บท 118: A Thundering Essence 2
You know, whenever I read fanfiction, I always wondered why people complained about showing the main protagonist's childhood.
Now I know. I've been in this cave for a day, and while I am rapidly developing, it's getting rather annoying and kind of boring. The only thing keeping me awake at this point is mostly just curiosity.
The centurions have mostly been standing there, waiting for me to make noise. Since I haven't, they haven't had to bang their shields. It was kind of funny when one came over just to make sure I was alive. He looked at me, placed a finger on my neck—most likely checking for a pulse.
Seemingly satisfied, the stone-faced warriors returned to their routine of standing and doing nothing. I tried to create lightning, but the best I could manage was a few sparks from my hands. Progress is progress, though.
As for my more out-of-context abilities, I haven't used the charges from Inspired Inventor or the power manipulation ones yet. I'm still deciding which one I want to use. Honestly, depending on which I pick, it could define my entire path going forward.
Having all this time to think is odd, to say the least. I almost expect to wake back up in my bed, ready to head to my next day at work. But whenever I close my eyes and reopen them, I'm staring at the same cave ceiling.
I don't know why I'm not freaking out, to be honest, but I'm not going to question the focus. This new life is going to be interesting, to say the least. I want to say I'm scared of what's coming next, but I can't seem to find any fear. I've never picked up a gun, and the only time I've used a knife was to cut food, but now I'm going to have to fight for my life.
One step at a time, Zeus. One step at a time. You can figure out all this existential stuff later. I have to say, it's a huge relief knowing I can't be predicted or pre-cogged. Whenever I read mythology, I always hated the idea of the Fates—how no one's destiny is truly in their hands. I much preferred the take from the new God of War game, where it's less about direct fate control and more about understanding patterns and behavior.
But now I don't have to worry about either because I'm immune to both mind control and fate reading. That's definitely going on the list because, while it's nice to have for myself, I'll need to figure out a way to spread it to others when I eventually find people I can trust.
Before I could plan anything more, Gaia rose from the cave floor again. She usually just shows up, stares at me, and then fades back into the ground.
"Why are you so silent?" she asked. "Whenever I had children, they would be screaming their heads off at least before they grew up. What makes you so special?" She picked me up and stared into my eyes with her emerald gaze.
"I have mixed feelings about you, you know? On one side, you're my child, or grandchild, in this case, but on the other, I know what you're going to seek to do to my children. Or at least I think I know. Also, don't think I haven't noticed you practicing your powers. You have a long way to go. But you probably won't remember me saying this." She put me back in the cradle and stared at me again.
One of the centurions came over to feed me goat milk. And I have to say, as weird as it is, this stuff is amazing. Probably because the goat is divine, but still, best milk ever. I immediately stopped thinking about that, though, because I do not want to come across like some second-rate Homelander.
Gaia almost smirked at my reaction. "Well, at least you're well-behaved. I almost feel bad having created the soldiers just to stand here and do nothing, but they'll eventually be your instructors. I do hope you survive, young Zeus."
With that, she sank into the ground again. I could still feel her presence, but it wasn't focused on me anymore. I assumed she was using her power to mask my own presence, like a massive heat signature covering up mine.
As I lay in the cradle again, I focused on trying to summon my divine powers. I reached inward, trying to feel the lightning in my veins. I could almost sense it, it felt like endless strength and power, like having an infinite generator at my fingertips.
I can almost understand how the original Zeus became drunk on his own power if he felt like this all the time. But for me, it's the little things that matter. Like the fact that I can see with perfect 20/20 vision. In my old life, I had keratoconus in my left eye, and I hadn't been able to see properly out of it for years. Mimir was right, you don't miss depth perception until it's gone.
Another thing is that with my Shaper power, I can feel how even the muscles of my infant form could crush an adult man like a toothpick. I could break someone in two with my bare hands.
Man, I miss Metal Gear Rising. As I thought about the tech from that game, I made a slight mistake, the charge from Inspired Inventor went into cybernetics from the Metal Gear series.
In that moment, a rush of information flooded my mind. Basic cybernetics, advanced tech, it all entered my brain. I felt a slight discomfort, but it passed quickly.
One of the guards came over to check on me when I made a fussy noise, but as I quieted down, he returned to his post. I took a deep breath and tried to process all the new information, and the fact that I'd just wasted my Inspired Inventor charge for the day.
I definitely need to stop thinking about tech trees for too long. I'll get the charge back in a few hours anyway. Power manipulation will have to wait, though. These guys don't have powers for me to copy, and I don't have any to give them.
For now, I focused on my Shaper power, streamlining my bodily processes, strengthening my muscles and bones while increasing the efficiency of my bone marrow. God blood isn't exactly the same as regular blood, but it doesn't seem too different.
What confuses me is why it's not gold. Gods are usually described as having golden ichor, but aside from a few tweaks, my blood doesn't seem that special.
What really stands out is how my body feels less real, almost like it's an idea rather than a physical form. I assume that's how godly shapeshifting works. My body is more about how I want it to look rather than a defined form. Still, it's disturbing to think about how the gods used this ability for their, uh, "beastly" relationships.
Trying to get my mind off that, I focused on finding the sub-dimension where Shaper stores its biomass. After a while, I sensed a sort of pocket filled with pure biological material. It was a bit disturbing to look at, but it gave me an idea. While the creation process was efficient, I could make it better.
That got me thinking, my power lets me essentially create any ability I can think of, other than omnipotence, omnipresence, and the other "O" words. So, I focused my one power manipulation charge for the day and used it to increase the number of daily charges I get for Inspired Inventor and power manipulation. I felt a bolt of energy shoot through me as my spiritual vessel expanded, growing stronger.
Smiling at my own genius, I decided to take a nap. This day had been rather strenuous, to say the least. Even a god needs their beauty sleep.
I'm definitely going to need to figure out what kind of god I want to be, but one thing's for sure: if I ever have a kid, I'm going to be the best dad in the multiverse. Then again, I wonder if there's some kind of Dom Toretto multiverse entity out there…
(Gaia POV)
As Gaia sank back into the earth, she lingered beneath the surface of the cave, her consciousness still attuned to the infant Zeus. Her emerald eyes, hidden beneath the crust of the world, watched the boy's every movement as he tried, with all the concentration of a god-child, to summon his powers. Sparks danced across his tiny fingers, just brief glimmers of potential, but Gaia knew what he would one day become.
She sighed inwardly, her essence rippling through the stones and soil around the cave, spreading through the roots of ancient trees and sinking into the bones of the earth. This boy, this Zeus, had a destiny unlike any of her previous children.
He was different, too calm, too focused for one so young. The others had screamed, raged, demanded. They were primal forces of chaos, raw energy bound into godly forms. But Zeus… Zeus was quiet. He observed, calculated, and even in his infancy, Gaia could sense that he understood more than he should.
Gaia had long since grown weary of the constant cycle of creation and destruction. Her children, the Titans, had been both her pride and her curse. She had watched them rise, squabble, and tear at one another like wolves, their hunger for power endless. And yet, there had always been something inevitable about them, an endless cycle, one she had tired of but couldn't escape. She had given birth to the Titans with the hope that they would bring balance, but instead, they brought only more chaos.
And now here was Zeus, the one fated to overthrow them. But fates, Gaia knew, were not as rigid as mortals believed. They were shaped by the choices of gods and men alike, and though the threads of destiny were already woven into the fabric of time, they could still be unwound, or at least, knotted in unexpected ways.
She hovered above the child, her form a mere whisper beneath the cradle. What kind of god will you be, my dear? she wondered.
Though she had spoken to him earlier with indifference, perhaps even disdain, Gaia could not deny the faint stirrings of affection she felt for him. He was, after all, her descendant. His veins pulsed with divine blood, her own essence flowing through him, connecting him to the primordial earth in ways he could not yet understand. But she could not allow herself to grow too attached. If he followed the path laid before him, he would one day challenge her children. Kronos, her most terrible son, and the rest of the Titans would be at his mercy.
Part of her wanted to intervene, to stop him before his powers truly awakened. She could snuff out his life now, quiet as a shadow, and the cycle would end. No rebellion. No bloodshed. But then, another part of her stirred, a whisper of hope, faint but undeniable.
Perhaps this one will be different.
She had watched the Titans devour themselves, a decent number of them driven only by their own greed and lust for control. Their minds, once sharp and powerful, had grown narrow, consumed by desire and fear of losing what they held.
Kronos had been the worst, devouring his own children in a desperate bid to prevent his overthrow. The Titans were monstrous in their ways, too set in their desires, too blinded by their egos.
But Zeus… Zeus showed restraint, even now like a bolt of lightning charging in silence before crashing to the earth. He wasn't like Kronos or the others. He was strategic. If that careful balance of power and wisdom remained as he grew, then maybe, just maybe, he could break the cycle. Gaia had seen enough of gods ruled by their primal urges. A new order could emerge, one that might be less destructive, one that might, for once, bring harmony rather than chaos.
Still, Gaia was cautious. It wasn't just the child's potential that unnerved her, it was the feeling that this Zeus wasn't like any other being she had ever known. His mannerisms felt more like those of a mortal than a god. There was something alien about him, as though he didn't fully belong to this world, or at least, this reality.
She had noticed it the moment she first laid eyes on him. Zeus didn't feel the way her other children had. There was a… distance in his soul, as if part of him wasn't really here, wasn't tethered to this divine world as strongly as it should be.
She drifted deeper into the earth, mulling over her conflicting emotions. She couldn't deny that part of her was tired, so tired of the endless grief, the squabbles of gods who thought themselves invincible. Maybe a disruption was what was required to break the eternal cycle of tyranny. Maybe Zeus was that disruption. Maybe that's why he had come into being.
Gaia sighed again, sending tremors through the ground. She couldn't know for sure. All she knew was that she wasn't going to kill him. Not yet. She would let him grow, let him discover who he was meant to be. She would observe, protect when necessary, and intervene only if she had to. Whether Zeus became the god of a new, peaceful order, or yet another tyrant to replace the ones before him, was entirely up to him.
For now, she would wait. Time, after all, was something Gaia had in abundance.
With one last glance at the child in the cradle, she withdrew her presence from the cave entirely, sinking into the deepest roots of the earth where she could no longer be seen or sensed. But she would be watching. Always watching.
Charges Used:
Inspired Inventor:
(1/10) MG Cybernetics,
Power Manipulation:
(1/10) Increased Daily Charges: Increase Charge Gains With One Additional Charge For Every Level
How Inspired Inventor Charges Stack:
1 Charge = Basic Highschool Levels of understanding along with basic follow-along blueprints.
2 Charges = Two years of College with Advanced levels of knowledge within the field along with experience.
3 Charges = Savant levels of interoperability with other areas.
4 Charges = Completed College with Advanced levels of knowledge within the field and far more advanced blueprints along with principles to follow.
5 Charges = Masters Level College Graduate, completed principles, blueprints, esoteric understandings.
6 Charges = Ph.D. Graduate along with all that it entails. Full esoteric understanding, advanced metaphysics understanding.
7 Charges = Genius understanding of the setting's technology.
8 Charges = Super Genius understanding of the setting's technology.
9 Charges = Beyond Super Genius' understanding of the setting's technology.
10+ Charges = Creations capable of restructuring reality, creating alternative reality paths.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง