The river raced toward me at the speed of a truck. The wind roared against me, searing my wounds, and ripping the breath from my lungs forcefully.
Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision, which was rapidly darkening. Was this really how I was going to die? I wasn't a child of Athena by any means, but even I knew that a fall from this high was going to flatten me like a pancake.
If I was really lucky, the force of impact would crush all of my bones in an instant, and I'd have a quick, painless death. The dark, glassy surface got closer and closer.
Against the river's inky surface, I caught sight of that faint, pink glow still clinging to my torso, like a swirl of luminescent ribbons reflected in a darkened mirror. The light pulsed gently, creating a shifting halo that rippled whenever I took a breath.
It seemed almost alive, wrapping and unwrapping around me in a slow, hypnotic pattern. A soft hum buzzed at the edge of my hearing, as though the energy itself was trying to speak—but I couldn't quite make out the words.
FLAAAAA-BOOOOM!
The pink glow disappeared within a whiteout of bubbles. As the shock and vertigo overtook my body, I sank through the murk, sure that I was about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever. Any moment now, my vision would wink out forever, and I'd be the latest entry in a long list of dead demigods.
Wait.
My eyes narrowed.
Though I'd originally chalked it up to my deteriorating senses, or shock, or something—I realized that my impact with the water hadn't hurt at all. I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly.
A catfish the size of my stepfather lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage—beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags—swirled up all around me. At that point, I realized a few things: I was alive, which was good. I hadn't been flattened into a pancake: which was also good.
Wait.
I hadn't been barbecued, either.
Zeus, now since I was really focusing, I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins anymore. A quick look at my [HP] and [MP] showed that they were refilling at an alarmingly fast rate—was this because of my dad? I even felt the bones in my arm restructure themselves, albeit slowly.
I lifted my arm and watched the white straighten out and get layered under a crisscross of red, lean, muscle. Tanned skin started twisting around it. It wasn't the greatest feeling in the world—and far from the greatest sight—but at this point, I was willing to take what I could get. Ignoring the fish that swam by me cautiously, I pulled up my status screen.
— - —
{Perseus Jackson} [Son of Poseidon] [Hestia's Favored] [Echidna's Bane]
[LVL]: 17 [9900/10,000]
[HP]: 10,250/10,250
[SP]: 12,500/12,500
[MP]: 5250/5250
[FEALTY]: N/A
[STR]: 24 [+8]
[VIT]: 17
[DEX]: 32 [+20]
[INT]: 18
[CHA]: 12 [+5]
[WIS]: 15
[LUC]: 7
[AP]: 31
[PP]: 5
[$]: 46USD, 53D
[Info]: Son of the legendary lord of all seas, Poseidon, and Sally Jackson, Percy is the current [Child of Prophecy] and bearer of Olympus' flame. Despite his murky past, Percy is ready to take on his future with determination.
{Titles}
[Son of Poseidon]
Permanently grants [+][1000][MP] and increases [Mana Regeneration] rate by [1%] per five seconds. [Hestia's Favored] Permanently grants [+][750][HP] and [+][750][MP]. [
Echidna's Bane]
Grants immunity to all poison-based status effects and toxins, and reduces incoming damage from monstrous creatures by [10%].
— - —
You'd think I'd be happy, right? With the Medusa quest and the Chimera quest, I'd leveled like crazy—my stats were going to be off the charts! Instead, all I felt was an icy feeling of disappointment coat my insides. After fighting against Echidna and Chimera, my entire world had flipped on its head. I'd never faced enemies that strong before.
Against the Minotaur, against Dodds (who claimed she was taking it easy on me), even against Medusa—I still felt somewhat in control. Like we were evenly matched opponents, or that I could somehow inflict damage on them.
Even if I wasn't sure I'd win, I at least felt like there was a chance. I didn't feel that way against the Chimera. Hitting it did nothing, I couldn't outspeed it, and I sure as heck couldn't out-tank it either. With Echidna there, even our difference in intelligence meant nothing.
And to top it all off, I knew that by the end of my quest, I'd have to face someone even stronger than that. How in Zeus' name could I do that? Forget Ares, how can I even survive in this world if my enemies were just going to keep getting stronger and stronger?
I mean, to give you an example, even by the time I return to camp, I may not be halfway to Luke's level—and that's without trying to figure out the perks and titles he probably has. How the hell am I supposed to fight gods?
Well, whatever. I shook myself. I couldn't let myself get too caught up in all of that at the moment—I had to worry about surviving long enough to get to camp, first. Besides, complaining wasn't going to solve anything. Even if it did help me feel a little better. It was like I told Piper. I just needed to keep powering through it.
The hurt, the unknowing, the feelings of inadequacy—all of it. I had no choice but to keep going. I opened up my perk tree, and unlike last time, I completely ignored the special perks. Don't get me wrong—I loved the idea of amazing, game-breaking perks, but they were way too expensive at the moment. They were amazing at what they did, no doubt.
[Godly Constitution] was a prime example of that—I looked and felt older than I was, and my physical stats were getting boosted into oblivion.
The downside, however, was that I got so caught up in it that I neglected even looking at other perks. It helped a little bit with defense, sure, but it was too passive. I knew I needed some full-blown offense—I couldn't just escape every opponent I had to fight.
The fight with the Chimera showed me just how outclassed I truly was. In a fight like that where just my sword and some pyrokinesis couldn't do the trick, I needed some serious firepower. My toolbox of powers only had a screwdriver and an Allen wrench right now. I needed a hammer.
Trying to shake that icy feeling again, this time I completely skipped over any perk that didn't seem offensive in nature. I picked out the three that sounded the most helpful in a battle.
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