus and Apollo. Considering that they rarely if ever gave their children their full set of powers or limited them as Zeus did to Jason, I highly doubt I could just waltz up and ask nicely.
Technically Kronos was my great grandfather and time manipulation would be stupidly overpowered. But I think it's pretty self-explanatory on why he should be off the table.
'But do I need to be directly related? Because if not then I could get powers from many of the Olympians since most of them are related somehow.' I pondered.
And in order to convince them to claim me… I'd need to make them indebted to me or do something worthy of a reward. Which would mean that I'll have to start doing favors for them.
And not just any paltry quest that was issued normally. No. I'd need something big.
In my peripheral I caught Percy being dragged by Grover to the big house. Both of them looked like they were walking towards a funeral.
Suddenly the reward from my previous quest felt rather heavy in my inventory.
Perhaps I could kill three birds with a single drachma.
The fact that everyone seemed to avoid me as much as possible turned out to be a blessing. While all the campers were at doing activities, I had free rain of the showers.
"Come on you son of a bitch." I muttered as I jammed one of the shower heads into the corner racks and set it to spray, "There we go."
I couldn't really do this anywhere else without someone seeing me and I really didn't feel like answering a bunch of questions on who exactly I was contacting. As such the shower stalls in mid-afternoon while everyone was busy was the perfect place to hide out.
Now time to earn a debt.
I turned the water on and began spewing out on the mist setting. Slowly in the middle, a rainbow started to appear.
Now, most people would just use a regular old Iris message. The problem was that most people weren't usually contacting gods through them and I needed a direct line that couldn't be turned down.
So I needed to go with the A-game.
"Oh Fleecy, do me a solid and show me, Lord Poseidon," I said and tossed the golden drachma into the rainbow.
Sometimes I questioned what the hell Rick smoked before he would begin writing.
The mist twisted and turned for a few seconds before clearing to reveal a beautiful underwater throne room decorated with all kinds of coral and varying colors of sea stone.
But it was the center of the room that drew my eye. For in it was three thrones of varying in height with the largest currently being occupied by an older looking Percy.
The man was sitting by his lonesome while fully engrossed in a rather large scroll he was reading.
"Lord Poseidon," I said announcing my presence as I bent my knee in a bow.
There was no reason to disrespect and piss off the one big three members who was known to be rather kind and benevolent.
The god's eyes snapped away from the scroll and seemed to glow with intense green energy as he caught my gaze.
'I may have fucked up.' I thought and held his gaze even as beads of sweat started forming on the back of my neck.
So this was how I'd end my new life. Death by a pissed off sea god who vaporized me.
Fortunately, my fears suddenly melted as Poseidon eyes stopped glowing and a somewhat embarrassed smile appeared on his face.
"Sorry about that lad." The sea god chuckled, "I was expecting another Iris message from a rather annoying sky god."
I heard thunder rage outside and Poseidon let out a snort.
"Drama queen." He muttered with a shake of his head before meeting my eyes again, "Now who are you, my boy? It's not often that a demigod contacts me specificity."
Relief flooded over me. I had been afraid that Poseidon wouldn't exactly be the benevolent god he was in the books. Though maybe I should somehow drop that I was Percy's friend just in case...
"My name is Arthur Arc, son of Artemis my lord."
Poseidon's eyebrows raised, "Ah, so you're the child that has half of Olympus in an uproar."
Huh. Well wasn't I just Mr. Popular.
"I wasn't aware my existence caused so much trouble."
Poseidon let out a hearty chuckle, "You were claimed the same night as my son. The only reason Olympus didn't explode that night was because the council didn't know which broken oath to argue about first."
"Anybody make a call for my death?" I asked.
"A couple." Poseidon admitted with a shrug, "But luckily some of us argued for your continued existence."
My eyes widened slightly. Should've figured that some of their first reactions would be to kill me.
"Don't be surprised, Arthur. Perhaps maybe in the past, but I have long gotten over punishing a child for the actions of their parents and to do so now would be quite hypocritical of me." The god waved off."
I nodded before a thought entered my head, "Was my mother one of the ones who argued for my existence?"
Poseidon shifted, "Well yes, though she was mostly silent. My niece can be rather hard to read sometimes."
I had a good guess about what that meant. He couldn't tell whether my mother argued on my behalf out of love or because she needed something from me. Simply protecting an asset.
But that was a problem for another time.
"Now my great-nephew, why have you contacted me?"
I steeled myself and began to explain, "I have information that would be of great importance to you."
Poseidon raised an eyebrow, "Oh? In regards to what?"
"The theft of Zeus's bolt, Hade's helm, and the fact there is a traitor at camp who is in contact with your father." I explained.
I was simultaneously selling Luke out, gaining the favor of a god, and once again screwing over cannon.
Damn whatever the consequences could possibly be. Because this felt glorious.
"..."
Evidently, my feelings were not mutual. The mirth he had in his expression earlier had completely vanished.
"Lord Poseidon?"
The silence lasted a few moments more as the god of the sea stared at me with eyes of stone.
"Tell me Arthur, are you being serious right now? Or is this one of your mortal pranks?"
Good. I had his attention.
"No my lord. I am being completely serious. There is a reason why-"
My words were cut off as the god snapped his fingers and enveloped both of us in green light.
I felt my entire body jerked forward and suddenly I found myself pushed down into a worn leather seat with the smell of ocean assaulting my nose.
I blinked at the sudden scene shift. Because I could have sworn I had been in the shower room and not on a fishing boat in the middle of the ocean with a man sitting next to me.
Poseidon, Lvl: (?)
Title:?
"I apologize about the sudden transition, but your camp and my palace aren't quite the place to have such a conversation." Poseidon said with his feet up on the railing next to me, a fishing pole sitting lazily between his legs while he leaned back into his own chair, "Now tell me everything."
I nodded wearily, not entirely thrilled to be alone with a sea god in the middle of his domain.
"Simply put." I began, "The demigod Luke Castellan has turned traitor. He has been in contact with whatever remains of Kronos conscious and was ordered to steal the Master Bolt and Helm of Darkness in order to divide and weaken Olympus."
"And where exactly are the weapons now?"
"Ares caught Luke in the act while he was trying to escape and took the weapons. Unfortunately, our resident god of war was convinced to hold on to them and not return them."
Poseidon raised an eyebrow at that, "You expect me to believe that my nephew, Zeus's own son, would willing betray Olympus? For what possible reason?"
"World war three," I said with a shrug.
Poseidon seemed to mule it over.
"And how exactly did you come to find this out, boy? You seem to know an awful lot about this plot. For if you are telling the truth and my father is rising again..."
I knew that question would eventually come up. After all, why wouldn't anyone be suspicious of how I knew the plan in such great detail? Luckily for me, good ole Rick had written a little exploit in the books that could get people to believe me without having to explain myself fully.
"I heard it from Luke himself while eavesdropping." I said, "Also, I swear upon the river Styx that everything I said about Luke's plot is truthful and that I am in no way involved with it."
Hopefully, Poseidon wouldn't notice that I hadn't promised that my source of the information was truthful. Even if he had and made me swear that it was the truth, I possibly could have gotten away with it. After all I believe Luke does, in fact, say it himself in the books.
!
A notification?
Thunder boomed in the sky and the sea began to churn violently, rocking the small fishing boat we were on.
"What in Chaos?" Poseidon muttered.
The sea god gained a light green aura and I assumed to try to get a handle on the sudden storm.
While he was busy with that I checked the new screen in front of me.
You have just made an oath on the river Styx. This is the most serious oath you can possibly make in the Greek world and has great consequences if broken.
Checking oath…
…
…
Oath type made: Oath of honesty
Checking to see if you have upheld your oath…
…
…
Oath has been upheld!
No punishment will be handed out.
'Huh.' I thought as the screen disappeared and the storm began to die down, 'Maybe I should be more careful in the future with those.'
!
For carefully wording your way out of a possible death sentence take +1 to INT!
The chair next to me groaned as Poseidon sat back down and gave a weary look.
"Well." Poseidon said dryly, "Considering you just angered fate itself, I think you're telling the truth."
"Say what?"
Shit, what the hell did I do now?
"That storm that just happened? When you swore on the river Styx. Usually, oaths on the river simply result in a crack of thunder or a slight tremble in the earth, but that…" He trailed off.
Oh, this wasn't good.
"But that what?"
The sea god sighed, "That was the fates taking notice that you just screwed over something in their domain. You apparently aren't supposed to know what you know."
But that doesn't make any sense. I know tons of shit I shouldn't know. If that was a prerequisite for pissing those three old bags off than I should have been atomized as soon as I appeared.
"It's because you essentially just said it to their faces." Poseidon said already knowing what I was thinking.
I conveyed my confusion with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm right. You're new to the supernatural and divine. Alright then, a small lesson for you my great nephew. The fates are powerful, ancient, and primordial. They appear across multiple pantheons in different forms, yet similar at the same time. Everyone, gods included, should have a healthy fear of them. For many divine beings have fallen for defying them. But they are not all knowing and are bound to the same rules that the rest of us are, this is why they were ignorant of you having obtained this knowledge that you weren't supposed to come by. Unfortunately, there is one thing they do very much pay attention to, and you just happened to swear such knowledge on that."
Fuck.
"An oath on the river Styx." I muttered.
Dammit, I really was going to have to be careful with those.
"But what's done is done and I thank you for this priceless information Arthur. You may have just prevented the destruction of western civilization." Poseidon said as he stood up from his seat, "Normally I would wish to reward you for such a deed, instead though I fear I must ask something of you instead."
"Yes my lord?" I asked as a sinking feeling started to form.
"I do not do this often, but time and circumstances would dictate otherwise as of now. As such, I wish to offer you a quest."
My eyes widened, "A quest?"
"Indeed. Today my son and two companions will be sent on what I know now is a fool's errand of a quest to return the master bolt from who they think stole it, my brother Hades. But this provides a golden opportunity. For while Ares thinks the suspicion will be off him, it would be the perfect time to send someone to infiltrate his palace and retrieve the weapons."
No way. Was he seriously going to give me such a quest?
"Tell me Son of Artemis. As I know your mother is quite skilled in the art, how are your stealth skills?"
!
Quest issued!
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