CHAPTER SIX

  Gods and Monsters and Those Who Train Them, Part 2

  Sam had no right to judge her. He’d walked away from the hero’s life too, after all. However, as he watched her back get smaller and smaller, Sam imagined that Warmaiden took hope with her because there were no more living heroes for him to heal. Thunder and Dr. Hearthstone were it.

  “Don’t call her a side character,” Sam snapped.

  Sam’s eyes narrowed at the message box. “Hold on...are you Triple-A?”

  Somehow, Sam could feel whoever was on the other side of that message was rolling its eyes at him.

  “You mean, you’re more like Steve Jobs,” Sam guessed. His eyes widened. “You’re Triple-A’s creator.”

  So, someone was managing the system, Sam realized.

  “I’d rather not,” he said. “I don’t even know you.”

  No response came.

  Sam sighed. “Master...”

  Sam rolled his eyes at the message box.

  “Why did you create Triple-A?” he asked out of curiosity.

  Sam frowned. He’d never heard of such an amazing hero trainer before. Not even in the old myths.

  At the mention of Thunder, Sam peeked over the car to check on the battle.

  “Yeah… she’s awesome,” Sam admitted, his brow furrowing. “How do I get to be like her?”

  Dr. Hearthstone was wrestling with the terror’s arm, giving Thunder a clear path to zap the horror with the thunderbolt in her right hand. She slammed it partially into the horror’s chest, causing it to screech in pain.

  Sam’s face fell. He didn’t mean to take the system away from Thunder.

  The master’s words stung, but Sam knew he was right. “Look, I know I’m not the hero of the story—”

  Sam could almost see this master laughing at him.

  Sam didn’t respond immediately because he was still resolving his feelings in his mind. He’d always wanted to be a hero. It was why he’d tried the first time, despite how risky it was to use his power. But he’d run away from the job once already. What would stop him from doing it again?

  “I...” Sam’s eyes stayed glued to Thunder as she continued to do battle with the terror despite new wounds appearing on her body. “I want to be a hero, too.”

  It felt to Sam like a great weight had finally fallen off his chest after he said those words. No, his renewed desire to be a hero probably didn’t invalidate his past failures, but it was feeling like he could breathe again after drowning for so long.

  “How do I do that?”

  To become strong in the short time available before Thunder and Dr. Hearthstone used up all their power was impossible—these were Sam’s initial thoughts. Then he remembered that he’d done the impossible only a short while ago when he’d saved Thunder from certain death.

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  Sam pulled up the radial menu and selected [STATUS] for the second time that night.

  “My fatigue’s decreasing automatically,” he remarked.

  Right below this was Sam’s attributes, which he’d noticed had all increased by one after he’d leveled up.

  Finally, the last section of the [STATUS] menu showed no new significant changes.

  With nine points to allocate, Sam’s first thought was to invest it all into Constitution once again. He figured he could help Thunder by becoming the horror’s punching bag, distracting it long enough for her to finish it.

  “But that wouldn’t make me the hero,” he realized.

  As he was currently looking down, Sam’s gaze fell on the object lying on the ground beside him. It was War Maiden’s hammer.

  It had a simple design. A foot and a half long handle wrapped in black leather attached to a thick, cylindrical-shaped chunk of enchanted steel. Runes, not of Greek origins, were etched along the edges of the two sides of the hammer’s head.

  He’d heard of it before, an artifact that scholars claimed weighed as much as the burden carried by the one who lifts it. In exchange for this quirk, however, it theoretically had the power to overturn one’s current burden, providing them the strength to face whatever challenges lay before them.

  Sam reached down and tried to pick up the hammer. It rose maybe half an inch off the ground before he had to let it go.

  He frowned. “Maybe this is why War Maiden gave up—because the burden of an alpha-level horror is too heavy.”

  A thought crossed his mind, and he turned back to his status.

  Nine points would bring his total strength up to twenty.

  “Become strong enough to be relevant,” Sam repeated the master’s words. “What if…”

  It was a gamble, but it seemed like the master was nudging him toward this route.

  “Yeah, Sam, listen to the sarcastic floating message box,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m losing my mind...”

  Sam placed all his points on [STRENGTH], raising it to [20]. A second later, a new notification appeared.

  “Huh, that gamble actually paid off,” Sam noted.

  He tapped on the [?] and opened the new power’s status window.

  A new message box appeared before Sam.

  “Isn’t this what you wanted?” Sam asked.

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