Chapter 51
As we left the big house, I absently observed the boy.
Perseus Jackson
Age: 12
Race: Demigod (Child of Poseidon)
Level: 200
Tier: 5
Divine Power: 20,000/20,000
Stamina: 19,000/19,000
Health: 21,000/21,000
Stats
Strength: 190
Speed: 200
Dexterity: 210
Endurance: 190
Constitution: 210
Mental: 14
Spirit: 200
Good enough.
"Now Percy, listen closely cause this is important." I started, taking a deep breath as I prepared to put all the weirdness that I've learned over the years in simple words. "Everything that you know about this universe? Forget it. Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and all the other planets, they are simply various deities of this universe. There are exceptions to this, though few and far in between, some that even I don't understand. Sun, for instance, is a vehicle made of pure energy, and its current rider is Apollo. It used to be Ra once upon a time, and then Helios as well, but they both have retired so now it's Apollo. Moon is the same, but it is dragged by Artemis, the moon goddess. As for the space? It is simply the entity chaos."
I glanced at the boy and noticed he was even more confused than before.
"Okay story time. At first there was nothing in this universe but the sole entity, Chaos, which the science call 'The Dark Matter'. From Chaos came Oranus, the sky. And Gaia, the earth. From them came everything else. Zeus represents Jupiter, Poseidon represents Neptune, and so on and so forth. As for science, Mist is the reason why science exists. Mortals see the true form of these powerful entities, and mist keeps their minds from falling apart by converting all this knowledge to explainable things, which is to say, science. So yeah, when humans go around in their ships to explore the space? They are just travelling through Chaos's body. Got it now?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah." The boy mumbled quietly. "I got it."
But I had a feeling I'd lost him way back in the explanation.
I sighed. 'All my effort down the drain.'
"I-I wanted to ask..." Percy started, and something told me it wasn't related to our topic. "Do you– ...Is my mom really dead?" The boy finally finished hollowly.
"Wha–?" The question jarred me out as I turned to Percy with a frown. "No, of course not. That son of a Titanous bitch Hades abducted her."
It was only then I realized that the previous day's events may not be as clear to Percy as they were to me.
My words didn't seem to register in Percy's mind at once, but when they did, the boy's eyes widened like coins and he turned to me with hope filled sea-green pupils, staring down in my soul with desperation. "This isn't some bad attempt at joke right? Please tell me you are serious."
I winced at the tears that looked to be held like a dam in the boy's eyes.
"Gods Perce, I totally forgot how you will see that as. Yeah, I'm as serious as I can be. Hades kidnapped your mother and we'll get her from him, promise."
I should've realized what the boy would think if he watched his mother get turned into golden motes of light. I guess my anger at Hades surpassed my thinking skills.
The boy started crying then, while trying to hide his tears by turning away slightly.
"Thanks." He murmured.
I put a hand around his shoulder and dragged him with me. "Alright, C'mon. I think the camp will lift your mood."
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I showed Percy around the camp; starting from the sweet smelling strawberry fields to our first destination—Pegasus stables.
"Mikael... I think I'm going crazy."
"Welcome to the life of Greeks, half of us are crazy in here."
"Yeah but I'm not talking about crazy as in 'I'm gonna murder that hobo who dared to look at my face without bowing' kind of crazy, but more like 'Are those horses over there really talking to me?' kind of crazy."
"Ah yes, of course. That's cause of your father. Don't worry about it too much."
"Mikael, they are calling me names. The horses are calling me mean names."
"You shouldn't let them insult you. Call them some names yourself."
"Now they are calling you names. They are saying you are an empty bag of air where your brai–"
"Son of a flying bitch! I'm gonna kill that horse!"
"No, wait! I'm joking! They are saying you are a very scary fellow and everyone should respect you!"
"Hmmf."
From Pegasus stables to armory.
"Pick any weapon Percy. You are wasting our time."
"But none of them fit! Not like that pen-sword you threw at me back in the museum."
"Well, that belongs to Chiron. I guess you'll just have to beg your dad and get him to commission a weapon from the blacksmith god. He made mine too, so you can bet your ass he is the best."
"I'm not gonna beg anyone. I don't need his help."
"Good, cause I didn't either. My father did it himself– you know, cause that's what true fathers do."
Percy groaned, I smiled. "Though technically, I guess I could also assume that role...hehehe…"
"What?"
"...Nevermind."
From armory to archery range and arena, but we didn't stop there, neither did we stop at the forge, though I waved at the Hephaestus demigods lingering around.
From the arena, we finally approached the cabins. The first thing Percy did was to enter Poseidon's cabin.
Normally entering a cabin for an unclaimed demigod would be disastrous. But knowing what I knew, I didn't bother stopping him, patiently waiting as the boy checked out his future home.
"This is so cool."
"Not as cool as my cabin."
"I don't know. I don't think I'd want a huge statue of my father in the middle of the room."
"Yes well, that huge statue also lets me teleport directly to Olympus, the home of gods. I'm sure you wouldn't want that right?"
"...How much for the statue?"
"Beg your dad?"
The boy groaned. I laughed.
We finally reached the common cabin, where the cabin counselor, Alabaster Torrington, stood beside a bored Annabeth.
The small twelve year old boy was the child of Hecate, and commanded the rest of his siblings with an iron fist. The boy also seemed to have penchant for always looking grim and annoyed.
"Your new addition, for the time being." I announced with a wave towards Percy.
"Hey." Percy greeted them tentatively.
"Perce, you'll be here until your father claims you. I'll be leaving you in capable hands of Annabeth here. Good luck."
"You know who his godly parent is?" Annabeth asked, surprised.
"I do." I stated with a wink. The girl was dying for a quest, and according to Chiron she'll only be ready when a special demigod enters the camp.
"Wait, you are leaving?" Percy asked nervously.
"Chiron teaches masters archery right now. A special class only for the best of the best."
"And you are best of the best in archery?" He asked, surprised.
Understandable, considering I never used my bow in the time I stayed with him.
"He's the best of the best in everything." Annabeth breathed out from beside us, her cheeks coloring in a dark blush as all of us turned to her.
With raised brows, I turned back to Percy.
"You'll be fine with Annabeth, Perce. Try not to make any mess. Bye now." With one last wave, I turned around and took to air, towards my new destination– the archery range.
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"Ready-ho!" Chiron's bellow made all the demigods present straighten up, readying their bows in the anticipation of the action ahead.
There were eight archers, all from Apollo, standing right in front of Chiron and me.
All the master archers the camp has produced in the last three years were present here currently. All eight were trained by me or Chiron; though only Lee Fletcher and Michael yew were able to progress past the first level of mastery. All the others were still stuck on level 1.
Atleast...as far as I could judge from my experience with the system.
"And...Fire!" Bellowed Chiron.
The exercise was simple really- Hit the balloon hanging in the middle of the sky.
The moment Chiron said those words, the Stormbreaker in its bow form started lighting the sky with arrows. In a single second, dozens of arrows were created from thin air and launched towards the Balloon in a straight line, travelling beyond supersonic speed. To a mortal's eye, my hands may would just be a blur as they moved in reality defying speed.
Normally, I should've popped the balloon multiple times over before it even deformed completely. But while I targeted the Balloon, all the rest aimed at my arrows, knocking them out of the air to protect the target.
In a fair one on one match, I would win 10/10 times. My speed was just too fast–I shot dozens of arrows every second. My accuracy was just too incredible due to level 6 mastery, and 60% of my arrows always stuck directly in the bull's eyes no matter how fast the target moves. My arrows itself moved faster through the air than theirs can–my strength and divine bow enhancing my performance.
That's why, it was never a fair fight.
My opponents all worked together in perfect tandem. One person alone can't hope to stop my arrows, so they all monitored a specific section of the air, each guarding a portion of my arrow's path to make sure none of them reached the balloon.
After a few seconds of this, once they got comfortable in knocking my arrows out of the air, two of them alternated between guarding the balloon and shooting at me in the hopes that I might slip up and give them a single chance to burst the balloon themselves.
Honestly? I was quite proud of them, working together like a team to win against a superior opponent. Especially when I knew exactly how much time and effort they'd put in perfecting this plan of theirs.
It made the game challenging, and made sure I was never bored. Which was what they wanted, considering I usually wasn't too interested in these fights due to how utterly boring they could get.
In the end however, I still won 10/10 times. Not because their combined skill was lower than me, quite the opposite actually. But because my stats simply outmatched them by too much. And I was just too perfect to ever make a mistake.
It was still an entertaining game though. I had to continuously dodge their attacks while keeping up my speed and accuracy. I usually won when one of them, all of whom were mortals and tend to make mistakes, finally slipped up. Maybe they couldn't cut my arrows in half, or just missed entirely (rarely, but possible).
This time was the same, I was keeping up with the challenge when one of my arrows managed to pass through their onslaught and popped the balloon quite anticlimactically, making the match come to a sudden and quick end.
They all groaned, letting themselves fall upon the ground, while Michael yew cursed one of his brothers.
"Once again an excellent display of skills!" Chiron cheered us.
"Mikael's bow is just too unfair." Michael groaned.
"Now now, his skills are just as excellent." Chiron maintained.
"…So unfair…" Michael continued to grouch.
"We'll get him next time." Lee promised, though it was ruined by his big yawn.
"I'm sure you will boys." I shot them a look of mock encouragement as I turned to leave. "Just keep practicing. Maybe in a few decades, you might actually come close to become a real challenge. If I don't improve at all, that is."
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With my archery lessons out of the way, I headed towards the arena for some sword practice, leaving behind the groaning Apollos.
Unfortunately, I didn't find Luke there, which meant it will be a complete waste of time.
...Unless I was ready to limit myself to an extreme degree and ask the whole Ares cabin to attack me together.
But as I entered the arena, I realized even that wasn't available.
'Something must've happened.'
There were very few demigods in the Arena. The few that were there were excitedly whispering amongst themselves, pointing at the cabins direction. I stopped a random guy to enquire about it.
"I don't know sir, I was heading there myself." The boy responded in a rush. "I just know that the new boy and Clarisse got into some fight..."
I let the excited boy leave, wondering if I should search for Percy and Annabeth before deciding against it.
I had better things to do. Namely, working on my god-slayer device.
After creating Annabeth's gift, I'd set to create something that could take care of Hades, or barring that, Persephone.
The work didn't go quite as well as I was hoping for, though I did level up the skill.
Plus I didn't really have much time—the moment Percy gets claimed he'll probably get a quest to retrieve the bolt. And I will have to accompany him, not just due to my father's orders but also as a friend...and to keep a promise.
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The arrival of evening found me sitting beside the fireplace, enjoying the desolate silence around the cabins as everyone trickled out for dinner.
My enjoyment grew tenfold however, when not too long later, Hestia presented herself in her littlest and cutest form.
I smiled, bowing like the knights of old to greet the royalty. "Dear lady, thank you for gracing me with your presence."
"My presence is always at your service." She replied with the same courtesy.
With a full-bellied laugh, I took the goddess's childish form into my arms. "It's good to see you Aunt Hestia."
"And you as well, dear nephew." She gave a beautiful smile, before her face became grimmer. "Though I fear I do not bear good news."
"Yeah, whatever." I waved the seriousness away "Your presence is enough to make anything brighter."
She chuckled, mussing my hair (she was the sole one allowed to do so without losing their hands). "Unfortunately, the rest of our family does not share the same sentiment. My presence has been quite useless lately."
"Then they are fools who's got absolutely no idea about your worth." I replied firmly, suppressing the urge to stop her from adding me with the rest of her family, and focusing on more important topics. Namely, brightening her grim mood. "You shouldn't be sad on their account."
"I cannot help myself. Worrying about families comes under my domain." She chuckled, resting her head on my shoulder with a sigh. "And it's quite a heavy job when your family are the Olympians. I'd hoped my brother's newfound wisdom will make him a better king, but it seems some things will always stay the same."
Ain't that the truth.
I snorted lightly, gently patting her head. "Tell me. Maybe I can help."
"You already help much by sharing some time with me, Mikael. You need not worry about my problems. Especially when you have your own problems to worry about. Don't think I'm ignorant about your fight with Heracles."
"Oh c'mon." I waved her worries away. "Don't worry about that puny god, he'll stay away if he knows what's good for him. And how am I any help? All I do is bask under the glory of your beautiful presence. It is more like helping myself than helping you."
I chuckled as her cheeks gained a lovely rosy shade, though I couldn't dodge her swat at my shoulder. Ouch. "Hush, you charmer. I pity the girls you will leave broken hearted."
She shook her head, finally relenting the info with a sigh. "Your father and uncle are set upon the war, none willing to back down. Me, Hera, and Demeter has been trying to calm the brothers but the rest of the family has already started picking sides. Should this continue, a war is inevitable."
"Ah yes, of course. The war, us Greeks sure love them, don't we?" I chuckled, before patting her head again. "But don't worry, dear aunt. We will soon be leaving on a quest to stop the war. You have nothing to fear, trust me."
"I trust you."
That single line did wonders to my confidence and ego, and put a huge smile on my face for the rest of the night.
There's no way I will fail after that.
But now, back to work.
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AN: Finished! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
For those wondering, he will definitely unlock his godly domains but there's still some requirements that he hasn't completed yet, thus delaying their appearance. Also, he will only be an actual God once he unlocks the domain, so don't be disappointed by the lack of reaction for his supposed ascendance. You all will get to see that soon.
Now like I promised, the pairings. I'm not revealing all of them here, cause that'll kill all mystery and suspense behind it. So I'm only revealing those that might brew controversial feelings amongst you, and they are: Thalia, Gabriel, Grayfia, and Aphrodite. There are 10 in total but I think these 4 are the only ones that are 'bitching-worthy'.
Thalia and Gabriel are easy to see: Both are incestuous relationship (though I don't consider Thalia as incest). Grayfia, on the other hand, is married to Sirzechs, so this might make some uncomfortable as well. Aphrodite, at last, is considered a divine whore (amongst readers), so that might ruffle some features.
Now, I have no excuses for Incest. Like it, great. Bear with it, thanks. Don't like it, shame. Same with Grayfia; I haven't planned anything concrete yet, but if you're a die-hard Sirzechs fan, pls be ready for anything. Aphrodite on the other hand, will be of my own version and shall have a decent bit of character development before they are together. Also, cause some of you were disappointed: Yes, Annabeth is in the pairings but she's just too young for Mikael to see her as romantically.
If you really want to know the pairings, join the discord and ask there. Link's at the start of chap.
Well that's all for today, give me your thoughts on Mikael's new skills and I'll see you lot in the next chapter.
Goodbye and peace!
P.S: Next chapter's for Strange Old World on 15. Next chap for MGO is on 21. Also, sorry for being late. Was editing my latest chapter till the last second.