[Third Person's PoV]
One Month Later…
Luke walked into the communication hub that his cabin was in charge of. As he entered, he went towards the main desk managed by one of their cabin members.
"Did a parcel arrive with my name?" Luke asked.
"Yeah, I kept it secured for you," the boy, no older than 15, said as he reached underneath his desk and pulled out a large box with Luke's name and the address of the camp on it.
"Thanks," Luke said as he carefully grabbed it.
"No worries, Head Counselor," the boy said with a nod.
Luke then exited the communication hub and went towards his cabin. Luckily, as the Head Counselor, he had his own room to himself.
He locked the door behind him and then put the box on his bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card with his name on it.
He flipped it over, reading all of the sequences:
Sequence 9: Duelist
Sequence 8: Swordsman
Sequence 7: Betrayer
Sequence 6: Gladiator
Sequence 5: Avenger
Sequence 4: Berserker
Sequence 3: Paladin
Sequence 2: Sword Saint
Sequence 1: Hero
Sequence 0: Redemption
Luke then opened the box. It contained a bunch of monster ingredients and a small cauldron.
"Let's see if this works… so the first one I should make is the Duelist potion," he muttered.
'The two main ingredients are the heart of a Chimera and the essence of a Makhai,' he thought to himself as he looked at the two ingredients in the box, nodding his head.
'Then for the supplementary… Stymphalian Bird Feather, Telkhine Blood, and a Sphinx Claw. It looks like he really did send everything I needed… Talk about having a powerful backer. I wonder when I'll be as strong as Lucian. Heh, I can't wait to see his expression when he realizes I'll be much stronger than him,' Luke happily thought to himself as he began making the potion in the cauldron.
After he was done, he looked at the potion in his hand. It was a bright orange color. 'Luckily the card comes with the directions on how to mix everything.'
Luke then cheered the empty air, "Towards a new beginning and hoping I wasn't duped."
Almost immediately, he drank the potion down without hesitation. Afterwards, he licked his lips. "It tasted like oranges, not so bad—Urgh! Spoke too soon," he grimaced.
He rolled around his bed, holding his body, his veins nearly popping out of his skin as he tightly shut his eyes.
He rolled in the bed for an entire hour. When he was done, his skin was glistening with sweat, and he was breathing heavily with sweat rolling down his face. His eyes were half closed as he felt the changes in his body. "Let's see here, the card mentioned getting abilities corresponding to the name."
Luke closed his eyes and paid attention to the names of his abilities but as he read them all, he slowly fell asleep.
Enhanced Reflexes: Sharply improved reaction times, allowing the Duelist to respond quickly to threats and attacks.
Heightened Agility: Superior agility and coordination, enabling acrobatic maneuvers and swift, precise movements in combat.
Weapon Mastery: Basic proficiency with a variety of weapons, particularly those used in one-on-one duels such as swords, rapiers, and daggers.
Combat Intuition: An innate sense of an opponent's next move, making it easier to anticipate and counter attacks.
Tactical Awareness: The ability to quickly analyze and exploit weaknesses in an opponent's fighting style or battlefield positioning.
Endurance: Increased stamina and resistance to physical fatigue, allowing for prolonged engagements without tiring.
Pain Resistance: A higher threshold for pain, enabling the Duelist to continue fighting despite injuries that would incapacitate ordinary people.
Focused Mind: Enhanced concentration and mental clarity, reducing the likelihood of being distracted or confused during combat.
Rapid Recovery: Faster healing of minor injuries and quicker recovery from physical exertion.
As Luke fell asleep, his consciousness was transported elsewhere, where he met a face made out of sand on the floor in front of him.
"So, how did it go?" Kronos asked, looking at Luke curiously.
"It went well. The potion worked as intended. I have gained nine new upgrades in total," Luke informed him.
If Kronos could have, he would have nodded. "Good, good. Will we be able to mass produce them?"
"It should be possible, but only up to a certain point since then the materials needed will be scarce. And since talent plays a major role in this, it would take some people longer to fully digest the potion compared to others," Luke continued to inform him.
"Just having our armies drink the first potion is more than enough. Any more and they will be difficult to control."
"Don't worry, I'm aware," Luke nodded.
"Do not forget this debt you owe me now, Luke Castellan," Kronos warned.
Luke rolled his eyes. "Relax, would you? I'm already aware of our deal. You will help me collect the ingredients I need, and in return, with my new powers, I will help you reconstruct your body. Together, we will take down the gods from their pedestals."
"As long as you are aware of our deal," Kronos said before the sand began to shift and Luke was left to rest properly.
...
"Okay... we may have underestimated how hard it is to write a book," Lucian said, with bags under his eyes as he was surrounded by papers.
Annabeth wasn't any different as she let out a sharp exhale. "We have to cover every plot hole we create, not to mention making sure everything flows perfectly, the characters' interactions actually seem real, ensuring they are likable, the progression feels natural, and ensuring the fight scenes aren't confusing," Annabeth said, going on a tangent.
Lucian glared at her. "It also doesn't help that you keep finding things to fix, so we have to start all over again from the beginning."
"It's not my fault. It all needs to be perfect!"
"No, it does not! Some of the most popular books out there have thousands of plot holes, and they are still enjoyable!"
"But we don't want to be like them. We want it to be perfect! We need to make it more popular than popular!"
"You're not even starting to make sense anymore!"
"That's because I'm stressed out!"
A pile of papers suddenly rose up before falling back down, revealing Thalia who looked irritated. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere! Shut it! Both of you!"
"Let's go at it slowly. We've been so stressed out with this that we missed both of your birthdays," Thalia sighed.
"Huh?" Both Lucian and Annabeth looked at her in confusion.
Thalia rolled her eyes. "See what I mean? You both are now 11 years old, and you two didn't even realize."
"We are?" Lucian asked in surprise.
"I guess we are," Annabeth said equally surprised.
They then looked towards each other and bowed their heads.
"Happy birthday, even though it's late," they both said simultaneously.
"Thanks," they both replied before high-fiving.
"What the hell was that!?" Thalia asked, unsure of what she just witnessed.
"A congratulations?" Lucian said, looking at her weirdly.
"Yeah, never heard of one?" Annabeth asked, also looking at Thalia oddly.
Thalia then decided to ignore them completely and change the subject. She didn't even want to make sense of what she saw.
She turned towards Lucian and said, "Let's start from the prayers. You said to accept faith from people, we will need a prayer that will be specifically tailored for us, from our experiences and what we are able to do. You also called it an Honorific Name. What was yours again?"
Lucian nodded and went on to explain, "For this one, I used my intuition to create it. Any other combinations of words always sent my intuition haywire, but this just felt right for some reason."
"Repeat it," Thalia said.
"The Paradox defying conventional wisdom;
The Monarch wielding both Shadow and Light;
The Aberrant Weaver of Fortune and Curses;
The Lord of Contradiction governing chaos and order."
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A/N: Due to mostly everyone wanting a rewrite, I will now rewrite this story…
Just kidding, I'm only joking… OI! I SAID I WAS JOKING. You! Yes, you! The one about to click away and take this story off your library I said joking, relax.
In all seriousness, I did not expect to see an unanimous agreement… I was honestly expecting to see a two sided battle. It was either a no or a neutral that just wanted me to do as I please, there wasn't a single yes…
I am honestly touch, I didn't expect to such support 🙈 you guys are making shy staaawwp it 💅
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