- Noah -
After hours of non-stop meditation, I believe that I have finally latched on to the connection I've been searching throughout my powers for. It's faint, so faint in fact that there's no surprise that I or any other children of Apollo have missed it.
We don't even have to mention the fact that I was actively trying for hours on end to find it. This connection that I've formed to lady Artemis has also come with some interesting side effects.
I may not have come across much in the way of blessings or powers, not even to the level her hunters would get, but I have managed to get something that might be just as valuable. Her hunters have an intrinsic connection due to her blessing, and my connection to her is faint enough to almost fit the bill as a hunter of hers.
The main advantage is the fact that this connection takes a different form due to my interesting connection to divine energy. I can see their physical, mental, and spiritual conditions. I can even see their location if I push hard enough, although I haven't yet tested these out.
It seems to me as though connecting was the hard part, but now that the connection's been made it's smooth sailing, to the point where I can instinctively tell what I get from it.
For example, on top of all of this I get a boost to my physique, enhanced senses, enhanced perception, and an ever increasing talent in the hunting arts. Trapping, gathering evidence on prey, even my archery has been boosted far further. That thought actually reminds me that I should get myself a weapon one of these days.
While I would worry about possibly angering an Olympian goddess for leeching on her power in most situations, I'd imagine that she isn't exactly in the position to complain as of right now. I may not know where she is or what she's going through, but I do know that this quest wouldn't be happening if everything was okay.
That being said, maybe I should start packing. We are supposed to leave in just a few hours, and I already missed the "mandatory" meeting that was held on the topic of the quest.
I can't find it within myself to try doing anything anymore; someone's going to wake me up when it's time to go.
I'm taking a nap.
- An Unspecified Amount of Time Later -
"There is no way you've wasted your time sleeping when we're busting our asses ironing out the details surrounding the quest!"
I was unceremoniously awoken by the voice of an annoyed Thalia Grace, who somehow managed to get the whisper-yell combo down so well that she woke me up within moments.
My eyes shift around the Apollo cabin, noticing that everyone else has left, which means that my nap has gone for longer than it was meant to. Although everything is in the same places that they were in before I passed out.
"Luckily I thought of checking on you, not much time has passed since the meeting ended. You haven't actually been asleep for that long, dumb ass." Her annoyance is still very visible in her facial expression, but it seems that just getting to insult me has let a bit of smugness seep into her tone.
Deciding to ignore the obvious rage-bait in her words, I finally take a good look at Thalia. Despite the fact that she was involved in my vision, I've slightly written her off until now. Her jet black hair absorbs the natural light of the cabin, as does her dark clothing. A studded black leather jacket, with the camp half-blood shirt under it, and dark blue jeans with black combat boots to complete the outfit.
Her face is pretty, with little to no imperfections, and her body fills that outfit in ways that seem almost unnatural. It's a great thing that I've got enhanced perception, because all of these observations took me no time to make, but now I've got no time to think of the perfect response to what Thalia had said only moments earlier.
Actually, scratch that, I'm too petty to give the response I probably should be giving. She gets casual dismissive sarcasm and ego instead, I don't care if she's good looking or not.
"Oh? You had enough care in your heart to come check on me? That's so sweet Thalia, but I'm afraid I can't return your feelings as of right now, we've got a quest to complete." I shift around on my bed and prop myself up on my elbow to get a better view of her. My tone is obviously sarcastic, and the only response I get from her is a strangled growl before I finally get up and stop messing around.
I decided to give her the reason for my "beauty rest".
"You should really be thanking me, seeing as I found a way to scope out the location of dear old Lady Artemis." I let myself feel a bit smug as I finish my sentence, but Thalia's annoyance doesn't go away just yet.
She looks at me, her gaze full of exasperation, and says, "That's really great, don't know nor care how you did it, but we still have to find this random animal she was hunting before we can even go and get her. So before you can be all happy for being useful, we're actually going to use Grover's satyr magic as our navigation system."
I'm gonna lose it.
"Excuse me?"
Thalia's next words were said in one quick breath, almost as if she was tired of talking to me, like that's even possible. "Yeah, and according to Zoe it's gotta be something special for 'Lady Artemis' to get captured in her search for it, so we're in for a treat. Get up and let's go, twinkle toes. Argus already has the car ready."
I didn't even get a chance to respond, seeing as she walked out and shut the door with as close to a slam as she could without possibly incurring the annoyance of my father.
I guess it's time to go, but first I've gotta test out that other part of my connection to Artemis. I'm just gonna use Ms. Nightshade as the test run, seeing as she's her lieutenant. I activate the power and a slightly translucent and ancient looking piece of paper with incredibly neat handwriting appears before me.
Zoe Nightshade
Age: Irrelevant
State: Healthy - Anxious, Angry, Determined
Universal Placement: Low Tier - Ageless Immortal, Negligent Strength
Location: Camp Half-Blood
Thoughts About You: Another useless male who'll drag her down in the quest to find her lady.
Wow that's more than I thought I'd see, but I guess it's not anything world shattering. Wait a minute…universal placement?
What exactly does that mean, and if she's considered a low tier despite where she stands, then what does that mean for everyone else? What does that mean for me?
I get that realistically I hold little value in the grand scheme of things, but really man?
Whatever, I'm not gonna rely on some random ass cosmic tier list when it comes to deciding my worth. I've already laid out my ambitions, now it's time for me to reach them.
Universal tiers existing means that there must be ways to break into them, even if I'm apparently so low tier that I can't see what the tiers are called. Maybe if I focus enough on my prophetic abilities I'll be able to see my own statistics?
I'll try and figure that out later, I can't get sidetracked again. There's a quest to complete, after all.
Let's see what's on my to-do list for the foreseeable future. Finding that animal, saving my aunt, and using what I learn on this quest to become the strongest being the universe has ever seen, but I can't forget the part where I have to survive all of this. I have to.
After all, the only one allowed to stand at the peak of existence is me.