There were only a few seconds for him to react. Percy thrust out his hand and used one of his customizable rewards to create a thick armguard made of dense metal. With a flash of white light his arm was encased in metal. New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel fire.net
The mandibles of the caterpillar clamped onto the metal with a jarring bang that shocked his entire left arm. He then swung up his right arm and pressed his Spellbolt into the caterpillar's head.
There was a brief crack and a flash of blue light as he pulled the trigger. The caterpillar's cold, green blood splattered over him as the head exploded.
Percy pushed the limp creature away and rolled onto his knees, gagging and rubbing the slime from his face. He quickly dismissed the heavy armguard and summoned a pair of handkerchiefs from his storage.
Once all the rotten, sticky blood was removed from his face, Percy could finally breathe, and the air smelled disgusting.
Goddammit, that was so fucking unfortunate. I don't know if I would have rather lost my arm, so I could get away before blowing that bug's head to pieces.
He rose to his feet just in time to see Thalos walk out unscathed from the Silksong Moth's lair. His black cloak and grey trousers unstained, not even a single thread of silk on his boots.
"I don't know what to even say."
Percy hung his head, suddenly finding the ground very interesting.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I could barely deal with those five, I couldn't get back and kill the one inside the lair."
Thalos' eyes widened and he did a double take.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I mean I don't know what to say, cause you surpassed my expectations."
"Oh, I thought you were disappointed that I didn't kill them all," Percy explained, standing up. "There were so many of them, even with the enhancement to my vision I could barely keep up."
Thalos waved his hand dismissively.
"I was expecting you to kill one then I help you stay alive, then you kill another one, then I help you stay alive. You channelled your Fighting Spirit into your eyes and just started doing everything by yourself. Then you channelled your spirit into your arm to resist the bite."
That wasn't what happened, but a win is a win. Percy smiled nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"I couldn't get that sense of urgency till they were right in my face. With my enhanced vision, I just… saw everything better, I think that's the right way to put it?"
He had already lost control of his Fighting Spirit once the immediate danger passed. He cursed internally as heat rushed across his eyes and skull. It was most likely the adverse effects of the enhancement.
"Come on. I'll explain while we harvest the silk. There is enough here to get us ten gold, but we can't sell it all in one city."
They both entered the cave carefully, watching their steps as they cut and carefully stored long rolls of silk. Silksong Moth silk was especially useful for making clothes infused with magical properties. They made sure to cut them to be at least a foot long.
Percy worked carefully with his knife, partially turning to ask his dad.
"What did you think about my enhancement? My eyes kind of hurt right now, did I do anything wrong?"
Thalos shook his head, shearing through silk with quick cuts as he said,
"Fighting Spirit can be used by anyone that constantly trains and tempers their bodies and wills. Arete is the organised practice of training your spirit to use it efficiently. When you enhanced your eyes, you flooded them with power and just forced them to adapt to your will."
Percy paused, his will was to keep up with the fast-moving caterpillars.
"So I didn't go about it the right way? That's why my eyes hurt. If I used an Arete technique there would be less backlash and improved performance."
Thalos made an unsure sound.
"Not exactly, you'll be less hurt by your enhanced actions. But you'll always feel some exhaustion both mentally and physically, but with a technique you would be able to properly channel your will to follow the monsters, depending on the school."
Percy sighed, rubbing his pulsing temples.
"So more efficient energy transfer. The exhaustion really sucks, though. I want to rest now but we still have to hunt the Ashfangs."
Thalos offered him some water as they finished packing up all the silk.
"It gets better as your physical body gets stronger, but as your spirit grows stronger too, you'll need to train and temper your body even more. The strength of your attacks is the product of your physical strength multiplied by your spirit strength."
So with his strength of twenty-five, a spirit strength of two would multiply it to fifty. Assuming he was using proper technique for both, of course. They both exited the cave.
Thalos carried the bags of silk on his shoulder while they crawled out of the steep slope. Percy felt somewhat bad as he could just chuck those in his storage and they would be perfectly preserved.
He still had a little space, mostly because the storage space was tied to his [Spirit Energy] stat, and scaled with each increase.
The thought of the system brought his mind back to the Ashfang Lizards and Tartarus' optional quest. He decided that completing it was better than just forgetting about it.
"Dad, can we hunt two Ashfangs tonight?"
Thalos turned back, giving his son a complicated look. He felt something was wrong with Percy but couldn't bring himself to ask.
"Sure, but it'll be more dangerous than the Silksong Moth and its brood. Ashfangs can spit fire repeatedly in short bursts, and they are faster on their feet than you. You'll have to move quickly and make sure you land kill shots each time."
Percy nodded stiffly.
"How many shots do you have left in your crossbow? I mean, Spellbolt."
Percy raised the Spellbolt and checked under the barrel for the five bars that were drawn into the body. Each of the five bars represented three shots, so a fully charged Spellbolt could fire fifteen shots.
He used seven of those shots already, so he had eight more, four for each Ashfang that he had to kill. If the Spellbolt didn't jam, of course.
After that, he needed to charge the Spellbolt for three hours before he could use it again.
He had other Spellbolts in his storage, but he couldn't let Thalos see him whipping them out so he couldn't use them here.
"I've got eight more shots. But don't worry, I still have Spiritmancy to fall back on."
Thalos made a waving gesture with his hand.
"Fire spells won't hurt Ashfangs much, especially rank one spells that lack force or piercing ability."
Thalos unbuckled his katana and handed it over to Percy. For a moment his son was rooted to the spot, staring at the black scabbard and blood-red handle of the sword.
"I… I can't. This is yours, you've always worn it."
"It wasn't mine a short while ago. I made it mine by using it. I want your first cut to be done using my sword. It would be both an honor and a pleasure."
Percy slowly took the blade, feeling the smooth, warm leather. He raised an eyebrow at the strangely light weight of the katana before strapping it to his hip.
"I don't know how to imbue weapons with my Fighting Spirit yet."
"Don't worry, I'll give you a few pointers as we track the Ashfangs. But I'm sure you'll be able to do it. Your ability to learn new things, and apply them, is astounding. The main hang-up people have with imbuing swords with their spirits is imagining the spirit of the blade as a part of them."
Percy drew the katana. It wasn't too long for Thalos, but it was a bit too much for him. Its blade didn't ignite with crimson light the way it did for Thalos, too.
"I don't know. What if I break it? Aren't these usually fragile? Shouldn't we come up with another way for me to fight without the Spellbolt?"
"I'll be there to keep you safe. This is the time for you to try new things. So all you have to do is focus on yourself."
Percy swallowed tensely, but tightened his grip around the blade. No point in doubting yourself.