I spent the next few days planning my quest to find the master bolt. Well planning is a strong word.
I know Luke has the master bolt and that a god helped him. I know that people blame Posiedon for the theft of the bolt but no one realizes that something of Hades has also been stolen. And I know that the mastermind behind all of this is Kronos.
What i have to do is retrieve the master bolt and reveal that kronos is rising
What I don't know is where the bolt is, or how to expose Kronos.
How the hades do I do that?
In the myths heroes had to go to their targets to otherwise dispose of them.
Find Medusa's lair and kill her, and everyone knows where Medusa lives.
Go into the labyrinth and slay the minotaur. The crete's literally forced the Greeks into the labyrinth.
Kill the chimera. I wonder where the chimera is, probably over there in the giant field of ash and bones.
There are only three groups I could ask that would probably give me the location.
The fates, the all powerful deities that shape and control the will of everyone. And what's better is that I have direct access to them, but apparently they want to see how the story plays out.
Option 2. The grays, three immortal elderly women who share a tooth, and an eye. They're supposed to be incredibly wise and know the secrets of the world, secrets not even Athena knows. The down sides are that they're very spiteful, cryptic, and unwilling to give out information. Also they live on top of a mountain so that may be a problem.
And the third option. The oracle of delphi. Servant of Apollo, and speaker of prophecies. Also very cryptic and very elusive. But still the best chance that I have. One problem, I don't know where she is, and even if I did there's the small chance that a maenad will rip me to shreds.
I can't plan anything, and I don't have any idea where to begin my journey. So all I could do was prepare.
The first thing I think I should do is get claimed by poseidon. That way I could use my powers freely without raising any eyebrows.
And until my quest i should grind my powers. Son of the sea gives me an OP MP boost, more than enough to let me grind. I even had enough time to fill the black pearl's MP requirement.
When i finished my water training, i had to use 5 MP per square meter per minute, i also got a 'skill evolution' stone.
Name: skill evolution stone
Bio: you have trained your skills to their apex, where there's no room left for improvement, and now, it's time to evolve beyond that. With this stone you can enhance and evolve a skill of your choice to something superior.
Attributes:
Skill evolution: evolve one of your skills, thereby expanding it's capabilities and it's overall strength
But I didn't just grind my powers, I also tried to advance my fighting skills.
This is what happened when I shot my bow.
I walked up to the field and grabbed a bow and a quiver. I tried to copy the stance of the people next to me, and aimed for the target.
I pulled back the string, steadied my breathing, and let the arrow fly... sideways. The arrow immediately went left. At least I didn't hit anyone.
Then I got the notifications.
Through your horrible archery skills you have managed to do the following:
You have dealt 50,000 damage to artemis
You have dealt 50,000 damage to Apollo
You have inflicted apollo with depression
You have traumatized artemis
You have inflicted Apollo, the literal god of healing, medicine and diseases, with severe vomiting
You have made artemis, one of the most bravest and badass olympians, lock herself in her tent and made her cry for at least 24 hours
You have made Apollo freeze in shock for 1 hour with your bad archery skills
You have made Apollo want to beat the shit out of you... when he regains the ability to move... and get therapy
You have made Artemis want to hunt you... after she gets out of her tent... and gets therapy.
You have made Apollo vomit, creating a pandemic.
I might need to shoot more arrows, that sounds hilarious, fire a single arrow, enter the main hall of Olympus, and watch the chaos unfold.
That is if I somehow don't get absolutely obliterated by arrows from Apollo and Artemis.
Another thing I did was try to find the labyrinth, but apparently there isn't an entrance in camp, at least not yet.
This disappointed me, I wanted to explore the tombs, not in a grave robber way. This led me to making the dumb desicion of leaving camp, well, with chiron's permission.
I also wanted to leave camp for another reason, mom. Last time I saw her she was put into a medically induced coma, maybe she woke up by now. I need to see her, I need to make sure that she's safe.
First I went to the nearest labyrinth entrance I could find, the location of it made me smile.
Montauk.
Montauk beach, where my parents met and the best place in the world.
Every year me and mom rent a pastel blue rundown cabin that's half buried in the sand dunes and overrunned with cobwebs, and the water was always freezing cold so no one went into the water, that is if anyone even wanted to come here. It was perfect.
I followed the string that led me to the labyrinth, it was a noticeable notch in the sand. Something no one would pay much mind to if they stepped in it.
But if they did step in like I did?
They would fall down into a dark desolate hallway that stretched on into an abyss nothingness.
The walls around me looked like old grimey bricks and along those bricks ran a tapestry of muscular men grappling with each other engraved into the stone.
And I just walked through it trying to get to my destination... while also dropping off a package... a very ugly one... that makes medusa self-confident in her appearance.
Gabe.
What I did was I wandered around the labyrinth until I found a pitch black room. Even with brightness at max I could barely see the shadowy outline of the room.
Once I was there I dumped a pile of shit onto the floor, also, if you are a poop who's gained sentience and reading this, I'm sorry for comparing you to gabe.
Admittedly I did do some light torturing.
I ran around him while creepy whispering things like 'I see you' 'we see you' and even a creepy poem.
In the darkness, You shall die,
In the light, you shall fry
Blood, pain and torture
Your organs, eaten by vultures
For your crimes you shall hang
You shall suffer eternal pain
And for your final sentence
You shall suffer a life, endless
I also took out riptide and cut some parts of his exposed skin.
But something was missing...
I know.
I used revealing light on my fingers and poked gabe in his eyes, permanently blinding him.
Then I summoned pepper and macaroni to chase him through the labyrinth.
After a while pepper and macaroni came back and I returned pepper to her token, I let macaroni out to help me get through the labyrinth.
And holy shit did it feel good to be in the big city, it has been too long, despite being like a week.
First thing, follow the fancy line to mom, considering I have no clue where she is.
After about half an hour of wandering the labyrinth i finally got to the hospital.
And i was met with tragedy.
She was halfway dead.
Mom was laying down in bed, her eyes sunken and her skin a sickly pale and cold. Her pulse was barely noticeable at best, at worst it felt like she's already dead.
'Observe'
Name : sally jackson
...
HP: 5/250
...
Weaknesses:
...
Clutches of Hades: in a state close to death, Hades may reach out his cold hand of death and puppeteer the damned in any way he wants before their time has truly come, for this poor soul, hades keeps her soul on the very outskirts of his kingdom, keeping her suspended a single moment from death
Fuck it.
Fuck the planning, fuck the preperations. I'm going to the underworld and i'm going to fucking beat the shit out of Hades until he gives me my mom back.
But for now, I might be able to do something.
I looked around the hospital, there has to be one somewhere.
I finally found the room i'm looking for, Teaching basic medical procedures. They have these in some hospitals, classes for people so they know how to administer basic first aid. They won't become medical experts or doctor's, but they'll know how to handle a situation.
I just need to learn some first-aid, that'll appear as a skill, a skill that could evolve into healing if I use the skill evolution stone.
If i can use this, than i could get mom one or two steps away from the clutches of hades.
I watched the hour-long presentation. The slides, the examples on the mannequin. Even repeating the process on the mannequin.
I certainly wasn't an expert, barely a novice. But i had some knowledge. And that was enough.
Ability unlocked: utility ability: basic first aid lvl 1
You know how to treat minor injuries such as bruises or small cuts
I tried to evolve it but this happened:
Evolution failure
This skill is too low level to evolve, it must be at least level 5
Damn it.
Damn it, damn it, damn it!
Maybe, maybe there might be something in the tombs, some sort of undead artifact that can resist death.
I ran into the labyrinth and through the winding corridor's.
I ran to the graveyard and looked at the tombs in front of me.
I pulled out the key to the next tomb from my inventory, the key to the tomb of the hated.
I inserted the key into the lock and say the lock and chains fade into smoke.
I walked in and saw the description.
Would you like to enter 'tomb of the hated'
Bio: Hades, lord of the dead, takes the souls of the living and organizes them into their respective afterlives, but not all go to their respective after lives. Those scorned and hated throughout history end up in the service of Hades, whether they truly deserve it or not.
It is your task to find out who amongst the staff of Hades has been misplaced and deserves freedom, while letting all the rest fall into the darkness of Hades presence
Note: all rewards gained in the dungeon will only be accessible once the dungeon has been cleared
Note: due to the nature of this task you will be granted certain items
yes/no
So, a stealth game... that might let me see the inside of Hades castle.
I wonder if I'll get to kick hitler in between the legs, I hope so.
I fully embraced the darkness and stepped back into the light a moment later.
Due to the complexity of this task you will be granted certain boons
Hands of a servant: you will be able to perform household duties to an acceptable standard (note: your hands will appeared damaged and worn, this is just a skin)
Robe of darkness: an item that allows you to take on the appearance of a shade
Spell of freedom: a mystical chant that free's a soul from Hades palace and puts that soul in it's rightful place in the afterlife.
I woke up in an open coffin and stepped out into a large hallway, lined with either black coffins with gold inlays and red padding on the insides and a nameplate at the foot of it, or torches holding blistering green flames.
I looked at the tomb I was just walking out of.
'This tomb belongs to lee harvey oswald'
Huh, I guess he really did shoot JFK, or it was that other guy.
I wonder...
'Observe'
Name: tomb of lee harvey oswald
Bio: for his crimes this man is hated throughout history, and now he serves in the court of hades forever. The heinous crime committed, the assasination of the president: John F. kennedy
Attributes:
Soul anchor: this object is connected to the soul of a dead person, a connection so strong that the soul cannot go to far from the object, unless their soul is attached to an object of equal value
Soul anchor repression: this object negates a souls connection to other soul anchor's, this is a powerful enchantment that could only be bestowed by gods of death. For this particular instance, this object is repressing lee harvey oswald's connection to his 'curtain rods' (read, mannlicher-carcano)
Well, I think I can rule out this guy as innocent, yet again, history is subjective, someone could've hired oswald, and they, along with an unknown amount of people would've believed he did the right thing.
...
No, he's evil.
I wonder if I could find the second shooter's coffin, if there is a second shooter that is.
I walked down the hall looking at the names of the tombs
Marie antionette.
Adolf hitler, good, so I can kick him where the sun doesn't shine.
Marcus Junius Brutus.
JuliusCcaesar
Etc. etc.
Most of the people were people who's evil was debatable, others were just straight up evil.
Eventually I got to the end of the hall and came before a door, a massive door.
I just pushed it open and it opened.
I just walked around the castle getting a general lay of the land. While walking through I made a mental map of the castle and I learned where everything is.
For the most part it was uninteresting but there were a few incidents that were interesting.
"Status on the jackson boy." said a voice that was stiff and cold, and yet demanded respect.
"He has just discovered the nature of his mother mi'lord." said another voice, this one angry and coarse, it was familiar... who was it... oh yeah, my demon math teacher, well, the one that's a literal demon.
"And the message?"
"He has yet to receive it mi'lord, but he shall be aware of it soon."
"Good, I hope that little thief is grateful I show him such leniency."
"The jackson boy seems to have no sense of respect to others mi'lord, and I doubt he shall extend that courtesy to you."
"All that means is that I have even more of a right to smite him."
What message are they talking about? A ransom note maybe?
I admit, I was pissed, I wanted to jump out from behind the door and stab Hades with riptide, or at least make him return my mother before killing him.
But attacking the god of death, one of the most fierce and formidable gods of the Greek pantheon, in the middle of his castle. That didn't seem like a good idea.
Also gamer's mind stopped me from acting on my impulse.
While exploring the castle and meeting the servants I was struck by one thought: all of these people are awful.
No one was good, the best i could find was Brutus, the guy who betrayed and murdered his father Julius Ceaser for rome, and Ceaser was a cruel and arrogant warlord. Admittedly brutus seems like the hero in that situation but it's still patricide.
It made me think if no one is good then no one here is misplaced. But the fates themselves say that one person is misplaced. How could they be wrong.
No, they're not wrong, just misleading. They never actually said that a good person is misplaced here, only that a soul is misplaced, one that could be deserving of tartarus.
So who here could be the worst person.
Hitler, definitely Hitler.
I walked around the castle until I found the bastard.
I ran up behind him, silent as the dead, and stabbed him with riptide while whispering the incantation into hitler's ear.
His soul exploded in a dark light, leaving behind the smell of death and toxins.
I then walked back to the spawn room and went through the tomb of lee harvey oswald and came out the other side.
For completing 'tomb of the hated' you have gained
1500 XP
1000$
Robe of darkness
Hands of a servant
The right to decide hitler's eternal torment
Jewish people like and respect you
⅙ of an underworld relic
Key to the tomb of the fallen
You have leveled up to level 15
You have gained 5 ability points
You now have 1500/1500 HP and MP
While scanning over my rewards I found the 'hitler' one. I tapped on that one and a screen with a keypad came into my vision saying.
Insert punishment here
[____________________]
I thought about it for a second and typed this.
Hitler will be given to Akhlys as a test subject for any poison she makes, past, present, and future poisons included. The way the poisons will be delivered will be similar to how the germans gassed the jewish.
I feel like there's something missing from the punishment but I thought it was good enough.
I didn't get my mom back, not even close, but at least i got to torture the worlds biggest bastard.