Rigel blinked, looking at the giant praying mantis staring at the three of them.
Rigel was not afraid of most insects. At most, he stayed away from poisonous ones, but it wasn't a fear of the insects themselves, but of their venom.
However, he felt that this world was working to give him enough trauma to instill new fears wherever he went.
Have you ever been stared at by a giant insect the size of an elephant, even more so when looking at those deadly, polished scythes it possessed and its eyes constantly changing color, but clearly fixed on them?
Calypso didn't seem scared at all, Tamara was trembling fiercely, Rigel? He was frozen.
Literally, he faced zombies, ghosts, and vampires... but looking at this thing, Rigel just wanted to say that he preferred facing the ghosts, zombies, and vampires.
The cold that rose up his back was the only thing reminding him that he should move, but he knew that with the insect's reaction time, he wouldn't stand a chance if his sudden movement caused it to attack.
He swallowed hard, sweating, but in the end it was Calypso who started laughing. "You should have seen your face." She shook her head and walked forward, moving her hands as if she were swatting away an annoying mosquito.
The praying mantis seemed frightened by her, it simply spread its wings and flew away.
Rigel blinked, looking at the woman, for the first time, he felt that having Calypso nearby wasn't such a big bother after all.
Swallowing hard, he said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome, my little hero, but I think I deserve a reward for saving you, don't you?" She joked, stepping closer.
Rigel looked away and started walking away, following the direction Calypso had taken before, pretending not to have heard.
Calypso just chuckled softly, shaking her head, she licked her lips slightly, the more Rigel played hard to get, the more interested Calypso became.
She glanced at the still trembling mermaid, looked away, and followed Rigel, she clearly wasn't interested in comforting the traumatized mermaid's mind.
Tamara swallowed hard, but looking around, she didn't dare stay there, quickly running after them.
Rigel, on the other hand, was thinking that he really needed to accept that Triton physique, he would feel much safer, even as a second-rate Aquaman.
Rigel walked a little faster when he noticed Calypso following him. He took a deep breath, grabbed his wand, and summoned Diabolus. The giant snake, reaching 10 meters in length, "crawled" through the air. This way, at least he could feel safer without straining his magic too much.
Calypso looked at Diabolus curiously. "This spell, it feels very sinister, there's a lot of negative emotion inside him."
Rigel glanced back slightly, looked away, and spoke. "Yes."
Calypso wasn't fazed by Rigel's cold response, she looked at him curiously, frowning slightly. "These negative emotions seem to come directly from you, but this type of magic leaves traces. However, I don't sense any trace on you, as if these emotions don't affect you."
Rigel didn't reply, although inwardly he was a little surprised to see Calypso 'guessing' so well.
Calypso glanced at his back for a moment longer, her smile slowly returning, finding Rigel increasingly interesting.
She looked away and gazed ahead. "We're almost there."
Rigel nodded, he needed to cast a cleansing spell from time to time to combat the sweat, in addition to drinking plenty of water, they had already been walking for hours.
"Wasn't there a faster way?" he asked.
"Actually, it's connected to the sea, we could have gone by water." Calypso said lightly.
Rigel stopped, his head slowly turning towards the goddess. Tamara, who was walking behind him, widened her eyes. The pair stared at Calypso, blinking.
"You... why didn't you say that before?" Rigel asked, trying to contain the irritation burning inside him. Tamara wanted to know the same, but she didn't dare speak to the goddess like that.
Calypso simply smiled more brightly. "You didn't ask."
Rigel stared at the woman with dead eyes, Calypso looked at him with 'innocent' eyes.
Taking a deep breath, Rigel ignored her, continuing to walk, this time with a heavier step.
Calypso simply let out an amused laugh, making Rigel clench his teeth. If he didn't know he couldn't beat this woman, he'd like to teach her a good lesson.
The journey didn't stop, the trio continued walking for about another hour before seeing the white stone city.
The stone was cracked, plants grew over the houses, but even so, the beauty of the place was still visible.
A statue tens of meters tall of a man holding a trident was clearly visible near the sea.
"Poseidon." Calypso spoke calmly, there was detachment and a certain contradictory reverence in her words, but Rigel paid no attention.
Tamara, on the other hand, seemed the most animated, looking around, she approached a stone wall, running her hand along it.
"Finally..." She whispered.
Rigel and Calypso ignored the woman.
Rigel needed to find a place to "find the crown." so he said. "Let's split up and look for anything useful."
Calypso looked at him, curiosity flickering in her eyes, but she didn't refuse. "Of course."
Rigel nodded, and the next moment he started walking away, heading straight for the city center.
The city was enormous, easily accommodating tens of thousands of people, its tallest buildings reaching ten to twenty meters, it would take several days to explore everything.
Rigel went straight to what appeared to be the palace in the center, while Calypso, on the other hand, headed towards a huge structure near the water, the temple of the gods.
Tamara lagged behind, but she didn't mind, gazing reverently at the enormous statue of Poseidon, easily 30 to 40 meters tall.
Rigel entered the palace, his footsteps echoing through the great halls. He looked around, Diabolus still floating nearby.
He sighed, waved his wand, and began conjuring dozens of snakes, all small, serving only for searching.
"Go, find anything other than white stones, then report back to me." Rigel said in Parseltongue.
The snakes nodded and began to slither away one after the other.
Rigel walked forward, feeling incredibly small, the Greek buildings made you feel like an ant in a giant's house.
Rigel walked past three halls, each with statues of gods and walls engraved with various mythical creatures.
Finally, he arrived at the throne room. There was an enormous throne, and behind it he saw another statue of Poseidon, larger than the statues he had passed before, though smaller than the statue he had seen at the city entrance.
Rigel looked around, sensing that this was the perfect place for what he intended.
Acting quickly before Calypso arrived, hoping that the Triton's remaining power in that place would divert the woman's gaze, he spoke. "Give me the Bloodline of the Triton King."
The next moment, the Adventure Book opened, a wave of water surged from its pages, and this water surrounded Rigel directly.
The water formed a huge cocoon of flowing water, causing Rigel to float in the 'air'.
Rigel felt the water on him, he could even breathe there, but his clothes still seemed dry. The sensation was very strange. The next moment, he felt something changing inside him. His body trembled as the fragile muscles of an 11-year-old boy slowly transformed. He didn't look like a bodybuilder, only his muscles became harder and more defined.
It wasn't over, the water seemed to run through his veins. He slowly felt his connection to it growing stronger and stronger. Furthermore, his stagnant pool of magic, which had slowed its growth considerably, began to grow again, but faster than when he was growing, much faster.
He felt as if the magic flowing into him had doubled directly, continuing to grow even more until it reached 3 times its original volume.
He didn't feel full, instead, it felt right.
The final change came from below, his clothes seemed to merge with his skin as a black fish tail appeared where his legs had been, his chest bare. He floated in that sphere of water for a moment with his eyes closed, feeling the changes within him. When he opened his eyes again, they shone a crystalline blue. He looked at the dome of water that still enveloped him, feeling his control over the water, slowly making it push him down as it flowed across the ground. Rigel kept the water at his waist, gazing at his form, feeling the strength of his body. He smiled.
He wished he were at sea right now, he wanted to swim to see the full effect of this shape.
Shaking his head, he let the water flow away from him, his body slowly returning to human form, his clothes appearing as he returned. It was clear that his transformation looked more like an Animagus transformation than the mermaid transformation that left them naked.
"That was good." Rigel nodded, the strength in his body still energizing him.
The adventure book opened at that moment, words appearing rapidly.
[Author, I must warn you that due to your youthful body, the Triton Physique has not reached its full potential, the same applies to your magic, which has grown due to your new bloodline, you'll have to wait until you reach your physical peak.]
Rigel paused for a moment, thoughtful. Well, that made sense; he still had a young body.
"So how much strength do I have now?" He asked.
[You can lift, with some difficulty, about 1 ton, other corresponding physical aspects are also limited, such as defense and speed.]
Rigel was a little disappointed, but at least he wasn't so helpless without his wand anymore.Thinking about his wand, he thought of something, pointing forward with a finger, he spoke. "Aguamenti"
In the next instant, from the tip of his finger, an extremely thin but pressurized stream of water gushed out, cutting the white stone directly as his finger moved.
Rigel stopped the magical flow, satisfied. He felt he could have expanded the flow considerably, if he used it at full power, it would probably become a water cannon.
This bloodline was truly worth it!