I explored camp, I already knew my way around it but that was on a map, it wasn't the actual buildings.
I walked around and saw all the buildings. The fighting colosseum, I went there first to give Luke the letter and explain who it was from but he didn't seem to like it.
After that I went to the other buildings, more specifically the large strawberry field, the stables, the canoe lake, the dining pavilion, and the archery field.
But there was one place I wanted to go that no one else knew about. I knew that because it wasn't on the map annabeth gave me.
The grove of dodona.
It was part of the aftermath of the titanomachy, and like most things involved in it it's shrouded in mystery, nothing is actually clear about it. The only things known is that it was the first grove to exist on earth, planted into the ground by rhea.
It's said that the trees speak to travelers, either imparting ancient wisdom and prophecies, or madness and insanity.
Good thing my head is madness and insanity proof.
I stood at the border of the forest and activated CotM.
Coming from my chest there were many strings but 2 stood out, the first was a small stream of water that fled into the forest running away to some secret lair.
The second was a wisp of green smoke that calmly flowed into the woods, beckoning me to follow into its secret that's hidden far into the woods.
I'm supposed to spend the night at the grove but it's about mid day, so I guess I have time to explore.
I took a step into the woods and was met with this.
You are entering: the forest of camp half blood
Would you like to activate dungeon mode?
yes/no
I contemplated it for a moment, as I said I have time to explore, and I'm really curious about the string of water.
"No"
I walked through the forest, winding through all the trees.
I eventually got to a small cliff overlooking a beach, about 12 meters high. It was a great view but I knew that this wasn't the thing that the string was leading me to. It was a gut feeling.
I searched around for something but there was nothing, and the string just takes a nose dive into the water, I guess I only have one option.
Son of the sea has been activated
+500 HP
+500 MP
50 HP regen / second
50 MP regen / second
I took a nosedive myself.
I swam around and saw the string, even underwater it was clear, distinct and separate from the rest.
I decided to follow it into an underwater cave, really there wasn't much in the cave, rocks, dirt, oh, and an entire naval base.
When I entered the cave I noticed a large air pocket, extremely large. I swam up to it and was amazed to see what I saw.
The doors were lined with colonnades that had trident shaped tops, the walls seemed to be decorated with wave-like designs.
The colonnades held torches, like, actual medieval torches. And they all still had their flame, I'm guessing they were magical.
Most of the place was just water, and in the water there were several boats, nothing big, but still nothing to scoff at.
And there was another platform, this part of solid land. That platform looked much bigger, mostly on the fact that the dry area wasn't filled with boats but chariots instead.
I swam to the dry part to check them out. The chariots were lined up in row, not sure why they'd be down here though, heck how did they even get down here? There's only one entrance and that's filled with water.
That's what I thought until I noticed the buttons and the giant metal door.
I guess this entire thing must be the Posiedon cabin's personal transportation shed.
Observe
Name: Bunker 3
Bio: during the demi-god civil war, a war fought between the Greeks and greco-roman demigods, the Greeks who lived in camp half-blood at the time made 12 bunkers for 12 cabins, this is the Poseidon bunker. Its main use was to be a naval base that also deployed ground troops, this bunker stands out particularly because of the fact that it was made by the hands of the cyclopes using orichalchum.
Attributes:
Hidden door: from the outside the door is easily overlooked.
Vehicle array: this bunker keeps an array of nautical vehicles and chariots
Chariot of pelops: this bunker contains the chariot of pelops, the best chariot in the world
Divine metal: +50% damage against monsters but does no damage to mortals
What damage could I do? Am I going to rip out one of the colonnades and use it as a bat?
Or, if I continue to follow this string, which is leading to a small door, I might find something cool. Popping the cap off riptide, I poked open the door.
Inside I found something beyond awesome, a fucking load of nothing. Just a string leading to the middle of the room, which had a skylight spotlighting it like Indiana Jones.
I looked around the room, it had the same architecture as the outside, except the floor, the bricks were styled in a pattern to resemble a nautilus shell. And one of the walls had a large map of camp half-blood.
The map was much larger than the one annabeth gave me, it almost covered the section of the wall that it hung on, it was also much more worn out compared to annabeth's and it was much more detailed, in the bottom right corner, just below the compass rose, there was a date.
November 3rd 1862.
The map was made during the civil war, not the demi-god civil war. Or maybe they're one in the same.
The thought creeped me out.
Wait, I thought American history was just mythological history shrouded in mysteries and lies. How much of American history is real?
I never thought about it before but I've just been introduced to a whole new world. And that world might just fill in the gaps of history in... well, history.
Exactly how much of history has been influenced? How far does the gods' influence over mortals reach?
I decided to stop thinking about that and go back to looking at the string that led into the middle of the room.
Going with the gut feeling that got me into trouble at school, I walked directly into the light.
Ping: room activated, bunker 3 training room.
Proceed:
Yes or no
Hell yes, why wouldn't I do training intended for sons of Proseidon? Let me guess, level one is boring, then it ramps up super quick.
OK, spoiler alert, I was so fucking wrong.
I knew this because I got a status update
Because you have entered this dungeon all entities will gain the status effect 'semi-immortal'
Ping: status effect, semi-immortal
Until removed you cannot die or be severely damaged
Out of the ground came 10 automatons, with really sharp looking swords. The automatons resembled romans in some way. They all were made to resemble humans, but they all looked like they were just i don't know synchronized to each other.
The romans greatest strength was their numbers and how they functioned together, it must be the same for these guys. What was the word for roman groups of nine? conteburium?
Observe
Name: Training bot lvl 1
Title: n/a
Race: warforged
Stats:
HP: 5,000/5,000
MP: 0/0
Str: 75
Dex: 75
Vit: 80
Int: 100
Wis: 0
Luc: 0
Bio: This is a weak training bot for little three demi-gods. They are mass produced by cyclops both in Olympus and in Atlantis.
Weaknesses: no magic, only level one
Important events:
Being made
THIS IS LEVEL FUCKING ONE. I CAN'T FUCKING COMPETE.
THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE AN ACTUAL FUCKING WEAKNESS, THIER WEAKNESSES ARE MORE LIKE FACTS ABOUT THEM!
HOW THE FUCK DO I DO THIS!
I was cut out of my thoughts when I was almost sliced in half. I noticed that this one was different, each of the bots have a helmet, a typical roman legionary helmet. But the puff on this guys helmet is horizontal instead of vertical.
The thing ran at me and slashed downwards, I dodged to the right.
Name: training bot (decanus) lvl 1
Title: artificial decanus
Race: warforged
Stats:
HP: 6,000/6,000
MP: 0/0
STR : 80
DEX : 80
VIT : 85
INT : 105
WIS : 5
LUC : 0
Bio : this is a training bot designed in olympus and atlantis that is built to train young weak demi-gods
Weakness: it can't use magic, it's level 1
Significant events:
Being made
FATES, THESE AREN'T WEAKNESSES THERE FACTS THAT I CAN'T EXPLOIT, LEARN WHAT A WEAKNESS ACTUALLY IS.
Slash.
The decanus horizontally swiped his gladius where I just was but I fortunately fell backward onto the ground just in time.
Ok, if the fates won't tell me their actual weakness i guess i'll have to figure out my strengths.
Luck
Nagini
I have magic
I have a sword that shrinks and grows
The romans are strict about rules, if there anything like actual romans then i should be able to pick up there patterns
Through alternative methods (analyzing things outside of observe) observe has leveled up to level 10
You can observe olympians (except the big three) low-tier invisibility and strengths
Not that i'm complaining but how the fuck do i level up a skill without even using it, and how do I observe 'low-tier invisibility'? I think I would need to see it in order to observe it.
I really have to concentrate on the fight. Because the decanus just slashed downwards, I rolled out of the way just in time for me to dodge but my new shirt was ripped.
I got up from my position from the floor. I still held riptide in my hands.
I infused magic into riptide from the hilt, fire aspect
-50 MP
I thrusted into the war forged chest. It was harder to cut than i thought it was like trying to pierce cardboard with a pencil, not easy, but not hard.
I managed to pierce it doing 3400 damage + the 750 fire aspect. I forgot why did i struggle with alecto? Better yet why are robots that are meant to train 3 year old demigods stronger than one of the first monsters?
Come to think of it there have been several inconsistencies with the system, I guess the fates are still booting it up and everything is just behaving glitchy.
But considering that my damage count is starting to do damage I'd say it's starting to work.
The decanus turned to me and was about to deliver a decapitating blow.
I pulled riptide out of the bot and leapt away in a fluid motion. Leaving a cut in the side of the decanus that was outlined with searing red metal. I wonder if that would do poison damage.
that was the pattern, it moves attacks, halts for 4 seconds, maybe 3. Then it moves and attacks.
If I'm right it should attack... now.
Lo and behold, he ran at me and thrusted his gladius at my chest while doing some sort of semi-crouch. Now that I know the pattern I have this in the bag.
I jumped left and then I ran at him, jumped, and aimed to end him with a downward strike. But I barely scratched him.
I got tunnel vision, I was so focused on the decanus that i didn't remember the other warforged.
While I was about to end the decanus one of the warforged sprang to life and ran to save the decanus from a lethal strike by taking the blow itself.
It ran between the sword and the decanus, I cleaved its head in half which gave me this.
Ability unlocked : combat ability : critical strike (1/7)
The ability to do additional damage or inflict certain effects to your opponents by hitting certain points on their body, currently you now of 1 out of 7 possible critical points
Note: critical spots change for each monster
Head shot (attack x 5)
Glitches like this is what I'm talking about, I already head shot a bunch of zombies.
The roman just fell to the ground.
The decanus looked at me through the split in his friend's head.
The decanus raised itself menacingly and looked down at me. Raising it's gladius it slashed downwards.
I ripped riptide from the romans head and deflected it, fortunately I blocked with riptide at the wrong angle.
The gladius shattered when it smashed down on riptide.
This astounded me. I thought that celestial bronze is stronger than that, and riptide didn't take damage so...
I observed the gladius.
Name: gladius shard
Bio: a gladius is the word for a roman one-handed, double edged, shortsword, it is the roman version of a xiphos. This particular gladius is made for the robots in bunker 3 and is made of mortal bronze.
20 damage/hit (due to being fractured the gladius' damage output has reduced by 60%)
These aren't divine blades? I guess it's better than wasting divine metal on things that are meant to be wrecked.
Then something clicked, an idea.
Remember what I said about the necklace of hestia before? How it seems weak at first but is secretly OP?
This is what I meant, the necklace gives me the ability to use fire magic and instantly levels it up 5 times and halves the MP cost.
So far it seems like I could just make up a spell that involves fire, and then said spell exists. I could basically control fire in any way I could think of, the only limit being that I couldn't control the mana required to use it.
So I could basically make spells.
Object self-immolation: i enfuse fire magic into any object until it reaches max capacity. Then I lock up that power and release it on command. And when I do release the power said object will be rapidly heated to the point that it would either melt or burn, but there will be a small time frame where it could be used at maximum heat.
heat resistance: enhances an object's immunity to fire
Self-combustion: overheat the inside of a machine until it shuts down
New fire enchantment discovered: object self-immolation lvl N/A
You can infuse an object with fire magic until said object couldn't contain said magic, it will then be destroyed by the heat
(note: the mana required for this spell is dependant on the object
New fire enchantment discovered: heat resistance lvl 5
Enhances an objects capacity for heat. (costs 15 MP)
(note: this enchantment increases the objects heat resistance by 50% of the original capacity)
(note: the lvl of fire resistance adds a new tier of fire resistance and doesn't reduce the MP consumption of any objects)
(note: because of the discovery of this enchantment observe has now been modified to show an objects capacity for heat)
New ability: combat ability: self combustion lvl 5
You can overload a machines insides in a way that causes it to malfunction and eventual destroy it
Lvl 5: you could destroy car engines.
I wasn't expecting the tail end of that last one, cars literally move by making explosions in the engine. How do I overheat that? I guess i could increase the explosion.
Let's hope a robot is as complicated as a car engine.
Turns out no.
The decanus seemed confused on what to do when I halved the gladius, it just stood there thinking about what to do. I thought I melted it's insides but it wasn't the case, instead it reprogrammed itself to go from sword fighting to hand-to-hand.
And as you could imagine that wasn't the best move. I just dodge then stab it.
I then look over to the remaining robots, and nagini destroying them. Wow, i had really intense tunnel vision.
I somehow didn't notice an 80cm snake waking up on my arm, slithering down my body, slithering up the robot's leg, and apparently decapitating the robot, and is currently strangling the second. and only now i realize that nagini has leveled up constrict twice
Nagini has leveled up constrict twice
Constrict lvl:2
Constrict now does: 50 damage/second on normal body parts, constrict now does 200 damage/second when targeting the throat
The rest of the fight was rather boring, I just stabbed the warforged in the head then done.
Bruh, Riptide is fucking broken. In the overpowered sense, not literally.
I decided that I should probably get back to camp, I'm pretty sure that there's supposed to be dinner soon.