The month before the time of my weapon creation passed by in a blur. Research and practice took a lot of my time, but I made sure to visit the hearth every night, even when I had no plans to sleep. Every night, without exception, Hestia would greet me and we'd either spend time talking or simply in comfortable silence.
Except searching for the golden fleece, I also observed the difference my spirit could make in terms of my skills power.
My lightning bolt for instance. Before the monster battle, my most powerful skill, divine lightning bolt, was destructive enough to utterly destroy multiple concrete buildings. Now? My divine lightning bolt was destructive enough to ruin an entire mountain. The bolt dug deep inside the ground while sending shockwaves across the whole camp, even through the magical barriers that guarded us from attacks. I was of course reprimanded for my reckless experiment, as the council of cloven elders themselves had to come and repair the damages, but my research was complete.
And while my spirit stat showed raw power, the skills level showed my control over it. At the current level, I still needed atleast 4 seconds of concentration before I could summon a divine lightning bolt. Which unfortunately meant I couldn't just slam divine bolts upon all of my enemies, even though I had enough divine power for it.
The day when my weapon was finally finished, I left the camp with Chiron's permission and made my way for the empire State building. By flying of course. Though this time I took the normal elevator.
Hephaestus's forge was still as conjusted as ever, but this time my attention didn't even go around the room.
"So, it's done?" I asked giddily.
The Smith god glanced at me from the corner of his eyes. "Not here, lad. I don't keep masterpieces with rest of the trash. Follow me."
We moved from the filled up room and towards the back, a new door appeared. The god pushed open the door none too gently and we entered a room completely different from the first. This was the room worthy of a god; a high ceiling formed with white granite and large pillars supporting the room. It was beautiful. Elegant.
The numerous tools that stood there were kept in a systematic manner. And upon a large table, with two wooden stacks supporting it, there rested a white glove, shining brightly like snow with glowing blue designs on its back.
I was shocked because the colour combination wasn't something I specified. How did Hephaestus know what my favourite colour was?
Curious, I observed the thing as soon as we entered the room.
[Unnamed Weapon (Divine)]
Holy fuck. Divine tier directly? As far as I knew, the tier for weapons and equipment went like this: Common, Rare, Unique, Legendary, Divine. The same as achievements really.
This was a peak tier weapon.
"This here, is my newest creation." The gruff god roughly waved his hand upon the glowing glove. "And to tell you the truth? This was even more fun than crafting bows for the twins."
He slowly picked the white glove carefully with a cloth, making sure to not touch a single part of it directly. And then, he extended it towards me.
"One of my greatest creations in the right hands, and I've got a feeling your hands will suffice."
Instead of picking it up, I directly wore it Thanos style, and the size adjusted according to my left hand instantly. The pure white glove fit snuggly and comfortably around my hands as I closed my fist slowly. All of the glowing blue markings brightened at once, almost to blinding levels. And yet, I did not feel uncomfortable at all. Instead, I felt...accepted.
[Unnamed Divine Weapon Bound]
"The binding is done, you can summon your weapon from anywhere you want. But the fun part comes now; The Testing. Come, lad." The god beckoned me towards another door.
I felt a strange mix of anticipation and nervousness. I've never even touched anything more than a rare weapon before, let alone a divine weapon.
When I first requested my father for a weapon, I'd hoped for a unique class one, like Thalia's electric spear or something. Of course there was also a part of me that wished for a legendary weapon like Thalia's shield but even a rare one would have sufficed.
But now, in my hands, I actually held a divine weapon. My own divine weapon. Something that will be staying with me forever, if I had my way.
I was dying to check it out.
We arrived in yet another different room, but this one was like an observatory. We stood behind thick glass panes, and in front of us was one of the most massive ground I've ever seen. Bigger than a football field, hell bigger than a whole stadium. And utterly utterly empty.
"Now this is basic stuff, listen carefully. The weapon's got three forms. Spear, sword, and bow. You kinda just have to...think, I guess? It's instinctive, you'll understand."
I concentrated on my weapon and instinctively knew the three forms. With but a thought, I released it's spear form.
The white soft glove suddenly elongated. The fingers grew long, before all five of them coalesced together and started changing right before my eyes. They formed a bright white handle first before it's tips got sharper and sharper until it was the metallic head of a spear. I took a moment to simply feel my spear softly, running my hands up and down. The grip felt snug and comfortable, and the body strong and powerful. All 6 feets of it.
And then my eyes fell on its blade. The blade was long for a spearhead, almost a foot in length.
But the balance was so good that I didn't care. It was gold in colour, unlike the handle. The weapon was too similar with my mother's spear for it to be coincidence.
The only difference came when the blade finally stopped forming, and a bluish electric current ran down from the tip of the blade, curving along the whole body of the spear in the form of intricate designs. It took almost 10 milliseconds for the spear to form completely, which was a lot in battle, but I didn't care. It was beautiful, and it was powerful. That's all I cared about.
Except the fact that it was too much like the spear than my mother made for me.
"So, why white and gold?" I asked casually, hoping he didn't hear any suspiciousness in my voice.
"It's not white, lad. It's translucent white." The god corrected irritatedly. "This is the natural colour of adamantine, a metal that is known to be nigh indestructible. Tempered under the Mount Etna and cooled inside the river Styx, your weapon is very much indestructible rest assured. But Adamantine in itself isn't a magical metal, and is same as any other mortal metal when it comes to fighting monsters. Which is why the sharp blade of your weapon is coated with Celestial Bronze to retrieve it's ability to send monsters down to tartarus in a single blow. Hence, white and gold. Well, it was supposed to be bronze but father said to turn it gold for some reason."
Ah, that explains it.
"Why?" He asked gruffly, finished with his explanation. "You don't like that?"
"Oh, I love it." I replied honestly. "This weapon is everything I've ever dreamt about."
"Get on with it, you. We've got two more forms to go after that." The god snapped impatiently, but his words had no bite in them.
They were proud and pleased, and I knew he enjoyed my reaction.
Then he pushed me towards the glass. "Go on then, lad. Show me what you can do."
I opened the glass door and walked towards the free ground.
"I'm gonna release some targets. Still standing ones for now." The god's voice came out distorted from a couple of invisible speakers.
I observed the spear's specifications as I walked upon the open ground.
[Unnamed Divine Weapon]–
30 to Spirit, 10 to Strength, Speed, and Dexterity.
Just...Wow. This was so much more than what I was expecting.
I spun the spear in my grasp, and felt a smile forming on my face from how absolutely perfect it felt in my hands, making sound of crackling thunder and blowing wind as it moved.
Focusing ahead, I saw two robotic dummies forming a couple dozen feets away from me.
Perfect.
With no announcement or preamble, I ran towards them, my new shiny spear spinning under my fingers. I took a basic thrusting form, ducking slightly before stabbing one of the dummies in the eyes, before continuing my momentum to spin in place and slash the other one's head off in a single smooth move.
I straightened up to see my handy work. One dummy had a hole in its face, while the other one was missing it completely. My strikes were fast as lightning, and I was sure that not even luke would be able to react quickly enough before my spear beheaded him.
"Excellent skills boy. But we are here to see what the spear could do for you. Not how good you are with a spear." The god interrupted my giddiness.
But he didn't understand. I wouldn't have been able to move at the same speed and precision with any other spear. It was enough to send me to the moon.
The god wasn't satisfied though, cause two more targets propped up, and this time they were moving. "Channel your lightning now, boy. The weapon enhances your power and control over your energies in all the three forms. You should feel the difference after you test it."
I didn't need to test the spear to know that my spirit has increased by 30. But I was just as excited as the god to see it in practice so I didn't complain.
I once again spun my spear in my grasp dramatically, and let electric discharge coat the weapon. The whole spear actually showed electricity leaping around it visibly. More than that, I had an excellent control over the electricity that flowed around my weapon.
"Yeah, you understand now. Those blue designs ain't for show, lad. They are runes; every single one crafted by my own hands. Go on, launch a bolt or something."
Excited, I let the current build up in the tip of my spear and launched a simple electric bolt towards the moving enemies.
The bolt leapt out from my spear and blasted into my targets, both at the same time, and with such speed that their movements had no effect on its aim.
I hadn't bothered to aim my spear properly, though I was absently wising for a head shot. To my slight surprise the bolts actually shifted mid-air and hit the heads of both the dummies.
More amazingly? Their power. Both the metallic heads had melted a part of their skull with a clear hole in the middle.
The laughter of the god broke through my shock. "Oh boy, now that's the stuff. Those things are durable as hell, I doubt any of your cousins could even scratch them."
The god gave another excited giggle. "And did you see the range, lad!? Last time, your electricity could only aim at melee or close opponents. But with the spear you could target even further for mid ranged opponents. Not long ranged yeah, but you've got the bow form for that."
I was satisfied. More than satisfied. Fuck, I was ecstatic. But I couldn't understand what exactly differentiated it from a legendary weapon, and gave it the divine status. Was it because it enhanced my power? Must be. The lightning bolt, trident, and helm of darkness were all said to enhance the three god's powers.
"Now boy, one last test. Try to keep your power usage to a minimum, we are testing your spear afterall."
At his words, four black warriors formed on the ground, one with sword, one with spear, one with an axe and one with a bow.
"These are the stuff Ares uses when he's bored and wants to break something but still pose a challenge. Defeat all four of these and I'd say you are more than worthy of carrying the weapon in your hands. You can use the sword or bow too, if you want."
[Challenge Received: Defeat the mechanical warriors]
Rewards: 2 to all Combat Skills]
Oh, fuck yes.
"Now, begin!"