Chapter 48

Luke gritted his teeth, fighting with every ounce of will he could muster to stave off the impending darkness. He measured each breath in order to not reveal the pain he was in and bit his tongue to prevent himself from screaming in agony.

Don't make a scene! Don't make a scene! Don't make a scene!

He shouted the mantra over and over in his head, hoping with every fiber of his being that he would be able to stand.

His mind flashed back to his giggling fit in the tomb and the drama that had ensued after.

Screaming is much worse than that. Hold it together, he thought desperately.

He feared that if he passed out or acted weird in any way, it would lead to questions—questions that he didn't want anyone even thinking about, let alone asking. To him, it was already bad enough that Cyzicus considered him some kind of prodigy, but adding a tendency of passing out after killing monsters to the list of his oddities was not something he was inclined to do. Who knew what kind of conclusions the old man would draw, and as uninterested as he seemed to be in Luke's secrets, he would never forget the fact that a god had been killed for what he possessed. Anything that made him seem suspicious was a negative.

I can't believe I agreed to join the Olympics. I already know that's gonna be a can of worms, but if Arke thinks I came back to life the same way the saint guy did, then I should be safe. My mana is normal, while his was foul. If that's the only thing she has to go off, then I have nothing to worry about.

Clenching the handle of the sword with an iron grip, he pushed off against the disgusting blood-covered head of the winged serpent. Lazily pulling his blade free from the monster's brain, he climbed to his knees and then to his feet as carefully and naturally as he could so that nothing would seem out of place. His face pale and his blue robes covered in blood and bits of flesh, he smiled.

"What a rush! Whoo!" he cheered, tiredly lifting his sword in the air and meeting the eyes of his companions with a cheeky grin. He hurt in places he didn't even know it was possible to hurt and was doing his best not to show it.

Jax and Rex stared back at him blankly from their place on the griffin's back.

"Why did you do that?" Rex asked, confusion practically written on his face.

"Why do I have to tell you?" Luke grinned cheekily, taking satisfaction in the affronted look the teenager leveled at him.

That's right. Taste your own medicine, you asshat.

Nel wrinkled her nose in disgust. Her storage ring flashed thrice in quick succession. A single talisman, a set of blue robes, and a bucket of water appeared floating in the air with her. She tore the perforated tab off the talisman and slapped it onto the floating body of the beast, prying her spear free from the still floating corpse as she did. She was using her powers to keep it, and consequently Luke, in the air.

"Take your robes off. I won't ride with someone as filthy as you," she said, floating the bucket of air over Luke's head.

He looked down on his clothes before nodding gratefully. Flicking the blood off his sword, he returned it to his sheath. His eyes widened slightly in surprise as he noticed that it had undergone a slight change. A hair-thin azure vein now ran down its center—one that definitely hadn't been there before. Not wanting to draw any attention to it, he slid it into the sheath on his hip next to the sword Cyzicus had given him before shrugging them both off and balancing them on his feet so that they wouldn't get blood on them.

I'll take a closer look at it later, Luke thought as he stripped out of his robes. Is it weird that this is the second time some red-robed superhuman gave me a set of robes and told me to change in front of them?

As soon as he did, cold water engulfed him and swirled around his body. Trapped in Nel's telekinetic grip, it picked up all the debris and filth from his body. Then, with a flick of her finger, it went over the side of the beast, shattering into a fine mist, the second she broke her mental grip.

Okay, that's cool. Embarrassing, but cool, he thought, glancing at Nel, who was biting her cheek in concentration. We probably could have just gone down to the water, though.

Done with his impromptu shower, he eyed the distance between himself and the griffin with trepidation.

Nel lifted her eyebrow, curious as to why he wasn't climbing on.

Right. The shoes. They expect me to air walk, he thought miserably. Grasping his mana, it took every ounce of willpower he had not to shudder and collapse in pain. Channeling it into his boots, he took one excruciating step through the sky after another toward the Elder's familiar.

I didn't think absorbing Warrior-tier mana would be this awful, he thought, settling awkwardly onto the griffin.

Nel shoved the creature into her ring, and a second later, they were silently cutting through the air again.

Luke opened his status.

Status | Skills | Quests | Inventory

Name: Lukas King

Tier: Mortal

Mana: 3,114/9,504

Rate: 15% per hour

Strength: 116

Agility: 240

Constitution: 144

Arcana: 92 > 132

Stat Points: 316

Bloodline: Locked. Conditions not met. (1/10,000)

Charges: 7/10

Yeah, he thought excitedly. That was worth it. Forty points just from absorbing it, and over three hundred stat points. That's … good. Really good. Like, really, really good. Totally worth the pain.

Have I? He did some quick math in his head. Four hundred and four points today. If I subtract that from my total points, that's almost half the points I had yesterday.

If I can continue at this pace, I could max out all my main attributes in like a week. Which is unlikely. I don't even know if I can survive this level of torture every day. But the six-month deadline seems a lot closer now than it did before.

Being boiled, killing a Warrior-tier monster, having all that mana suddenly running havoc in my body— He frowned. The rest was fine, but the mana, it felt like it would have killed me if the Seed didn't draw it in. And even then …

He closed his eyes and focused inward, suppressing a wince as the mere act of observing his mana sent phantom pains shooting through his body.

It already hurts less than it did a few minutes ago, but I don't know if I'm doing any permanent damage. At the very least, I should hold off on killing another warrior until the pain fully goes away.

Fuck. I can't believe I actually killed that thing. I mean, sure, Nel did basically all the work and I just finished it off, but still.

Just a few weeks ago, I couldn't have even imagined doing that. I was worried about fighting mid-Mortal-stage monsters. A few months ago, Nefkha had me scared to death, and now I'm a mortal who killed a warrior. One that's riding a griffin with the daughter of an emperor, on the way to meet a cyclops called Sophia.

His eyes suddenly widened.

"Hey, Nel," he called out. "Are you a princess?"

"What?"

"Are you a princess?"

She sputtered in surprise. Behind him, Rex and Jax snickered before Jax burst out into full-blown laughter.

"You just figured that out?" Rex asked him disbelievingly. "You really are an idiot."

"And you're a prince …" Luke trailed off, filling his cheeks with air before breathing it all out. "That's pretty unbelievable."

"Why?" Rex asked, his voice gaining an odd edge.

"Well, you're so … pissy."

"I'm what?"

"I think you heard what I said."

"I think the new guy has your measure," Jax said mirthfully.

"So what's it like, Nel? Cyzicus seems like a fun person to hang around with."

"I suppose that in a way, I am a princess," she said reluctantly, "but Grandfather doesn't grant any of us any additional privileges or duties. To me or any of my siblings or cousins. He loves all of us, but he's the sole voice of authority in Sylcra. He does enough to make sure that we have the guidance we need to live up to our full potential, but …" She trailed off.

"He doesn't care if we spend our lives cultivating every second of every day or living like a mortal," Rex finished. "He'll come visit regardless."

"That's pretty nice of him," Luke said.

"It's practical," Rex corrected. "He won't waste time making someone do something they don't want to. If he really wants something, he'll tempt you, try to cajole you, and bribe you, but he'll never force anyone's hands."

Hmm.

"Do you know why he hates Arke so much? The way he talked to her yesterday, and then this morning. He made her so angry she blasted him through his own throne. I don't get why he would do that. Provoking someone stronger than him doesn't seem wise."

"That …" Nel hesitated. "I don't know. He isn't one to hide his intentions, though. He always says what's on his mind, and being an emperor, it isn't just about being at the Hero tier. The gods have rules, and they protect their territories. They won't allow anyone, not even Arke, to upset the balance they have created."

"What about the Rebel, then?"

She frowned. "That's different. I don't know what tier Arke is, but the Rebel is a Hero. Grandfather is expected to deal with her, and those below the Hero tier, by himself. If he can't prevent someone at the same level as him from snatching his domain, then he shouldn't have it in the first place. That's how it's always been. They'll intervene if the threat is beyond him, though. In a way, he has more to fear from the Rebel than he does Arke."

Hmm.

"Yesterday, he mentioned something about the titans and Arke," Luke supplied. His mind churned as he thought about what it could mean. A lesson they learned the hard way, and one Arke will learn again. That's what he said. "Do you know anything about that?"

"There was a war," she said eventually, "between Olympus and Othrys. Gods and titans."

Is a titan different from a god? Luke mused. Is that what Arke is?

"Arke fought for the titans at first, but she turned traitor and joined Olympus. That's all I know. Why it was fought, and how it ended—it's one of the few things that Grandfather won't speak about." She frowned.

"How long ago was it?"

"Long," said Rex. "Tens of thousands of years ago, if not longer. None of that stuff matters anymore, though." He yawned, looking over the edge of the griffin.

Maybe not to you.

"This griffin of yours is faster than I thought," Rex said. "I can't believe we already crossed the river. The journey is supposed to take days."

Nel preened and scratched her familiar's neck lovingly. "She is, isn't she?"

"She is. If you ever manage to breed her, you should give me the cub. Or is it an egg?"

"A cub, I think," Nel answered. "And if I do manage to breed her, it would be a miracle, and I would never give her baby to you."

"Who then? Lukeus? All he'd use it for is to bed every prostitute on the island. Probably not even for the first time!" he whined.

What a legend.

"If you want a griffin so bad, why don't you go and catch one yourself and then convince it to bond with you?" Nel said teasingly.

"Fine. I don't know why I expected something different from you anyways," he grumbled. "It's getting dark. Let's make camp."

"No. There's still some light. Let's go a little farther," Jax urged.

Luke tuned them out as they continued to argue about whether to make camp now or in a few minutes and instead called up his status.

I have points to spend, and I have to be smart about it.