~5 days later~

  After successfully acquiring the items, Nick had one more thing to do before he could start the Rituals and successfully acquire even more versatile powers.

  As the Elements involved were in nature conflicting and were also symbolized as such, he was a little concerned about whether, after doing them, he might, I don't know, explode or something.

  So, he had to first do a Divination Ritual as his prescience ability alone spat out nonsense. He guessed that it was because the Rituals themselves were setting off such an interference while running that any investigation would be useless.

  Though a Ritual might be able to effectively cut through it, a divination Ritual to be exact.

  So after some preparation and using his prescience to create the Ritual, he immediately performed it. The Ritual itself called upon the symbols of the wise owl, threads of fate, and the four Elements of the world, and as an offering required the sacrifice of an owl's feather.

  The result that it spit out was comforting, as it gave him a vision of a white owl sitting upon his right shoulder. A good omen according to Greek Culture, so he had no further reservations about doing the Ritual.

  The Rituals themselves went off without a hitch, though now the room that housed the flames (formerly the dining room) looked more like a bonfire.

  Though thankfully the flames were contained in their newly built fireplaces at the center of the runic circle, and they gave off no smoke, as they weren't really burning per se.

  "Whoa!" Nick said his eyes were vacant as smoke swirled about him, and a muted gray light flashed from his eyes.

  Nick knew that a profound transformation had occurred; a feeling unlike anything he had felt before came upon him. Before, as the individual Rituals were completed, a feeling of comfort would come to him from the Element in question.

  But as the last Ritual was finished, it was no longer the case; instead, he felt a comforting feeling like the very world itself was his relative.

  Like he could ask it whatever and it would obey unquestionably, his 6th sense also expanded, and he could now observe the surrounding kilometer as if he were looking at the palm of his hand.

  The best way that it could be explained was like a domain found in cultivation novels had formed around him.

  Upon testing using intent casting, he could now effortlessly use the other Elements, just as he did the Air Element. His Lesser Spells in the 3 other Elements caught up to his Lesser Spells of the Air Element.

  However, when he tested his Lesser Spells of the Air Element, he could hardly believe his eyes. It was as if the Air Element was boosted alongside the others, a full 50% boost in his Air Manipulation Lesser Spell.

  The bigger surprise was that he was now capable of intent casting any spell he pleased, though at a reduced power.

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  Such as the Cleaning and Hot and Cold Insulation Charms, all that was required to clean his room and insulate him from hot and cold was now barely a thought.

  He was hesitant to test any of the Greater or Common spells now, as he was fearful of the absolute annihilation that they could unleash.

  Nick began to ponder why such a drastic transformation occurred.

  According to his previous idea, all these Rituals would do would bring his other Elements to a comparable power level as the Air Element and possibly raise their collective power a bit higher.

  However, upon the accomplishment of all 4 Rituals, they synergized to boost not only the other Elemental spell but all spells. After some thinking, he came up with a theory on why that made sense.

  The reason all spells got boosted was because in Greek Myth, the Elements of air, fire, water, and earth constitute the entirety of the world, and thus by becoming the "favored" of all 4 Elements at once, Nick's connection to the World itself was boosted.

  It would essentially raise his authority across the board, thus causing all spells to be boosted significantly.

  To Nicholas, it felt like he was essentially omnipotent in the range of about 3 meters centered around him. With nothing but a thought, the wind would move, or the earth would come to life in any form that he wished, and it would be like a puppet to his every thought.

  "Let's try something like this." Nick thought before a bright light as if the morning sun appeared behind his head.

  Jonathan gasped in awe at what he was looking at. It came upon him then that even among the Demigods of old, his son was truly special.

  According to Myth, only the divine were ever depicted with a halo.

  Jonathan even thought that his son showed the potential to climb upon Olympus and take his place among the Olympians.

  After all, if Dionysius could do it, why couldn't Nicholas?

  When Nick approached a mirror to take a look at his masterpiece, what he saw in the mirror was nothing short of a masterpiece. He looked like a true divinity, with 4 colors swirling in his eyes and a halo blooming behind his head.

  His current look could never be mistaken for a mortal; he finally approached the true abilities of the Minor Gods.

  And though he might not match them in true authority or immortality, as long as his 4 Rituals provided him power, his combined authority over the 4 Elements could allow him to match them in combat.

  Nick still felt that if the book's descriptions of their powers were to be believed, he could be comparable to someone like Iris, the Goddess of the Rainbow, if he used his combined authority over the 4 Elements.

  He might even be a match to Percy after he got dipped into the River Styx, though his near invincibility would still be a bitch to overcome, so in comparison, it appeared that he and Percy were now at the very limits of what a mortal could achieve in terms of power level.

  Any further Rituals of a similar nature would give diminishing returns using mortal materials; he was truly running into a wall of advancement.

  "But time is still ticking, and power alone will not save me from the ravages of time, not to mention that all the decision-making power over the world and my fate is still utterly out of my grasp. No, I have to grow stronger, strong enough that no one can control my fate again. I will not be subject to others' whims any longer. I REFUSE!" Nick thought, while the dim four colored wheel spun faster within his eyes.

  "I will finally be able to make a meaningful difference in this rotten world. I will right all injustices that were caused by the Gods' callous whims, I will not allow myself to be oppressed."

  "I can't leave such an obvious weakness as my powers being tied to the tending of mortals; it would be extremely easy to exploit. No, I need something more permanent. I need to find a way to increase my authority without caveats... "

  "I have to become a God. Alas, such an undertaking is incredibly difficult. In the books, the only way shown to do that was to do such a favor to the Gods that they were practically forced to do so." Nick reflected.

  "But magic was never explored, and no demigods were shown to think it. I have a hard time believing that the Gods wouldn't want to give such a convenient tool to their children. So it must mean that either something was stopping them or magic contained knowledge that could threaten the supremacy and rule of the pantheon."

  "Tough, why the children of Athena couldn't grasp that magic might be real, even after knowing that other pantheons are real, is still beyond me. Their intelligence was enough to make them the smartest people in the world, and yet they couldn't grasp such basic implications?"

  "Why that is could be anyone's guess, but creating magic that would make me a God or even achieve a permanent boost would be too risky to do without a teacher; it could cause madness or corruption to my being, as it involves changing the very nature of my existence. I truly came very far by relying on mortal descriptions of magic, but it was ultimately mortal; if I want to take that step, it is far from enough."

  It was then that Nick decided on his next course of action: he had to find a teacher.

  Upon thinking of it with his mother out of the running due to the Ancient Laws, he came to only 3 options for who could be his teacher of magic. It was either to be Hecate, Circe, or Odin.