Hello all! I've introduced a few new things in this next chapter, so I hope y'all like the new ideas. It's been pointed out that I've been leveling things in a way that didn't make sense, and everyone that said so is correct, so I'll be trying to fix that from now on. Please keep providing feedback and thank you for the reviews, they keep me going. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 6

When we got back Eve told me she was going back to her realm to recover and get her other bracelet and to summon her again whenever she was needed. A quick look at my bedside clock told me it was still late Sunday night, which meant time didn't move when I went into those weekly dungeons. I tucked that little tidbit of information away as I made my way to tell Tom all about my trip.

I walked through the door and enjoyed his surprised loom at my ruined clothing and disheveled look. For him, only a few minutes had passed so he was shocked at the sudden transformation. I slumped in the seat across from him as if my body was actually weary from the trip and regaled him with the tales of the jungle and the temple.

About halfway through, he seemed to realize that I was capable of handling myself and his worry at the danger turned into a wanderlust at the adventure itself. He got a gleam in his eye and I knew he was reminiscing about his own adventures he had taken all over. We laughed at the pod cliché and he was very focused on the new enemies we had seen, like the anubis warriors, mummies and the giant snake. I took out the titan scales cloak to show him and was pleasantly surprised. I hadn't seen it yet because it went straight into my inventory, but when I took it out I paused to look it over. It wasn't so much a cloak as a jacket. It looked more like leather than scales, but the light colored material caught the light with a faint iridescent sheen and shifted like scales. It was a good looking jacket, actually. Observe told me it offered a pretty good defense buff and fire resistance.

Tom admired it as well and I could see he was happy for me. I put it back into my inventory and brought out the chest I had gotten from the treasure room and I placed it in front of him. I knew he was interested by the way his eyes flew over the shifting runes and how he flipped it back and forth to observe every inch. I explained the room I had found it in and what I knew about the chest and he gave his undivided attention.

"Hecate exposed me to a lot of magic, but no mater how much I see it, I'm never tired of it. I have no idea what's in this but I'm fascinated by it. The fact that it's actually a random item is kind of blowing my mind. Until you open it, its connected to all of the universe. It doesn't even have to be this one. And that's crazy." He laughed as he said this and handed the box back to me to stow it into my inventory. I hadn't thought about it like that actually. I was more concerned about what kind of item I would get.

We made small talk after that for a few minutes before I got up and went to go freshen up. Deserts are neat, but sand is annoying and I could feel a frustrating amount still in my clothes.

I stepped out of the bathroom and took a deep breath of the cool air in the hallway before making my way to my room and pulling out my grimoire, and then I studied the runic language until the sun came up.

It was now Monday morning and Tom and I were sitting at the table enjoying an easy breakfast of lucky charms when he pushed his now empty bowl away from him and cleared his throat. I looked up at him and waited because I knew he wanted to say something.

"So. Two days from now you will turn thirteen. You know guns, basic survival, growing plans, and you have your magic. Is there anything else you want to know or practice until then? " he asked.

I took a second to think about it because it was a good question. I would love to try to level up my ID skill, I still have a few days to wait for my zombie dungeon, so I want a new one to go into. Maybe if I level it up, it will reduce the cool down time. My elemental manipulation could use a few levels. Those could be done passively though, so what do I want my main focus on? I thought back to the list that we made before we went camping. We took care of guns and camping, I already know how to drive even if Tom doesn't know, so that only leaves biology and my dyslexia. First aid can be put on a backburner due to my healing magic.

"I can practice my magic skills while you teach me biology. I can deal the text book to follow along, so maybe that will help my dyslexia too. That takes care of several things at once, right? " I asked.

He nodded along with my assessment and got up to take our empty dishes to the kitchen and called from the other room to tell me he would be getting the stuff ready, and that I could check the garden while I waited. I had almost forgotten about it, actually. So much had happened in such a brief amount of time, camping, the jungle dungeon.

I got up and went out back to were we had planted everything and was glad to see tiny sprouts. They weren't really big enough to tell what they were yet, but I was pleased with the progress none the less. Ii pulled any tiny weeds that had grown with our plants and I refreshed the fertilizer that had washed away with the rain. It was tedious work but it was relaxing at the same time. I had just finished putting everything away when I got an idea. I went over to the soil and put my fingertips against it and slowly pushed my mana out.

I could feel all the tiny seeds that had sprouted and I could feel the mana in the soil, and the mana growing through our new seedlings. They were tiny and only had a tiny amount of mana, but it was there. I put earth and light energies into my mana and surrounded the seeds with it. It was small, but I could immediately feel a change. The plants started growing and absorbing the energies I fed to them. It was slow progress but after a few minutes, the ones that had sprouted through the soil had all drown to the size of a few weeks old plant. Not enough to produce anything, but you could clearly see how they were each different. I could have kept feeding them mana, but with my empathy skill, I could feel that the forced growth had tired out the plants. It was a good thing I had just watered them too, because when they started growing, they absorbed the water in the soil like crazy. It makes sense when I think about it. I watered them again and made my way inside to where I was sure Tom was waiting.

The next two days had passed by rather uneventfully. Tom taught me all about human biology and also quite a few animals as well. It wasn't a thorough teaching because we were rushing, but I certainly knew about muscle and skeletal structure as well as organs and how they worked and how it all worked together. My dyslexia hadn't been taken care of all the way either, but it was down to around fifteen percent, so I was happy with the progress. The words barely swam at all anymore, so I knew I would start reading a lot more.

My elemental manipulation skill had gained four levels, and my dungeon had grown to level 25. I didn't unlock a new dungeon, but I was right about cool downs. The cool down time for my regular dungeons had been reduced by half so I could now go into my zombie dungeon every three and a half days. My weekly dungeons were still the same though.

My two nights had been spent reading my grimoire and practicing my calligraphy. I had the book laid out in front of me and I spent hours and hours practicing. It was slow going, but thanks to observe I actually had a way of seeing which pen strokes I had done wrong. Too thick, not enough ink, to quick with the swirl. It was frustrating, but progress was still made. I had even gotten a calligraphy skill.

Calligraphy – level 6/20 exp: 42%

You have started the age old practice of calligraphy!

+30% writing speed and accuracy

After the first day, through my connection with Eve I could feel she was feeling stir crazy over on the other side, so I summoned her back. She said it was boring over there just waiting for something to happen so she wanted to wait with me. She quickly grew bored with that and started to explore the house and all the property around it. She loved the little garden and spent her free time practicing with her new mana shaping abilities. It seemed like her favorite use was a set of huge claws over both of her hands. She constantly created earthen pillars and made her way between them, shredding them as she passed. It was neat to see.

Nothing happened on the morning of my thirteenth birthday. I watched the sun peek over the distant horizon and I scratched off a day in my mental calendar. May 21st. It was a day just like any other. Tom had just started breakfast when I finished my shower and getting ready for the day. He set a stack of pancakes in front of me and I laughed in surprise. Each one was a different color of the rainbow and on top was a swirl of whipped cream. He placed the chocolate syrup in front of me and said, "Happy thirteenth, Alex. Do you feel any different?"

I tucked into my delicious pancakes and shook my head. I have got to level up my cooking skill. I looked down the table and saw that Eve had her own plate of pancakes and looked like she was in heaven. I couldn't blame her. Tom sat across from me and started eating his own smaller plate and we sta in a comfortable silence for a while.

I had really expected more from today. But I guess it can't be like a huge sign in my face.

Congratulations!

Of course.

You have made it to your thirteenth birthday! Happy birthday to you! Here's a little something for your trouble.

A small object pinged into existence in front of me and rolled to a stop on the table. I knew what it was as soon as I picked it up and examined it. It was a 20 sided die. One of the kind used in dungeons and dragons games. It was black with glowing blue numbers on it. The notifications kept coming so I didn't have time to examine it or find out it's purpose, so I just put it into my inventory and looked at the notifications.

You now have the requirements for a new mode of play!

Unlocked horde mode!

Horde mode: Whenever you're outside a Safe Zone, you have the chance to encounter a horde wave! Whenever outside the zone, you'll have a small countdown timer in the corner of your screen to the next horde wave. After each wave, the timer will reset to a random time. Each wave will have a randomly generated set of monsters that will depend on your location. No exp or loot will drop during the wave. Instead, you'll gain all exp and items when the wave is completed. If you flee into a safe zone whole the horde wave is active, the horde will disappear and the countdown will reset. Instant Dungeons do not count as safe zones but hordes can not appear in them. Once a horde wave starts, you can not enter an ID until the wave is completed or you have fled into a safe zone. There are only a few ways to stop horde mode. Grow strong enough that monster fear you, hop to a different universe, or die! Good luck!

Warning: You are not in a safe zone.

Countdown: 1 hour, 46 minutes, 12 seconds first wave!

And now it makes sense. I looked up to see Tom looking at me funny. I guess he saw the die appear out of no where. I ignored that for now and quickly explained what was happening. I could see Tom taking me seriously as he listened to everything I said. He asked how much time we had and started rushing into action. He called over to Eve and she was by my side in an instant.

"I need you both to go outside and start making trenches around the house. Eve you can make the trenches and Alex you can help her. I know you can't do what she does but you can try to help anyway. We need rings of trenches all around the house since we don't know what direction they are coming from. Leave one bridge on each ring so we can try to funnel them in. Go now and hurry!" he said this all quickly and ran towards the garage. I didn't question him and did as he asked. Eve and I spent most of the next hour creating deep rings all around our house. Thank goodness we didn't have any neighbors or this would be pretty awkward. When the rings were done, we went back around and made spikes at the bottom just in case anything fell in. When we were done I spent a few minutes helping eve recover her mana when Tom came out of the house. We had been hearing the sound of hammering coming from the inside for awhile so I can only assume he boarded up the windows.

He come over to us and started directing us again. He had us make a few stone barriers around the house as cover. When we had about five minutes till the wave, Tom went over a plan with us. We were to stay at the far end of the bridge and shoot at whatever kind of monsters were going to be there. When it looked like they would make it over, we would retreat to the next ring and do it again and again. Hopefully, there wouldn't be so many we would be forced into the house, but if there were, then it was barricaded enough to give us time to come up with another plan. Eve turned into her flame elemental form and we waited anxiously to see from where they would come from. As the seconds counted down, I wished I had remembered to pump more mana into my armor, but in the rush to study, I had forgotten. I was sitting at just above two thousand points and I hoped it would be enough.

The countdown hit zero and my eyes darted back and forth trying to see anything move.

New objective! Survive the wave!

As soon as I finished reading it, I heard a strange noise. Off to my right, I saw several small holes open up in the air about a foot off the ground. They were only a few feet wide, and just as high, but I didn't get to look for very long. Almost immediately, creatures started pouring out of them. Fortunately and unfortunately, it was something I recognized. Wolf's were pouring out of the holes and running towards us. They weren't very big. But there sure were a lot of them. Tom braced his rifle against one of the stone barricades and started firing into the front of the mob. Eve and I quickly followed suit. Eve was tossing her fireballs into the crowd and it was wreaking havoc on them. I was spamming mana arrows like crazy because they were cheap and accurate at range. Through our combined efforts, the wolves fell like snow. I guess they were just threatening with their huge numbers. They made it to the end of the first bridge, but that was it. They stopped coming and the portals closed up and the bodies faded into dust and it was like they were never there.

You survived the wave (level 1 difficulty)! Countdown to next wave, 6 hours

Exp awarded: 140 minor wolf's defeated = 3500 exp

36 small wolf pelts added to inventory

And just like that, the wave was over. I called out to Tom and Eve what I knew and they relaxed their stances. I looked around and realized we had made a real mess of the property. Eve and I spent a little while making it easier on the eyes and added a few more defensive measures. Crumbling bridges designed to fall when enemies were crossing, more spikes in the trenches, more barricades, that sort of thing.

Inwardly, I was glad the wave was so easy. I knew it was on the easiest difficulty, but with Tom and Eve, I felt hopeful when thinking about the harder waves. We went inside and found Tom reloading and cleaning his weapons. They were laid out in front of him like a huge puzzle and his hands worked methodically through them. I took out my bow that I had made and started doing the same. It was an easy maintenance, and now that I was home I could actually use what I had to fix it. I found a good wood oil in the garage and started to polish the bow. I heard the chime of my maintenance skill leveling up and I could feel it directing me on the best way to fix it up.

Next came the string. It had started to fray a bit so I started to remake another one. Tom saw me and stopped me.

"How much time do we have until the next wave?" He asked.

I looked at the little countdown clock and replied, "A little over four and a half hours. Why?"

"We need to go into town for supplies. If the countdown really is random like it says, then we need to be prepared to not leave for awhile. Food, bottled water, bullets, and things like a bow string. You did good on the bow, but a professional string is worth it now. And I'd like to get packs prepared in case we need to leave in a hurry. So to the jeep, we need to be back before the next wave. Who knows how regular people will act if a wave of monsters spawn in the middle of town?"

It made sense so Tom and I hopped into the vehicle and went into town. We got all the essentials and only had to go to three stores to do it. I even got a few little items for my bow. I had the new string, as well as a few items that attached to the bow string to reduce the sound of it when it's released. I was pretty happy with it actually. We made it back home with just over two hours to spare.

The sun had started to make it's way down the sky now, so we only had a few hours of light left. We helped Tom in reinforcing the house in any way we could. We even started a little side project in the hall closet. It was in the dead center of the house and was enclosed on all sides, so I pried up the wooden floor and had eve start shifting the earth to form a little tunnel to go deep under the house. We didn't get very far before Tom reminded us to get ready. I looked in surprise to see we only had about ten minutes till the next wave. He had kept better time on it that I did.

I looked around the house and saw that it had become a huge mess. The Windows were boarded up and the furniture was pushed against them, stone and dirt lay all over the place where we had reinforced walls and made extra barricades just in case. I felt guilty I was putting Tom through this and ruining the house he had worked so hard to pay off, but he just have his own empathy skill or something because he looked right at me and patted my shoulder and said, "Don't worry about it. Your mom warned me something like this would happen, so I bought a house in the middle of no where that would be defendable, and in an open field so we could easily flee if we need to. I'm not too attached to this house, so feel free to do whatever you feel you need to. And I'm your dad, so I'll always be here to help. Don't worry about anything." He ruffled my hair and walked away to start getting ready.

I followed suit and we assumed the same positions as last time. We waited as the clock counted down the final seconds, and I warned them that it was about to start and I saw them ready up.

New objective! Survive the wave! Level 2

This time the portals appeared straight ahead of us. They were the same size as the last ones, but these were opening in a wider area that the last. I reinforced my bow with mana and started firing again and again as the same wolves poured out. It looked like the same wave as last time, except for one difference.

There were goblins with the wolves. They were short, maybe only two or three feet tall, and their skin was green like tree moss. They weren't hideous per se, but their snarling faces made them unpleasant to look at. A few were riding the wolves, but many more had spears and bows and were rushing towards the first bridge. The ones with bows stopped and started to get ready to fire, but eves fireballs ripped through their ranks and left them in a state of disarray. Tom and I focused on the ones coming across the first bridge and they were being cut down like the first time.

With Eve focusing on the archers, more flooded the bridge than last time and they started to make it across, despite our best efforts. I didn't have time to make explosive arrows, but I had started to add more mana to my arrows. It didn't take much longer and the arrows themselves had a piercing effect that proved very effective against the crowd.

The wolves and goblins made it across the first bridge, but they were unable to make it to the second one before we managed to thin them out enough that their ranks broke and they started to flee. After that, it was easy to pick them off until the last few disappeared into the portals and they themselves started to close up.

You survived the wave (level 2)! Countdown to next wave, 31 hours, 26 minutes, 4 seconds

Exp awarded: 109 minor wolf's defeated = 2725 exp

Exp awarded: 89 minor goblins defeated = 2225 exp

4950 total!

32 small wolf pelts added to inventory

14 goblin bows, 12 goblin spears added to inventory

I wondered what I would do with a bunch of miniature bows and spears, but I just ignored the thought and walked over to where Tom and Eve were.

"Good job on the archers Eve. They would have made it difficult for us. You did good." I told her. She didn't say anything, but her flames glowed brighter for a second.

"How much time until the next wave?" Tom asked.

"Almost thirty two hours. We can rest for a bit." I answered.

Tom just shook his head. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Out house is a good one, but it wouldn't hold forever against a big wave. It's only three of us here. I think we should leave and try to find one of these safe zones you mentioned. "

I respected him enough to listen to his argument, so I thought for a minute about my reply.

"I get that, but we don't even know where the closest one is. Or even what it would look like. We could be in the middle of some town looking for one, or in the middle of flying to one and we get hit by a wave. We would be putting people at risk. I think we should stay until we can find one, and then plan a course that will work with the countdown." I said.

He nodded and thought about what I said. "Then you need to talk to your mom again. Maybe she can point us into the right direction, or at least tell us where a safe zone is. Because I have no idea where a safe zone would be."

New Quest!

Find and traverse to a safe zone!

Find a safe zone and you won't have to worry about monsters for a while!

Reward: you're safe, duh. Oh, and I guess ill throw in some exp too.

The game was starting to become snippy and sarcastic. I don't know if that's funny or annoying. Anyway, I was close to a level up so I was sure Eve was too. Luckily, the zombie dungeon will be open tonight.

I figured now was as good a time as any to talk to a goddess, so I plucked my drachma from my inventory and made my way to the bathroom.

The coin went through the rainbow just like last time and as I asked the goddess Iris to connect me to Hecate, the rainbow split and showed her to me just like before. Her dark hair was put up in a messy bun and she was leaning on her desk as she wrote something in a big book. She was in the same room as she was the first time I called her, but this time there was very little light. Everything was illuminated by candles and the flickering flames gave the room a ghostly quality that seemed to match Hecates otherworldly good looks.

I cleared my throat and she jumped like she had no idea I was there. She looked up and saw I was looking at her through a rainbow and she laughed a quick and short laugh and said, "I had no idea you were gonna call but I'm glad to see you again. Happy birthday, by the way. Everything going okay?"

"I rubbed my head and leaned back against the sink and started telling her all about what was happening. I told her about the jungle dimension and what fun I had in there, and I told her about the monster waves coming. When I did, the corners of her full lips pulled down slightly into a frown and her eyebrows pulled together. She made a little hmm sound and flipped to another page to write down what I was telling her. When I was don't she laid her pen down and looked at me. "Monsters have always attacked demigods while they weren't in safe places because they are attracted to their scent, but this is the first time I've heard about 'portals' or 'waves' of monsters. I wonder why it's different for you." She leaned back and I could see that she was thinking about what I had told her.

I realized that maybe they didn't know about gamers or the abilities of them. That surprised me, really. I guess I just assumed the gods and goddesses would know just about everything. Guess not.

"Well, even if it's slightly different, monsters are attacking me just like any other demigod and I think we need to know where a safe zone is. Can you tell me where one is?"

She crossed her arms and said, "Well it as about time for you to start deciding on your future. I'm the goddess of crossroads and you certainly seem to find yourself at one. My son, its time to find out who you want to be. There are only two safe zones in America. They are both camps filled with kids like you, demigods. They are both similar, but quite different. One is the Roman camp, in San Francisco. The other is in long island in new York. Neither of them know about the other, and if they did, they would try to tear each other apart. As my son, you would be welcomed in either camp, so you can try to get to either of these places, or try to make it on your own. These are your choices. "

It was a lot to take in so I was silent for a moment trying to absorb it all. Camps meant people. If there were a lot of people like me, then maybe I could train faster. Learn more about my powers. Judging by Hecates reaction there wouldn't be other gamers, but there would be others to teach me on my demigod gifts.

Hecates voice brought me out of my reverie.

"You have a hard future ahead of you, but I know you'll do just fine. You take after me after all. And keep working on your writing skills! If you can use runes right, you can do amything. I've got to go Alex. I'm proud of your progress so far. And don't hesitate to call again!"

With that, the rainbow closed and the bathroom was quiet again. I remembered to thank Iris and I left to go find Tom. We had a trip to plan.

Level: 8

Exp: 9050/10000

Hp: 540

Mp: 3160

Strength: 26

Dexterity: 26 (+50)

Endurance: 27

Intelligence: 77

Wisdom: 83

Charisma: 5

Luck: 19

Stat points: 50

Money: 1700 us