Mountain of the Immortals

"Can't we just escape and jump out?" Artemis asked. "We'll keep falling until you can use the teleportation skill to take us away."

"We can't rely on that as part of our plan," I replied. "There are so many things that can go wrong if we just jump out with no other way to escape."

"Like what?" Artemis pressed. "What else can go wrong?"

"For starters, the magical teleportation ban might be active all the way to the ground," Ares responded. "That would mean we'd become divine paste. Even if that isn't the case, we need to assume that we'll be pursued. Fighting in mid-air might separate us and we all need to travel back together. It's not like we can wait around for each other as we fall."

"I also don't know how large velocities would translate once we're pulled back here," I added. "It might be that we continue falling at the same speed as the moment the teleportation skill was activated. I'll make sure that we find a way to combat this, but that should be our plan B."

"What's our plan A then?" Aphrodite asked.

"I'd like to craft a flying vessel that would take us out of there," I said. "One that will also get us there without arousing any suspicion and will be able to wait for us just outside."

"The oyster can do all of those things but only in the water," Aphrodite said. "To do it in the sky you would need an invisibility enchantment or spell. Finding a way to make a magical flying vessel that can carry five people invisibly is going to cost a lot and raise a lot of eyebrows. Even finding the vessel will be challenging and might take months."

"It doesn't need to be invisible," I said, enjoying the puzzled looks I was getting. "We only need it to go unnoticed. And what would be more inconspicuous in the sky than a cloud."

"That... that might just work," Aphrodite admitted.

"You can control clouds?" Ares asked.

"It comes with my divine territory." I pushed my skill for everyone to see. "I don't even need to spend many DP."

* * *

Name: Master of Storms

Level: Divine Skill

Type: Active

HP Consumed: 0

MP Consumed: 0

DP Consumed: 1

Power: n/a

Range: 7000 inches

Precondition: None

Description: The divine domain of Zeus, supreme monster slayer and master of Mount Olympus, covers all aspects of thunderstorms. This includes manipulation of electricity, winds, clouds, and rainfall. Zeus is able to control all of these elements with a single thought or even command them to act in a certain way for 4 hours without having to expend any concentration or MP.

* * *

"Four hours per day," Ares said. "Do you think it would be enough?"

"I can get us underneath the floating island on the ground before putting the flying device to use. I'll be able to start the four hours of cloud controlling from that point on, which should be enough to get us up there, keep the vessel hidden while we're inside the dungeon, and take us away afterward."

"You think we'll be able to do all that in four hours?" Artemis asked.

"I think that if we need more than that, something would have gone terribly wrong." I turned to Aphrodite. "I want all of the crafting resources we have focused on this. And make sure our new spellcaster will have anything he needs to manage this."

"Also, make sure the device is silent," Artemis said.

Aphrodite nodded at both of us. "I will have them start working on it tomorrow. I am warning you though. Since we want this to happen sooner rather than later, I wouldn't expect anything as spacious or well-protected as my oyster. It might as well be a box that flies."

"As long as the box is painted the color of the sky, I'm more than okay with that," I said.

"So, we're really doing this," Artemis said, looking at us with excitement. "We're breaking into a Titan's jail to break out a very powerful and sought-after prisoner."

"It would be remiss of me not to mention that there is nothing forcing this god of the forge to help us craft a titan-killing weapon," Ares said. "I mean, it would make sense that he would want his captor punished, but he might just want to disappear."

"I know," I said, and sighed. "But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I can only hope that the fact we'll have saved him will count for something. In the meantime, we need to focus on getting stronger."

"We are getting closer to level fifty-eight, but I doubt we'll make it in time if we want to raid the dungeon as soon as the getaway craft is ready," Artemis said.

"Are we all above ninety-five percent for our next level?" I asked, and they all nodded. "Then we focus on reaching it. Whatever it takes. Once we know how long it will take the crafters to create our flying vessel, we will know approximately how much XP we will need per hour as a four-member party."

Our levels had been the same since we met each other but we had a difference of around ten to twenty percent in our individual progress bars. Over the past couple of months, we had made sure to keep these differences down to a minimum. This meant that Aphrodite and I, needed to go training earlier or sometimes stay a bit longer since Artemis always had the biggest XP percentage of the three of us.

"Starting tomorrow," I told them, "you are to hand over all but the most important of your tasks to some of the mortals. We will be training upwards of sixteen hours a day."

"Sixteen hours?" Aphrodite gasped.

"What about the progress we've made in the forest and the mines?" Artemis asked.

"And what of the agents I wanted to identify and train?" Ares echoed.

"All of these things come second to you earning your level," I replied. "Artemis, you said yourself that they can manage on their own for a week. I hope we will not need any more than that. And Ares, this can wait. Either you do it on your off-time or you postpone it until after we become level fifty-eight or come back from the dungeon."

"Understood," Ares replied immediately. The other two goddesses eventually nodded as well, albeit not very happily.

"I was expecting some push back from you too, Aphrodite?" I said, curious as to why she seemed to have taken the news so easily.

"I know that once you have something in your head, there is no point arguing it," she responded. "Besides, as much as I don't like it and I fully expect that it'll create headaches with all of the people that want to meet with me, I know that you're right. This is a good plan, even just for one level. Four gods earning an extra level is a huge deal."

"Exactly," I said, happy to see that she understood. "And I have a feeling we're going to need all every bit of edge we can get."

"In that case, I think I'll retreat to my place," Ares said, standing up. "When are we meeting for our training tomorrow?"

"We'll pick you up right before dawn," I said, and stood up as well, clasping his hand in salute. "Big things await us."

"I'm sure they do," he said, and waved the goddesses goodbye.