- Noah -
"So what you're saying is that walking into that mall has a high chance of being a death sentence?" Grover asked, trying to switch the topic up just a bit, while I was finally realizing what that sinking feeling was. Apparently my inherited powers of prophecy even extend to my intuition as well, who would've thought?
"It would seem so bro. Personally, I'm still going in. Ambush or not, I can't stand being in here with you people for any longer." I only realized how bad that may have sounded after I said it, so I added a nice little footnote immediately afterwards. "Respectfully, of course."
Zoe still hasn't said anything in response to Percy's warning, but I can see the gears turning in her head as we speak. Whoever this general is, just mentioning him has her on edge.
I wish I could gauge how bad that is for us, but despite all of my confidence in my ability to fight her despite using up so much starburst energy in my showboating, I never actually got to have that fight with her.
On the other hand, her wariness leads me to think about the recent strides I've made in the development of my abilities. Since I couldn't exactly train my starburst energy throughout the car ride, I've been focusing more on the blessing I've got from my connection to Artemis.
Specifically, I've been working on the ability to "observe" the state of the hunters. I wanted to see if I could latch onto it and use the ability on myself and perhaps even upgrade it.
So far upgrading it has been a dead end, but I did manage to observe myself. Using the small amount of power I have, I changed the formatting for what I see and focused on other aspects. All I can say about the final product is that it's exactly what I wanted.
Instead of a translucent and ancient looking piece of paper, the information comes up on a white screen in front of me with golden letters and a very interesting font.
[Noah]
[Health: 100%]
[Starburst Energy: 74%]
[Rank: Demigod]
[Strength: B]
[Constitution: C]
[Dexterity: A]
[Intelligence: B]
[Wisdom: C]
[Charisma: B+]
[Luck: A]
I was very bored on the drive here.
My traits are based on the idea of F being the worst possible stats for your rank, C being the average, going up to S+ being near the best with EX meaning that you're at the peak of your rank.
I also took the time to figure out how to put my skills into this format too, but that's not too relevant for right now, I just love the idea of looking at everything that I'm capable of.
While I may not know just how strong any and every demigod is or their peaks, the connection I have to Artemis does all of the math for me. That alone gives me more questions than answers, but I'll worry about that later.
Frankly, I find these current statistics to be quite insulting. Once this quest is over, I'm going to be finding ways to raise them, as well as my rank. In fact, I've already come up with a few ideas on how to ascend to godhood.
I know that none of this may do anything to help me too much at the moment, but at least it makes it easier for me to see where I'm at and how far I've come. If I think of other things to add onto it in the future I'll do so, but this works for me as of right now.
As I consider all of this, I notice that some of the others are still chatting about Percy's dream.
Percy is trying to calm Grover down, while Phoebe is trying to coach a very nervous looking Bianca on tactics.
Without warning, Thalia decided to unceremoniously hop out of the vehicle and start walking off. Her abrupt departure snapped everyone out of their thought processes as they all proceeded to scramble after her.
I was the last one out of the car, and instead of following after the others, I took the time to bask in the sunlight. If we're going to get ambushed soon, I'd rather stock up my energy reserves than fool around with my quest-mates.
That being said, this is also the perfect time to test out another idea of mine when it comes to my powers.
It's come to my attention that I won't always be able to dodge attacks, so I need to come up with a defensive option for myself. Speaking of that, sooner or later I'm gonna need to get a signature weapon of my own.
To start off my experimenting, I gather a bit of starburst energy and push it towards my palms, letting some of it release, but before it can shoot out like a normal energy burst I pull it back in just a little bit. Once it's almost reabsorbed into my hand, I instead try to thin it out over my hand, creating a miniature surface area barely bigger than my palms.
After that, I continue to pour in more energy carefully while continuing the process, in turn enlarging the shield as well as giving it more density. My final product is a shield around the same size as any normal Greek shield. Not exactly the peak of what I can do, but then again I'm in a time crunch.
This should be enough for anything we encounter in the mall, so for now I'm gonna let this be the conclusion of my "training". To commemorate my newfound ability to observe my own physical attributes, I watch as it's added to my skill list.
[Skill Acquired: Light Shield]
I wish I could say that this makes me confident that we'll come out of this quest alive, but Zoe's nervousness is making my faith in myself waver slightly. Whoever this "General" guy is, it seems like he's our quest's final boss. No matter how strong these minions are, I have to stand above them if we're to have any hope of defeating him.
[Starburst Energy: 81%]
I think it's time for me to catch up with the others.