章節 3: Ryozanpaku
15 Years
Things had been slowly getting more and more strange for the past fifteen years now. First, the Minotaur had suddenly disappeared for no reason. Then, superhumans that weren't hidden by the mist started popping up everywhere, again, seemingly for no reason. Then, five years after his disappearance, the Minotaur suddenly showed up again, owning a fucking dojo of all things. One that he's been running for the past ten years.
On top of the Minotaur disappearing, a lot of the other intelligent monsters also made fewer appearances, rarely even going near a demigod let alone attacking them. They weren't as bad as the Minotaur, but it still warranted suspicion.
Athena suspected they were preparing to join Kronos, if they hadn't already, and that he was somehow strengthening mortals to bring them to his side. She tried to bring it up at one of their counsel meetings, but as with all things relating to Kronos, he shot down the very idea of talking about it before she could even fully report everything she had learned, which was admittedly very little.
Then things took a turn for the worst the second the Minotaur popped back up with his dojo.
Superhumans started popping up even faster than before, with them all somehow suddenly gaining the ability to see through the mist about eight years ago. The monsters somehow seemed even less interested in the demigods, with only a few monsters still hunted the demigods, and they were either unintelligent or were under the command of a god.
Athena began investigating thoroughly at that point. She sent spy's, she tracked down and interrogated monsters that were involved, and she even interrogated a few of the new "superhumans".
All the answers she found led back to one thing. Or rather one man.
A mortal that was dubbed the "invincible superhuman".
From what she could gather, the man had traveled the world for about thirteen years before mysteriously disappearing two years ago. During his travels, he had defeated all manners of martial artists and monsters alike from all across the world. Yes, that included different pantheons.
When Athena heard that part she nearly had heart attack. A mortal who was not only strong enough to easily defeat some of their strongest monsters, but also had contact with dozens of other pantheons? All of this and more, and she DIDN'T know about him? She, Athena, the goddess of wisdom! It hurt her pride that something like that had gone so long without being noticed.
The only thing keeping her from blaming her self entirely is that she new at least half the blame fell on her father for forbidding anyone from researching the subject. She wanted to scream at him for his foolishness! But she new that it would be even more foolish on her part to do something like that to an elder god. Especially one that already had a notoriously short fuse.
But now, after all her secret research, she could finally, FINALLY bring up the topic in a meeting again, as she could prove that it wasn't related to Kronos or the prophesy. She couldn't let a mortal like this walk around unchecked any longer! It could spell disaster for every pantheon in the world if they just let some uppity mortal prance around between them whenever he wanted. The only problem with her plan to stop him was-
"Athena!"
Athena snapped out of her thoughts as her father called her name.
"Your report?" He said, obviously with his patience wearing thin. Had she been ignoring him? Oops.
"Yes father. Nothing of note has happened within my domains as of this last year, so I don't have anything to report. But-"
"Excellent! Next, Apollo!" Zeus interrupted her immediately, likely knowing that she was going to bring up the situation with the monsters... again.
"BUT," She continued, interrupting him. "I believe I have found the answer to the situation with the monsters and superhumans." Her father looked outraged and was about the yell at her, before she interrupted again, "And it's not related to Kronos."
Zeus stopped whatever he was about to say, seemingly thinking, but he still glared at her as he did so. After about two minutes of silence and glaring, he finally spoke up through grit teeth. "Explain."
"The source of the monsters distractions and the new superhumans is a mortal they refer to as the Invincible Superhuman." She began, watching the other Olympians reactions. Despite this, she still failed to notice the young girl tending the hearth on the other side of the room tense slightly.
"Invincible? Pfft. Yeah right." Ares scoffed loudly, seeming genuinely amused by the word.
"From what I've gathered, since he's began traveling he's defeated thousands of martial artists and monsters in single combat with little to no effort, and was given the title because he was never defeated. Understandably, the pride of his opponents were often crushed after being defeated so easily, including monsters. Their disappearance was caused by them going off to train in hopes of defeating the mortal." Athena continued, ignoring the idiot.
"Really? What, did they go off and learn Karate or something like the cow-man?" Apollo asked jokingly.
"Yes actually. More than eighty percent of the monsters that are training as of now have done so by learning a martial art. The rest of them who didn't refused because they didn't want to use the same weapon as their mortal opponent." She replied with a straight face.
"Wait, really? Huh." Apollo mumbled, a surprised expression on his face.
"Those monsters have been defeated hundreds of times since their birth, why would they suddenly care so much about this defeat?" Poseidon asked, suspicious.
"That would be because not only is it a mortal that defeated them, but the mortal often only did so in one attack, maybe two if he felt like showing off." Athena explained, trying hard to maintain her straight face, knowing how ridiculous it sounded.
"So your telling me that there is a mortal running around with the power to kill the strongest of monsters in one attack and I didn't know about it?" Zeus bellowed, lightning sparks dancing off of his form, showing his anger.
Seeing this, Athena had second thoughts about sharing her other discoveries as well. They could very well lead to another of her fathers tantrums. But even if she didn't want to, she knew that for the greater good she was going to have to.
"Yes, but that's not all. This mortal is also the cause of the sudden appearance of superhumans. He has also defeated mortal martial artists as he had defeated monsters. This lead to the martial artists he's defeated training harder, which somehow resulted in them becoming superhuman." Athena said, not even bothering to hide the exasperation in her voice this time. This was even more unbelievable than monsters suddenly learning martial arts.
This was a sentiment that was apparently shared as everyone in the room looked at her with disbelief.
"I know how ridiculous that sounds, I could barely believe it myself. My current theory on how this has happened is that some event that we couldn't detect occurred that changed the biology of humans, and that this Invincible Superhuman was the first to be effected, or possibly just the first to notice." She explained, their disbelief somewhat disappearing by the end.
"How?" Zeus growled out, "How is it that none of us could detect this event that supposedly changed the biology of humanity across the globe?" He obviously wanted to say more, but surprisingly kept himself under control.
Maybe he realized that this could have all been avoided if not for his orders? That it was mostly his fault?
No, it's probably something else.
Oh well, time to reveal the big one. Taking a deep breath to help her keep her calm, she started. "I believe that whatever the cause may be, it could have originated from one or more of the other pantheons."
Silence.
Everyone stared at her with wide eyes and shocked expressions, even Zeus. Nobody talked about the other pantheons unless it was absolutely necessary, mostly because almost all pantheons hated all others with a burning passion. This was especially true for the Greek's as they hated having any thing equal to them, let alone stronger.
"Is this mortal associated with another pantheon?" Hera asked in a low voice, so low it was borderline a growl.
Athena shook her head. "No, I don't think so. From what I can tell, he isn't associated to any pantheon. I say this because he has defeated not only monsters from our world, but from all other pantheons from across the globe."
"How? It shouldn't be possible for a mortal to see through the mist AND the barriers of other pantheons." Hermes asked in confusion.
"That's the thing, apparently this mortal is also responsible for the superhumans ability to through the mist." Athena said tiredly.
"You've gotta be kidding me." Apollo said incredulously.
"I'm not. About twelve years ago the superhumans started a martial arts tournament on an island in the pacific. After the first one a few of the monsters expressed interest in participating, but couldn't because of the mist. So the Invincible Superhuman decided to "Help out" by creating a technique called minds eye that allowed mortals to see through basic illusions, such as the mist and other barriers from other pantheons.
He taught it to everyone during the second tournament. The monsters were able to participate in the last tournament because of this. I've watched the footage of it, its a very complex meditation technique, and honestly I'm surprised that so many people had the patience to learn it." She explained, a little impressed by the sheer amount of superhumans that had learned the technique.
"So not only can this mortal interact with multiple pantheons, already possibly bringing disaster to our world, but now other mortals can do the same because of him?" Zeus was shaking with barely contained rage by the end. Athena briefly wondered if she should suggest anger management classes to him again, before squashing the idea immediately, remembering what happened to her last times he did that.
"Yes." She answered curtly.
Poseidon sighed and rubbed his temples. "This could very well end in another war between pantheons if we're not careful. Is there anything we can do for damage control?"
"Of course there is! All we have to do is kill all these so called "martial artists" and this troublesome mortal and be done with it! Problem solved!" Ares stated like it was obvious.
"No, that won't work. There are hundreds of thousands of superhumans who know the technique now, and even with the mist we wouldn't be able to hide all of them disappearing at once." Athena countered, having already thought of this.
"Then we can at least kill the man right?" Artemis asked, hopeful.
"Yes, I think we should find and kill this mortal. Who does he think he is?" Zeus agreed.
"Don't you think death is a bit harsh? I doubt he knows what he's potentially done wrong and nothings gone wrong yet so we could still salvage the situation. If he must be punished, doesn't imprisonment seem more fair?" Poseidon tried to reason.
"Of course not! The uppity mortal thinks he can just run around with the title Invincible Superhuman and get away with it? The arrogant ass deserves death!" Ares yelled back.
"Now now, Poseidon has a point. The mortal almost certainly knows nothing about the ancient laws that govern the pantheons. It wouldn't be fair to sentence him to death when he hasn't caused any harm yet!" Hephaestus tried to defend the mortal.
"Hasn't caused any harm? He revealed our world to mortals! And not just our world, but the other's as well! Do you want another pantheon war? Do you not remember what happened last time one broke out?" Hera screeched at him.
"Actually, maybe we shouldn't kill this mortal just yet. His title of Invincible Superhuman is actually kind of cool now that I think about it." Ares suddenly said, thought he second half of his sentence sounded forced.
"Are you serious right now Ares? Do you actually want another pantheon war on our hands?" Aphrodite asked incredulously.
"What? No! Of course not? Why would I ever want such a thing?" Ares shot back way to innocently.
"ENOUGH!" Athena yelled, catching everyone's attention again. Zeus looked angry again at her for her outburst.
"While I do want to punish the mortal as much as the rest of you, we won't be able to." She continued, ignoring the confused faces of the other Olympians. "Despite all of my searching I can't find him. I know his appearance and have searched through all of America for it, yet I can't find him anywhere. It's like there's no trace of his existence at all. No family, no address, not even a name!" She explained with frustration.
"Have you tried a different country?" Hermes asked.
"Of course I have, but I only have limited access to them so I can't search as thoroughly as I did here. Even so, I still haven't found a trace of him anywhere!" She snapped back in frustration.
"I see." Zeus said, his anger still present but he calmed himself enough to properly think about the situation. "Very well, thank you for your report Athena. I believe that our first priority for now should be finding this mortal. Punishment can be determined when we have done so."
After that the meeting continued, eventually concluding with Hermes report. None of them noticed the young girl with brown hair, soft-rounded facial features, and fiery yet gentle eyes in the background, who relaxed with a sigh of relief. She smiled gently before going back to tending the hearth.
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There was a subject Poseidon had been meaning to bring up during the meeting, but didn't get the chance because of all the excitement over the mortal. He was beginning to regret that now.
But he knew that even if he did say something they likely wouldn't do anything about it. They all don't like talking about their roman counterparts, so they probably wouldn't care that multiple minor gods in the roman pantheon have gone missing over the past few years.
Besides, while he is a little concerned about it, he doubts that there's anything dangerous happening. These are gods we're talking about after all. They probably went off to do their own thing and didn't tell anyone for some reason.
Poseidon knew that that wasn't the case, but he could hope.
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In-between a corner store and a mechanics workshop stood a large compound obviously based around Japanese architecture. Tall walls surrounded a large area that contained three buildings with a small clearing between them, and a small forest behind said buildings. Sitting outside of the largest of the buildings (the dojo) were two men playing chess.
One of the men looked to be in his early twenties, despite the fact that he was almost thirty. If he stood up he would have stood at a height of 6ft 5, his large muscles making him seem even larger. He had long blonde hair and a short beard of the same color, contrasting his Japanese facial features. He seemed at home in the dojo with his green martial arts gi and red hand guards, his blue eyes shown with kindness and a little amusement as he looked to his "opponent" with a relaxed smiled.
His opponent on the other hand was a tall dark-skinned man who was build like a truck. He wasn't quite as tall as the man in front of him, but he was still taller than most. He wore a long black trench coat and a black fedora on top of his dark hair that was braided with small gems. Unlike his opponent, he wasn't relaxed at all, instead staring intently at the chess board with drops of sweat appearing on his forehead from sheer concentration.
"The pieces aren't going to magically move just from you staring at them my friend." The blonde one said with a smile, then he thought for a second. "Though, I suppose that IS possible, but it would be cheating."
"Shut up Callum! I don't need to cheat to beat you damnit! And stop trying to distract me, I'm not going to fall for your mind games again!" The dark-skinned man replied, not taking his eyes off the board.
"What are you doing to him now Callum?" Came a woman's voice from behind the blonde martial artist.
Looking behind him, Callum saw his dojo's manager, Tia. She had soft-rounded facial features and a youthful appearance, looking to be nineteen or twenty, despite claiming to be older. She had short, mousy brown hair and eyes that seemed like they were on fire, yet somehow gentle, something that caught Callum off guard when he first met her, but he didn't pay it much mind as he didn't really care. She wore a very simple brown dress that showed off her humble yet beautiful features, and a scarf over head like a hood. Not exactly summer time clothing, but he didn't really have room to talk since neither he nor his friend were dressed for heat either.
"He's trying to use his mind tricks on me again since he knows he'll lose if he doesn't." The dark-skinned man said with a confident smile as he looked up to greet Tia, not noticing how Callums arm seemed to blur out of existence for a split second, nor how a few of his pieces disappeared and reappeared in different places.
"Oh? Amos my friend, I'm appalled you would think so low of me! I would never resort to such underhanded tactics just to win a game of chess." Callum said with hurt in his voice.
"I guess, your right, I might just be overrea-Oi, this isn't where my rook was damnit! And how did your Bishop get so close to my king?" Amos exclaimed as he looked back down at the chess board.
"Anyway, what brings you here Tia? Didn't you have a family reunion today?" Callum hurriedly said, turning around and ignoring his friend fully, who was spouting something about 'not changing the subject'.
Tia smiled, "I did, but it didn't last to long. One of my nieces threw a fit after seeing a martial artist on the television. She really doesn't like them for some reason. Anyway, my brother had to take her home to calm her down. My other brother also had some business to take care of and couldn't stay long, so I ended up leaving a little bit after that."
"Ah, that's unfortunate. Spending time with family is important to your mental health, I hope you talk to them enough Tia, I wouldn't want you to become depressed." Callum said with some concern. He knew what it was like to go without family, having "lost" his when he was only a child.
He remembered his teenage year where he was to busy being edgy and thinking that his life would be over without a strong opponent to fight to think about his parents and the fact that they had abandon him. Because of this he wasn't able to properly deal with or even notice the negative effects that it had on his mental state until he was in his early twenties and traveling the world again. He didn't want the same to happen to one of his friends.
Tia smiled brightly, "Oh we do, don't worry. I won't let them just forget about each other despite how much they seem to want to."
"Speaking of family, Callum!" Amos suddenly spoke up, to which the two looked over to him. "Julius sent a letter to me yesterday. He and my nephew will be coming to New York tomorrow and he's thinking of leaving his son here with me. He said that while he wants his son to keep traveling with him, he knows that it would be to dangerous. He wants Carter to have a more permanent home and he thinks this place would safe enough, what with the invincible superhuman living here."
Callum contemplates that for a few seconds. "Does he want me to train the kid?" He finally asked, a little hope in his voice.
Amos smiles. "Yes actually. I've told him of your methods and while he thinks they are a tad harsh he said that he will have no problem with you training Carter so long as he actually wants to be trained."
Tia scoffed. "A tad harsh? Half of the exercises he's put people through should legally be considered torture techniques. Really, who ties people up by their feet over a fire and considers it a valid training method?"
Callum looked offended. "It is a perfectly valid training method! It is one of, if not the best abdominal and back exercise in existence!"
"Right, it's not our fault that the parents are all pansies about things whenever their kid tells them about their training." Amos added.
"And that's why we never have a student here for more than a day." Tia pointed out with a sigh. She wasn't really mad about it because she knew that they would never do anything to actually hurt a child or put their life in danger (those exercises are reserved for teenagers and adults). She was more so just annoyed that the two kept driving students away before they could actually learn anything.
"Well that may not be the case anymore Tia! So long as we make martial arts seem appealing enough to Carter, we will have our first permanent disciple!" Callum said with excitement.
His hopes of training a disciple may finally come true after ten long years! Yes, at first he had wanted to open a dojo immediately, but before he did he thought back to his fight with the Quetzalcoatl and realized that he was far to immature and inexperienced with teaching to actually be a good teacher. So instead of buying a dojo, he opted to continue his journey around the world, but this time instead of looking for a fight, he was looking for old masters to teach him how to be a good master.
He had traveled for eight years before he finally decided that he had learned everything he could from them and needed actual experience to continue further. That was when he bought this plot of land in Manhattan and built the dojo himself.
After that he had started accepting students, only for them all to stop coming after one lesson!
This was his chance! He needed to make sure that he and Amos were ready.
"True, but the question is how? Carter never struck me as the type to enjoy martial arts, and he's only nine right now, so that could put a damper in turning him." Amos explained.
"Hmm, does he have anyone he wants revenge against? Or maybe a rival that he needs defeated? Or a family member that he's particularly adamant about protecting? Oh! Does he have a crush on a super hot blonde girl that he can only get with after defeating her grandfather?" Callum asked seriously.
"Callum, I just told you he's nine. Also, why was that last one so specific?" Amos deadpanned.
"Well we need to motivate him somehow and I don't see you two giving me any ideas!" Callum huffed.
"I'm not helping you use your mind games on my nephew! If you want to get him interested in martial arts, do it the proper way!" Amos told him.
"Well I usually make people more interested in the arts by beating them within an inch of their life using one of two attacks." Callum replied with a blank face.
"..."
"..."
The two stared at him with equally blank faces, before Tia spoke up. "Yeah, um... how about I just put together a pamphlet for him?"
"That might actually work." Amos said thoughtfully. "He's a bit on the nerdy side."
"Alright, I guess that's fine. That is significantly less fun than what I would have gone with, but if it works it works. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go check on the workshop. I can hear something messing with my tools." Callum said before disappearing.
"Well that was abrupt." The two said at the same time, used to it. They didn't know why he did it, but he seemed to have some weird obsession with ending conversations abruptly, even when he clearly had something else to say. They had asked him once about it and all he said was that he learned it from an Aztec dinosaur. Whatever that means.
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Because of his poor business with the dojo Callum had to open a workshop to make enough money to keep his dojo. He could have done other things, but being a mechanic was the most convenient since he had already gotten a few degrees for various different types of engineering when he was bored. With his knowledge on cars and his superhuman strength aiding him he could do the job with laughable ease.
It became even easier on him when Amos and Tia joined his dojo, with Amos working for some secret society of magicians and Tia managing their funds properly (something he was to lazy to do), it became pretty easy to pay the bills.
When he appeared in this workshop in a burst of speed he found himself behind a small child. The kid looked like an elf but covered in soot and oil, and was clearly Latino with curly black hair and tanned skin. What gave Callum pause was the mischievous grin on his face accompanied by the pointy ears. For some reason this combination of features both deeply disturbed him and gave him a VERY ominous sense of deja vu. Currently the scrawny brat was huddled over a few of his tools and some metal, making what looked like a robot.
"Hello there."
"AAAHHH!" The kid screamed at Callums sudden greeting, turning and throwing a wrench at him. Callum easily caught it using two fingers though.
Then the kid looked up at him. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH IT'S AN OGRE!" He screamed, terrified.
"Hello there young man. What are you doing here?" Callum asked calmly despite the screaming child in front of him.
"I-I-I Was just leaving!" The kid hurriedly stood up and tried to run in the opposite direction, only to run into Callum, who was suddenly in front of him again.
"Did you just warp!" The kid shouted as he stumbled back. "How did you do that?"
Callum laughed. "Judging by the look on your face, I don't think you could handle the answer to that question." He said, eliciting another bout of deja vu and a strange sense of pride.
"Are you one of those superhumans?" The kid suddenly asked, brightening up. "The one's they talk about on the news all the time?"
"I wouldn't call myself superhuman. Anyone could achieve this strength if they trained hard enough." Callum answered patiently.
"But how? Do you know kung fu or something? Like in those weird movies with the wires?" The kid continued to question.
Callum chuckled again, "Among other things, yes I do know kung fu."
The kid had stars in his eyes. "Can you teach me? Please! I want to be able to teleport to! It make running away so much easier!"
Callum raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And what is it you're running away from?"
The kid looked like a deer in headlights, realizing he said something he shouldn't have. "Uh... did I say running away? I don't think I said running away. You must be hearing things!"
"Hmm, maybe I am. Tell you what, you tell me what your doing here, and I'll think about teaching you kung fu." Callum offered.
"Really?" The kids eyes widened in excitement.
"Really." Callum assured.
"Okay then, I'll tell you." The kid said before his expression hardened a bit.
"I was running from the foster care people. My m-mom... is gone... now... and my family didn't want me, so they put me in foster care. But everyone there is mean to me, so I ran away." The kid said, putting on a smile, though it was clear he was holding back tears.
Callum smiled sadly and patted the kids head, making the kids flinch. "I see, alright then, I guess I've decided."
"Decided what?" The kid asked confused.
"I'll take you as my student." Callum stated with a smile.
"Really?" The kid said excitedly.
Callum's smile widened, "Really."
"That's awesome! I'm gonna learn kung fu!" The kid did a little happy dance, momentarily forgetting that Callum was there, before remembering and freezing up, his face red.
Callum just chuckled. "Before we any of that though, I need to make sure your up for it. Training to learn kung fu is super hard, are you sure you can do it?"
The kid seemed to take that as a challenge as he gained a fire in his eye (literally, Callum noted) and stated, "Of course I can! I'm me! I'm awesome! Kung fu will be easy to learn!"
Little did he know how much he would curse himself in the future for saying such a thing.
"Oh ho, is that right? Well I look forward to seeing your 'awesomeness' tomorrow." Callum said, trying to hide the amusement in his voice.
Then he his expression turned to confusion for a second before he chuckled again. "I just realized, I never got your name young man."
The kid grinned. "Oh yeah, how did I forget? My names Leo Valdez! I'm eight years old."
"Alright then Leo, why don't you show me the way to the 'foster care people' so I can get the paper work handled for you to join my dojo?" Callum asked.
Leo looked hesitant for a second, but evidently nodded his head. "Okay, I'll take you to them if I have to." He said, then his face scrunched up and his brow furrowed. "Hey, wait, you didn't tell me YOUR name!"
"No, I didn't. My apologies. My name is Callum, of Ryozanpaku Dojo." Callum smiled.
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First things first, "plot holes". You are probably wondering how Athena can't find a trace of Callum anywhere right? Despite him owning a dojo and having had a reputation as a genius when he was young. I am going to explain it later in the story when it becomes important, but I'll give a summery now because I know people will throw a hissy fit if I don't.
Basically, Callum learned in his later years that there was an unspoken rule against multiple pantheons interacting with each other. He realized that a god or two would probably hunt him down and try to kill him for what he had done, so he found a solution.
First, he used multiple different illusion barriers to manipulate the memories of the mortals who remembered him into forgetting him, that way even if a Greek god were to reverse the mist on a mortal, they would also need two other gods from different pantheons to reverse the other effects.
Second, he spent a few weeks studying computer science and other subjects of the like, mastering them, and then going through all records of himself and either erasing them or replacing them with someone else.
Third, he moved his parents to Europe through illusions and erased their memories of him using the shockwave of forgetfulness, which was more thorough than illusion barriers.
Fourth, he covered both himself and his dojo in multiple illusions from multiple pantheons. This is similar to what he did to everyone's memories in that you would need multiple gods from multiple pantheons (or the minds eye technique) in order to be able to see his dojo or his read appearance.
He also knew that it was extremely unlikely that a god would ever use a 'mere mortals' technique, so he wasn't worried about a single god using the minds eye to find him.
As for Amos and Tia(Hestia) joining Ryozanpaku, that will be explained later. Be patient. I know that should be obvious, but the people on Webnovel seem to be under the impression that a characters backstory should be revealed as soon as they are, which I just don't understand.
I am aware that Amos is OOC. I did this on purpose because while I wanted to add him, I already had both Callum and Hestia as the super kind characters, and adding Amos would just be redundant. So, I decided that because of his martial arts training and the time he spent with Callum, he changed a bit and became a bit more like Sakaki. Don't think to hard about it, it doesn't matter much.
Anyway, thanks for reading, and as always, comments are my motivator here, if you want more chapters, leave more comments.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票