Chapter 12: Flag War (1)
It was the day before the Flag War. A few days ago Chiron had come to inform our group about what a flag war was and how it worked, which was pretty straightforward: the first team to capture their flag and bring it back to their flag would win.
However, during the flag war, the main cast was going to get into trouble as always.
'I need at least an ability if I want to survive the flag war.'
Right now I was in the outskirts of the camp inside the forest. The camp was surrounded by a thick woodland, which was still inside the barrier. So it was still safe to wander here. The reason I was here was to avoid any witnesses and distractions.
I had come here to try to awaken my first bloodline ability.
Although there were only a limited number of children of Hades and they weren't thoroughly described in the novel, I still knew some of the bloodline abilities of children of Hades. The first bloodline ability a child of Hades would awaken was the authority over the earth.
'Status Window'
---
Name: Blake Norman
Bloodline: Son of Hades
Strength: F-
Agility: F
Stamina: F-
Intelligence: F
Divine Energy: F+
Charm: S
Daggermanship ==> G+
Ability ==> N/A
---
I had been training on my divine energy for the last week since a higher rank of divine energy was required to awaken the bloodline abilities. To expand the amount of divine energy your body could store, you had to deplete your divine energy reserves over and over again continuously, which was surprisingly very exhausting both physically and mentally.
However, I was very content with the progress I had made as I was able to increase my divine energy stat by a sub-rank. With this, my chances of awakening the ability were much higher.
I sat on a rock and closed my eyes to concentrate on the way my divine energy interacted with the earth below me. I kinda knew what to expect. the earth below me quickly interacted with my divine energy as if it were compatible. I could feel the earth obeying my divine energy as I was the master and the earth was nothing but a mere servant created to serve me.
'Was this meant to be this simple?'
I questioned how smooth the things were going. I thought I would have to put much more effort into connecting with the Earth. After feeling confident with myself, I finally opened my eyes and extended my hands forward, pointing at a light rock. I ordered the rock to rise into the air in my mind. The rock started trembling and was lifted a few centimeters before falling off.
*Thud...*
The flow of my divine energy was disturbed and I was left drenched in sweat.
'I knew this shit wasn't going to be that easy...'
After resting for a while, I got back to trying. The sun had just shown itself on the horizon. I had a full day to master this ability as much as I could before the flag war.
...
...
...
I held my breath as I struggled to keep the rock afloat. I occasionally moved it through the air in different directions but it lacked speed which was crucial if I wanted to use it in a real fight.
"Haaa..."
The rock fell slowly to the ground. It had already become evening before I knew it. Although I had trained pretty much the whole day, I still couldn't achieve the results I wanted.
'This is bad. With this level of effectiveness, there is no way I can use this ability in the flag war.'
*Sigh...*
'Such a disappointment...'
I stood up with an aching back and a hurting butt. Sitting on a rock for a long time wasn't a wise choice. I stretched to get rid of the fatigue on my body but I failed as a long yawn escaped my mouth.
'I gotta go sleep. I feel extremely tired from all that training.'
I dragged myself to my cabin. As I walked I couldn't help but slouch. The people who saw me gave me weird looks but I was too tired to care about that. Fortunately, I soon arrived at my cabin and threw myself into the king-sized bed.
Before I dozed off, I set an alarm for midnight.
'My plan A to awaken a skill went downhill. So I guess I am forced to go for plan B...'
***
*Creak...*
Squeaking of the door echoed throughout the cabin area as I opened the entrance door of my cabin. The night sounds of the forest could be heard from far away. Erratic chirps of cricket, rattles of birds, roars of rivers and waterfalls, and the rustle of leaves all created a single harmony. The full moon was floating in the dark sky.
After admiring the beauty of the night, I began running inside the forest without anyone noticing me. Most of the demigods were already sleeping so I was able to sneak out without being caught.
I was wearing a long black coat with a hoodie to hide my face. The cold air hit my face as I wandered among the trees. But soon I found the place I was searching for. Before me stood high a tree that looked a bit different than the rest of the trees. Unlike other trees, this one had a vibrant aura as if it was experiencing life beyond a vegetative life.
'Here she is...'
I stretched my arm towards it. But just before I could touch its body, a girl who was around the same age as me, came out of the tree while screaming.
"Kyaaa! Where do you think you are touching? You pervert! There is a pervert here! Someone save me!~"
As she floated in circles around the tree, her semi-transparent green skin glowed under the moonlight. She had green almond eyes and pointy ears. Her hair was leaves that reached to the ground. She was wearing a white one-piece dress that a woman would wear in ancient Greece.
She was a dryad, a tree nymph. Nymphs were spirits of nature. There were many different nymphs that represented each aspect of nature such as trees, rivers, or flowers. They resided in the object they represented. They were mostly peaceful or harmless and some lived within the borders of the camp in the forest.
This female spirit in front of me resided in this tree as a dryad. Adriel was supposed to find her later in the story when he was investigating the forest.
'Even though she looks 16 years old, she is probably a few billion years old...'
Nymphs were a minor nature goddess, meaning they had a life span of billions of years.
She was still throwing a tantrum for no reason at all. I didn't have enough time for this. I needed to be done with this as soon as possible. And she was extremely annoying to watch.
"Shut up."
I said respectfully to get her back to reality. She halted in her steps as she heard my rather rude request. After glancing at me with a sore and displeased expression, she snapped her head to the side to avoid eye contact.
"Hmph!"
'Really? How old are you? 5? How come you are supposed to be as old as Earth?'
"Ilex, was it? I have an offer for you"
Her pointy ears twitched as she heard her own name. Though she still didn't turn her face back to me I knew she was curious how I knew her name.
"Hmm... have I met you before?"
"No... But I was searching for you."
"What do you mean you were searching for me? You can't possibly know whi-"
"Which tree you inhabit, right? You see... I am quite lucky when it comes to hide and seek."
She was now facing me and had a confused expression on her face. To come across the tree she was residing in was almost impossible considering there were countless trees in the surrounding. Only someone who knew the location of her tree would be able to deliberately come here and find her.
She dropped the act and turned serious, her face showed signs of discomfort. Her disregardful attitude was replaced by a cautious and attentive one. I could see her pupils quivering out of fear. That was something to be expected because knowing the resided object and name of a nymph meant you could seal her anytime you wanted.
Although they were minor goddesses, nymphs didn't have the power to protect themselves from spirit hunters. They were peaceful in nature and most of them did not know how to fight even a little. This made them an easy target. Though you could only seal them as they were still goddesses and killing them was nearly impossible.
However, for a nymph, being sealed away was worse than getting killed. They were spirits that were fond of their freedom.
To seal a nymph, two conditions must be fulfilled. First, destroy the objects they inhabited. Second, imprint her name on an item and seal her on the item using your divine energy. Since they became very vulnerable just after their object was destroyed, it wasn't difficult to confine her.
A cruel grin spread across my face as I pulled out a blade on which "Ilex" was carved. As she caught a glimpse of the blade, her eyes widened in horror. Her cherry-pink lips began trembling uncontrollably. She was on the brink of bursting into tears. Her legs gave away and she fell onto her knees and desperately looked into my eyes for mercy.
I slowly approached her and crouched to meet her line of sight directly. I grabbed her reddened cheeks and harshly pulled her face towards my face. I could feel her warm breath on my lips. Her eyes had teared up and were filled with fear of losing her freedom.
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