A few hours later I was sitting on my bed in the orphanage, bandages on my hand, shoulder and a bandaid on my chest, thinking. I was going over my fight with the flock of harpies, trying to see what I could have done differently and going over some of the more confusing aspects of my fight.

The first conclusion on what went wrong was that I had needed to chase the first harpy down, letting the harpy choose the location to fight me, which is how I found the flock in the first place. But how could I prevent that from happening in the future? I really just need to make something to let me either keep something on the ground or close enough to hit with my daggers, or a ranged weapon to attack it while it is in the sky.

“A ranged weapon would be a good thing for me to have… It would even out my combat abilities to be able to defend myself better… Let's go with that.” I said, thinking aloud and stepping to my desk to start writing down my thoughts. I pulled out a paper and my pen and started writing.

“Now that is decided, what else did I do wrong…” I muttered, starting to go through the fight in my head. I chased the first harpy for a while, then I saw the flock and started to try and sneak away. Could I do something to help me sneak around better? Actually, I don't think I even need to go that far… If I had Masatr with me, I might have been able to avoid the attention of the harpies altogether… Right. I wrote down ‘Keep Masatr with me at all times, either on finger or pocket.’ That should help avoid detection a little.

Ok, what should I have done differently in the actual fight though… “Something to prevent injuries would be good.” I said, looking down at my bandaged hand. “Maybe I should make some armor after all…” I muttered, remembering my prior decision to stay quick and speedy to avoid injuries instead of armor. You see, good armor is great for taking blows and slashes, but the drawback for armor is that it is heavy. Really heavy and bulky. Naturally wearing big bulky armor isn't the only option, there are much smaller lighter designs I could make for myself, but the lighter and smaller it gets the less it can protect me from attacks.

There are materials that could counteract the weight and size requirements, orichalcum is a prime example of this, along with possibly vibranium which was not part of the blacksmithing system info dump, but my marvel knowledge. In fact, I actually have quite a lot of Ring Gold right now, maybe it is worth buying? I started writing down my thoughts on the paper ‘Make armor? Vibranium or orichalcum base?’

For the rest of the fight, I think that I handled it pretty well, besides the times that I got hurt that is, but there was one thing that confused me however. “How did that harpy heal?” I wondered out loud, thinking hard. The only times in the Percy Jackson books said anything about a healing factor is during the Heroes of Olympus but that is only because of the doors of death… Surely the plot hasn't started five years early… right?

If it has, then I am screwed… But, hang on… This might actually make some sense! You see, in the Percy Jackson universe, there are a lot of discrepancies with how monsters can be killed. Specifically, it is said that only celestial bronze can kill them and send them back to Tartarus, but throughout the books, there are a lot of times that monsters are killed through normal mortal materials, like bowling balls, a car and a car engine. These events are what led me to believe that I could make my daggers from steel, instead of having to wait for some celestial bronze for them.

However, could this be the answer? Could it be that the reason that it is said celestial bronze is the only thing that can kill monsters, because when they are hit by mortal materials they can heal their wounds if they are not killed quickly enough? I review all my knowledge of the Percy Jackson universe and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense! This could be the answer!

I frown at my paper after thinking for a few more seconds, comparing my knowledge of the Percy Jackson universe with the help of Perfect Recollection, eventually deciding that it is probably true. This is a major setback for me though. If I have to wait until I find celestial bronze to make my weapons and possibly armor, then I will have to wait for months until I am combat ready.

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But, will I… Hang on, I remember something… Celestial bronze is not the only material that can kill monsters, imperial gold can do that too, and it is only enchanted gold… Could it be that weapons and materials infused with Spirit Energy can permanently harm monsters? Or maybe they use a different energy for enchanting and is in celestial bronze in this universe? It looks like I need to do some experimenting…

I shorten and write down my thoughts, ‘Test for materials that prevent healing factor in monsters, find out if Spirit Energy infused weapons will harm monsters. Find monster and capture it for experimentation?’ Is what I put on the paper.

I start reviewing the fight once again, but I don't remember anything else that I could have done better, without prior knowledge or training. Well, besides still deciding to pick a fight with the flock of sixty harpies while they were distracted and disorganized in the trees. That was kind of stupid. I probably should have gone around them instead of charging into the center of the flock.

“Well, I think that this is enough to go off of for improvements for today.” I say and put my pen down on my desk. I look down at my bandaged hand and sigh, “I wish I had a healing factor…” I whisper to myself. Then my brain kicks in. “I am so stupid!” I shout out loud and open the system store. “I could have done this hours ago! Urg… All this time spent listening to the questions about how I got hurt was wasted!” I say, navigating through the system store page to the Necessities page, looking through the list until I saw what I was looking for, Ambrosia and Nectar.

They were both a little expensive, sixty Ring Gold for a two inch cubed square of Ambrosia and sixty Ring Gold for eight hundred milliliters, but that was ok for me. I now had a total of two hundred and thirty Ring Gold to spend as I please. The reason that I was calling myself stupid for not remembering these products sooner, was because of their properties. They are a magical healing food for demigods. Absolutely lethal to humans, but they work wonders on demigod wounds. I wasn't sure what the difference in healing abilities was though, so I wasn't quite sure which I should buy, or how much I would need to eat or drink.

“Well, I guess I am guessing then.” I say after reviewing my extensive Percy Jackson knowledge, trying to remember if it says what exactly the difference is or how much should be taken for injuries of the size that I have, but finding nothing specific. I reach out and click the ambrosia option, seeing my balance go down by sixty Ring Gold immediately after.

I waited for the ambrosia to appear, and looked down at the paper on my desk again, thinking about writing to stock up on ambrosia and nectar, but what I saw on my desk surprised me. There was a small ceramic plate with a golden yellow square on it. “Food comes with a plate? Huh.” I said to myself, looking at the square of ambrosia on my desk in front of me. I picked up the plate and took a close look at the ambrosia square. As I picked it up, I noticed that it moved weirdly on the plate, as if it was jello.

“That is interesting… Now that I think about it, there are a few different descriptions of ambrosia, like in the first book it calls it like pudding but it comes in squares in some later parts of the books… I guess if it is like jello then when it is eaten it becomes like liquid? Like pudding, but it can come in squares… Cool.” I mused thinking back on the books.

“Well, I guess I should eat it?” I said, a little apprehensively. After all, it says that too much can incinerate demigods… “Maybe just a corner?” I decide and pick up the square in my good hand before nibbling on the corner. My eyes widened slightly, it was good. Really good. I take a bigger bite, savoring the taste. I wasn't quite sure what it tastes like, but it is great, almost nostalgic for some reason.

I quickly eat the rest of it, forgetting the reason I bought it in the first place and just enjoying it. When I finished, the plate vanished and I relaxed against my desk chair. After a few seconds of relaxation I remembered what I had bought the ambrosia square for and I started unraveling the bandages on my left hand. As I finished unraveling the bandage wrap, I examined my hand, a smile forming on my face once again. My hand was completely unblemished, not a mark on it. My hand had healed! “Wow!” I said looking at my hand, “This stuff really works!”

I began to take off the other bandages that were covering my other two cuts, seeing the same healed skin beneath both. “My chance for survival is increasing by the day!” I say, amazed and I write ‘Stock up on ambrosia+nectar.’ and beneath that I write ‘Sell more gold or things for more Ring Gold.’ on the paper, more as an afterthought, but it is still something I should do before I leave for school at least.

“What should I do now that I am healed though?” I wonder out loud to myself. I think for a few seconds before sighing to myself “I guess I should do some training before supper.”