Nathan walked along the grassy dirt road, taking in the sights around him.
The flowers swayed lightly in the gentle breeze, rustling along the blades of grass. The blue sky up above seemed so tranquil, and here and there were clouds travelling along the bright blue pasture.
To his right was a hill that had a large tree at the top. To his left were stone tablets that jutted out of the ground at regular intervals.
Graves.
Nathan carried two bouquets of flowers. One of them was filled with roses and the other was filled with marigold and jasmines.
After a short while, passing by many strangers, he came in front of two graves sitting side by side.
Emily and Richard Hill.
With a melancholic expression, Nathan places the roses on his father's grave and the marigold and jasmines on his mother's.
His father had proposed to his mother using the same collection of flowers and it was a beautiful memory of hers. On the other hand, his mother had given to her husband, a bouquet of roses on their first wedding anniversary.
"Mom, dad..." Nathan spoke, kneeling down before their graves. The stones looked a bit worn out, but they gave the impression that they were regularly cleaned.
"I... I'm going to start a new phase of my life now. I know you always told me to act like my age but... Well, I guess I did grow up a bit too fast huh?" Nathan droned on, unsure of what else to say.
He had always felt a bit guilty with being a reincarnated individual. He felt that he had stolen from this perfect couple a chance at being a proper parent. But that guilt left him slowly through his life.
And when his father died in war... and his mother tried so hard to keep things together and appear strong before him, it all left an impression on him.
He did love them.
There was no doubt about that. And he had many regrets about not spending enough time with them now.
If only the system had come sooner. Then perhaps, there would have been a way to save them both.
How he wished to rewind time, spend a few more evenings just sitting around with them.
His eyes turned to his mother's grave.
"Mom... I wish... I wish I had been there for you more often, that I could have brought you a glass of water. I wish I could have massaged your legs. I wish I could have made you a cake." His eyes became misty. "But you're in a better place now... at least I hope. You never know with all the mythology shenanigans going around."
With an dry but comfortable chuckle, he looked at his father's grave.
Richard had often been concerned about him; worried that he wouldn't be able to make friends and develop the social skills needed to survive.
"Thank you, dad. I have a plan. Don't worry. I'll be okay."
He placed his hand on their graves and took a deep breath.
"Rest easy, you two."
With that, he got up from the ground and began to walk back. He passed by the large tree atop the hill, the flowers and grass that rustled in the wind.
The clouds swaddled off towards the horizon.
...
Walking out of the graveyard, Nathan felt hyper aware of everything around him.
But of course that was the case.
Why?
Monsters were literally all over New York.
The occassional cyclops, the random metallic birds, a large leopard that no one seemed to mind.
Nathan had learnt to ignore such creatures over his time.
But now... now was the time to hunt.
With a resolute expression, he sat down onto a random bench. There weren't many people around at this time of the day; especially not around the graveyard.
The bench was made out old red wood and was situated right beside the gate to the cemetery. Nathan closed his eyes and focused on the system.
The system was peculiar, in that it allowed him to make almost anything he desired, so long as he had customization points.
And Nathan had received exactly one Customization point today.
Pulling up his status, Nathan focused on the small row of text at the very bottom; hidden in the right corner.
[Custom Order], it read.
Focusing on it opened up another screen.
It displayed the amount of points he had, which was one, and under it was a blank slate upon which he could write or draw upon.
The thing didn't necessarily have to be an item too. It could also be a skill, perk or a mutation upon his own body.
In case he wanted to make something too abstract to be put into words or drawn, he could use his imagination and the system would do it's best to emulate it.
It was truly a helpful system, unlike many he had read about in his previous life.
Focusing back on the task at hand, Nathan asked himself - what was he lacking?
He had trained his body since he was 13. He had a large amount of muscle, but was equally lean and athletic. Of course, he didn't think he could even come close to any demigod in strength, but he had a lot. At least... entry level when it came to monster hunting. Or so he hoped.
He wasn't too worried about delving into magic or the sort yet. Even if he tried, it would need practice and knowledge to get better at it.
Defence was one thing that came to mind. He was temped to make himself Kratos' Shield from God of War 4 and Ragnarok, but he held himself back. For starters, he didn't want it to be made out of mundane material. Secondly, he had no idea how good a single customization point even was.
While he could edit the stuff he created later on, his first creation had to be tailored to his current needs. It didn't have to be an investment from the get go.
Investments meant jack shit if he died in the first hunt.
And so, he brainstormed ideas on what to make.
Eventually, after about 10 minutes of quiet contemplation, he thought about something.
The clash between the mystical and the mundane causes mist to arise... but I hail from the mundane side of the world. If I go around with a celestial bronze sword slashing at monsters, or fire arrows at them, it probably won't send a very good message.
I might even get branded as a fugitive.
Nathan clearly remembered Percy being labelled as a fugitive during his quest to recover the Lightning bolt during the first book.
And Percy was a demigod too, someone from both sides of the world. Was it possible that the mist over Percy was somehow stronger than it would be over him?
Well... it certainly didn't seem to be the case. Considering that many a times, he got identified and had his image on the TV.
But the crux lay on the weapon itself. Percy also had a Celestial Bronze sword - Anaklusmos.
Was it the inherent property of the celestial bronze itself to appear as a mundane, or was it a combination of it's own nature and being wielded by a demigod?
Regardless, since Nathan fully belonged to the mundane side of the world, he could not just... make himself a fugitive like Percy.
If he did, he needed to mist as damage control.
There were a few other options, but none seemed as important as this.
And so, reeling back the desire to make a Glock that fired celestial bronze bullets, enchanted to return back; he moved on with the ability.
The Monster Lore perk was golden in colour and had a book with various monsters coming out of it as the symbol.
The Hunter's Instinct perk was silver and had a man with waves around his head; like Spider Sense.
Swordplay, also silver, had a diagonally placed sword and Archery had a bow and arrow.
He assumed the gold and silver represented the inherent quality of a skill. The guide certainly gave him nothing to go off of and the system itself wasn't sentient so he couldn't ask any questions about it.
To make this new skill, he drew an eye.
His drawing skills weren't the prettiest, but they got the job done. After the eye, he covered it with transparent lines, akin to fog.
And so, he typed in the description.
In just a few short seconds, the system asked him to conform the product, and he did.
[!]
[Your order has been fulfilled!]
[You have gained a new skill - Mist(+)]
As the notifications flashed over his eyes and the silver symbol of the new skill came into view, he felt new information insert itself into his brain.
He felt like a new sense had been opened.
Opening his eyes, he saw it.
The mist.
It was all around him, wrapping the entire world under it like a veil.
It seemed to only be visible if he concentrated on seeing it. Otherwise, it was invisible.
"It's like my eyes have been opened." Nathan said with a nervous grin.
He had done grudge against the Olympian Gods. After all, in this world, the big three were the reason World War 2 had started.
Why can't you keep it in your pants!?
And you're telling me after all of that, you have even more children, who are prophesied to be the end of Olympus, which is closely tied to the Western civilization and could culminate into a war that could destroy the world?
Heh.
All their troubles are rightfully deserved in a sense.
Regardless, Nathan didn't think for a moment that the ensuing war could destroy the world. Too many pantheons in it to be destroyed like that.
But still, with how deeply intertwined the Western civilization was to Greek culture, it was a given that they could affect society in irreversible ways.
They were like children who were given God like power, doing anything they wanted with no repercussions. Especially Zeus.
Nathan especially had hate for him in his heart, simply because the guy was an asshole.
No other reason.
But back to the point, he had a grudge against the Greek Pantheon. And if possible, he wanted to give them a piece or their mind.
But now, after having his metaphorical eyes opened through the mist, he saw just how much power a God had.
The mist seemed infinite, endless, all encompassing. It was in the sky, the ground and everything in between.
And all this was governed by Hecate, the goddess of magic. At least in America it was...
Looking at all of this, Nathan became increasingly aware of the difference between himself and a god.
But he wasn't discouraged. He had the system after all.
So long as he continued hunting monsters, he had no doubt he could bitch slap Zeus one day.
That had become his goal after the death of his father and the wait for the system to activate.
Bitch slap the Olympians.
Shaking himself off these thoughts, he focused back on the skill.
[Mist(+): Proficient control of the Mist. Able to impede the sight of mortals.]
The plus signs behind it signified a sort of rank. It was like a level in the traditional sense.
It was another quirk of his system. Skills weren't given the normal 'level' distinction. They were more seen as something improved upon a built base.
Each skill started off at the basic level and with each + sign, their proficiency and power could be increased. It was the same with perks and his stats. There wasn't a clear cut numerical value and the increase was obvious only to the user himself.
Once again, it was unclear what the distinction between golden icons and silver icons was. It was very probably that it wasn't simply a difference in level alone but he could always be wrong.
A single customization point gave me a base skill and an improved version of it at that. The value of a single point seems to be quite good. But I doubt I would've been able to get a good enough shield from that. I want something that will protect me from almost all attacks. It's a good thing I went for the skill and not the shield.
Nodding to himself, Nathan got up from the bench and began to walk back to his house.
During the day, he would spend time preparing.
And at night... it's time to hunt.
...
...
A/N: Add to Library :)