The problem is advancing Bai Yáo's abilities as a formations specialist. All Daiyu can do for her little sister on that front is provide Bai Yáo with reagents, a secure workshop, and plenty of time to practice. Perhaps that will be enough. The inability to help further still grates, though. Daiyu is unused to being unable to guide her students through all the trials they face as cultivators, helping them achieve their maximum potential in all aspects of their chosen craft. While Daiyu has no particular fate with the formation arts, she will need to find scrolls for Bai Yáo. That, at least, shall be a simple matter of bargaining with the other Elders and perhaps visiting a few auctions. Elder Song, the best user of the formation arts in the Silver Tide Sect, is someone that Daiyu has long been on poor terms with. Mostly because she has refused his advances on multiple occasions, and supported her female students when they did the same.
There will still be instructional scrolls available from the libraries of the Sect, and from a few other Elders, but not scrolls of the quality Daiyu would prefer. It will be frustrating, knowing that her student should have better and yet is denied it because of that man.
Still, Bai Yáo will be simpler to provide for than Perseus. He will require careful handling until he settles in. He is far from home and has known more of war than a child not yet five hundred years old should know, in Daiyu's opinion. Much like herself, in some ways. He will be the newest prodigy of the Sect, its shining star that will propel it to new heights. Yet that star will shine briefly, given his stated aims of traveling to other nations. They will have him for a few years, less than a decade at most. He might not triumph in his first attempt at the Green Horse Tournament, but he will absolutely dominate his second attempt without question.
Three years at minimum, eight years at the maximum. In the life of a cultivator, that is not so great a span. Daiyu has had sessions in Closed-Door Cultivation that lasted longer than the minimum span, though not many. She is not that far past two hundred, after all. Many of the other Elders still consider her little more than a child, for all that her cultivation has rapidly developed over the years. Too rapidly for the tastes of some. She spent plenty of time in Qi Gathering and Qi Condensation because she kept getting suppressed or sent on difficult missions that saw her lose a Step or more in her cultivation. Having to restart from the first Step of Qi Gathering when she had been a half-step Wellspring Formation cultivator was particularly frustrating. More so in that it happened more than once.
Still, those times are past now. Daiyu has grown beyond the ability of anyone except the Sectmaster to threaten, at least within this province. She has endured the challenges that the world sent against her, and overcome them. Now she is responsible for guiding her students to do the same. It is a peaceful existence, and one Daiyu has enjoyed in some ways. But perhaps it is too peaceful. Perhaps her soul still cries out for challenges, for opponents worthy of the name, for trials that will push her to the very edge of her strength. She is not yet certain. But she will be, and when she is, she will decide if her path and Perseus' will continue to be the same even after he departs the Silver Tide Sect. If they are, then perhaps Daiyu will depart the lands of her birth alongside him. Still, they have time before such decisions must be made. For now, she needs only to learn more of her new students, and determine how best she might guide them in their journey towards the Heavens. All else will come as she completes that task. Three years is a short span, but it shall be long enough for Daiyu's purposes.
Her mind at ease, Daiyu settles in to begin meditating, drawing in Qi from the world around her and running it through her spiritual roots, mixing it with the pure Qi generated by her Wellsprings, and letting that energy run through her meridians, until it finally pools within her dantian, becoming part of her own strength as she takes her next step towards Ascension.
==========================
Olympian Throne Room, Olympus
"Brother," Zeus rumbles, thunder booming across the skies with every syllable. "Your rage shakes the world in ways that it has not in millennia. I would ask that you cease."
"I shall cease when my son is returned to me, and not a moment sooner," Poseidon growls in turn, and every word gives birth to a new tidal wave, the seas roiling in ways that they have not done since before Rome was founded. "Perseus is mine," Poseidon snarls. "My beloved son, the one who is supposed to become immortal, the one I am supposed to get to keep, the son whose immortality and divinity you have allowed in return for me pardoning Athena for the death of my granddaughter, and yet, he was lost in the fury of the battle with Gaia! Where is my son, brother? Where is Perseus? "
"He shall be returned, brother," Zeus placates, waving a hand dismissively around the empty throne room, the bulk of the other gods absent on their own business, luxuriating in their newly regained freedom. "I have sent Hermes to our brother to command that the Underworld yield up Perseus' soul. He shall soon live again, and this time he shall be immortal. He has earned it."
"My son is not dead," Poseidon shakes his head. "I have received offerings from Perseus in the last few hours. He is still alive, but he is far from friendly lands. Far from the waters of his home. Some other power has taken my son from me, and I will not stand for it." Zeus stills, looking at his brother warily as Poseidon rises, power gathering. "Hear me brother, and mark me well. Until my son is returned to me, no mortal shall cross the waters, whether they be freshwater or saltwater. I shall sink every ship that tries. Planes shall be torn from the skies by my storms. In honor of my son's kindness, ships at sea shall have three days to make port. Then I shall remind them why I was feared. My fury shall not cease until Perseus has been returned, no matter how long it takes." With that final word, Poseidon vanishes in a spray of saltwater, a sea breeze filling the throne room, leaving Zeus alone amongst the thrones of Olympus' highest court, looking suddenly older and wearier.
Silver Wave Sect, Stormbreaker Coast Province, Green Horse Kingdom
Percy Jackson POV
I stretch lazily, cooling down after a long workout session. It feels good to burn off some energy, though lately I've found that my energy is even more boundless than normal for a demigod, which was a surprise. Briefly. Then I thought about what I've been doing lately for a bit and a few things clicked. Being within the heart of the Sect, so close to that silver lake absolutely filled with power, breathing in Qi every minute of every day, has increased my stamina. My strength and speed are increasing as well, and I've had to drive myself harder than I ever have before, pushing myself towards my new physical peak, which seems to be growing higher and higher the more I hit the gym. My workouts seem to open up my meridians further, letting me take in more Qi, to the point where it's kind of getting absurd how fast I'm cultivating.
Water answers my call even more quickly than before. I'm in the best shape I've ever been, growing faster and stronger by the day. I can use my powers on a larger scale and for longer than I've been able to before. Well, kind of. When I've really been pushing myself in the past, hard enough that the tug in my gut became painful, I've done bigger things. But right now, I can do more than I've been able to before without really feeling that tug. It's still a small improvement, but it is an improvement, and I'll take it. Casually, I start to make my way towards my quarters, a sprawling expanse of white marble and beautifully painted frescoes depicting the legends of Poseidon that I told Daiyu. While much of it is still under construction, the place feels almost like home to me. Being within something built to match Hellenic sensibilities soothes something deep inside me, especially when the place has a brazier burning day and night.
At every meal I make an offering, and the scent of the sea coming from the smoke soothes me, letting me feel like it's still possible to get home. Even as I adapt more to this place, start learning how to cultivate, and listen to lectures from Daiyu or some of the Core Disciples, it lets me feel like I'm not losing myself. I am still Perseus, son of Poseidon, and Percy Jackson, though in the later days of the Titan War I started to find myself beginning to lean a bit more towards the former. It's kind of hard to live in the mortal world when you're being called away for missions or battles at least once a week, after all, and after the war…well, things were kind of hard for most people, and Camp Half-Blood was better off than the majority of North America.
North America was better off than most of Asia, at least. Hyperion mustered and trained his army there, and he wasn't alone. Perses, Krios, Coeus, Pallas, and Astraeus were there with him, and from what word we got from across the seas, they originally mustered their forces in China and most of that country was left in ruin by the time they crossed the Pacific with the aid of Okeanos, burning whatever lands they came across until they made landfall in Oregon shortly before Typhon freed himself and started fighting the Olympians. What we heard during the quest to Hellas to retrieve the Athena Parthenos and close the Doors of Death suggested that India was still reasonably intact, and Hellas was pretty much fine, but Europe had been hit by Kronos' army when he used the British Isles as his primary mustering and training ground for his army, with said army eventually spilling over into France, Germany, and Spain.
I'd asked, after running into the Egyptians, whether those lands had gods of their own, and my dad had confirmed that they did, but those pantheons tied themselves to something other than the Flame of the West. The Celtic gods tied themselves to the druids, and have only recently begun regaining their strength after the Romans conquered those lands. Dad didn't mention what the Norse gods tied themselves to, but he did say that the Titans were having a bloody time establishing themselves in Germany, with ongoing fighting that eventually pushed Kronos out of those lands, but that was not good for the western parts of Europe.
China's gods, though, had tied themselves to the Chinese Emperors, and once the last Emperor lost power, their own power started to falter in short order. Dad was pretty sure that Hyperion would have been repelled if that pantheon was still at its peak, but as it is now…well, apparently they fell silent shortly before Hyperion marched for America. The Egyptians got involved in the fight with Kronos on both sides as well, from what I was told, or at least some of them did. Most of them were focused on their own problems, but there were magicians fighting for both sides, some of whom I ended up fighting during the battles leading up to New York.
All told, it was a bloody, bloody two years during the Titan War, and the Giant War following right after discouraged a lot of people at Camp who had been looking forward to getting some rest and getting back out into the mortal world. Finding out that things in the mortal world really weren't like how we remembered them being was a nasty surprise to those demigods who had spent more time in the field than with their mortal families, and plenty of us had lost our mortal families entirely during the War. Those demigods moved to Camp permanently, beginning the discussion of turning the Camp into a permanent settlement of our own. A place where demigods could live out their entire lives, not just their childhood. Before that, I had wanted to return to the mortal world, spend time with my mom, go through having a normal, quiet life to the best of my abilities, and get some space from the rest of Camp so I could get my head in order.
That plan got disrupted, though by the entire situation with the mortal world being in turmoil from all the fallout of the Titan War. As a result, I spent more time at Camp instead of going to high school again, and I spent more and more time around other demigods. The fact that the Giants started appearing almost immediately after the Titans were dealt with just made me stay at Camp longer, reinforcing me being Perseus. Well, Percy to most of my fellow demigods, but to the nature spirits that flocked to Camp for shelter, I was Perseus.
Here, now, in this world, I can rest and start setting everything in order. Figure out who I am without monsters attacking me, without mortal society being upended by nature going to war with itself twice over the course of three years, and without the pressure of being around divine society. It's…kind of relaxing, in some ways. Kind of irritating in others, since I don't know how everyone back home is doing, and I want to get back to my friends and family. I want to make sure my mom and Paul are alright, and hopefully convince them to come to one of the safe places that we set up for the families of demigods. Mom's been adamant about 'not taking handouts,' but with the damage that two divine wars in quick succession have done, I'm hoping she'll rethink her stance. Especially since, from what I heard at least, she's about to have another kid. A fully mortal kid.
I don't want my younger brother or sister to have something bad happen to them just because mom and Paul want to remain fully in the mortal world rather than living among demigods. Back when I was running from those two Gorgons, it seemed like I saw more and more of mortal society disintegrating with every passing day. It was…terrifying. It felt like the world was coming apart all around me, made worse by my lack of memories. This world is more settled, which is kind of a massive relief right now after two wars in quick succession, even if the relative quiet is odd, to say the least. Sure, I like things being quiet, the endless quests and missions for the gods had started to wear on me long ago, but the quiet also puts me on edge. It feels almost unnatural that I haven't been approached by a god and commanded to fetch something for them at any point in the three months I've been here.
Which is also…a bit aggravating, really? Because divine favor is one of the big currencies for a demigod, and you get that by running those little errands. In a world where you can easily die before you're twenty, though, favors are worth your weight in gold drachmas more often than not. Invoking a favor or debt owed by a god lets them actively intervene to repay that debt, getting around the ancient laws against interference. Maybe they'll provide you with a blessing or toss a curse at someone who's pissed you off, maybe they'll fight alongside you against an immortal foe, maybe they'll send you a new weapon or smite the monster that's an inch from ripping your throat out. Whatever happens, it's usually a lifesaver, or a good means of settling a score in the case of more minor favors.
The Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite cabins tended to be the most prolific when it came to calling in small favors to get divinely backed curses. Not that they couldn't toss around a curse themselves, of course, but having their divine parent supercharging the curse would make it stick. After that, whoever got cursed usually needed to go to some other god and do them a favor to get the curse removed, which is always a hassle in my experience. Hermes cabin's members tended to use their favors to fuel prank wars at camp, at least once they had built enough of a safety net of favors to feel comfortable with their chances of survival.
I picked up a similar habit from Luke back when I first reached Camp Half-Blood, and kept it up because the Stoll brothers liked to try and prank me, and the small favors used for those prank wars were always little things, barely worth mentioning. The kind of favors you could get with a larger sacrifice at mealtimes, usually. Sometimes, for those campers willing to run odd jobs for Chiron and Mr. D, they'd use the money paid out for such things to buy something nice to sacrifice. One time, a couple of Ares kids asked me to help them out with something, which was kind of a surprise, but we ended up going to Florida and catching a bunch of wild boar, taking one of the triremes Camp keeps for sea travel. Sacrificing those bought several favors, including finally getting the curse of Ares taken off of Anaklusmos.
Food is usually only good for minor favors, though. Unless you're sacrificing a whole cow or going out and catching wild boars or something. For bigger favors, sacrifices of trophies, dedicating victories to a god's honor, fetching items for them, all of those things are methods by which demigods might impress a god and get them to acknowledge a debt. Not having that avenue of getting little favors done for me feels like having an arm cut off. The safety net I had was fragile, but it existed. Now, though? My net seems to be falling apart, and it's making me very, very nervous for the future.
Previously, I kind of resented being an errand boy for whichever god needed a favor this time, but now that quests and such are no longer available to me at the drop of a hat, I miss them. It's odd, almost…but I suppose it proves the saying 'you don't know what you have until it's gone,' and by then it's kind of too late to miss it, right? Well, I intend to get home somehow, and when I do, it's probably going to be straight back to the grind.
In the meantime, though, I'll have to get by as best as I can. 'Big Sister' Daiyu has been mentioning that she might have me go out on a few missions for the Sect some time soon, which I'm kind of looking forward to. Mostly stuff like hunting monsters or helping out some village or other with whatever needs doing, stuff that's a good chance to get out there and do something useful to more than just myself.
"Perseus," Daiyu's words interrupt my thinking as I complete my cooldown routine, and I turn my head to look at her, an unspoken question in my gaze. "I have a mission for the two of us to carry out." I raise an eyebrow, entirely capable of reading between the lines. From the way she said that, she means that I'll be doing the work while she watches and enjoys the show. Which is pretty normal for powerful beings in my experience, so that's fine. It would probably have shocked me half to death if she actually got involved in whatever needs doing on this mission, maybe even all the way to death. I can't afford to die. I need to get home, after all.
"Alright," I shrug. "What needs to be stabbed?" I run my fingers along the bronze hair pin that is Anaklusmos' current hidden form as I draw it from where it's helping keep my hair secured in a bun, the blade of celestial bronze extending, glowing with immortal power.
"The town of Emerald Tide Haven has reported that several of their large fishing ships have been attacked by a pod of Devouring Wave Dolphins," Daiyu replies, and my eyebrow rises even further. "None of the Spirit Beasts are further along than Qi Condensation, however they enjoy the advantage of numbers. The pod is mostly composed of young adults, and Devouring Wave Dolphins almost never get further than Wellspring Formation. There are none that have reached Foundation Establishment in the waters around the province, I can guarantee that."
"How do they get their name?" I ask, and Daiyu chuckles.
"They cause large waves to rise from the sea, causing boats and ships to capsize, and then they devour the crews of those boats and ships, just like normal dolphins devour fish. The rest of the time, they eat smaller Spirit Beasts. They require the Qi, and generally they seem to find eating humans the easiest way to get it, at least for the younger ones. Once in the middle stages of Qi Condensation, they usually move further out to sea and start hunting other Spirit Beasts as their primary prey. While in Qi Gathering and Qi Condensation, though, humans, even those who can't yet cultivate, are the best source of Qi for the least effort involved in hunting them, and the least danger. It makes mortals a very tempting food source for both the Devouring Wave Dolphins and numerous other breeds of Spirit Beast. Which is why our Sect maintains a significant garrison in each town under our control."
"Shouldn't the garrison be dealing with these Spirit Beasts, then?" I ask, and Daiyu sighs.
"They should be," she grimaces. "However, they proved foolish and went out after the Spirit Beasts in stormy weather, and had to try and split their attention between battling the storm's efforts to capsize their ship and fighting the Spirit Beasts. None of them had yet learned the techniques for fighting aquatic Spirit Beasts either from the deck of a ship or while in the water."
I wince immediately. "They got killed," I deadpan, and she nods. Back when I went to the Sea of Monsters, I kind of got it easy learning how to fight sea monsters due to being a child of Poseidon, but both Clarisse and Annabeth needed a crash course in anti-sea monster tactics and strategies. Such as the use of cannons when we had Clarisse's ship that she was given by her dad, or how to compensate for the rolling of the ship under your feet when in melee with an opponent trying to gut you like a fish.
Lesson one. If you aren't the child of a sea god or some form of water-related nature spirit, you do not try to fight an aquatic monster in the water. You make that monster come to you if at all possible, and you fight it on the deck of the ship. In the case of some monsters, of course, they can just capsize the ship, or use tentacles to grab people, or other stuff that doesn't really expose them to danger, but some of the time you can force them to come to you. Then you kill the monster with swords, spears, and whatever other weapons of celestial bronze you have available. If it won't come to you, you use bows, harpoons, crossbows, ballistae, catapults loaded with pots full of liquid fire, and other ranged weapons to kill it. You never go into the water unless you can breathe underwater and get stronger when submerged.
I just get more dangerous when I'm underwater, and most sea monsters quickly come to regret running into me below the waves, but the vast majority of demigods aren't that lucky. Sure, there's those who have naiads and nereids for parents, or who descend from other sea deities, but even those aren't that common at Camp Half-Blood. Those who are present at Camp aren't usually trained in underwater combat as well as we should be, at least according to Chiron. He lamented being unable to fight underwater more than once, saying that it rendered him unable to properly train us in aquatic combat.
Still, I managed to figure out what I needed to know, and now I'll use those lessons again. "So, when do we leave?" I ask. "And how are we getting there?" In response to my second question, Daiyu pulls a mid-sized ship out of nowhere, the craft just coming into existence spontaneously, but instead of resting on the ground, the ship starts floating in the air. I whistle, impressed as I look the sleek craft over. It's a fine ship, a bit small compared to the triremes used at Camp that can carry up to three hundred people, but large enough for six dozen people or so. It's made from an unfamiliar wood, and its sails are woven from what looks like silk, far thinner than the sails I'm used to. It has no oars, and the wood is inlaid with precious metals and stones.
"My flying ship," Daiyu replies. "Far more comfortable than a flying sword. It will take us to our destination within three days, and we will hunt the Spirit Beasts from it. You will find them with your sense for the water, and then I will drive the beasts off." I freeze for several moments as I try to process her words, but my brain has only one answer to her. Error: Does Not Compute.
"Shouldn't I be the one diving into the water and fighting them?" I ask, and Daiyu raises an eyebrow to match my own. "I mean…well, I'm a demigod. A son of the god of the seas. I can breathe underwater, my injuries are healed by water, the water, especially seawater, restores my energy and makes me stronger and faster…"
"They are no particular threat to you, true," Daiyu shrugs. "However, sending you into the water to fight a bunch of Spirit Beasts would set a bad example for all of the other Disciples who don't have your advantages." I take a moment to consider that idea, and it still doesn't make sense to me. After all, who else would be around to see me dive into the water to fight sea monsters and learn the wrong lesson from that?
==========================
Zhang Daiyu watches Perseus as he thinks through her words, clearly confused. He is right to be confused. Normally dealing with such minor Spirit Beasts would be a task for Disciples, not for an Elder. A team of Outer Disciples led by an Inner Disciple would be sent, rather than dispatching an Elder directly for something minor like this. Dispatching Perseus is a waste of his power and talent, and the only benefit to this entire affair is that he will have a chance to see the world outside of the Sect for a while. However, it will also take him away from the Silver Lake, slowing his cultivation down a little. Well, most likely, at least in the opinion of those Elders who are looking at his rapid growth with alarm.
Their own Disciples will be eclipsed in short order at the current rate of growth Perseus enjoys, especially with his sheer dedication to his training. His physical training seems to stimulate his cultivation to accelerate, and his cultivation in turn hastens his physical training. It is a feedback loop that has its most visible effects in his growing strength. Along with his growing appetite, to be honest. He has more appetite than any other Disciple in the Sect dining halls that he frequents, a habit that Daiyu will need to speak with him about. The Elders who oversee the Outer and Inner Disciples have been passing on complaints from their charges about his presence disrupting their meals. Apparently him being around makes those Disciples nervous, and that has led to Perseus commenting on how his juniors seem unfriendly.
It seems to sadden him, and that made Daiyu consider having her other students chastise those Disciples, but in the end she decided to refrain, feeling that Perseus wouldn't want her exacting retribution on his behalf, at least not on fellow members of the Sect. He is kind, and if she was still an Outer Disciple, Daiyu would be pleased to have him as her Senior Brother. Still, from her own time among the Outer Disciples, brief as it was, Daiyu can understand their trepidation at his presence. Core Disciples do not go among the Outer Disciples as a rule, and are rarely to be seen among the Inner Disciples. When they do, they are almost invariably looking for a punching bag of some sort. A target. Someone who will be foolish enough to do something that gives the Core Disciple justification for taking offense.
The situation when Inner Disciples go among the Outer Disciples is almost always similar. The only other reason that would come to the eyes of most cultivators is that the senior Disciple is looking for a servant or concubine. Given that Perseus outranks even the Core Disciples as the Direct Disciple of an Elder, his lofty status inspires even more trepidation among the weaker members of the Sect who can only cower in his shadow, knowing that he could slaughter all of them and the Sectmaster wouldn't particularly care. After all, an Elder's Disciple outranks all of the other Disciples, and has much more value to the Sect. There would be some disciplinary action, a slap on the wrist, but in the end Perseus could simply claim that he had been offended by those juniors somehow, and that would be the end of it. It doesn't matter that he would never do such a thing. The fact is that he could. Daiyu knows the truth of that statement intimately.
She had earned her promotion to Core Disciple as part of the coverup of such an incident, after all. A Core Disciple came to her eating hall, took offense at something another Outer Disciple said, and decided to kill them all in order to alleviate the offense. Because he was from an important family, it would have been covered up. However, Daiyu managed to turn the fight around when she broke through into Wellspring Formation spontaneously and killed the Core Disciple in single combat, saving dozens of other Outer Disciples. She was immediately promoted to Core Disciple as a result. The next day, when she went to the dining hall she'd always gone to, she was met with the same ostracization that Perseus experiences now. The friends she'd known for more than a decade fell silent when she addressed them, flinched when she approached them. A week later, she was sent to the frontlines of the brewing war.
Now Perseus is learning the lessons that Daiyu once learned, and there is no war to send him to as an attempt to blunt the blow. If he was willing to fit into the boxes of the expectations of the Outer Disciples, it would simplify things. Perseus, however, has expressed that he has little need of servants, and Daiyu had to press him to accept those servants who tend to him. She managed to convince him to accept them by expressing that he could spend more time on his cultivation with them handling minor tasks, and that by dismissing them from his service, he would be denying them their source of income. The second argument seemed to be more influential, especially when his servants kowtowed before him and beseeched him to retain their services, which finally made him give in, though with some minor grumbling. Ever since, his servants have been extremely nervous about losing their positions, causing some minor issues.
Perseus is even less likely to take a concubine, in Daiyu's opinion. Male or female. He is utterly focused on returning to his homeland and his father, showing a degree of filial piety that is highly commendable. He is a loyal son, faithful to his immortal father, and true to his friends and comrades. Seeing the better sides of his nature, though, is a privilege for Daiyu and her other Disciples alone. The Outer Disciples don't have close enough contact with him to understand that he isn't the sort to casually slaughter someone because they bumped into him. Rumors have been going around about Perseus having a truly foul temper because he keeps on scowling when he shows up in the dining halls. Daiyu is well aware that he scowls because everyone clears out of the hall as quickly as possible when he arrives, vacating whatever table he chooses to sit at in short order. It leaves him feeling rejected, and lonely.
He is a very social person. Meant to be laughing and joking with friends and comrades, not to be sitting alone with his tray in the dining hall. Certainly not meant to be sitting alone, scowling down at his tray, picking over his food. Which is another problem. Daiyu is finding the issue of countering his malnutrition to be complicated by his lack of appetite whenever he finds another dining hall's inhabitants closing their hearts to his attempts to make friends. He can feed on prayer and burnt offerings, at least to some degree. Daiyu confirmed that when she sensed him drawing in power while some of her servants were praying to him. However, it caused Perseus to clutch at his stomach and claim that he felt something cracking within him.
It seemed painful, and Daiyu's attempts at nourishing him through such methods ceased immediately after that effort proved counter-productive, with Perseus' body weakening even as his spirit strengthened. Perhaps he still has too much mortality in him to properly feed on the reverence of mortals. Or perhaps it is some limitation of his part-mortal nature. In either case, though, Daiyu will have to make further attempts at a later date. One where Perseus is stronger and his body has been refined by cultivation, bringing him closer to immortality. For now, though, he seems to respond best to seafood, which has led to every meal including shellfish these days. Daiyu insists on supervising Perseus' meals directly to ensure that he eats everything, and she is fond of clams, mussels, lobsters, and shrimp.
For now, though, Daiyu will need to consider how to encourage Perseus to stay out of the dining halls. She will not have one of her students bullying the Outer Disciples, or even seeming to make attempts at bullying them. Their work is hard enough already. They shouldn't be disturbed at their mealtime, and Daiyu would prefer to make sure that Perseus is eating. He should be taking his meals within her personal dining hall, with her cooks providing him the finest her table can offer, or he should have the cooks she's assigned him prepare him meals to be eaten within his own temple-manor. It would be easier for everyone, and he wouldn't be saddened so often.
For now, though, Daiyu will take him on a few adventures in the lands ruled by the Sect. Small adventures, harmless ones, to see some of the nicer places in the province. Any issues that arise, such as marauding Spirit Beasts, she'll handle herself. Daiyu has no desire to garner his father's wrath should Perseus come to harm. His immortal father may have no hold in this world, but one day Daiyu will Ascend, and then she will likely come to the attention of this Poseidon. At which point she will be doomed. She can feel the love of Poseidon for his son radiating from Perseus' spirit. Being in his presence on a frequent basis has already marked Daiyu's spirit with traces of Perseus' power. It has accelerated Daiyu's cultivation slightly, but it will also clearly mark Daiyu out to any spirits or spiritually sensitive beings she encounters.
When Daiyu Ascends, should she do so before Perseus, she is certain to come to the attention of Poseidon, and she will need to explain herself to the mighty Heavenly Immortal. Daiyu knows that all her Immortality would do in that battle is allow her to suffer for a longer period of time before Poseidon finally ends her existence. As such, she will play it safe. If something goes wrong and Perseus ends up getting into a fight with some enemy after all, that's one thing, but Daiyu will not deliberately take him into a fight unless she has to. If Perseus chooses to go out on a combat mission, then she will allow it, provided he is properly accompanied, but Daiyu will not lead him into a fight when she can easily handle the problem herself. Besides, she'll be quicker to deal with the Devouring Wave Dolphins anyway.
"I'll deal with the dolphins," Perseus insists, and Daiyu prepares herself for an argument. "I need the exercise, and I want to make an offering to dad, anyway. Reassure him that I'm okay and that I'll be home as soon as possible. He has a history of reacting poorly to one of his kids getting hurt or taken away from him, and three years of immortal war hasn't been good for the mortal world. Two back-to-back wars between the gods and their old enemies, come back from the Pit for round two, has left a lot of people scrambling. If dad's reacting anywhere near as poorly to me vanishing as he did to Polyphemus getting hurt…it'll be bad."
Daiyu doesn't ask for details of what happened to this 'Polyphemus,' understanding from the curl of Perseus' lip that it's a sore subject. She feels, though, that Perseus is likely far more favored by his immortal sire than he knows, and that the reaction he fears is likely far lesser compared to whatever is actually happening. "Are you certain?" Daiyu asks, cautious still, but she can see that Perseus is growing more stubborn whenever she questions his desire to deal with the Spirit Beasts himself.
"Yeah," Perseus replies, laughing a bit. "Anaklusmos will lose her edge if she sits idle much longer, and I need to get some real practice in, not just running through sword forms. I'm going to get rusty if I spend too much more time just swinging Anaklusmos at dummies, and no one will spar with me for some reason." Daiyu winces. Her reputation, combined with Perseus' status, has isolated him even more than she expected. Her older Disciples were all cautioned not to trade pointers with Perseus until he's fully recovered from his malnutrition, and none of the other Elders are about to let their direct Disciples spar with Daiyu's newest student.
After all, it would reflect poorly on their teaching skills for one of their personal students to be soundly defeated by someone almost entirely new to cultivation. If those students won, however, which Daiyu believes to be unlikely, they would doubtless earn the ire of the Sectmaster for risking harming the Sect's hope for triumphing in the province's youth tournaments over the next few years. Especially since the man hopes for Perseus to also claim victory in the Green Horse Tournament, which will raise their Sect's renown considerably as a result. The other Elders despise Perseus for his quick growth and success, and are hoping to suppress him in the only way they can by sending him from the Sect for a time, but Daiyu is reasonably certain that Perseus will surprise them all. For now, though, she needs to ensure that Perseus will be in minimal danger during this upcoming adventure.
She will also need to stock extra supplies, just in case, and she will need to see about brushing off her skills with a sword so she can trade pointers with Perseus so he doesn't either get rusty or throw himself into danger needlessly just to keep in practice. Such a troublesome little brother, but Daiyu wouldn't trade him for Immortality. "If you find yourself endangered by the Spirit Beasts, I will intervene," Daiyu insists. She likely has a different, and lower, threshold for what she considers acceptable harm as opposed to Perseus' definition, but she doesn't care about that. If he wants to object to her interfering in his fights, he can do so after she's finished keeping him from being seriously injured or killed. Daiyu would normally be a bit slower to intervene in the fights of her students, though she would intervene, unlike some Elders.
Perseus, though…from his stories, he's seen enough of danger for a dozen lifetimes, and Daiyu is of no mind for him to see more. Her gaze meets Perseus' firmly, and she can see the disbelief in his eyes that someone more powerful than him is actually going to do something without first having him do the more powerful person a favor. Daiyu has opinions on how exactly the gods of his world look after their children, though voicing those opinions will likely need to wait for a very long time, if she ever manages to do so. For now, though, she'll look after Perseus.
"Fine," Perseus sighs as he surrenders, both grudging and happy. "So, when do we leave?"
"Tomorrow morning," Daiyu replies. "After you take the morning meal with myself and your fellow Disciples in my dining hall." She leaves no room for argument, and Perseus concedes, this time laughing a bit as he promises to join her for breakfast and dinner tonight. Content with this victory, Daiyu departs the training field, leaving Perseus to retire to his temple-manor to bathe and prepare for the evening meal.
==========================
I'm practically vibrating as I take the helm of the flying ship that Daiyu has at the ready outside of her palace, eager to be sailing again, even if it is through the sky rather than the sea. It feels, in some ways, like I'm reclaiming a bit of myself. Daiyu has taken her seat near the stern of the ship, letting herself recline on a padded couch long enough for six people to sit on it comfortably and broad enough for three people to recline on it, if they're close to each other, or two with a bit of space between them. She invited me to join her on the couch, saying that the flying ship will sail itself, but I declined, preferring to take control of the vessel and guide it through the skies with my own hands. I have a map, I have my bearings, and I have a destination. All is right with the world, at least for a little while.
The ship practically leaps into the skies, bound for the clouds high above, as I let my senses encompass it and command the vessel to obey my will. Ropes writhe across the deck, sails shifting on the vessel's two masts, a mental command enough to set things in order. The ship is eager to please, eager to sail, and I laugh as I indulge the vessel. Within minutes, we're up in the clouds, skimming over their expanse, skimming over what seems to be a sea of white fluff, the wind playfully tousling my hair. Daiyu giggles as the wind plays with her robes, tugging at them teasingly, and I find my eye drawn to the sound, promptly flushing a brilliant red, my cheeks burning as I see how the wind has tugged her robes away from where they were already struggling to contain her chest. I start trying to work through math problems in my head to distract me from the memory, but I can tell, from Daiyu's increased giggling, that she noticed.
Fuck. I'm pretty used to wardrobe malfunctions, those happen often enough for demigods, but it's usually because their clothing got damaged fighting a monster or something. Or because of Camp stuff like sparring matches or Chiron's exercise routines. Whatever caused it, there's usually something to distract me from actually paying attention to it, but right now there's nothing of the sort, except for sailing the ship…and now that we're in the clouds, the ship has settled into her course and is managing herself with minimal input from me. I prod experimentally at the vessel with my power, and find myself…not rejected, but quietly nudged away. As if the ship's saying that she knows what she's doing and doesn't need my hand on the helm to get us where we're going. I can tell that if I insisted, the ship would yield and let me retake the helm, but she doesn't need me to do so.
Which is kind of neat and kind of aggravating, because that leaves me with nothing to do as Daiyu makes a satisfied sound and I involuntarily turn my head to see her stretching out lazily, her robes clinging tightly to her body, every curve perfectly outlined, and there are a lot of curves to outline. I let out a surprised huff, and think of other things. Like telekhines. Or Ares. The thought of Ares brings back the memory of Aphrodite that one time I met her, though, and I feel a sudden stiffening in my pants as that memory combines with the sight of Daiyu and a body that is rapidly recovering from a long period of divinely enforced slumber followed soon after by starvation and other health hazards. Like the poison Polybotes liked flinging around.
I swiftly draw Anaklusmos once more and turn my attention to examining the blade, taking a seat at the bow of the ship, steadfastly ignoring the soft laughter coming from the stern. A nudge from the ship informs me where I can find the supplies I need to maintain a blade, though Anaklusmos doesn't need them. The blade of celestial bronze is as flawless as the day it was forged, imbued with divine power during its making, but I apply myself to the task anyway, glad for the distraction. Still, that only lasts so long, and when I'm done, I try to find something else to do, only to have my thoughts interrupted as I suddenly feel two soft, warm, large weights suddenly resting atop my head. The sensation lasts only a few moments before my head slips between the pillowy masses, and I'm suddenly in the marshmallow version of the Fields of Punishment. Or the Elysian Fields. One of the two.
"Little brother, why are you ignoring me like this?" Daiyu's voice is filled with playful laughter as her arms wrap around me and she pulls me from my seat, my head still firmly trapped within the embrace of her breasts. Her skin exudes a soft fragrance that leaves me with my pants suddenly feeling far too tight, the scent of…lotuses filling my nose. The light is entirely blocked out by her breasts, my head vanished from sight so far as the outside world is concerned. "You'll make me think that you don't like your big sister anymore," Daiyu pulls me after her, still locked within her embrace, returning to the couch. I'm released from the marshmallow Elysium I was locked within as she pulls me down to the couch, which is sinfully comfortable. Seriously, it feels kind of like being embraced by the waves. I almost feel like I'm floating in a sea of softness and luxury, which is accented by the fragrance floating from Daiyu as she pulls me close, the two of us reclining on our sides, with my body propped up by one of my arms.
"Shouldn't we be focusing on the ship or something?" I venture, certainly not objecting to this situation as possible but not a hundred percent sure what I'm supposed to be doing right now, though the libido dad gave me along with all of the other demigod stuff is certainly having fun making suggestions. I shove it back down viciously, reminding myself that now is not the time to listen to the little voice saying 'fuck it.' I'm about to be going into a fight, not a bacchanal, as much as some small parts of me might wish otherwise. Also, before I got dropped into another world, this kind of thing never happened to me. Sure, the Aphrodite kids would tease, but for some reason they had a hands-off policy with me after my quest to free Artemis. After the Titan War, a couple of them had started to approach me, and I heard murmurs from them about how Annabeth 'wasn't around to threaten them off anymore.'
Which kind of pissed me off and left me with every intention of asking Annabeth a few questions the next time we saw each other. In the meantime, though, I had been left with my thoughts, and with a few of the demigoddesses at Camp spending more time around me. I found myself getting invited to join in more of the games that the rest of the campers play during downtime, and trading tips on things like combat techniques, exercise routines, monster hunting, and so on with demigods who I'd never spoken with before. It was nice. I went from feeling a bit isolated to feeling like I was properly part of Camp. Before that, I was their general, the one who led them through a war, but I was distant from most of the other demigods.
Once I got to New Rome, my experience there was similar. I went from being a new demigod sired by a god feared by the Romans to being a hero and Rome's second praetor in short order, after starting out as a member of the least prestigious cohort. I was isolated again, once more by the chain of command, though I was starting to make friends among a few Romans.
"The ship will sail itself," Daiyu laughs, and I frown.
"Herself," I correct Daiyu, who makes an interested sound. "Ships are traditionally considered female, at least by most people in my homeland. It's an old tradition, made by sailors who spend long periods of time at sea. I tend to follow those traditions, though I'm not sure about the local conventions regarding that," I compensate for my words a bit awkwardly.
"Herself," Daiyu agrees lazily, stretching languidly, her breasts pressing into my back. "I do not have much interaction with the mortal sailors who might be able to answer your questions about such things, but it cannot hurt to adhere to such a tradition. The spirit of the ship may find herself appeased by such reference, and I certainly wouldn't want my vessel to be displeased with me. Being guided into a storm or the path of some hostile Spirit Beast would hardly be pleasant, after all." I feel the ship shiver a bit, a brief flare of irritation pressing against my senses, the deckboards rattling. Daiyu stretches, reaching out a hand to brush against the ship's railing. "Not that I suspect you would ever do such a thing, dear one," Daiyu reassures her ship.
The decking settles down, and it feels kind of like the ship is releasing a mildly affronted huff but doesn't feel like making an issue out of it. She does feel pleased about being referred to properly, though, and her sails flutter as the ship dances across the clouds, dipping lower to let her keel skim through the white sea.
"We have the ship all to ourselves, and it will be days before we reach our destination," Daiyu teases, even as I feel her Qi brushing against my meridians. "You've made progress more quickly than this big sister expected, but away from the Sect, you're also away from the best source of Qi suited for you. In order to keep your cultivation from slowing down or backsliding, I'll draw in Water Qi from the air, concentrate it, and cycle it through both of our meridians."
I blush as she presses herself more firmly into my back, her arm like an iron bar as she pulls me into her, my head being pulled back towards the pillowy prison of her breasts. She refrains from burying me in her chest once more, and instead I feel cool, soothing Qi flooding into my meridians, the channels something I've grown extremely familiar with over the last few months.
Within a few heartbeats, I settle into the breathing pattern that Daiyu has gone to great lengths to teach me, near-reflexively cycling Qi through my body. When the cycle completes, instead of flowing out of me, the Qi is pulled into her meridians and she cycles it. It doesn't take many cycles before I feel something on my skin, some kind of…slime. Or ooze. And gods does the stuff stink. I look down, and I see a black ooze welling up from my pores, and my eyes open wide as I look at the source of the stench.
"Impurities," Daiyu explains. "Your body has an innate rejection of them, likely due to your divine heritage. Unlike me, you won't need to acquire expensive reagents or undertake long sessions of cultivation just to purge your body of them. You were born without impurities, so far as I can tell, which is something that has never been seen in this world before, to the best of my limited knowledge. While it is possible to be born with a very small amount of impurities, if you are the child of two powerful cultivators, you still take in some. More will be accrued over time from the food you eat, the water you drink, the air you breathe, the Qi you cultivate…and so on."
"Unless you have a particularly pure source of Qi to cultivate with," I think back to the lessons that Daiyu gave me during one of the lectures she holds once a week for all of her students, and the personal lesson she provides each Disciple with once weekly. Attendance at the group lecture is mandatory, otherwise I'd probably spend more time working on my fitness or brushing up on my sword skills. Still, I should probably try and pay more attention at the lectures, even if I have a bad track record with school.
"Correct," Daiyu confirms. "The Silver Lake at the Sect is pure enough that there are few issues with cultivating there, but even that isn't as pure as it could be. The impurities accumulated from it are small, miniscule even, but they do persist. However, your body inherently rejects those impurities and…" she trails off as there's a sudden sizzling coming from the ooze, which is suddenly consumed in golden fire. I yelp in shock, one of my hands slapping at the fire, but to no effect. Instead, the fire goes out once the ooze is entirely gone, and in its wake is left the scent of the sea breeze, replacing the previous stench.
"What the fuck?" I say eloquently, and Daiyu chuckles. "Seriously, what just happened?"
"Your body rejected the impurities in the ambient Qi that I was cycling through you," Daiyu replies cheerfully. "Impurities that it had reflexively stripped out of the Qi while you cycled it, and I am having to adjust to having entirely pure Qi running through my meridians." Her voice takes on sultry undertones, shifting to a seductive purr. "The sensation is quite…thrilling."
I nearly whimper as my pants are once more too tight for comfort, but before I can say anything, Qi is once more cycling into my meridians. "Are you just using me to get purer Qi for you to cultivate?" I ask warily, and Daiyu freezes, her grip on me slacking as she pulls back a bit.
"No," Daiyu says firmly. "No, Perseus. I will not use you as a Cauldron," her words are hissed vehemently. "Nor will I allow anyone else to do so. If you are willing, I will gladly enjoy the benefits that are provided by such a pure source of Qi, but I will not force myself upon you. If you wish me to cease, speak, and it shall be so."
"I'm not used to…things like this. Contact like this," I reply slowly, and Daiyu makes a sound of confusion.
"Are the women of your homeland blind?" Daiyu asks. "Your appearance is strange for these lands, certainly, but far from unattractive. You are strong, skilled in battle, powerful, well favored by your divine sire, and from your tales, you have accrued many victories worthy of note. With a pedigree and power like yours, you could easily court any of the princesses of the Green Horse Kingdom and be assured of success in your romantic endeavors. Your talent in cultivation is proving truly profound, your advancement exceeding my already high expectations. You would be a prize that they would fight for, rather than you needing to play the usual games to prove worthy of their notice. Once you achieve Immortality and Ascend, returning to your home, any bride or brides of yours would be the consorts of a favored child of a Heavenly Immortal, and that favor could easily be turned into a high position in your father's court with a little cunning."
I take a moment to wrap my head around that, and grimace. "Back where I grew up, at least until recently, I was considered…odd. Demigods like me have battlefield reflexes built into our bodies, and we also have all of the dialects of the Hellenic language in our brains. Both the ancient and modern forms come easily to us. With only a little practice we learn to read, write, and speak those languages, and plenty of us speak those languages exclusively when not around mortals," I shrug. I've never been one to stick solely to Hellenic like some of the year round campers who refuse to go back into the mortal world are, but I speak it well enough, along with the languages of the sea which my dad insisted I learn. "But that causes us to have issues with things like sitting still for long periods in classrooms, and learning how to read and write other languages."
Seriously, I took to Latin easily enough, but for some reason, gods alone know why, the Latin alphabet is my eternal foe. When used for languages other than Latin, that is. "Anyway," I break myself from those thoughts, "the world I come from was…calmer. Before the Titan War fucked everything up, anyway. Mortal society mostly valued book learning, and that meant spending hours every day in a classroom. Something most demigods aren't suited for. I ended up getting kicked out of every school I went to within a year because of some kind of demigod trouble, at least until I found out I was a demigod. Demigods…well, I told you about how monsters track us, and about what makes our scent stronger," I sigh.
"Indeed," Daiyu nods. "So, despite your ignorance, you still encountered circumstances that left you with troubles continuing your education." She seems irritated about something, and I nod.
"So I was always the new kid at every school I went to. The odd one out. And my mom wasn't exactly wealthy. Combine that with my first stepfather…she married him to help hide me. His stench was strong enough to keep me concealed for months after being around him for a week or two, so even when I was sent to boarding schools there wasn't much trouble. At least not until I learned that I was a demigod." Now I feel Daiyu tense, and there's an aura of sudden danger filling the air.
"I see," Daiyu's hands run over my body quickly, assessingly. It's familiar from the checkups done by Chiron and the Apollo kids, and her voice gains an edge. "I would presume that some of the injuries from when you were very young were due to him?" Daiyu shakes her head before I can answer. "You do not need to speak of it. I presume that he is no longer an issue?"
"He got turned into a statue shortly after I finished my first quest, the one where I recovered my uncle's symbol of power that had been stolen," I answer the question, grateful she's not probing deeper. I don't like thinking about Smelly Gabe, even if it's been years since I last saw him. Mom turning him into a statue was extremely welcome, and in my opinion, the only bad thing was that he wasn't removed from our lives sooner. Even if keeping him around might have helped keep me hidden and kept the attacks by monsters down to a rate of one every two or three days instead of at least once a day. It wouldn't have been worth it.
"Good," Daiyu says firmly. "So, you were considered strange. An outsider to the groups that had already formed among their ranks. The skills that you naturally possess were not given their proper value due to the standards of the civilization you lived within," she hums thoughtfully, considering the concept. "It sounds like a very strange land."
"Maybe to you," I reply, the comment half-teasing. "Anyway, that was how things were until the Titan War. Once the battles between my father and Okeanos riled up the seas too much for ships to safely cross, and towns started getting wiped out by monsters eager for a meal…well, they'd have preferred demigods, but mortals would do in a pinch. Well, once that started happening, people got even more insular. And I was away a lot of the time, fighting for Olympus and trying to keep the Titans from returning the world to an age where humans were pretty much only good for praying to the gods and being turned into snacks."
"Which is a state of existence that many mortals on this continent are familiar with," Daiyu murmurs as she lets her fingers tangle in my hair, combing through it. It's been growing out over the last few months, and for some reason I haven't been able to find anyone to cut it. I considered just cutting it myself with Anaklusmos, but…well, I'd probably botch it, and I'd rather not cut my own head off with my sword just because I wanted shorter hair. At least my hair isn't prone to tangles or other problems. Most demigods don't have to deal with stuff like that, which is something that the Aphrodite kids were always very happy about. "The Silver Dolphin Empire is a place very much like your world would have been if your enemies had triumphed. I have been there only once, and I have sworn never to return."
I feel my eyes widening at her words. "How bad is it, and why hasn't anyone done anything?" I ask, and Daiyu sighs in vexation. "Is the guy in charge there so strong that no one can beat him or something like that?" I consider the idea, and Daiyu shakes her head.
"The Silver Dolphin Empire is a place of tyranny, and it has been that way for tens of thousands of years," Daiyu replies. "By now, that is the only thing the inhabitants know. It has sunk into the land, ingrained itself into the populace. It perhaps could have been snuffed out if it was caught early enough, but it has been that way for longer than history has been recorded. The ruler of the Silver Dolphin Empire is a Core Refinement Stage cultivator. It would take another Core Refinement Stage cultivator or a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator to defeat him. All the cultivators with that much power are tied down to a single place. Perhaps, in a century or two, you will be strong enough to defeat him, but that would be just the beginning. Changing the Silver Dolphin Empire would be the work of a dozen mortal lifetimes at the very least. The land knows the touch of tyranny too well. You would need to change the entirety of their culture."
I sigh in displeasure at the lack of any simple answer. Why can't bad guys be as simple to deal with as most of the enemies I've faced in my lifetime? At least you can stab Titans in the face and the problem is solved. Apparently power-mad cultivating tyrants don't go away as conveniently as monsters do when you stab them, or at least there's more cleanup. If only you could just get out a vacuum cleaner, remove the golden dust, and call it good. Mortal problems aren't that simple, though, much to my regret. And I can feel the call to return home pulling at me more strongly than any desire to go and rescue a bunch of people I don't even know. The comics I read occasionally when younger say that I should punch the bad guys in the face and everything will be alright. My fatal flaw says that my friends and family need me back home, and that I can't afford to spend centuries dealing with this Silver Dolphin Empire.
If someone else wants to deal with that place and fix it, I'll gladly lend them all the help I can, but between my friends and a nation full of people I've never met, my friends win. I suppose it's like Athena said, way back when. For a friend, you would burn the world. I suppose that's why fatal flaws are called flaws. Loyalty is a good thing, at least in moderation, from what Chiron said when I asked him, but in excess…you have to be careful about what your loyalty is devoted to, or who you're loyal to in some cases.
"Yeah," I break from my thoughts. "Anyway, I ended up not really being used to being like this," I gesture vaguely towards where she's still pressed against me. "I'm not exactly objecting to being pressed up against a beautiful woman, but I'm just not used to it," I explain. The closest things got to this was when I was with Calypso on Ogygia, and even she never got quite so intimate with me. She was kind, and when she was changing my bandages or otherwise tending my wounds, we got very close to each other, but the way Daiyu is pressed up against me is entirely new and while it's thrilling in some ways, it's daunting in others.
"Shall we continue our cultivation?" Daiyu asks. "Cultivation only. The way we are pressed against each other is the most efficient way for Qi to be transmitted from one body to another, at least while we remain clothed, but I will not touch you without your permission, Perseus." Her words are reassuring, and I relax, my hands keeping her arm in place where it's wrapped around me. The wind runs across the ship's deck, and I relax in the warmth of the sunlight playing over the decks of the vessel, causing the polished boards to gleam.
"Yeah," I agree. "I'd like that." This experience is new, but I could get used to relaxing like this, and the sense of peace. It's a feeling that's been far too rare in my life until now, after all. With a smile on my lips, I feel Qi rushing into my meridians, pushed into me by Daiyu, and I start cycling power through me. Soon, golden fire is playing over my skin, and Daiyu is radiating contentment as I slip first into the domain of Hypnos, and then into the power of Morpheus, the warmth of the sunlight and the sensation of the wind lulling me into a peaceful slumber.
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Afterword: This chapter brought to you by an anonymous commissioner, with more in the foreseeable future. Percy is finally setting out to begin adventuring in an entirely new world, with new foes to discover and adapt his previous skills to, as well as new situations to accustom himself to.