Chapter 53: A Hint to Athenas past (1/2)

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.