"What?" Adrastea whispered next to Ray.
"Everything, it's all so surreal."
"Not the word I was looking for, but it'll do." They sat in silence as Athena went through two hours of interactive lecturing before she ended the class.
"What do you think about all this?" Adrastea asked once they outside.
"I don't know, it all feels like fantasy. Why on earth would you leave a place like this for the garbage we live in."
"I had an assignment."
"Protecting me?"
"Yes, I couldn't very well do that if I was up here."
"Is there anything else you do other than protecting people?"
"I have a Ranch back at Ida, but that's beside the point. How do you feel about the idea of coming to study here?"
"I don't know—honestly feels like cheating—won't I be far behind not to mention I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that gods too go to school."
"Only in technological and mystical knowledge, otherwise most of the stuff is same old, same old. God is a term coined by humans, up here and in the Supernatural world in general, they are mostly classified as Olympians as much as I am a Nymph or like Homo sapiens. They picked the name god since it fed their egos to be worshipped and adored by the humans.
"You will have a private tutor, so you can catch up. Considering your educational background, you're above the average learning curve so it shouldn't be hard. It's mostly basic stuff that your lower and upper-grade self would have learned if you lived on Olympus."
"Where's Olympus exactly?"
"I thought it was obvious. We're on a floating landmass the size of Madagascar. Somewhere in the Pacific."
"I still don't know," Ray sighed.
"I do, you're modest, a quality rarely seen in gods, especially male gods. My advice, take the offer, believe me when I tell you, you're going to need all the help you can get. On the bright side, you may not need to hide who you are any more up here.
"The cat was out of the bag the moment Eris found out about you. Right now, we're just waiting for the hammer to fall. It'll also make my and Charles' job a lot easier without worrying about crossing both the Queen's and Human laws. Think about that."
Adrastea said before moving away from him and headed towards a large fountain in the middle of the University's park. There she took a seat at one of the benches and let the sunlight bathe her. Ray stood where they were as he stared across the field full of Supernatural.
Some on actual hovering boards, others walking while some were seated on the grass with glass pads and an honest-to-god hologram of a human face floated above the pad.
"Even if I accepted the offer, you said it yourself, I'm still years behind in both education and cultural knowledge?" Ray asked after joining Adrastea.
[There isn't a lot of catching up to do. For starters, you won't suffer from any language barrier.]
[How so?]
[We've been randomly communicating in my old tongue ever since we arrived in Olympus.]
[No way.] He said before he heard his own voice, [you've got to be kidding!]
"No, as an Olympian you can understand and use any form of communication including different languages and dialects. Athena believes this is due to your species' connection to the Astral Plane." Adrastea spoke, this time in his language.
"In terms of culture, you'll get it in a short while, most of it is similar to human civilization. What you should strive to learn and adjust to are the laws, however, because we live in an Oligarch Society.
"As for your education, the Physics is mostly the same apart from a few terms. What you call space or the observable universe, we call Ouranos. What you call matter we refer to as Gaia, radiation, Hemera and so forth."
She paused to catch her breath, "Chemistry is a little advanced with the addition of Alchemy. Biology is just broader, instead of only humans, you'll learn about several other intelligent species and their demographics.
"The history will be the most challenging and the easiest Not everything you read from the humans is correct or happened as they describe. That is the only aspect you'll have to deal with, the rest you'll learn and can research on your own free time.
"Others such as technology you'll just adapt. Fields such as medicine are less advanced than humans due to our ability to heal most wounds by ourselves. Our immunity is also superior and can fight off most human infections.
"Oh, and I forgot to mention, the laws up here are a little different. They may feel the same, but you'll find out the judicial proceedings here differ from those of Humans."
"Wow, you don't hold back?"
"We just scratched the surface, but baby steps."
"So where to next?" Ray asked.
"I'm feeling a bit famished after our morning workout. There is a good restaurant not far from here."
"Do they have steak?"
"Have you ever tried Atlantean?"
*****
"Watch your flank, keep your chin in," Charles stated as Jane attacked Ray from the left, throwing him off his focus once again.
Ray responded by retreating until he had them both back in his sights. Jane attacked again moving in for a low sweep at his knee, but Ray jumped back before coming back with a cross. Charles intercepted his attack and smacked him on the chest, putting him back on the defensive.
Raymond was squaring off against two opponents, and as hard as he tried, he never had a significant moment to attack. One of them always jumped to the other's defense. It looked much easier in the movies.
Both Charles and Jane were now advancing on him. For a moment he wanted to go into the Astral Plane. But Charles had once again, found a way to restrict him further under the guise of not allowing him to take an easier way out.
He was now pressed on both sides, and it was all it took not be overwhelmed like the last time. Charles attacked him this time with a low kick, and he sidestepped only to be forced to duck out of a cross from Jane. Just as he was about to respond, Charles' cross connected with his temple and he staggered back.
What was the point of fighting even if it was just training, in a battle you couldn't win? As Ray looked up to face his two opponents, his eyes were caught by sunlight, temporarily blinding him. He moved again until he was completely inside the building's shadow.
They were training at Athena's mansion. The mansion's backyard had a large compound that they quickly turned it into a sparring area. All around them were trees which provided a lot of cover from the nearest residential area giving them the privacy they needed.
After his sight cleared, he immediately reached to catch a thrown pole staff from Charles.
"Maybe that will help."
"I thought you weren't going to teach me about weapons until I was done with the basics of unarmed combat?"
"That was the idea until you stupidly found a way to get yourself into a wager with Athena. Why do you think I started bringing her along?" Charles pointed at Jane.
It made sense, he had only a week left to the contest. The twos days to the Contest he was to meet with Emma and Bob.
"Then teach me some skilled moves instead of this."
"You better not be talking about the Hollywood bullshit they keep filling your brains with."
"I wouldn't have to if I was learning something other than getting my ass kicked every time we spar." Ray grumbled loudly.
Charles held up his hand, and Jane stopped her advance, "You underestimate yourself."
Charles approached Ray this time in a non-aggressive way and grabbed the staff before throwing it away. He then took two steps back and faced him.
"Now I want you to attack me."
Ray got into a stance before circling him. A moment later he attacked Charles from his right with a jab and Charles bobbed his head to the side, but Ray, however, followed it with a flying knee to his chest. Charles brought his hands together to block it and was pushed further back.
Ray had him exactly where he wanted and went in with a roundhouse to his head. Charles glanced up only to squint his eyes but still raised his hand to block. Ray followed it with a spear this time, and Ray had Charles on his back on the grass before he got off him.
Charles had a grinned as he brought his left hand to shield himself from the sun before getting back up. He raised his hand up again making Ray stand at ease.
"If that little trick you pulled off there isn't enough for you then I'll add more. The very first time I told you to attack me, what did you do?"
Ray returned his grinned.
"You tried to rush me and tackle me to the ground. When that failed, you tried again, harder this time. When that too failed you decided to overwhelm me with a flurry of punches. Sounds like someone you know?
"It's a typical tactic employed by every amateur fighter. Your first instinct is to put your opponent on the ground and pound them. When that fails, you try even harder.
"As a trained fighter, you paused to gauge your opponent and tried to create an opening, when that failed, you exploited a temporary weakness and used it to your advantage. Not to mention as a Supernatural, half of your work is cut out for you."
"How so?"
"For starters, part of training requires staying fit, which means working on your cardio, speed, muscles, coordination, just to name a few. You're naturally faster and stronger than any human, and you'll get even faster and stronger than you are at currently.
"Secondly, at your level, you've got something most trained fighters lack, experience. Being exposed to an uncontrolled environment and facing unpredictable circumstances and foes is better than any training you'll ever get.
"If it makes you feel any better, you've logged in more hand-to-hand combat hours in two weeks than most students would in two months."
Charles finished by picking up the staff and tossed it to Raymond. "We'll start with the basics."