Son of Hades (4)

Chiron gazed at Adriel and Amelia. He could see they weren't happy with being in the arena. Especially Amelia looked really troubled. Understanding both of their circumstances, Chiron conceded that this duel wasn't healthy at the moment.

"Hmm... If both of you are not comfortable with the duel we can cancel it. But I request you to get over this problem as soon as possible before it becomes an obstacle for the group."

Adriel and Amelia apologized to him for disturbing the flow of the program.

'As expected of a centaur that was once the mentor of many heroes. He really understands the psychology of a demigod with just one sight.'

Thanks to Chiron's great teaching sense, Amelia would be able to overcome her fears much easier. There was still quite a long time for the 'incident' to happen and change Amelia's mental for the better forever.

"Then today's program has come to an end. You are free to leave."

Without saying anything, I quickly left the area for the Hades cabin. The sun had already descended and the last light rays of the day scattered onto the camp. I was planning to go to sleep early and wake up in the early morning to head for the training ground.

It was time for me to fully inspect the status window and abilities.

***

"Huff... Huff..."

I inhaled and exhaled unceasingly due to the fatigue of the training session. I swung my daggers at the straw dummy. The dummy was covered in slices and one of its arms was cut off.

'This should be enough.'

'Status Window'

---

Name: Blake Norman

Bloodline: Son of Hades

Strength: F-

Agility: F

Stamina: F-

Intelligence: F

Divine Energy: F

Charm: S

Daggermanship ==> G+

Ability ==> N/A

---

I was satisfied with the result of my three and a half hours of training as I noticed there was a new line added to the status window.

One could add a new profession to the status window after learning the very basics of a weapon. I had been trying to grasp the fundamentals of daggers to imprint 'Daggermanship' onto my status window. Now that I had it on the status window, It would accelerate my improvement and show the level of my understanding of daggers. Though it was only (G+), it was expected as I had just learned the basics.

As my eyes wandered across the holographic window, my eyes were drawn into the ability section which was still empty. I had two ways of gaining abilities: finding it out in the world in the shapes of scrolls and books, or awakening my bloodline abilities as my divine energy expands.

That means as the rank of my divine energy rose, I would be able to awaken abilities related to Hades' authority. Thus the power of your bloodline abilities was directly correlated with the power of your parent god. Since I was the son of one of the Big Three, I was one of the lucky ones in that regard. This was also viable for Adriel and Eleanor. In fact, they might have already figured out their first ability since their ranks were higher than mine.

I was pulled out of the sea of thoughts as I could feel threatening glares on my back. I had come to the training grounds when the sun had first shown itself on the horizon when nobody was there. But now that many demigods had awakened, the training area was filling with demigods steadily.

'The hospitality towards Hades' children is really something else.'

I gave up and left the area since I had no energy left to deal with this. On my way to the cafeteria, I pulled out my phone and looked at the date.

'Seven days till the flag war. The story is finally taking off for real...'

***

Three teens walked through the stone pathway while chatting with each other. Two of the three emitted potent auras around them as the Big Three's blood flowed through their veins. They were Adriel, Amelia, and Eleanor.

Although they had just met a couple of days ago, they had already become very close companions. As they approached the cafeteria which looked lively with all the demigods, the attention of them all was gathered on a boy with black hair and crimson eyes sitting alone and enjoying his meal peacefully. The first one to speak was Eleanor.

"Should we go and sit next to him since he is on our team? His name... Was it Drake or something?"

"Sigh... No, it's not Drake. It's Blake. And I don't think it is good for either of us to sit together."

Adriel projected his opinion and corrected Eleanor's mistake. But somehow Eleanor was more puzzled now.

"Eh? Why would you say that? Why would sitting next to him cause any problem?"

Realizing Eleanor had no idea what was going on with Blake, even Amelia couldn't help but roll her eyes and scold her for not knowing such an important matter.

"You honestly don't know about the rumors about him? Haven't you heard what happened last time a child of Hades had come to the camp? Literally, everyone in the camp is talking about this, how did you manage to end up completely oblivious to such a hot topic?"

She had become accustomed to Adriel and Eleanor pretty quickly as they spent most of their time together in the camp. She wasn't behaving shyly around them anymore.

"What? I have no idea what are you talking about. Am I missing something?"

Feeling wronged, Eleanor tried to defend herself but failed miserably. Adriel unwillingly started elaborating on the situation.

"I will explain once so listen carefully. I was told by a senior here that 20 years ago, a catastrophe was brought onto the camp by the daughter of Hades. Her betrayal had caused many to die and many more to get injured. She had mysteriously managed to divert an army of monsters towards the camp. However, the monsters didn't have hearts or blood or anything that would prove that they were alive. Rather they turned out to be skeletons of monsters that were just coated in dark slime-like matter. The demigods could still discern what type of monster they were though. The twist is that normally, different species of monster couldn't have coordinated an all-out attack on the camp. So this left out only one option."

"The dead monsters were controlled by someone..."

"Exactly! And only the daughter of Hades could have pulled off such an ability. Since then, no other children of Hades appeared in the camp but it all changed a couple of days ago."

As she rummaged through her memories of the last couple of days, she realized Blake was really being discriminated against whenever she saw him. But then she remembered her duel with him and how he had extended his hand for her to stand up. She didn't think he was an evil person though she was definitely annoyed by how he beat her during the duel.

"I don't think he is a bad person though..."

"Still, it would be better for us to not associate with him so much. And to be honest, I don't really trust him for some reason. My instincts tell me to stay away from him..."

"I see..."

Without taking any other words, they got their meal too and sat at the opposite side of the cafeteria where Blake was eating his meal.