RD 2 Ch 46-48

Chapter 46

I woke up to a mirthful pair of emerald eyes only a few inches from me.

“She’s a snuggler.” Simone giggled, causing the woman who had us wrapped with her tail to stir.

All her snakes were laid out on the pillow next to her or lying along her curves.

I had discovered a trick during our night together. Pulling her tail a little towards me before pushing it away relaxed her muscles enough for Simone to wiggle out first, and then I had plenty of room to escape before her tail twisted around the sheets and squeezed them to death.

“We should get her a Bran body pillow. It would be really cute.” Simone laughed.

That noise was enough for one of Nyx’s snakes to wake up and glance at her.

“Yes, I’m talking about you. Her hair is an extension of her, right?” Simone asked.

“Yup. She’s got control of them, but it takes concentration. Otherwise, they are more honest than her facial expressions,” I said.

“One of these days, I’m going to trick you with that assumption.” Nyx squinted her eyes open. “We were up so late. Why am I not completely dead on my fee— tail?” She corrected herself at the last second.

“Because we are players, and those stats are for a lot more than show. At your current stats, it would take a few days of no sleep to really bother you. Still, sleep is good. It makes you feel human if nothing else,” I told her.

“What’s on the docket for today?” Simone asked as I put on clothes for the morning.

“Well, if Circe has tasks for us, it’s going to have to delay those plans. But I wanted to check on Eunice and her forge. If our time for Persephone is limited, then I want to get started on my titan physique.” I called up my stats. Killing all of those demons had given decent experience, especially since I’d been level one. The S-ranked level of the class was now providing ten stats per level, which was a welcome change. I’d never turn down free stats.

[Name: Bran Heros

Level: 54

Class: Blood Hegemon S

Status: Healthy

Strength: 3083

Agility: 2559

Vitality: 3748

Intelligence: 1854

Spirit: 12805

Skills:

Soul Gaze SSS

Soul Resilience S

Blunt Weapon Proficiency C

Endurance A

Throwing Proficiency E

Blood Boil A

Blood Siphon A

Blood Bolt A

Bloodline Collection 110

Regeneration A

Fire Resistance D

Poison Resistance C

Ax Proficiency D

Charge B

Bloodink Quality B

Stealth D

Inscription B

Swim D (Bracer)

Last Stand E

Blood Hex A

Blood Transfusion A

Blood Blade A

Crimson Barrier A

Sword Proficiency S

Worshiped E

Sanguine Locking A

Drop B (Sword)

Soul Absorption Arts E

Bloodline Manipulation S

Powers of Blood C

Training F

Primordial Titan Bloodline M

Bloodrage Ascension D

Pressure Resistance E]

“Yes. I passed one hundred and got a powerful ability.” Simone slipped on her nun outfit.

Nyx was staring at her. “Why do you wear that or use the illusions to wear it and change your hair color?”

“Because Bran saved my life, and I’m reborn again. Also, because I’m a sexual being, and fuck everyone else if it makes them uncomfortable.” She laughed before stopping abruptly and glancing at me. “Does it bother you?”

“Nope. You do you. Can’t say anyone cared what anyone else was wearing after the system loot properties became more important than fashion.” I remembered a story about a guy not allowed to wear pants or shoes. Only his boxers and a toe ring because of the properties of his items. “I think you look sexy.”

Simone smiled. “That’s all that matters. It’s not like guys stare any less if I wear jeans.”

“You do have a great figure,” Nyx added in.

“Thank you.” Simone pressed her waist with her hands and twirled around. “It makes Bran grab my hair and pound me into the bed.”

Nyx blushed. “Right. We were getting out and seeing if Bran is going to burn himself to cinders?”

Simone pouted at that.

“I won’t turn into cinders. But I’m going to be working out my regeneration quite a bit.” I tapped my chin. “There might be another opportunity in there.”

“What’s that?” Simone asked.

“Well, the SS-ranked fire elemental is going to do enough damage. To upgrade Regeneration to Immortal Regeneration, I’ll need to have my heart ripped out when I’m on the door of life and death,” I said.

Both of them stopped what they were doing and glared at me.

“Uh…” I hesitated.

“Nope.” Simone crossed her arms. “If you’re about to ask me to rip your heart out then I have a fun story for you about how you’re going to be sleeping on the couch. That hurts me more than you, by the way.”

“If that’s what you need. Do you think you could find someone else?” Nyx hesitated.

My father had done it in my past life. Beat me to a pulp and then reached into my chest and ripped my heart out before crushing it in my face.

Back then I’d thought he was taunting me with my own death.

Now that I realize who he was… I have to wonder if that was just a Borrson Clan greeting.

It was also why I had a slightly irrational fear of my father. There was some serious psychological damage with that move. I thought I was going to die.

“Alright.” I held my hands up. “No heart ripping.” At least, not from them. Circe or Hercules might be willing to do it. I was fairly sure I could trust both of them. That would be a very vulnerable point for me. “Either way. I have to be forged. Which means melting me in the furnace before letting Eunice hammer me and putting me back, then more hammering. Eventually, she’s going to have to quench me. My father said water would be too plain. Perhaps blood. He was trying to mix more elements into the process. So…”

I pulled out an SS rank poison I had distilled. “Why not make it poisonous blood?”

“System help me.” Simone put her face in her hand. “I don’t want to be a widow already.”

“I have poison and fire resistance.” Opening the door and heading out, I knew we needed to get moving.

“Yeah.” Simone tapped her chin. “Remind me what rank those are compared to what you’re punishing yourself using?”

“Not too low.” I wasn’t going to fall to her bait.

“Are we stopping for breakfast?” Nyx asked as we walked down the stairs.

The atrium for Circe’s palace was brimming with people as a simple buffet was set up in the center of the hall. Guests were scooping up what they could, while others reassured them there was more and came out from a back room with more food.

“They just have all of this prepared?” Nyx asked.

“It only takes Circe flying over to Italy and buying out a few groceries with a high-ranked ring to store it all.” I shrugged. “The clan has enough money. None of the rebuild will matter cost-wise. But, for now, people are lacking homes, and the clan is still on lockdown.”

Hundreds of players had made quick work of the rubble, clearing wide-open spaces for people to rebuild over the course of the day.

In fairness, a large number of players were almost akin to a construction vehicle. Off in the distance, the shipping freighter was being patched up—likely to be used as a mobile platform for getting the docks set back up.

There was an entire lumber yard being set up inside the coliseum with some of Zeus’ men overlooking people picking up timber.

“Wow.” Nyx watched the clan work from the bridge. “Industrious.”

“Very.” I nodded, happy to see this kind of coordination. “Players are not only able to destroy at incredible rates but build, too. I’m told some of the other worlds that have had players for thousands of years are beautiful. The System gives you classes to fight instances, but the System also creates more. And often, that material can be great in the real world.”

People were moving through the clan with their spatial rings stuffed full of just about everything imaginable. Some of these that had been alive for hundreds of years really started to squirrel away all sorts of things.

I used to have a spatial ring dedicated to big rocks of high rank that I could carve a small hut out of for shelter in odd places. Then I had a second ring of already carved huts. They had an appreciable rate of being destroyed, so I kept making them.

“Very pretty. Now let’s go see where you intend to try and melt your bones.” Simone was still a little upset about the whole affair.

I led them through Hercules’ island to Eunice’s building. Though, it had seen better days.

“Anyone there?” I walked up to the entrance, even though one of the walls had collapsed, and the roof looked like it was about to give way and fall.

“Yup.” There was a grunt followed by a stone cracking as it hit the floor. “Fuck, I’m making a mess of this.”

“Yeah, you are. Just let me.” I moved on back into the building. The ladies followed me into the area.

Eunice’s workspace, previously pristine, was the center of the collapsed wall, and everything was charred black. “Did the elemental get out?” I asked.

“Oh. I let it out when a demon came into my shop.” Eunice picked up another stone to clear the path. “Damned thing collapsed the furnace as soon as it scorched the demon. Must have been pissed.”

“Well, I can’t blame it.” I lifted some of the stones and put them in a spatial ring that still had space. “Let us help you get this sorted, and then I’ll build you a new furnace with inscriptions baked into it.”

“I want to see the inscriptions first.” She crossed her arms.

“Going to make them with my blood and bake them into the mortar.” I took out a piece of paper, and my wrist moved quickly, scribbling out half a dozen different inscriptions. “If I do it like this, it’ll bake into the structure of the forge so the system recognizes it.”

She looked over the inscription I’d drawn. “Squiggles to me. The system isn’t saying it’s something.”

I sighed and then bit my thumb before remaking them on low-grade paper. The inscriptions that came out of it were a pitiful D, but while picking through the rubble yesterday, I had picked up more than a few high-rank stones that were sitting in my spatial ring. They could be used for the forge’s walls or ground down for mortar.

It was a slight re-appropriation from the clan, but no one would hopefully mind.

“These are low grade.” She frowned.

“My blood is S grade ink. I just need to know what I want it to mimic. The paper is F rank.” I showed her the paper, and she nodded. A crafter herself, she understood that the ink had to significantly improve F-ranked paper to get to D-ranked inscriptions.

“Fine. Can you build a furnace?” she asked.

I snorted and tried not to be insulted at that question. “I’m going to clear a space and then get started while these two help you clean up the rest.”

Simone’s figure popped, and she went from a blonde nun to a straight black-haired French maid.

I gave her a long, suffering look.

She pulled a feather duster out of her spatial ring. “Going to get started. Try not to get distracted.” She strutted past me and dusted my face with the feather duster.

“Uh…” Eunice was at a loss for words.

“Don’t worry. She’s just finding her own fun in the task,” I said, starting to clear a space.

“She enjoys riling up Bran,” Nyx added as if she was an old hand and hadn’t asked about it earlier.

“Ah. I see.” Eunice nodded and then forcibly looked away from Simone. “Just going to go organize things in the other room while you guys do your thing.”

Simone was positioned such that her rear was to me only and bent over low to give me a view up her skirt. “Come on, Bran. You’re supposed to be working.”

“Tease.” I scoffed.

“Building you up so that tonight you take me like a savage. I had to listen to you and Nyx after you brought her home. I’m horny, so I’m going to make you horny. In this case, two wrongs do make a right.” Simone turned around and came by, running the feather duster over my shoulder.

“Is this going to be an everyday thing?” Nyx asked.

“No.”

“Yes.”

I stared at Simone, and she just smiled before going back to work.

Chapter 47

I spent the whole day working with Nyx and Simone before staying up all night and returning to finish the next morning.

I wiped at my brow as I worked carefully towards the top of the furnace. “If you are going to sit there and watch, want to give me your opinion?” I asked Eunice who had taken to supervising after getting over Simone’s antics.

“Sure. What about?”

“Do you want any release at the top?” I asked. There was no smoke, so she didn’t need a chimney. I was close to done. There were several Blood Blades set up, bracing the structure as I made a curved roof.

“Nope. I’m still not sure about this opening.” She gestured at the door-sized gap at the front.

“It’ll be fine. When I’m finished, we can test it,” I said.

“It doesn’t need to dry?” she asked.

“Nope. Trust me. That elemental won’t break it once I have put it all together, and neither could you. If it would make you feel better, I could put the elemental in and stand by the door to prove it,” I offered.

Eunice grunted. “I have Fire Immunity. Perk of working with high-grade fire my whole life.”

Nyx let out a whistle. “Immunity? Isn’t that the upgrade for resistance?”

“Yes. Past that is body. I knew a monk with Poison Body. The guy drank poisons like healing potions,” I said.

Eunice tilted her head. “It healed him?”

“Resistance reduces damage. Immunity negates it up to your rank, and then Body… well, you actually heal from that type of damage,” I explained. “The monk made system alcohol of higher and higher rank because he wanted to get drunk. Eventually, he was healing himself with shots of booze so harsh they’d melt most people’s guts while sending them into a comma.”

Damned crazy bastard was probably uninitiated right now, living as a bored monk in the mountains.

“Who knew that being a drunk was so useful,” Eunice said dryly. “You’re almost finished. Don’t stop to tell stories, now.”

I scoffed but put the last few stones in place, saving a big circular one for the capstone and slotting it in place before reabsorbing the several Blood Blades.

It barely even moved as it settled, but there was a quantitative change as it finished, and the system identified it as a whole item.

[Hardened Smelting Furnace of Barriers SS]

Eunice whistled and walked up to it, flicking a hammer out of her spatial ring and smacking it several times. “Good. Very good. You said you’d stand in front?”

“Happy to stand by my work. Are you old enough that you were around when the architect had to stand under the keystone?” I asked.

Eunice barked a laugh. “That’s an exaggerated story. Plus, anyone worth their salt wouldn’t mind standing under when the bracing was taken away.” She unceremoniously pulled out a bottle and poured the fire elemental into the furnace.

Like most elementals, it was constantly in motion. Flames twisted and flickered over its whole body. It had no legs, just a tapered bottom that led up to a broad chest and two arms. There was no neck before its flaming head turned to the two of us and roared, its mouth nothing but a temporary gap in the flames.

The thing billowed out of the bottle and thrashed in the space before seeing the open doorway and rushing towards Eunice and me.

She flinched, but the SS-ranked Elemental slammed into an invisible barrier at the edge of the stonework. Reaching a hand out, she found the barrier. “There’s no heat.”

“Of course not. It’s a furnace, Eunice. If we want it to work, that barrier has to keep the heat in as well.” I rolled my eyes playfully.

Nyx was curious enough to come close, one of her snakes testing it as well. “How?”

“Inscription. Honestly, it’s the best craft.”

Eunice gave me some serious side-eye at my comment. “Do you still want my help or not?”

“I very much do.” I didn’t apologize, just waited for her to move on.

The elemental thrashed against the barrier a few more times before pouting and sinking into the gaps between the stones in the floor. There was another barrier down there; the thing was just sulking.

Eunice took that moment to stick a pair of big tongs through the barrier and back out, then repeated the action with several objects, trying to see if there was a limitation. “Fine work. Now, we need an anvil that can handle you.”

I pulled out a large SS-ranked stone slab. It was not quite big enough for me to lie down on, but it was big enough for her to work on me in parts. “Will this work?” I had thought it would be used as a nice barrier to block something, but this would be as good a use as any.

“Not perfect but sure. Do you have what you wanted to be quenched in?”

I smiled. I had definitely prepared.

Pulling out a mixture like what the stupid leech had used in the instance, along with blood donated from several SSS-ranked bloodlines, and more poison than I probably should use, I had my quenching tub.

“Alright.” Eunice put on a heavy leather apron. “The two of you sticking around?”

Simone looked like she was going to be sick but sat down in the corner. “If you scream. I’ll heal you.” Her face was set in a hard mask, which was a little hard to take seriously in the maid outfit.

Nyx looked between Simone and me before sitting on her coils next to Simone.

I stripped down as Eunice looked away. “My clothes are just going to get incinerated. Simone bought me these and I liked them. Going to have to bear with it, Eunice.”

She grunted and turned back as I stepped into her furnace.

It was still warming up with the elemental’s presence, but it was already unbearably hot.

The second I stepped inside, the elemental shot out from the stone at the floor and wrapped itself around me in a twisting tornado of fire.

I had to grit my teeth and lean against the wall. I dared not sit down for fear that I wouldn’t be able to get up to get out when I needed to.

The elemental’s face pressed against mine, trying to get into me and cook me from the inside out.

I plugged my nose. It cooked my skin plenty from the outside as Regeneration was quickly losing the battle.

It was excruciating pain, and I felt my body boiling from the SS-ranked fire.

When my legs started to give out, I stumbled out of the furnace and threw my arm over the anvil.

Eunice looked at me with horror.

“Anyone else smell a barbecue?” I laughed out smoke from my burning lungs.

“See. He’s fine,” Nyx said from the side before the ring of Eunice’s hammer made it impossible to hear anything else.

My bones shattered and regenerated before she swung again. Slowly but surely, she worked over every inch of my frame from fingertips to shoulder.

“Not done with that arm. Go again.” She hissed as I stood up, and I forced myself back inside the furnace.

Honestly, the next few hours were a blur. I went into a mechanical state, but when I needed them, my mind was filled with thoughts of Simone, Gloria, and Nyx.

For those three I would walk through SS-ranked fires over and over if it meant I could be a wall that stood between them and danger.

Vaguely, I was aware of Eunice hammering different parts of me until a sudden shock of cold and a new type of burning pain invaded my every inch.

The shock was enough to bring my mind out of the haze and gasp as I lifted myself from the crimson liquid.

“Bran?” Simone was beside me.

“How do I look?” I grunted, feeling both refreshed and incredibly sore. “Don’t suppose someone has water?”

Simone had a bottle of water pressed to my lips a moment later, and I drank deeply from the bottle as the plastic crackled.

“Ah.” I sighed and then gritted my teeth as poison seeped into me. “Going to just rest here for a minute.” The poison was eating away at me.

Eunice wiped at her brow nearby and sat down exhausted. “We’ve been at it for most of the day. Your bone structure had started to become unbalanced. Grown a lot recently?”

“Titan Bloodline. Yes, I did.” I grunted. No one had been commenting on it, but I had added a solid half foot, creeping closer to seven feet tall lately.

“You probably lost half of that growth—for the record. Had to hammer out the imperfections, and then your regeneration refilled everything in a little denser, though your bone structure should be perfectly symmetrical and a good touch denser than it was before. Quenching is about locking everything in place. Well, for steel it is at least. Alright, out of the bath. Back in you go.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“You might be forged, but you still need to be tempered. Never knew you could do this to a person, but nothing leaves my shop half-finished.” Eunice spun her mallet threateningly.

I had a feeling she’d given more than a few pieces of armor this same talk.

“Just don’t stay in nearly as long. I only need you crispy, not a walking piece of charcoal. Then back into the bath. Chop-chop.” Eunice waved the hammer at me while Simone scowled at the woman like she was about to rip her head off.

I rushed back into the furnace to be attacked by the fire elemental and then back into the poisoned blood bath that burned my insides.

Eunice would give me a few testing wacks with her hammer and then send me back into the forge.

This process lasted until, finally, she hit me with the hammer, paused, and hit me twice more. “You’re done.”

I grunted in thanks, enjoying the cool bath. “I feel lighter.”

Eunice shrugged while she went over to the forge and reclaimed her elemental into the bottle. “It isn’t easy to change a player’s body after they are initiated. Gets harder the more stats they have. But you’ve had a decent change. If you are treating yourself like an item to be forged, you need yourself scoured or an edge put on you and then polished.”

“Polishing wasn’t part of the recipe, but let's go all the way,” I said, sighing in the bath for a moment before getting out.

The poison had seeped deep inside of me, and I was still poisoned, but I had enough stats to keep moving for now while the last of it was healed out of my system.

“Make sure you clean all that water up.” Eunice pointed with her hammer, and all the energy left her. “I’m out.” She practically dragged herself out.

Nyx and Simone had tear stains on their face from watching me, and I could tell that even though I was soaked in poison, they were having to force themselves from getting up and touching me.

“Let me clear this all off.” I walked into the empty but still red-hot forge and let the residual heat cook off everything on my skin.

From the efforts of today, I had several more skills and some that had been upgraded.

[Forged Body A

Fire Resistance A

Poison Resistance S

Tempered Body A]

The four skills added quite a bit each. Too bad I’d be getting rid of them soon.

As soon as I stepped out of the furnace, Simone flung herself into my arms and rubbed her face into my chest. “You smell like a bonfire. After this, you are getting a really good scrubbing, and then I’m chaining you to the bed and sleeping like this.”

“Deal.” I reached over and pulled an awkward Nyx into the hug. Her snakes immediately swarmed me and refused to let up until I pushed both of them away. “I’m finishing this tonight though if I can. Would you be willing to get Circe? If you wake her up and she’s a little pissed, all the better.”

“Masochist,” Simone muttered. “But he won’t let me whip me.”

“Not a masochist. Just working hard to make sure I’m a sturdy breakwater for the tide of demons that’s coming for us all.” I lowered my voice. “Really, I’m doing all of this to protect you two and Gloria.”

That earned me a kiss from each of them and then a dozen from the snakes.

“You’re whole. Now, I just need to be reminded of it with lots and lots of physical contact.” Simone hung onto my arm.

Chapter 48

Circe was wearing a thin nightgown and rubbing her eyes as she joined me on the beach. “Today was long enough. What do you need, Bran?” Circe looked grouchy, but she was still incredibly put together with her blue hair tied back and her nightgown not even being wrinkled.

Perfect.

“Well, I need you to blast me with wind.” I pulled out several pouches of high-ranked stone that had been crushed to sand. “I need the finishing touches on my titan physique.”

Circe snapped her fingers, and a tornado of wind sprang up around me. “There.”

“Is that all you got? I can still hear you,” I taunted her.

Her red eyes brightened slightly at the challenge. A moment later, she narrowed them, and the wind picked up.

Simone said something next to her, and Circe really went at it, the wind picking up enough sand that I couldn’t see her.

I let out the sand from my own pouches, and that stuff stung like someone was raking needles all over my skin.

There was a sudden step change, and things blasted over my skin before peals of lightning tore through the whirling sand and hit me, followed by ice entering the storm.

Fuck.

What did Simone say to Circe?

I began to meditate. This was all so that I could take another hit, to move that much faster for when the demons came for Simone, for Gloria, or for Nyx.

The Gorgon and I had plenty of time to work on our relationship, but she’d cracked my hard exterior and found a spot next to the other two who I loved.

Their smiles were etched in my mind before being interrupted by a series of prompts.

Several flitted by before I paid enough attention.

[Ritual Complete…

Requirements met…

Analyzing new ability possibilities…

New abilities identified…

…

Error.

Ability outside System 3187’s access…

Administrator’s access denied. Secondary credentials required…

Access denied…

Access denied system not upgraded yet…

Access denied system communication unavailable…

…]

I watched as a number of various errors and accesses were denied. The system had always been so rigid. Watching what appeared to be a frustrated user trying a number of outcomes to get my titan physique approved was baffling.

There really was someone behind everything in the world?

“Syssy, thank you for trying. It just might not be possible,” I said.

There was a sudden flurry of different notices that flashed past my screen before it all came to a screeching halt.

…

User 0003 has entered the system.]

There was a long pause during which the wind died down, and everything stopped pelting me, but I didn’t pull my eyes away from the screen in front of me.

[User 0003 has enabled temporary communications with System 3091.]

The sand fell down as another prompt flashed on my screen.

[Quest Received

Accept Y/N?]

There were no details at all. And I was confused. The quest system didn’t come until after the Rapture. Even then, a player got the details before hitting accept. Quests were limited. A player could only have three, and they couldn’t be abandoned.

Each was normally a fairly big deal with big rewards. The very first one everyone got when the demons appeared was to close all the Hell Gates. And that had been vital in of itself because one of the gates was hidden by the Heavenly Mountain sect. The whole world would have never known it existed without the quest. The sect had to move it out later because the entire world was coming together to find it.

“Syssy. I’m going to trust you.” I accepted the quest.

“Who are you calling a sissy?” Circe looked like she was going to attack me again.

“Playful name I gave The System.” I held up my hands.

“Your status is doing something funny.” Circe frowned.

“Yeah. There are a lot of prompts right now.” I turned my gaze back to them as a quest appeared.

[Travel to Syst—mestia]

[Travel to Simestia.]

The quest changed before my eyes. If I had been looking, I’d bet every ounce of my blood it said System 3091 just a second ago.

[Secondary Authorization Approved

[Combining abilities…

New Ability Acquired

Primordial Confluence Titan Physique F]

I frowned at the F rank. All of that for F rank? Then I opened my stat sheet to see the actual ability and swallowed all of my complaints.

Nope. That’s fine. I’ll diligently upgrade it.

“You okay, Bran? Looks like you just ate a lemon,” Nyx said.

“Might have. By the way, what did you tell Circe?” I turned to Simone.

“Oh, nothing.” She smiled sweetly. “Just about how you made me turn into her to fuck the other night.”

I held up my hands slowly. “That didn’t actually happen.”

“I know.” Circe smiled. “Still upset me for… reasons. Good work getting me to really give it to him.” She turned to Simone. “If that’s all, I’m going to go back to bed. If you need anything else, find someone else.” She walked off.

Simone came up to me with hopeful eyes. “Was it worth it?”

“Yeah.” I chuckled as I said the word. “This is incredible. Though, I’m going to need to grow into it. I’ve never seen a physique with Elemental Resistance.”

Simone tilted her head. “I thought that most of them would have one.”

“No, Simone, you aren’t getting it. I don’t mean an elemental resistance. I mean simply, a skill that is simply all-encompassing Elemental Resistance. There’s no qualifier in front of it,” I clarified.

Simone’s eyes went wide. “Oh.” She made a big ‘O’ with her mouth.

“Add in increased density, which might not sound incredible but really does help. After all, mass is half the equation of force. It also means that while I won’t have Tough Skin, it will function similarly. I’ll be cut, puncture, and crushing resistant.” I nodded at it. Those two abilities weren’t impressive sounding, but their simple nature was misleading.

I just became a heck of a lot more durable.

The downside was that all my resistances essentially just reset to F rank. Also, I was going to be a little slower, and my Regeneration would take longer with the increased density.

However, my potential had just skyrocketed.

In my excitement, I grabbed both ladies in a big hug and dragged them back to the room.

***

“Persephone is awake.” One of Circe’s people stopped me while I was lifting a beam into place. I had gone back to rebuilding the city.

“Thanks.” I nodded and put the beam down before waving to the others who were working on the building with me.

Simone gave me a quizzical look, but I waved for her to stay in response. We’d made fast friends with many in the Heros Clan these last few days.

The clan, in general, was feeling far more close-knit.

Spilling blood together often brought people together. I had seen it before.

“Where are we going?” I asked as she picked the wrong bridge. Or, at least, I thought we were heading back to Circe’s palace.

“Mount Olympus.” She glanced over her shoulder. “That’s where Circe is.”

I nodded in understanding and reoriented my expectations as we went over the bridge and up a set of stairs carved into the cliffs that hid the Olympus Branch above.

It wasn’t some grand mountain that went all the way to the clouds, but it was big enough to leave an impression and prevent those down on the lower islands from seeing much more than the roofs of a few buildings on the edge.

As I went up the steps, they changed from carved into the side of the cliff, to molded from marble, and finally, they added gold trim.

Even before I saw the top of the cliff, the color of gold was painting the white stairs.

The perfect word to describe it was opulent.

Mount Olympus was a picturesque scene. The kind someone would paint if they wanted to build a shrine to the Greek gods.

“This way.” The guide prompted me to keep moving.

Unlike Hercules’ island which felt like a bustling city, Mount Olympus felt sort of like when you went to a spa. Everyone was moving in relaxed strides with purposeful movements.

Absolutely no one was moving faster than a slow stroll, which made me feel like a ripple in the otherwise smooth waters as I charged through with Circe’s guide.

“Do they all offer massages?” I asked.

She gave me a weird look.

I felt the need to explain. “They move like they work at a massage parlor.”

“Huh.” She grunted and continued to lead me through the open streets.

There was a massive palace at the end of it all, and it seemed that was where we were headed. It was starting to be clear how resources were so easy to buy. Chipping off some of that gold roof would bring plenty.

Then again, these islands represented thousands of years of increasing power and wealth.

“This way.” The guide led me up the wide set of stairs to the temple. At least, that’s what I assumed the building was based on the style.

My head twisted every which way. I had never been here in my past life—the cliff had been sheared off and collapsed into the ocean.

Now, I really regret not going for a dive to loot this place.

“Bran.” One of my servants was already here and gestured to Circe’s guide that her job was done. “I’ll lead you back.”

“Oh. What are you doing here?” I asked.

“My family is here,” she answered simply and continued through. “Zeus and the others are here, so everyone is in a fuss. Plus, they always meet in the same room.” She knew her way around, moving through the halls before ending up in a large open room.

I half expected a throne at one end, but thankfully, there wasn’t one.

Instead, the hallway opened up into a balcony that overlooked the ocean, and the leaders were all gathered there while Persephone was laid out on a chase with servants offering her wine and grapes.

I rolled my eyes. She was clearly back to her former self.

“Hello.” I introduced myself to the room.

“Bran. Come here. Persephone woke up and wanted to see you,” Zeus said.

I flashed them all a smile before focusing on Persephone. “How are you, Mimi?”

All emotion drained from her face, and she scowled at me. “That was you.”

“Yup. Now, have they told you about the demons that rifled through your soul and escaped, most likely intent on ransacking Tartarus?” I wanted to cut to the point.

Her scowl deepened. “Yes, they have, in far more words. That was real. Then…”

“Huh?” I pretended not to remember. “Was there something else more important? I’m pretty sure the destruction of the Tartarus branch is what we should all be focusing on.” I wanted her to know I would not share how she had broken the rules. “How about it?”

She narrowed her eyes on me. She was the very distrusting sort it seemed. “Fine. Twelve days from now, I’ll lead a group to the entrance.”

“We should go protect it now,” Zeus demanded. “Prevent them from ever entering the labyrinth.”

“What if they didn’t get what they needed out of me and instead are just trying to bait us into leading them there?” Persephone pursed her lips tight.

“That demon was strong enough to render you unconscious and probe your soul. It’s fair to say it was skilled enough that it likely succeeded,” I argued. “Still, waiting at the entrance for days is only going to draw more attention than any of us would likely want.”

Hercules chuckled. “Who gave the kid a seat at the table?”

“Apparently, the ancestor,” Circe grumbled. “He’s vital to the future of the clan with his ability to manipulate the bloodlines.”

“Twelve days is plenty to get the clan back on its feet before the elites leave on this mission.” Hercules continued with the task at hand. “There was another thing we discussed.”

“Ah.” Zeus nodded. “Bran, we have several members in our prison cells. We would like your assistance in removing their bloodlines and then… transplanting those bloodlines into people who have strong merits to the clan but are unable to join the family.”

I raised an eyebrow. The idea was an effective way to bind those people to the clan. “So, the matter of Persephone’s leading us is settled.”

“Unless you’d like to try and force her.” Circe gestured for me to go ahead.

“Pass.” I shrugged. “Just making sure. I get to come?”

“No.” Zeus shook his head.

“Yes.” Persephone nodded while the other two remained silent.

“You can’t be serious!” Zeus roared. “If he’s the only way to activate the clan’s blood, he must be kept here.”

“If we go and can’t protect him, the clan’s already dead anyway.” Persephone glanced at me out of the corner of her eyes.

I smiled, knowing that my little comment about unbinding her from the Hell Gate Anchor had won her over.

Zeus took a deep breath, and suddenly, I felt like I was going to be waiting a while while they argued.