Smithing

Later that day, Alexander walked over to the infirmary to see Percy. Apparently, he was in the right place at the right time, as Percy was awake, "Hey there sleepy head"

"Hey Alex", he said weakly, "my mom- she- she is gone"

"What happened?", he was confused, had the monsters gotten to her before she could drive off?

"Percy's mom got crushed by the minotaur", Grover said. Alexander hadn't even noticed him sitting by his bed, "he killed him but fell unconscious in the process, I had to drag him over the border"

"But it wasn't a normal crushing, she disintegrated", Percy protested, "like Dotts or Bull head. Maybe I can still save her!"

"It is strange", Grover nodded slowly, "I have never heard of something like this happening… maybe you can still save her… I wish I could help you but I have different plans. I finally got my searcher's permit, I'll be out, looking for Pan"

"Good for you, I guess?", Percy didn't quite know what a searcher's permit was, so he just nodded along. Alexander didn't know either, that wasn't discussed in the orientation film.

"*sight*, you don't know yet, do you? Well, Pan, the god of the wild has disappeared a few thousand years ago and ever since, brave satyrs have been going out, searching for him, they are called searchers. It has always been my dream to find him and now, thanks to you, Percy, I'm allowed to! One of the requirements for a searcher's permit is to successfully escort a demigod to camp. I failed once before but you, you were unconscious but at least you were alive! Thank you so much man", He hugged Percy.

"Glad I could help? I think?"

"Ah, you are awake", A blonde kid said from the other side of the infirmary, he wore an orange camp half blood t-shirt and a necklace with two clay beads around his neck. One bead for every summer that you have been at camp. His name was Ronny Black, "Let me see, fatigued but your broken bones have healed nicely, I would recommend not to put too much pressure on your left leg for a few days but after that, you should be fine to go. I'll show you around camp, the name's Ronny, son of Apollo"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Percy, son of Poseidon", he introduced himself.

"Believe me, every kid in camp knows who you are. Defeated the minotaur and a kid of the big three? News travels fast", Ronny walked him away from the infirmary. Alexander was tempted to follow but decided against it, instead walking back to cabin eleven, where a hot round of poker was being played. Instead of Chips, they were using drachma.

"I raise three drachma"

"Call"

"Fold"

"Call"

He watched them play. One of them was winning more often than not. When he played his fourth Royal flush in eight games, a golden cornucopia appeared above his head.

"A son of Tyche, no wonder you keep winning", one of the campers complained, "that is totally cheating! You are banned from further play"

"Aw- I was just getting started", the son of Tyche complained, pocketing his winnings and left the table.

"Hey you, Alexander, do you want in? We are a player short"

"Sure", he had played poker before, it was decently fun.

They played till dinner time. Sometimes he lost, sometimes he won but in the end, he was a couple of drachma richer than before he started. Thanks to his status as the gamer, he had the perfect poker face.

At dinner, he once again burned food for all the olympians and his father.

Percy came over after they had eaten and were about to go to bed, telling him about his encounter with Clarrise, an Ares kid. She had tried giving him a toilet dunk when the water out of the toilettes exploded and sent her and her goons flying. He said that controlling water was getting easier and easier. He practiced during dinner with his blue coke -because of course it was blue- and he could form it into shapes with medium concentration. If he focused really hard, he could even make it freeze or boil.

"That's awesome", Alexander nodded thoughtfully. It was insane how fast he was improving. At this rate, he would never catch up. Simply by knowing that he was a demigod, he had stats in the S rank range, how high would they become if he trained?

Alexander could improve his skills with training but it seems as though his abilities were only able to be raised through quests and the only way he had found so far to get quests was to enter dungeons and those were few and far between.

Most dungeons he had encountered were one time use only. Thalia's dungeon was the only exception so far, it had a cooldown but he could enter it multiple times. He would have to find more dungeons…

The next day, they started with breakfast, after which, they went to the forge. Under the guidance of the older kids, Alexander hammered away at a chunk of celestial bronze, forming it into a sword. It was poorly made but still better than what he had before.

[New skill learned: craft]

He opened his status and looked at his new skill.

Craft: D(Creating something from raw ingredients)

It started at D rank? Not F? Strange but he wasn't complaining, higher skills = better.

After that, they had Archery, in which his archery skill rose a rank to C-. Information and muscle memory flowed into his being as he ranked up. The system was really a fantastic cheat. He became stronger at a rate far above normal capabilities. The rest of the day went by without further notice and this time, he actually slept instead of being up all night. Sleeping was nice, it helped him shut up his mind and just lose himself to the dreams. He dreamt of home, his mother and even his father. His mother was younger and had a belly, "You will have to send him to camp some day, at the latest when he discovers he is a demigod", his father, Boreas said.

"I know but- at least let me have some years with him", she said, "I always wanted a son… now I'm getting one and I'm just supposed to let him go?"

"It is the way of things"