Abaddon moved back inside, claiming he wanted to work on his potions. Luke and Tom sat in one of the small brick gardens as they chatted about the fresh snow falling all around them.

  "Your biggest problem is that you have two legendary classes. Legendary classes are almost always built around the subject of their legends, not a concept like other classes. [Heir to Theseus] is a warrior class built around examining your foes and then using their strength against them, like the hero it's named after. [Heir to Beleraphon], on the other hand, is a legendary version of the Pegasus knight. While they aren't incompatible, they aren't supporting each other as much as they should," Tom said.

  "Alright, then, what should I do?" Luke asked.

  "Two … three things," Tom said. "First off, you need an actual [Warrior] class so you can grab [Legendary Strength]. Your Agility is way too low. I'm guessing every fight feels like you're moving through molasses, barely able to keep up and having to anticipate your opponent's every move or get stabbed."

  Luke winced. That description was a bit too close to the truth for his liking.

  "Also, grab a swordsmanship skill. [Master of Death] is good for everything, but it takes forever to level. You have [Power of The Sea God], but you don't use magic, so you're wasting it. Let's pick up [Water Enhancer]. It will allow you to leverage your water magic while still being a melee class. Or you could dump your entire build and be a water mage." Tom offered.

  Luke frowned. He didn't like the idea of taking another class before he finished his first one, and hell, dealing with his two classes felt too complicated. He just wanted things to be simple.

  "Um, okay… why didn't Theo suggest any of this?" Luke asked, looking for any reason not to pick up a third class.

  Tom shrugged. "I don't know Theo, but if I had to guess, he didn't know what you would become and decided to cover all his bases. Maybe he just wanted to get you through to the next day. Or he just didn't know how to min-max. But that's neither here nor there. If you really want to change everything about your build, now's the time to do it. What do you want to be? Warrior? Mage? Assassin?"

  Luke thought about that. He really liked riding around on Hope. It had been fun, and he wanted more of that. On the other hand, Luke's mind went back to the battle with Seraphel. Even with four other people helping him, the albino drow had owned his ass. He had felt like he couldn't land a hit on the sucker. Even in the fight on the road, he hadn't felt all that pressured when he was attacking, but the thing that really scared him was that Seraphel didn't exude any hostility like the other goblins. As far as Luke could tell, the only reason he and the larpers were still alive was because Seraphel had let them leave.

  "I like wielding a sword. I like being in the thick of it as a warrior," Luke admitted. "But Seraphel and the goblins are still out there, and I don't want to let them win. But I don't know which of my two classes offers the better option to help with that."

  "How about [Water Enhancer], the class that I recommended." Tom pointed out.

  "What if I wanted to max out [Heir to Theseus] and [Heir to Beleraphon] first?" Luke asked.

  "Seriously?" Tom asked, dumbfounded and annoyed. "I just told you, you need to take and Max out [Water Enhancer] to balance out your shit."

  "Yeah, but I'd rather finish off [Heir to Theseus] and [Heir to Beleraphon] first," Luke said stubbornly.

  "Oh, for the love of …" Tom looked like he was about to smack him. "Look, just take [Water Enhancer] and get [Legendary Strength]. It will make your life easier, okay? So just trust me."

  Luke rolled his eyes. "Look, I'm not against the class; I just don't want to pick it up until I'm done with these two, okay?"

  "Yeah, and you'll be level 30 then. It will take even longer to level up. And you'll be struggling in every fight due to your low agility, even with the bonuses."

  "What bonuses?" Luke asked.

  Tom rolled his eyes this time.

  "How many times do I have to explain this? Take a look at my stats. How many points do I have in strength?"

  Luke looked at Tom's status.

  "40?" Luke said, confused.

  "Uh hu, and how many points do you think I've been putting into strength?" Tom asked.

  "Um … 40?" Luke scratched his head.

  "The answer is none," Tom said.

  "When you get to level 10, you get 1 point to all stats retroactively. At each level, you should already know this. At level 20, you get 2 points per level. So I have 40 points in a stat I haven't touched. And when I get to thirty, it will go up to 3 points per level, and I'll have 90 in strength, and on and on until we hit the level cap of 100, at which point each base stat will be 1000," Tom explained.

  Luke blinked. He was already doing some pretty crazy shit now. How much more powerful would it be with a 1000 in strength?

  "Your problem is that you're a melee fighter. You've come this far because all of your perception skills are compensating for your lack of speed. But your ability to stay in a fight is going to drop off with every level."

  Luke grimaced; he wanted to argue, but he was sure Tom would just slap him down again.

  "Look, Tom, it --"

  "Wait a second. Why do I care if you kill yourself? You're not my friend anymore. You've made that very clear once we got to high school. So you know what? Do whatever you want, Luke, take my advice; don't go die in a pit somewhere I don't care." Tom said.

  "Come on, Tom, don't be like that," Luke begged.

  "Like what? I'm just reminding myself that it's not actually my problem if you succeed or fail. I did that for every job I didn't like. You're no different," Tom said as he got up to leave.

  Luke felt his lips curl in a snarl.

  "You know what? I understand that this is all so easy for you, but it's not so easy for the rest of us," Luke shot back.

  "Easy?! I fought a Demon Lord, battled my way through what a dozen lairs today, and let's not forget I'm managing the only real settlement in the area while the bloody cops second guess my every move. How the fuck is this easy?!" Tom spat

  "Oh please, you love this. Don't deny it, Tom. My skills still work. Deep down, you love that the world has gone to shit. You love watching the rest of the world struggle to wrap our heads around your world. Hell, you love being the center of attention, having people hang off your every word. Because you know that if this apocalypse didn't happen, if you didn't have such an advantage over everyone else. No one would even notice you."

  Tom threw up his arms in frustration.

  "Seriously? Coming from you, that is hilarious. Everything I have now I worked for, my skills, my levels, my knowledge, hell even my bloodline, is the result of playing the legend of Noralon for six years. You, on the other hand, get dropped into this shit show as a freakin demigod. You get four extra stat points at every level. You started out with a high-tier bloodline through no efforts of your own, not to mention those legendary classes. Not because of what you did but because of who your daddy is. If that's not a privilege, I don't know what is."

  "What's the matter, Tom? Afraid to share the spotlight?!" Luke shot back.

  Tom laughed.

  "Luke, if you think you can match me, you have another thing coming."

  "Why not we're on the same level?"

  "Levels aren't everything. Didn't your little guide tell you about that?"

  Luke froze mid-movement. In the chaos of everything, he had forgotten to even talk to Tom about Theo.

  "You forgot about him, didn't you?" Tom asked accusingly. "Because that's what you do to the people who aren't important to you. You forget about them."

  Luke felt his cheeks go red. "It wasn't like that."

  "Really? Let's take a look." Tom said as blood started dripping from his eyes.

  "Well, well, well. He sacrificed himself for you, saved you from the Nemean lions, saved Gareth and Sam, and then you forgot about him," Tom taunted.

  "That's not … how do you know any of that?!" Luke asked angrily.

  Tom looked up at Luke with a smile. "Your bloodline is all about your dad. Mine is all about information, system information in particular. I can read your logs, every skill use, every hit, everything. I can read deeper into your logs than you can so I can see and review what happened to you. When you grabbed your friends and activated [Legacy of Misfortune], Theo messed with the escape skill. He fed it false information, claiming you were over seven hundred pounds. That's why the skill let you take Sam and Gareth with you; it thought you were a single person. Then he made sure you three didn't all fuse into some abomination. Even still, it's a minor miracle you three came out with all your limbs attached. Regardless, he broke the rules, and he got punished because of you!”

  "Wait a minute. Your bloodline lets you find out stuff?" Luke asked.

  Tom paused in his gloating.

  “Really, that's your takeaway from all this?! I just told you that the system is punishing your bloodline-given spirit guide, and you don't even care?!" Tom asked angrily

  "Can I honestly do anything for Theo?!" Luke asked. "Were you just waiting to get to the part where I can help him? Is there an appeals board or something?! Do I have to kill a demon lord or some shit to get him back?" Luke asked.

  "Far point," Tom admitted begrudgingly.

  "So you can tell me about my dad." Luke pushed.

  Tom rolled his eyes.

  "Dude, your dad is Poseidon… according to your bloodline. Anyway, it's not like he was even in the Legend of Noralon. If you want to learn about your godly heritage, you can go to Wikipedia. I don't recommend Rick Roedean. He kinda glosses over the really fucked up stuff."

  "No, I mean." Luke struggled to find the words. "Mom always said he had to leave for a good reason, but he would be back."

  Tom looked at him like he was crazy. "Yeah, that's called walking out on you. Bad parents do it all the time, I know."

  "Yes, but we don't know that," Luke said, "maybe there's some godly rules or something that means he couldn't stay. Or or"

  "I'm going to stop you there." Tom cut in, "Just because your daddy is a god doesn't make him any less of a shitty parent. He knocked up your mom and then fucked off. His reasons for doing so shouldn't matter because he wasn't there."

  "It's more complicated than that." Luke shot back

  "Why aren't you more angry at this?" Tom asked. "Your dad was a god. He could have set your mom up for life. Instead, he fucked off. Shouldn't you be pissed off?! I'm pissed off for you, and I don't even like you anymore."

  "Look, it's a lot to take in, okay? I mean, when I found out I was getting attacked by an overgrown cat, okay? So I just pushed it aside. I mean, how are you even supposed to react to something like this?!" Luke asked frustratedly.

  "The same way any kid reacts when they find out that their rich daddy slept with mommy and then kicked her to the curb. You get angry. I mean, you are literally making excuses for your deadbeat dad. You realize that, right? Have you forgotten the nights you had to spend at my house because your mom couldn't afford to pay for food? I do! Do you remember nights we would find your mom crying over the mountain of bills?"

  "Don't throw that shit back in my face. I was there, I remember.

  "Then why are you so obsessed with your deadbeat daddy all of a sudden?!"

  "Because I need to know."

  "Need to know what?!"

  "Why did he abandon us!!" Luke screamed. "You don't know what it's like. To go to bed and wonder why you're not good enough. Why you weren't enough reason for him to stay? You at least had a dad who was fucking there for you."

  Luke didn't even see Tom cast the spell, but the next moment, a spear of light was sticking out of his leg.

  "Fuck!!" Luke swore in pain and frustration.

  "Now, you listen to me. My father is a bully who likes to beat on people who are smaller than him. The only time he wasn't terrorizing me was when he was terrorizing that tub of lard that calls herself my mother." Tom snarled

  Luke glared at him as he curled his hand into a fist.

  "You grew up with a mom who cared about you, who gave you a good life, and a shitty dad who you never met. You had it infinitely better than I did, and if you try and tell me otherwise, I will nail your ass to the wal ---" Tom never finished his sentence before Luke slugged him.

  Tom went tumbling backward before crashing into a snow drift. He hadn't even come to a stop when the familiar glow of healing magic surrounded his body.

  "That's it!!" Tom roared as he pulled out a sword and charged him.

  Luke pulled out his own sword and activated [First Labor]. His blade elongated as he swung at Tom. Then, an earthen spike shot out of the earth, impacting his sword and sending his blade high over Tom's head as he slammed his sword into Luke's shoulder.

  "Fuck!!!" Luke screamed as he felt the iron blade dig into his bone.

  "Weren't you paying attention?!" Tom catcalled as he kicked out Luke's leg, sending him stumbling to the ground.

  "You're living in my world now." Tom spat as he punched him in the face, his hand glowing with magic.

  "I know everything you can do and everything you're going to do before you do it. Worse, you know nothing about what I can do." Tom said as he tried to punch him again.

  But this time, Luke caught the punch and slammed his fists into Tom's nuts. Or at least tried to. Tom exploded in a wave of fire. The explosion slammed him into the school wall, his clothes scorched and tattered.

  "Wow. Real mature and predictable." Tom said. "My turn again."

  A magic circle appeared over Luke's head, and suddenly, he was falling upwards. Once he got ten feet up, gravity switched again, and he was slammed into the ground. And then again, and again, and again. Luke pulled out his spear and chucked it at Tom, but Tom merely deflected the exploding spear with a blast of water.

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  "You need to do better than that." Tom yawned as Luke was slammed into the ground for a fourth time.

  It wasn't the last, and by the time Tom stopped, every inch of his body was bruised. And he was pretty sure a couple of his ribs were cracked, and the shoulder Tom had stabbed had dislocated, but his headache was the worst. His ears were ringing, and his vision was blurred. He felt like he was in a fog.

  "Whaatss haaappening?" he slurred.

  "Whoops, can't leave you with a concussion now, can I."

  Tom cast a healing spell, and the fogginess lifted from his mind. Unfortunately, the pain came back with a vengeance, and Luke was gripping his sides, trying not to cry out in pain.

  Tom just stood over him as snowflakes gathered in his hair as if Luke wasn't bleeding on the ground. Tom let out a sigh as if he was disappointed.

  “Now, Luke, I think we can agree things got a bit heated. We both made some mistakes here. Lines have been crossed. Things better left unsaid have been said. But I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. We were both in the wrong. In fact, let’s just call this … a learning experience and move on with our lives. Alright?" Tom asked.

  Luke nodded his head in response, not willing to say anything.

  "Alright, let's get you to Eve," Tom muttered as Luke's body levitated off the ground.

  "Oh. Do me a favor: There's a book on Greek mythology in the library. If you're not going to take the [Water Enhancer] class, it would be good for you to read up about your current classes." Tom kept talking to him as he dragged Luke to Eve's clinic.

  Luke winced as Eve tightened a bandage around his shoulder. A scowl was on her face as she forced his dislocated joint back into position.

  “What the hell did you morons do out there?” she snapped, her voice low but fierce. “Look at you! You’re lucky you didn’t get yourself killed!”

  Luke managed a weak grin, but it vanished as She dabbed antiseptic on his scraps and burns.

  "Ow, that stings!!" he swore.

  “Oh, shut up,” she warned, cutting him off before he could muster a response.

  "What happened to your bedside manner?" Luke asked.

  “Sorry, I must have missed that class with the goblins attacking.” Eve quipped.

  Tom chuckled, causing Eve to turn her glare on him.

  “And What *exactly* happened here, Tom?” she demanded, crossing her arms. Her voice had the kind of edge that could slice through stone.

  Tom shrugged. “Just a minor disagreement,” he replied smoothly as if describing a minor spat over lunch choices. “Got a little out of hand, I guess.”

  Eve’s eyes narrowed further. “A disagreement? He’s bruised from head to toe, Tom. His shoulder was dislocated, and half his ribs were cracked. That’s a little more than a ‘disagreement.’”

  "Eve, we can bring back corpses and heal just about any damage magically. Honestly, at this point, anything that doesn't cause lasting harm could barely be considered an injury," Tom pointed out.

  Eve’s mouth pressed into a thin line.

  "Oh, would you look at the time? I'd better be going now, Eve. I don't want to crowd your clinic. Bye," Tom said as he rushed out of the room.

  Eve turned on Luke.

  "What really happened?!" she demanded.

  "You know I'm feeling better. Maybe I should get go --" Luke's words were cut off as a stab of pain shot through his abdomen, and he collapsed back onto the bed.

  "I don't care what plans you had; you are staying here for the night. Do you understand?!" Eve glared at him.

  "Yes, ma'am," Luke surrendered.

  "So what really happened?" Eve asked again.

  Luke grimaced.

  "Tom and I got into a fight," he admitted.

  Eve didn't say anything, but a thoughtful look crossed her face.

  "Maybe you should avoid that from now on." Eve pointed out.

  Eve moved on to her other patients. There weren't many, as trauma victims tended to be healed quickly, leaving her with only the sick to cure.

  Luke considered his 'fight' with Tom, which had been painfully one-sided. Up until now, he had felt like he had a good handle on all of this system stuff. And now he was left wondering what the hell he really knew. More than that, he still had skill points to spend, and Tom wasn't likely to give him any advice. He could talk to Travis or Duncan, but he didn't really want them to see him in this position. Maybe he could do this himself.

  Yeah, how hard could it be?

  Luke considered. What did he know about his so-called half-brothers? Nothing. But he did have a phone. He pulled it out and looked them up. Bellerophon was a pegasus rider who killed the chimera. Theseus was a lot, but he was more of a fighter than Bellerophon. He would put his levels into Theseus. But Travis said, 'There isn't actually any rule that you need to spend the skill points on the class that earns them.' so he would consider both classes for spending his points.

  Luke nodded along with himself as he opened up his skill options to help him narrow down what he wanted. He would keep Theo's stat point distribution, but when it came to the skills, he would decide for himself.

  For a long moment, Luke just considered the screen. There were a lot of options.

  He would start with [Heir to Beleraphone]. [Poseidon's Lure] and [Soul Stable] sounded cool, but they were more gimmicky. Having a portable stable and attracting animals to him didn't seem useful. [World Wanderer] was out for the same reason as last time; it only affected him. He considered [Chimera Slayer], but Seraphel didn't have a second type. [Dumb Luck] just felt underwhelmed, and he wasn't taking [Sex Magnet].

  That just left him with two good options: [Presence of a Demigod] and [Athena's Bridle].

  [Presence of a Demigod] would be great in combat. It might even have given him the edge if he got into another fight with Tom. Then again, maybe it wouldn't.

  [Birdel of Athena], on the other hand, would be less directly helpful. Well, the intelligence boost would help, but the main benefit would be armor for his horse. Hope had been good to him, and he had already seen a couple of the horses die. If he could armor them up, it would be a game-changer.

  He was already thinking of leading an armored charge of horses like in Lord of the Rings. That decided it, and he decided to pick up the [Birdel of Athena]. Even if it might not have been the best option, he wanted to give something back to Hope, and it still boosted his mana.

  That just left [Heir to Theseus]. He quickly dismissed all of the old options. [Nettle Bite] and [Saltwater Spring] didn't seem very useful, so he ignored them. He couldn't even purchase [Leader of Athens]. Apparently, you could only have one party leader skill.

  [Monomachia] sounded interesting, but trapping himself alone in a room with Seraphel after he had fought them five-on-one sounded like suicide with extra steps. [Medea's Poisoned Goblet] was just his [Second labor] except focused on items instead of people. Maybe it would have been useful if Luke had been in a world of magical items. But he wasn't. That just left one skill [Vitality of the Cretan Bull].

  It would upgrade one of his pre-existing skills, grant him a ton of resistance, and even some more Endurance. It wasn't a very sexy skill—it was completely passive—but it looked like the best option. So he assigned his levels and picked up [Vitality of the Cretan Bull] and [Athena's Bridle].

  The moment he did, he immediately felt different. His body relaxed as his mind expanded. It was as if he had been walking on a floor made of glass, and he had to be constantly careful not to cut himself. But now, he could just relax. He didn't even realize how much he had been tensing until he let out a breath.

  "Oh my god, that is so much better," Luke breathed.

  "Are you on drugs?." Eve asked as she came back over.

  "Nope, just got some extra endurance," Luke said as he got out of bed and swung his arms.

  He could move faster, easier.

  "Get back into bed, you moron, before you aggregate your injuries," Eve screamed, shoving him back into the bed.

  He could test out his limits tomorrow.

  You may skip to the next chapter.

  Base

  Personal: +4 PER, +3 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +2 CHA

  Racial: +3 CON, +2 STR, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +2 CHA, +1 EGO

  Bloodline: +5 STR, +5 INT

  Level Bonus: +1 to all stats

  Mini-Character List

  Luke: The main character in this scene interacts with Tom, Chloe, and the newly evolved hellhound.

  Tom: Luke’s friend and Chloe’s older brother, initially terrified of Lucy’s new form.

  Abaddon: the guild Lizardman tank and the only one in the school that is a hard counter for Lucy

  Eve: The closest thing Hopkins has to a doctor

  AN: