Nathan and the others stopped at a local clothing store and got something for both Nathan and Reuben. Freddy wanted a fedora hat so he got one as well.
After half an hour of testing things out, they walked out with Nathan wearing a suit and Reuben wearing blue overalls and comfortable shoes.
By their side, Freddy was rocking a cream coloured fedora, twirling it around his head like an excited kid.
"Can't you just take clothes and leave? No one will catch you anyways."
Freddy harrumphed and turned his head away, 'A noble creature like me stealing? Hah! It would have said nice joke if it weren't so tasteless.'
Ignoring his words that seemed to make him punch someone's head in, Nathan moved on with travelling back.
They didn't have any luggage to carry since he had the inventory, so their ride back was pretty comfortable. By the time they got back, night was beginning to fall. They had needed to take a few stops to eat and sight see. Reuben was really excited over everything now that he was outside. He hadn't seen much of anything when living in Boston and he was a kid.
Nathan indulged in little detours so long as it did not stray away too much from their path.
The sky had turned into the shade of a beaten wound, purple at the horizons and a deep orange otherwise. Their motorbike pulled up to his house and Reuben jumped off the seat like a toddler on a sugar rush.
"Big bro! Is this your house!?"
Freddy and Nathan each let out a small chuckle seeing him. Nathan nodded and unlocked the door.
Just as he was about to walk in to give them a tour, Freddy squeaked sadly.
'I'm afraid I must leave now, friends.'
Nathan turned, so did Reuben.
"What? Why?!" The young demigod asked, confused and startled.
Freddy twisted the fedora, his half bitten ear peaking out from the side and disappearing beneath the hat again. 'It is in my nature to run. I must prepare for the eventual end of all things. My father rarely rests. All his spawns have the same habits.'
"You could stay for a few days, you know." Nathan said calmly. He had hoped that the squirrel would stay for some time, but never imagined he would decide upon leaving so suddenly.
'I could. But I don't want to.'
Even now he's managing to irritate me. Nathan wasn't sure if this was his natural aura doing the work or his words. It was probably a mix of both.
"But..but.." Reuben struggled to find words. "You have to stay! You can eat walnuts here! And berries and fruits!"
Freddy's tail twitched at the words. Reluctantly, he turned his head away.
'...no.'
Reuben turned to Nathan, his eyes teary. The man in question sighed and stared the squirrel down.
"Fine... you can eat walnuts and fruits and berries."
Freddy's tail twitched again, stronger this time.
'... what about acorns?'
"Acorns too."
'Hmph! Then I guess I'll stay for some time to grace you both with my presence.'
Freddy ran through the open door and disappeared into the house.
Nathan and Reuben stared at each other for a moment before both of them burst out laughing.
With a shake of his head, Nathan led Reuben inside.
...
...
Later that night, when he had put Reuben to sleep and was wondering for the fourteenth time what to do with the little demigod, he ran into Freddy who was munching on some pumpkin seeds. His cheeks were completely stuffed and it seemed as if he had two large water balloons in his mouth.
"You're enjoying yourself." Nathan said, sitting down on the chair beside him. Freddy was perched atop a small circular table. The chair was seated adjacent to it and was near a window which showed the dim night sky.
'Ooof Hooommse.'
"..You can eat before you answer."
Freddy nodded and went back to munching.
Nathan focused on his system. More importantly, he focused on the Bestiary he had unlocked.
When fighting the monster horde, he had gotten the notification that he had killed 10 different types of monsters. That apparently was the prerequisite to unlocking the Bestiary, which would reward him for completing certain milestones.
He opened it up. In front of him, a translucent book appeared. It seemed to be bound leather with golden threads running lengthwise through it. On the top of the cover were the words - 'Bestiary of Mythological Creatures - Memories of the Hunt.'
He opened the first page. It was a milestone chart, which told him of the conditions to fulfill and the rewards for all of them.
[Hunt 10 Types of Creatures - Unlock the Bestiary]
[Hunt 20 Types of Creatures - 100 Customization Points]
[Hunt 50 Types of Creatures - 200 Customization Points; 2 Perk Points; Tiger Pelt]
[Hunt 100 Types of Creatures - 300 Customization Points; 4 Perk Points; Three Disaster Pearls]
[Hunt 150...]
The list continued for the entire page and then to the next. Beside the first milestone which unlocked the bestiary which was golden, the rest of them were greyed out.
Generally, after 200 types of creatures, there was a reward every 100 hunted. There was a special rewars at 50, and after that, there was normally such a reward every 100 points and it's multiples.
An example was 'Three Disaster Pearls,' 'Shroud of the Hundred Demon Nights,' 'Tiger Pelt,' 'Scheherazade's Story Book,' and many more. The final milestone was to hunt a god.
Nathan wasn't too keen to trying that out any time soon. After all, even if he got enough strength, who knew what type of effects killing a god would have on the world around them? A God disappearing? That was one thing. But a god actively getting killed?
Unconsciously, Nathan felt a shiver go down his spine.
But still, the reward it offered was tantalizing enough.
[400,000 Customization Points; 80 Perk Points; Dust of the Demiurge; Mysterious Mask; Title(God Emperor of the Hunt)]
At this point, it was worth mentioning that many milestones gave out very interesting Titles.
They were of all kinds. Some examples being, 'Chieftain of the Badlands,' 'Loved by the World,' 'Honoured One,' 'Source of All Evil' and the aforementioned 'God Emperor of the Hunt'.
Another thing worth mentioning was the fact that Nathan had no idea what these Titles and Items did. He could theorize based on the names, but with something like the Mysterious Mask, even that didn't work.
Tapping on them offered no useful tips.
Eventually, Nathan moved on. The next page started with his first ever hunt - Kobaloi.
Accompanying the name was an image of the gremlin like creature and then a description of them.
On the same page were the Laestrygonians.
Each page seemed to have two creatures with their names, diagram and information on them. But for the creatures which were better known and documented in the myths, they took up an entire page.
Kobaloi, Laestrygonians, Draugrs, Cynocephali, Wampus Cat, Cercopes, Catoblepas, Giant Scorpions, Cyclopes, Dracaenae, Giant Spiders, and the Lernaean Hydra.
That made for a total of 12.
Looking at the Cercopes and their diagrams on the book, Nathan felt a surge of irritation and the sudden desire to punch something. But he decided to bury that moment far into his memory and never speak of it again.
A tree falls in a forest, but does it make a sound? Of course it doesn't!
Nathan looked at Freddy whose cheeky had sunken down somewhat. His chin was furiously moving up and down in an attempt to chew all the seeds at once.
"Don't you like... store them? For winter or something?"
Freddy gave him a curious glance and nodded. He took a large gulp, decreasing the size of his inflated cheeks to a small bump and squeaked.
'I do store stuff for Fimbulwinter, but it's very high energy food.'
"Oh? Like what?"
'Foul Words.'
Nathan's brows furrowed.
"Foul words?"
'You know, cursing someone out. I feed on those.'
Nathan grew even more confused, but then he remembered that Ratatoskr seemed to enjoy carrying insults more than anything. Perhaps that was the reason behind it. Besides, abstracts in Norse Myths weren't really abstracts.
Once, Thor grabbed a fish's tail as it flew out of the water, and the strength in his grip was so immense that all fishes from then on had tappering tails. There was also the example of Dwarves sometimes crafting out of abstract and illogical materials.
(A/N: Fun fact, Gleipnir was not a chain, but a thread made out of the sound of a cat's footfall, a woman's beard, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird.)
Shaking his head, Nathan suddenly looked back. With start, a small head ducked behind the wall without making a sound.
Nathan chuckled and called out.
"Reuben, if you can't sleep, why don't you join us?"
Reuben walked out from behind the wall and smiled awkwardly. Nathan shook his head and began to walk to the kitchen.
"I know a great recipe. Just wait around for a bit."
Reuben nodded and ran to the window. The moonlight was shining through the clouds, falling through the window.
Nathan opened his Custom Order tab and smirked.
...
...
After 7 minutes, a distinct aroma hit both Freddy and Reuben.
Their noses opened and closed in waves and they simultaneously turned to the kitchen. There, Nathan walked out with a knowing smile and what looked to be a metal container and biscuits.
"Behold!" He set the container down. And what was inside brought both Reuben and Freddy to let out a yelp of surprise.
"Marshmellows?" Reuben asked curiously. In the container, large marshmallows were mingled with bits and pieces or melted chocolate.
And the container? An air fryer. Made with the simple cost of 0.2 points. If it were before, Nathan would not dare to spend his precious points to uselessly. But now, he felt like he could have some fun.
He had also used 5 points to get a cooking skill.
[Cooking(++)]
He picked up a biscuit and dipped it into the marshmallow chocolate mix.
"Well?" He said, taking a bite and closing his eyes with a satisfied hum. "Try it. The taste is to die for."
Reuben and Freddy both dove in.
And well... let's just say they enjoyed it a little too much. Enough to wreak the kitchen in a sugar rush, trying to find more.
Let's just say that.
...
...
Nathan walked outside his house, carrying a bag of garbage he had piled up during his trip. He walked over to the disposal area where it would be picked up and dropped it off.
The Hydra head is still in my inventory. I can't dip my arrows in it's bile since it'll melt right through them. How did Herakles manage it? Should I upgrade my arrows? Or just make a celestial bronze AK?
The Head was immortal in the myths and Herakles had to crush it, so it must hold plenty of Mythological importance. It should also give me plenty of points to experiment with. He thought absently.
Just then, he felt like he was being watched. He suddenly turned around, spotting a bird perched on the roof of his house.
His eyes narrowed.
It was a hawk.
The hawk stared at him, dead on. It blinked once. Twice. Then, with a flap of its wings, the hawk flew away, letting a single feather slowly drop in front of the door.
As the hawk left, Nathan stood still in thought for many moments.
...
...
A/N: I saw the mashmellow chocolate recipe on instagram. Apparently, if you put marshmellows and chocolate in an air fryer and fry for 5 minutes at 200 degrees, it makes that and can be eaten with biscuits.
I can't try it since I don't have an air fryer... or marshmellows, but to those that do, you should try it.
Also, to those saying he should be 100% efficient now that he has points, we're allowed to have fun you know. Not everything needs to be about min-maxing a build like a hard-core game character.
Anyways, the next chapter is coming tomorrow. My schedule is a bit messed up, but writing helps me focus so I'll keep to it.
Also, drop some stones.
Bonus Chapter if we get into the top 3 by the end of the week. 2 bonus chapters if we get first.