by James Hunter
I was surprised to see tears fill Myrina’s eyes.
She continued. “I want to use it to fuel my anger. When I tire, it will give me strength, for I swear on the thunderbolts of Zeus, I will slay that wretched demon myself.”
“Amen,” I said. “Let’s get on back to the temple.”
Asteria muttered into our minds, That bat girl is no good. No milk for her. No grass for her. She will please the butcher’s blade.
I cocked an eye at the blue-haired ox. “Hardcore.”
We left the ruins and trekked back through the jungle, past the fire-blackened webs at the cliffs, and down the staircase that led to Lycastia City.
Phoebe met us at the gates, sensing our arrival through the mind link she and I shared. She looked over the haul loaded down on Asteria’s back and grinned like a loon as she rubbed her hands together in greedy anticipation. “Oh yes, this will do nicely. The things we can make with this ...” She paused, a glimmer of mischief burning in her eyes. “Needless to say, our enemies will pay a heavy, heavy price. Come, let us get to work. I have prepared the fires and gathered what little resources were left in this place.”
We plodded through the ruined gates and over to the forge, where we offloaded the loot.
Once we lifted the bags off Asteria, she flowed into her human shape but staggered against Myrina. “Oh, I am weary. All of the fighting and shifting and then the long trek to the city so burdened ... I desire hay and sweet water.” She giggled despite her exhaustion. “No, not hay. But maybe some of the bacon?” She seesawed her head, arms waving at her sides. “Or maybe hay. As an ox, I can truly appreciate the crunch, crunch, crunch, and then the cud, cud, cud. Hay is a meal I can enjoy multiple times!”
Before I could reply, Asteria turned back into an ox, plodded off to the barn next to the forge, and attacked a stack of golden hay lying within.
I was surprised to hear Myrina laugh—the way she looked at Asteria reminded me of an older sibling watching over a younger one. “I will find sustenance of my own and then plan on how best to protect the sigil. Sister,” she said to Phoebe, “the godling is in your care for now. Guard him well, he is still as vulnerable as a suckling pig.” The Warden paused, giving me a small professional smile. “But he is learning.” Then, without saying more, she turned on her heel and took off toward the banquet hall, her steps ringing out on the cobblestones.
Phoebe slipped her arm through mine and gave me a little tug, guiding me into the forge. It is nice to have you back, she sent through the mind link as we walked. Without my sisters around, this is a lonely place. Now, let’s have a look at you after a full day out in the world. She paused. Oh, level six! Impressive. I see you spent a few of your Ability Points, but there’s still plenty to work with—plus you have forty Attribute Points to invest. Forty! And you’re dripping with Divine Essence. Hells yeah. With that and the Thymos Crystals, we can really do some kick-ass shit.
I chuckled at her slang. “Yeah, and that’s not all we got either,” I offered. “I snagged a ring and an amulet which boosted some of my stats. Plus, we managed to get ahold of this crazy-awesome lightning bolt javelin thing and a magical shield. I guess it can turn people into stone.”
Yes. Myrina told me about her shield, Phoebe sent, clearly preferring to use the messaging system. She grinned slyly at me. She also mentioned that you nearly managed to turn yourself into stone.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Myrina has it in for me. Why does she hate me so much anyway?”
Phoebe thought for a moment, her brilliant green eyes staring off into space. Maybe it’s not so much about you, but about Ares. Myrina and Ares had a complicated relationship, but it’s not my place to say much. She’ll tell you about it when she’s ready, but for now, just understand the chick’s got some serious baggage. With that said, though, she’s the best warrior and fighter we have, plus she’s wicked smart and absolutely loyal—once you earn her trust.
Everything she said made sense. “Yeah, okay. I guess I’ll worry about relationship drama later. For now, I’m worried about not dying. So, let’s get to work. I have quite a bit of Essence now, plus Attribute Points to unload and Thymos Crystals to use. So where should we start, huh?”
Your control limit has jumped, so we’ll need to get cracking on Amazons and weapons to arm them with. Right now, I have enough clay and essential resources to fashion seventeen new warriors—and with the stuff you guys brought back, I can get working on weapons and armor. But first, we need to invest all your new Attribute Points because the creation process is gonna be a serious drain on you. I’d suggest you put some points into Intelligence and Willpower, but at the end of the day, it’s up to you. You’re the god of war.
I thought about her words as I pulled up my character screen. Secretly, I wanted to pour my points into Strength—I could envision exactly how awesome it would be to stand twenty feet tall and be an invulnerable badass. Then, I remembered how badly I’d bungled several of the battles. Both Myrina and Asteria were way better in combat, and so far, I’d been more useful casting miracles and issuing orders than actually going toe-to-toe with enemies.
“Well, Phoebe, it seems I’m less of a warrior than I thought,” I said, shooting her a wink and a lopsided grin. “The Marine Corps will be so disappointed in me. But, in the end, I’m thinking you’re probably right. I should increase my Willpower and my Intelligence. If I can create Amazons that fight half as well as Myrina, we’ll be fine. Besides, the Path of Miracles seems to fit me better than a close-quarters brawler, so Intelligence is good, too. Once I top out my god levels, I can go back and focus on my Strength and battle skills.”
Phoebe gave me the oddest look imaginable.
It surprised me so much, I took a step backward. “What? Am I wrong? Dude, you are freaking me out.”
The Rune-Caster shook her head at me. Not wrong. Just so different from Ares. Ha, I bet giving you all of his power really chapped his ass.
“Yeah, it didn’t go well,” I mumbled, looking away, remembering the dying war god. “I finally had to yell at him … I’m a good guy, but I do have my limits.”
Phoebe took my hand. It’s more than that. I remember more of what happened before we all died. Do you know why the sigil on Lycastia didn’t seal the rift?
“I don’t,” I said. “I’ve been wondering about how it all works and how we can seal the underworld permanently. We saw the rift where Stheno slithered out of it. It’s bad down there.”
Ares messed up. Phoebe took in a deep breath. He was working on the spells to seal the rift, creating the sigil on his statue in the temple, when we were attacked by Hades and his armies. We begged for Ares to stay in the temple and finish the ritual, but he insisted on leading the Amazons himself. Ares was born a god, so he never had to level up. If he were going through what you are going through, however, he would pour his stat points into his personal abilities. All forty points into Strength so he could be a kick-ass warrior.
Phoebe’s eyes turned sad. If you had been there, you would’ve trusted Myrina, Asteria, and me to hold the city while you finished sealing off the underworld. Hades would be there now, and Earth would be safe. She shrugged and spread her hands. But you weren’t there, so here we are. Still, I believe in you, Jacob Merely. I think you will win this game. I know how much of your life you’ve spent playing video games—if anyone can master this system, it’s you. She laughed sharply and tapped her temple. I also see how much of your life you spent watching porn. If you could get experience points for porn, we’d have tens of thousands of warriors right this second.
I blushed. “Easy, Phoebe, back on up out of my head. Some things are private, okay? But thanks for the vote of confidence.”
With Phoebe’s blessing, I dropped fourteen points into Willpower—upping my control limit to thirty Amazons total—and twenty-six points into Intelligence, shooting my available Essence Points up to one hundred sixteen and my hourly Essence Regeneration rate to forty-two. A surge of new li
fe flooded through me, and the godstone in my chest flared bright, glowing through my armor until it was like noonday in the forge. Hell yeah, now we were cooking. I surveyed my character sheet, stoked about the changes:
Awesome. But there was still the matter of the two outstanding Ability Points. Instantly, I considered dropping them into the Path of Miracles, but then faltered and pulled up the Path of the Builder instead. Yes, the Path of Miracles had proven to be impressive so far, but right now we were in building mode.
After looking over the various options available to me, I decided the Path of the Builder was the right choice at the moment. First, I dropped a single point into the Battle Forged option, allowing me—or my Rune-Master, Phoebe—to build superior quality weapons and armor. From here on out, our gear would be supernaturally sharp, nearly impervious to the effects of time, and impossibly durable. This gear wouldn’t be magical, for that I would need Elemental Smithing, but it would be leaps and bounds better than the stuff we had now.
The next point was much harder to decide on—I really wanted both the Artemis’ Blood ability and the Innovate ability. Though my generals were already at level ten, the basic Amazons we would be building had a level cap of five. But, the level cap would increase by five for every point invested into Artemis’ Blood, which would put the max level-cap at 20 for my regular Amazons and level 25 for my generals. I didn’t just need warriors, I needed the best possible warriors so that Skill would be essential—eventually. For now, however, I picked the Innovate ability, which allowed Phoebe to scour my mind and fashion “blueprints” for new types of weapons and armor.
The second I dropped the point into Innovate, new options exploded in my crafting menu. Suddenly, we weren’t restricted to Grecian gear—now it appeared we could make just about anything up through the Middle Ages. Including a variety of deadly siege weapons. Phoebe and I were going to have a long night, creating troops, weapons, and armor, but first I had one more question for the Rune-Crafter. Something that was nagging at me. “So, the rift was only ever partially sealed. How do we seal it permanently?”
Phoebe stared into my eyes. That’s all on you, my dude. You have to level up and become the true god of war. Then, I imagine you’ll get a menu option to complete the ritual and seal the deal. Boom. Done.
I was stunned. “So, no pressure, right?”
Phoebe laughed lightly, then pushed me softly on the shoulder. No pressure.
Well, at least we had our endgame. But could we hold the city and protect the sigil until I had the power to close the rift forever?
Praxidike was coming, and she wouldn’t be coming alone.
SEVENTEEN
Recruits
I’d upgraded my stats and dished out my Ability Points, so now it was time to put the pedal to the metal and churn out some impressive shit—both in terms of weapons and Amazons. I told Phoebe about Myrina’s new lightning javelin and how it returned to the quiver after she used it to blast Praxidike.
“That’s what I really want. What do we need to make more of those?” I asked.
That’s out of our range for now, she replied. You’ll need at least Battle Forge Level 2, plus Elemental Smithing Level 1 before we can whip up a specialty item like that. But doing something with javelins is a good idea. I’m accessing your memories and this Google thing. Freaking Google. She shook her head, eyes wide. It’s incredible, my dude. There is a massive amount of information on the internet. So much.
She paused and tapped her bottom lip. Though I am surprised to see how much time you mortals spend on watching this YouTube and looking at cat memes. Very odd. Sadly, though, we can’t connect. I would like to better understand these memes lingering in your brain, Jacob. Maybe if we get your intelligence up high enough, you’ll be able to set up a Wi-Fi network and get us connected. YouTube aside, if I had access to the knowledge on Google? Whoooo doggy, I could create some terrible things. She gave me a feral, evil smile.
“What about guns?” I asked, feeling slightly uncomfortable as I imagined Phoebe gaining access to nuclear weapons. “I’d love more bullets for my pistol.”
Yeah, sorry, that’s outside of my skill set for now, too. Will be until Innovate Level 2 or 3, I’m guessing. For the time being, I’m limited to old-school weapons like swords, spears, bows, crossbows. And yes, the Greeks had crossbows, known as the γαστραφέτης or belly-releaser.
The Greek word translated in my head before she clarified. I was getting smarter. I didn’t know much, but at least when Myrina teased me about not knowing any Greek, I’d have a response.
But since you unlocked Innovate Level 1, she sent, I can do some other interesting things, like katanas and English longbows.
Wow, that was a big deal. “Amazons with katanas,” I said immediately. “Yep. We should totally switch from Greek iron swords to Japanese steel katanas and English longbows. Both of those technologies changed the face of warfare, well, until the machine gun in World War II. But I guess we have to crawl before we run.”
Can do, Boss-man. I can make the steel for the katanas with elements you gathered from Stheno’s lair. And the folding is amazing—I can work that into my process. That is going to really improve our armaments. And the longbow was such a fantastic leap forward. Plus, I can alter the javelins so they’re breakable, like what the Romans came up with. That way, thrown javelins can’t be used against us.
“How about we make them like grenades?” I grinned at my brilliance. “Yeah, that is all kinds of awesome. The javelins hit you and then explode, so not only can our enemies not use them, they take additional damage.”
I like where your mind is at, Phoebe said, but you’re still getting ahead of yourself. Right now, we need to Keep It Simple, Stupid. That’s what you Marines say, right? KISS? Keep It Simple, Stupid. Anyway, we’ll get there. Eventually, you’ll be able to bless the items I make with Elemental Smithing. But that’s on you. I just make the weapons—you have to provide the mojo and have the right skills.
Accessing the craft weapons menu, I waved a hand over dozens of javelins bound together in leather ties. Sure enough, I saw that I had several different options—frag tips, lightning spears, flame lances—but they were all grayed out. Inaccessible for the time being. I grunted in frustration. So many cool things, but I couldn’t do any of them until I got my levels up higher. That blew big time.
“Okay,” I said, turning back to Phoebe. “So, no cool exploding javelins—yet. Is there anything else I can do? When we were leaving Stheno’s lair, we had a brief run-in with Praxidike. Her and about one hundred harpies. Those things are crazy-hard to kill. There has to be something I can do to level the playing field.”
I know it’s frustrating, she said, laying a calloused hand on my forearm. But for now, we’re doing what we can. With that said, you can work on the city defenses, and the new gear we’re going to turn out will probably be sharp enough to pierce harpy flesh. Not easily, but with skilled Amazons, it might be possible.
“Fine,” I grumbled, crossing my arms. “I guess that’s just added incentive to grind out more experience points.”
That’s the spirit, she said, shooting me a wink and a finger gun. We’ll get to the weapons and armor in a bit, but first, I think we should get busy on our reinforcements. Your control limit is up to thirty, but for now, I only have enough sacred clay to add seventeen warriors to our ranks—and to complicate matters, the clay pit in the city is empty now. We’ll have to venture out onto the island to find more come morning. But I think creating seventeen Amazons will be quite the accomplishment for tonight. You ready to do this thing?
“Semper ready,” I said, clapping my hands together. “Let’s build us some Amazons.” I sounded confident in my own ears, but inside my guts roiled in nervousness. What if I messed up on this batch of warriors like how I’d biffed it with Phoebe?
No, I couldn’t afford to second-guess myself, there was too much on the line. It’d be fine—I could do this, so long as I had total and comp
lete focus. No distractions.
Which is precisely when Asteria wandered in, back in human form. She wore a tunic that was still awfully revealing. She grinned at me, then burped, covering her mouth with one fist. “Oops. Hay and human physiology are an uncertain combination. But I have retained two extra stomachs to help with the process. Delicious,” she said with a wide grin.
“Uh, I’ll take your word for it, Asteria. Phoebe and I were about to build us some Amazons.” I couldn’t help but chuckle nervously and shift on uncertain feet. It was like I was going to throw some Lego bricks together. Except we were going to be building real live people.
“I am very glad I am here then,” Asteria said, nearly bouncing in ecstatic excitement. “I can be of service to you and my sisters.”
Not sure what that meant, but I had to get to work. Time was ticking, and though I was beyond exhausted, I couldn’t sleep until I had used my Essence Points to begin building my army for real. Just like before, we needed precious metals for the hearts as well as a variety of objects. I reviewed the different classes of Amazons I could create and their skill sets.
My ground troops were the Battle Wardens—the same class Myrina belonged to. With their enhanced speed, strength, and durability, they were basically hell in sandals with swords, spears, and javelins. They were also the cheapest to create. But it seemed that level-one Wardens were little better than humans. Once they were built, though, they could earn levels and unlock abilities by accruing experience points just like me.
Or, I could use a combination of Essence Points and Thymos Crystals to power level them or upgrade their abilities directly. With a little extra juice, I could enhance their durability, increase their movement or health regeneration rate, or boost their Dynami limit—the force Battle Wardens drew on to perform specialized attacks or heroic feats of strength. With the limited number of Amazons I could create and control, every single one would be vital to the cause. I fully intended to upgrade them as much as possible.
