Chapter 46: System Exploration
Hippolyta knew Byron liked New Themiscyra more, that he liked Penthesilea more than he liked her, and she could only blame her bad luck for that.
If he had fallen into her river instead of Penthesilea's, if she had been the one who reached him first, she was sure she would be the one occupying the bigger spot in his heart right now.
But she wasn't.
He didn't fall into her river, she didn't reach him first, and, for that, she understood why he wanted to make New Themiscyra his base.
Or, like he said, his home.
Understanding the reason behind his words didn't make them sting less though.
The thought that Penthesilea could take another man she loved from her made her more resentful.
'If it wasn't for her,' she thought, sobbing. 'I would be living with my Orpheus. I wouldn't be curdling another man. Now she wants to take him from me also. I can't allow it.'
'But it's not her fault!' Hippolyta reminded herself, unable to come up with how she was going to change Byron's mind.
That only fuelled her sadness.
"Hey! Don't cry! How about this? I'll come and live here every now and then. Sounds good, right?"
Byron might have thought this would soothe her, but it only added fuel to the fire.
Why did she have to be the one to be given every now and then? Why couldn't she be the one to be his Queen, her city his home?
"Hey..."
Byron was about to say something, something which she suspected could make her more angry again, so she interrupted him.
"Stop talking please! Let's stay like this for a while!"
At least now...
Now she had him in her city, in a room, all by herself. A moment like this was probably going to take long to appear again, so she at least had to enjoy it.
As for Byron, he saw this as an opportunity to summon the system panel.
From the moment he fucked Strawberry and completed the surprise quest, Byron had been dying to see the changes.
~Stats~
[Name: Pachilles]
[Rank: Human]
[Level: Beginner Lv 3]
[Divinity Points: 735/10000]
[Body count: 78 divine beings]
[Stamina: 7 minutes]
[Physique: Slightly Strong]
[Abilities: [Sword Play] [Mind Manipulation] [Sensation Smoke]
Looking at this made Byron feel disgusted. After all his efforts, nothing much had changed.
Except body count, which had increased by 3 because of Hippolyta, Keza and Strawberry, every other thing was pretty much as it had been.
Or, was it?
Perhaps it had something to do with the way the system presented the stats.
If, for example, on Physique... If there was a number instead of Slightly Strong, maybe he would have seen that number increasing.
Since one of the rewards for fucking Strawberry was the ability to re-organize the system, Byron decided to do just that.
He wiped his eyes down the system panel once more, taking notes of what he needed changed and what he didn't.
'Name is just a name and... Oh! System, why is my rank human instead of a number or something? Shouldn't human be some kind of a species or a race?'
[You're right, dear host. Your rank is indeed a number, but it's displayed as human because your number isn't good enough.]
'Care to elaborate?'
[Of course. You see, one's race or species is determined by a number of some kind of substance they have in them. It might be mana or any other kind of body boosters, but in your case it's divinity.]
[Usually, a demi-god is a lesser being compared to a god, so does a god compared to a titan, or a titan compared to a primordial being. What determines who is who is the level of divinity within them.]
'So, you're basically saying that if I acquire a certain amount of divinity, I might become a god.'
[Exactly! Or even a primordial being, who knows?]
'A primordial being? I thought those were originals. That they... How do I say it? How can I for example become Cronus? Time is already there. How can I...'
For the first time in their conversation, the system interrupted him.
[So you think they created themselves? That they just appeared out of nowhere?]
'I... I don't know. Maybe..."
[There's no maybe!] The system interrupted him again. [Everything has a source. If you acquire enough divinity, you might grow one of your abilities.... Remind me... Oh, Mind Manipulation. You might end up becoming a primordial being that controls all the minds in the universe.Or the god of all swordsmen if you grow Sword Play.]
If Hippolyta wasn't lying on his chest, Byron would have jumped and shouted jackpot.
Or, eureka.
He knew it would probably be impossible to amass such an amount of divinity, but at least now he knew he might, at some point in the future, not have to live afraid of what Hera would do to him once she found out about him.
Because, let's face it.
Hera had gone above and beyond to punish the Amazons. To make them suffer eternal lust.
But now...
Now Byron was freeing them from that suffering, fucking them every now and then.
Even those he was yet to fuck, now they had hope and that made them happy.
Happy for them meant sad for Hera. Even a dimwit could guess how pissed the Queen of Olympus, wife to the most powerful god and mother to several other powerful gods, was.
Besides, Hera wasn't the only goddess that Byron had to worry about now.
Any day, Calliope could find out about his affair with Strawberry. After their husbands, another thing these goddesses tended to get jealous for was their priestesses. He would be cooked.
Byron knew he had to work hard and level up his rank as soon as possible.
That's why he asked, 'So, what am I to become after a human?'
[That will depend on the situation,] replied the system. [It might be a satyr or a potamoi, a triton or some other deity. The road to becoming a god is a long one.]
'Fuck! Is there no way I can skip those lesser ranks?'
[You can, if you...]
The system took a long pause, almost as if it was afraid of saying the next words, or just contemplating whether to tell him or not.
Finally, it continued, [If you kill a god!]
'Damn! No wonder it was afraid of saying it.'
Byron hoped no being could eavesdrop on his conversation with the system. Even though it was happening in his mind, he knew he was in a world where everything was possible.
Being in people's minds was a specialty for some gods, even a being like Morpheus, the Lord of Dreams, could do that.
And...
And you never knew which side the being listening might be on. Worse, whose son or daughter it was.
Say, if that being was one of Hera's children, then it would undoubtedly report to her.
But then again, he had no way to hide his thoughts. It was up to fate to decide.
And that was the very reason he resumed the conversation with the system.
'Kill a god? Is that even possible?'
[I wouldn't say it if I knew it was impossible, would I?]
The system didn't exactly scoff at him, but he was sure that if it had been a human, those words would have come with a scoff.
'Oh, sorry to doubt you!' Byron said... Well, he thought. But while talking to the system, that was equivalent to saying.
'It's just that I regard gods as formidable beings,' he continued. 'Immortal beings.'
[You're right. Gods are not ordinary. However, even the deadliest of predators are prey to other predators. You just have to find the right weapon and aim it at the right spot. Or, be in the right place at the right time. After all, luck is a thing too, isn't it?]
'I know!'
Byron couldn't believe just asking about his rank would spark such an important conversation, but he was glad he did.
His eyes slid down to the next stat, Level, and he felt another surge of questions within him.
He remembered feeling nothing new when he reached level 2, or now that he reached level 3. So what was the purpose of it if it had no benefit whatsoever?
To spark a meaningful conversation, though, he knew he had to ask a clever question.
And luckily for him, among tens of questions threatening to burst out of him, one of them was a clever one.
'So, what's the difference between Level and Rank?'
[Like I said,] replied the system, [changing your Rank means becoming a completely different being. It's common knowledge that being the same being doesn't mean being on the same level. Like now, you and Alcippe might both be human, but she fights better and faster than you. You're not on the same level. I hope I phrased this well.]
'Yeah! You did and I understand what you mean. However, why did nothing change when I levelled up?'
[Not feeling the change doesn't mean it didn't occur. Sometimes changes are too small to make an impact.]
'I mean, yeah! But I levelled up twice already. I should at least feel a tingling.'
[You're just on beginner level. That's not even a level. You're in a prelude. Wait until you reach the real levels. I hope you won't regret it.]
'Why would I regret it?'
[It's gonna be painful!]