— - —
My eye twitched.
Okay, game, I've had a lot on my mind! I've been busy! Jeez…onto my 31 attribute points. I think I've decided that I'd like to focus more on offense than defense, so I'm going to distribute my points accordingly.
— - —
{Perseus Jackson}
[Son of Poseidon] [Hestia's Favored] [Echidna's Bane]
[LVL]: 17 [4900/9000]
[HP]: 13,750/13,750
[SP]: 16,000/16,000
[MP]: 8750/8750
[FEALTY]: N/A
[STR]: 35 [+8]
[VIT]: 24
[DEX]: 45 [+20]
[INT]: 18
[CHA]: 12 [+5]
[WIS]: 15
[LUC]: 7
[AP]: 0
[PP]: 0
[$]: 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%].
— - —
Alright, that's that. Time to go test out some of my new stuff. I looked around until I saw a catfish minding its own business. The top right of my vision fluttered.
— - —
[Nike's Leap]
— - —
Sorry, buddy. I started to encase my hands in water—but not the dirty, Mississippi kind. The moment the water touched my hands, it became instantly purified and it started swirling and churning as if I put it in a blender.
My eyes widened. My stomach dropped. It was like that feeling when you're at the top of a gigantic rollercoaster and you take a peek over the cart and see just how far you're going to go barreling down. I disappeared in a blur. The river disappeared into a flash of darkness—I felt myself go blasting through the water and the next thing I saw was the poor catfish underneath me.
My hands snapped forward and blurred downwards.
— - —
[270][MP]! [5%] chance to blind, stagger, cripple, or bleed! [100 x 43] + [100 x 15] = [-] [5800][HP]!
— - —
The catfish was obliterated.
My hands melted through it like it wasn't even there, and then the two halves of it went rocketing in opposite directions, torpedoing through the water like heat-seeking missiles.
That was insane!
Sure, an attack like that wouldn't do much against higher-level opponents as it was right now, but I could definitely see myself working together with the rest of my perks to create truly horrendous combos.
On the top right of my vision, the [5%] quickly changed to [10%] which glowed for a few moments before disappearing.
Okay, it seemed like all of my skills were in working order. Time to get out of this dump. I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface.
Swam was sort of an oversimplification—I burned through another twenty [MP] as the water churned around me and rocketed me towards the surface. I burst through the river's surface right beside a drifting McDonald's bag. I glanced toward the arch, which was still shrouded in smoke and fire up at the top.
A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was posted up. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve. Was that Piper waiting by the riverbank?
"Percy!" Piper screamed, wrapping me in a hug the moment I walked out of the river. I guess maybe she hadn't noticed I was completely dry or just didn't care. The thought made me smile as I pressed my chin on top of her head.
"I saw you fall into the Mississippi from, like, all the way up there! How the hell are you still alive?"
"Son of the water guy, remember?" I smiled and flexed. "Going to take a bit more than a skinny dip from up there to do some damage over here."
Piper broke the hug in a hurry and scrunched her eyebrows. "Skinny dip? You were naked?"
"Yeah—wait, no. I was thinking about something else. What's that other thing?"
"The other thing?" "The other word for, like, a specific jump. It sounds kind of like skinny dip."
"Swan dive?" Piper suggested.
"Yes! Swan dive. Going to take more than a little baby swan dive to do me in."
"How'd you mix up swan dive and skinny dip?" Piper asked incredulously. She pointed the Minotaur's horn at my head like it was an X-ray machine at the dentist's office. Her lips parted, and she made some beeping noises and she roved it around my head. "Did the jump give you a concussion?"
"Oh, ha-ha. I know that was crazy and all, but I'm lowkey a bit hungry. For, like, real food."
Piper shrugged, "I thought your magic food was pretty good. But yeah, I'd be down to eat before we get back on the train."
"I appreciate that. But, I'm feeling lazy. And, we have a credit card. We might as well use it." Piper tucked the horn away. We began walking, and she cleared her throat, "You, uh, do you know you're not wearing a shirt, right? And your pants have rips in them. I can see your Spongebob boxers."
I didn't bother looking down. I was starving, "Your concerns are duly noted."
A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner, tucked against a wide window that overlooked the bustling street outside.
Families around us chowed down on burgers and sipped malted milkshakes through huge bendy straws, while the neon sign above the entrance cast vibrant pinks and blues across the glass. A waitress in a classic striped uniform glided between tables, balancing trays of fries and sodas served in oversized goblets.
My mouth watered. All of it. I wanted all of it! Through the window, I caught glimpses of passing cars and pedestrians, the outside world seeming oddly distant compared to the cozy glow inside the diner.
More police cars were mobbing the street—I wondered what the Mist was showing them. Finally, the waitress came over. She looked at me first, and then over at Piper, who was sitting across the booth. Eventually, she raised an eyebrow skeptically. "
Well?" "We'll start with two Root Beers," I told her with a big smile as I felt my [Gilded Tongue] perk activate. Her demeanor changed a little. Instead of looking down at us like we were little urchins off the street, she just looked done with life in general—there was no real hate towards us. I wouldn't call it much of an improvement, but I wasn't really in a position to judge.
"You kids here alone?" She asked. The look she was giving us made me wonder if she was even going to serve us. Sheesh. What a ray of sunshine. She went to speak again when the diner suddenly got a little chillier. Frost spread across the windowpane like an intricate tapestry of silvery threads, each filigree pattern glinting beneath the diner's neon light.
The sign's pink and blue glow danced across the frosty vines, making them shimmer and pulse as though they were alive. I could hear slight whispers. They were unintelligible, but I could tell someone was talking. It felt like I was stuck in Jell-O trying to listen, though. I was immediately on edge. It felt like one of those horror movie scenes leading up to a jump scare. But where? I checked under the table.
Nope.
Looked above me.
Nope. I started eyeing everyone in the diner, ready to pepper one of them with fireballs. I had my hydrokinesis, now, too...
The whispers kept getting louder and louder. I was about to lose my mind, and then, suddenly, the door to the diner opened, and a man walked through. All conversation in the diner stopped. All the people rose as if they were hypnotized, but the man waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again. Everybody went back to their conversations.
The waitress blinked as if somebody had just pressed the reset button on her brain. "Is it just you and your sister here?"
She asked, getting her little notepad out with a huff. "No mom and dad coming?"
"Well, uncle," A smooth voice said behind her. The man was standing behind her now—he was abnormally tall—her head was barely up to his collarbone. He looked like he was in his twenties and possessed a pale complexion, tousled black hair, and warm, melting brown eyes.
"Sorry, didn't mean to send the tykes in here without adult supervision, but you know how it goes. Parking and all. I trust that won't be too much of a problem, mm?" The waitress didn't answer. The man took a seat in the booth, right next to Piper, and clapped his hands. At the abrupt sound, the waitress turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen.
The man wore black jeans, combat boots, and a ripped T-shirt—not the kind of rip you'd get from fighting a Chimera, mind you, but the designer kind that somehow made the shirt more expensive. A gold chain shaped like a skull was hanging from his neck, and he topped the look off with a faded leather jacket.
"Lord Hades," I bowed my head respectfully. I mean, come on. It's obvious.
"It's an honor to meet you."
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