DISCLAIMER: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Heroes of Olympus
Mythomagic: For Beginners
A Percy Jackson Fan Fiction
"There's only one thing real about this world and that's us! The players! Getting stronger and defeating others! That's the way this game is played!"
First Log In: The Guide to Character Making
Year 21ΔΔ: Endless Space
"Hey," The red-haired girl snapped her fingers. However, Percy didn't budge. He was still dazed by the girl's sudden appearance that seemed out of nowhere. "Hello," She tried to bring him back to reality – or in this case, virtual reality – by waving her hand in front of him. When it didn't work, she flicked her fingers and a ball made out of gusts of wind appeared, it looked like a ball of caged mini tornadoes. She threw it into his face.
"EARTH TO PERSEUS JACKSON!" She raised her voice to a certain volume that made Percy blinked before the ball hit his face.
The ball made of wind hit Percy's face quite hard. In fact, a medium sized red circle appeared on his face almost immediately. "Hey, that hurts!" He scowled. After a while, he realised and frowned. "Hey, THAT HURTS!" He said it again, louder this time, but there was a questioning tone in his speech.
The girl smirked.
"This is a game, how come that hurts?" Percy questioned, rubbing his nose, the frown never leaving his face.
The girl smiled, the expression she showed in her face proved that she already expected that question. To be honest, at this point of their encounter, she already gave Percy the creeps. "This is not just a game, Percy, remember that."
Before he could even respond to her answer, she spoke once again, "Now the character making." she clapped her hands together and three forms appeared before them. "Choose your character type," She finished.
"Type?" Percy asked. He was accepting the fact that he could not comment on the answer to his previous questions. Not that he did not want to. It was merely because the girl didn't give him any chance to.
"Like species. Like in the Norse mythology version of this game, you'll get to be an elf or some sorts."
Percy formed an 'O' with his mouth, but didn't seem to give out any volume. On the other hand, the girl glared at him for a moment and then she turned away to the three figures.
"Every type has its ups and downs. Let's see here," The red-head started, pointing at the figure nearest to where they were standing. It was a model of a half-human, half-goat. The body and the head of a human and the feet of a goat, there were horns under his unruly hair. "This is a satyr," She claimed. "This type of character has horns, as you can see. The advantage of choosing this type of character is that you can eat everything when you are hungry," She paused as Percy gave her an incredulous look. "In this game you will need to eat and you will feel hunger, thus by choosing this character, you don't have to spend any drachmas, the game currency, on food, you can just eat whatever lying on the streets, like cans and plastics. Besides that, this type of character got bonus status points for vitality and luck."
Percy opened his mouth to interrupt her, but she told him to shut up for a moment and give his feedbacks later when she is done.
"Next is a centaur," She approached the figure in the middle. The figure was a half-human, half-horse, it got the feet of a horse instead of a belly button. "This type of character got bonus points for intelligence and dexterity. Besides those perks, this type is also the character of choice for the job of professors and they don't starve easily."
She pursued the last model in the room, Percy following behind her. The last figurine looked very much human, no horns or tails, just plain human. "And the last but not least, demigods," She said, the girl was smiling a bit. "This type of character gained bonus points for strength, agility and vitality. On the downside, though, this type is easily consumed by hunger if you hunt frequently. This type is ideal for those of you who strive to be a warrior in this game," She finished. "Now you may pick."
Percy remained silent for a moment before he said, "I'll choose demigods." The decision wasn't that hard for Percy. At first, he thought the demigod type would probably be the most common character in the game. But then, he was not trying to be different among the players, he was trying to prove to Nico that he could still have some fun. He didn't really need a flashy appearance. And since he already sucked into this game, better play it to his heart content and pursue the job he desired, a warrior.
"Not a surprising choice, but very well," The girl snapped her gloved finger together and suddenly, Percy was wearing a novice get up. He was clad in some kind of armour, with a thick cream coloured long sleeved turtle neck underneath. He had on a pair of cotton pants with the same colour as his shirt, only a shade darker. The clothes made it easier for him to move. His foot were no longer bare. The girl had conjured up a pair of leather boots for him, right when he was feeling the coldness of the floor creeping up into his body. When he walked, he could hear the sound of his new boots against the black and white floor. On his hip, a small sword was dangling as he turned his body around to check himself out. Percy unsheathed the sword with his gloved hand easily, it was light, flexible and decently hard with no more than thirty centimetres long and he could see his clear reflection on the blade. The sword emitted a faint bronze glow. If this was the real world, this would be one of the swords that had been tempered well.
The red-haired NPC grinned at him, looking very pleased. She was checking him out, telling him to turn around and making sure the clothes were fine and undamaged.
Percy wondered, it's a game, how can the clothes be damaged? The developer took this game a little bit too realistic.
When she was scanning him from his shoes to his head, she stopped at his neck. She waved her hand and a blue translucent screen appeared. Her fingers moved on the pad, before she made a slapping gesture with the back of her hand and the screen disappeared. The girl made her usual flicking motion and a leather string appeared on his neck. Percy wanted to ask what was it, but she waved him off.
"Do you want to change your look?" She offered. "I think you look fine though."
Prey was genuinely surprised, she actually had opinions. NPCs couldn't have such things, right?
"Do you want your hair to be longer? More curls? Spike it up a bit, maybe?"
Percy, who was never bothered to maintain his looks, muttered, "Uuuh, a bit longer, I guess."
She snapped her fingers and Percy's mop hair grew a little bit longer. His bangs were framing his face quite delicately.
"Want to make your eyes a little bit cooler?" She said, her emerald eyes gleaming with excitement.
Percy shrugged a little, as if saying 'up to you'. The girl landed her fingers on both of his eyes and muttered a word Percy couldn't clearly comprehend. When she let go, he blinked once. He could only see black and frequent blurs. Slowly but sure, he regained his sight.
Curious, Percy pulled his sword out of it's sheathe. He gripped it at its hilt and looked down at the blade. He saw his eyes turned to sea-blue and then it shifted to sea-green, they changed continuously.
"Much better," The girl gave a satisfied smile at her handiwork. "Next you need to choose your screen name."
Percy rubbed his chin, "Ranger Blue?"
"Do you want to know how many 'Ranger Blues' out there?"
"Seaweed?"
"No."
"BlueWhale?" Percy asked.
"Taken." The red-haired girl waited while checking out her nails.
"BigWhale?"
"Denied."
"FreelanceWhales?"
"Seriously," The red-head said in exasperation. "What is up with you and whales?"
"Nothing, but did you know the blue whale is the largest animal ever to have lived?"
The girl rolled her eyes.
Percy sat down, cross-legged and put his hands on his thighs. She joined soon after. "Think of something that really reflects you," She said. "From the looks of it, you like the sea."
"Yep, my dream is to become a marine biologist," Percy grinned widely.
Then she snapped her fingers, Percy expected something to happen, but nothing occurred. "What about 'Aqua'?"
"I think its lame."
"Better than the ones you could think of."
"Fine," Percy grunted.
"I'll give you a sky blue hair, just for fun," She smirked and snapped her fingers. "And we are done! I think you can manage by yourself for the rest of the game, you can go to that side of the room now," She pointed to their far left.
Percy walked to where she was pointing at, but turned around when the voice he had gotten familiar with, called him. "Percy," The voice called, her emerald green eyes met his changing sea-green. She held her gaze before saying, "Remember, sometimes things aren't always as they seem to be."
Percy frowned, but what made him confused the most was the fact that this NPC knew his name even though he never told her anything.
"Hey, how do you know my name?" He asked as he quickly turned. But Percy never got his answer, because the girl already flicked her fingers and, a second later, spirals of tornado were engulfing him. Before he was out of the room, he caught a glimpse of the red headed girl sly smile. Then, her emerald eyes met his changing sea-green, it was only for a fraction of a millisecond, but he managed to catch her knowing eyes and her smile shifted into a smirk.
While her last words echoed inside his head, the spirals took him away from the chessboard room.
Back in the endless space, seconds after the departure of Percy into the game, the girl broke her smile. She already gave too many hints to that Percy guy. She needed to keep her mouth shut next time.
Then she conjured up a double door and as she put her hand on it, she mumbled, "See you soon."
And the red head disappeared behind the door.
The red head. I can tell you she is not an NPC (Non-Player Character). But maybe she is close to an NPC? I have big plans for her in the future.
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