Percy left his mother's house thrilled, as his searcher problem had been solved with the help of his mom and the mist. And most importantly! His horrible stepfather had been turned to stone by the package his father had said would be waiting for him at home; Medusa's head.
He shared the news with his friend who was waiting for him outside the place he and his mom lived. Now with a backpack full of clothes to spend the rest of the summer at Camp Half-Blood, he grabbed his friend's shoulder, who teleported them both to the camp.
By this time, Annabeth and Grover had told everyone everything that happened on the mission, and Dionysus, who had returned from the meeting, added some details, answering questions made by Chiron.
So no one was surprised when two new cabins appeared out of nowhere, aligned with the others.
Well, surprise aside—the campers who hadn't been claimed by their parents saw Ikki as their hero, as thanks to him, everyone had a new home and didn't have to stay in an overcrowded cabin with small thieves who loved to play pranks.
Most of them immediately moved to Hestia's cabin, promising to sacrifice much of their food to the Goddess in question in the future. If it weren't for her allowing them to live in her cabin, they would still be in that crowded place.
As soon as Ikki and Percy returned to camp, alongside Annabeth and Grover, they were treated as if they had won a reality show prize on TV.
Ikki was even caught by surprise by the campers who had moved into Hestia's cabin, who tossed him in the air while shouting the hero call of the unclaimed. This made the boy resign himself, but he allowed them to do it.
Amid the joy of the campers who returned alive from the mission after Luke, they immediately put their tradition into practice.
According to camp tradition, they wore laurel crowns at a great feast prepared in their honor, and then led a procession to the bonfire, where they burned the shrouds their cabins had made for them in their absence.
Annabeth's shroud was beautiful—gray silk with owls embroidered on it—and Percy told the Daughter of Athena that it was a shame they couldn't bury it with her. A bad idea, Annabeth punched him and told him to shut up. Meanwhile, Ikki held back a laugh. Although, he did it in his mind.
Since Percy was Poseidon's son, he didn't have a cabin mate, so Ares' cabin volunteered to make his shroud. They took an old sheet and painted smiling faces on the edges, with XX instead of eyes, and the word "Loser" in really large letters in the middle.
Percy thought it was fun burning it.
All the cabins offered to make Ikki's shroud. Since he was in the same situation as Percy, being the only one in Zeus' cabin.
In the end, after a fierce competition on who would make his shroud, Aphrodite's cabin won. Ikki's shroud was made of white silk with golden details, and it was embroidered with enigmatic lightning bolts.
Ikki was very happy and grateful to Silena, who had the idea. If it weren't for Silena convincing her siblings, he would have had a monstrosity of a shroud, entirely pink or some similar color with several other unnecessary colors. Nothing against pink, but it was his least favorite color.
To thank Silena, he pulled her into a hug, causing a chaos of jealousy among many campers, and making the Daughter of Aphrodite blush furiously and smile beautifully. She was a little reluctant to pull away from his arms afterward.
The Greek King of Heroes felt a little sorry for burning something so nice.
While Apollo's cabin led the singing and passed the treats around, Ikki and Percy were surrounded by their friends from Hermes' cabin, Annabeth's friends from Athena, and Grover's satyr companions, who were admiring the brand-new seeker license he had received from the Council of the Elders of the Split Hoof.
The council had called Grover's performance on the mission "So brave it might cause indigestion. Horns and beard above all we've seen before."
The only ones not in a festive spirit were Clarisse and her cabin mates, who looked at Ikki with a complicated expression. No one could blame them since he was the hero who defeated their father.
Ikki didn't mind much. He was chatting with his friends and the various campers around him in a great mood. Even Dionysus' welcome speech was not enough to dampen his spirits.
"Yes, yes, the brats didn't kill themselves, and now they'll get even cockier. Well, cheers to that. Among other announcements, there won't be any canoe races this Saturday..."
After the party and the camp traditions, Ikki headed toward his father's cabin with all his belongings.
Ikki walked to the nearest bed and threw himself on it while sighing deeply with his face in the pillow.
Somehow, he preferred fighting a god over being the center of attention at the camp again; he had almost forgotten what it was like.
There was nothing more exhausting than this.
Something most campers had already gotten used to and missed, as these somewhat magical incidents only happened when he was at camp due to some campers' dirty attempts to steal a kiss or a piece of clothing from him.
He turned over and looked at the ceiling above him, and his mind wandered to his mom. Summer was coming to an end, and he could finally have a conversation with her about his "father." He even thought about going to meet her right away, but he decided against it. It was much better to wait until the summer ended to see her.
Actually, he could talk to his mom through an iris message, but he thought it was better to have this kind of conversation in person.
He let out a melancholic sigh...
The next few days would be busy, as he was going to start training his friend as he had promised, and he had to get back into his routine as a camper.
...
..
.
The next morning, Ikki left his cabin before Apollo even began to work and make his chariot shine brightly in the sky above Western civilization.
As he walked toward his friend's cabin, his mind wandered to some simple questions, like the fact that the Sun was a chariot that a Playboy god drove, but what about the real sun? Was it hidden by the mist or didn't it exist at all?
Unfortunately, his senses didn't reach beyond the planet to know the answer to that question.
But he theorized that it was just the mist that hid the real Sun or some magic or mystical power of the Gods, as they even wanted to have this form of mortal worship. Yes, there are people who still believe that the day star is a divine thing.
Ikki let out a sigh and stopped spreading simple thoughts, focusing on what was important. He stopped in front of Poseidon's cabin, which was long, low, and solid, with rough gray stone walls sprinkled with pieces of shells and coral.
"Well, now how do I wake up that seaweed head?" He said aloud, his eyes shining with an idea, a mischievous smile on his face.
Raising his hand, he pointed his finger at the cabin and cast a basic spell he had ended up inventing, creating an invisible hand to hold his enemy, but he showed his mastery of the spell and instead of using it to trap someone, he used it to create two small hands that rubbed in front of his friend's bed before giving his face a hard slap!
Bam!
After a few minutes, Percy was standing in front of him, rubbing his face with a visible red mark on his cheek. His explosive temper would make him punch anyone who did this, but this person was none other than his friend, who was dressed in a green soldier's outfit with a beret in front of him, his expression severe, hands behind his back.
"From now on, if you're not awake at this time, you'll get a slap like that in the face to wake up..." Ikki said, pacing back and forth in front of him like a captain talking to his soldiers.
"But..." Before Percy could finish, Ikki raised his finger and pointed it, causing his voice to disappear. Was this magic? Damn, it would be so useful to make a boring teacher stop talking. Would his friend teach him?
His eyes shone, and he forgot to complain about getting up early.
"This is to help you build discipline." Ikki lowered his finger and adjusted his beret, which had been created next to his clothes using [Item Creation] as a test; this spell could create basic things using mana. It materialized for a certain time before disappearing, a limitation that couldn't be removed as it involved the principles of creation...
"Your training will be divided into three parts: physical, mental, and martial."
"Let's start with the first part."
Raising his hand in a grabbing motion, dark red particles began to gather beneath it, and soon a huge tractor tire fell in front of him with a loud crash!
Percy looked at the tire and judged that it should be made of iron, as it weighed more than a ton.
While he looked at the tire, his friend created a rope and tied it around his waist, and before his surprised and confused eyes, he sat on top of the tire, which was tied to the other end of the rope wrapped around his waist. A huge green rod appeared in his hand, and a wicked smile danced on his lips.
"You're going to run through the entire Camp Half-Blood with this tire. If you're too slow, you'll get a beating on your back..." Ikki said in a happy tone.
Damn!
That was Percy's thought, who immediately wanted to deny such torture, but when he remembered that his weakness had been a burden for his friend, he stopped and considered. It wasn't because Ikki was slapping the rod into the palm of his hand with a devilish smile that terrified him... No, it wasn't...
An hour later, the campers who woke up early to do their tasks saw a boy running desperately through camp, carrying a huge tractor tire, with the most handsome man in the world sitting on it with a green rod in hand.
Needless to say, many of the female campers imagined him dominating them, as what they saw was a very suggestive image to them, rubbing their thighs together and blushing. He looked very handsome when he was cruel...
Percy seemed like he was going to die any second. His whole body was drenched in sweat, and he was shaking all over, but he didn't stop running around the camp, starting to believe he wouldn't be able to continue. He was at his limit...
A person's first limit is mental; they start believing they can't do something when they actually can. But thinking they can't, the body, which is interconnected with the mind, starts to obey, and the person starts to weaken in their actions.
Noticing that his friend was reaching his first limit, Ikki raised his hand and cast a simple spell to summon water over his target, soaking him with it. When Percy got a cold shower, all the fatigue disappeared, and he felt very revitalized. This was one of the powers of being Poseidon's son.
Returning to peak condition, Percy kept running, and Ikki, who was behind him, began to add more weight through magic to make the tire heavier. It reached a point where his friend was carrying a car and then a truck while running.
His legs burned, and his whole body screamed for him to stop, but every time he did, he'd get a beating on his back that made him see stars, so he kept going without complaining because these hits reminded him of why he was training. To get stronger! So he wouldn't lose the people he loved to monsters! To help his friend when he needed it!
He had been so useless on this mission, if only he were stronger, his best friend wouldn't have to face everything alone...
In the end, he didn't want to be a burden to his best friend anymore.
Ikki, who was watching his friend determined to continue, smiled slightly. It was a positive change in his mentality, maybe it was due to his influence? After all, he didn't want to be protected; he wanted to be by his side to face the dangers of life, as it had always been.
In this life, he was lucky to have a friend like this, and that's exactly why he couldn't take it easy on his training.
This training focused on strengthening his legs to increase speed and endurance. He helped him adapt more quickly to the training through some spells he developed with his understanding of the human body.
Poseidon's son hadn't noticed, but he had gotten at least twice as strong in just a few hours.
When Percy collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath, with his clothes drenched in sweat, the second training started. Ikki explained this stage to his friend before using his illusion manipulation to take his best friend's mind to a world where he would have to face extreme battles and situations.
This way, he could gain battle experience and increase all his strategic skills to face future dangers.
The time in the illusion world was under his control, but knowing it could have a negative impact on his friend, he made sure that only a month passed in the illusion world, which was equivalent to only one hour in the real world.
Percy had to face monsters, trained and armed soldier armies, survive alone in that world's jungle. All while being shocked by his friend's power to create a world through illusion, which, despite knowing, the pain and everything felt so real that after two months inside, he began to see it as the real world!
This was his illusion spell at its full potential, not only serving to distort the light around him to create different images for others, but also to take their minds to different worlds that varied according to their desires and imagination.
After Percy spent three months in that world, he returned to the real world, and his eyes had changed slightly... He was starting to show the look of a true warrior. The son of Poseidon had a sensory overload upon realizing that he had only spent three hours in the real world.
From his perspective, three months had passed, fighting monsters, surviving alone in a forest that changed its climate faster than he could imagine, a forest that was being invaded by hundreds of trained soldiers every day, all aiming for his life.
Needless to say, he had nearly died several times, but thanks to his increased strength and demigod powers, he managed to survive!
Percy looked at his friend, finding it hard to comprehend the depth of his power, but determined to become as strong as him!
After the mental training, the two took a break and went to eat, before continuing in the afternoon, fighting each other with martial arts and wooden swords.
It goes without saying that Percy was defeated every time. Although he had gained experience and gotten much better at fighting unarmed and with swords, he still couldn't come close to the level of mastery of the Son of Zeus in martial arts and sword fighting.
Ikki made him correct his mistakes through the pain of his strikes.
And so, the day passed, and soon three days had gone by in the blink of an eye, with Percy adjusting to his new routine.
During those three days, in addition to training his friend, Ikki spent time playing chess with Annabeth in the camp's library, discussing some strategic ideas, or going with Silena to the stables. He even started getting along with a daughter of Demeter named Katie Gardner.
She was a rather reserved girl, but she had a good heart.
How did they get to know each other? Well, it was because one of the girl's tasks was to check the cabins every day with a huge list of tasks that campers who live there need to take care of, like keeping their beds made and cleaning the place.
Silena was also responsible for that, but it was Katie who came to check Ikki's cabin, and the two ended up talking and getting along.
Putting his life as a camper aside, he spent sleepless nights practicing spells he invented for various things he thought were useful and refining his body through Qi, in addition to conducting experiments with his 'source,' which brought a few results.
And so, time passed, with his chaotic life as usual...
What did the future hold for him?
No one knew...