Chapter 2: Divine Potential
Demigods held the celestials in a very high regard, and whenever a child was blessed by one of the celestials, all the other children of that celestial would make sure to take care of and nurture that child until they were old enough to take care of themselves.
The best example of this are the children of Zeus, who had formed the Zeus Pantheon. Not only was this pantheon one of the largest in the world, but it also provided every child of Zeus under the age of eighteen with a monthly stipend to help them take care of their needs, as well as a letter of recommendation based on how impressive their Divine Potential was.
It was a fast track to the big leagues. So long as you were blessed by the right god and possessed enough Divine Potential, then there was nothing you would lack in the world!
But the children of the gods of darkness didn't have anything like that. There was no support for them since the other pantheons made it their personal mission to prevent them from forming their own, fearing the consequences.
The thought of what a child of Hades could do if they were untied with other children of Hades or how much damage could a child of Loki do if they were allowed to plot with other children of Loki, made it very difficult for the other pantheons to trust them enough to let them create their own pantheons.
The children of the gods of darkness weren't allowed to provide aid for one another, and therefore, didn't possess a voice in a world that was overseen by the most powerful members of the other pantheons. And since the heads of the pantheons all over the world wielded power that was far greater than what any lone demigod could hope to challenge, there was nothing the demigods under the gods of darkness could do, leaving them powerless.
As the headmaster walked away from the stage after finishing his speech, another person walked up to the podium. Meanwhile, two men carried a transparent globe before carefully dropping it on a pillow resting atop a table beside the podium.
The new speaker on the podium was a woman upon whom every single boy in the room immediately focused their attention after she walked forward. She was a breathtaking beauty with a face capable of rivaling that of any top model in the world! Her long blonde hair framed her face perfectly, and her striking red eyes seemed to pierce into the hearts of any male she set them on!
The woman had an impressive bust that stretched the fabric of her suit dress, and the dress trousers she wore just weren't capable of hiding the impressive hips that made her figure stand out even further! She wore high heels that accentuated her already impressively long legs, making them seem even longer, and as she parted her blood-red lips and spoke sternly to the students, there was an allure to her voice.
"I will call you up one after the other. Do not miss your name, because I will only call it once. If you make me call your name more than once, you will be punished. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
A chorus of voices echoed through the hall as all the students answered at once. Azrael heard one of the boys beside him commenting that he wouldn't mind getting punished by her. Azrael couldn't help but agree with the boy's statement. A woman as sexy as that would be doing most boys a favor if she were to punish them.
The woman's name was Francesca Tidor, an A-Rank Demigod and a member of the Artemis Pantheon. Francesca was the Vice-Headmistress of the Divine Demigod Academy and she was a strict disciplinarian who didn't tolerate any form of nonsense from any of the students she oversaw.
It was rumored that she held the highest expulsion record in Divine Demigod Academy's history with over fifty expulsions in her five years as Vice-Headmistress.
Francesca was not someone you would want to mess with.
"Grace Delphi."
"Y-Yes!"
Francesca called the first name, and a mousey girl with brown hair and short stature responded nervously before making her way up to the stage under Francesca's stern gaze. The girl had a winged shoe carved into her badge, marking her as one of the Demigods blessed by Hermes.
The girl swallowed nervously before placing her hand on the globe.
Divine Potential was one of the most important traits that every demigod needed in their fight against the Daemons. All the Demigods possessed the potential for Divinity from the moment they were born, and after being blessed by one of the many gods after going to the Divine Church, a demigod would gain a God Aspect. The God Aspect was a portion of the god's power that a demigod would be able to control.
For example, a child blessed by Zeus might gain a God Aspect called Tempest that would allow them to control the wind, or they could get a blessing called Lightning Shield, which would let them summon a shield of pure lightning all over their body.
The God Aspect lay dormant within the child from the moment they are born until they turn sixteen. And by the time the child turns sixteen and the God Aspect within them awakens, they would gain a massive boost in their abilities.
However, even with a God Aspect that was considered extremely impressive, there were two factors that determined just how far a demigod would be able to grow their God Aspect. The first thing was the God Aspect Rank, and the second their Divine Potential.
The God Aspect Rank measured how powerful a Demigod's God Aspect was at any given time. The rankings progressed from F rank, through E, D, C, B, A, S, and EX rank, which was regarded as the highest rank ever recorded in a demigod.
A demigod could raise their God Aspect ranking by absorbing Divine Essence from the Daemons they killed, but the amount of Divine Essence that they can absorb and the speed of their God Aspect's growth all depended on their Divine Potential.
The Divine Potential was like the engine that roared beneath the hood of every demigod's car. It didn't matter what sort of fuel you used, you would be limited by how strong the engine was and how fast it could go. If you put the same fuel into a V10 engine and a V6 engine, it was obvious which one of them would be able to go further and faster using the same amount of fuel.
That was why Divine Potential was so crucial.
Today's assessment was going to determine how far a demigod would be able to go in life. Even though only the students and staff were present in the room, there was no doubt in the minds of the students that hundreds of guilds all over the world were going to be reviewing the results of today's assessment to determine who they would be giving more attention to in the upcoming few years.
Grace Delphi placed her hand on the ball and waited while the ball absorbed some of her Divine Essence. Once it was done, the ball glowed white for a moment before a small speaker beside it announced loudly.
[C Rank]!
Grace's eyes widened before a wide smile appeared on her face, and applause erupted from the students around the hall, congratulating her.
Divine Potential was ranked in the same manner the God Aspects were ranked. They were graded from F to EX, with each rank determining a higher percentage of Divine Essence a demigod could absorb than the last rank.
F Rank: 20% or less of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
E Rank: 21–30% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
D Rank: 31–40% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
C Rank: 41–50% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
B Rank: 51–60% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
A Rank: 61–70% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
S Rank: 71–80% of the Divine Essence from a killed Daemon.
But above all of these was the EX Rank. Those in the EX Rank were capable of absorbing eighty-one to one hundred percent of a Divine Essence from any Daemon they killed, but there had been only one recorded case of any demigod having a ranking potential of EX.
That demigod had not been seen or heard from for decades since he entered through the veil to travel across the Null Zone and vanished.