Luke watched as Tom's little sister showed up on a giant black dog. The dog was massive; its eyes glowed ruby red, and its teeth and claws gleamed white. Then Tom screamed. Luke jumped at the noise in complete shock. Why the hell was the man screaming?! Sure, his sister was on a really big dog. But they were here to bring people back from the dead. A big dog wasn't even in his top ten of crazy shit that had happened this week.

"Chloe, what are you doing on that?!" Tom whispered. A piece of paper flew from his hand and into the corridor.

Luke also realized that Tom was slowly making his way behind him.

"It's Lucy," Chloe called out.

"That's Lucy?!" Alex asked. "Why is Lucy a hellhound pup?!"

"She evolved like a Pokemon," Chloe said. "Are you guys upset?"

"Um, no pumpkin, of course not," Alex said tentatively as she tried to put on a good face.

Alex held her hand out to the massive dog, who immediately sniffed and started to lick her hand.

"Good girl, Lucy," Alex said, calming down as Lucy's standard behavior appeared intact.

"Oh, thank god," Tom said, letting out a breath.

"What the hell got you so worried?" Luke said.

Tom shot him a look that said 'moron.'

"I thought you had an identification ability. Why aren't you using it? In fact, why aren't you using it constantly?" Tom asked pointedly.

Luke shrugged sheepishly before turning his abilities on the giant dog. The moment he did, all of the comedy of the situation died as he got feedback.

Name: Lucy

Race: Hellhound Pup

Type: Beast / Evil

Levels: (11) Legendary Beast (Hellhound) 11

Immune: Magic, Soul, Mind

Resistance: Physical, Elemental

Weakness: Vitality

Bane: Beastslayer, Demonslayer, Devilslayer

Legendary Beast (Hellhound) Skills: [Hells Debt Collector], [Abyssal Subterfuge], [Guard Dog of the Underworld], [Soul-Wrecker], [Mage Killer], [Abyssal Hellfire]

<[Third Labor] has Reached Level 22>

<[Fourth Labor] has Reached Level 21>

The feedback from [Third Labor] was worse. It was something like asking what he would like his tombstone to look like. The demon lion, Graves, and even Seraphel didn't set off [Third Labor] this much.

Only [Second Labor] gave him any hope. All of his supernatural ability to read people told him this … was just a dog.

WOOOF

Lucy's bark was almost a physical attack. Luke almost grabbed his ears.

"Wait until it levels up some more," Tom said. "Then its bark will be almost as bad as its bite."

Then, the gym door and Abaddon rushed into the room.

"Tom, I got your note. What's HOLY FUCK!!" Abaddon stopped and immediately tried to backtrack as he saw Lucy, the hellhound

WOOOF

Abaddon fell on his ass.

"Abaddon, don't move, " Tom started.

Then skippy walked in. "Dude, where are you, UNHOLY FECES!!" Skippy squealed as he drew his swords.

"STOP STOP," Tom called out, racing over to his friend, tackling Skippy to the ground.

Then Duncan and Travis came in.

"What's all the shouting about, oh frag." Duncan and Travis went pale as they saw Lucy.

WOOF

"So your sister has tamed a hellhound?!" Skippy asked in shock.

"Evolved," Tom corrected

"Geez, and I thought I was a failure before this," Skippy said.

"You're not a failure, Skippy," Tom said.

"Dude, I've been sorta useless." Skippy pointed out.

"Skippy, you made your build based on the assumption that we would be playing a game, not living it. Now stop feeling sorry for yourself."

“Easy for you to say, you got pointy ears. I lost my top two feet and got turned into a furry!!” skippy shot back.

"Anyone want to clue us in," Luke asked. "Why are you guys freakin out?"

"Luke," Travis began shakenly. "Hellhounds are end-game monsters. Lucy here could kill everyone in the building, and we wouldn't be able to stop her. Magic doesn't work on them, so only You, Abaddon, and Skippy could even damage her, and to be clear, I wouldn't bet on you to win. This is kind of like finding a dragon in the gym."

"It's also the fact that she can kill you permanently," Skippy said.

That, more than anything else, drove home the point that the dog with two kids draped over it was dangerous.

“Lucy wouldn’t kill anyone. She’s harmless.” Chloe protested.

Tom and Alex shared a look that told Luke that Lucy was anything but harmless.

<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 21>

"So what do we do?" Luke asked.

"Nothing," Tom said as he scratched Lucy's ears.

"Nothing? Really?" Duncan asked.

"Lucy is already Chloe's Tamed Beast," Tom said. The system has confirmed that this is still the case, and before that, she was Alex's dog. Honestly, I don't even know how she managed to get a hellhound as a pet without the [Dungeon Breeder] Class."

"So it should be safe?" Luke asked.

"Well, having a literal incarnation of murder around my sister isn't exactly great. On the other hand, having a literal incarnation of murder guarding my sister is definitely lowering my stress meter."

"Well, I'm glad we could waste ten minutes on not a problem," Skippy said sarcastically.

"Guys, I understand this might be shocking, but can we bring these people back?" Luke cut in.

"Right, right, sorry." Tom apologized.

Luke got into position behind Tom as he started the ritual. Luke nearly stumbled over as Lucy, the massive black dog with ruby-red eyes, sat down in the circle next to Luke.

Luke was stunned, and that evolved into shock as the massive dog supplied the mana to Tom's ritual all on its own. Issac's body was restored to pristine condition.

"Holy!" Luke was cut off as Issac screamed.

''My leg! my leg! … Where am I? What happened? My leg?!" Issac was grasping at what had once been his shattered leg, which is now fully restored.

"You died, Luke brought your body to me, I brought you back," Tom said in a flat tone.

"I died!" Issac asked despondently.

"But you're back," Luke called out as he walked over to his friend and pulled him up to his feet.

"You won't believe what happened the last few days. Gareth has been worried sick," Luke said.

"Days?" Issac said in a daze.

Luke led Issac away as the Larpers started trickling into the room to see their own people coming back to life. Outside, Gareth and Sam were waiting for them.

"Dude," Gareth called out, tackling Issac in a bear hug.

"Your back!!!" Gareth cheered.

"You're wearing armor?" Issac said.

"It's been a few days," Sam said.

"Actually, it's only the third. You died on the first." Tom pointed out.

Luke blinked at that. They had only been at this for three days? It felt longer—more like fifty-four days!

"Oh," Issac said.

Gareth immediately started telling Issac about their advantages: the Nemean Lion, the goblins, Seraphel and Duncan, and the larpers. Luke couldn't help but notice that Isaac's expression seemed to be dipping.

"Hey, Gareth. Maybe you want to show Issac around the school?" Luke asked. "I want to go and check in on Hope."

"Hell yeah, come on, Issac, they turned the library into some kind of trippy rec room, and they have this really cool forge downstairs. You liked doing that stuff, right?" Gareth continued to steamroll his little brother as they wandered off.

"What's wrong?" Sam asked.

"I think Isaac is just a bit overwhelmed," Luke said. "And I really do need to go and check on Hope."

He turned to walk out the door, and a cat shot past him.

"Been a lot of those," Sam said.

"What cats?" Luke asked as they walked outside and towards the new Premium Menagerie. The horses that had been standing around outside were gone, and the prints in the snow showed they made a b-line straight for the menagerie, which was the only reason he wasn't panicking.

"Oh yeah," Sam said, oblivious to his internal monologue. I'm not sure if you noticed, but there are a ton of animals in the school. I'm not even talking about cats and dogs. I've seen birds, mice, and even a few eagles."

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Luke absently noticed the snowflakes starting to fall as they approached the door, and they spoke as they exited the building.

"Hu that weirrrr--" Luke trailed off as he looked inside.

"Hey, what's… oh," Sam gasped as she peaked inside.

Inside the barn, sorry, Premium Menagerie weren't just the two dozen horses but an entire farm's worth of animals. Besides the horses, there were cows, chickens, pigs, cats, dogs, goats, sheep, eagles, owls, Bats, and a dozen other birds he didn't recognize.

"Is this place … is it bigger on the inside?" Sam asked.

Luke blinked, closed the door, walked around the menagerie, and then opened the door again. Yep, this place was way bigger on the inside, at least three times the size. It was basically a small farmstead inside. Only he got the feeling he couldn't grow anything in this room.

"Damm, this place is nice," Sam said as they wandered inside.

"It's definitely warmer than the outside," Luke said.

"Alright, hands up," a sharp voice cut through the air, and the distant click of a gun had both Sam and Luke freeze.

"Turn around slowly," the voice said.

Luke and Sam turned around and found a girl with a mop of red hair, in large overalls and a winter coat, with a shotgun pointed directly at them. Almost a dozen other people were holding pitchforks, and smaller caliber guns were gathered around her.

"What the hell did you do to our animals?" she asked.

"Um, what?" Luke asked, confused.

"our animals!!" she said, gesturing towards the cows and sheep. "They started getting rowdy thanks to this whole system thing, then they broke out of their pens and came here, and I want to know what you people did to them," she said

"Okay, okay. I can see you're upset. Let's just calm down," Luke said as he started to lean on [Second Labor: Charming of Sinis].

These people were more scared than angry and utterly exhausted. He looked over some of the farm animals; some of them were injured as if attacked by wild animals. These people must have been defending their animals since initialization day.

"Sorry. My name is Luke, and I'm sorry, but I'm not quite up to date. Are you saying that all, or I guess most of these animals here belong to all of you?" Luke asked.

"Yes, they belong to us now. What did you do to them?" she asked. Pointing her gun at him.

"Nothing. I'm sorry to say that we don't have any idea why they came here. However, that doesn't explain where they came from. I was wondering about that," Luke said.

The girl with the gun looked crestfallen, and Luke could tell she was on the verge of falling over.

"Are you ok, ms. …" Luke asked, trying to push at her just a little with [Second Labor]

"Anni," Anni said.

"Look, Anni, I can tell you've all had a rough time of it, and I'm sure you noticed this is a safe zone. So, no monsters are going to attack you here. Here's what I propose: I'll go get Tom. He's the leader of this settlement, and he understands this whole system thing, and we can see if he can explain what is going on with your animals, and even if he can't, you guys can just stay here with your animals for the night and if you want to, you can leave in the morning."

Luke was pushing pretty hard with [Secound Labor], and he was hoping he didn't fuck this up. Anni looked like she wanted to pass out, but she bit her lip and kept her focus on them.

"One of you can go. The other stays." Anni said.

"Sam," Luke began. "Can you go get Tom? I want to check up on Hope."

"Uh, sure," Sam said as she carefully made her way out of the menagerie.

"Hope?" Anni asked.

"My horse, sort of," Luke said carefully and slowly, moving over to Hope, who was standing in a horse stall.

"We rode all the way here from Newton, and I want to check up on her and make sure she's okay."

Anni kept the gun on him but didn't stop him as he moved towards Hope. The other kids, who were not farmers, meandered through the menagerie, going over to their animals and making sure they were well-fed.

"What happened?" Luke asked as he got to Hope.

The brown mare nuzzled him as she considered killing Anni. Luke was pretty sure horses were not supposed to be this bloodthirsty.

"Monsters," Anni said with a blank expression on her face. "They started attacking the farms the same day the system came. They killed animals and people. We're not from the big farms, just the small stuff around Surrey. By the second day, we started consolidating, doing what we could to keep them alive."

"Why didn't you come to Hopkins when the beacon activated?" Luke asked kindly as he grabbed a brush and started to brush Hope absent-mindedly. The menagerie was apparently fully equipped to meet the needs of the animals. Maybe that's why it was called the premium menagerie.

"We couldn't leave our animals behind," she said as if that made perfect sense.

Then the barn door opened. Luke and Anni turned, finding Abaddon's tall form in the door.

"MONSTER!!" Anni screamed, turned, and fired her shotgun.

"No!!" Luke called out as he wrestled the gun from her with ease, but it was too. The other Abaddon's chest exploded as he was impacted by a slug, and a dozen smaller calibers slammed into his chest.

"Dammit," Luke swore as the gunfire quieted.

For a long second, they all stared at Abaddon as the lizard man stood there, and then he spoke.

"OUCH," Abaddon swore as metal casings were pushed out of his chest.

"That fucking hurt," Abaddon growled as his injuries healed itself before their eyes.

"And that's why you went first." Tom's voice drifted through the room from behind Abaddon.

"Now, everyone in this room is going to surrender and lay down your arms." Tom's voice carried through the room with a confident ease.

"And what if we don't?" Anni asked.

"Then I send my bulletproof friend here in after you. He takes all of your guns, arrests you for trespassing, and breaks your arms for attempted murder," Tom said calmly.

"I'm not bulletproof." Abaddon protested.

"No, you're just mostly bulletproof and can regenerate from all damage," Tom said sarcastically.

Anni looked around her for a moment. Luke was still holding her shotgun, and he gave her a nod and gestured for her to do what Tom asked.

"Alright, we surrender," Anni said.

"But Anni," one of the farmers hissed.

"Do you want to fight that thing?!" she spat back. "I'm too tired to deal with this."

The other farmers threw down their weapons, at which point Tom and Sam walked in.

"Alright, then, why the fuck are you guys here?" Tom asked pointedly. "And why is the menagerie already full? I know for a fact that animals did not come included."

"Our animals ran here like they were possessed. What did you do to them?!" Anni demanded.

"Nothing," Tom said, rolling his eyes. "The school has a field designed to attract animals. I'm guessing they all made their way here about half an hour ago."

"So you did do something?" Anni accused.

"Technically, no. When we built the premium menagerie, that translated into the field, but the field wasn't a compulsion; it was designed to attract animals. When we built the menagerie that turned the field into something along the lines of an advertisement, come here for premium treatment and safety. The animals came here because their instincts told them they would be safe there. I'm guessing they were getting attacked by monsters, and you were having trouble keeping your animals alive. So when the field got an upgrade, they decided to ditch their old homes and come here." Tom said.

"So what? You stole our animals and were just supposed to be okay with it?" Anni asked.

"Lady, relax. No one is stealing your animals. If you want, you can take them and leave. We won't stop you or even hold this incident against you. Just understand you won't have the anti-monster field to help keep you safe." Tom said.

Despite Luke's kindness in his words, the farmers flinched at the mention of leaving. Luke didn't need a skill to see that the idea of leaving and returning to their homes was unappealing.

"Or," Tom said his words like a fishing hook dangling bait in front of Anni and the farmers. "Or you could choose to stay here, join the awoken myths guild, gain protection, and have one of you represent the animal husbandry workers of the awoken myths guild. You guys can raise your animals in relative peace while you are protected by our defenses."

His statement was met with silence.

"You want us to stay and join you?" Anni asked in confusion.

"Or you can leave, or we can even discuss an alternative deal," Tom stated. "But this is the best offer I will be making."

"Can we talk about it?" Anni asked.

"You have until dawn to come to me with your answer," Tom said. In the meantime, you're free to stay here or find a place in the school to stay for the night. I think the kitchens are still open if you want to eat something."

Luke almost starred as the fight seemed to leave the farmers. They weren't that much older than he was, but he could see it in them. Just like the larpers, their nerves were frazzled, and all they really wanted was a safe place to rest.

"Come on, Luke. Let's give them some privacy while they talk amongst themselves," Tom said, waving him towards him.

Luke gave Anni her shotgun back as he raced over to Tom.

<[Second Labor] has Reached Level 22>

"Why haven't you assigned your levels?" Tom asked as the four of them walked outside into the snow.

Luke was surprised but quickly shook it off. Tom must have an ability like his [Forth Labor] so he could see his status.

"I don't know where to put them," he admitted. I was planning on talking to Duncan about it, but if you want to help," he trailed off, hopeful that Tom would finally forgive him.

Maybe work past their shit.

"I'm not going to forgive you," Tom said bluntly, as if reading his mind.

Did Tom have a …

"Yes, I have a skill like [Second Labor]. Back to the point, I don't blame you for moving away and enjoying the good life when your mom got rich and powerful. I blame you for forgetting about me, Alex, and Chloe the moment we were out of sight. You wouldn't even return our calls. But you are competent. You helped Duncan and the larpers, and because of that, I'm at least willing to bury the hatchet."

Luke signed as the snowflakes danced around them. He didn't mean to abandon Tom, but he got busted and kind of just forgot. Yeah, it sounded bad, even in his own head.

"So, can you help me with my build?" Luke asked pleadingly.

"Of course," Tom said before turning to Sam. "Do you want some help as well, or are you sticking with what I originally suggested?"

"I'm sticking with aiming for a Tomb Raider. I still can't believe that's an actual class."

"I'm pretty sure there was a lawsuit about it, but I don't think it ever went anywhere," Tom said before turning back to Luke. "Let's get started."

You may skip to the next chapter.

Name: Luke Graceson

Race: Demigod

Type: Humanoid

LVL: 13

SubRace: Human

Age 18

Health: 985 / 1045

Stamina: 2020

Mana: 1700

Health Regen: 12.4 per hour

Stamina Regen: 16.3 per min

Mana Regen: 5.2 per min

Titles: Awoken Myths Member

Immune

N/A

Resistances

Physical 10.5%, Elemental 10.5%, Mental 9%

Weakness

N/A

Bane

Manslayer, Godslayer

Classes: Heir to Theseus 10, Heir to Beleiraphone 3, 3 Unassigned

Total

STR: 156

AGIL: 13

DEX: 57

CON: 85

END: 39

PER: 71

INT: 85

WILL: 13

SPIRIT: 39

EGO: 27

CHA: 74

LCK: 14

Base

STR: 142 +10%

AGIL: 13

DEX: 52 +10%

CON: 78 +10%

END: 39

PER: 65 +10%

INT: 78 +10%

WILL: 13

SPIRIT: 39

EGO: 26 +5%

CHA: 65 +15%

LCK: 13 +10%

Personal: +4 PER, +3 STR, +3 DEX, +2 CON, +2 CHA

Racial: +3 CON, +2 STR, +2 END, +2 SPIRIT, +2 CHA, +1 EGO

Bloodline: +5 STR, +5 INT

Level Bonus: +1 to all stats

Bloodline:

[Bloodline of Poseidon] - Legendary

Your father is Poseidon, the god of the sea, the earthshaker, Stormbringer, the father of horses, the guy you named the eighth planet in your solar system after. As the son of the sea god, you gain the following Benefits.

- [Power of the Sea God] - Level 1- [Poseidon's Sea] - Level 21

- [Kin of Horses] - Level 20

- [Born Sailor] - Level 1

- [Natural Born Leader] - Level 18

- [Master of Death] - Level 17

- [Greek Tragedy] - Level 14

- [Divine Assistance (Guide)] - ErR0R#4!!*!%!$

- +5 STR per level

- +5 INT per level

Skill Slots 11/60

Personal Skills

- [Endless Brawler] - Level 15

- [Storage] - Level 10

- [Meditation] - Level 1

Heir to Theseus 06/11

- [First Labor: Periphetes' Crippling Strike] - Level 23

- [Second Labor: The Charming of Sinis] - Level 20 >> Level 22

- [Third Labor: Hunter of The Crommyonian Sow] - Level 21 >> Level 22

- [Forth Labor: Vision of Sciron] - Level 20 >> Level 21

- [Fifth Labor: Father of Wrestling] - Level 22

- Capstone - [Sixth Labor: Procrustes Just Desserts] - Level 22

Heir to Bellerophon 2/6

- [Legacy of Misfortune] - Level 2

- [Molten Lead Lance] - Level 15