Chapter 28: Scorpions, why does it always have to be scorpions . . .

[Tavish POV]

I ignited more incense as I prayed at the base of the statue.

To be more accurate, I lit a vanilla scented candle to chase away the smell of molded leather as I worked on an antique sewing machine.

An old chap just down the street ended up striking up a conversation with me at some point when I was wandering through the neighborhood and we spent a few hours chatting away.

I'm not exactly sure on when his wife's sewing machine came into the conversation, but soon enough I was offering to repair it and he was more than eager for me to do so.

The machine was in a bad way from simply the passage of time, and what better way for it to regain its former glory, than by working on it in a church of the machine god.

It was my way of prayer. To build and repair, and to learn and acknowledge.

It also made for a decent little project to help out Mr. Robbins.

The man was getting on in age and while he was still quite spry, offering to help with a thing or two couldn't hurt.

I finish reassembling the motor and bolt it back into place. Its been quite a while since I've done simple mechanic work like this.

It was nice.

Peaceful even.

And it gave me plenty of time to think.

Recruiting for a new religion was abysmally slow. Even if their was no other religion in town, people are sometimes just not interested in what you have to offer.

As it was, I had one lone parishioner that came by consistently.

One Ms. Ava Herrera.

Although I'm 65% sure she was just using this as a quiet place to study, I did find her from time to time exploring the ever-expanding library.

Ah well, this is a church dedicated to the quest for knowledge after all.

It also came with an interesting affect.

Glancing at her with my Byakugan revealed tiny motes of golden energy being produced from her body when she was studying or reading through a particularly interesting book.

It felt almost identical to the divine energy of the machine god, is this how he draws his power from followers?

I imagine that the study of divine energy would be an excellent avenue of study one day. What function of prayer or belief causes them to receive power? Could it be quantified? So many questions.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time for them today. The real reason I was mulling over the facts of life was that stupid desert in the gourmet world.

I knew that their must be a valuable ingredient there, but the local fauna was intent on attacking and eating me.

Specifically, those stupid scorpions seemed to think I was a nice enough meal to risk losing life and limb for a nibble.

Was I actually going to have to introduce newer machines from my arsenal?

. . .

I was a little under a year away from the first Canoptek Spyder, so I had time to exhaust other options before heading down that route.

In the meantime, Nico and Bianca DeAngelo.

Hades had requested that since he no longer had the furies serving him, that I retrieve the duo from the Lotus Casino.

In Las Vegas.

He wants to set me, loose in Las Vegas?

. . .

Eh, I'm sure it'll be fine.

After all, I'm just going there to retrieve two demigod children from a casino that alters your perception of time and space.

[Time Skip]

Five months.

It took me five fucking months to traverse across the casino floor, convince the children of Hades that I was here to pick them up and it was time to leave, check them out of the hotel, present power of attorney to prove I was there on behalf of their father, go up to their room and retrieve their luggage, get back down stairs and exit the casino.

The amount of food I would have had to consume to maintain my disguise would have been obscene so I had to develop a solution before making the trip.

At first, I was weighing the viability of using uranium. I remember reading somewhere that one gram was equivalent to roughly twenty billion calories, but Iris was quick to remind me about my lack of ability to resist radiation, my argument stating I would be fed for the rest of my life proving ineffectual against her logic.

A small gripe but it was enough for me to table that particular line of thought for now.

My next thought was alchemy, which turned out to be a bit more viable. Crafting a liquid meal was the first step down that path, but of course, it got tricky when I tried to condense it into a pill or a high-density caloric supplement.

A 10,000-calorie meal bought me a few hours currently and I would have to maintain that in order to get in and out of the casino and account for any passing time.

Even after all that prep, I quickly found that the people within were preserved in a sort of stasis where physically no time passes for them.

I wanted to burn the entire casino down around those stupid Lotus eaters after that, but I had a more important task first.

When Hades originally put these two in the casino, it was right before the first sparks of World War two ignited, leaving these two demigods woefully unprepared for the mindset, rigors, and just general information of the last sixty years or so.

But first, to convince the screaming daughter of Hades that I wasn't the reaper here to take their souls.

Bianca was currently barricaded behind a table in the tavern with a firm grasp on an excited Nico as she watched me warily.

"Kiddo, if you'll let me explain, I really was sent on behalf of your father." I attempt to explain once more as a napkin holder was bounced off my head.

"Bullshit! Who are you and what kind of freakshow is this?!" Bianca snapped at me attempting to find something to reload with.

"I told you magic exists Bianca! Just like in Mythomagic!" Nico added in excitedly, not at all sharing in his sister's apprehension of the situation.

"Look kid, I did this as a favor for your dad, but if you keep chucking stuff at me, I won't be held liable for what happens next . . ." I growl, reaching the end of my patience rather quickly.

I knew that trying to break them to the mythological world gently would be a struggle, but Bianca's being obstinate.

Unfortunately, I was forced to hold this conversation in a "Mexican standoff-like" fashion as I tried to get everything sorted out.

[Time Skip]

[Five hours later]

Bianca was still giving me the eye behind her table fort, while Nico had accepted it and moved on and was now teaching me how to play Mythomagic.

We had gotten as far as explaining that yes, I am in fact an actual skeleton and had basically left it at that.

Getting her to adjust to this was going to be a bit of a trickle of info as she acclimated to the world around her.

I honestly wouldn't blame her for the existential crisis she is probably having. The world around her is being shattered into itsy bitsy pieces while at the same time (eventually) finding out that she's in the completely wrong time period.

Nico would just roll with it.

He was young enough that he would bounce back an adapt far quicker than his sister. It was probably why Bianca joined the hunters in the previous timeline.

They offered a sense of stability and were in a similar position with how the hunters were immortal to a degree, so they came from all different era's and places.

Ah well, I'll figure this out as I go along. May as well create a space for them for however long they are going to be with me.

[Time Skip]

Ava was an absolute lifesaver in maintaining the church while I was gone, even going so far as to create a semblance of organization in the ever-growing library.

Offering to pay her for the work was swiftly declined as she started asking questions with a vigor that surprised me, clarifying parts of the quest for knowledge and searching for a better understanding of machine spirits.

A new notification appeared one I had finished explaining and she had left for the day.

[Follower Recruited!]

[Ava Herrera.]

[Zealot Varient Worshiper!]

[Follower has been recognized as one who will actively follow the will of the Omnissiah.]

[She will actively attempt to recruit people for the religion.]

[Upon recruiting so many followers she will evolve into *REDACTED*.]

Worshipers are capable of evolution?

And Zealot Class? What the heck does that indicate?

Does she blindly follow the church?

I may have to carefully review what I tell her in the future.

We definitely don't want her attempting to kill heretics or sacrifice people in the name of the machine god. That just has bad publicity written all over it.

Lets just teach her basic mechanics and then start her on a coat drive or something.

That should be safe right?

Anyway, I was primarily hear to refresh myself on what all happened in the gap of time while the di Angelo's were hanging out in Vegas.

Almost all of the records were identical to that of my original earth. Outside of a few key products or items, most major figures in history stayed constant.

When I read the original books in my universe, it had implied that after World War II was when the "big three" had vowed not to have anymore children. The vow actually took place after WWI.

It was actually a huge misconception that Hitler was a son of Hades, and while it was kinda funny imagining a vegetarian painter/genocidal lunatic to be a son of Hades, it really wasn't feasible.

Also, I was having a hell of a time actually tracking down the kids of the "big three" throughout history.

Their wasn't really a purpose to it, but it would be interesting to see how much they affect the mortal world.

Was Winston Churchill a child of Athena?

Was Marylin Monroe a child of Aphrodite?

How did their children alter the course of history to the point of unsuccessfully swearing to never have children again?

Sure the supposed "great prophecy" may have been a driving force, but what portion of their power made it such a huge issue?

All three were capable of controlling vast portions of what makes up the natural environment and the fundamental forces that make up a huge portion of Gaea's power.

Is it because the foundation base for the power they are capable of wielding is so strong?

From time to time I secretly observe the camp, and from what I discovered was that nearly none of the demigods within camp continued to train their powers after making it to the camp.

They tend to fall into a more passive use of their powers, only using them to make things more convenient.

It kinda like if someone could use the force, yet they used this miraculous power only to grab the remote or pull pringles out of the can.

Sure their was some combat training, but that was more of a weekend self-defense course more than anything.

Removing some of the obviously Greek themes, this was obviously a summer camp. One where a parent might dump their kid if they don't want to deal with them for the summer.

But unfortunately, it was currently the only safe place for Greek demigods.

The Roman demigods on the other hand, actively prepared for war in a standardized format typical of roman legions. Serving for several years in a cohort, each one did their time, and then went on to retire in New Rome.

Honestly in comparison, the future of the Greek's was pretty bleak in comparison to the Romans.

But I definitely got off track from my original intent.

Most of the children of Hades derive their powers from "anything beneath the earth."

This more often than not derived itself into branches such as necromancy, osteokinesis, umbrakinesis, geokinesis, and ferrokinesis.

I have yet to see a demigod in history that had trained to the point where they displayed all of these abilities or any historical figures that had them so I ended up abandoning that search completely in favor of just tutoring them.

Or rather, I got Thoth to do it.

The crazy scientist/ god had maneuvered his way here and while developing an addiction to my BBQ Galagator, he is absolutely fascinated by Nova.

I am constantly having to stop him from running off with the chairs because he wants to "discover" how nova can create such things.

So now, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he tutors the di Angelo siblings in exchange for free meals.

The feather brained god was always a source of entertainment with how spaced out and disconnected he was. His "discovery" of the Blues always served as a source of amusement as he often came dressed straight out of the seventies.

Nico and Bianca both took a liking to him allowing me to divert my focus to other projects.

Ava becoming a follower of the church seriously started boosting my experience gain for Tech-Paladin so I had to double down on Necromancy.

After much trial and error, I accidentally discovered how to create minor lich's, undead mages, or in my case, Cryptek's.

I needed a body that was born with more mana in it than the standard human, or to put it in layman's terms, the person had to have been a mage in life, or have held the potential to wield magic.

Minor lich's were the result of bodies with magical potential, undead mages were created from former magic users.

A Cryptek was created when I sent an undead mage through the bio furnace. While I was ecstatic about discovering the creation method, I was quickly made aware of a glaring issue.

They were essentially empty husks.

The foundations were laid for them to be Cryptek's, but none of the knowledge was there to work with.

So I would literally just create them, and then sit them down in Nova's library to read and process material so they could develop concepts for magic and manipulating the fabric of shit.

I couldn't just plug them into the Cryptek data cache because even I didn't know what was on those things.

Could be some random Cryptek asshole hidden away in that thing without my knowledge. Didn't want to exactly risk something dangerous like that escaping so I just have to continue combing through its contents slowly.

But I digress, this period of self-reflection actually enlightened me to a possible solution to those damn scorpions. . . .

[Time Skip]

[Gourmet World]

I stood on top of a dune as watched the sand intently.

The weeks I spent traveling trained my eyes to spot the disturbances in the sand when a scorpion prepared to tunnel up and take a bite out of me.

I watched the sand mound up as something tunneled towards me, hoping to catch unsuspecting prey.

As the sand surged up, and the spiked tail lunges towards me, I open a portal and a hard light spike launches out and punches through the tail, slamming it back into the sand.

The scorpion screeches in pain, the jagged hole causing cracks to splinter out from the wound.

Grinning at the results I open a larger portal above the distracted scorpion and a hail of hard light spikes shoot out, ripping the huge predator to pieces.

The hardest part of this venture was the hard light generators and wiring enough of them into a makeshift spike launcher trap. After that it was just providing power and hooking them up to motion sensors and I had a portable scorpion trap.

It wasn't so much difficult to design and develop as it was time consuming. With technomancy, a snap of my fingers usually gave me an excellent end result. But without it, I was left assembling it by hand which was overly time consuming.

Still, the end result was acceptable.

And a bank of hard light projectors was a hell of a lot easier than a robotic entity capable of deconstructing and reconstructing matter.

[Perk unlocked!]

[Thinking with Portals] (Rare)

If Aperture Science has taught you anything, its that everything can be solved by "thinking with portals". Adds a 10% bonus to anything regarding portal-based combat.

Portal based combat?

I can definitely work with this.

The nutrients from the scorpion were absorbed into the earth, the energy heading towards the same direction I had been traveling.

I had to be close, whatever was drawing all of the nutrients in the area was increasing its speed of absorption the closer I got.

After hours of walking, killing scorpions, and playing I spy, I finally spotted something distinctly out of the ordinary.

An Oasis.

More importantly, it was one that wasn't turning into a mirage.

[Time Skip]

Finally arriving at the oasis, a new notification popped up in front of me.

[New area discovered!]

[Nutrient Oasis (Legendary).]

[A single point in a desert to where all of the nutrients are diverted and absorbed by the various flora and fauna. Ingredients from here possess higher intensity flavors and special properties if treated correctly.]

Beautiful flowers bloomed and glittering fish swam in the waters of this hidden paradise. Each item looking more tantalizing than the next, before a new, far stronger scent assailed my senses.

Following my nose, I finally made my way over to a beautiful purple cactus. The out-side skin of the plant was covered in vibrant pink, fist sized fruits. Looking closer, I could see faint flame like designs spiraling around the fruit.

[Desert Paradise] (Mythic)

The centerpiece of the Oasis.

Huh?

No further description?

. . .

Well, it is supposedly the star attraction, right?

Plucking the fruit off the plant and checking it for spines, I hesitantly bite into the fruit.

And my world exploded into an intensity of flavor.

It was if I was a dying man crawling across the dessert, and I was suddenly rescued and treated to a feast.

A feast held in the most luxurious of palaces with servants awaiting my every need and desire as I was fed a huge variety of exotic fruits and meats.

A feast that ended with me being elected their new ruler so that this sheer ecstasy could be enjoyed for eternity.

My gourmet cells responded to this sudden onslaught of flavor by heating up, evolving and dividing as I exposed them to the sheer majesty of the ingredient before me.

Perk added!

[Fire Immunity] (Mythic)

Your Gourmet cells have evolved to enable you to not only tolerate the hottest of temperatures, but enjoy them! While others may hesitate, you still espouse the benefits of a good "lava dip" and its skin care benefits!

Whoa.

The firststraight up immunity perk.

This may bear further testing, especially if I'm immune to lava.

I could really mindfuck some people with a perk like this, hell, I could cook food while I was having a swim.

Exploring throughout the oasis, I start examining the various ingredients and cataloging them.

[Time Skip]

[Athena POV]

[Camp Half-blood]

I sat quietly observing one of the walkers on a nearby hill as it trudges along on patrol. It was an endeavor that for the first time I can remember, had me spending time with all of my children at camp as we observed the metal monstrosity.

While most of my calculations and speculations were kept to myself, a small part of me felt pride as I was drawn into the conversations and hypothesis thrown back and forth.

Zeus all but demanded that I investigated this matter thoroughly so here I am running my tests.

Upon closer inspection it was alarming to notice just how the furies magics were integrated into the machines.

As a test, I blew one up several weeks ago only for the imprisoned fury to explode into dust along with its mechanical prison.

The mechanical monstrosity returned recently fully intact and continued to patrol the outskirts of the camp as if nothing had ever happened.

Somehow, this so-called slayer had managed to alter the furies and machines to the point where they are one entity. A brand-new monster in a sense. But the individuals known as the furies, technically no longer existed.

If this could be undone, it would be solely at the behest of whoever made them like this.

This slayer . . . was making for quite the fascinating individual.

The level of intellect required to achieve this perfect fusion of monster and machine, required both an in-depth knowledge of technology hundreds if not thousands of years beyond what our world was capable of, and magic, possibly from the school of artificing?

Whatever the caser may be, he was certainly a man that caught my attention.

Annabeth, my youngest currently at camp, was currently working on a binary translation algorithm while her older brother Matthew, was taking pictures with a telescoping lens. They had discovered what appeared to be advanced binary language that was etched into certain places on the machine.

Each piece translated revealed various pieces of scripture blessing the machine, telling tales of old victories and losses, and the "path of the machine" I believe it was phrased.

The religious nature of these texts led me down a rabbit hole of searching for any churches dedicated to the machine, only to find next to nothing.

The only piece of info I managed to uncover was related to "The First Manufactorum of the Mechanicus." A church of sorts that had popped up in Detroit within the last few months.

A student at the local university had written a thesis regarding the religion in both its pros and cons, endorsing it for both its forward thinking, and commenting on how the religion seems to be trying to develop new scripture to derive from older teachings.

What those older teachings were, who could say, but the thesis did bear enough information to keep my curiosity.

[Time Skip]

[Tavish POV]

It had almost been two years of awareness in this universe, and it was only now that I managed to find my way to Olympus.

Wearing my human guise, I debated attempting to enter at the base of the Empire State building, but abandoned the idea almost immediately. After some observation, the elevator guard acted as a sort of bouncer for an elite club often turning away any entity for any whimsical reason.

Stealing the required access card might be fun, but I didn't feel like going through the hassle, so that left me one option.

Nova faded into existence in an open field next to a fountain, allowing me to step out onto the home of the gods.

This floating city/mountain in the sky was the epitome of Greek culture at its peak. Huge marble statues scattered across the sprawling streets, as vendors sold their wares to passersby.

These varied from food, to weapons, to Grecian inspired gadgets as I made my way through the market.

Buying a bag of imitation golden apples, I was munching away on them as I set about my task for the day.

I was attempting to avail myself to the supply network here. I knew that Hermes ran some sort of shipping business, but how do you purchase from it? Was it like amazon? Did mythological beings have their own special internet for their world? I strongly suspected they did, the question is, what they used for interface?

After an hour and a half of wandering around I finally purchased what looked like a metal clip, that upon squeezing, unfolded into a bronze tablet.

It was quite the interesting device. Designed with demigods in mind, you could clip it to a flat surface and use that as an interface, or you could use the tablet form for interface.

I bought a model called the Aether IV and received a quick tutorial from the blushing nymph behind the counter.

Hermes did indeed have an app for ordering stuff, but comparing it to amazon was like comparing night and day.

It's commonly said that amazon has everything, well the Hermes Express has all that and more. If the item in question wasn't available, and you had the cash, they would source and retrieve anything you could possibly desire.

Unfortunately, drachma was the required payment to facilitate these transactions. It wasn't something that I possessed huge amounts of, but I got enough from the tavern to acquire some of my desired materials.

Sitting down at a little café and ordering coffee and sandwich, I start paging through the tablet as I study what all Olympus may have to offer me.

I used the opportunity to take in the surrounding temples. Supposedly, each god had a temple here, but among the hundreds of gods, twelve massive temples stood out from the rest.

Amongst these, many temples, mansions and high-class buildings are spread across all of the available space. Around this is vast gardens and fountains of Greek architecture and life as people went about their day to day.

Not entirely my cup of tea personally, but to each their own.

My order came shortly afterward as I continued observing the Greeks in their natural habitat.

I bit into my sandwich and chewed thoughtfully as I was distracted by the complimentary paper on the table. It was a weird intermix of English and Latin type that gave me a headache just attempting to decipher it.

The picture of the front looked almost like a tabloid in nature.

What caught my attention more than anything, was the picture of Thalia on the front and the partial picture of Zeus with some unknown woman.

While I couldn't exactly read what was written on the page, the picture said it all, officially announcing Zeus's infidelity to the world.

Whoever published it must have balls of steel considering that their is a high likely hood that Hera knows where they live.

"Enjoying my shame?" a voice breaks into my thoughts causing me to look up.

[Observe]

Hera

Queen of Olympus

God of Marriage, and family

Lvl – God

Thoughts – Scorned, furious, ashamed.

Glancing up at the thunderous expression on Hera's face, I finish chewing on my sandwich and swallow it before answering; "Not particularly. Can't read a lick of this weird language you Greeks are using in place of English and Latin.

Watching her perfectly sculpted eyebrow shoot up into her hairline as disbelief settles on her face, I capitalize on her surprise; "Quite frankly, it gives me a headache, but I recognized Thalia from the picture. Decent kid, however the bearded twat and the woman remain a mystery to me."

Her other eyebrow shoots into her hairline at my blasé treatment of the king of gods.

"So bold. What if I told you that "bearded twat" was the king of Olympus?" She asked a hint of amusement overriding her anger.

"Then my adjective choice would get significantly stronger Lady Hera. I possess an extensive vocabulary regarding that matter." I reply meeting her investigative gaze with a grin of my own.

She observes me for any signs of wavering in my expression before extending a hand; "I don't believe we've met Mr . . . .?" she leads with curiously.

"Tavish Byrne, Lady. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." I say shaking her hand and watching her sit down at my table.

"A pleasure indeed Mr. Byrne. Tell me, how does a man like yourself make the acquaintance of a daughter of Zeus?" She said as I started making small talk with the goddess.

[Tartarus]

[Kronos POV]

Fascinating. . .

I had long searched for possible ways to get an edge over my bastard children. And a new variable appears and waltzed up and kicked Olympus awake.

One of my servants alerted me to the mishap of the Furies and drawing my attention to other variables that were swiftly changing.

The Great Prophecy.

A point in the near future that I could manipulate to my advantage, was ripped from its tapestry as the Fates lost control over many relevant events.

The furies . . . unfortunate circumstance, has unintentionally deterred many of the weaker monsters that retained some semblance of intelligence from joining my cause.

I've seen Athena conduct her tests, and the altering of a monster to a new beast, would not bode well if my opponents had a regenerating force to oppose my return.

This . . . Slayer. . . .

A useful ally to have if I could get him on my side.

The question is, what motivates him?

While I had ideas and possible hints to his identity, I haven't been able to turn up anything concrete from my many ears and eyes both on and off Olympus.

But I had enough information to sense his energy.

A hunter of demons carried a certain signature, one that reflected their incredible feats, often having a faint demonic tinge to it once they had their hands drenched of enough demonic blood.

From there, it was simple enough to trickle into their dreams and provide "context" or ideas. I could even hold a conversation with them if they are asleep.

But this came with a caveat.

Demigods and some clear-sighted mortals, could wander to different places and times in the land of Hypnos, to both provide insight, and for various immortals to talk with them.

But this Slayer didn't sleep.

Like, at all.

What kind of being does that?!

Even gods and titans have to dream, hell, primordial beings dream. Sure it wasn't a fully asleep state, but we still dreamed.

I needed to find some other way to bring him under my control, but my options were somewhat limited as chunks of flesh in a pit.

[Time Skip]

[Tavish POV]

Hera proved to be an excellent conversationalist as we broached a variety of topics. From the modern demigod to the habits of various gods and goddesses.

Really a treasure trove of information, but I did get the impression that others were afraid to approach her.

Many weird looks were thrown our direction as the conversation progressed. Honestly, I got the impression she just wanted someone to talk to. Hera always struck me as somewhat of a loner among the gods, her marriage to Zeus not helping matters.

No one wanted to be too closely associated with his wife after all. Zeus being the paranoid, petty, bastard that he is, would smite you without a thought if he thought you were getting too friendly with his queen.

After saying our farewells, I returned to Nova and took off across time and space.

Now that I had access the Olympus supply chain, I can continue some of my other experiments.

A celestial bronze bonsai tree would definitely save me time and money as far as a monster killing component.

Plus it would serve as a neat trick to confuse the fuck out of mortals.

Imagine swapping out various pieces of metal with the bronze. You could literally replace a portion of a hallway floor and a mortal would plunge straight through thanks to its properties.

It would be a bit of a dick move but I'm just saying the potential is there.

On a different topic, I finally made headway on my monster experiments for necromancy.

My modification was having slow progress until one day in sheer frustration, I yeeted a partially modified hellhound through the front of a bio furnace.

A few minutes later, a new creature emerged from the conversion process.

[Necron Hound] (Rare)

A necron hound is a beast built in a similar structure to a necron warrior. Primarily a solo hunter, it will hunt in packs to increase its survival chances, and to efficiently down its prey.

Such a elegant procedure verses all of the metal grafts I was attempting earlier.

Just throw the monster of your choice in and presto! The soul is harvested and the original being is replace with a body of Necrodermis under my control.

I mean, I literally just had to catch a few hellhound's a week and My undead armies would be able to overtake most things thrown at me.

Next up was a possible loophole in getting my body back.

The challenge said that I had to keep my light and dark energies in balance, so technically, if I trained those elements like water and fire, would the challenge be considered complete?

[Time Skip]

Aaaaaaand apparently not.

Light/Yang Affinity (Max)

Dark/Yin Affinity (Max)

It took an entire four months just to figure out how to manipulate and train these energies.

Delving into the base concepts of these primordial energies, I developed exactly fuck all in the way of techniques and just trained until these reached max level.

I just wanted to chill the hell out for once! I missed fucking sleeping. I hate this goddamn restless state that I'm in! Sure I love being able to stay functioning for long periods of time, but even machines needed to shut down once in a while!

At this rate I would be stuck like this until my next world.

[Well you are stuck like this until your next world dummy.]

[That's the challenge. . .]

Don't poke holes in my logic Iris!

My pity party was broken up when new notifications appeared in front of my eyes.

Due to reaching Max affinity in all base elements, new perks were unlocked!

[Truth-Seeking Balls] (1/100)

Truth-Seeking Balls are orbs of malleable black mana, which can alter their form and characteristics in various ways. Though only the size of a fist, each hides within it the power to obliterate an entire forest.

[Creation of All Things] (1/100)

Through a scientific understanding of the universe and the ability to manipulate some of its base energies, you are capable of creating something from nothing with the right scientific knowhow and appropriate mana supplied.

Huh, Truth-Seeking Balls.

Forgot I had those to be honest.

Well, I had the ability to one-shot a good chunk of gods if it came down to it now.

But creation of all things?

That's a new one on me.

As far as elementalist abilities, I always had to draw on a source for my abilities. From moisture in the air to stone from the earth, I needed to have some sort of base to work from, but now . . . .

Holding out my hand, a seed coalesced into existence, sprouted and grew till I was holding a small tree.

Did that mean I could start exploring other elements if I so desired?

I think I got nuclear manipulation at some point, could I start working with that?

Either way I had something new to experiment with.

Setting the sapling down in the field I was using for practice, its roots sprouted into the ground and grew into a towering tree that gently swayed in the wind.

I'm glad I found this abandoned field to practice my energies in, it really put everything in perspective as I just chilled here for a bit.

Even though I was training my energies, It was very peaceful.

The world didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but as a source of beauty and a peaceful place, it was probably worth more than all the gold in the universe.

Reflecting back on it, the various energies I trained before, were all done in super dense urban environments, where the world was on its way out and bits of pollution sought to overcome it.

While their was pollution here, it wasn't nearly to the degree that I had to worry about deploying project zero dawn.

That would be overkill anyway.

No, I just had to work on it a bit myself.

[Time Skip]

[Delhi, India]

Placing yet another water tree along a river flowing near the sprawling city, I straighten up and look back at my hard work.

[Pollution Tree] (Legendary)

Breaks down harmful materials in both the air and earth. It then reprocesses them into nutrients and minerals for the surrounding soil.

I had finally made the leap for my trees to no longer just survive, but thrive. The tree's could now successfully reproduce on their own without me simply creating a new one.

Delhi had one of the largest pollution problems in the world, providing the perfect testing ground for this project.

This particular river didn't even have a visible bottom before I planted the trees, and while you still couldn't see the bottom, the river was definitely cleaner.

A small section of the river had been planted resulting in not a lot of progress as of yet. But I was able to use a basic air tester to notice the slightly decreased particulate value in the air.

As for the water, where the bottom was once coated with trash and construction debris, these materials were now breaking down in this section of the river.

An outsider looking in may find it weird how a small patch of river was mysteriously clean, but after a few years, it wouldn't matter.

If they were left as they were, this small clump of trees would grow into a grove, capable of filtering the harshest of toxins and break down the most resilient substances.

Glancing across the river, I saw a glimpse of a green skinned woman as she weaves amongst the trees on the bank, gently stepping over the roots.

Aranyani

Hindu Goddess of Forests and the Animals within them.

Lvl – God

Thoughts – Hope

She appeared after I planted the tenth tree, adding her own divine blessing to the slowly developing groove.

Hopefully, her serving as the guardian of this little project would enable it to last for quite some time.

Planting the yet another tree, I felt an alert from Nova as she notified me of entities entering the tavern.

Dusting off my hands, I open up a portal and step through to the tavern.

My previously good mood evaporated in an instant as I laid eyes on a certain goddess that had managed to get on my shit list.

I discovered her divine magics tattooed on the back of my skull and I had to cash in a favor with Hecate to have it removed.

Serqet froze at the murderous look directed at her.

Perk Activated!

[Apex Daddy's Home]

[Storm Rage]

[Psionic Combat Form]

[Serqet POV]

The raw fury directed at me was hard not to notice as I had tried to blend in with the other Egyptian gods when they came in for a meal.

That hope was quickly dashed as I laid eyes on the tavern owner.

His normally jovial personality was replaced by that of a being of boundless rage. Lightning sparked against the floor as he finally addressed me.

"Seqet, how nice of you to stop by. I've been meaning to ask you about a peculiar bit of magic you placed on me. Mind explaining why?" He growled out.

An ethereal being coalesced behind him, cracking its knuckles. Two glowing, slitted eyes glared out from under the hood covering its head, its sharp teeth bared in a snarl.

Ah . . . .

I almost forgot about that. . . . .

"What? I thought you'd appreciate the challenge-." I started to say gaining some confidence back before the floor opened up underneath me and the massive fist of the "entity" pounded me through it like an extreme game of whack-a-mole. The portal shut behind me as I quickly realized the amount of difficulty I had breathing. I tried to hold my breath only to feel my lungs explode violently.

Glancing around at the grey dusty surface I had landed on, I tried to determine where I was as I felt my powers attempting to tear me towards the sky, prompting me to look for the source of the disturbance, fighting against the feeling of the blood boiling in my veins.

My mind stopped when I looked up and saw the vast expanse of Earth floating overhead, my powers trying to get back to their point of origin.

Watching frost form on my fingertips and move up my arms, I'm forced to escape to the Duat as I struggle to repair my body.

[Tavish POV]

The room was exposed to the vacuum of space for a heartbeat before I shut the portal.

Everyone in the room was dead silent as I turned and fixed the rest of the residents of the tavern with a glare.

"Anyone want to declare any unknown magics that will monitor, endanger or fuck with me in extremely dangerous or unforeseen ways?" I threaten receiving rapid shaking of heads from around the room.

"Good. Let it be known that the Goddess known as Serqet is no longer welcome at the Tardis Tavern. And if anyone attempts to copy her example, I will make that last display look like a love tap in comparison to what will happen to the perpetrator." I state, getting a murmur of confirmation throughout the room.

The Egyptian's staired at me nervously as the rest of the tavern watched me in a combination of shock and horror.

Couldn't really blame them, I kinda just "spaced" a goddess with a thought. But I caught her off guard, so its time to press my advantage.

"Oh relax you lot, I have no problem with serving a customer, passing along little tidbits of information, feeding them, chilling out with them, or a host of other "services". That's why I opened a tavern that caters to the supernatural." My form returning back to its skeleton bartender state.

"Everyone just needs to remember that I have certain boundaries. And crossing those boundaries, will result in making you the most dangerous enemy in the cosmos, and your permanent removal from the tavern." I state, drawing slow nods of understanding from around the tavern and a few furtive looks from other.

Turning on my heel, I march over to the oven, and pull a long-horned tuna from the oven and plated it.

Walking the length of the bar, I set it in front of Ceridwen. The Welsh goddess of wisdom glanced at me wearily for a moment before the scent of the food drew her attention and she dug in with gusto.

The tavern gradually returned back to normal, as the various entities settled back down.

Putting my foot down was an unfortunate task, but it had to be done. The Gods found my fascinating, and eventually they would start trying to "test" my mettle.

Turning away, a small smile of satisfaction made its way onto my face.

Cave Johnson eat your heart out.

Thinking with portals?

Get on my level!

[Time Skip]

After the altercation with the Scorpion Goddess, I decided I needed a short vacation.

Many of my projects had reached a conclusion leaving me at somewhat loose ends, so I figured their was no better time to do it.

So, I decided to explore Europe a little.

Truthfully, I don't know what possessed me to do so, but I decided to do it on foot.

Maybe I did it to step away from it all, and traveling in Nova wouldn't exactly be "getting away".

So here I sat on an overnight train departing for Edinburgh.

I spent the day at a Dwarven Tavern hidden away in London's depths. Pete the Leprechaun recommended it so I thought I'd give it a try.

What I didn't expect, and what was probably very obvious in hindsight, was the strength of their liquor.

A single pint was enough to knock me on my ass, but momma didn't raise no quitter!

Partying late into the night left me with the mother of all hangovers as I quietly booked my tickets for the next town.

With a wave goodbye to Burboc, the owner of this establishment, I staggered towards the station.

At least, I think his name was Burboc, things got a bit hazy when we cracked into that fourth barrel.

Regardless, I was fully ready to collapse on my bunk when I purchased my ticket.

I remember being thankful for the presence of the Mist as I stumble through the process of purchasing the ticket, because I'm sure my disguise slipped once or twice.

Quite frankly I had forgotten all about it since coming to this world, and it was only on Hecate informing did I feel like smacking my head against the wall.

The Mist was essentially a veil that cloaked the supernatural world from the eyes of mortals. This allowed supernatural entities to wander about without causing witch hunts and scaring the hell out of the mortals. Once in a while, a mortal capable of seeing through the mist, or a clear-sighted mortal, as they are referred to, would spot you but most of them learned within a few years to just mind their own business.

Occasionally if the supernatural were super blatant in their shenanigans, even standard mortals would spot them.

Pushing these overly complicated thoughts from my mind, I lock the door and collapse on my bunk hoping to sleep off my alcohol induced fugue.

[Time Skip]

[Luck Event Triggered!]

I woke to the sound of screams and a hangover.

Crawling out of bed, I groan as the room settles. The first thing I noticed was that the train was stopped.

Hearing something approach down the hall, something large dragging along behind it.

My attention was immediately draw from that however, when an arm plunged through the window behind me and wrapped around my throat, attempting to drag me out.

Taken off guard, I'm torn outside the car, I get a glimpse of sharp fangs on a vaguely humanoid face.

Its snarl switched to a look of surprise as my metal skull was exposed to the moonlight.

"A skeleton?" It said in surprise before the bones from my hand extended and tore his throat open.

"A Lich you uncultured fuckhead!" I snarl as he spasms, his throat healing slowly as he struggles to breath.

[Observe]

Lycanthrope

Lvl- 393

Thoughts – Fury, Confusion

Goddammit, I just wanted a vacation.

I quickly searched my inventory for something silver to finish this dog off.

How is it that at no point during the last some hundred years, I never picked up something silver?

Did I really not fight Werewolves during that entire time?

Giving up, I ignite my hand with holy energy and rip his head the rest of the way off.

Flicking the blood off my hand and reverting my bones back to normal, I observe the jagged burn left behind by the flash of holy energy.

Absorbing his soul and transforming back into my human form, I jump back in the window and open my door. Stepping over the bloody drag marks I try to make my way toward the main compartment of the train, the smell of iron causing my head to pound as I tried to get my hangover to abate.

Pulling a few Canoptek Scarabs from my inventory, I send them off down the hall the direction the blood went.

Getting irritated by this damn hangover, I pull a stick of purity from my jacket and light it up with a snap of my fingers.

As the smoke absorbs into my body and pulls the remnants of alcohol from my body with every exhale, I start thinking over the possibilities behind this.

The only possible Werewolf in this universe, or at least, the only named one I can think of, is Lycaon. Didn't mean that these wolves aren't from a different area or Parthenon, but knowing my luck, it wasn't very likely.

Making my way down the train, I push open a door, to come face to face with a frightened conductor a wrench clasped in his hand.

"S-sir, no smoking is allowed in this area . . ." he trailed off half-heartedly, his hand trembling slightly as he clasped the bloody wrench.

"Dammit, sorry 'bout that." I say stubbing it out and flicking it out into the dark, its purpose served.

Might want to play dumb a bit so that these people wouldn't attempt a witch hunt later on.

Unfortunately, people would ask to many questions if I started pulling guns and blades out of nowhere. And I didn't need to deal with the law in addition to whatever bullshit was going on outside.

The conductor relaxed slightly before taking notice of my bloody sleeve ends.

"Are you alright?" he asked gesturing at my arms.

"Yeah, the blood isn't mine. Got one of the little shits after they pulled me out of my room." I reply absentmindedly as I take stock of what, or who, was in this car.

A variety of people of varying ages were clustered in this car, their eyes wide with fright. A good number of them had sustained wounds and were laid across various seats and portions of floor.

"Why is the train stopped?" I state, directing my attention back to the conductor, causing him to snap back to attention.

We think we hit an animal of some sort, but the damage seems to be more extensive than that. We sent people to fix the problem, but it wasn't long before we realized that those beasts were picking us off." He informed me grimly.

"Can anyone drive the train if we can get it running again? What about calling for help?" I question getting a negative shake if his head.

"The conductors are the "eyes" of the train for when things go wrong. We aren't exactly able to drive the train. As for getting help, those things appear to have broken the antenna." He explained causing me to swear quietly.

"Dammit! Alright, is their anyone here capable of repairing the train?" I ask, raising my voice to the rest, my own mind processing a mile a minute.

A couple of college age kids raise their hands and an older gentleman raises his hand.

Wow, decent number of people, but they might just be automotive students or engineers.

"Alright here's what we can do; I'll take four of you to the front to figure out what's wrong. While that's happening, I'll run interference until you guys can figure out what's wrong . . ." I start before someone interrupts.

"Absolutely not! Its much safer in here! Plus, who are you to order us . . ." a portly man starts blustering.

But he was interrupted as a furry clawed arm tears through an emergency hatch on the ceiling, lunging towards the conductor.

I grab the conductor by the scruff and swap places, intercepting the dropping wolf with a massive uppercut.

His teeth shatter under the force of the hit. I quickly switch up my grip and slam the wolf into the floor.

Fumbling near the door as I hold down the struggling beast, my hand wraps around a fire extinguisher handle.

Tearing it from the wall, I grab it in both hands and bring it down on his head. The steel container thumping into his head and doing little to deter the beast as he snaps at me.

Hitting him again with my fist, I ditch the extinguisher realizing that normal metals wouldn't work on it.

"Hey, catch!" one of the student's yell tossing a glittering bracelet towards me.

Catching it, I wrap the chain around my fist.

"GLORY TO THE OMNISSIAH!" I roar hitting the wolf as his flesh scorched and burned.

My fists glowed with holy energy, and my final strike shatter's his skull into a pile of gore.

The entire car was silent, the only sound being my heavy breathing.

I quickly examine the chain bracelet wrapped around my fist.

[Observe]

Silver Chain (Rare)

A Simple silver chain that has tasted the blood of a Lycanthrope. While there is nothing particularly special about this bracelet, the fact that it killed a werewolf is fairly notable.

"Well, isn't this a head scratcher. What made you figure silver was the answer, Miss?" I question offering the chain back to the young lady who looked a bit green at the sight of the monster on the floor.

"W-well, a silver bullet is the most common way that a werewolf in movies, so I thought anything silver may work considering the circumstance." She replied, gingerly accepting the bloody bracelet.

"So, back to the conversation, any objections?" I say with a grin to the shocked man that was protesting earlier.

[Time Skip]

Having resolved any disputes to the plan, myself and the people who had raised their hands, made our way along the outside of the train.

We had scavenged flashlights and tools from one of the engineering compartments, and we found ourselves examining the main engine.

Somehow, the fuel lines had been shredded, forcing the emergency shutoffs for the lines and leaving us stranded.

"So . . . what was that little war cry at the end back there big guy?" The older gentleman asked, a hint of mischief sparking in his eye as we set about repairing the line.

"Sorry, force of habit . . ." I answer, slightly embarrassed about him bringing it up.

"What is an "Omnissiah" anyway?" He asked, clamping a section of line back into a protective casing.

"The Omnissiah is the god of my religion, I am a follower of the machine god on my own quest for knowledge." I reply, keeping an eye on the surrounding darkness. I hadn't intended to talk with anyone this trip, but I also didn't intend to deal with werewolves, yet hear I am.

"Ah, one of those churchy types are ya'?" he answered a hint of skepticism seeping into his tone.

"Yes and no. The machine god is more like an ideal we strive for. We just catalog and organize the knowledge and discoveries of humanity. It's up to people on how to use the knowledge they've been gifted." I reply, as he finished fastening a panel shut.

Well whatever the case may be, we're good to go right here." He grumbled, dusting off his hands.

Everyone froze as a howl echoed out and around the area. More and more howls joined the first until the noise was grating on the ear.

"Wrap it up and get on the train!" I command causing one of the students to protest; "But sir! Who's going to drive the train? It might be functional, but we are still down our drivers . . ." she protested as I hurried them along.

"Don't worry about it, I can sus out the next steps from here. Whatever you hear, don't open the damn door until we reach the station." I say, hefting them one by one up to the car.

"Dammit man, that's suicide! I get that your a tough old bastard, but your damn god won't protect you from those abominations!" The older man protested as I got him onto the train.

"While the machine god provides, I prefer to rely on my own means friend." I return with a grin.

He hesitates for a moment, before with a loud swear, he slams the door and I hear the door locks clack shut.

Running towards the train engine, shadows flited around the edge of my vision as the pack circled looking for an opening. A flash of pale green light off to my right informs me the Scarabs claimed the life of one of the wolves.

Reaching the engine, I pull my censor from within my coat lighting it with a quick snap of the fingers.

While I preferred my own means, I needed an extra set of hands to help me out. So I started chanting.

-Oh mighty machine spirit,-

A wolf lunged out of the dark only for the censor lighting up with divine power and shattering the ribs of the beast.

-I beseech thee to awaken and set about your noble task.-

Pulling a nano spike from my inventory, I bless it as more werewolves emerge, illuminated by the holy light.

-Blasted and burned though you are, your work is not yet done.-

Slamming the spike into the side of the engine, I back hand a wolf that edged a little too close.

-Many of the lost you have carried, but more still cry out for absolution.-

A lupine man larger than the rest emerge from the woods, his lips curled up in a snarl.

[Lycaon]

The First Lycanthrope

Lvl- 603

Thoughts – Angry that you've ruined his hunt.

-Blessed have you been before, and blessed shall you be again.-

His underlings clasped their ears in pain as my words infused with holy energy, struck their eardrums like hammers upon a anvil.

I start chanting faster.

-In steel you sleep, and in steel you shall awaken anew.-

-Give thanks to the Machine God, in whose holy name you shall guard many a traveler as your task.-

Whipping the censor, it wraps around the neck of the nearest wolf, cutting and burning through its hide.

-And as his voice, I welcome you back into service as his mightiest engine.-

This was the last straw as Lycaon himself lunged at me, the final litany leaving my lips.

-AWAKEN MACHINE SPIRIT!-

-ANSWER THE CALL OF THE OMNISSIAH!-

[Perk Activated!]

[Awaken Machine Spirit]

The train roared to life as I catch Lycaon's teeth on the censor's chain.

Looping it around his head and neck, I pull him up short on the chain as I back into the engine room, dangling the wolf man out the side as I start throttling the train.

"You may as well give up priest! You don't have the silver to kill me, and my pack will be able to get into the cars eventually." He cackled, as the train lurched forward slowly gaining speed.

His claws dug into my arms shredding flesh as I tried to keep ahold of him.

"Maybe so wolf, but you're forgetting something rather crucial . . ." I mocked as we continued speeding up, the members of his pack starting to fall behind as they continued to chase the train.

"Oh and what is that?" He mocked back snidely, before he suddenly felt my boot against his back.

"You can still feel pain asswipe!" I answer before kicking him off the train and lengthening the chain of the censor a bit.

The wolf hit the ground and turned to lunge back up, when he was abruptly reminded of the chain wrapped around his neck.

He was ripped off his feet and dragged alongside the train, clumps of fur and hide being left behind as he howled in pain, grasping at the makeshift tether.

Anchoring the censor, I took over the controls as I felt the machine spirits excitement. It felt like I was guiding a very excitable puppy, gently bringing it back into line so it didn't fly off the tracks.

I grin in relief as the howls of the pack die off, Lycaon's own screeches of pain eventually dying of as he falls to unconsciousness.

[To Be Continued . . . .]

[Omake: Eveelutions, Boros Stones, and other Shenanigans]

I had just left the daycare center with Boros in tow. He was oddly quiet when I found him huddled up in the field sobbing.

Personally, I felt he was being a baby, but ditto did produce an egg, or stone, or something? Anyway, it was time to pick him up and move on.

Examining the . . . thing, that ditto produced, it looked like a huge sphere that had veins of blue energy running through it against a background of the expanse of space.

This sphere was about twice the size of my head and apparently had some interesting effects.

Setting it down, would cause it to float along the ground and occasionally discharge portions of energy.

While I was gone, I had found a few more Eevee's to join up with my team, so the happy little balls of fluff bounced around my feet as I dragged Boros down the road, kicking the weird stone along.

My first Eevee, was following the stones progress closely before pouncing on it and rolling down the road with it, much to my amusement.

What I didn't expect, was for the Eevee to be enveloped in a flash of light and start changing once it rolled to a stop.

When the light stopped flashing it revealed a brand-new creature.

Its fur was a blackish blue, its ears and back fur illuminating in a neon purple. The blue veins of power creating jagged designs in its fur.

His ruff and tail looked like a galaxy, slowly moving and shifting as he inspected his new form.

Its eyes glowed blue as they opened and looked up at me, a low crooning noise issuing from his throat.

He approach floating slightly above the ground as he rubbed up against my leg.

Picking him up and giving him a once over, I scratch him underneath the chin causing him to purr.

"Well then, I suppose you need a new name then. How about Boreon?" I offer as the purring increases.

Good thing that was settled, however I still wanted to experiment with the stone some more . . . .

Glancing down at Boros by my feet, I do a quick 180 and start heading back to the daycare.

Don't worry Boros! I just need another stone for experimental purposes!" I encourage enthusiastically as the alien frantically digs his hands into the earth leaving deep furrows as I make the jaunt back to the daycare.