How-not to be an Olympian God!

A week passed since his \'propaganda\' campaign in Olep.

Fortunately, it seemed that the scholar held up to his word, as he gained a very small amount of Faith Energy, filling up his formerly inexistent reserves.

"Ah, how it feels to finally be strong..."

On that same day, Alex almost consumed all of his reserves by just running.

His consumption of it was very inefficient and he only had a small quantity of it, which made up for the worst combination.

Only then did he realize how massive the reserves a goddess like Athena or Hermes had, and that he shouldn\'t let this very first step get over his head.

\'I wonder how much Zeus and Aphrodite have in terms of Faith Energy..?\' The cults associated with the formerly mentioned deities were enormous, and Alex could only guess that they had almost limitless Faith Energy.

To advance his second plan, he needed to get better at wielding it.

So, as one does, he pestered Athena until she agreed to train him, and here he was, in her training hall.

She ordered him, "Show me how you use your Faith Energy."

Alex happily obliged and consumed his reserves for the easiest and most elementary application, which was augmenting his speed.

As he bolted around in loops, Athena halted his movements with a single palm and said, "You are extremely inefficient in your usage."

"Sit down now, Alex."

Alex sat down in a meditative position and asked Athena, "How can I improve my efficiency?"

She replied with an expression of disappointment, "You are using your Faith Energy to power all of your specialties, but you only apply it on one task."

Alex was a bit confused, as he only knew one way of wielding Faith Energy.

She continued, "I know the problem. You can\'t visualize your specialties separately. And it doesn\'t help that you have so many."

"Give me the Owl Necklace." She requested.

The owl necklace was the source of his system, and the only way he could see his specialties, but he gave it to her anyway.

"What do...I do now?" Alex couldn\'t access the system interface anymore.

"Visualize the source of your power from a single point in your hand. The brain and the heart are the easiest since they already have similar tasks." She informed him.

Alex did as she said but he didn\'t succeed.

"Alex, close your eyes and all of your senses except hearing to avoid distractions." She advised him.

Alex closed his eyes but he was a bit perplexed on how to obstruct the rest of his senses.

However, he suddenly had a hypothesis.

He tried to induce drowsiness from Hermes\' powers on himself and...it worked.

His heartbeat slowed, his body relaxed and his senses were dulled. He didn\'t want to go to sleep entirely either so he stopped at that.

"Good. Now imagine the source of your power as a giant waterfall." Athena\'s voice was muffled since his senses were weaker, but he could still hear her and somewhat process what she was saying.

He adjusted his breathing to the tempo of his heartbeat and visualized his heart as the waterfall.

"Separate the giant waterfall into smaller waterfalls that each reflect a facade of your power."

Alex tried and failed at first.

To help with this step of the visualization, he associated each small waterfall with the dominant color of each deity.

For Athena, it would be a navy blue color.

For Ares, it was a vermillion red waterfall.

For Hermes, it was a purple one.

For Aphrodite, it was a light blue waterfall.

And lastly, it was a vibrant orange for Hephaestus.

"When you are over with that step, imagine a pond that each waterfall flows into." Athena\'s deep voice rang out.

Alex obliged.

"And finally, the giant waterfall is your reserve of Faith Energy. Every time you want to use a specialty, divert the waters of the waterfall into that specific pond and imagine drinking its waters to gain that power."

Alex diverted his reserves to Athena\'s precognition successfully and woke up.

He then heard Athena repeating, "And finally, the giant waterfall is your reserve of Faith Energy. Every time you want to use a specialty, divert the waters of the waterfall into that specific pond and imagine drinking its waters to gain that power."

Alex was confused and asked her, "Athena, didn\'t you say that a while ago?"

Athena objected, "Alex, I just said that. You woke up before I finished my instructions."

\'I did?????\' Alex was puzzled.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the world in doubles.

He finally realized what happened.

When he used his reserves on precognition, he was able to see and hear so far into the near future that he heard Athena\'s words way before she actually said that.

Speaking of precognition, he immediately turned off this ability as it was trippy and disorienting to see events way before they happened.

Accordingly, his precognition went back to its normal state and he could only see a second or so into the future.

Alex coughed and out of curiosity, he asked Athena, "Athena, how do you know all of these things? Were you all born with knowledge?"

Athena thought over it for a bit before she responded, "We were born with powers and talents, Alex. We acquired our knowledge through time."

Alex nodded and asked another question, "Did Zeus teach you?"

Unexpectedly, Athena chuckled and lamented, "Do you really expect Father Zeus to teach us anything? It was Sophus, who taught me, and Hermes what we know."

Alex rubbed his head in embarrassment. Asking whether Zeus would do anything expected of a \'Father\' was a stupid question in hindsight.

\'Sophus?\' This was a completely unfamiliar name to Alex.

Athena sensed his interest and said, "Sophus isn\'t exactly a god, nor a mortal, neither a titan. It\'s a bit..hard to explain."

\'If he isn\'t any of those three, what is he then?\' Alex was confused at Athena\'s explanation.

"Speaking of Sophus, I think he would like you." Athena had a strange expression on her face, that was a mix of sadness, nostalgia, and happiness.

"And, where is, Sophus?" Alex asked her.

*Sigh*

Athena told him, "I...Hermes and I will tell you in the future, you\'ll meet eventually."

It seemed like she wanted to change the subject, as she informed him, "Now, you should be able to cast blessings."

Alex respected her privacy and therefore, dropped the matter.

"Thank you, Athena," Alex said gratefully.

Blessings would play an important part in his plan, and he could now finally advance it.