Chapter 491
One Month Ago;
Percy stood at the Fist of Zeus waiting for the rest of the head
counselors to show up. It was the weekend and Percy had already
contacted Julia in the Roman camp and told her he was coming.
Soon the first one to show up was Katie Gardner, the head of the
Demeter camp.
"Hey Katie," Percy waved at her.
"Hey Percy," Katie waved back as she looked around awkwardly
waiting in silence.
Percy chuckled, "okay why are you acting so weird?"
Katie bleached, "I-I not acting weird! Why do you think I'm acting
weird?"
"Because you refuse to make eye contact with me for longer than five
seconds?"
Katie tried to deny it but Percy kept probing into her before she finally
gave up. Katie sighed, "well it's just that...well I always thought you
were kind of cute, but we never really seemed to talk much. So it's kind
of...awkward."
Percy chuckled, "yeah you're right, we haven't spoken much. Maybe
we should change that," Percy sat down on the rocks, "so tell me
something about yourself?"
Katie blinked, "well...I like flowers. And ah….I like gardening."
"Well with a name like Gardening you better," Percy joked causing
Katie to chuckle in response.
"Well you are right."
"So tell me about Demeter, what type of Goddess is she?"
"My mom is….well she's different. She's kind of….she has this dazed
attitude about her that freaks people out. She's also a total klutz when
it comes to things that doesn't involve plants. I would think she's kind of
crazy, but every time I thought that I noticed that my plants all turned
blue and I have spent forever-shit! I mentioned it! Fuck, mom is going
to turn roses blue!"
Percy smiled at Katie's dazed attitude, 'like mother like daughter I
suppose'. Percy waited for her to calm down before he spoke, "blue
roses huh? Mind if I buy them off of you?"
Katie blinked, "really? But it would look like it has been dipped in ink
and then spray painted, you okay with that?"
Percy smiled, "blue is my favorite colour, if you haven't noticed," Percy
pointed to his shirt, "plus my mom loves all things blue. Maybe I'll give
her some blue roses."
Katie smiled, as the two continued to talk until the rest of the head
counselors arrived.
Percy looked at them, "guess we'll talk later."
Katie smiled, "I'll like that."
"Oh and before I forget," Percy calle doubt as he opened his inventory
and pulled out a fruit. It looked like an apple but it was shaped like a
pear, "here, try to see whether you can make more of these."
Percy threw the fruit to Katie who caught it with ease and examined it
close. Slowly she looked amazed as a wide smile came on her face,
"what is this?"
"It's called a fruit of happiness," Percy told here, "anyone who eats it
will become happier for the next hour."
"So that's why I feel so happy."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were supposed to eat it first
before you felt the effects, hm….must have read that wrong," the last
part he muttered under his breath.
"No, you see as a child of Demeter I can feel plants and their powers.
Kind of like you and the sea I think. Usually I can only feel the plants
and tell what they are and what he can do, but this fruit...this is really
powerful, it's influencing me and I'm not even trying to feel it out."
Percy nodded, "hm...must be something to do with your powers.
Etherway try to figure out how to make more, we can totally use those
in parties."
Katie grinned, "I like the way you think Percy."
The two new friends quickly ended their conversations as the last of
the head counselors, Thalia, showed up.
They were all here, Clarisse, the Stoll brothers, Selina, Charles, Lee,
Annabeth, Castor, the son of Dionysus and of course Katie, Percy and
Thalia. And representing the minor Gods was Bianca, who was mostly
selected because no one else wanted the job and she was the only
one among them all who had the mental maturity to fill the position.
Percy stepped in front of the whole underneath the fist of Zeus and
cleared his throat, "alright guys listen up. As you know we are all going
to camp Jupiter today. You all will be going there to learn from them
how to fight as an army. As individuals of even small squads we have
them beat, But their teamwork is unparalleled."
"Who will we be learning all of this from?" Lee Fletcher asked.
"Mostly from the Centurions from each cohort," that their confused
looks Percy continued, "they are the like head counselors there. Didn't I
tell you all this before?"
Travis and Conner shrugged as the former spoke, "they're Roman, who
actually takes time to remember them?"
Percy sighed, "and another thing. While there I expect you all to be on
your best behaviour. No fighting," he glared at Clarisse, "no pranks," he
looked at the Stoll brothers, "and no….ah, guess that's it."
"Sweetie you challenged Rob the first day there," Thalia spoke up, "you
telling us not to pick fights is kind of hypocritical, don't you think?"
Percy sighed as he rubbed his temples, "look this alliance is fragile
enough as it is. Just don't….don't do something to piss them off."
"Really?" Annabeth raised her eyebrow, "you're going to tell us that?"
Percy groaned, "I'm allowed to piss people off Annabeth, it's kind of my
deal. Plus the Romans know me, and most of all, they fear me. I have
that to back me up you guys….don't. So be careful, please."
"Alright alright, no need to beg," Clarisse said in a mocking tone, "we
will all behave like adults."
"Mostly," Selina added at the end grinning at her friend.
Clarisse grinned back, "mostly."
Percy sighed, "this is going to end so badly, I just know it."
After explaining to them all how Percy was able to travel through the
labyrinth, and after calming Annabeth down after she realised that the
labyrinth was real, Percy took the group of head counselors and went
into Labyrinth.
Chapter 492
Percy had a rope tied on each demigods had stringing along everyone
in a straight line. The tunnel felt more like a cave and it got narrower
and narrower. But just then it suddenly opened up letting each demigod
walk in pairs comfortably.
Percy lead them through the comfortable five minute walk and soon the
tunnel ended with a wall standing in front of them.
"Did we seriously hit a dead end?" Castor asked in a belittling tone
reminding Percy that yes, he was in fact related to Dionysus.
"No we didn't," Percy pressed his hand on the wall allowing it to slide
open, "it was just locked."
The demigods walked out into the tunnel as they all quickly untied the
ropes around them. Percy closed the entrance to the Labyrinth as
Thalia guided them towards camp Jupiter.
A look of wonder and amazement came onto their faces as they looked
down into the valley in which camp Jupiter stood.
"This is camp Jupiter," Percy said as he walked up to them, "that right
there," he pointed to the Roman encampment, "is their military base.
Kind of like our camp site. The flat lands next to them is called the field
of Mars, the place where they train, and that," he pointed to New
Rome, "is where demigods go to retire."
"Holy shit," Lee cursed, "they have a fucking city?!"
Thalia nodded, "yeah, after a Legionnaire, I mean camper, after they
serve 10 years with the army they get to live in the city. Inside there is a
college and plenty of room for a family."
"Woah," the Stoll brothers said at once. "So people actually grow old
and die?" Conner asked in amazement.
Percy chuckled, "it's kind of messed up that we find that amazing."
"Yes, it is," Charles agreed as he sprouted a small smile, "we should
build a place like this back in our camp. A place for the Greek
demigods."
Percy nodded, "I fully intend to."
"What?!" Annabeth cried out, "are you serious?"
Percy blinked in surprise, "yeah...didn't I tell you?"
"NO!"
Percy chuckled nervously, "well I honestly meant to. I wanted your help
to design this city of ours."
Annabeth started to panic, "holy shit holy shit holy shit! I am so freaking
out right now! Where are we going to build it?! Will we even have
enough material to build it? How is it going to be designed? What
protections will it have?"
Percy smiled, underneath all that nervousness Percy could tell
Annabeth was excited. Per put a hand on her shoulder, "relax
Annabeth, we'll figure it out," he smiled reassuringly at her, "leave the
materials and land buying up to me. I got the money."
Annabeth blinked, "are you serious? How much."
"More than enough to basically give you a blank check when it comes
to the cost of designing the city."
Annabeth squealed in joy as Thalia chuckled at her friends actions.
She leaned into Percy's ear, "I think you might have just given her an
orgasim."
Percy blushed, "l-let's move forward guys! Don't want to keep the
Romans waiting!"
Thalia chuckled but said nothing as Percy lead them down to the
valley. When they reached little Tiber Percy froze a bridge for them to
walk over the water and guided the Greeks across. He and Thalia then
stepped up to the front of the wooden gates while the others waited
patiently behind looking forward.
Percy knocked the door, "open up!"
The shutter in the middle of the gate slide open, "what do you-oh it's
you Percy! Come in man!" The shutter closed but Percy could hear the
guy on the other side call for the Praetors and to open the gates.
The wooden doors creaked as they swung inside allowing the greek
demigods their first look at the camps.
They were distracted by everything, mostly due to their ADHD acting
up. They stared at all as slowly more and more Roman Legionaires
gathered around the entrance.
"Percy and Thalia are back!" some one cried.
"And they brought more Greeks with them!" another called out
"Oh great! Let's just hope the new ones aren't as crazy as them."
"Who said that?!" Percy roared.
"Sorry!" the same voice yelled as slowly the crowd parted allowing Julia
and Rob to walk towards them. The two Praetor's hadn't changed at all,
they wore the same uniform, Percy wondered if they even changed
their togas.
"It felt like you both left camp just the other day," Rob said grinning at
Percy, "what's the matter? Missed the awesomeness at is Rome the
moment you went back to the Greek camp?"
"Actually yeah, I totally missed the way I humiliated you the last time I
was here," Percy snarked back, "oh and by the way, remind me again
who you are?"
Rob went pale, "you can't be serious man! I mean come on! That was
over a week ago!"
Percy shrugged, "a deal's a deal. Or does the Roman Praetor break his
word?"
Rob grumbled, "Neptune is the greatest, and I am a stupid dumb son of
Mars."
Percy grinned, "good boy."
Thalia sighed, "not even five seconds and you already pissing people
off," she turned to Julia, "how have you been Julia? Keeping Rob in
check?"
Julia chuckled, "as much as I can. Good to see you as well Thalia," she
looked at the head counselors behind her, "I am assuming that these
are the head counselors you spoke off?"
Thalia nodded, "yup. Come on up here guys!" The demigods walked up
slowly, they looked around at the Roman around them and were
understandably nervous.
"Relax guys, they don't bite," Percy assured them, "they are all a bunch
of softies," Percy gripped Rob's cheeks and pinched them, "aren't you,
you Roman Praetor you? Aren't you a big softie?"
Annabeth sighed, "weren't you the same guy who told us not to do
something that would piss people off?"
Percy nodded, "I also said I was allowed to do so because I'm special."
Rob rolled his eyes, "yes you are. The ability to make me angry with
three words or less is truly something worth call special." Romans
around chuckled at Rob's joke while Percy also grinned from ear to ear.
Chapter 493
"Well then let's get the introductions out of the way," Thalia spoke up,
"this is Annabeth, daughter of Athena or Minerva in your case. Charles,
son of Vulcan. the Stoll brothers, Travis and Conner, the twins of
Mercury, be careful they prank people, like a lot."
From there Percy took over, "the girl that looks like she is itching for a
fight is Clarisse, daughter of Mars, you sister Rob," Rob waved at her
and Clarisse nodded in acknowledgement, "the beauty queen over
there is the daughter of Venus, Selina. The guy who looks like he is
analyzing everything in sight is Lee, son of Apollo. The girl with the
brown hair and green eyes and the smile that just won't go away is
Katie, daughter of a….what's the Roman form of Demeter?"
"Ceres," Julia supplied.
Percy nodded, "right, Ceres. And last but not the least is Castor, son of
Bacchus."
Julia nodded, "welcome head counselors of camp Half-blood, I am
Julia Roberts, the Praetor of this camp and daughter of Venus."
"What?!" Thalia and Percy shouted at once.
Julia raised an eyebrow, "why is that so surprising?"
Percy paled under Julia's glare, "well it's just that- ah…..you tell her
Thalia!"
Thalia blinked, "me?" Julia looked at her, "well it's just that….you don't
really feel like a daughter of Venus."
"What do you mean?" Selina asked crossing her arms.
Thalia paled, "you answer her Percy!"
"What?! Why do I have to?"
"Because it's your duty as the boyfriend in this relationship!"
Julia smiled at that statement while the rest of the Romans shouted,
"WHAT?!"
"Haha!" Conner laughed, "that was our exact reaction as well."
"A child of Neptune and a daughter of Jupiter?!" Rob yelled out, "is
Venus going mad?"
"Shut up Rob," Julia snapped at him while other children of Venus
glared at the Praetor, including Selina.
Thalia clicked her teeth in disappointment, "didn't I tell you to never
insult a God in front of their kids?"
Rob paled as he put his head down, "I'm sorry."
"Thalia?" a familiar voice called out as Jason ran out of the crowd and
into his sister's waiting arms.
"Jason!" Thalia called out as she grabbed her little brother and hugged
him tightly.
"You came back!" Jason cried out in happiness.
Thalia grinned as she rubbed her knuckles on Jason's head, "of course
I did dum dum, didn't I tell you I was going to?"
Jason grinned, "yeah, hehe, I forgot."
Thalia chuckled at brother's behavior as she called Annabeth over to
introduce the daughter of Athena to her brother.
After a few more minutes of catching up Julia took the head
councillors, along with Thalia, while Percy got stuck with Rob.
The two demigods walked into the field of Mars and there waiting for
them was an entire cohort armed with imperial gold weapons and
armour with their flag depicting an Eagle held high up.
"So I'm going to be dealing with the first Cohort today?" Percy asked
Rob.
The Praetor nodded, "yup. And I'm coming with."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "really?"
Rob nodded as he put on his helmet, "yeah. What? You thought I was
just going to hand over one fifth of the army to you no questions
asked? Come on Percy, we like you, but we aren't stupid."
Percy chuckled, "fair enough," Percy took out the huge length of rope
he used before and untangled it, "alright everyone listen up! What
you're about to do is a training exercise of sorts. As some of you many
know I have the power to create pocket dimensions, and one variation
of said power is the ability to create worlds with monsters in them!"
"What type of monsters?" one of the Legionnaires asked.
Percy looked at their title and smiled, "excellent question Reyna,"
Percy smirked at her surprised look, "I remember you from the time we
first entered camp."
"I am honoured sir!" Reyna stood at attention.
"At ease soldier," Percy chuckled, "now to answer Reyna's questions,
the monsters you will be fighting are….a secret."
The Romans looked surprised while Percy continued, "this is mainly to
get you used to the element of surprise. Obviously it will only work
once, so I want to just see and gauge what you all would do at the said
situation. Now, here are the rules. If you are about to die I will intervene
and pull you aside. Once I pull you out you will stay where you are,
unless you have to move in order to avoid a monster attack. The world
where I am about to take you is no laughing matter, is something
happens to you and we leave without you, you will be stuck in a world
which is filled with nothing but monsters. Is this clear?"
The Romans looked at each other nervously as many whispered
amongst themselves.
Percy rolled his eyes, "I said, IS THAT CLEAR?!"
"Sir yes sir!' The Romans shouted out.
Percy nodded, "good. Now, I am sending around this rope," Percy
threw it into their ranks, "I want you all to pass it along and hold it
tightly once everyone got a piece of it. And remember, the moment we
leave this world you are on your own. You won't see me, you won't get
any advice from me."
The Romans all nodded, even Rob who Percy expected to say
something snarky like, 'as if we ever would need the help of a Greek,'
kept quite.
After everyone had a piece of the rope Percy put his hand up, 'ID
Create: Zombies.'
The legionnaires were all stunned as they saw the blue sky turn red. All
the sound they heard from camp or even New Rome was gone. It was
like they were the only ones alive. They looked around and sure
enough they found no sign of Percy anywhere.
"Alright men!" Rob cried out, "line up! And remember, we don't know
what these monsters are, so until we know where they are going to
come from no one try anything risky! Stay together!"
Percy sat on top of one of the now empty watch towers looked down at
the first cohort. So far they had stayed together and moved slowly
across the field of Mars towards the campsite. Percy had already taken
a look around and found that the normal zombies, that is the weaker
kind, hanged out mostly around the borders of the encampment while
the tough zombies were found deeper inside.
Chapter 494
Percy had also checked New Rome and sure enough the same pattern
of weaker zombies on the outside while the stronger ones on the inside
held true. Percy watched as the first cohort eventually made it onto the
road leading to the encampment, he smirked, 'looks like the show is
about to begin.'
"Open the doors!" Rob shouted at the closed doors of the wooden
encampment. They waited for many minutes but nothing happened.
Rob cursed, "you two push the doors open!"
The first two legionaries nodded as they moved too the doors and
slowly pushed them apart. The moment the door were opened however
a hoard of the undead jumped out of the shadows of the wall and from
the sides and charged the first cohort.
The two legionnaires who opened the door were hit first. One managed
to fight them off while he rejoined the other by the other one tripped
and fell down.
Percy zoomed forward and grabbed the fallen soldier before the
zombies could get him. He reappeared in the middle of the field of
Mars and put the Legionnaire down.
The Roman looked up, "what were those things?"
"Zombies," Percy replied as he poured mana into his gem and
summoned Craig and Zed. The servants bowed to him, "protect this
Roman and the others that I bring. Don't let them sneak away. If they
are here, they stay here. Unless staying here endangers their lives, got
it?"
"Got it boss," Zed said while Craig just silently nodded.
Percy then went back into the action and hoped he didn't miss
anything. So far no one else had died while he was away, which was
good. It seemed Rob didn't lose his cool as he had ordered all the
Romans to form a turtle structure using their shield to give them the
defence they needed.
The Romans then made small openings in their shield structures
through which spears were thrust out killing zombies in either one
critical strike or multiple ones.
Percy smiled as soon all the normal zombies were taken care off by the
legionnaires. Rob finally released the turtle grinning, he raised his
spear up, "VICTORY!" The Romans copied him as they cheered along
with their Praetor.
Percy sighed, 'you so should have not done that pal.'
"ARGH!" the sound of hundreds of voices roaring at the same time tore
through the camp. The Roman's premature cheering had gained them
at the attention of all the stronger zombies inside the camp, and they
were all coming for them.
Rob and the other's paled at the sight of Roman zombies charging at
them. It seems in camp Jupiter the stronger zombies were all Roman
while in camp Half-blood they were Greek. They had the exact same
stats, just different looks to them.
The Roma zombies were semi-organized as they charged forward with
their shields interlocks and spear thrusted forward.
"Return to positions!" Rob called out as they quickly reformed the turtle
position. Percy then watched as the zombies rammed the Romans
pushing them back. The ones in the back were unaffected, but the
ones in the front were hurt.
The ones in the front fought back, but the Romans zombies attacked
them mercilessly. Percy had to move fast, picking up injured Romans
and healing them with his blood runes.
The Romans however quickly beat them all, and it only cost them half
their forces. Rob now stood panting, that battle was difficult for him. Not
only were the zombies Romans, but they also were undead.
The concept of the Roman battle tactics was to fight over the fallen
bodies of your comrades, replacing them before your defensive or
offencive position has been compensated. But the Legionnaires were
only human, even if they were trained to walk over the dead, saying
something and doing it were two different things.
The Zombies however didn't have any qualms about that. They walked
over their dead, they used their weapons in the fight. They were
merciless, it was like fighting the perfect Roman army.
"Not bad," Percy called out from the sidelines. The Romans all
snapped their weapons at him in a panic but calmed down once they
realised it was him.
"Jackson," Rob growled out, "what are these things?!"
"I told you, monsters. These things are a representation of what you
might have to face when fighting the Titans. Their army will be the
same," Percy narrowed his eyes, "just as merciless but even more
powerful. These zombies are nothing, they are not even that properly
organized. While I admit you Romans impressed me, you are all far
from ready."
Rob sighed, "where are the others? Are they okay?"
Percy nodded, "yes. Follow me."
The Romans did as Percy lead them back to the field of Mars. Percy
dismissed Craig and Zed and allowed the Romans to meet up with
their comrades.
"Line up!" Percy called out as he passed out the rope to them all. After
double checking everyone was present Percy put his hand up, 'ID
Escape!'
The Roman were relieved to see the blue sky again along with the
sounds of their fellow soldiers in the camp.
Percy walked forward, "now...how do you think you all did?"
The Romans looked down in disappointment as Rob spoke up, "badly."
Percy shook his head, "actually you all did pretty good. Much better
than the first batch of Greeks I trained in fact."
The Romans looked surprised at that, "really?" One Roman asked.
Percy nodded, "yup. A lot more people almost died in their run. But
they did manage to get further than you lot. Seriously, half a wave and
you all were already exhausted."
"What do you mean half a wave?" Rob asked, "we faced two waves of
zombies!"
Percy shook his head, "nope. Every wave of zombies contains a
mixture of normal zombies and special zombies. You beat them both
and the final boss of the wave appears. You guys only managed to
fight off half of the zombies in that world, there was another army of
them hidden inside New Rome which you would have had to fight. Only
then would you have faced the final boss, and only after you defeat
them does it count as beating one wave of zombies."
Chapter 495
The Romans were surprised and horrified at what Percy was telling
them. Rib was discouraged and so were the rest of them. Percy
sighed, "look, this is completely expected, okay? There was literally
nothing you lot could have done. All this proved was judging how well
you all did in a stressful situation, nothing else. So keep your chin up
Romans, you will have another chance to prove yourselves, and I
expect you all to do better next time."
The Romans all nodded as a look of challenge came into their eyes.
Percy grinned, this was exactly what he wanted, that look, that look of
determination.
Percy dismissed the cohort and Rob quickly brought up the second
cohort for their training. The Centurion for that cohort, Michael Brown,
son of Vulcan, lead the group of soldiers and Percy took them through
the same training routine he used for the first.
At the end of that day Percy had tested all 5 cohorts and the results
were surprising to say the least.
The first cohort did the worst, they were far too rigid. They stuck to the
basic Roman statics and while that might have been alright for fighting
other humans, ruthless monster's were another matter.
The second Cohort did better, they had managed to loose less people,
but Percy still stopped them all half way through the battle after they
cleared the camp.
The third was just like the first, stuck to the rules of combat and didn't
adapt quickly enough. The fourth did a little better than the second as
they had made it halfway into the city before Percy stopped them.
Then came the fifth cohort, the one Jason was in. They were the most
relaxed cohort of them all, Rob was right, they were more Greek than
anyone else in this camp. So maybe that was why they did so well.
Percy was amazed that the way Jason took charged. The Centurion for
the fifth, some dude named Sam, froze seeing the zombies. Jason lead
the charge and decimated the weaker zombies. And instead of blindly
charging in Jason sent scouts to look and draw out groups of Roman
zombies. Once they were out the cohort would attack them before they
alerted the others.
This went on until they completely annihilated the zombies inside the
encampment. Soon the went to New Rome where Percy just watched
and smiled as Jason applied the same tactics over here as well.
They lost very few Legionnaires, probably just 15 or so. Eventually
Percy himself had to step in and stop the battle because at the end the
fifth had cleared all the zombies resulting in the summoning of the
Legion Zombie that Percy scared away with one look.
Soon after the fifth were done Percy got Rob to bring all five Cohorts to
the field of Mars as Percy wrote a very basic report. Damn Romans
and their paperwork.
The son of Poseidon stood in front of them all with his finished ten
page report in hand. He looked at all the Centurions and the
Legionaries, they looked straight ahead, not made eye contact with
him. Percy smiled at the respect they gave him, 'damn, I wish the
Greeks were like this. But then again that might over inflate my ego….'
"So, who do you think did the best?" Percy asked frankly.
"The fifth," Rob spoke out solemnly causing the Romans in the first
cohort to glare at the fifth.
"Stop glaring!" Percy shouted causing to snap their eyes forward, "you
all failed, it isn't their fault for being better than you! Instead of belittling
them with your looks try and learn why they succeeded while you
failed!" The first cohort looked down in shame as Jason finally realised
why Percy was in fact the Greek camp leader, and not Thalia. The son
of Poseidon might be laid back, but he can also be a ferocious and
merciless leader.
"Now...why do you all think they succeeded?" No one answered Percy,
"well since no one has the balls to speak up I'll do it. It's because they
were able to adapt to their situations. The fifth didn't stick to the rules of
combat, which works great only when fighting humans, monsters, as
you all know now, are completely different."
"So they were better because they fought like Greeks?" Rob asked in
surprise.
Percy sighed, "Rob you have got to stop using that term as an insult.
Or I swear to the Gods I will shove that spear up your ass."
Rob gulped, "s-sorry."
Percy rolled his eyes, "but to answer your question, yes. The way they
fought was an amalgamation of Roman battle formations and tactics
with Greek adaptability and strategy. I realise that it might not seem
honorable to you all, to try and sneak up on enemies or use guerrilla
tactics. But they get the job done and it keeps you alive. It doesn't
matter if it is the Greek way of doing things or the Roman way, you do
whatever that keeps you alive and brings you victory. Never forget
that."
After that little pep talk Rob dismissed the cohorts and took Percy to
the Greek Head counselors. It seemed that Julia had taken to
personally teach them all the basics of Roman strategy and warfare.
Percy still had a hard time believing Julia was the daughter of Venus.
Every other daughter of Venus, or Aphrodite in this case, Percy meet
had been a ditsy, flirty, girl that cared more about her nails and what to
wear then war.
Julia however was nothing like that. She was more like a child of
Athena, she was always calm and collected, knew lots of things, and
most of all was extremely scary when she wants to be. In fact the only
thing that made her out to be a child of Venus was her looks, which
weren't boosted by any cosmetic additions.
The two demigods entered the Principia and sure enough there was
Julia with the rest of the Greek demigods. They were all sitting down in
chairs with arm rests in them like a classroom with Julia being the
teacher.
But she wasn't alone as Carrie, the librarian of Rome, was also there
along with someone who Percy remembered seeing at the meeting
where Thalia and him were declared the Praetors of the Greek camp;
Jordan Cather, Professor of War in New Rome College
Lv- 24
Julia noticed them and turned to her class, "and I think that's enough
for today, what do you think Professor Jordan?"
Julia turned to the man in question. The older man was fat and had a
very hairy beard but no hair on top. He wore a three piece suit that
fitted him surprisingly well considering her body size and he gave off
this aura making him feel calm and knowledgeable.
"Yes Praetor, I do belive this is enough for today," the man smiled at his
Greek students, "don't want them to be overworked."
"No! Come on! Things were just getting interesting!" Annabeth called
out pouting. Thalia and the others rolled their eyes but said nothing as
Jordan and Julia chuckled at her attitude.
"Yes, but I do believe that we have reached our time limit for the day,"
Julia said motioning to Percy and Rob who were standing in the back.
Chapter 496
Percy and Rob then separated as Rob meet with his fellow Praetor and
professor while Carrie stood away from the group. Percy walked up to
his fellow Greek demigods and smiled, "so did you guys have fun?"
"Fun?" Travis Stoll raised an eyebrow, "we mostly stayed in a room and
listened to a bunch of people talk about ar for hours on end. Do you
think that was fun?"
"Yeah, what do you think we are? Children of Athena?" Conner asked
crossing his arms, "no offence Annabeth."
The daughter of wisdom rolled her eyes, "none taken. Believe me, I am
also glad you two aren't children of Athena. If you were, the cabin
probably won't be left standing in three days."
Percy chuckled, "so you guys did nothing else?"
"Not really," Katie spoke up, "Julia showed us around a bit. But then we
came back here.
"She mainly focused on war tactics and strategies employed during the
Roman times," Annabeth supplied as her grey eyes practically sparkled
in excitement, "she went into great details about historical wars, like the
second Punic war and the Battle of Faesulae, and in so much detail!
Historians haven't even learnt half of what really happened at that
time!"
"Yeah it was a great history lesson," Castor said rolling his eyes,
"bloody waste of time."
"This is something we need to learn Castor," Percy explained, "our
military strategy is lacking, we are great fighters but lack co-ordination.
We need to achieve a perfect balance of Roman and Greek fighting
style, only then can we even imagine taking on the army of the Titans."
Castor sighed, "I know it's just….it's that just," he pointed at Carrie was
busy reading a book, "I don't know what's with her. She keeps glaring
at everyone!"
"Not everyone, just you boys," Clarisse clarified.
"Yeah that's Carrie," Percy nodded, "she's like that."
"Oh? And how do you know Carrie?" Thalia asked with a smile.
"I told you Thalia, she's the one who helped me research Alcyoneus,"
Percy told his girlfriend.
"Oh, right," Thalia scratching her head in embarrassment. Percy
smiled, 'she get's so cute when she's jealous.'
And that was how the first set up between the Greeks and the Romans
ended.
This happened every weekend and over time things started to progress
further and further. The Cohorts took Percy's words to heart and soon
became better and better. By the end of the month the fifth cohort had
grown strong enough to defeat one leion zombie while the first
managed to finally clear all the minor zombies.
The Greek campers also went through a revolution of sorts. After
Julia's lessons, the head counselors realised the need to diversify all
the talent of the demigods into small groups. After all if you had a
squad of healers that would just make them the first target of the
enemy,
So they had started a new systems of battle. They divided the camp
fighters into squads. Each squad had 10 members, and with the camp
filled with exactly 147 demigods that gave way to 14 10 man squads,
one 6 man squad with Percy making up a squad of his own.
Each squad was given a number or a name related to Greek myth, like
Beta, Gamma, Homer, Achilles and Odysseus. Percy found that last
squad name particularly funny.
Percy himself was considered at the one man army and was given the
designation of Alpha. The 6 man squad was Beta squad and contained
Annabeth, Lee Fletcher, Thalia, Bianca, Clarisse and Charles
Beckendorf.
Percy was considered their trump card in any battle and would always
be sent out first. Beta squad was the tactical squad and would lead and
assign missions to everyone else. And Chiron and the other tutors
were given odd positions, filling in wherever they were needed most.
Other than that there was nothing much to say about the month that
followed. Although there was this one incident that stuck out in Percy's
mind;
Two Weeks Ago;
"ANNABETH!" Percy's voice tore through camp half-blood startling all
who heard it.
Annabeth herself was sitting in the Amphitheater with her siblings when
she heard her name called out. She looked up startled as people
wondered why Percy was calling out for her.
Just then Percy walked in with a book in hand. His face was one of
anger and sadness. Annabeth was surprised to see such a look on his
face. Fear took her heart, 'did something happen to Thalia? Did
something happen to his mother?'
Annabeth quickly ran to Percy, "what's wrong Percy?" she asked
frantically, "are you okay?"
Percy looked at her as slowly the anger faded. Percy suddenly hugged
Annabeth startling the girl. Tears slowly rolled down his face as he
started to cry on her shoulder.
"Percy's are you okay?" Annabeth asked holding, "is everything
alright?"
"H-he's dead," Percy stammered out, "they killed him."
"Who Percy?" Annabeth asked as panic rose inside of her, "is it Ed?
Did someone target Ed? Is it Nico? Michael?" Suddenly a dangerous
thought came to her mind. She lowered her voice to a whisper, "is it
Luke?"
"What? NO!" Percy broke the hug, "it's NED!"
Annabeth blinked, "who?" The rest of the demigods whispered in
confusion, none of them know of any Neds in camp or outside that
Percy could have been talking about.
"Ned Annabeth! Ned!" Percy started shaking Annabeth, "that fucking
cunt Joffrey killed Ned!"
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, "you mean Ned Stark the fictional
character?"
"He was the only good one in the whole of King's Landing! And they
killed him for it!" Percy started to cry again, "they killed NED!"
Annabeth groaned, "I knew I shouldn't have given you that book."
Later Thalia walked in and saw Percy crying while Annabeth comforted
him over and over with words like, 'there are other Starks,' or 'the
second book will be better.'
"Ah, what's going on?" Thalia asked walking up to them looking
understandably confused.
"Ned's dead Thalia!" Percy cried out as he grabbed her in a hug pulling
her close, "they killed him!"
Thalia looked from her boyfriend to Annabeth, "what is he talking
about?"
Annabeth sighed, "his favorite character died in his book."
Thalia blinked, "you mean the one he's always been reading during
training?"
Annabeth nodded, "yeah."
Percy sniffed, "it's not fair, why did Ned have to die? He was such a
good man."
Thalia sighed as she patted Percy's back like a baby, "there there
Percy, think of it this way, Ned is in a better place now."
Percy nodded, "yeah, with his best friend and sister. Sigh, you're right,"
Percy sniffed, "but I swear Ned will be avenged! He has a son! Robb
Stark will avenge his father!"
Annabeth smiled but said nothing, she didn't have the heart to tell him
that Rob would die before the end of the third book. So instead she
silent letting Percy have his hopes and dreams for now, because Percy
was yet to experience the soul crushing, dream tearing, hope sucking
world that was Westroes.
Percy turned to Thalia, "hey Thalia would you by chance be open to the
idea of naming our firstborn Ned?"
Thalia looked at him and started. She closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. She calmed herself down and looked Percy right in the eyes,
"Percy….no. Just no. I'm so not having this talk with you right now."
Chapter 497
Present day;
Yeah, looking back now he might have overreacted just a little bit.
Percy finished his breakfast and started his day. Today was Mera's turn
to train the demigods so he got a day off. Percy didn't really know what
to do with this day off, he rarely ever had any these days.
Usually he spent any free time he had with Annabeth learning more
about architecture and greek buildings in order to build the city he had
in mind. This resulted in him obtaining another few subskills in Home
construction;
Architecture, Lv- 4 (0%)
The ability to build buildings and other man made structure meant
for housing.
All buildings you build have a 70% chance of falling over
All buildings you build have a 35% chance of looking good
24% of product wastage.
You know;
Roman construction- Lv MAX Can understand and skillfully create
roman buildings
Construction of settlements- Lv- MAX
Greek Construction- Lv MAX Can understand and skilfully create
Greek Buildings
Plumbing, Lv- 1/10 Can construct basic plumbing
Electric lining, Lv-1/10 The laying of electric lines
Basic building, Lv-3/10 The basic construction of a modern
building.
Percy knew he wasn't anywhere close to being ready to actually build a
city or anything like that, but he was getting closer. In all honestly Percy
was glad he told Annabeth about his plans. The girl had so many ideas
and suggestions it was mind boggling.
The more Percy learn't from her, the more he realised he knew nothing
about construction. He knew how to make Roman buildings, and Greek
buildings, but modern buildings? Yeah, no. There was so much to do
and take in that Percy was sure he would go crazy, but luckily
Annabeth was there to act as a buffer of sorts, explaining everything to
him in careful detail.
Percy looked up at the sky, it really was a perfect day. Plus it was also
a Friday meaning with his lucky day perk he would gain +25 extra Luc
points.
Percy didn't really want to spend the day in camp. Lately all he ever
had to deal with was camp this and camp that. This was the first time in
a month that he had some free time, and maybe it was a little bit selfish
of him, but he did not want to spend that time hanging out in camp.
'Hm….maybe I should go to the Collector and talk to him about that
'favour' he owes me.'
Percy had been putting that off for some time now. It was honestly not
something he wanted to do. The Collector was an immortal with an
unknown agenda. Percy knew he couldn't' trust him, and he wasn't
going to. But he still needed his help.
Percy opened his inventory and found the Abyss card the Collector
gave him, 'this thing still has a tracking signal on it….I can't take it out
here or else he'll have the location of Camp, that is if he doesn't
already.'
But Percy wasn't going to risk it. So he walked to the edge of camp,
don't want to launch into near mach 1 speeds and cause a startle, that
might turn out….messy.
Percy quickly passed by the barrier tree, which is formally known as
Thalia's tree. They had finally come around to changing the name, and
there was also a new addition to said tree.
Since the Golden Fleece was pretty much the only thing keeping them
alive, a sort of safety net was needed to make sure not one tried to
steal it. And that came in the form of Peleus, the baby dragon.
Let that sink in for a moment, they had a baby dragon, and they were
using it for basically guarding duty…..yeah, needless to say the Greeks
were a little crazy.
The baby dragon himself was very small, just big enough to wrap itself
around one outgrown root of the tree. It had copper hued scales with
golden eyes. It was very friendly towards all the campers and soon
became a sort of mascot for them all. He was small now, but Percy
was willing to beat he would grow up into a big monstrous guardian.
Percy left camp grounds and took out his goggles putting them on. He
then ran near mach 1 speeds reaching New York in minutes. Percy
circled the city a bit before settling down near Central park.
Percy put away the goggles and took out the Abyss card Observing it;
Abyss Card: The Collector,
Serving as a device to connect to the particular person it is
bonded to.
Note: this card has a tracking device on it allowing the bonded
individual to track user.
Percy formed, 'now how do I get you to work?' He looked the card over,
it was pure black with a red border line. Percy remembered the
Collector once mention it was like a mobile phone so maybe….
Percy put the card up to his ear, "hello?"
Suddenly the card started to give out the ringtone of a phone. Percy
was surprised as slowly the card started to vibrate along with the
ringing sound. Suddenly the ringing stopped as someone picked up the
call. "Hello?"
Percy recognized that voice. It was the Collector, also known as the
Wandering Jew. His real name was Joseph Ahasver, but only Percy
knew that.
"Hello Joseph," Percy spoke like he would when holding a phone.
The other end of the line for silent for a moment before the Collector
spoke up again, "ah, Mr. Jackson. I expected your call sooner. I take it
you are ready to ask for your prize?"
"Yes," Percy's voice was crisp, "where are you?"
"I'll send a car," the Collector said, "oh, and I assume you have figured
out how to block the tracking signal on the card. Please do not do that,
at least until the car arrives."
Percy sighed, "you want me to take a car through New York city during
the afternoon lunch rush? No, just tell me where you are, I can get
there faster on foot."
The Collector hummed before he spoke up, "very well. Come to the
One MetroTech center located in Brooklyn. I will be on the top floor
present this card to my receptionist. I eagerly await you Mr. Jackson.
We have a lot to discuss."
Percy took the card away from his ear causing it to deactivate. Percy
put it into his inventory and took off. He crossed over to Brooklyn via
the Brooklyn bridge and sure enough the building in question was
located right as the bridge ended.
Chapter 498
The inside was the same as any office as Percy took the elevator to the
top floor. When the doors opened up it felt like Percy had stepped into
another world.
While the lobby of the building was plain like a simple office building,
this floor was the very definition of luxury. The walls were black marble
with red lights fixed along the sides of the wall. The Collector was really
going for the red and black theme here.
Percy saw paintings hanging up on the wall, most were of a biblical
nature featuring pictures of angels and demons or some story in the
bible. The couches pushed to the side were all made from shiny leather
and the table was made out of black marble.
On one of these couches was a very grumpy looking man dressed like
he was going to go to works. He had a suit and tie on along with a brief
case. He looked very normal, generic even, but when Percy looked at
his name he realised this guy was as unique as they came;
Nameless God, God of traffic
Lv- ?
Percy blinked, 'what the hell is a nameless God? Is his name itself
Nameless God? Like were his parents Mr and Mrs God and they
named their son Nameless' He wondered but kept quiet. If this was a
God, then it would be best not to stare. He already looks pissed off as it
is. Oh, maybe he's the God of slow moving traffic.
Percy walked to the receptionist, a young man with blonde hair and
green eyes. He was in his early twenties wearing a suit and tie and
smiled when he saw Percy approach him.
"Can I help you sir?" the man asked.
Percy nodded, "yes," Percy looked at his name, "you can Greg." The
receptionist was surprised that Percy knew his name but said nothing,
whether in shock or politeness Percy didn't know.
Percy took out the Abyss card from his inventory and gave it to Greg,
"he's expecting me."
The receptionist looked at the card and nodded, "right sir. Please step
to the door on your left."
Percy nodded, "thanks," he pocketed the card and went through the
door in question.
Ping!
You are entering a space gate!
Percy raised an eyebrow that that. The only other space gate he
entered was the one he used to go to Persephone in the Underworld.
Was this the same? Some sort of automated security system that took
him through another world? Percy shrugged, it made sense, after all
Joseph was a rich and powerful man, why would he have an office in
the middle of Brooklyn without any security features?
The doorway lead to a long grey hallway that was devoid of all the
luxury in the previous room. Percy looked to the corner and saw two,
no four security cameras. Percy could also feel some static electricity
running across the walls, after spending so much time with Thalia, who
was basically a human lightning rod, Percy tended to pick up on these
things.
As he walked down the hallway Percy sent a wave of mana out and felt
several magical wards and barriers around him. The information he
gained from his mana sense skills basically told him that if the wards
were activated he would basically be assaulted by 20 different lethal
spells. At the same time.
Percy finally reached the door at the end of the corridor and opened it.
And again, the demeanor of the room was different.
Ping!
You are entering a space gate!
Percy again ignored the message and walked on through. The room in
front of him was big, around 40 feet wide. A couple of couches were
located in the center of the room with a fireplace in front of them and a
table between. Like the first room this one's walls were also decorated
by paintings, only these seemed to be created by the same person.
The thing that stuck out to Percy though were the windows. Two walls
of the room were made out of glass giving Percy the view of the ocean.
It was almost like this room was built into the side of a cliff with the
ocean far below it.
Percy blinked, 'guess I was right about the space gates.'
"Ah, Percy, nice to see you again," a voice came from behind him.
Percy turned and saw the Wandering Jew walk in through the same
door he came through, only this time instead of the long grey corridor it
was a living room.
"Ah, I see that you are confused," Joseph said smiling, "you see these
door are connected by-"
"-A Space Gate," Percy cut him off, "I know. I used one before."
"Really?" Joseph asked sounding disappointed that he couldn't give his
explanations, "well…..I suppose it's time to get down to business.
Please, sit," he pointed to the couches.
Percy nodded, as he sat down opposite to Joseph. The Wandering Jew
cleared his throat, "so, what do you want?"
"A few things," Percy opened his inventory and took out one gold brick
putting it on the ground, "I need you to get me some who is willing to
buy these off of me."
Joseph took the brick of gold and looked at it, "hmm, unstamped, but it
looks pure enough. Maybe worth….500,000$? Maybe even 505,000 if
you can stretch it. If I was to guess you got this through some divine
power yes? Maybe charmed a child of Hades into creating it for you?"
Percy was surprised but Gamer's Gamer's mind helped him keep his
facial features in check. "Impressive," Percy said nodding, "and you are
right. The brick was extracted through magical means, but not with the
help of any child of Hades."
The Collector raised a pale eyebrow, "really? I find that hard to
believe."
Percy shrugged, "believe what you will Joseph, can you or can you not
help me?"
The Collector sighed, "I can help you," the Immortal Jew took out a
business card and gave it to Percy, "this is one of my businesses if you
have any gold or other precious metals to trade simply go there and do
so."
Chapter 499
Percy nodded as took the card and looked it over. The business in
question wasn't far from here, it was located in Queens, it would take
Percy seconds to reach it. After making sure that it too didn't have
some kind of tracking device of spell on it Percy slid the card into his
jeans pocket and nodded, "thanks."
The Collector nodded, "you are welcome. Now, is that really all you
wanted from me?"
Percy shook his head, "no. I also wanted to know whether you know
where I can get a few large plots of land for sale."
The Collector raised an eyebrow, "large plots of land? Why?"
"I am planning to build a haven for demigods," Percy freely admitted, "I
need land to do so. So….do you? I obviously have enough cash to pay
for it," he said motioning towards the gold brick.
"Really? A Haven for demigods? Don't you all already have that?"
Percy shook his head, "camp half-blood is more of a training camp
than a place of protection. People go there to learn how to survive and
serve the Gods, most don't live up to 20. I want to build a place for
them to grow old in, a place to raise a family and a place which actually
helps them have a future for themselves."
The Collector scratched his chin, "I see…..well I do have some
properties in mind. How much do you need?"
Percy shrugged, "around 6 square kilometers."
The Collector raised an eyebrow, "that's 1,500 acres of land. You sure
you can….right, you can basically summon an unlimited supply of gold,
I forgot. Well then the question turns to where you want this land to be.
In New York? The state I mean, not even you can afford 6 square Km
on New York. Well you could, but it would be to much of a hassall."
Percy smiled, "yeah, I know. I actually once thought of buying the
Empire State Building so that I could...never mind." Percy stopped
himself, he didn't want to reveal the locations of the home of the Gods.
The Collector smiled, "relax, I already know where Mount Olympus is
located," the man shrugged, "it's a giant mountain floating in the middle
of the city, kind of hard to miss."
Percy sighed, "guess you are right. Anyway, yeah, I would like the
place to be in New York, but that's not a completion. I need the land to
be in a safe place, it should also be easy to gaurd. And maybe not to
far away from roads, for easy transportation."
The Collector rubbed his chin, "well I may have a few places in Clinton
county and St. Lawrence. But they are pretty remote….I'll see what I
can do. Come back at the end of this month, I should have what you
need ready for you by then."
Percy nodded, "great. Then I suppose we are done here."
Joseph smiled, "yes, we are. Now tell me, what do you want?"
Percy blinked, "what? I already told you what I want. I wanted some
place to trade my gold and your help finding a pieces of land to buy."
The Wandering Jew smiled, "ture, ture. But those weren't requests,
they were business deals. I still owe you a reward."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "are you really that keen on giving me
something?"
The Wandering Jew nodded, "indeed, I am. You have given me
something I can never repay, you deserve fair treatment, to say the
least."
Percy looked in surprise, "what did I give you?"
The pale red eyed man smiled, "that doesn't matter. All that you have to
know is that you can still ask anything of me, and I will give it to you.
Be it money, power...women. Anything, ask and it is yours."
Percy's heart was beating, he had forgotten just who he was talking to.
This man was the unofficial head of Abyss. They sold things from
nuclear warheads to man made plagues. An aura of danger alway
hung around the Collector, but Percy thought he could take him on. But
he was once again reminded just how small he was in the scope of the
world.
Percy gulped, "n-no, thanks. I'm good. I'll ah, I will collect on my prize
later," Percy got up and walked towards the door. But before he could
even touch it, the door flung itself open.
Percy turned to Joseph, "my door is open to you any time young
demigod," the immortal man said with a smile, "please, don't be a
stranger."
Percy gulped and walked through the door slamming it behind him.
Joseph was left alone in his room as he smirked.
"You really poured on the freakyness there brother," said a voice from
one corner of the room. Suddenly a figure appeared out of nowhere as
she smiled at the man she called brother.
"You really should be more careful sister," Joseph said walking to one
wall and pressing up against it. A secret compartment opened up
revealing a bottle of scotch that was older than New York and two
glasses.
"I had the invisibility spell on, he wouldn't have seen me and I doubt
that his mana sense would have been able to detect me at the level it
is at," the woman huffed as she sat down where Percy sat smiling as
she felt the warmth of the recently sat on seat, "it's still so warm."
Joseph huffed as he poured two glasses of scotch, "you really do have
a problem sis."
"Bite me Jojo," the blue haired woman hissed as she narrowed her
sulphuric yellow eyes, "I have been waiting for this for a long time. A
really, really, really, long time."
The immortal man nodded as he brought their drinks, "yes, I know."
The blue haired woman took her glass as the two toasted, "to Percy
Jackson," the woman said with a smile, "the demigod who will save the
world."
Chapter 500
With Percy;
Percy couldn't get out of that building fast enough. He didn't want to
think about what had just happened. He actually was dreading the day
he visited that man again. But for now he had something to do.
Percy reached into his pocket and pulled out the business card. After
memorizing the address Percy took of reaching Queens in a minute
and talking one more to find where he needed to go.
The 'business' Percy found was in fact an ATM machine built into the
side of the wall of a bank. Percy might have even missed it, if it was not
for the fact that the machine was giving of mad amounts of mana.
The ATM itself, was blue with grey highlights. It's screen was black with
an 'Not Working' sign taped on it. But Percy could tell that it was
working perfectly fine.
Percy approached the machine and looked it over, 'no special levers,
not blinking buttons. Hm…..well he did technically give me a card to
use.'
Percy took out the card the Collector gave to him and slid it into the
Atm card slot. Suddenly the ATM started to whir into life as it ejects the
card back into Percy's hands and slowly went into the wall revealing a
set stairs leading under the machine.
Percy grinned, "cool."
The son of Poseidon entered the staircase as slowly the ATM slide
back into place closing the entrance. Percy shrugged, 'no going back
now.' He walked further down the set of stairs, he was least 20 feet
underground when the stairs ended in front of a door.
The door was wooden with it's top half made out of frosted glass with
the words, 'Seller's & Buyer's' written on it in bright tacky golden letters.
Percy turned the knob on the door, which was also gold, and walked in.
"Hello?" Percy asked as a bell chimed above him, signaling his
entrance. The room inside was what Percy expected a pawn shop
located in a bad neighborhood would look like. It was small and very
hot. There was a counter a few feet in front of Percy with seats on the
side for people to wait on.
The counter itself was covered with bullet proof glass, but Percy could
tell that it was also reinforced against magical attacks as well. If he was
to guess it could probably stand up to a couple of Percy's full power
attacks;
Charmed defence wall;
A wall charmed not to allow mana through. All physical objects
will also be denied passage, but if the said object is a precious
metal or a precious stone, said object will be allowed to pass
through without any hassle.
Defence- 2,000,000
It really didn't seem like a good defence, after all Celestial bronze was
considered a precious metal, with that Percy could easily get through
the barrier. And that's not even mentioning what damage Alcyoneus
could do.
But it would probably be a good defence for the public, after all not all
of them could lift mountains over their heads and celestial bronze was
a very precious and rare metal.
Behind the glass Percy saw several items of importance, an entire rack
of celestial bronze weapons, a quiver with arrows that were made out
of, what looked like ivory. The walls were covered with paintings and
the skins of several animals and in the center was a man dressed in a
fine silk robe with a very expensives looking shirt underneath it. The
man was fat and hairless. Percy couldn't even see his eyebrows. He
also smelt like someone dropped him in a sea of sinnamon, Percy
could smell it off of him the moment he entered the room.
"Can I help you?" the man asked with a smile that creeped Percy out.
"Yeah….ah," Percy looked at his name and title;
Rodrigo Gomez, Merchant of Spain
Lv- 14
Percy raised an eyebrow, 'this guy is pretty weak,' he shrugged it off, "I
was sent by the Collector. I was told you could help me."
The fat man smiled creepily and nodded, "I can, for the right price."
Percy nodded as he opened his inventory and pulled out a gold brick
presenting it to the fat man. Rodrigo snapped his fingers and the gold
floated out of Percy's hands and through the glass. It landed on
Rodrigo's stretched out hands as the Merchant observed the brick
closely.
"Hm….this is definitely government grade," he turned it over and took
out a metal pin which he used to scrape the underside of the brick,
"and definitely not a fake," his hands then glowed with a bright gold
aura as he raised an eyebrow, "magic was used to lift this out of the
ground, but not to create it…..but is is unstamped, and so that cannot
guarantee me the price of the brick."
Percy raised an eyebrow, "so how much can you give me?"
The merchant tossed the brick as it flowed through the glass and into
Percy's hands, "I can give you 300,000 $, at the most."
Percy raised a single eyebrow, "really? Three hundred thousand?
That's all you can give me?" Percy crossed his arms.
The fat man nodded with a sad smile, "I'm sorry I cannot give any more
without damaging my store credibility."
Lie detected!
Percy rolled his eyes, 'no shit that was a lie!' "Look you and I both know
that the price you just stated is complete bull, so can we just skip the
part where you and I heckle each other and just get to the part where
you pay me 500,000 $ for this?"
"500,00?!" The man nearly jumped out of his seat, "for this unmarked
bar?! Impossible! Which fool told you that?"
Percy smiled, "the Collector," the fat man paled, "I visited him just
before coming here, and he was the one who told me that this bar of
gold would be worth at least 500,000$, and he didn't say shit about it
being unmarked."
The Merchant was sweating now as he bathed his forehead with a
napkin, "w-well if the good Collector believes this is worth 500,000$
then who am I to argue?"
Percy smiled, "I know. So….do we have a deal?"
The fat man sighed, "yes, we have a deal." The fat man then bent
down, which took a lot of effort, and pulled out a silver briefcase. He
put the case on his side of the counter and pulled out several bands of
hundred dollar bills.
He stacked them all on the counter as they slowly increased in number.
Percy watched the growing stack in amazement, each band of money
was worth 10,000 dollars, each looking they were just taken out of the
mint.Chapter 501
After putting down 50 perfect bands of 100$ bills the Merchant turned
to Percy, "your brick sir."
Percy nodded as he slid the brick towards the Merchant, passing it
through the glass while to he did the same for the money. Percy took
the cash and put them inside his inventory. The Merchant raised an
eyebrow at the money disappearing but said nothing.
"I believe our business is done," the Merchant said with a smile,
"please do come again."
Percy grinned, "oh no, my new rich friend," Percy opened his inventory
and took out the four other Gold bricks he hand inside it, "we aren't
done by a long shot."
The fat man didn't know whether to be excited for getting so much
more gold or sadness because he didn't get them all at a cheaper
price.
In the end the Merchant had to go into the back and take out all the
money he had on hand to buy what Percy was selling. And that
included the gold, the 8 bricks of silver he had, a couple of precious
stones that Percy collected from Alcyoneus's body.
But the biggest sale that day was one of Alcyoneus's platinum bones,
more specifically his humerus, that weighed in at around 5,000 pounds.
The Price of platinum was determined by its weight. At the current price
it is measured at 1,500 per ounce. The humerus weighed in at around
1,000 pounds, or 14,583 ounces. That meant that the bone was worth
21,874,500.
And that was when the Merchant fainted.
Percy basically cleared out all the physical money the Merchant had.
He had gotten 2.5 millions for the gold bars, 750,000 for the uncut
jewels and Percy took pity on the Merchant and reduced the price of
the platinum bone to only 21.5 million dollars. After all he had plenty
more bones where that came from.
All in all Percy had racked up a total of 24.75 millions dollars. He still
had a lot more to sell, but this was enough for now.
The Merchant basically treated him like royalty after that. He even gave
Percy his phone number to call before coming over. He wanted to
make sure he had enough money stored for the large amount of
business Percy was sure to bring with him.
By the time Percy had reached camp it was already lunch. He went to
the Mess Hall and spotted Thalia sitting alone in her bench. Percy
smiled as he came up behind her and threw his arms around her neck.
"What the fuc-Percy?! Gods man don't scare me like that! I could have
choked on something!" Thalia shouted at her boyfriend who chuckled.
"I love you too sweetie," Percy kissed her on the check sitting down
next to her, "sorry about that, did I scare you?"
Thalia grumbled, "no….yes. Look that's not the point…"
Percy chuckled, "it kind of is."
Thalia rubbed her temples, "sigh, so what did you do today? If I
remember correctly it was one of the few days off you get, please tell
me you did something fun."
Percy smiled, "I went to talk to the Collector," Thalia looked surprised,
"yes, I do mean that Collector."
"Why would you want to talk to that albino freak? Ergh," Thalia
shivered, "those eyes are so freaking creepy!"
Percy chuckled, "believe me I know. But I needed to find a place to sell
the gold, so he and I had a little chat."
Thalia raised an eyebrow, "couldn't you have just sold it to the HNI?"
Percy shook his head, "no, the HNI deals only with drachma, not mortal
money. Plus I also would like to deal with people face to face,
especially when it comes to the large amounts of money like we are
dealing with."
"So how much did you get?" Thalia asked curiously. Percy leaned into
her ear and whispered. Thalia's eyes widened like saucer cups,
"WHAT?!"
"Keep it down!" Percy hissed as he looked around everyone was
looking at them, but seeing Percy and Thalia argue or flirt was normal.
Even the shouting was some time part of their little cat and mouse
dance.
"Sorry," Thalia's voice went back into a whisper, "but seriously?! You
got 21 million for just one bone of Alcyoneus?"
Percy nodded, "yeah, I know. This is more than enough to buy some
land for the Haven project."
Thalia nodded blankly, "yeah..shit with this much money we could but a
whole fucking country!"
Percy smiled, "yeah. I talked to the Collector about it, he said he might
have some lands we could buy."
Thalia nodded, "sweet. Heck we might even have enough leftover to
buy a boat or something"
Percy smiled, "already itching to visit Alaska again? Or maybe it was
the company you liked more than the sights."
Thalia blushed, "I have to admit I do kind of miss that time. So much
easier, no Romans to deal with, no campers to train. Just us."
Percy chuckled, "you know we could actually do that," He leaned into
Thalia, "after this is all over I mean. Just buy a boat and set sail. Travel
the world, meet new exciting people, probably one or two monsters. It
would pretty fun."
Thalia smiled, "that would be nice," she put her head on his shoulder,
"just the two of us." Percy nodded as he kissed her forehead.
Ping!
Quest Alert!
Go on a cruise with Thalia after the Titan war!
Rewards,
70% chance of Marriage!
4,000,000 Exp
?
?
Failure,
Depression
End of relationship
Do you accept?
YES/NO?
Percy's eyes widened at the sight of the quest. He stiffened for a
moment and that caught Thalia's attention, "what happened Percy?
You look like you just saw a ghost….there isn't one right? Like you
have to tell me if there is a ghost here."
Percy shook his head, "not a ghost, it's just….well I just got a quest."
Thalia looked surprised, "really? What does it say?"
"It's says that we need to go on a cruise trip around the world," Percy
gulped, "and it ah...it's ah..."
Chapter 502
"Well spit it out," Thalia prompted him, "I don't have all day. Well I do,
but that's not the point."
"One of the rewards is a...is a 70% chance of you-you-ah, well you see
the thing is this quest system really is vague and different so I wouldn't
expect-"
"-Percy," Thalia cut off his rambling, "what's the reward?"
Percy gulped, "a 70% chance of us getting married."
Thalia blinked, "that thing is saying me might get married?!"
Percy nodded, "well only a 70% chance that we might married...but ah,
yeah."
"Seriously? How would it even know that?"
"Well my powers do come from the Fates, and they basically know
everything so...I would guess that our future may not be too out of
reach for them."
Thalia looked at Percy, "so...we might be married?"
Percy rubbed his neck, "well we only have a 70% chance of it
happening."
Thalia blinked, "well…..that's ah…..wow, I don't know what to say."
"I could reject it if you want," Percy said as he moved to press the 'no'
button.
"No, don't," Thalia stopped him, "I ah...well it's not like we are going to
be married this second right?"
Percy blinked, "well, no. This just means that we might get married."
"Well...then don't decline it," Thalia said with a smile, "besides, it's not
like it might happen right? Like you said, only a 70% chance of it
happening….."
An awkward silence fell between the two. Percy didn't know what to
say or do and Thalia was in the same boat. Percy pressed the 'yes'
button and dismissed the quest. An awkward silence fell between them
as they ate their food in silence.
"Wait…." Thalia began breaking the silence, "you said the Fates would
know our future...right?" A look of hope came into Thalia's eyes, "like
they know what's going to happen and your powers are their powers.
So that means that anything they might think is going to happen, will
happen!"
Percy's eyes widened as he quickly caught on to what Thalia was
implying, "so you think that because they gave a quest like this
that…..we might end up surviving this war?"
Thalia nodded, "yeah….so that means I won't die," she smiled, "it
means that we both might actually survive this!"
Percy smiled as he kissed Thalia deeply. He pulled back and wrapped
one hand around her neck, "Gods you are brilliant. I wouldn't have
figured that out even if it had taken me a million years."
"You would have been lost without me," Thalia said with a smile as she
kissed him and the couple smiled at each other like to people who had
everything in the world to live for.
Because for the first time their future didn't look bleak, they wouldn't
die, there was still a chance for them to live on, together.